~FIREFLY KNIGHTS~
Bleach Copyright Tite Kubo
Firefly Knights Copyright Illand Girl
'For those that need a Guardian.'
Chapter 8: Momento Mori
"Alright, that should do it for the evening." I glanced at Yuzu who was slowly falling asleep at her desk. A grin slipped onto my face as I gently patted her head.
"Yuzu wake up, you can't sleep here." I insisted. Yuzu mumbled something, then raised her tired head. I smiled gently, urging the girl along to start her nightly routine.
Once Yuzu was in bed, I stepped out of the twins' room and into the living room. Ichigo was sitting on the couch, reading. He looked up at me, surprised.
"Wait, you're still here Nao?" He looked at the clock. "It's past nine."
I nodded as I stepped to the back door, taking my jacket from the rack and pulling it on.
"Yeah, I better hurry home. It's already dark." I said, surprised when Ichigo yanked my hood as I attempted to grab my shoes. He scowled, one hand on his hip as the other held me back.
"No way, you're not going out there this late." I grinned.
"Awe, worried about me?" I stuck my tongue out when he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'll run back super quick!"
"As if!" He let go and turned around, marching to his room. "Wait there, I just need to grab something."
It always gave me butterflies whenever Ichigo did something unnecessary, though I could understand his concern with me walking alone at night. I had gotten used to doing it though, since my mom hadn't helped me out at all during the time we had moved.
I pulled my shoes on and waited outside the building. My eyes felt droopy as I leaned against the wall. Five minutes passed and I began to wonder if Ichigo had passed out. Another few minutes and I decided to step out into the street. No one was around at all. I felt a bit of peace at that and sighed.
I stepped out into the street, walking away from the Kurosaki's slowly, almost expecting Ichigo to throw his shoe at my head for wandering off. But he didn't and after a few minutes of walking I figured he must've gotten sidetracked. I'd just text him when I got home or something.
The walk felt peaceful... but it all crumbled when a horrible chill ran up my spine.
I felt like something was watching me, my heartbeat quickened.
Danger.
I looked left and right, seeing nothing in the evening to tell me what was amiss. I could sense it though and trusted my instincts as I turned tail and ran back towards the Kurosaki's.
Danger.
Something was coming-
Something heavy slammed into me. I hit the wall of the building, my head snapping against the siding. I groaned, something dripping down the side of my face as I slid down the wall.
A blurry figure roared, reaching to swing at me.
"Naomi!" Karin shouted from beside me. She shook my shoulder, I winced from the force.
"Run," I mumbled, trying to focus on the blurry figure. It turned to look at both of us, reaching for Karin. In a moment of clarity, I shoved her aside. "RUN!"
The giant figure grabbed me, and it suddenly became clear as a bizarre creature with a white mask. It stared at me with golden eyes and a wide set of white teeth.
"What good are you? You don't even have any spiritual pressure."
It could talk?!
I could feel it crushing my whole body in it's grip. A scream broke from my lips as I felt my spine groan and crack from the pressure.
"NAOMI!" Ichigo... Ichigo was calling for me. I winced, looking over to see him and Karin. He bolted at the beast with a folded-up chair. The monster swatted him like a mosquito and sent him flying. I whimpered, feeling like I was about to break, when a woman in a black outfit came flying out of nowhere and sliced at the beast's arm. It flailed, dropping me, and in my descent, something caught me.
I whimpered, my eyes swimming as I looked around. Ichigo held me tightly against him, and it took a moment for me to figure out he was shouting at me. I could barely make out my name, it sounded like it was coming through water. He was talking to the woman, her voice flitted through my mind at some point, I couldn't remember why he was shouting, but then he put me down. My head lolled to the side, and I could see him running out to the street.
"Ichigo..."
What are you doing...?
That monster... it'll kill you...
"Don't you touch my family! Take my soul! Eat me!" I felt a panic as his words finally registered inside my head. I rolled onto my side and attempted to drag myself towards him.
"Ichigo..." I moaned, feeling my spine protest. My head felt so heavy... All I wanted was to rest.
Sleep...
I wanted to sleep...
"Take my soul! Eat me!"
No...
Ichigo... you... dumbass...
I had to get up. I had to get moving right now, or Ichigo will-
I pulled myself another inch, lifting my head to see the monster take a step towards Ichigo. My heart rate skyrocketed.
Wake up.
I reached my arm forward, pulling myself another few inches. It wasn't nearly enough.
Wake up.
The creature howled; the woman shouted at Ichigo.
Wake up!
I suddenly felt like I was engulfed by water. My whole body felt weightless as I grimaced. Then lightheaded as I began to quickly run out of oxygen.
I'm going to die here...
Ichigo will die here...
We're all going to die here...
I reached into the abyss blindly, desperately. I searched into nothingness and expected to find nothing, but still I needed to do something, or we were all going to-
A green eye opened, glancing up at me from the depths. A hand reached for me, and in desperation, I reached back.
Wake up!
In the next heartbeat, I was in front of Ichigo. I braced myself as the monster's teeth clamped down on me. My eyes widened as indescribable pain rippled through my body.
I screamed.
"Get off of me!"
I swiped at the creature, slashing at it's mask and seeing blood cover my hands. A woman's cry shocked me as I looked to the side and saw the woman in black on the ground. Had I hit her too? I couldn't focus on it though as the monster flung itself backwards. It roared, I screamed, and there was blood. So much blood that when I fell, I fell into a puddle of it.
Now Ichigo was screaming for me. It felt like he was so close to me, yet somehow his voice sounded far away.
"NAOMIIII!" His voice echoed as if travelling through water. I felt something lift me up, holding me. I felt like I was drenched in rainwater, parts of me wet while other parts were dry. I could hear something dripping, something wrapped tightly around me. Through bleary eyes I could watch the blood rolling down my arms and dripping onto the ground.
A massive wave of light and wind shocked me, and then someone yanked me from the monster.
"Nao..." Ichigo's voice, it was so close. I whimpered as I felt something warm before being laid on the ground. The monster was roaring, Ichigo was shouting. Then the night stilled, and my body gave way to the pain.
I couldn't black out, the pain was throbbing and stopped me from escaping. I whimpered as I was moved. It hurt so fucking bad...
"You have to save her!" I could hear Ichigo shout as a wet hand wiped at my face; why was it wet? An intense copper smell assaulted my nose before dripping over my mouth. I could taste it as it slipped between my lips. It was only then that I realized how unbelievably thirsty I was.
As the copper touched my lips, the smell of summer and chocolate drifted to my nose. It was a relaxing smell, one that made me feel warm and safe.
It reminded me of Ichigo.
"Nao, don't fall asleep!" Ichigo sounded frantic; I think. Everything sounded off-kilter right now.
"I'm doing my best-"
"Well do better!"
Stop shouting, please. It hurts.
I think I was making noises, Ichigo kept trying to talk to me- or it sounded like it.
The pain eventually eased to tolerable levels, and the sweet embrace of sleep came to me. But even in my dreams there was no rest, as I found myself drowning once again.
This time, in the abyss, green eyes were already watching me. I could make out soft cream coloured skin, and deep black hair like my own. But unlike mine, something white sprouted from their head. Horns, it looked like. And as I found myself reaching out to her, I found myself grasping one of those horns. It was solid and thick, nothing like I expected for some reason. She watched me, a dark look in her tired eyes, before her own eyes closed and she went back to sleep.
I remembered that I was drowning, and let her horn go. Immediately I was wretched to the surface. As I came up for air, I became aware of someone moving my body.
"...Kido shouldn't have been able to heal her that quickly..." It was a woman's voice. I realized someone was changing my clothing. My eyes only managed to open once, and it was to see the blood-soaked gnarl of clothing in the black-haired girl's hand. She looked down at me, then held out a machine. A bright flash broke out across my face.
I blacked out.
I had this strange desire to leave school, as if my feet knew where to find the carrot top. I stood at the front gates, looking out to the street and trying to decide where I needed to go, when none other than Ichigo showed up.
"Hey!" He called, grinning. I raised a brow- what had him in such a good mood?
"Hey, where've you been?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Ichigo snickered.
"Eh, had some stuff to do but don't worry. Say..." He suddenly stepped closer, his eyes looking down at me with a glint I didn't like. "You wanna get out of here?"
"Huh?" Well, that wasn't what I was expecting. I sniffed, feeling my nerves skyrocket when I didn't smell the scent of summer and chocolate immediately. Ichigo tilted his head to the side and got even closer. He slowly whispered something in my ear. I didn't move, my eyes widened.
"I have a feeling you and I could have a lot of fun, what do you say?" He whispered lowly in my ear. My heart did a little flip, then my mind caught up with the fact that this was not actually Ichigo who was talking to me like that.
So what did I do? Did I run away? Did I go with him? Something in my gut told me letting him loose was a bad idea, but then- if this wasn't Ichigo, where was he?
I took a step away from him, cool faced and calm as he grinned at me. Then, as if melting away my stiffness, I smiled at him and grabbed his hand.
"Alright, let's go!" I urged, tugging him along. Ichigo seemed surprised, but relented as I held hands with him. Something Ichigo would've freaked out about, but whoever this was had no qualms. His grip tightened around mine then, and I tugged him along with me.
"Where are we going?" He asked. I shrugged but continued to walk aimlessly.
"Dunno, I just wanted to spend time together." I lied. Truth was I didn't have a clue what to do about this whole thing. How was I supposed to find the real Ichigo? How was this guy in Ichigo's body? It must've been his body, because he had the same feel, his hand was just how I remembered it, unless it was some sort of strange futuristic cloning technique that made an exact replica-
"Hey," I felt him squeeze my hand again. I looked up, blinking. Ichigo smirked at me. "You look like your head's about to explode, what's up?"
I frowned, confused by why he looked genuinely concerned for me. If this was just some clone, could it have the same feelings Ichigo had for me? We were best friends after all.
We stopped in a park, and I turned to look at the surroundings briefly, before taking a breath. When I looked back at Ichigo, he looked curious.
"I-" What should I say? If I confront him, will that mean danger? I didn't feel like I was in danger here. If anything, I felt rather safe. So I swallowed my worries and spoke.
"It's just that... I can tell you're not Ichigo," I said calmly. Ichigo seemed surprised, his eyes widening. "So, who are you?"
Ichigo stared at me for a moment, then he chuckled. He looked over my head at something, then back at me.
"What gave it away?" He taunted, leaning closer to me. I remained strong, ignoring the thump of my heart as I felt his body heat waft against me. Instead, I put both my hands on his chest and pushed him away.
"You don't smell like Ichigo, you're not acting like Ichigo. So who are you?" I asked again, still not doubting my resolve. Ichigo snorted, looking over my head again, then back down to me.
"Y'know, I really liked you Naomi," his tone changed as he pushed forward despite my hands, closing the gap between us. His hand yanked one of mine away from him and held it out to the side. I didn't move, caught between smacking him and halting because I never wanted to hurt Ichigo. He leaned closer.
"This body, it's heart beats rapidly when you're close, gets all hot where you touch me. I can tell he reeeeaaaally likes you, y'know? Shame." He said, grabbing the back of my head then. He tried to yank my face to his, and in a panic, I slammed my forehead aggressively into his nose.
"FUCK!" He swore, yanking himself away. I floundered, stunned by the turn of events as my face turned bright red.
"Th-That's what you get! Who the hell goes around trying to kiss people like that?!" I squeaked, the image of Ichigo's face getting so close to mine made my voice raise an entire octave.
Ichigo turned to glare at me, but he halted his movements when a pressure rested on my shoulder. Instantly my nose filled with the scent of chocolate and summer, and I looked up to find my carrot top standing beside me.
"Bastard! How dare you touch Nao, how dare you assault her!" Ichigo shouted to the look alike. I could feel him gently tugging me behind him, and I couldn't help but stand there for a moment in stunned silence.
"I-Ichigo?" I asked, making the boy turn and look at me. It seemed to be out of reaction, as he seemed shocked that I made eye contact with him.
"You can see me?!" He asked, surprised. I frowned.
"Well, yeah," I looked at his getup of a black shihakushÅ. "What on Earth are you wearing?"
"Never mind that, just stay back." Ichigo said, standing between us with his back to me. He paused, the air around him changed.
"Sorry, Nao," he said softly. "I keep dragging you into this."
A pause, then I took a breath and put my hand on his back.
"We're a team, remember?" I said, grinning when he looked back at me. "We go together."
He smiled, about to say something, when the other Ichigo laughed.
"Oh man, get a room you two," he laughed some more as my Ichigo squawked something unintelligible. "Y'know, I think I might just steal Naomi from you now. Maybe I'll take her body and take it for a test drive?"
His suggestive eyebrow wiggle was more than enough to make my face return to the red it had been before. I crossed my arms over myself and felt scandalized. My Ichigo on the other hand looked ready to kill him.
"Stop talking about Nao like she's some kind of property!" He raced at the other Ichigo, and the duo were locked in a pretty intense looking fight.
"Ichigo!"
The duo broke apart as none other than Rukia fucking Kuchiki showed up. Honestly, at this point I wouldn't have been surprised if she had a tracking device on Ichigo.
My Ichigo looked at her, the other tried to take that as an opening to strike, but my Ichigo blocked it.
"Stop messing around! We've got another one!" Rukia called, coming to a stop by me. I looked over at her, frowning. She looked at me briefly, but before anything else could be said other Ichigo appeared next to me. In a blink, I was on his shoulder.
"H-Hey!" I shouted, feeling his bare arm wrapped around the back of my thighs.
"Naomi!" My Ichigo shouted. Other Ichigo laughed at my predicament.
"Great, you fight some Hollows, I'll keep darling Nao company. Ciao~!"
I screamed as he leapt into the air, then onto a rooftop. I called for Ichigo, who was being stopped by Rukia. He looked back at me and leapt after us.
"What are you doing?! Put me down!" I shouted, wriggling aggressively in this Ichigo's hold. He laughed.
"Oh c'mon, don't you like the view? It looks great from my position." Ichigo called. My face turned bright red again, and on principle I elbowed the back of his head. Ichigo squawked, dropping me in an instant.
Except we were high up in the air.
I fell, rapidly, my heart racing as I neared the ground.
Warm arms wrapped around me, tugging me in closer as Ichigo came to a halt. My Ichigo held me close.
"Got you." He said quietly, his embrace tightening as I shook a bit. In relief I shuddered, then reached up to hug him back. His hand under my thighs felt infinitely better than other Ichigo, and a warmth spread through me at the contact.
"Thank you, Ichigo." I said softly. Ichigo pulled back slightly to look at me. A conflicted look on his face. "What's wrong?'
Before he could answer, a terrible roar filled the air. I froze, a feeling of dread washing over me. Ichigo leapt onto a building and put me down.
We both watched as other Ichigo attempted to fight a giant centipede with a white mask, only to be swiped away like a housefly. I winced as he slammed into the roof near us. My Ichigo grabbed the other and glared at him.
"Hey dumbass! Don't take my body for a ride and act like it's disposable!" His body? "Now stand back or I'm really going to let you have it."
I watched Ichigo take on the giant monster. Other Ichigo shouted indignantly though, and attempted to strike it, effectively knocking into my Ichigo and causing them both to crash.
"Idiot!" They shouted to each other. The monster, however, had turned to look at me. I took a breath, and one of it's legs shot out at me. It thinned out the longer it got, and eventually wrapped around my throat. I tried to gasp, but no air would escape. My eyes widened as I felt the pressure rapidly increase-
My Ichigo cut it's leg off, blood flying everywhere. I gasped, my hands clawing at the appendage while it seemed to burn away. My Ichigo leapt at it, and another leg darted for me. Other Ichigo tackled me to the rooftop, and I cried out, attempting to push him off.
"Hey stop! You'll only make it worse!" He shouted, sitting on my chest. I struggled; my arms trapped under his legs. Ichigo stared down at me with wide eyes as I glared at him.
"Get off me!"
Instead, he pulled me along as another limb struck us, and effectively kept me out of the way. I watched my Ichigo slice the creature in half, and the beast dissipated into nothing.
I winced, my whole body stiff as other Ichigo held me up. My legs gave out as nausea swept through me. I think I had a concussion.
"Nao, you alright?" I looked up to see my Ichigo knelt in front of me.
"I think... I think I'm going to be sick." I whispered, feeling the edges of my vision wavering.
"Nao? Naomi!" I felt Ichigo catch me as I blacked out.
A chuckle, low and menacing, right in my ear. Hot breath fanned across me and the acrid stench I sensed earlier came back.
"You have such low spiritual pressure. It would be a waste to even keep you for bait." That same low voice growled.
I felt it then, that deep hot rage, and something pulsed in me as I tried to see what was holding me so tightly. It squeezed and I gasped, air being forced from my lungs. I felt something pop inside of me, and then-
The cement ground was pressed into me, something akin to a foot was pressing into my back. I couldn't move, barely enough air in my lungs to scream.
Get off me.
I futilely tried to crawl, clawing at the ground as heavy drool fell onto my shoulder and a sickeningly deep voice laughed at me.
Rage consumed me at the mockery. Rage blew outwards from my core.
I was swept into the waters again, looking back at the girl with horns. She looked up at me, and while I was drowning, she seemed complacent with where she was.
How dare it mock us.
How dare it look down on us.
I reached for her, and she lazily reached back.
Let's teach him a lesson.
A bright light consumed me, and I felt a deep throbbing ache from inside of my chest. It was like a fire was rekindled, one that had long since gone out.
Pressure.
So much pressure.
I was back on the cement, and a rage I hadn't felt before swept through me.
"GET OFF ME!"
I lifted myself easily from under it's foot, my hand swiping blindly. The creature howled, vanishing from sight. My breathing was heavy as I stared down at my hands. Blood was covering them. So much blood, it dripped slowly down my fingers, onto the indented cement.
My heart thudded wildly in my chest, it hurt, felt like what I imagined a heart attack to feel like. All the rage and energy left me, returning to the depths, and I felt immensely drained.
I collapsed, the sound of Ichigo shouting for me the last thing I heard before I hit the pavement.
"If we do this, there is no turning back."
I blinked, waking up slowly. My body ached, it felt like I'd been hit by a truck. My limbs were wrapped in bandages, head to toe actually. Some of them had blood on them. I pulled the blankets off me to confirm I was, in fact, a full body mummy.
"Whatever it takes." A second voice said firmly. I looked to the sliding door at the end of the empty room. A pause, then the first voice sighed.
"You'll never see her again Hiroshi. You realize that?"
"Kisuke," the second voice sounded firm, I recognized that voice... "I don't expect you to understand, but someday, I hope you will."
"Alright, I'll do it. But you should say goodbye."
"No, it's- I can't get too close. But promise me, Kisuke. Promise me that you'll look out for her."
Kisuke chuckled.
"I promise that Naomi will lead a normal, boring life for as long as possible."
Chapter edited: March 9/2024
Tumblr: Plznomonkeys
Thanks for reading.
Cheers.
Iland Girl