The morning after (closed w/ Shun)

Chie Kira, an officer of the Fourth Division.

Very short, a brunette with striking, red eyes and a considerable self-esteem problem. Shun remembered the first time she tried to talk to him: She was tripping all over herself and hardly made any sense at all. It would have been sad, but she had a cute, girlish face that he could appreciate, and it made her behavior more endearing than off-putting.

Since then, she had improved considerably, and Shun promoted her. She made a short list of high potential Shinigami that he maintained, despite her youth. At just over a century and a half, she had hardly a fraction of the experience that Shun Minamoto possessed. He had been a Lieutenant since before she had been born, after all.

So, in the aftermath of the invasion, Shun heard about her kidnapping by a group of Hollows. There had been a few people taken and numerous rescue missions were already planned. However, caught up with Obsession and Takua both, Shun never really got to pay the Hollows back for their latest visit. While not nearly as catastrophic as when Tova showed up, it was still another slap in the face to the Shinigami and the Seireitei.

Now they wanted to take one of his most promising Officers away?

“Not a chance in hell,” Shun answered the young woman who asked if he’d like to assign someone else to the task. He immediately ordered that a Garganta be created for him using the equipment of the Fourth—he didn’t want to risk using his teleportation unless he absolutely had to, given how strange his powers had been when he fought Takua.

The Unseated woman in question quickly gathered a team that opened the Garganta for Shun and, at his request, targeted it for just outside the castle of Las Noches.

Shun arrived without issue and landed softly on the top of one of the sandy dunes that covered the entire dimension in rolling hills. He looked out over it, with the dilapidated castle on the horizon, and felt suffocated just from stepping foot in the place. Even the moon overhead screamed ‘I’m a dead imitation’, just like everything else here. Even the sand wasn’t actually sand, it was corpses. Countless millions of Hollows over the course of human history, left to collect and cover the entire dimension.

What bothered Shun the most, perhaps, was the inverted crescent moon above his head. If nothing else shouted to the heavens about how wrong of a place this was, the moon certainly did.

Immediately, Shun reached out with his mind and did a cursory scan of the castle. The population was well below what it had been when Shun last visited. He could hardly imagine what must have happened to this place to cause it to be in such a state, but part of him enjoyed the fact immensely.

They got what they deserved.

More importantly, Shun’s search didn’t pull up the familiar Spiritual Pressure of Chie Kira. She wasn’t in the castle, the first place that Shun would have imagined she’d be taken. That meant she could be anywhere in this place, and it’d be nearly impossible to find her.

Maybe I’ll just wait, Shun wondered. My Spiritual Pressure is great enough that she can no doubt feel my presence no matter where she is.

Unless, of course, she was sufficiently injured, exhausted, or any other status that would impede her spiritual sense. Shun just shook his head at the idea. Again, he reached out with his spiritual senses and scanned the areas around the castle. He could only go so far, and had to hope that Chie hadn’t been able to make it too far.

There, he let a silent sigh of relief go when he immediately picked up a considerable Shinigami presence. She wasn’t too far away, and even the lead-footed Captain could get to her in reasonable time.

He leapt from the dome and started to race across the desert, carried by his religiously practiced Flash Step. Each leap left a cloud of sand in his wake that trailed from the soles of his waraji as he flew through the air. No Hollows in the area—Shun could feel them, they were around—even so much as dared approach the absurdly powerful Captain.

He didn’t blame them.

It didn’t take more than twenty minutes after that for him to happen upon the exact Officer he was hoping to find. He landed atop a dune and looked down at her, her hair a mess, her waraji missing, and a everything else about her completely out of sorts.

But she was alive, and she was free.

“Chie?” Shun didn’t bother with the formalities, not in this situation. He smiled at her when she finally looked his way.

“You look a little lost. Need a lift home?”

*****

812 Words

As Chie heard the familiar voice of Captain Shun Minamoto, she quickly turned around to meet his smile with holding her left palm outward as she said "hado-" while positioning her left foot forward and her right leg back, slightly bent. Her right hand grasped her left wrist for stability, albeit shivering as much as her dominant arm. Her gaze was stern, focused, and full of despair until she fixed on the identity of her target, which she for once let the tension in her musvles go with a sigh of relief as her arms lowered, and soon crossed covering the torn bits of her shihakushō around her torso as her eyes widened.


"Shun! You came?! At this point I thought those cowards left me for dead when only one arrancar shown up. Excuse my dress, I've been here for, for, for..."

Trying to recall time in Hueco Mundo was a challenge, Chie was not sure if the invasion was over but guessed it was, but she couldn't have been gone more than a year. Her time in Hueco Mundo while depressed taken toll on her, time was unimportant. There were no cycles, no changes, just a barren wasteland. Time was a mere joke here.

Shaking the idea of time out of her head she took a few steps towards shun, slowly. There was a slight limp to her walk, as the adrenaline started to wear off the true extant of the pain caught up with her.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter, as you came a bit late, as I escaped on my own. So what tipped you off to my capture? Asatsuyu sticking out like a sore thumb in the fourth dividivision courtyard but me no where in sight? Amaterasu? Or was it the cowards who left me for dead as they watched me get dragged rather slowly into a gargaunta. But my plan had a fatal flaw as Asatsuyu is still in the soul society. "

Losing feeling in her right leg, she fell straight forward landing with her head at Shuns feet. Her movements started to get more painful and sluggish, her hands trembled as her arms struggled to lift up her body, her face was pointed to the ground, particularly Shuns feet as she felt an unsettling feeling in her stomach. She soon had a general idea what's going on.

Her left arm moved to cover her stomach as she appeared to hold her breath as unsettling noises came from her stomach, before she vomited out some black goo like mixure with grey chunks, carrying hollow reaitsu onto the sand, Shuns footwear, and her hair. Her breathing was rapid and spiratic, whispering words in between.


"Sorry bout this, I had to eat and drink, the water needless to say was contaminated but manageable. My captor only feed me ground up meat which I now believe to be ground up hollow. Not nutritional and barely supplimental. Don't ask about taste. Barely keeps me alive."


She looked up slowly to meet Shuns eyes, barely able to avoid passing out or lose all feeling. "I'm ready to leave, sorry about the mess but on the bright side I might have lost about fifteen pounds. "





Wc 533

Although it seemed like she hadn’t noticed him coming, the moment she realized that someone was behind her, she leapt into action. She spun on her heels and immediately thrust an arm out at Shun, ready to blow him away with the simple utterance of her preferred Hadō spell. She barely managed to stop herself in time, though, she saw the haori and glasses—moonlight glinted off of the lenses—of her Captain.

When it sank in, the relief on her face was palpable. It looked like Chie had gained back a century of youthfulness to see that, yes, it really was her Captain come to pluck her from the would-be grave of Hueco Mundo. This wasn’t an illusion, and she was finally going to be going home.

Who couldn’t admire that excitement?

“The cowards who didn’t help you,” Shun explained, as much as he hated to admit the failures of his fellow Division members. “But, at the very least, they got me going in the right direction.”

Shun made his way down the dune with a single step. The moment his foot hit the side, he started to slide down and drag same sand with him, until his foot came to a stop. Then his other foot stepped forward and he slid down further. He repeated this twice more until he was at the base of it, right in front of the still-chattery Chie Kira.

All things considered, Shun observed. She’s much more composed and understandable than when we first met.

“You’ve done a phenomenal job, escaping that quickly,” Shun commented as he offered a hand to her, to help steady her on their walk back. His other hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his Denreishiki just long enough to tap in a reply to the waiting members of the Fourth Division, back in the Soul Society, to open the Garganta.

“Your growth continues to ins—“ he started to compliment her progress, until she tripped and fell in front of him. Her head was right over his feet now, but she wasn’t getting up. She stayed there for a moment and, suddenly, looked more pale that he had seen anyone—even an Arrancar.

Shun smelled it before he felt it. The putrid stench of rotting Hollows. Already not the most wonderful scent in the world, but the festering wound of one of the creatures could take on quite the malicious odor before it finally regenerated itself. This was something a million times worse, amplified when Shun felt the thick, viscous liquid start to soak into his tabi.

It was enough to make even him grimace, but he wasn’t going to say anything to Chie about it. Before she even said anything, he completely understood. After all, why would Hollows and Arrancar keep regular food around? They ate each other, and that meant they only had hollow flesh to feed her.

Shun felt his blood flare to an immediate boil, but he didn’t lash out.

Instead, his heart broke for her, more than a little, as he pushed the smell and feeling of the black vomit out of his mind. She needed to be his focus, not the disgusting creatures that did this to her.

He kneeled to face Chie and ripped off a piece of black and white cloth from the sleeve of his Shihakushō. He used the white to wipe some of the grime from her hair, and tossed it to the side.

“Hold still, I don’t want anyone to see you like this,” Shun commented as he reached forward to wipe down her thin, parched lips and soiled face. “You deserve better than that, Chie.”

Once her face was as presentable as he could get it, free of black slime, Shun tossed the rag away, put a hand on her elbow, and smiled at her.

“You don’t need to justify what happened to you,” he reassured her. “You were kidnapped by monsters and, under your own power, escaped the castle of Las Noches. How many people can say that? You’ve got nothing to justify to me; this is the stuff of heroes.”

Slowly—very, very slowly—he helped Chie rise to her feet, letting her lean her arm into his hands for support, if she needed it. But he wouldn’t carry her, or whisk her away from here like he was carrying home groceries.

“I’d like you to walk home on your own two feet,” he explained once they were both upright. “You’ve made it through a nightmare in one piece, and it’s finally over. Let’s not give those beasts the satisfaction of you needing to be carried back.”

The little comment about her weight, though… Shun couldn’t help but think about how silly it seemed. She really did care about how she appeared to him, didn’t she? He did his best not to smile too much, though—this wasn’t exactly the happiest of situations for Chie, or for his tabi.

“And you were plenty attractive as you were, Chie, so don’t go dieting on me,” Shun casually assured her, anything to lighten the attitude and, hopefully, take her attention away from the mess she created. Not to mention, he didn’t want to see a repeat of Hanabi.

*****

873 Words

Chie felt nothing but gratitude at this moment. In any other case she'doesn't be severely punished for such disgrace as ruining a captains uniform but Shun's exception was greatly appreciated besides logical. However what comforted her most was his willingness to protect her pride, her facial muscles couldn’t move to express it, but she was smiling. Her pale cold, thin, arms reached to his for support as she slowly stood up. Inch by inch every few seconds as she tried to find her center of balance.

"I didn't take any significant damage to my legs per say, but as you can see from the scars and marks on my arms I lost a significant amount of blood but hollow meat doesn't provide the proper nutritional components even if I digested all of it. The water I presume spiked with high iron concentrate and leftover food I had before coming here was probably how I could keep creating new blood cells for the most part. "

Letting herself get lost in the science of things helped her take her mind off the pain. Her arms, shaking, but held onto his his with a wavering grip as she leaned in towards the captain, barely balanced but capable of movement.

"At least it's him and not someone who'd just kill me for what just happened."

She didn't look at him as she spoke, making a request didn't feel right after all he's done so far, but she really didn’t want to face the whole third division.

"I know I'm going to have to see a doctor from the third division later, but I really don't want to be at a hospital. Although preferable to my previous arrangements, if possible I'd like to recover in peace at my barracks. I can't tolerate a whole division attending me right now."

Her grip tightened as her eyes traced back to a point in Las Noches, the tower of the arrancar who kidnapped her from the seireitei. "Plus there are a few things I'm not proud of that I need to forget. But in the end I suppose I broke even if it works out as intended ."

Chie's time in Hueco Mundo was not unproductive, far from. However the land has taken its toll, she reached her limit and it was time to go home. As the pain settled in, Chie kept her cool as she looked back to her captains eyes, her voice escalating as she .

"I think I can walk now, or at least try to. But I think I can scratch Hueco Mundo off my vacation spot list, wedding reception list, and my camping list. Hell I'm done with this place!"

As Chie's throat started to dry she refrained from talking unnecessarily, her eyes locked on the path ahead of her, itching to return home. Her legs almost stumbling, and a strained effort to remain conscious as she prepared to return with pride.

Wc 487
Twc 1543

The scars? Oh yes, he could see those quite clearly. Most of Chie’s clothes were in rags and she had, by the looks of it, only the tattered, black, outermost layer of her Shihakushō remaining. The sleeves were torn up enough for him to see plenty of skin beneath, and the bottom half of her robe wasn’t quite long enough to hide her wobbly, equally-scarred legs.

As if being forced to eat Hollow flesh wasn’t enough to make Shun’s blood boil, the sight of her like this pushed it to new heights. A part of him, not so small, wanted to turn on his heels and rushed back into the still-devastated castle and reduce the ruins to a parking lot fit for a super-sized mall back on Earth. It’d be easy, too, with the power he had and now that Takua was confirmed for being gone, if not exactly as dead as Shun would have liked.

But he refrained. Instead, he tightened his grip on Chie’s arms just a little as she shook and struggled to hold herself up. There was no shame in needing a hand after what she had been through, and Shun refused to let her tumble after making it this far.

“You’ve had to learn far more about the nutritional qualities of Hollow flesh than anyone should have to,” he answered, looking right back at Chie’s crimson eyes with all the approval of an impressed Captain. “So, if you don’t want to be in the Third’s hospital, you won’t have to be. I’ll speak with Captain Hazuki and make sure you’re given your own, private treatment in the comfort of your personal quarters.”

Even the somewhat chilly Hazuki could approve that, Shun figured. Or, more accurately, he hoped.

Just in front of them, after a disappointing delay, a the tooth-like lines of the Garganta appeared. Slowly, with a low creaking sound, the gateway began to open. Wind started to whip around them and pull some of the sand into the air, along with giving a second life to the stench of the earlier vomit.

“You’re welcome to tell me everything that’s happened to you, Chie,” Shun reassured her and looked away from the opening gateway before them. His hair sway from side to side, lightly passing in front of the lenses of his glasses. “It’s going to be a bit of a walk before we’re back in Fourth. It’d save you a debriefing later on.”

Just in case she needed that extra nudge of perceived “efficiency”—she really was overly professional, even now; kind of like Hanabi—to open up to him. But, as important as this matter was, even Shun wasn’t going to demand information out of her right after going through what she had. If she said she wasn’t “proud” of certain things after vomiting Hollow meat? Well, he could only imagine what else was done to her against her will.

Which only made her perseverance that much more impressive.

When the agape mouth of the Garganta was open to full size, Shun took the first few steps. Just like she said, Chie managed to match him as they crossed from the sand of Hueco Mundo into the matterless void of the Garganta, where Shun gathered the spiritual particles and energy that filled this world between worlds in order to provide a platform beneath their feet.

Behind them, the gate started to close just as slowly as it opened.

“Specifically,” Shun continued as they marched into the blackness, with maelstroms of gray all around them. “I’d like some names; so I know who to kill first, when the time comes.”

*****

606 Words

“Levi Grisha,” Shun repeated the name as they walked, silent except for the storms of energy that surrounded them, through the black void. Even their feet didn’t make a single noise as they tapped over and over again against the flat platforms of spiritual energy that Shun generated for them. Slowly he built them a path forward while he crumbled the path behind them, to deter any would-be stalkers from finding their path through the abyss.

While she explained everything, Shun didn’t say much at all. He interrupted a few times, such as with, “Yes, I did see all of that in the report. And, of course, your Zanpakutō will be waiting for you when we get back.”

Otherwise, he let her do the talking. He listened as she explained that she was dragged—by tentacles, of course it was tentacles—through into the Garganta while other members of the Division simply watched. She did her best to defend herself after that, of course, but it just wasn’t meant to be. This time, despite her efforts, she fell to an Arrancar and was, instead, met with defeat. He could respect her efforts, though. Not everyone succeeded all the time—not even Shun was undefeated in combat.

Who was?

“Las Noches still has laboratories of their own?” Shun asked rhetorically. It was just another way for him to commit what he was hearing to memory. Not to mention that it genuinely surprised him to get the news: He had thought they were in tatters too severe to manage that. Of course, maybe that was why this Levi had her rebuild it for him anyway?

What a sad state of affairs to be in to need Shinigami help rebuilding your own facilities.

Shun came to a sudden stop when Chie started coughing into her sleeve again. He stayed right next to her and put his other hand on her back, rubbing it up and down. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn’t, but Chie managed to catch her breath. She went back to clinging onto him for balance and, in these circumstances, her life, quite literally. A single plummet into the abyss below them and there was no guarantee that Shun could save her.

Well, he happened to know that he could, but the point stood.

Her story went on, though, and Shun felt a smile slowly start to form on her face. Of course she succeeded, he told himself. This girl really knows what she’s doing. A little more time, a bit more attention, and I could be looking at a future Lieutenant. She’s not quite there yet, but…

His thoughts trailed off, though, when the story got even better. Not only did she manage to make a Gigai under those circumstances, an artificial human body in Las Noches of all places, but she managed to make a special one. This one was built to seal the Arrancar away and limit their abilities. Maybe it was magic, or some other aspect of the design that she had come up with, but the feat was astonishing.

“I should have suspected that a Hollow like that would be too arrogant to assume they weren’t the smartest person around,” Shun laughed and shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all. “Almost poetic justice you gave him, Chie. Duped by his own prisoner.”

Things didn’t stay as triumphant and rosy. As much as he could tell that she didn’t like what she was saying, she admitted it anyway: With her last memory of the Soul Society being abanonded by her comrades, she hit a low place. It was ironic, then, that an Arrancar was there for her in her time of need. Apparentlym things came to blows anyway, and the Arrancar even spared her life.

Not the first time that Shun had heard of such a thing.

“Even a broken clock can be right twice a day,” Shun added to the end of that part of her tale. In the distance, he could see the white light of the Fourth’s laboratory, where the other end of the Garganta was still open. “It’s why we purify them, they deserve better than the curse they live with.”

Which is what brought them to present day. The wholes story, summarized with the almost clinical detail that he expected out of Chie. A bit of a quirk of hers was how she spoke, and the overly-analytical method of communication had become a bit of an icon for her. It made Shun wonder whether her Zanpakutō Spirit shared the trait, encouraged it, or teased her for it.

As they got closer to the light at the end of the nearly-literal tunnel around them, Chie looked right at him. Shun caught sight of her out of the corner of her eye and, although they marched ever forward, turned to look at her too. Before he could ask what was left on her mind, she spoke up for her.

She had fought some Gillian—no surprise—and even an Adjuchas. It explained many of the wounds, Shun realized, and if she had fought Adjuchas of all things, she really was lucky to be alive. She had, in her adventure, even stolen a Zanpakutō from a perished Arrancar.

What she said next, though, was what weighed on her. She didn’t know if she’d ever want to leave the safety of the Soul Society, or get into a fight, ever again. Shun didn’t smile at that, what commanding officer would, but he nodded with her anyway.

And when she shared the last little detail she had come across, Shun audibly gagged.

“I don’t blame you,” he cleared his throat afterwards. “You’ve walked through hell, Chie. The closest thing to it that most will ever experience, anyway. I don’t blame you for not wanting to risk going through this ever, ever again. That’s only human, and isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”

Shun glanced towards the light again. Although they were still a ways away, he could make out a silhouette that darkened the gateway, in the shape of a person. Someone was peeking through to see if they could make out the return of their Captain and the missing Shinigami—hopefully, the could see clearly enough to pass on the good news.

And to get a meal ready for this woman.

“But don’t let them win, Chie; not after all of this,” Shun looked back and answered her. “You’ve accomplished too much with this to let them steal away any part of your life. That includes your freedom to see Earth, or to fight to defend yourself, or others, should you need to. You’re more than a girl to be locked away in the Research or Engineering departments, left to tinker until you die of old age.”

The mere idea made Shun audibly scoff and shake his head again, “You deserve more, and I’d lay waste to that entire, wretched castle of theirs rather than see you succumb to the fear of what they’ve done to you. Don’t let them steal a single part of your life, don’t run away from any of it. Otherwise, they really did beat you.”

This time, he looked her right in her crimson eyes.

“And I know, whether you believe it or not, that you are stronger than that.”

*****

1,220 Words

"Don't let, them win, huh?"

Chie got confused at that line, at first as an ignorant child it made sense, but now it was an idiotic goal. There is too much pushing one way, and than swinging back. A never ending pendulum of fate in the universe. After her experience in Hueco Mundo, she knew two things, as far as things go for the meantime, the fight will never have a winner, and it may never be over.

"Shun, you and I are well aware that the fight will never, ever, be done. The only way to stop the fight is to stop the hollowfication process, or possibly a hollow suppression network and genocide of the arrrancar."

Walking forward, Chie wondered if she was gonna die, unknown as she felt caught between the strands of life like strands of kimono falling apart, slowly breaking under the test of the winds and waters, rotting away slowly. She felt the very essence of her vary being caught between fading into ashes and clinging to dear life. 

"I can feel my body almost ready to decompose back into reishi at this rate. I suppose it would be fitting to die, a nobody, nowhere, to be mourned, by no one."

As Chie felt her internal organs, try to fight for the scraps of energy her cells contain, leaving her with nothing but the smell and taste of blood filling her senses as she kept on forward onto Shun's arms, her reiatsu fluxing and diminishing at a slow, but gradually increasing pace. Her eyes were bloodshot, her veins turned blue, her movements became increasingly sluggish as she tried to trek the way.

At one point, she didn't notice that she couldn't feel temperature anymore, not the cold area of the garguanta, not the cold trail of blood that used to trickle down her back. Most hurtful of all, she couldn't feel the warmth of Shun's arm, fortunately for Chie, she won't cry in front of Shun for the lack of fluids in her systems.

Her eyes barely open, her breathing quieted from the dangerous undernourishment, the light at the end seemed to be an unimaginable dream yet so close. Eventually her reiatsu reached a dangerous low as she nearly fell over, barely moving her leg quickly to stop herself from falling. However the shock jerked up her leg as a gash in the back that was thin as it was, it burst open and blood tried to pour, but there was not much to spill. She bit the back of her lip as she tried to walk forward but her body was failing to respond to any signals in her knees, toes, hips, and shoulders.

She barely moved as she spoke in a tone bordering on whisper. "Captain, your infamous for your Kaido correct? I'd hate to ask this especially inside a garguanta, but I might need a patch job-"

It was obvious that she wanted to say more, but her body was slowly stiffening.

WC 500
TWC 3023

Sometimes—and by sometimes, Shun felt like it was most of the times—it felt, to him, like Chie was overly literal. At first, Shun had simply chalked it up to one of the quirks of how she interacted with people. More and more, though, he was beginning to think there was something deeper to it, going on. In general, the Gotei did a solid job of rooting out anyone with truly debilitating mental conditions, yet he couldn’t help but be surprised how much it seemed to strain her just to speak with him like a normal person.

Of course, he wouldn’t ever say that to someone who was falling apart further and further by the second. Nor would he say it to someone who had just lived through the sort of ordeal that Chie had been so unwillingly subject to.

“I’m very aware, Chie,” he assured her, somewhat flatly. “That wasn’t the victory I was referring to. I meant your victory in your battle against these monsters. Losing that can only happen if you let their actions change you into someone less than who you were—and I don’t believe you will.”

Everyone wanted to believe in their subordinates, of course, and Shun was among those people. He wanted to believe, even as he half-carried her slowly cooling body through this dark abyss, that Chie would grow as a person. That she’d warm her heart, learn to talk with others, and have the right experiences that would broaden her skills, give her confidence, but remain humble.

Deep down, he wanted to believe that she could become a leader.

Just like he wanted to believe that his sons, too, could achieve anything they set their minds to.

When Chie spoke up next, it was to finally admit that she couldn’t quite make it. Shun brought their slow, deliberate pace to a stop and looked onwards at the glowing, bright light of the exit. He could see a silhouetted figure or two still waiting there for them, but Chie was right.

Her Spiritual Pressure was falling, and he could feel her body weaken in the light hold her had around her. More and more, her meager weight was held up solely by his own arms, and only proved that she was going to be able to hold out until they got her home.

“Of course,” he answered her softly, with a warm smile perfected by many, many years in the medical wing of Third. “Hold still, Chie. I’ll numb some of the pain while I’m at it.”

Just as he gave her those comforting words, a dark green box surrounding them both. Warm rays of energy, as if pouring down from the sun, started to soak into them both, but largely just passed through Shun and into Chie. Like all Kaidō, it merely coaxed her body into healing itself, and gave her soul the added power that it so tragically lacked. The entire art crossed the boundaries between the science of the human body and the metaphysical nature of the soul itself, empowering the latter in order to rebuild the former.

Shun gave it a full minute, and then another for good measure, even after he felt her pallid skin regain some life and vitality. She still didn’t have the look of a frequent visitor of the great outdoors, but she no longer looked like a mummy-to-be, either.

“How’s that feel?” He asked, just as softly. “Do you think you can make it the rest of the way, now?”

*****

588 Words

White, that was all that filled her eyes, for how long, until blackness returned, Chie felt her eyelids as she felt a form again, rested comfortably laying down with her head rested on someone’s lap, she felt better than she had in weeks. Her eyes slowly opened and moved around to see meadow fields under a bright blue sky, the morning dew filling the air with a sweet sense. She felt at peace for a split moment until she started to remember she was dying but a moment ago. She quickly looked upwards to her right to see the masked figure of her Zanpakuto staring down at her with eyes of concern as opposed to the usual condescending or blocked emotion.


“Asatsuyu, I thought, I died! Didn’t I die?!”



Taking a hand, Asatsuyu stroked the side of Chie’s hair while shushing her, trying to avoid any unnecessary panic at this point would be ideal. Asatsuyu may be proud, but she knows there is a time to be a warrior, and a time to be a woman. To Asatsuyu, seeing Chie like this unlike the last time Chie came in panicking or seeing her hurt, this time she could not help but be proud.


“Calm down my dear, your safe, don’t talk, just get your bearings. You’re in your inner world. You were about to die, but the captain is performing Kaido on your physical form as we speak. You came here out of shock.”[/font]


Listening carefully, Chie followed the words of her zanpakuto, calming her breath as she processed the information given to her. She was relieved that she was safe, but couldn’t help but intertwine that with another feeling, one deeper. As she slowly started to get up and sit on her knees in front of her zanpakuto, Asatsuyu read Chie’s facial expressions plain as day.

“What is wrong?”[/font]


Refusing to look Asatsuyu in the eyes, Chie shyly responds in a quiet tone, “Nothing.”


Not needing to pry further, Asatsuyu immediately understood, reaching for her mask she spoke softly.


“I’d like to talk about identity, more than just a name, I mean the things that define us, and roles. Often we identify by our roles, you on the other hand don’t identify as anything but a Shinigami or a scientist, and even in your darkest moments where most would scurry to survive you still kept your Shinigami discipline and your scientific analytical thinking about you. For the past few decades you did nothing but work hard to get to be who you are, but you shut off part of yourself.”[/font]


Confused, Chie stares at Asatsuyu blankly. Not exactly sure where this conversation was heading. However what was obvious to even her, was that this situation was without doubt, one of the most awkward conversations of Chie’s life. As Asatsuyu grabbed her mask gently, she started speaking again, knowing very well her point has not be driven home just yet.


Stunned by the revelation, Chie’s eyes widened and her jaw almost dropped at the beauteous face of her zanpakuto spirit that no words could ever do justice. Asatsuyu gave a slight smile at Chie’s reaction as Asatsuyu let down the emotional barrier she herself had set up for the longest of times.


“There’s one thing you hardly touched on, and honestly now is the time to speak of it.”[/font]


Chie put the pieces together and realized where her zanpakuto was going, biting the inside of her lip as she braced for the upcoming lecture as she wanted to say “no, please don’t go there” but she knew that once the mask came off, there was no escape.


“There’s no shame in being a woman, but what’s your problem, it isn’t inferiority, inequality, not even societal norms.”


All rhetorical, both parties very well knew the answer, an uncomfortable silence stirred as Chie, looking away yet again as she gripped her… Kimono? Looking down she noticed she was donning her typical off duty apparel of her green Kimono and pink sash. She figured this was her Zanpakuto’s doing but had no time to argue against it. Asatsuyu, recognizing time was growing short sped things along.


“You are afraid of vulnerability so you hide behind your work, you used your work to consume your time so you even you won’t see Chie Kira, the woman. All you wanted was to be seen at work, nothing more, nothing less. You need to let go, you’ve been a Shinigami working for far too long, you’ve only had one day off in twenty years, there’s no shame in letting yourself go.”


Blinking twice, Chie looked back at Asatsuyu puzzled, unable to see the point. “I can sense your slow walking me to a philosophical point, mind just jumping right into it?”


“Time’s run short, your shock is wearing thin, don’t be afraid to look beyond basic roles.”


Everything went black for Chie yet again, as she regained physical consciousness, she felt sluggish, less hurt then when she fell, and with her pain and external stimuli senses reaching peak from stress she could tell that there was a considerable yet still small amount of blood restored in the petite woman’s body as wounds were considerably patched or healed. Her eyelids felt heavy, unable to open until she heard the smooth, soft, masculine voice of her captain. As she slowly opened her eyes, she recalled the empty black void she was in, even in the place of absolute emptiness, she can’t die, but this time, it was out of concern, and not pity.


She felt feeling in her body as she felt the warmth of Shun’s hands upon her body, if it weren’t for the fact that she was almost at the morgue’s doorstep, she would have felt confusion, security, and even perhaps a concentrated amount of pleasure.
She tried to stand up as she muttered, louder and better than a few minutes ago, but still dry and raspy. "Maybe..." 

Slowly she tried to rise but than quickly fell back unto her captain. "Or perhaps not, my centre of gravity is off." Instead of fleeing from the captain like she would do under altnerative circumstances, she chose to stay, and wait a while as she held his arms, trying to align herself, while deep down, part of her prays this moment would never end. As tone was restored to her skin, or rather much more to restore it to normal pale, a slight blush could be seen as she tried to look away from Shun, but her stiffening muscles had an alternative agenda. For once, since that fateful suicide attempt, she felt happy to be alive. 

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Twice or three times, Shun felt Chie slump forward into his arms. Her entire bodyweight leaned into him each time before at least partial consciousness caused her to pull back and tried to stand up. Once he finished healing her, Chie managed to steady herself enough that Shun decided it was safe to pull away. He regretted that decision a second later when she stumbled yet again, and he smiled slightly at her effort.

“I think it’s best if you don’t walk the rest of the way,” Shun decided for her.

Just as he said that, he kneeled on the invisible platform beneath them. He quickly wrapped one arm under Chie’s knees while his other arm caught her behind the shoulders. With only the sound from the torrents of spiritual energy in the Garganta to listen to, he stood right back up and looked down at Chie.

“Get some rest, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of after this,” he reassured her and took his first few steps towards the light ahead of them. He continued just like that, at a slow and careful pace. His arms held Chie tightly, enough to ensure that she would neither rock nor wobble.

After another ten minutes, he found himself at the mouth of the portal. One the other side stood a collection of men and women, young and old. All of them smiled brightly as Shun crossed the threshold back into the Seireitei. His sandals padded lightly over the stonework tiles in the room they used to mimic the Hollow Descorrer technique.

“Great work, sir,” one of his subordinates congratulated him.
“Don’t applaud me, applaud Chie,” Shun insisted to the man. He gave another pair of men a sharp glance. They quickly grabbed a cot that leaned against a wall and brought it over.

Careful as he could be, Shun slowly laid Chie onto it. Before he said another word to the half-awake young woman, he looked to the men who would be carrying her.

“Take her to her quarters, not the Third,” he insisted, just as he promised Chie mere minutes ago. “She’s to be sent a medic from the Third immediately. All of her care will be provided there.”

Shun turned his head to the rest of the room and looked at each of them individually.

“I want you all to know that this young woman just escaped from Las Noches on her own,” he declared to everyone present. “It nearly cost her life. In light of this achievement, and her dedication to Soul Society, I am hereby promoting Chie Kira to the vacant Third Seat of Fourth Division. Strive to match her devotion and tenacity. Do this, and you, too, might earn such a high seat.”

Shun stood up after that, then looked down at Chie. A smile pulled the corners of his lips up as he did.

“And, like her, you too could become a Lieutenant as soon as a year later,” he said, more to Chie than anyone else in the room.

“Keep it up, Kira—and don’t let me down.”

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