One Step Behind

Takua’s thin lipped, grim smile was all the confirmation they needed; Tova was a bored animal with a conscience, the deadly weapon that was human intelligence. Humans were mankind’s worst enemy because they had the intelligence and drive to damage those around them, and Tova was similarly minded to the human world’s super powers. A warmonger with obscure ideals. Takua’s smile expanded, lips curling into something much more sinister and wretched, something much more Arrancar like and true to his nature. Hi-to knew this side of Takua existed, despite Sekai’s insistence that he wasn’t like the others. True as it may have been that hollow nature would always be there lurking below the surface, the same thing that made the Vaizard a threat.

It wasn’t a disturbing sight to Hi-to, not at all. He’d seen his fare share of Arrancar smiles during the massacre, and Takua wouldn’t have been a hollow if he didn’t possess such a trait himself. An Arrancar was a hollow at the top of the evolutionary food chain, and the way the blind man spoke about Tova almost hinted that he understood his intentions perfectly. Perhaps he did understand Tova in a way himself and Sekai would never be able to grasp, despite his obvious hate for it. The battle between his very nature and the remains of his human heart said a lot about his mental state, and although Hi-to trusted his intentions, it was what would never allow him to trust him as a man. The worst things were done under the best intentions, and he knew that better than anyone.

It was probably why Takua found such amusement knowing that Hi-to was here to protect Sekai from his brethren. Nobody knew the hollow race as well as the man before them, the internal battles that they carried in ways much more violent than their Shinigami counterparts. It was what made his input tonight so valuable; to hear the story of what really happened from not only somebody who was really there, but someone who actually understood what had happened and why.

Then the disturbing smile was gone as fast as it had appeared as Sekai took a turn for the worst, like a patient at the breaking point of pneumonia. The depression was lingering on her shoulders so strongly it stopped them both in their tracks, rethinking everything they’d discussed so far and the repercussions. Him and Takua were getting lost in intricate details and events that they were overlooking the basics. Sekai had no experience of Tova and thus was looking at the experience in a different light from her two comrades. She doubted Tova’s intentions as they all did, and her simple take on it had a lot of truth, eye opening to their ignorance and the confusing mesh of emotions.

She was so stiff and tense on her perch, his haori still draped safely around her shoulders and keeping her warm against the biting cold as night settled in. His words seemed to break something in her, her previous depression weighing her down tenfold at the mention of his absence. It only fed his guilt, understanding that for her this might have been a goodbye. It would never be a goodbye and he needed her to know that, yet with all he’d taught her about their life spans it was likely she thought ‘awhile’ could be anywhere between a few months and several centuries. If that was her suspicion then she wasn’t wrong, but most of his workload wasn’t from being a Captain. It was from not having a Lieutenant, somebody to take over record keeping and paperwork and leaving him to manage it all on his own.

The silence settled in once more as she took it all in, his absence and what could potentially happen during it. His ability to perceive Reiatsu was a far cry from Mitsutaka’s, but it didn’t take a master to see how much it was affecting her. So when she smiled and replied with understanding words Hi-to knew it was a farce. She was attempting to hide her true feelings in the way Hi-to himself always had to do in the public eye, only she still had a lot of practice to do if that’s what she hoped to achieve. Sekai was no warrior, and Hi-to hoped she would never have to be. He’d have preferred for her to be able to school her reiatsu, to hide it and remain safe in her shrine. Sekai wasn’t the kind of person he wanted to see scarred by bloodshed and combat the way they had over the years, and he certainly didn’t want her to turn out like him and Takua.

She didn’t have to lie. He didn’t have to be the previous head of interrogation to see it was all a lie, and a poor one at that.

It only furthered the point when she slipped his haori from her shoulders, smoothing out any wrinkles and offering him the heavy robe as if it was a symbol of their departure. He took it from her regardless, slipping it back on and making sure to smooth the heavy cotton out over Hyperion’s hilt comfortably. It was her way of ushering them off in her own way and he could feel the emotion swelling in her uncontrollably. One more push and it was likely she’d burst into tears and have a mental breakdown, and after the interrogation in the motel he didn’t think he could handle seeing her this way, not today.

If this continued one of them was going to snap.

What was surprising was that it wasn’t Sekai that snapped, but Takua. And he didn’t disappoint.

His voice carried such a biting sharpness it was impressive, showing off the backbone most probably didn’t know he had. He snapped Sekai’s name not at all unlike the way Hi-to had in the interrogation room, back when she’d lashed out at him with emotion as they all got caught up in the vortex of human complexity. She wasn’t doing it now. Her passive reaction to all that was happening pained Hi-to as he tried to find the words, where as it bred a deep anger in the Arrancar.

Yet for all his anger and flaring words, Takua had a point. Sekai’s reiatsu was so potent it matched his own, only she wasn’t as trained and refined in the arts of using it as they were. What she lacked in physical strength she likely made up for in spirit, a speciality much like his own. If she could learn to school it, it was possible she could defend herself easily from the lower ranking Espada.

But Takua wasn’t calming down. Tendrils of fire flared from his reiatsu like angry, hissing snakes, smoking and flaring with his rage. It was interesting to note that Takua had an affinity for fire also, though not the means to control it as he did. If he did then he might have thought before raising such an ability in a shrub filled forest.


“Takua, your hollow is showing.” Hi-to sighed, the shout of Takua’s voice startling birds from the trees and the previous chirping of insects had become eerily silent. He understood the other’s anger, but wasn’t hatred and anger what got the world into this mess in the first place? Sekai didn’t need anger. Anger never helped anyone, and revenge even less. “Can’t you see that she’s at the brink of breaking down? She doesn’t want us to see it.”

“She has an incredible reiatsu, but she doesn’t have our schooling. She doesn’t have the demon arts, ceros and balas or release. She doesn’t even know basic hakuda. For all her energy in reiatsu she has no way of harvesting it into killing intent. You know humans can’t fight once severely injured. Blow out their intestines and they die, where as we can still fight. If Tova attacked next week she wouldn’t be ready.” To train her was something Hi-to had promised he would do for her when they first met, and he stood by it now.

Patient, Hi-to waited for the raging Arrancar to stop cursing and shouting, fixing his scabbard and robes in the meantime. His hair was getting long, touching the top of his shoulder blades at the back. Maybe he’d needed to get it cut-

And then Takua actually said something worth thought.

“Sekai, what’s he talking about?” Hi-to turned to her then, voice quiet and opposite of Takua’s own. He was quiet. Too quiet. And by now, surely she knew what happened when he shut down this way.

To know what it’s like to be a hollow.

What else had she not told him?

For anybody else, they could have simply been referring to her time with Nazomi. But with her track record Hi-to knew better than to expect something so simple and once more there was a feeling in his gut that told him this was something she couldn’t bring herself to tell him for a reason. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him because it was traumatic and she feared for his reaction, and as he’d learned only a few days ago when Sekai didn’t want to openly talk about something it was because it was something boat rocking.

Then again, today was nothing but tragedy and potential mass genocide theories, so what was some more salt to rub into the wound?

“He makes it sound like you experienced being a hollow for yourself.” Mild, genial, he made sure to keep all traces of suspicion clear from his voice so as not to give away the storm of emotions threatening to consume him. He hoped it wasn’t true.

******

1623 words: 32 GP
Total GP: 299 GP

If there was a point at this night that Takua could consider a mistake, it would likely have been this one. When he allowed his anger to show, when he tried to evoke a reaction from his friend by using heat instead of understanding. Because Sekai was being beaten back by his words, shuddering under the anger, and he had continued onward. Not because he didn't care, but because he wanted to make her snap with anger back, and show him that steel he knew she had inside. It didn't occur to him until too late that, maybe, it wasn't there right now. That all he was doing was crushing her. She looked at him with...such desperate sadness, for him to stop, and for once he didn't. Because he didn't want her to sink under his words, he wanted her to fight back.
 
It never happened.
 
“I know that!” There was something...twisted in his voice. Because he wasn't angry at Kohara for bringing it up, but he was angry at himself for doing this. He could see her breaking down, but he didn't want her there. That was why he kept going, because he had seen her when she defended someone else. Because he didn't want to feel this pain in her aura, that she was running from them both. Why wasn't she defending herself? What was obvious was how hurt she was when her Shinigami friend said that she wasn't trained, and Takua flinched even in his anger. Yeah, and whose fault was that? His. Five and a half months he had been afraid to teach her anything for fear of hurting her or endangering her. That he had pretended that maybe this corner of his life didn't have to be violent. And the anger was being bled away from underneath, sucked down by the self-recrimination.
 
But he would have given anything, anything, to have taken back that last sentence.
 
He had known it would have caused problems. He had hoped that it would shock her into fighting back against him. But instead he could feel the betrayal, the shock and the nausea that rose from her, and the fire vanished from inside of him. He had made her feel fear, and that was not what he had wanted...but this was the price he was paying. He'd tried to push her when she wouldn't fight back against him, and he'd hurt her instead. Why? Where had it gone? What was he missing? So many centuries away from other people...how had he guessed so wrong here? The sparks around him vanished as he stared at her...and she looked for all the world like he had just sunken his blade through her heart.
 
But her words were confirmation he had never wanted to hear. Even without Sakuya telling him for sure, he could have guessed this as the most likely reason for how she knew so much about Hollows...their experiences that they never should have. But they hadn't been confirmed. It hadn't been a surety...and her reaction was all he needed to be sure of what had really happened that night. But he remained silent, looking at her even as Hi-to joined in on it, and he was left only with the sickening feeling that things would have been better if he had let Sekai go back home and recover from all of this. But...no, that was wrong. Because she didn't need to have either of them discount her when she so obviously wanted to help.
 
But do I want to put her in that danger? The thought rose before he could stop it, and his heart twisted. No, he didn't...but it would come for her regardless of what he wanted. The only thing he could do was what he had promised Sakuya so many months ago, and train her for this world. The thing he hadn't done...because he'd been selfish. The sense of betrayal was so strong he thought he could touch it, and this time it was his turn to flinch. Because the look on her face said it all. And then she looked about her...and Takua's heart stopped. She wanted to run. She was looking to flee because of what he had said.
 
Oh, he'd been so very wrong to say that.
 
But he stood as tall as he could anyways, even as a mixture of anger and shame burned inside of him. That she had to talk about this was his fault...but she shouldn't have had to burden this alone. Just because she had seen the human that had been at the core of Nazomi, the soul he had sprung from, didn't mean that he was any less evil. She simply understood...
 
Which was when he realized it. By having seen him, the inside of him and everything that Nazomi had gone through, Sekai empathized with him. Of course she would never want him harmed, because she'd gotten to know him...and for her, she couldn't condemn him anymore. Even if what he had done had hurt her terribly. She excused his actions because she understood them. Because she had put a human face on him, he was no longer something that she could hate.
 
Takua's stomach twisted as he listened to the last of what she had to say, and then sighed himself. “Actually, you could more accurately say that Nazomi met me instead of the other way around. And I never brought up that I met you, so this hardly had anything to do with it. I just got to see what he was like.” And he didn't like what he had seen. Brutal, gruesome, cruel death. Crude and mad. Maybe he wasn't like that in his memories, but that was the man he had seen. Oh, sane enough to function, but still quite mad. His lips twisted into a pained smile, and his shoulders slumped. “But you knew too much for it to be anything else. It wasn't sympathy when you told me that you knew I had to eat, it was empathy.” And once she knew what it was like to be a Hollow...there could only be so many extraordinary reasons why.
 
Takua looked down, unable to face Sekai right now even though he could see her anyways. To have seen all of that...no wonder that she feared become a Hollow. She'd gotten a taste of what would come. But the Arrancar laughed softly, gently...and there was only sadness there, “I'm sorry Sekai-san. But I understand that better than you think I do.” Of course he did. He was an Arrancar who had retained much of his humanity...how did he know that he wasn't devouring Hollows that would become like him when they grew older? He didn't. There was no way to tell. He only knew that there was a human that had lost themselves, and that most of them stayed as monstrously amoral as they started. But his smile hardened anyways, “But Sekai-san. Every Hollow is human under the mask. They're the worst of humanity, bent and twisted. That's...why they're a monster. Knowing that, Shinigami purify them. That doesn't make what he did any less wrong.”
 
Then he shook his head sadly. If Sekai had really thought that by telling them a glossed over story they'd be more apt to stay away from Nazomi, she had been dead wrong. If anything, by keeping the truth of what happened away from them, she'd tried to hide why she was empathetic toward him...and made it seem even worse. “Sekai-san. You can want to protect him, because you saw his soul. But we want to protect you. And honestly, the glossed over version of the story made me want to kill him a lot more than the truth, and it only made me more curious as to what you weren't telling me.” It was gentle, but it was honest.  He hadn't been honest as he should have been, and maybe it'd be good for her to hear what he really thought in this case.  Because her stance, her reiatsu, said that she expected pain.

Why?
 
But it was good that this was the reason.  Because thinking that he had abused her so badly she was protecting her abuser was a good deal worse to Takua than knowing that her empathy had good cause.  Not that it made Nazomi's ability to do that any less worrisome.

 
But part of his attention was on the Shinigami. Hearing that would only put Nazomi near the top of the kill list. To be fair to Hi-to, it was also the reason that Takua himself wanted to burn the man with a Cero, but he'd at least leave the Arrancar alive. Between Sekai, Sakuya, and his own guesses, he had already worked out the entirety of the story. But this was the first time that Hi-to had heard this, and it was his reaction Takua was worried about now.
 
...that, and wondering if he should be apologizing to Sekai for getting her in a heap of trouble. It had been in a good cause but...
 
...well, the saying was that the road to hell was paved with good intentions. He might not know if hell existed or was simply some bullshit Christian boogeyman, but he knew what it meant. And all he had done so far tonight was prove it right.
 
WC: 1560 | GP: 31 | Total: 376

Takua’s anger subsided ever so slightly, small flickers of animalistic flames calming some until only the hiss of smoke remained. Sekai’s continued submission wasn’t helping the Arrancar’s despair any, his voice thick with emotional turmoil as he lashed out. His voice lacked the emotion from before, body flinching as Hi-to ran the point home. It was obvious; Takua blamed himself for Sekai’s lack of training, though how he thought this was his fault Hi-to couldn’t say. He had no obligation to see to Sekai’s training, especially at the cost of his own exile or death sentence. His own nonchalance only bred the despair, dimming the feral anger into something much more manageable. It was just as well; Hi-to had cut out the tongues of a few men to keep them silent in the past, and for Sekai’s sake he really didn’t want to have to exercise that threat.

But for all of his anger strewn words Sekai remained mostly silent, shoulders hunched and eyes glassy with defeat. Takua was rubbing it in without getting the rise he so obviously wanted, needed to see, self pity controlling her motions as she avoided his gaze. Hi-to couldn’t really relate to such an emotion, would even go so far as to say it confused him, yet another thing that set him and Sekai worlds apart. Perhaps Takua did understand that side of her better than he ever would, his tone softer and gentle when he had the energy to try. Hi-to tried and failed miserably in that respect.

Sekai flinched in response to his own input, not because his words were unnecessarily blunt, but because they were true and they all knew it. Power meant nothing if the body that wielded it didn’t know how to use it. Sekai wouldn’t appreciate the ugly reality of their words, her hand moving to cup her stomach only confirming it as his words seemed to make her physically sick. She was victim to her own mortality, and they weren’t going to baby her anymore. This was real life, the harsh reality, and if she wasn’t going to sit quietly and mind her own business then she was going to have to deal with the consequences.

It was all so much to take in, the heat of Takua’s latent reiryoku and Hi-to’s dead stare pinning her like a cornered animal. It was all she could do to find comfort by the side of the stream, embracing her knees as if they might give her some ounce of comfort. It was understandable that she was depressed, shocked, thinking Takua had run off to confront Nazomi personally much like Hi-to planned to do. The statement was clarified by the Arrancar only a moment later, though Hi-to was mildly surprised the man hadn’t relayed that information to her sooner considering how much of her life Nazomi controlled.

Facing away from them, Hi-to listened intently as she finally took to answering his simple question. Her voice was so bitter and drained, a stark contrast to the perky woman he usually kept company with. And it was no surprise, when the things she spoke of could only be described as traumatizing and could only be the product of some obscure power the other possessed. Hi-to had wanted to kill Nazomi for his sins before, and now those concerns were slowly starting to fade away. He didn’t want to hurt Nazomi, kill him, or anything of the sort. Not with the way Sekai spoke about him with such misplaced care.

He wanted to find him and violently shred him to pieces.

It was emotional and it was twisted, but Hi-to was mostly blunt to the otherwise brutal confession. All Shinigami were taught to remain cold to the humanity of hollows, and even Takua reflected that knowledge somewhat. It wasn’t a debate; hollows weren’t human, and they never would be again. Once a human was paralysed through a stroke there was no way to repair such a permanent relapse, and hollows were much the same. Once your humanity was lost you couldn’t just simply find it again. Hi-to’s fingers thrummed against the branch of a nearby tree, waiting patiently for the white haired woman to finish her monologue before interjecting with his own.

“I’m not even going to start on what happened for you to know all this Sekai. But make no mistake; Nazomi is not a human underneath, and he’s never going to be. I was a human once, Tova Diablo was a human once. Those were other life times, and are not who we are today.” He agreed with Takua’s empathetic point of view, but of course, Sekai hadn’t experienced the cycle of life as they had. What Nazomi had shown her had only been a taste, but she couldn’t understand what it was to live that way for hundreds of years.

"We've had to learn what it means to survive. The more naive you keep yourself, the worse your fall is going to be. Don't be an idiot Sekai. Do you really think Nazomi feels even remote sympathy for you? This isn’t the human world. We don’t connect through compromise or sympathy, nor do we connect to each other through shared pain.” During his time in Karakura Hi-to had seen some of the most fascinating things, the way humans connected, always looked for the good under the bad, even when it wasn’t there. They persevered on the minor details and failed at the larger ideals.

It was pathetic.

“Now, what are you going to do about it?” Hi-to challenged, eyes closing briefly. “Right now. If we were Tova Diablo and the Primera Espada, what would you do? We’re here to consume you, turn you into something so ugly even Nazomi would smile. I know you’re not pathetic Sekai. Now show me.”

He wanted to see he her bare her teeth. Takua’s intentions were noble, but the flames and temper dulled the imploring nature of it all. How was he going to be able to sleep at night knowing she was out here, unwilling to go so far as to swat a fly?

Hi-to could make a man out of her if he had to.

They both would.

*****

1036 words: 20GP
Total GP: 319 GP

Being around other people was terrible for your ability to keep a secret and not let anyone know that there was even a secret to be kept at all. As Sekai protested, her words were like a slap in the face. No worse than some of the people throughout history...she didn't know that he remembered. Oh yes, being a spiritual being throughout history had exposed him to some fascinating things, but it was how he had died that came to mind now. How many tens of thousands had died for greed and for misplaced zealotry in the Fourth Crusade? But then, how many millions of Hollows lived in Hueco Mundo? The largest army in the universe, twisted human souls in numbers beyond counting.
 
For seconds, Takua just...looked at Sekai, unsure whether he really agreed or disagreed with her.
 
He was totally still during that time, even as his emotions churned. It was only when he remembered that doing and saying nothing was just as suspicious as saying the wrong thing that he sighed and spoke. Weary, compared to her desperate tone. The voice of a man who had seen so many things, who had witnessed things to scar his soul for the rest of eternity...attached to the voice of a young one. “Murder is still murder, regardless of our choice, there's no justice in it. And most Hollows and even Arrancar enjoy the killing. Not all, but a majority. We are the darkness of humanity, we are capable of everything found in the history books- and worse.” That didn't mean that they weren't capable of light, of peace and even wisdom, but it was so much rarer to reach those ideals.
 
Hi-to, however, was angry. That much was clear from the content of his emotion, from the look on his face as the Shinigami turned away from both Sekai and the blind Arrancar. Takua didn't like the all-or-nothing language the man used, although he agreed, in general, with the content. Most spirits left behind the human lifetime they had lived, forgetting it entirely apart from the personality that came from it. But for some reason, hearing it from the man annoyed him a little. Takua wasn't sure why though, even as he waited for that enlightenment to come. It didn't, though, so he was forced to guess. Was it because it was coming from a Shinigami? Takua often elevated them far above himself because of the role they played in the Cycle...perhaps he was feeling something else, other than the words, that caused his back to stiffen up a bit.
 
Or perhaps it was the sheer arrogance, the assurance that of course Hi-to was right. It was in the way he spoke, his posture, that there were no other possible points of view that were correct. Most Shinigami were like that, and it irritated the Arrancar to no end whenever he ran into it. That a good deal of his own kind also had that kind of arrogance was another reason why he disliked them.
 
Of course Sekai took offense to that, especially the way that Hi-to implied that she knew nothing about the Cycle. It was somewhat amusing, although no such mirth showed on his face. Sekai was the inheritor of the shrine and its traditions, and he'd dropped in more than once when she was engaged in its rituals. Not that he agreed with the religion at all, in fact he frequently despised it for what it represented, but he'd told her the truth about the cycle enough to have drilled it into her head. Of course, as she continued on, the amusement vanished. Yes, one could very well say that the life you lived as a human continued to affect your life after that. If nothing else, the personality of the soul stayed the same. They changed after that point, but...the start was what they had been.
 
He had noticed when her emotions had wavered toward the negative, toward sorrow, when he had told her that not giving him details had made it worse. And now, as Kohara continued to speak, the reverse was happening. Irritation, and abruptly that steel that Takua had wanted was rising, coming to the fore, along with anger. He didn't agree with the Shinigami here, because the man was wrong. Arrancar had empathy and sympathy, could connect through pain. Takua, Amaya, the old Tova, Tori...all of them examples showing how someone could connect through something other than violence. It was rarer, as they were, but it was possible. But weren't the souls in Soul Society human? Didn't they have the same capacity for empathy that humanity had? They hadn't fallen, they weren't twisted. Takua frowned, but Sekai's aura rippled with anger...
 
And her words were a shot in the gut. Takua watched with a blank face, feeling almost wry amusement as the fire he had wanted to see showed itself. Interesting, that she should show it now instead of when he asked for it. But mostly, he felt the impact of what she has said. Greater than they were before? He wanted to laugh. No, he was not greater than what he had been. He was lesser, so far below what he had been as a mortal. Maybe it was mostly meant for Kohara, but it felt like she was talking to him as well...and she couldn't have been more wrong. It should have been funny. Forget his former life? Forget that he had used to be human?
 
Never.
 
The ground rumbled as its mistress expressed her displeasure, and Takua couldn't be just a touch satisfied, buried although it was under the sudden avalanche of memories and thoughts her words had evoked. This was the woman he had wanted to see fight back against Hi-to's words that she wasn't skilled enough to fight, even if he knew that it was certainly true enough in many ways. But then, was she really so unskilled? He'd never really taken the time to find out. The earth under his feet moved, and as tied to it as he was, he could practically feel the beat of her temper in it. It thrummed with her agitation, rising up to warn the enemies of its controller that she wasn't fucking around right now. But...no matter how happy he was to have felt that, to see that and to have shown it to the Shinigami, her words still felt like a blow.
 
Did she really doubt? Or was she just trying to prove that Hi-to was wrong using his words against him? Takua's face was blank and his emotions were controlled, but there was a touch of sorrow in his aura. He wasn't even looking at the Shinigami right now, although he had his own thoughts about what the man had said and done. The idiot. Why would he say that he had no capacity for empathy, for sympathy, for bonds through another's pain?
 
Sekai finished, the anger mostly vanished from her voice, but the steel was still there, and Takua shook his head wryly before he spoke. “Kohara-san, I would have to disagree with you. Even Arrancar still feel empathy, sympathy. We might not show it as much, we might show it mostly to those we trust of our own kind, but it's there.” At the very least, for the freak of a Hollow named Takua, it still beat inside of his heart. Pounding through him with every pulse, oh yes, he had his share of empathy.
 
So angry...why? He didn't know all of the reasons, only that she was. He could guess...because Hi-to had said that none of them had empathy, when that was so very wrong. Belittling everyone, saying that she was wrong for wanting to believe in emotions, in each other. So many reasons...and all Takua could do was stand there, feeling the edges of a chasm in his heart, wondering what lay down below. He could feel the crack, even if he couldn't see it. The gap from which a terrifying sound emanated. Something was failing there, coming undone inside of him, and he didn't know what. But he didn't need to know what to know that her questioning him, and his motives, hurt. And as he opened his mouth to speak the truth, it hurt even more, “To answer you, Sekai-san. Of course it was not a farce. Nor do I have a plan for you- beyond simply being a friend.” His voice was quiet and soft, but held no clue to the pain that radiated through his heart.
 
Takua gave a small, sad smile, “I do, and have, felt empathy and sympathy. Now, in the past, and will continue to do so.” If he had a failing, it was that he was too empathetic. He identified too easily with other people.
 
It made it hard to kill, to hunt. But that was fine, because he didn't want to kill and he didn't want to hunt. Tethering himself to that humanity, that ability to feel for other people...that was what he needed. To keep people like Sekai safe from the Hollow part of him, who did desire to hunt and to prove its strength. And as he had told Sekai so long ago...he clutched all of the pain that he had caused to him, keeping it close, so that he wouldn't cause more of it. Because he didn't want to.
 
He only wanted to protect people. Save people. Learn things, make others happy...and one day, pass on. That was the natural way of things.
 
It was only apt for a monster to die, after all.
 
WC: 1602 | GP: 32 | Total: 408

It was such a typical thought of Sekai that Hi-to shouldn’t have been surprised by her response, always rationalising with the most optimistic point of view. But she wasn’t like him; she wasn’t a realist. She was dreamer, teaching him that it’s okay to aim for the sky, and him, holding her close enough to earth so that the sun wouldn’t burn her. She was open minded by nature; him, only for tactical advantage. Despite the things she’d witnessed she was still incredibly open minded, believing them all to be that much more similar than they were different.

And then her brows knit in frustration, much in the same way Ayumi’s would against questions she didn’t want to hear before he’d broken her body and spirit. Why the thought even crossed his mind was something he didn’t want to ponder. He’d spent the last 20 years forgetting that woman, but the way Sekai’s expressions tore at him made his gut clench in a way he wasn’t entirely comfortable with. He’d been trained in interrogation as long as he could remember, and getting a rise out of the woman was only too easy. Was this an interrogation session? It was a lot finer than the last time he’d questioned her, combing away the grand exterior to pry at the ugly parts underneath. But it was important, he knew it to be so, and he would continue to push until she understood.

“Your life is guided by several factors. The relationships you form, the people around you who influence you, your experiences and memories. I can tell you that the massacre, my life now and my superiors have influenced me a lot more than my many mortal lives must have. Thousands of years ago I could have been an arrancar like Takua; it matters not now. This is who I am now.” And as Sekai was firm in her own beliefs, that was the harsh reality of it. Even if Hi-to could remember his past life, he was fairly certain it would do little to influence his decisions today. Protecting the balance would have never crossed his fickle mind, and his life was likely ruled by first world problems. He wasn’t like Sekai back then. He wouldn’t have had the power to know any better, to change things like she could.

But it was no use. The irritation continued to breed like wildfire, her small hands coming to brush her temples as the forest around her reared to life. Water rippled in a reverse stream, the creak of swaying trees likely to alert unwelcome company to their location if she wasn’t careful. Hi-to cast a glance at Takua, noting the man’s blank expression. He obviously didn’t agree with his words, though the man’s opinion mattered little to him. He’d said it himself; Arrancar were monsters who enjoyed their kill, the majority of them, at least. Sekai would do well to keep it under check, and as Hi-to picked a stray leaf from his hair he had to wonder how she’d survived this long without getting killed.

And then there it was again, the shared pain everyone was so in love with. Hi-to was growing tired of how often such words were thrown into the wind, how despair ruled the human race as much as it did the hollows. It was weakness. He was a soldier, and if he’d ever let himself fall down the path of sorrow he’d never have found himself with his Captaincy as he did today.

“You humans are so obsessed with your pain. You’re just infatuated with it. Cry the most at a funeral and you must be the best person ever. Depress over a lost relationship and it must have been something special, right?” They were immortal, and for them, time went on. It was only natural humans couldn’t understand that, but even Takua? Granted, hollows were sorrow incarnate, so Hi-to couldn’t find it in himself to blame the other for that weakness. Seeing Sekai’s life be contorted by such a fickle emotion hurt, and something he wanted to fix if he could help it. Her life was too short to be grasped by sadness and ruined before she had the chance to bloom.

After the massacre, it wouldn’t have been unusual for him to have fallen into depression much in the same way his peers had. And yet he’d moved on, pushed past the emotional suicide that came with Tova, Ayumi, Maya, and in its place he’d become strong, found drive. He’d become the perfect soldier. But was he happy? Hi-to couldn’t say, but knowing he hadn’t become a pathetic excuse for a man was contentment enough.

But to think that Sekai thought it was all a farce, just because he didn’t lose himself the way she so easily did...

Hi-to met her gaze steady, honest and with no need to lie. He’d never lied to her, as much as he’d wanted to keep her safe in ignorance for the longest time. ”If how I felt about you was a farce, why would I be here? I’d have finished Takua and not given you a chance to argue about it. I’m not an emotional investor like you Sekai. I’m a soldier, a machine bred by a military. What do you want me to say? ‘It’ll be alright’? Because I’m not here to give that to you. I’m here to protect you, because you’re like a sibling to me.”

And yet he’d offended Takua as well with his statement, though it wasn’t altogether surprising considering the blind Arrancar’s nature. His blunt words had often offended those used to more polite patterns of speech, though he wasn’t here to sugar coat anything the way his subordinates often did. ”You said it yourself, Takua. Arrancar are monsters. Of course, there are a few defects. You’re meant to be monsters in your society, but nobody’s perfect.”

It was a low jab, perhaps. Takua was different from his kin in the way he thought, the way he felt. For many Arrancar such things could be seen as a sign of weakness, human traits that contradicted their lack of heart; a freak.

”What makes you strong is being different. It’s what will make you transcend to something better than your peers, like Tova Diablo did.” Was Takua destined for greatness? Hi-to couldn’t say, and he had better things to ponder. What the hollow did was of little concern to him so long as it didn’t involve Sekai, though knowing in his absence there was another looking out for her mortality helped put his mind at ease.

*****

1104 words: 22 GP
Total GP: 341 GP

Kohara's perspective was interesting, certainly cold. Colder than any that Takua had ever espoused, and not a great deal warmer than many Arrancar. Certainly there was arrogance there, that his perspective was right, and that was it. More than that, it was the way that the man said you humans that reeked of superiority in much the same way that shit smelled. As though they were less than him, belonged beneath him. A throng of humanity mattered only because of their place in the cycle. It was the same attitude that many Arrancar had- only that their perspective was that a group of humans were food. One saw souls to guide, the other saw souls to consume. Neither one of them could think of every person as an actual person of their own right with their own hopes and dreams, fears and secrets. It got under his skin, especially with the rest of Hi-to's words. What was wrong with sorrow? It kept Takua sane, it kept him closer to his humanity. It let him remember the lost that he had killed with his own two hands and the gallons of blood that he had shed.
 
Something about the response stung Sekai, and she took a step backward. A moment later, the ground moved, shifting like a creature who was drifting closer to wakefulness, like a blanket that had been drawn up over a child. That had been his first reaction to the way that earth moved under him, and as the seconds passed, he found that analogy more and more apt. His senses darted out, watching the reiatsu that spilled from Sekai, wondering what it was that she was doing. Conscious or not, she was doing something. He could feel it...as well as the surge of panic that swelled in the woman. His own feet slammed to the ground and felt the tremors that rocked through it, trying to understand what was shifting beneath the earth. At least, that was what it felt like...
 
But this was no real earthquake, and he couldn't quite get a feel for what was going on. He only had two sure things here, that Sekai was involved with it, and that she didn't want whatever it was to happen. At least, that was what he could detect from her reiatsu, the panic that had spread through her and that she was so obviously trying to control. The mortal woman was so gentle, and an argument like this was hurting her, was tearing into her in ways large and small. Takua could see that pain, knew that he was a part of the reason why...and hated it.
 
Hated that he was part of the cause of it, even if it was part of a good cause. Couldn't he just accept that some pain in life was necessary to move forward? He knew it was true, knew that it had been necessary for him to reach this point in life himself. But when he saw her hurting like this, he just...wanted to be able to take it away, to restore her smile.
 
Why was he the cause of so much of her pain?
 
He smiled faintly, sadly, as she echoed words that he had said in a slightly different way months ago. Sorrow as the chain that bound him to humanity. It reminded him that he was still somewhat human, still cared for the fates and lives of others. That mattered.
 
Takua flinched as Hi-to's words hit too close to the mark. Defective. Hi-to didn't, couldn't, know how true his words were, that Takua truly was a freak of a monster. Other Hollows didn't have the capability to care for others just after they had lost themselves to the darkness of their hearts. He had. He'd have that control, that humanity, even just after turning. And in that moment, he had clawed out his own eyes standing atop the pile of bodies that he had created, stopped the regeneration of his eyes, and then fled. Even now, he could not see. They were wounds that he had inflicted upon himself, there should be no reason that they were unhealable. But they were. And all throughout the centuries, he had bled for the fallen, he had retained who he was, even as everyone else lost it.
 
There was something wrong with him. Broken. He hadn't become the Hollow he should have in that moment when he had lost his heart. And that truth was reflected in him even now. How many other Arrancar could still love like he could? Few. How many Arrancar saw human lives as equal to their own at the very least? All lives.
 
Takua's smile was a mask, masterfully constructed, but still a mask, and he inclined his head slightly toward the interrogator. He didn't know about the second part of that, that it would allow him to ascend to new and different heights. He lacked something, some piece of his soul, and there was no connection between him and the power that lay smoldering in the sword by his side. Had lacked that power for a decade now. Clearly, the difference between him and the rest of the Arrancar didn't give him incredible amounts of power. At the very least, not enough to make it into the ranks of the Espada. “True enough, I'm unlike the rest of my kind in many ways.  An aberration.” He had no problem saying those words, as though they didn't harm him, accepting that he was simply unlike his kind.  Even if, somewhere inside, something hurt in him.  Pain that radiated from his heart at the words.  Why?  Slight amusement slipped into his voice as he looked over at the Shinigami, “For which I'm very happy.”
 
...and he was, even if that difference hurt him sometimes. It would be easier for him to live if he didn't care about others this way. If he didn't love a Mortal as a friend, if he could more easily murder. Hell, life would be more fun too if he could laugh and laugh at the sight of destruction that he had caused, if the suffering of people caused him enjoyment. In so many ways, he knew that life would be better. Simpler, at least, to be as black as his race implied. Evil had its benefits, right?
 
...but he couldn't enjoy them. He just couldn't do that...not really. Even if, sometimes, he wanted to kill someone. He wanted them to suffer, to burn, to feel the pain that they had caused another. And other times, death caused him to smile or laugh, because it was funny. Death happened to everyone at one point or another, even the otherwise immortal Hollows died through violence. Why couldn't he end up laughing at it? Because it was wrong. Because it was the mark of someone who didn't care. And he did care, tried to care, drove himself to be as human as possible. Because he didn't want to fall.
 
Especially now, when Sekai would weep if he did.
 
He didn't want to be the cause of her tears.
 
It was clear that Sekai was now thinking of Hi-to's little roleplay scenario. Evaluating what she would do to fight back against the two strongest predators that Hueco Mundo had to offer. Honestly, there wasn't much that she would be able to do against those two...not that she really knew it. Or, maybe, just maybe, she did. Takua watched her and wondered what was going through her mind right now. He didn't have long to wait, as the ground moved and swallowed up his ankles in the moment before he had time to react. Good speed, if he were to be honest about it. A moment later, his feet were stuck in stone, and half a dozen jagged rocks shot through the air at them. He could track them easily on his echolocation, could have defended himself against them.
 
He didn't. He wanted to see how much it would hurt to get hit.
 
She was running when the stone slammed through his shoulder, embedding itself far enough that it had pierced bone. He'd give her good marks for the attempt, but the attack hadn't had any kind of killing force behind it. A distraction, nothing more. But at he looked at it, and at her as she lifted the stones up to create herself a bridge across the rushing water...she stopped. He didn't like what he felt through her reiatsu, the flush of cold guilt and regret, and instead of running like she should have...
 
She whirled, and rushed toward the Arrancar as Takua watched incredulously. So much for playing through any longer with this, clearly. But if that was the best that she could do, then there was no way she would be able to stand up to an Arrancar. Maybe a Gillian, because it was a mindless monster, but never to a humanoid. And since most Arrancar were stronger than the Gillians that roamed the deserts...no. He needed to have trained her months ago, and the next few days were shit for doing that. He wasn't going to be able to do it for at least a week or a week and a half, and now he needed to do it now.
 
...even if he still didn't really want to. Because he didn't really think that Sekai wanted to fight. Everything about it was against what she stood for, what she was doing right this second.
 
The palm of his hand hit his forehead with a sharp retort as Sekai apologized and stated her intent to heal the wound. Amused exasperation written across every inch of his face, Takua laughed at her indignation and reached up with his other hand. It was easy to move against this much pain, it wasn't as though he hadn't had practice over so long. With an easy jerk, he hauled the stone missile out of his shoulder with a wet shrrk as it carved out more of his flesh with a wince. “You are a terrible roleplayer Sekai-san.” Of course it took half a second for her face to assume the expression of a kicked puppy, which was a kick in the nuts for the Arrancar. But it was true enough, and he shook his head again as the wound in his shoulder surged with flesh and skin, covering the hole in seconds.
 
Takua didn't, however, move from the stone that still encased his feet. Instead, he was evaluating the way that she had shaped her attacks and the binding that had locked down his feet. Tapping the rock dagger in his hands, he felt its construction. Thoughtfully staring off into the distance, and then he finally shook his head again before he looked at her. His voice had slipped so easily into what Sekai knew as his teacher persona, “Not bad, but you're right, I could have avoided it. As a distraction, it had its use, but as a weapon, it's a bit weak. Your binding was far better constructed, but since all spiritual beings can stand on spirit particles we create under our feet, you can't rely on them standing on the ground for you. Against another human, it would serve well enough.”
 
But she didn't have any killing force behind that. And while that might be because she didn't want to actually harm her two friends, it didn't make him feel confident in her ability to survive against a Gillian. Instead, he asked a different question. It was a tangent that he could easily think of, given her ability. “That said, against those two, nothing. Not because you're deficient, but because Tova is strong on a different dimension than any of us. Why didn't you drop into the earth? They can't pursue you through the stone, and would have to blast it away, while you're immersed in what gives you power.” It was an honest question, and not one that phrased or intoned to insult her intelligence. But to make her to think of different ways of doing things. Using a power like hers, so open to new ways of doing things, relied on finding those new ways. Having someone give inspiration was often what you needed to find those applications.
 
How many times over the centuries had he taken inspiration from another Hollow, Human, or Shinigami, and then adapted it to himself? Times beyond counting.
 
It was probable that Hi-to would say something here that was blunt, about how she was unable to fight with that level of skill. Takua braced himself for that, and for the look at Sekai's face when she was told that she wasn't able to fight. It seemed to be important to her, no matter her pacifist tendencies, and Takua didn't know why. Other than that she would want to help people. That was obvious.
 
She always wanted to help people, even when her own comfort was the cost.
 
WC: 2152 | GP: 43 | Total: 451

Naive but stubborn to a fault as she was, Hi-to couldn’t say it was a trait he particularly disliked about her. Sekai was no fragile woman, and even those she remained closest to could do little to sway her morals, not even him. It was one of the reasons why Hi-to even let her out of his sight half the time with an easy mind. If even Nazomi couldn’t twist her into something intangible and warped then it was unlikely anyone short of Tova ever could. And it was a preferable state. They could teach her self defence and the channels of reiryoku until they were blue in the face, but the true power of the human will was something neither of them could gift her.

Yet as unswaying as she was she was still deeply affected by their words, her brandy colored eyes wide and unseeing as she stumbled back a step into the chilling stream. It’s bite made her flinch; an involuntarily reaction to the shock and instantaneous in its circumstances, the earth flaring to life with a rumbling yawn as her emotions grew. It was as if Mother Nature herself was a living, breathing entity nurturing Sekai under her care, agitated towards the men responsible for her growing distress. Sekai couldn’t help it; it wasn’t her fault. The mountain was starting to give way and although she was responsible for its anger she was powerless to stop it.

Her voice shook with every syllable she uttered, and for every choked word the rumbling rose anew, angrier, enraged. It reminded Hi-to of a time when he had been but a civilian boy, scared of what his power could do to the people around him if he didn’t lock himself away. Heat would collect and gather in vibrant bursts much in the way the earth was reacting to Sekai now, such power horrifying to those who didn’t yet know how to control it. And what a splendid power it was. Even without the practice, the killing intent, the experience there was a potential there for great things, things that would make Sekai desirable to the enemy if she let herself be discovered as she was now.

He wondered if she was whispering mantras inside her head like he used to long before she was born, panicking as she told herself to keep it in, to not let it out and hurt the world around her. He wondered if it was making her panic more, as it had for him once upon a time.

He’d give her an A for effort though. Her eyes were glued to the unsure mountain as if it would continue to rain down on them at any second, meanwhile splitting her concentration on their biting words. It simply wasn’t made to last, and when she bended out of their battle of wills he felt no satisfaction from it. Hi-to could never change Sekai’s mind, and truthfully, he didn’t want to. Surely she knew as much to be true for himself also, only her pride wasn’t so broad as to continue a stalemate where it wasn’t needed. No, indeed her concentration was on something much bigger and sinister, and when he directed his proposition at her it seemed just the distraction she needed. Hi-to wanted that power and she needed an excuse to execute it.

Hi-to couldn’t hide the small smile as she referred to the Primera and the king with honorific’s as Takua might be expected to do, her manners a never ending source of his amusement. It almost reminded him of Ayumi, a time where she’d still call him sir while he meticulously slit her throat and back. The memory made him feel nauseous, eyes flickering away from Sekai to focus on her method of attack and prepare accordingly lest it be precise. Thinking about it, Tova Diablo was one of the few enemies that would probably grant her a minute to get her attack together, purely because he seemed to enjoy playing with his food. He loved giving his victims false hope and expectations, though he couldn’t say the Primera would be as merciful. Every second she took to concentrate was a point lost in her favour. They had to be quick, fluid, and hesitating could mean death if it ever came down to it.

And then suddenly she was ready, launching her attack from components of earth –stone—Hi-to realised, giving him enough time to dodge, but for any other mortal or hollow it could have easily been fatal.

And even for those a little stronger, it would hurt- a fact proven by Takua who had made no such effort to evade the attack aimed his way. The smell of blood tickled Hi-to’s nose before the sight did, making him turn to gaze at the spike torn into his shoulder and taking chunks of flesh with it. Sekai’s horrified squeak filled the air shortly after, and Takua’s slap to the forehead finished it. Hi-to sighed. It was going to be a long, long night.

Takua, for his part, did a good job of removing the offending object with hardly a break in his stride. It likely wasn’t the first time the man had seen extreme pain and if he wasn’t careful it certainly wasn’t going to be the last, and Hi-to watched with a critical eye as the wound made diligent work at repairing itself. He’d felt the presence of regeneration previously on several occasions, but this was likely the first time he’d ever seen it work at close range. Threads of muscle, veins, arteries and blood vessels drew on proteins made from reiryoku to stitch themselves back together, their speed impressive and leaving not even a scar in their wake. Other than the cost of stamina it obviously required it was an incredible technique, and never had the temptation to strap a specimen to his research table been as strong as it was then.

But Takua was Sekai’s friend, and she’d never forgive him for such an act. There was always more Arrancar in the dessert after all, like Nazomi.

The encasing in their feet however was something to boast about, particularly for someone of Sekai’s calibre with little to no experience or training. How long had she been able to do this? It was likely that it was this kind of ability that allowed her to live so long without consumption from hollows, and it would help Hi-to sleep a little easier at night to know she wasn’t entirely defenceless. Truthfully, he was being a little harsh; no amount of training could prepare her for Tovs Diablo or Erasmus should they be enchanted to meet her.

Takua did a good job at explaining the ins and outs, the pros and cons, and for the most part Hi-to let him because he agreed. As a military Captain it wasn’t his job to be consolidating or encouraging; it was to be harsh and critical, something Sekai didn’t seem to be handling too well tonight. Truly he’d spent too much time around women like Kiriko who matched his own ideals and training, and knew how to take a good kick to the pride in stride.

“Well. You’re not going to get raped or mugged any time soon.” Hi-to mused dryly, wiggling his toes to find that indeed, they wouldn’t budge without required effort. Though it did beg the question....

“Why aren’t you running?” Eyebrow raised, Hi-to couldn’t help the small, twisted smile that captured his lips. Sekai may have been a terrible roleplayer, but he was not. He’d been lying his whole life in the face of the public eye, had a plethora of fake personas ready for undercover missions and the like. He told her he’d be her worst enemy and thus she must attack, but he hadn’t said the game was over.

Steaming, cracking, smoking. The baked earth beneath his feet wasn’t too much of a stretch between himself and her, and as his eyes flickered sky blue he let her know that indeed he was very, very serious. If this was a training exercise then he was going to show her the basic ropes, and 'fair' wasn't a word used in Seireitei training. ”If you can’t even run to save your own life, how will you run to the aid of others in time? Run Sekai. Now. You don’t want to see what could happen to you if you hesitate."

******

1410 words:  28 GP
Total GP:  369 GP

To be completely fair, Sekai had it right. If she were lucky, if she were horribly lucky, Tova and Erasmus would merely laugh as she ran away, playing with her as a cat played with a mouse. Only the cost at the end of the game would be her soul instead of just a critique by her friends. But it was also possible that they wouldn't laugh, that they wouldn't see her as anything but a bug to be squashed. But that would just end with her on the ground, dead, before she could even attempt the binding against them.
 
But the other part of her objection...that it could draw in her family, that it might kill them, had some merit. Except that, against Tova, not even this distance would save them. Her being worried about them, being afraid that they might get drawn into this, could be enough. Or he could just cast his perceptions around and find the shrine, find the people there, and draw the appropriate conclusions for a place that backed up to these woods.
 
...maybe it'd be best not to scare her with that. Realistic although it might be for the King, who would probably be happy to see what she would do when presented with that problem.
 
But she was also making a few assumptions that were wrong that he could point out, “A Cero. And they might do that anyways. But not going to ground doesn't mean they won't do that. And while they could certainly deal with you in near-silence, it's also usually an Arrancar's style to go for big booms and hang the death toll.” Takua flexed his feet, seeing how easily they'd break free from the binding. Not easily, but it'd shatter from a well placed Bala. “Good though, I'm glad you thought of it.” It was just that her plan wasn't enough. Not if she intended to survive. Which was a different worry altogether...that she was sacrificing herself so that her family could live and be just fine. His attention sharpened on her, wondering if that was the real reason she had done that. Draw their ire, and flee in a way that would bring them after her, away from everyone else...where she had no chance for escape, but they wouldn't be harmed.
 
Then again, it wasn't as though she'd have a great chance for escape against Tova and the Primera anyways. But that was when Hi-to spoke up. The man had, thus far at least, felt like he had agreed with Takua's interpretation of what Sekai had done. But...Takua hadn't expected this to continue. Sekai's silence glance at him was enough to know she had thought the same. But Takua felt the heat in the earth, in the restraints that held Hi-to.
 
Hi-to was incredibly serious about this.
 
Takua was actually surprised about how serious the man was. Perhaps it should have been obvious that a Captain would be strict and ready for training, training that would seem draconian and cruel by any human standard. The man was clearly ready to train her, but Sekai wasn't ready to be trained. The Arrancar swallowed, looking over Sekai's emotions, right as she looked at him again. Frightened, somewhat frantic. The human woman wanted this to be stopped, and Takua didn't want to hurt her like this. Because she would be hurt. Even if she remained untrained for the day, he didn't want to see her hurt.
 
A single swift Bala formed on the tip of his finger and slammed into the earth below him, shattering the hardened ground and allowing him to dart between the two. Keeping Sekai behind him, he spoke, "Enough. You said yourself that she was on the verge of breaking down, she doesn't need her friends hurting her tonight. If it's speed, a simple display of how fast she can run would suffice. Besides, if Tova or Erasmus were here now, none of us would survive, even if we ran. And you know it." The last sentence was blunt, a simple statement of fact. It was gentle, not to make her fight right now. But that fire and that steel bar had retreated again, and he didn't want to break her. He just didn't want to hurt her himself. After all, what were the odds that she'd need to fight soon?
 
...right?
 
Hi-to, of course, had none of it, and he didn't miss the way that Sekai's reiatsu showed her hurt, or the way that she cringed behind him. Takua kept his face a mask, kept it impassive, because even after all of that, Sekai was just going to...accept it. Get hurt, because one of her friends was pushing her to do it. He turned to her, the Arrancar's face blank. So this was her way of chasing them away. Getting through this so that the two of them would turn and leave.
 
He had to admit there were excellent reasons why Hi-to shouldn't be seen with him. But it still hurt, because it still felt...fractured? Takua didn't know, only that whatever he had needed to get out, he hadn't. Like a rat still in his cage, only the cage was flooding with water, just as the earth swamped over his feet again. Swallowing him up. Bound, trapped, creating his own purgatory brick by brick. Why did he feel like that?
 
Takua didn't know.
 
Sekai bolted like a rabbit, creating a wall in front of them, and nearly fell into the river. The Arrancar winced, and then blew apart the earth at his feet again. But he didn't immediately surge forward. Did he even want to do this? Was there a point to him joining the chase and making her feel hunted by her friends? For seconds, as she ran, he merely stared at the wall in front of him, but his attention was on her reiatsu. Unhappy. And he did not want her unhappy.
 
The blind man created platforms on air as he went over the wall, immediately sidestepping the first missile that tried to nail him between the eyes. Pinecones and needles? Barely even seemed like it was worth her time to use them. Harder than that, though, as he found out when a pinecone slammed into his hand. More than just a piece of wood now, that had hurt, and Takua lazily walked over the water. Still faster than her, which was sad, because he wasn't even trying to catch up. Fast for a regular human, oh yes. But against a spiritual being, she was slow...so very slow.
 
But he didn't catch her. Didn't put a stop to this. Maybe he should have, but this wasn't his game. This was Hi-to's game. And if the Shinigami wanted to hurt her, fine, then he could hurt her. Takua, though, wouldn't. The dawning realization was there that maybe he would have to, but that moment wasn't now.
 
There'd be time enough in the future for all of that.
 
WC: 1163 | GP: 23 | Total: 474

The way Sekai fled so desperately held no semblance of meaning to him. Familiar field craft training took over by way of natural instinct, and the girl he had once loved so dearly had now become nothing less than a moving target. The white hair he used to watch her fuss over became the proverbial bone waving in front of his face, the familiar adrenaline of a hunt kicking in as the end became nigh. Her heartbeat was so loud it almost echoed in his ears like an impending migraine, and when he fired her sob almost drowned in the crackling and snapping of sharp lighting.

Hi-to should have hated himself in that moment. He should have hated himself because he didn’t hesitate, didn’t falter. Sekai was his best friend, his sister, fleeing with fear in her voice and pain in her eyes and still he couldn’t stop.

Or so he thought, until she turned to stare at him with those eyes.

Time seemed to ground to a linear halt, amber eyes widening as they met her own. Something happened then, something he couldn’t name, couldn’t place. Lighting that should have hit her heart on was redirected in a way he couldn’t explain, hitting her square in the shoulder and spreading fire over her skin in a way so macabre it was hard to believe. Hi-to had never struck a mortal before, never seen the way they reacted to power outside of medical experiments. It was a given knowledge among them that mortals wounded much easier than their kin, yet seeing the way those sparks colored her skin was truly grotesque. It was everywhere, spreading like a virus and garnishing her skin like broken crystal, a crack in the armor that was bringing her down.

He had her before she hit the ground.

Even Kenshou couldn’t have moved as fast as Hi-to did in that moment, robes scraping the rough earth as he dropped to his knees and skidded to a halt to reach her. Strong hands caught her shoulders as her head narrowly missed the ground, white hair collecting dirt and debris as it spilled stark against the charred earth.

He thought she would have dodged, thrown up another dirt wall, done anything the second she’d heard the demon magic leave his lips.

He never thought he’d ever truly hit her. Not like this.

As her vulnerable form continued to remain unresponsive, unsteady fingers moved to pull away the melted fabric clinging to the burned meat of her shoulder. The smell was indescribable. Spider webs of charred skin stretched out from the point of impact, changing the girl he once knew so well into an indescribable being no different from the ones on his medical table, unresponsive and cold. Bright, cerulean blue eyes widened in poorly concealed shock as the true extent of the harm became apparent, Hyperion's influence breaking past the surface and the only thing keeping him from holding his dinner down.
 
He hated himself.
 
"Fucking mortals!" The red head hissed venomously, bankai infused reiatsu pouring her body full of excess life. It was all his hands had ever known to do, the art of giving and taking life in kind. Pink flesh was scrubbed away like a frustrated artist wielding an eraser, burns soothed and vigorously removed like grease on a stove. He hated seeing his marks on her, spreading out through her body, her skin. Wasn't this what Nazomi did to her that played part in disturbing her so? If she didn't hate him now, she should. How could she forgive him, when this was the icing on the cake? He'd almost taken her life, the only thing she had left to call her own.

Maybe it was the remnants of shock and horror that still had him holding her so tightly, or maybe it was the need to keep her close enough to hear her heartbeat close to his own. In all his years, Hi-to had never once had a patient that he couldn't fix like a broken doll, and yet despite the basic injury, the sight of Sekai's charred flesh had his breath escalating and blue eyes shining with an expression he tried so desperately to hide.

He was scared. He was angry, he was a confused mess that was all his own fault and he didn't have anyone else to blame. Hyperion's twin bankai blades lay beside them, the wall of heat that accompanied them thrown up in case Takua decided to get too close. He didn't want to deal with the man who no doubt would be as upset with him as he himself was. He didn't want to deal with anything while he was healing her, needing her to open her eyes so he could tell her how completely idiotic and stupid she was.

Wounds closed, burns healed, and still she wasn't waking up from the shock of it all. Orange reiatsu turned azure as it heated itself higher, flaring with the unease settling in Hi-to's gut. He should have known she was going to be fine. He could feel the condition of her body as he drew his hands away from the wound to swipe her hair away from the ground, could see the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed unhindered.

What on earth had he been thinking when he'd grown so attached to her?

She was a liability. She was ruining him.

******

907 words: 18 GP
Total GP: 408 GP

She sobbed like a wounded animal, the sweat glistening down her temples and cheeks as he flooded her system with life. He knew nothing if not Kaido; it was who he was, hurting and healing, only to repeat the process all over again like a broken record. Was that why she was trying to reject him so? It was feeble and untrained, but Hi-to could recognise a patient rejecting treatment. Perhaps it was instinctual reaction, or maybe she was confused from the shock of it all, the foreign reiatsu infiltrating her body like an intrusive virus. He whispered over the jagged blisters, smudging them out of existence. He was a makeup artist with a deadly weapon, and delirious or not, Sekai recognised that in him. And she was powerless against it. It hurt seeing her this way.

It was that powerlessness that could save her life. Oxygen made its way into her lungs as the charred flesh around them regenerated, the sickening sounds of breathing blood evening out. It was the last cracks in her skin that were moulding together when her hand lay across his, cold and clammy. She was turning over, trembling, to stare at him with wide, hazed eyes. The azure flames around them reflected in her eyes until they were almost as blue as his own, fading every moment his as Kaido peeled away to reveal the fresh fruit underneath. She was cold, the warmth taking its time to seep into her bones and make her feel alive again.

Those same sapphire eyes blinked, hearing her speak her first words, slightly hoarse. He hadn’t expected her first words to be in regards to his safety, something so far from concern he hadn’t even paid attention. Hi-to frowned, preparing to wipe the wound away with a calloused hand before she took it upon herself, tendrils of mint colored reiatsu washing over his knee like the cooling balms she had used on his shoulder all those months ago. Her own version of kaido was less refined, somewhat clumsy, but a great deal more soothing than his own robust practice. She was like wet clay, waiting to be moulded into pure talent, hard and unbreakable. There was so much she had to learn, so much he wanted so very badly to teach her if only there was enough time.

The second thing he hadn’t expected to hear her say were the words of an apology. It was all he could do to stare at her with patient eyes, waiting for her to explain. It seemed ridiculous that she would be sorry, considering he had been the one to almost kill her. Why would she be sorry? Because he failed their little mini game with an F?

Frown still in place, Hi-to cast his eyes to Hyperion, the double ended scythe calling for his hands as it lost its shape, becoming the sword they both knew so well. His bankai faded as the need for reiatsu faded with Sekai’s injuries, the blue flames dying in the dark and blue eyes fading back to gold. He wasn’t entirely in control of his bankai yet, and the limiter tattoed on his chest had probably saved the majority of the forest. In his rashness, he’d been a fool. He was lucky it was Hyperion’s will not to hurt Sekai. The heat of such close range contact could have melted the fat and burned the flesh from her bones.

But this wasn’t just about them. There was another one to their party, lingering somewhere close. Takua. Hi-to cast a brief look around, looking for the lanky, blind hollow breed. He hadn’t gone, but he’d been smart enough not to interfere. Sekai may have been safe in his hold, but Hi-to knew Hyperion wouldn’t have resisted swallowing a hollow in his fire, lusted for it even. The chase had the spirit’s desire running high, looking for an excuse to maim, to hurt, to kill. And yet, Hi-to knew without a doubt Sekai was in no danger. Hyperion was him as he was Hyperion, and they both loved her dearly for some reason.

“Get up.” He told her, hand at her elbow to help her restore balance. He’d learned so many things on this wretched night, none of them settling. He hadn’t the time to waste with a case that wasn’t going to get better as the night wore on. He’d wasted enough time on this wild goose chase as it was, and now the cotton of his shihakusho was ripped at the knee. It wasn’t what he’d envisioned upon arriving in Japan tonight.

Once he had his friend upright, Hi-to let her go, free to stand on her own. “Come. I’ll have those Bakudo placed around your home, and then I’m leaving.”

And with that he turned, leaving her to follow, unable to meet her eyes. His heartbeat calmed, body still and poised. He’d made a mistake too many tonight, and he wasn’t prepared to make another. He wasn’t thinking as rationally as he should be; he had too much planning to do, too much to think about. Sekai was a liability when it came to his psyche, and with her around he couldn’t concentrate. Bakudo barriers were the last thing he would be able to do for her for a while, and he could only hope she wouldn’t do anything stupid if such a time came as when they were needed.

*****

907 words: 18 GP
Total GP: 426 GP

It was one thing to expect it.
 
It was entirely another to watch her get hit, to see crackling lightning crawl up her arm like some kind of monstrous serpent. Takua had known that something like this was going to happen the moment that Hi-to had started to treat this seriously, as though Sekai were a recruit who had lived and breathed fighting. She wasn't. She didn't even know how to fight, had all of this power that she didn't know what to do with, didn't even really know how to defend herself from something that she had the capability to block or at least diminish...
 
...something that he could have, should have done before now. Taught her. Now she might be dying because of some idiot Shinigami who didn't even know to fucking hold back until she got her feet under her. The point was to sting and make it hurt, but not nearly take her fucking arm off. Live fire and combat was one thing that Takua could understand and even appreciate, but throwing someone like Sekai into the meatgrinder without any attempt to get her up to speed would have exactly the result you might expect out of something that went into a meatgrinder.
 
Guilt had long been his master, and now he felt a fresh blast of sick anxiety twist his stomach as he dashed close by- only for Hi-to to beat him there. The Arrancar screeched to a halt...and found himself standing there helplessly. There was nothing for him to do because The Living Gift wasn't ready yet, wasn't tested yet, and so all of Takua's power was useless to him. He couldn't regrow Sekai's body any better than he could conquer the sun, and all of his hopes came down to Hi-to being good at the Shinigami's healing Kido.
 
If Sekai died because of this, because he hadn't done as he'd promised Sakuya months ago...
 
His face became stricken for just a moment, and only so short a time because the little Miko finally spoke. Woozy and hurt, but perhaps not dying? The blind man couldn't take it if she died- the first friend he'd had in eight centuries gone. Because of him. Because the entire reason all of this was happening was because he had been here when Hi-to came, because he hadn't ever tried to teach her how to fight...
 
The Arrancar could barely think for the moment as he stared at the scene in front of him, unable to interfere without making it incomparably worse. The bitterness of being able to help a friend clawed at him, but knowing that he was responsible for this was what made it a dagger in his heart. There was nothing he could say to make this better, not even able to vent out any of his anger at Hi-to because he was the man healing her, and if he interrupted now...
 
But he didn't, and Sekai was apologizing of all things. A wan smile crossed Takua's face; even when she was half dead and hurting, she was still herself. As Kohara helped her up, the Arrancar finally stepped forward- handy now that that Zanpakuto was back in its sealed state and hungering for Takua's blood. “Gee, maybe I might have had a point when I didn't throw a Cero, ya think?” The heavy sarcasm was thrown straight at Hi-to, and if he had eyes that could be seen they would have been rolling skyward in a plea for someone to enlighten this idiot's brain. But it got worse a moment later, when the Arrancar realized that Hi-to was planning on leaving-
 
“No, you-” stay here you idiot, you should stay and have a far more pleasant conversation instead of running. The words, a little more heated than he wanted to be given everything, halted in his throat as Sekai looked at him and shook her head. Always, always she knew what he was going to say about stuff like this. He just didn't want...well, for the night to end like this. On a terrible note, with nothing to think of but the terrible prospect of Tova arriving on Earth to attack and the truth behind the two different Tova's.
 
But her aura said otherwise, now that he looked at it. She wanted...time. To recover, to think. Takua hesitated, unable to believe that it was a good idea to leave now, to just depart and have this be the end of it. But...
 
But that was what she wanted.
 
He sighed, and all of the anger that he wanted to express at Hi-to, for being such a fucking moron about this, drained away. “No, you're right. That's probably the best thing to do for now.” He tried to ignore the pathetically grateful look Sekai gave him, especially after the soul-crushing sorrow that had been on her face when Kohara had turned away.
 
...couldn't he see how fragile she was right now? Under all of that, yes, there was an steel bar that could be forged into the mightiest of weapons. But if they worked it wrong, it could just as well snap. Her friends were important to her, and to see one turn away like that was...terrible. The Captain needed to learn that, and fast, if he didn't want to keep hurting his friend. He cleared his throat, “We're all frazzled and this isn't helping anything. We'll revisit the topic of training you to fight another day.” The last sentence was directed at Sekia.  Another day...when Takua could reconcile the desire to see her safe from harm, far away from the fighting, with the need to see her able to defend herself. When he could take seeing her hurt and keep going with the training regardless of the pain, because that was what needed to be done.
 
But she was alive, and safe, for now. Maybe Hi-to's barriers would help, maybe they'd just serve to keep Takua out and away (a neat little way to make sure that Sekai was all his). The Arrancar didn't know, and to be truthful, his own head wasn't too clear anymore. Seeing her like that, maybe dying...
 
He couldn't lose her. He'd die if he did.
 
WC: 1036 | GP: 20 | Total: 494