Nightshift 25: F-Block Hallway

[haiiro_no_chou]

[From here.]Rukia rounded the corner without bothering to look around. She stopped at the end of the F11-F20 hallway; hopefully Vice Captain Hinamori would come out of her room soon, with Renji's katana in hand. And then Rukia would go straight to see Renji

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[blood_and_pocky]

Tonight, feeding wasn't on the agenda, but after that... odd and somewhat foolish exchange with his victim, Claire, he had to see. He had to see her. Not for any worry over her health (he hadn't hurt her), her emotion well being (she definitely hadn't seemed scared), or for any sense of guilt (that vampire board post still made him laugh), but she had made it clear - in a roundabout fashion nonetheless - that the marks were gone. Fang marks, no matter how gentle a vampire had been, didn't disappear over the course of one night.

He had to see.

Lurking around a designated area for females was questionable no matter who he was, or what he was doing, but so far he had been all too successful in remaining unseen while he traveled. Who was going to spot him in the shadows anyway? He was a vampire for god's sake.

Who knew where the hell she was, but all he needed was just a glimpse, maybe. Then he could put his burgeoning curiosity to rest.

[Plz be to not interrupting, meeting with Miku. Also to Alfons-mun and Byakko-mun, if you're

[rope_victim]

[[from here]]

Miku had almost made it outside to the big corridor between the Male and Female blocks. She breathed a sigh of relief - she hadn't gotten dizzy, sensed something unnatural or gotten sick (again). She still looked a little weak, and her breath shuddered in her chest.

Unfortunately, Miku had a habit of hoping too soon and tumbled out the door way, losing her balance and her flashlight as it skidded across the floor. "O-ow," she hissed and looked curiously at the pair of slippers before her eyes.

Oh no...

[blood_and_pocky]

The sound of a body thumping against the doorframe startled him, he was embarrassed to admit.

It caught him off guard just enough that he didn't spring away as he should have - who knew what the hell was coming out of there!? - but the flashlight that went skittering along the floor, casting dizzying arrays of light, had dropped from an all too human hand.

What came next was a girl, one that went crashing to the ground at his feet.

This was not Claire. This is was a very sick looking Hinasaki Miku.

"Ano..." He returned to his native tongue without thinking.

[rope_victim]

Miku made a little noise and pulled herself up to her knees. Her eyes were trying to adjust to the half-light provided by her flashlight. The voice above her was familiar, a surprised tenor.

"Ai--Aidou-kun?" she murmured and squinted. Seeing was impossible without her flashlight, but she was almost pretty sure that it was him. "I.. I'm fine." Miku told him quietly, starting to stand. She needed to get to Byakko and Alfons.

[blood_and_pocky]

"I didn't ask if you were all right," he pointed out, although his tone was not harsh. This was something else. The Miku he had seen in the Sun Room not too long ago had been in much better condition, although - by the remnants of Ritsuka's confession - it seemed she had still been injured while trying to fight off creatures.

Before she could clamber to her feet, he had moved away to neatly swipe her flashlight. He turned it off with a sharp 'click', enveloping the girl and the vampire in darkness. With a serious lack of rest, not even Aidou fully welcomed the early morning, though. And this was not how he pictured girls throwing themselves at his feet, either.

Miku would have heard him sigh, before he was once again standing in front of her. His hand extended - too far into her personal space for her not to misplace it. "Quickly, take it. Before something comes."

[rope_victim]

Miku wrapped her fingers of her good hand around what she'd thought was her flashlight with intent to take it from his hand. "Thank you," she had started to murmur, and meant it. Miku hardly said something she didn't mean, after all. The photographer dusted her knees off and wobbled a little.

What she'd found instead was his hand, and her cold fingers found warm ones instead. Wait. Where was her flashlight? "Ah..."

Maybe she should have drunk that broth, but... she couldn't stomach it. Besides, didn't these people know rice gruel was better? Or crackers? She looked at his darker shadow, blinking in the pitch blackness.

[blood_and_pocky]

As soon as she'd assented and reached for him, Aidou closed his own hand around hers and deftly lifted the tiny female to her feet. He was certainly stronger than he appeared, so it was no difficult task. One arm seemed incapacitated, so it was really the gentlemanly thing to do. Right? Or something.

The switch of his grip was no more than a brief flicker - he released her hand only to grip her elbow; what weight she transferred to that side he could easily hold up. Her skin was clammy, though. Yuck.

"If you insist on moving in that condition," he said, because she seemed pretty sickly, "it's not a good idea to have this on." He waved the flashlight he'd relinquished with his other hand, but she wouldn't be able to see it.

Even if she couldn't see anything without it. How would humans ever get by without something to aid their poor senses?

[rope_victim]

Well, the sudden lift was unexpected and she leaned on his hand before straightening.

"But, Aidou-kun, I can't see. How do you expect me to get anywhere. I'll bump into walls," she whispered back at him. It was moot, though. If a monster really wanted to eat the tiny girl, it would have by now.

That had almost happened last night, afterall. If it hadn't been for Adel and his friends, Miku, Alfons and Ritsuka would've been monster kibble. "But, thank you for helping me up."

[blood_and_pocky]

The first time he'd seen the girl, he'd only spent about fifteen minutes with them. And yet he figured he pretty much had her pigeonholed by now.

"But Miku-chan," he started, copying her. "You don't have to see. Because I think you're going to go back into that room you came out of and rest. Or else you'll do worse than stub your toe on a corner." At the words 'Or else you'll do worse', he was struck with how similar this already was with how Aoyagi had approached him. That unreasonable stubbornness again.

He said, "You're welcome," and left it at that. The vampire still have his hand on her elbow, and the other went behind his back, holding her flashlight.

Like Jenga, he was hesitant to let go, or else she'd do toppling down. That wouldn't look good to any others passing by, but now that he had her own flashlight in his possession it wasn't like she'd be going anywhere.

[rope_victim]

In the darkness she frowned at him. She might be weakened, but that certainly didn't give him right to boss her.

...Even if he was right. She huffed, softly and finally relented, too tired to argue back. "Fine. I'll go. May I have my flashlight?" She could wait for Byakko and Alfons there, after all, Alfons had her room on his map.

If she didn't appear, he'd come and find her... wouldn't he?

I'm making tenuous bonds... I don't know if he'll show up... I need to be more careful... she thought.

[blood_and_pocky]

Aw, a girl frowned at him!

It was amazing how little he could care in these situations. Especially if it meant in another few minutes he'd hear the dying screams of a human girl, and have the scent of her blood lingering in the back of his throat, a phantom taste that would only alternately taunt him and piss him off. So he could deal with Miku looking on him unfavourably.

"Good, it's a deal, Miku-chan. Go to sleep and dream of nice things, and maybe I'll give it back."

Ever one who overlooked the personal bounds of others when it suited him, Aidou turned her around and put both hands on her shoulders, moving her back towards the cell block door. It was mostly him walking for her; she was so wobbly, it was almost comical.

She had practically fallen on him. The least she could do was not die anywhere near him, and just hold off for another night, when he wasn't so stupid as to get held up in this area again.

[rope_victim]

Push, push, push, back into the cell block. What do you mean 'maybe'?! she thought irritably. It was one thing to suggest she get more sleep, it was another thing entirely to withhold her flashlight.

"If you walk me to my room may I have my light then?" she asked. "I won't feel right without it," she added, feeling him shift her so she didn't walk into a wall.

[blood_and_pocky]

"Oh yeah, I suppose. I don't want it." By that time, he'd herded her back through the doorway, and so dangled the thing in front of her, his arm extended over her shoulder, so she would know to take it. "Like I told Aoyagi, just pick a room and stay in it, okay?"

He debated the benefits of just closing the door behind her and freezing it shut entirely. Anyone who was still lingering around the cellblocks probably didn't have a plan in mind, so having them all secured for one night wasn't a bad idea. It wasn't like he sensed any creatures nearby.

He sighed. His shoulder never ceased to ache while it healed. "If I let go, you're not going to fall down, are you?"

[rope_victim]

"No, I'll be fine," Miku replied stiffly as they walked down the hall way to her room. "Um... Aidou-kun..." she began quietly, taking the flashlight from him.

"I saw you... with Ritsuka-kun this afternoon..." they'd been so angry, she'd observed. And then she hadn't seen either one of them in the afternoon (granted she'd been sick and fainting... but still!).

[blood_and_pocky]

Aidou stopped dead at the mention of that kid, and with almost stiff precision, removed his hands from her. He had calmed himself down and been gloriously Ritsuka-free for a whole handful of hours. With time to think, he had come to the conclusion that he had made quite the fool of himself. Figures someone had to bring it up.

It wasn't enough to do more than rattle his confident mien.

"Sorry to hear that, it must've been quite the sight," he said, brushing it off. "You could say we had a disagreement." You could say a lot of things about what had happened. He folded his hands behind his head, and turned around on his heel. Like he wanted to stick around anyway. Better to try and get something accomplished. "Well, if you're going to be good and rest in your room, then I'll be leaving now."

[rope_victim]

Miku turned around to face him, switching on the flashlight so it pointed at the floor and not in their eyes.

"Hanabusa..." she murmured quietly. "I don't like it when my friends fight.. so please, find him..." she didn't know where he was, and she worried.

...If he was out by himself, without even Alfons. She didn't want to think about it. "I'm going now," Miku announced, voice threaded with worry. The photographer walked away, the light leading her back to her room. "Be careful tonight."