[Log] Gin Ichimaru, Renji Abarai
Title: A Face in the Dark
Characters: Gin Ichimaru (lcpdragonslayer), Renji Abarai (day_eight)
Timeline: January 5, 1950
Rating: R, for descriptive violence
Summary: Renji stalks a murderer, and comes face to face with a far greater evil.
The night was damp and cold. A whisper of a wind blew through the city, sweeping between the buildings like a hushed murmur. Renji Abarai shivered as he walked down the street, but it wasn't because of the wind or the cold. Something about this situation felt off. Wrong. Like an itch that he couldn't find to scratch. It felt like trouble.
He slowed down and glanced around. His fingertips tingled as he reached into his coat to feel the cool steel of his M1911. Satisfied that he wasn't being followed, he faced forward again and continued on his way. He took long, quick strides and stuck to the shadows on the side of the road. His feet made almost no noise as he rushed across the pavement. He needed to hurry, and he needed to be quiet.
Something up ahead caught his eye and he immediately halted. He fell back against the nearest building, holding his breath as he made sure that he was completely obscured by darkness. A lone figure was quickly crossing the street, about a block and half away from where he was standing. Renji pulled out his pistol and held it by his thigh, his thumb already hovering near the hammer. His heart all but quit beating as he waited in silence, the seconds ticking off inside his head like minature bombs.
Another gust of wind picked up, scattering litter across the ground like overgrown pieces of confetti. The person up the road paused for a moment, and then darted into a narrow alleyway. Renji cursed under his breath and ran after them, making sure to keep his footsteps soft and his gun at his side. He stopped as he arrived at the alley, hissing between his teeth as he stared through the darkness ahead. The wind pressed against his back, urging him onward. He scowled darkly, but swallowed his hesitation and ran into the blackness.
It was just another ordinary, almost mundane night for Gin Ichimaru. He was almost invisible in the alleyway, leaning against the cool brick wall, shrouded completely in darkness. He pulled the paper packet out of his pocket and started rolling himself a cigarette, planting it between his lips as he slipped the pack back into his pocket and patted himself down for his lighter.
Retrieving it, he twirled it in his hand for a moment before flicking the lid open, the flickering flame illuminating a portion of his face for a moment as he lit the end of his cigarette. As the silver lid closed, the flame was extinguished, and all was dark once more. He took a long, satisfying drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke out into the cool night air. For any ordinary person, it was pitch-black in here, save for the red tip of his cigarette, and occasionally when the moon emerged from behind the clouds, shining down onto the obscured world.
But Gin was no ordinary person. He had lived in these streets - probably slept in the very spot he was standing on at some point in time all those years ago - and his eyes had grown accustomed to seeing with this level of lighting. Dark coloured objects were difficult to distinguish, but certainly he could see the trash laying around the place, and the empty crates and broken bottles lying around.
In the darkness, he could hear a lot better too. He could hear the footsteps coming from a few passageways away, loud, fast - he could hear the pants as the person approached. This was the only way out of the complex web of connected, narrow corridors to the other street, and regardless of who it was, they would have to come past here.
That included his target. And as those footsteps grew louder, and louder, Gin could hear his heart beating just a little quicker in anticipation. The smoke filling his lungs was nowhere near as satisfying as the knowledge that he would get to spill blood very soon, and he flicked the cigarette onto the ground, swivelling the sole of his shoe over it, extinguishing the red dot out.
He stood still, anticipating it to be the man he was waiting for, his hand running over the switchblade handle as he waited... Breathless.
The darkness was suffocating. Renji struggled to keep his breathing steady and his feet moving. Each step seemed to be more difficult than the last; his legs didn't want to bend. A myriad of thoughts swarmed through his mind, his instincts warning him of the unseen dangers ahead. He stopped short, tuning in to the stillness around him, listening for any sounds from the man he was pursuing.
Ennis Black. Renji didn't know if that was the man's real name. He didn't know much about him at all, but he knew that he needed to catch up with him before someone else did. Earlier that day, Ennis had been a simple drug dealer - barely a speck on the NYPD's radar, but something about him had made Renji's skin crawl. He had been assigned to Mr. Black a few days earlier, and had been following him ever since. Everything had went smoothly until that morning, when a seemingly normal deal had turned sour. The scene had erupted into a bloody spray of bullets in the blink of an eye, and now Renji was in pursuit of the only man who had escaped alive. Ennis Black was now wanted for murder.
Heavy footsteps a little ways away pulled the redhead out of his thoughts and he stiffened, bringing his gun in front of him as he headed off in their direction. He rounded a corner and bit back a string of foul language. There were two paths to take, each as dark and ominous as the other. He hesitated for a brief moment before taking the one on the left, ducking under a low fire escape as he picked up his pace. His pulse pounded in his ears; his knuckles turned white as he tightly gripped his pistol. Everything seemed to speed up and slow down in strange intervals; time shifted awkwardly as the moon ducked behind the clouds. Renji kept his eyes peeled, searching through the darkness for any signs of movement ahead.
His heart sank a moment later, when he came face to face with a solid wall. The darkness in that little alleyway was so thick that he almost ran into it. He cursed his luck and whirled around to run back the way he had come, praying to God that he hadn't just fucked it up - hoping that he could still catch up to the drug dealing murderer.
The only person who could possibly be better at hunting in the middle of the night in a complex alleyway such as this one would be someone like Gin - someone who was not affected by the night; who in fact enjoyed the night and was much more alert than during the day, and someone who knew these streets and could navigate through them with their eyes closed.
Not many people escaped from their lives on the street. Gin had been incredibly lucky - to have been offered a way out, and to even be offered to do something... like this.
Rapture was an understatement, really.
He exhaled ever so slowly, as if it were a pleasurable sigh, pulling the switchblade out. With a flick of his wrist, the blade was revealed, gleaming silver in the darkness. Even his hand wielding the knife was shaking, not from fear, but...
From excitement.
His target emerged from one of the adjoining alleyways, making a mad dash down, like a lamb to the slaughter running straight for Death, for Gin. The man, Ennis, had unmistakeable features that were illuminated briefly by a sliver of moonlight, and Gin waited, waited until he could move as an invisible silhouette in the darkness, waited for that precious, opportune moment where life could be stolen.
Ennis stepped into the darkness caused by the looming building, and spidery, bony white fingers crept around the back of Ennis’ neck. There was the look of realisation consuming Ennis’ face, and Gin kept his eyes on the horrified face, watching the mouth hang agape, hearing the silent gasp that was almost sensuous in Gin’s twisted little mind. The entire length of the serrated blade was buried in Ennis’ stomach, and Gin pushed the handle down, angling the blade up, a fresh spurt of blood spraying over his knife-wielding hand and a bit of his white shirt and black pants.
The blood was warm, and comforting, dripping from Gin’s hand as he covered Ennis’ mouth, pulling the blade up, cutting through more of Ennis’ flesh, cutting through the clothes, until he had cut a crooked line down the middle of the body, careful to avoid as many vital organs as he could.
A satisfied sigh escaped Gin’s lips, crimson blood tainting his previously clean, white shirt. Gin licked his chapped lips as one by one, his fingers uncurled from the handle of the blade, his hand resting on Ennis’ shoulder as he eased the limp body down onto the floor. Gin crouched down and leaned over the body, placing his ensanguined, splayed hand over Ennis’ chest.
“Good evenin’, mista Black... How have ya been?” Gin murmured into the man’s ear. Ennis was still alive - convulsing, in shock and what must have been almost unbearable pain, but still alive. “Haven’t spoken to ya since ya decided ta up n’ go... It must... really cut ya up inside, havin’ ta leavin’ us so suddenly...”
One, two, three. Renji counted his steps, forcing his mind to think logically instead of creatively. His imagination was trying to get the better of him. He kept thinking back to the drug deal - to the mess of blood that he had walked in on, just moments after the last bullets had been fired. Four, five, six. His job had been to follow Ennis - to find out who his associates were. The shoot out had not been anticipated. He hadn't been expected to stop it. No one could have foreseen it. Seven, eight, nine. It wasn't his fault. There was nothing he could have done. It was in the past; the dead couldn't be brought back to life. The men who died were villains and probably deserved to die, anyways. Ten, eleven, twelve. Renji just needed to catch that son of a bitch - make him pay for what he did. There was no way he could let that piece of scum roam around the city as a free man. Not if he wanted to sleep at night.
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen... sixteen....... seven...teen.
He stopped. Something wasn't right. His gut churned as he turned around, the barrel of his gun following his gaze. The sinking feeling that something was wrong had been nagging him all day, and it was getting stronger by the minute. He could almost taste the peril in the air. Someone dangerous was nearby. Someone other than his buddy Ennis. He took a deep breath and pressed on through the darkness, his steps a bit slower, his guard fully up.
Years of training and a childhood spent on the streets had prepared Renji for moments like this. He fell into an almost automated mode of kill or be killed - hunt or be hunted. His breathing evened out and his grip on his pistol loosened, his mind finally letting instinct and skill guide his movements. He crept through the shadows, searching the darkness with his ears more than his eyes, and silently moved down the narrow corridor.
Gin straddled the limp body, sitting down and making himself comfortable as he dragged his hand over Ennis’ clothes, staining it a pretty shade of red. He rested his hand over Ennis’ heart, feeling it thumping away hard and erratically. Gin wanted to pierce through it with the serrated blade and feel the heartbeat through the vibrations in the knife until it stopped, but that would cheapen the experience.
“Death... is the most glorious thing,” Gin said, curling his fingers around the dagger. “N’ I will make sure ya savour.” He ripped the blade out, tearing some flesh and cloth out with the serrated edge of the knife, fresh, warm blood spraying out of the body.
He stabbed the knife through the body again, this time puncturing a nice hole through Ennis’ lung.
“Ev’ry.”
He twisted the blade, ripping a larger hole through the flesh and muscle.
“Last.”
He ripped the blade out again as Ennis inhaled breathlessly, desperate to cling onto the life that was slowly seeping away into the night. Scarlet sprayed, splattering on Gin’s face. He licked his lips, tasting the metallic blood on his tongue. He wiped away one particular spot of blood on his cheek with his thumb and sucked on the pad of his thumb, cleaning the blood off.
“Moment.”
The steel blade was driven through the heart, and a soft cry escaped Ennis’ lips. It was messy - there was blood and bits of entrails everywhere - but there was nothing more pleasurable than this for Gin. His grip on the handle of the switchblade loosened as he could no longer feel the heart beating through the knife, and he tilted his head back, basking in the glory of blood, gore and death, basking in the feeling of being alive.
A quiet, satisfied moan, and he ran his blood-covered hand through white hair on the side of his head, streaking it scarlet red as the blood started to dry and clump strands of white together. He panted lightly, relishing in the ecstasy of carrying out the kill for a little while longer.
He pulled the blade out of the body and started cleaning it off on clean scraps of Ennis’ shirt. He even managed to clean the handle off before closing the switchblade and slipping it into his pocket.
“Goodbye, Mista Black. Do say hi to all the men ya killed fer me, won’t ya, sweetheart?”
He leaned over, planting moist, bloody lips on Ennis’ forehead briefly before he got to his feet slowly, looming over Ennis’ dead body for a moment.
Dragging one foot away, his smile widened as he turned to head down the corridor, in the direction Ennis had come from, heading for home dripping in foreign blood.
Adrenaline. It rushed through Renji's body like fire through a drought-stricken field. Every little sensation seemed heightened - every sound, every smell. He kept counting his steps, trying to keep his excitement in check. His eyes played tricks on him, showing him things in the darkness that he knew weren't there. His ears deceived him, telling him that there was someone behind him when there really wasn't. He wondered if he'd ever reach the end of that long, daunting alley. Fifty-eight, fifty-nine...
He stopped short, his pulse pounding in his ears. Footsteps. There was someone coming his way, and this time he wasn't imagining it. He brought his gun up and thumbed back the hammer as that someone rounded the corner. "Stop. Don't move," he snarled, his voice low but menacing. He stepped forward, trying to make out the face through the darkness.
Something strange suddenly came over him - something like instinct. He had an odd urge to shoot whoever this person was, to put a bullet in their brain before they could get any closer. Swallowing the impulse, he moved closer, trying to place the familiar scent that hovered around the dark figure. He couldn't... quite...
The moon broke through the clouds for a split second, casting a brief flicker of light into the alleyway. Renji just barely caught the outline of what appeared to be a man - a man that was definitely not Ennis. He lowered his gun a tad and slowly circled around the stranger, keeping his finger near the trigger. Something told him not to let his guard down.
Gin heard the hammer of a gun click long before the voice emerged, and his steps slowed to a stop. Had he been noticed? Had his carnal act been witnessed? He was sure that no one had seen it, and he had not sensed that he had been followed at all through the night.
He could not really be followed, after all, if the person was in front of him. He stood, motionless, smiling as if nothing had happened. Inside, he was tingling from excitement, from the thrill of the kill, and he could not help it if his vulpine smile was a little wider than normal.
The brief flash of moonlight licked a portion of his figure - coincidentally, only the half of his head that was not covered in blood, and his shoulder, a bit of his arm, and a bit of his shirt. Had he not been keeping so close to the walls, his deed would have been exposed. And what would he have to do then? Killing the stranger was inevitable, and he would no doubt enjoy it, but it was not part of his task. And what if he made a mistake, killing someone who happened to be a cop? What would he do, then, when people came knocking on the door, accusing him of killing two people tonight?
Gin was certainly not expecting someone who was not a homeless person hanging around on these streets at this time, and briefly wondered what the man was doing out here alone. Perhaps... Ennis had been followed? That made things a lot more interesting.
“Hello stranger,” he said almost teasingly, breaking through the silence. Gin was only a silhouette in the darkness now that the moon was obscured by a cloud, just as the stranger was a silhouette to him. “Ya seem ta be a lil’ tense tonight,” he purred.
That voice was... unnerving. Renji backed up another step and tried not to shudder. It surprised him that someone could get under his skin so easily and so quickly. The hairs on his arms stood on end as he aimed his gun into the darkness. His breath quickened and his palms began to sweat. This man...
He tried to shrug the ominous feeling away and glanced behind him. Ennis was no where to be seen. That murderer was the real problem - not this creepy, smiling man. There must have been dozens of creepy, smiling men on the streets. What made this one so special? Renji inhaled sharply and squared his shoulders. He had a job to do, and he wasn't going to let some oddball stop him.
He hesitated for another moment and cleared his throat. "You should really get out of here," he warned, motioning down the alley with his gun. "It's not safe."
Gin chuckled, his laughter resonating through the passageway they were standing in. Not safe, huh. Well said - nothing could possibly be truer.
“Thanks fer the warnin’, good sir,” he said. The mystery man sounded a lot younger now that he was not speaking in growls and snarls. “I’ll be on mah way, then.”
A hand covered in blood was lifted in the darkness, and he waved the stranger goodbye. Even if the stranger was looking, it was not like he could see the crimson hand with this level of lighting, anyway.
“Take care,” Gin said, grinning as he lowered his hand back to his side. His footsteps echoed down the alleyway as he walked away, heading in the opposite direction, finally able to head home in peace.
Renji stood still for a moment longer, blinking at the stranger's friendly, almost playful tone. He couldn't help but feel as if he was missing something important. The man's footsteps faded away until they were nothing but a memory, a nagging echo in the back of Renji's mind. He cursed into the night air and whirled around, pointing his gun down the alley as he picked up his previous pursuit. Ennis. He needed to find Ennis.
He sped off down the alley, looking straight ahead and barely paying attention to where he put his feet. That is, until he nearly tripped over something. Something that wasn't supposed to be there. Something that felt suspiciously... like a...
Shit.
His pulse quickened to an unbearable rate as he crouched down and extended his hand toward the lump on the ground. He reached forward slowly, his fingers not wanting to feel what they knew lay ahead. Something foul clenched his stomach when he encountered a thick, sticky substance. He knew instantly that it was blood.
An icy wind blew the clouds away from the moon, allowing a thin, pale light to illuminate the alley. Renji reeled backwards, suddenly face-to-face with the most gruesome scene that he had ever seen. He caught himself by placing a hand on the ground behind him, bringing the other up to his face, as if to shield himself from the horror in front of him.
Blood... there was blood... it was everywhere.
Reaching forward again, he felt around for a pulse, already knowing that there would be none. "Ennis..." he whispered, his voice strained under the weight of his shock. He scrambled to his feet and wiped his hand on his jeans, scanning the area for any signs of the murderer.
The cold reality of the situation came crashing down onto him like a ton of bricks.
"That son of a bitch!" he muttered, spinning around to race back the down the alley. That smiling little weasel... That teasingly disgusting... Fuck! How could he have been so stupid?!
It all made sense now. That familiar scent on the stranger had been the scent of blood. The guy had been right there and he had let him get away. He cursed himself over and over as he ran through the corridor, his lungs nearly bursting under the strain of the exertion. He ran as fast as his legs would take him, but it was too late. The man was long gone.
The only thing left was the nightmare that would haunt Renji's dreams for many nights to come. He would remember it forever - that vague, smiling face, half shrouded by darkness, leering at him through the night.
He growled low in his throat and clenched his fists, not knowing whether to be more upset with himself or the murderer that got away. The moon slipped back behind the clouds and left him alone in the darkness. Alone with Ennis' blood on his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and slammed his fist into the wall beside him, not even wincing as the hard brick bit into his knuckles. A moment later he shook out his hand and started to walk over to the pay phone on the other side of the street. He needed to tell his captain the bad news.
Characters: Gin Ichimaru (lcpdragonslayer), Renji Abarai (day_eight)
Timeline: January 5, 1950
Rating: R, for descriptive violence
Summary: Renji stalks a murderer, and comes face to face with a far greater evil.
The night was damp and cold. A whisper of a wind blew through the city, sweeping between the buildings like a hushed murmur. Renji Abarai shivered as he walked down the street, but it wasn't because of the wind or the cold. Something about this situation felt off. Wrong. Like an itch that he couldn't find to scratch. It felt like trouble.
He slowed down and glanced around. His fingertips tingled as he reached into his coat to feel the cool steel of his M1911. Satisfied that he wasn't being followed, he faced forward again and continued on his way. He took long, quick strides and stuck to the shadows on the side of the road. His feet made almost no noise as he rushed across the pavement. He needed to hurry, and he needed to be quiet.
Something up ahead caught his eye and he immediately halted. He fell back against the nearest building, holding his breath as he made sure that he was completely obscured by darkness. A lone figure was quickly crossing the street, about a block and half away from where he was standing. Renji pulled out his pistol and held it by his thigh, his thumb already hovering near the hammer. His heart all but quit beating as he waited in silence, the seconds ticking off inside his head like minature bombs.
Another gust of wind picked up, scattering litter across the ground like overgrown pieces of confetti. The person up the road paused for a moment, and then darted into a narrow alleyway. Renji cursed under his breath and ran after them, making sure to keep his footsteps soft and his gun at his side. He stopped as he arrived at the alley, hissing between his teeth as he stared through the darkness ahead. The wind pressed against his back, urging him onward. He scowled darkly, but swallowed his hesitation and ran into the blackness.
It was just another ordinary, almost mundane night for Gin Ichimaru. He was almost invisible in the alleyway, leaning against the cool brick wall, shrouded completely in darkness. He pulled the paper packet out of his pocket and started rolling himself a cigarette, planting it between his lips as he slipped the pack back into his pocket and patted himself down for his lighter.
Retrieving it, he twirled it in his hand for a moment before flicking the lid open, the flickering flame illuminating a portion of his face for a moment as he lit the end of his cigarette. As the silver lid closed, the flame was extinguished, and all was dark once more. He took a long, satisfying drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke out into the cool night air. For any ordinary person, it was pitch-black in here, save for the red tip of his cigarette, and occasionally when the moon emerged from behind the clouds, shining down onto the obscured world.
But Gin was no ordinary person. He had lived in these streets - probably slept in the very spot he was standing on at some point in time all those years ago - and his eyes had grown accustomed to seeing with this level of lighting. Dark coloured objects were difficult to distinguish, but certainly he could see the trash laying around the place, and the empty crates and broken bottles lying around.
In the darkness, he could hear a lot better too. He could hear the footsteps coming from a few passageways away, loud, fast - he could hear the pants as the person approached. This was the only way out of the complex web of connected, narrow corridors to the other street, and regardless of who it was, they would have to come past here.
That included his target. And as those footsteps grew louder, and louder, Gin could hear his heart beating just a little quicker in anticipation. The smoke filling his lungs was nowhere near as satisfying as the knowledge that he would get to spill blood very soon, and he flicked the cigarette onto the ground, swivelling the sole of his shoe over it, extinguishing the red dot out.
He stood still, anticipating it to be the man he was waiting for, his hand running over the switchblade handle as he waited... Breathless.
The darkness was suffocating. Renji struggled to keep his breathing steady and his feet moving. Each step seemed to be more difficult than the last; his legs didn't want to bend. A myriad of thoughts swarmed through his mind, his instincts warning him of the unseen dangers ahead. He stopped short, tuning in to the stillness around him, listening for any sounds from the man he was pursuing.
Ennis Black. Renji didn't know if that was the man's real name. He didn't know much about him at all, but he knew that he needed to catch up with him before someone else did. Earlier that day, Ennis had been a simple drug dealer - barely a speck on the NYPD's radar, but something about him had made Renji's skin crawl. He had been assigned to Mr. Black a few days earlier, and had been following him ever since. Everything had went smoothly until that morning, when a seemingly normal deal had turned sour. The scene had erupted into a bloody spray of bullets in the blink of an eye, and now Renji was in pursuit of the only man who had escaped alive. Ennis Black was now wanted for murder.
Heavy footsteps a little ways away pulled the redhead out of his thoughts and he stiffened, bringing his gun in front of him as he headed off in their direction. He rounded a corner and bit back a string of foul language. There were two paths to take, each as dark and ominous as the other. He hesitated for a brief moment before taking the one on the left, ducking under a low fire escape as he picked up his pace. His pulse pounded in his ears; his knuckles turned white as he tightly gripped his pistol. Everything seemed to speed up and slow down in strange intervals; time shifted awkwardly as the moon ducked behind the clouds. Renji kept his eyes peeled, searching through the darkness for any signs of movement ahead.
His heart sank a moment later, when he came face to face with a solid wall. The darkness in that little alleyway was so thick that he almost ran into it. He cursed his luck and whirled around to run back the way he had come, praying to God that he hadn't just fucked it up - hoping that he could still catch up to the drug dealing murderer.
The only person who could possibly be better at hunting in the middle of the night in a complex alleyway such as this one would be someone like Gin - someone who was not affected by the night; who in fact enjoyed the night and was much more alert than during the day, and someone who knew these streets and could navigate through them with their eyes closed.
Not many people escaped from their lives on the street. Gin had been incredibly lucky - to have been offered a way out, and to even be offered to do something... like this.
Rapture was an understatement, really.
He exhaled ever so slowly, as if it were a pleasurable sigh, pulling the switchblade out. With a flick of his wrist, the blade was revealed, gleaming silver in the darkness. Even his hand wielding the knife was shaking, not from fear, but...
From excitement.
His target emerged from one of the adjoining alleyways, making a mad dash down, like a lamb to the slaughter running straight for Death, for Gin. The man, Ennis, had unmistakeable features that were illuminated briefly by a sliver of moonlight, and Gin waited, waited until he could move as an invisible silhouette in the darkness, waited for that precious, opportune moment where life could be stolen.
Ennis stepped into the darkness caused by the looming building, and spidery, bony white fingers crept around the back of Ennis’ neck. There was the look of realisation consuming Ennis’ face, and Gin kept his eyes on the horrified face, watching the mouth hang agape, hearing the silent gasp that was almost sensuous in Gin’s twisted little mind. The entire length of the serrated blade was buried in Ennis’ stomach, and Gin pushed the handle down, angling the blade up, a fresh spurt of blood spraying over his knife-wielding hand and a bit of his white shirt and black pants.
The blood was warm, and comforting, dripping from Gin’s hand as he covered Ennis’ mouth, pulling the blade up, cutting through more of Ennis’ flesh, cutting through the clothes, until he had cut a crooked line down the middle of the body, careful to avoid as many vital organs as he could.
A satisfied sigh escaped Gin’s lips, crimson blood tainting his previously clean, white shirt. Gin licked his chapped lips as one by one, his fingers uncurled from the handle of the blade, his hand resting on Ennis’ shoulder as he eased the limp body down onto the floor. Gin crouched down and leaned over the body, placing his ensanguined, splayed hand over Ennis’ chest.
“Good evenin’, mista Black... How have ya been?” Gin murmured into the man’s ear. Ennis was still alive - convulsing, in shock and what must have been almost unbearable pain, but still alive. “Haven’t spoken to ya since ya decided ta up n’ go... It must... really cut ya up inside, havin’ ta leavin’ us so suddenly...”
One, two, three. Renji counted his steps, forcing his mind to think logically instead of creatively. His imagination was trying to get the better of him. He kept thinking back to the drug deal - to the mess of blood that he had walked in on, just moments after the last bullets had been fired. Four, five, six. His job had been to follow Ennis - to find out who his associates were. The shoot out had not been anticipated. He hadn't been expected to stop it. No one could have foreseen it. Seven, eight, nine. It wasn't his fault. There was nothing he could have done. It was in the past; the dead couldn't be brought back to life. The men who died were villains and probably deserved to die, anyways. Ten, eleven, twelve. Renji just needed to catch that son of a bitch - make him pay for what he did. There was no way he could let that piece of scum roam around the city as a free man. Not if he wanted to sleep at night.
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen... sixteen....... seven...teen.
He stopped. Something wasn't right. His gut churned as he turned around, the barrel of his gun following his gaze. The sinking feeling that something was wrong had been nagging him all day, and it was getting stronger by the minute. He could almost taste the peril in the air. Someone dangerous was nearby. Someone other than his buddy Ennis. He took a deep breath and pressed on through the darkness, his steps a bit slower, his guard fully up.
Years of training and a childhood spent on the streets had prepared Renji for moments like this. He fell into an almost automated mode of kill or be killed - hunt or be hunted. His breathing evened out and his grip on his pistol loosened, his mind finally letting instinct and skill guide his movements. He crept through the shadows, searching the darkness with his ears more than his eyes, and silently moved down the narrow corridor.
Gin straddled the limp body, sitting down and making himself comfortable as he dragged his hand over Ennis’ clothes, staining it a pretty shade of red. He rested his hand over Ennis’ heart, feeling it thumping away hard and erratically. Gin wanted to pierce through it with the serrated blade and feel the heartbeat through the vibrations in the knife until it stopped, but that would cheapen the experience.
“Death... is the most glorious thing,” Gin said, curling his fingers around the dagger. “N’ I will make sure ya savour.” He ripped the blade out, tearing some flesh and cloth out with the serrated edge of the knife, fresh, warm blood spraying out of the body.
He stabbed the knife through the body again, this time puncturing a nice hole through Ennis’ lung.
“Ev’ry.”
He twisted the blade, ripping a larger hole through the flesh and muscle.
“Last.”
He ripped the blade out again as Ennis inhaled breathlessly, desperate to cling onto the life that was slowly seeping away into the night. Scarlet sprayed, splattering on Gin’s face. He licked his lips, tasting the metallic blood on his tongue. He wiped away one particular spot of blood on his cheek with his thumb and sucked on the pad of his thumb, cleaning the blood off.
“Moment.”
The steel blade was driven through the heart, and a soft cry escaped Ennis’ lips. It was messy - there was blood and bits of entrails everywhere - but there was nothing more pleasurable than this for Gin. His grip on the handle of the switchblade loosened as he could no longer feel the heart beating through the knife, and he tilted his head back, basking in the glory of blood, gore and death, basking in the feeling of being alive.
A quiet, satisfied moan, and he ran his blood-covered hand through white hair on the side of his head, streaking it scarlet red as the blood started to dry and clump strands of white together. He panted lightly, relishing in the ecstasy of carrying out the kill for a little while longer.
He pulled the blade out of the body and started cleaning it off on clean scraps of Ennis’ shirt. He even managed to clean the handle off before closing the switchblade and slipping it into his pocket.
“Goodbye, Mista Black. Do say hi to all the men ya killed fer me, won’t ya, sweetheart?”
He leaned over, planting moist, bloody lips on Ennis’ forehead briefly before he got to his feet slowly, looming over Ennis’ dead body for a moment.
Dragging one foot away, his smile widened as he turned to head down the corridor, in the direction Ennis had come from, heading for home dripping in foreign blood.
Adrenaline. It rushed through Renji's body like fire through a drought-stricken field. Every little sensation seemed heightened - every sound, every smell. He kept counting his steps, trying to keep his excitement in check. His eyes played tricks on him, showing him things in the darkness that he knew weren't there. His ears deceived him, telling him that there was someone behind him when there really wasn't. He wondered if he'd ever reach the end of that long, daunting alley. Fifty-eight, fifty-nine...
He stopped short, his pulse pounding in his ears. Footsteps. There was someone coming his way, and this time he wasn't imagining it. He brought his gun up and thumbed back the hammer as that someone rounded the corner. "Stop. Don't move," he snarled, his voice low but menacing. He stepped forward, trying to make out the face through the darkness.
Something strange suddenly came over him - something like instinct. He had an odd urge to shoot whoever this person was, to put a bullet in their brain before they could get any closer. Swallowing the impulse, he moved closer, trying to place the familiar scent that hovered around the dark figure. He couldn't... quite...
The moon broke through the clouds for a split second, casting a brief flicker of light into the alleyway. Renji just barely caught the outline of what appeared to be a man - a man that was definitely not Ennis. He lowered his gun a tad and slowly circled around the stranger, keeping his finger near the trigger. Something told him not to let his guard down.
Gin heard the hammer of a gun click long before the voice emerged, and his steps slowed to a stop. Had he been noticed? Had his carnal act been witnessed? He was sure that no one had seen it, and he had not sensed that he had been followed at all through the night.
He could not really be followed, after all, if the person was in front of him. He stood, motionless, smiling as if nothing had happened. Inside, he was tingling from excitement, from the thrill of the kill, and he could not help it if his vulpine smile was a little wider than normal.
The brief flash of moonlight licked a portion of his figure - coincidentally, only the half of his head that was not covered in blood, and his shoulder, a bit of his arm, and a bit of his shirt. Had he not been keeping so close to the walls, his deed would have been exposed. And what would he have to do then? Killing the stranger was inevitable, and he would no doubt enjoy it, but it was not part of his task. And what if he made a mistake, killing someone who happened to be a cop? What would he do, then, when people came knocking on the door, accusing him of killing two people tonight?
Gin was certainly not expecting someone who was not a homeless person hanging around on these streets at this time, and briefly wondered what the man was doing out here alone. Perhaps... Ennis had been followed? That made things a lot more interesting.
“Hello stranger,” he said almost teasingly, breaking through the silence. Gin was only a silhouette in the darkness now that the moon was obscured by a cloud, just as the stranger was a silhouette to him. “Ya seem ta be a lil’ tense tonight,” he purred.
That voice was... unnerving. Renji backed up another step and tried not to shudder. It surprised him that someone could get under his skin so easily and so quickly. The hairs on his arms stood on end as he aimed his gun into the darkness. His breath quickened and his palms began to sweat. This man...
He tried to shrug the ominous feeling away and glanced behind him. Ennis was no where to be seen. That murderer was the real problem - not this creepy, smiling man. There must have been dozens of creepy, smiling men on the streets. What made this one so special? Renji inhaled sharply and squared his shoulders. He had a job to do, and he wasn't going to let some oddball stop him.
He hesitated for another moment and cleared his throat. "You should really get out of here," he warned, motioning down the alley with his gun. "It's not safe."
Gin chuckled, his laughter resonating through the passageway they were standing in. Not safe, huh. Well said - nothing could possibly be truer.
“Thanks fer the warnin’, good sir,” he said. The mystery man sounded a lot younger now that he was not speaking in growls and snarls. “I’ll be on mah way, then.”
A hand covered in blood was lifted in the darkness, and he waved the stranger goodbye. Even if the stranger was looking, it was not like he could see the crimson hand with this level of lighting, anyway.
“Take care,” Gin said, grinning as he lowered his hand back to his side. His footsteps echoed down the alleyway as he walked away, heading in the opposite direction, finally able to head home in peace.
Renji stood still for a moment longer, blinking at the stranger's friendly, almost playful tone. He couldn't help but feel as if he was missing something important. The man's footsteps faded away until they were nothing but a memory, a nagging echo in the back of Renji's mind. He cursed into the night air and whirled around, pointing his gun down the alley as he picked up his previous pursuit. Ennis. He needed to find Ennis.
He sped off down the alley, looking straight ahead and barely paying attention to where he put his feet. That is, until he nearly tripped over something. Something that wasn't supposed to be there. Something that felt suspiciously... like a...
Shit.
His pulse quickened to an unbearable rate as he crouched down and extended his hand toward the lump on the ground. He reached forward slowly, his fingers not wanting to feel what they knew lay ahead. Something foul clenched his stomach when he encountered a thick, sticky substance. He knew instantly that it was blood.
An icy wind blew the clouds away from the moon, allowing a thin, pale light to illuminate the alley. Renji reeled backwards, suddenly face-to-face with the most gruesome scene that he had ever seen. He caught himself by placing a hand on the ground behind him, bringing the other up to his face, as if to shield himself from the horror in front of him.
Blood... there was blood... it was everywhere.
Reaching forward again, he felt around for a pulse, already knowing that there would be none. "Ennis..." he whispered, his voice strained under the weight of his shock. He scrambled to his feet and wiped his hand on his jeans, scanning the area for any signs of the murderer.
The cold reality of the situation came crashing down onto him like a ton of bricks.
"That son of a bitch!" he muttered, spinning around to race back the down the alley. That smiling little weasel... That teasingly disgusting... Fuck! How could he have been so stupid?!
It all made sense now. That familiar scent on the stranger had been the scent of blood. The guy had been right there and he had let him get away. He cursed himself over and over as he ran through the corridor, his lungs nearly bursting under the strain of the exertion. He ran as fast as his legs would take him, but it was too late. The man was long gone.
The only thing left was the nightmare that would haunt Renji's dreams for many nights to come. He would remember it forever - that vague, smiling face, half shrouded by darkness, leering at him through the night.
He growled low in his throat and clenched his fists, not knowing whether to be more upset with himself or the murderer that got away. The moon slipped back behind the clouds and left him alone in the darkness. Alone with Ennis' blood on his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and slammed his fist into the wall beside him, not even wincing as the hard brick bit into his knuckles. A moment later he shook out his hand and started to walk over to the pay phone on the other side of the street. He needed to tell his captain the bad news.