Chapter 16: Another New Beginning

I ran and ran the night I fired a cero at a man that if you would have asked, I would have told you I loved. I know this is stupid because honestly I barely knew the guy, and I was willing to date him. Sigh. Anyways, I kept trying to sense his spiritual pressure to see if he was following me. Maybe I was hoping he would. I don't know.

Everything has gone to the best day ever, to complete and utter crap in a matter of couple of days. I kept pushing myself. Make my flashstep faster and smoother. I need to get as far away as possible. I need to stay away from people. What if I hurt them? I don't know what to do. After running for I have no clue how long, my vision began to blur.

"Shinkiro, stop it. Go back and apologize and ask for help," I heard Aisuhime say in my head, "I could see it in his face. He was worried about you." I laughed without humor. He was disgusted by me, Aisuhime. I apparently have an inner hollow, and no noble could understand what it's like to be in my position. I could feel her shaking her head as everything went black.

"Oh goodness! Child, are you alright?" I woke to hearing an alarmed voice. I sat up quickly and looked around, seeing an old lady and holding my head in my hands. My head hurt so badly. "It's because you haven't eaten yet," Kagekishi informed me with a concerned tone. The old lady approached me, and I scooted back.

I didn't want to hurt her. She seemed so kind, and I didn't know how to control this newfound power of mine. She didn't need to get caught in the crossfire if I let my guard down. Plus, I'm pretty sure I just made myself a criminal by what I did last night. Let's see, I attacked a captain. Yup, that's punishable by death. Crap.

"Child, you don't need to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you," the old lady said, slowly approaching me again. I scooted back until my back hit a tree. She just didn't understand.

"I'm not worried about y-you hurting m-me," I said softly, "I-I don't w-want to hurt you. Y-you're kind." I looked at her, my eyes wide in fear. She looked at me with a comforting smile.

"You are running away from a past you're afraid of. How about this: you come stay with me, and I won't ask any questions that I don't need to know the answer to? How does that sound?" the old lady suggested. How could she tell? Was it that obvious?

"You should go with her, Shinkiro. It may give you some time to at least regain normal thought processes," I heard Aisuhime suggest. I sighed as I heard Kagekishi agree. Fine. But if this backfires, it's up to y'all to help me get out of this mess. "We will if you let us, my dear," I heard Aisuhime respond.

I got up slowly and smiled at the older lady as I walked towards her. She returned my smile and understood my answer as she began to walk off. I followed her, and she began to ask her need to know questions.

"What is your name?" she asked, "Remember, this is a fresh start for you, so you may use any name you wish, and I will not know the difference." She winked at me as she said this, and I had a feeling I would really like this lady. I looked around at the trees and said my answer with a sad smile.

"You may call me Sakura," I responded as a tear rolled down my cheek but I quickly wiped it away and asked the woman her name. She gave me a small smile as well.

"You may call me, Nagusame," she replied with a bittersweet tone to her voice as well as we walked into a town. She led me to a small house and opened the door.

"You may want to take that zanpakuto off of your hip though if you do not wish to draw attention to yourself here. Soul reapers are not seen here often," Nagusame-san said very nonchalantly. My eyes widened. Dang this lady was observant.

I nodded and put Aisuhime Kagekishi down into the room she led me into. I hid them under the bed, so they wouldn't get stolen if anyone broke in. Yes, I'm paranoid. So what? I turned to Nagusame.

"Nagusame-san," I said softly and she turned around, "I'm very thankful for this. What will I be doing to repay your kindness?" I wanted to help in any way I can. She smiled at me, obviously surprised. Was she that not used to be treated kindly?

"I own a flower shop here. I could always use some help there," she suggested, and I grinned. I absolutely adored flowers. "I'll take that as a yes," she chuckled, "You start tomorrow at 9am when I open shop. Now get yourself some food, and rest up." I nodded enthusiastically and continued to chat with the older woman as we fixed some food.

That night, I went out to train after Nagusame-san went to sleep. I practiced my swordsmanship until I could barely lift my zanpakuto before returning back to the house to sleep. Nagusame-san woke me up at 7:00am, and I couldn't help but feel bad. I had just gotten into the Gotei 13, and I had thrown it all away. But I knew I couldn't go back no matter how badly I wished I could.

I quickly got dressed and pulled my long hair into a high ponytail. This showed some of the scars on the back of neck, but at this point, I didn't care. My life had been taken from me, not once, but twice. Why was life so incredibly cruel? Oh well, no use crying about it now.

We got to the flower shop, and Nagusame immediately put me to work. This was tough stuff, especially when you learn that you have no talent growing plants. On the bright side, we did learn that I'm fairly decent at making flower arrangements.

It was then that I recognized the wrappers and the types of bouquets that Nagusame did. She was the one who made the bouquet Byakuya gave me. This in and of itself almost made me start bawling my eyes out, but I stopped myself because I remembered the way he looked at me after I fired that cero.

He was disgusted with me. There was no chance he still cared about me, and that was that. I just had to accept it. I had another chance at a new beginning, and I was not going to lose it.