For You I Will Chapters 11 and 12
Title: For You I Will
Genre: Drama/Action/Romance
Characters: Shuuhei, Renji, Kira, Vizards, OC:Kairi
Pairings: ShuuheixOC possibly KenseixOC (onesided...for now)
Spoilers: Pendelum Arc spoilers
Summary: For a hundred years they’ve lived in exile; hating shinigami for what they did to them. How can it be possible then to care so much about one, even though the scar remains of that one night so long ago? Shuuheixoc
Chapter 11
Kairi stared at the spot where Shuuhei had been only moments ago.
‘What the hell just happened…?’
Walking back inside she shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and make some sense of it all. Not watching where she was going she nearly collided with Risa.
“Sorry” She apologized
Risa looked at the younger woman, waiting to see if she said anything more. She had been sitting on the second floor and saw the Kairi and Shuuhei right before he left. Kairi moved to pass her but was stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Kairi turned to look at Risa “What?”
Risa cleared her throat “I saw you and Shuuhei outside.”
Kairi felt her face grow a little warm before straightening “I don’t know what you’re talking about Risa”
Risa rolled her eyes “So then I guess I was just imagining things when I saw you and Shuuhei kiss.”
Kairi just stared incredulously at the dark haired woman.
“Subtle much?” She asked
Risa game a smirk in satisfaction before her face took on a more serious look. “You do realize getting involved in something like that could be dangerous, for both you and him.”
Kairi sighed as the two of them headed back upstairs to Risa’s room “I know that…trust me when I met him I never expected things to go this far”
For a moment neither of them spoke when finally Risa broke the silence.
“What is it about him? Why now, of all times? Why him?”
Kairi looked at Risa, not sure how to answer that. Downstairs Kensei had begun to climb the stairs to turn in for the night. Hearing the voices of Kairi and Risa he didn’t pay any mind until he heard the subject of their discussion. Normally, he wouldn’t have, however the past few months had taken their toll on him as he watched from the sidelines as Kairi and Shuuhei’s relationship had grown. Sure he liked Shuuhei, the kid was now running his old squad and they did have a history together from that night when he rescued him from a hollow, but slowly he began to notice Shuuhei take his place in Kairi’s life, or at least that’s how it felt.
“I think it’s because for once, someone has been able to look at me and see past our history and just accept me for me. It’s given me hope, y’know, that maybe just maybe; things could be different for us somewhere down the line.”
“You know nothing can ever erase the scars of what happened all those years ago, I would think you of all people should know that” Risa pointed out gently.
“I know that” Kairi replied as she ran a thumb over a scar that went half way around her wrist, its brother on her other wrist, creating a perfect circle, both now barely visible, covered by her watch the numerous bracelets she wore on her wrist.
“I could never return to the Soul Society, ever.”
Risa nodded understandingly and after a moment she spoke again. “What are you going to do about Kensei?”
Kairi looked up “Kensei?”
“I think it’s become blatantly obvious over the past few months that he cares about you, you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”
“Of course I’ve noticed. I figured it out within the first few weeks.”
“He’s one of your closest friends isn’t he? How come you haven’t given him a chance yet?”
Kairi frowned “For the exact reason you just said. He is one of my closest friends; despite the fact I tend to bug him more often than not. I could never go into something like that if there was the slightest risk our relationship wouldn’t work. I’m happy with the way things are now, just the two of us, as friends.”
Well, there it was, without even having to say anything he already knew the answer to his question. Just friends, that’s all they would ever be. Numbly he stood up and quietly slipped past the room Kairi and Risa were in. Stepping into his room he felt his anger and hurt build up as he gripped onto the doorknob tightly. Both women looked up when they heard the slam of a door down at the end of the hall followed by a short surge of reiatsu. Neither said anything but Kairi knew it was Kensei, and she also knew that he most likely heard everything she said. Kairi shot a worried glance at Risa then quickly went into the hallway to Kensei’s room. Standing in front of his closed door she raised her hand to knock before finally letting it fall limply to her side.
She sighed, “Kensei…?”
She was greeted with silence from his room. Looking down she noticed a dark shadow right in front of the door. She immediately recognized it as him and sat down against his door.
“Kensei, What I said….I didn’t say it with the intention to hurt you…you’re my best friend; the one constant in my life that I’ve never doubted… when I first came to the seireitei as a child, to afraid to speak to even my own father, you were the first one I spoke to, after our hollowfication, you were the one who helped me try to understand what happened, even though you were still blaming yourself for what happened… without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today, without you I wouldn’t even be alive. Please try to understand, I do care about you Kensei but if something were to happen and we lost what we’ve had all these years…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Kensei sat in silence as he listened to her talk. He did understand, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. Continuing to listen he heard her voice begin to crack as she apologized. If there was one thing he hated more than her bugging the crap out of him it was when she cried. It was rare but when it did happen he was always left with the feeling of helplessness. Standing he opened the door only to find she was gone.
Back in her room Kairi lay slumped over her pillows, tears flowing freely, wondering how she would ever be able to fix this.
CHapter 12
‘Where am I?’
Kairi looked around unable to place where she’d seen this place before until she saw the rows of seats as they climbed upward, each with a panel in front of the seat and a number on it. She immediately recognized it as the Central 46 chambers. Turning she froze when she saw a young woman knelt in the middle of the floor. Her arms were tied behind her back as she stared up at the members, eyes full of betrayal and hatred. They were the same eyes she looked through all those years ago, the events taking place, now nothing more than a painful memory.
“I’m telling you to listen to me! Lieutenant Aizen as well as Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tousen were the people who did this to us!”
“We’ve already heard these lies before. We’re not here to listen to more of them!”
“I’m telling the fucking truth!!”
“Silence!!”
A loud crackle of kidou echoed through the hall as it made contact.
“There cannot be a shinigami who can have hollow abilities.”
“They’re nothing more than dangerous monsters.”
“We need to find a way to prevent it something like this from ever again.”
“Tests…”
“Force it out”
“Force it out!!”
She watched as a member from the kidou corps approached her younger self. She had to look away from what she already knew was coming. It didn’t however prevent her from hearing the loud cry that pierced the chamber walls.
Kairi sat up breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat. Shaking her head she tried to forget about what she had just seen in her dreams. How long had it been since those memories had come back to haunt her, and in with such clarity too? She knew it was never something that would ever truely leave her but it didn't make it any less frightening every time she saw it. Kairi jumped when a loud pounding jolted her from her thoughts.
‘What the hell?’
Kairi swung her legs over the side of the bed and headed out into the hall to find several other vizards also awake from the noise. Kensei was standing in the hall as well. The two of them shared quick look but neither said anything to one another ad they followed the other vizards downstairs. It was coming from their main door but the question of who; much less how they knew someone was living here was beyond them.
“Who the hell is bangin’ on our door this late at night?” Shinji complained.
“It’s a shinigami” Risa commented “He’s trying to hide his spiritual pressure but I can still feel some of It.”
“I say we leave em’ out there then. What I want to know is how they knew we were in here.” Hiyori scowled and looked over at Kairi accusingly. “I bet it was that shinigami boyfriend of yours.”
Kairi let out a soft growl but didn’t rise to the bait.
“I doubt it Hiyori.” She said coolly.
Reaching out in her mind she did sense the presence of a shinigami and to her surprise his reiatsu felt familiar, like she had met them once before. She tried to think back, as she painted his picture in her mind; tall, muscular, very loud and over confidant, red hair and funky tattoos. That guy from the bar, one of Shuuhei’s friends….Shuuhei! Kairi’s eyes immediately shot open and she pushed to get through the 3 vizards in front of her. Failing to heed the yells for her to stop she swung the door open to find the tall red head standing there, breathing heavily.
“You’re that guy from the bar…..Shuuhei’s friend….how did you find this place?” She asked while keeping her voice even.
Finally catching his breath Renji looked at the shorter woman in front of him.
“Shuuhei asked me to come find you. He said you might be able to make sense of what's going on. I don’t know what but something’s wrong with him. He kept saying stuff about Tousen and Hollows, it wasn’t making any sense.”
"Hey!"
Renji stopped to look at Kairi.
“From the beginning!” Kairi gave an exasperated sigh trying to hide the worry in her voice. “What happened to him?”
Renji shook his head “He was found on the ground just outside the 9th division with a major stab wound in his abdomen. When they went to heal it they discovered it was already near healed. No one knew what to make of it and he also said something about there being an abnormality in his tests the captain of the 4th ran on him.”
Kairi looked at him “What sort of abnormality?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t think it was that big of a deal at the time, just his body recovering y’know? But it got weirder after that.”
“What do you mean weirder?”
Renji swallowed “I was sitting with him just visiting to see how he was doing when suddenly he got this dark look in his eyes like he was looking to kill something. The next thing I knew he had me on the floor, and his eyes…they were black and gold. In a minute though they were gone and he didn’t even realize what happened.”
Half the vizards listening immediately stiffened at what the redhead just said, the other half remained impassive as they listened to him continue.
“By midnight though he kept going into that stage again and again and he was starting to get violent. He even injured several members of the 4th the last time he lost it. After that they moved him to a holding cell. He keeps saying things about hearing a voice in his head that won’t leave him alone and-“
Kairi’s hands were on his shoulders, the look on her face quite scared as she pressed Renji for more answers.
“Renji, did he say anything about what happened before he was attacked? Anything about who attacked him? You said he said something about hollows and Tousen”
“He told me Tousen was the one who attacked him, that he offered Shuuhei a position in Hueco Muno with Aizen and when he refused he said something about awakening his full power to show all he could be if he were to join. Right after that he was stabbed.”
None of the vizards said anything as they all looked at each other but everyone knew what the other was thinking.
Hollowfication.
‘you’re weak….I’m the stronger one and you know it, so let me out!”
Shuuhei put his hands to his head as he slowly lowered himself to the ground, trying to get the voice inside of him to leave.
‘Go away! I’m not weak, so go away!!’
“It’s to late for that! I’m already inside you and there’s no way to get rid of me!”
Shuuhei clutched his head again as the thing inside him continued to laugh maniacally in his head.
‘What’s happening to me?”