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raiko-uemi · 10 months ago

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fight & flight

Raiko had never sprung up so fast before.

She turned on the balls of her feet, swinging around and almost losing her balance before setting her wide lavender eyes on the nearest exit of the chaos she found herself in. Kugane’s annual autumn festival was ending today and the streets had been filled with delicious treats, fancy vendors, bright decorations, and loud music for several days but Raiko had just seen something she truly couldn’t believe. She pushed her dark hair back with a huff and began to move, elbowing and shoving through the diverse crowd in front of her towards her normal alley home. Just ahead a large banner stood in her way.

***** ROAD CLOSED *****

--- Shit.

She glanced back where she had come from, looking one last, fleeting time for what had caught her attention before and dashed the other direction anyway, feeling the stone disappear beneath her featherlight feet as her body moved on its own. This feeling - She couldn’t shake it. Fight and flight wasn’t something she had ever prepared for. All the Ninja training in Eorzea couldn’t prepare her for the flips and dips her stomach was doing, like it was exploding with all the fireworks she had seen in the nights before over the sea’s horizon. Was she falling? Was she flying? She felt weightless, just energy in motion. Kugane was one of the largest trading hubs on the continent with it’s bustling piers and colorful, busy market tents but someone like that was hard to miss and she didn't know what to make of it.

The streets were no match for her once she knew her path as she made it to a familiar Au’ra’s home just a few plots down from her own hovel in nearby Shirogane in a few moments time. The gate swung, slammed, and ached against the beaten red fence just the same way it always did when she had something exciting or incredible or, in this case, plain confusing to impart on her friend. She was breathless as she burst in the door, bent over and heaving to catch herself with her hands on her knees like she’d seen a ghost not seconds before.

“The new girl. With the red hair.” Raiko barely got the words out between gasps for air she felt might not ever come. “She was picking radishes … in the market.” She knew he’d catch on quickly.

The gray-haired Au’ra before her was sitting across a leather chaise, his long, silvery hair hung down around him like velvet as he turned the page of the navy-bound book in his hands and kept scanning it. He was older than Raiko but not by much and she always admired the mysterious, cool, and effortless way he did practically everything. It appeared as though he had been relaxing here for quite some time based on his half-open button-up shirt and the mostly-eaten snacks on the serving tray beside him.

“I don’t think she saw me but … Sh-She had spikes!” Raiko was waving her arms now to get his attention, as if she thought that might paint a better picture of the mysterious bun she’d encountered. “And no Viera I’ve ever seen has horns like that!” She added tiny horns to her forehead for effect, looking over at him even more frantic for an ounce of understanding.

Kaien finally looked up with a smirk, his piercing amber eyes bore directly into her soul and Raiko almost looked away out of shame but kept her composure still. She always hated how he pushed her buttons but that’s what years of hardened friendship will do.

“Oh … her? Li- … Something or other.” He waved his hand nonchalantly.

“You know her?!” Raiko gasped, her cheeks firing up like wild strawberries as she balled her fists to her sides.

He chuckled and it shook the air around them.

“My father said she came in on a boat last night. Mentioned she had business in Kugane for a few days.” He turned another delicate page, the sound nearly stinging Raiko’s sensitive ears as they swiveled to hear him more closely. “Try not to be too obvious.”

Kaien’s father ran the main hostelry in town and always heard about the newcomers and interesting folk making their way through on various business ventures. Most of Raiko and Kaien’s childhood adventures had started with leads about interesting people and ended with dumb childish pranks, only for them to be caught and made to repair whatever damage and fun they had inevitably caused around town. Having moved to Kugane since near infancy, Raiko felt like she knew this city and it’s people inside and out and it was rare that she saw cultures she had never even heard of.

She lowered her head and paced around the room in the silence and space he allowed, stopping to fidget with the hem of her jacket as she mulled over the circumstances.

--- She was magic. I know it.

At that moment Raiko turned abruptly to face him, arms crossed tightly around her chest as if to make herself seem stronger.

“She’s just … different.”

“Not that different from you. She’s not from here, give it time.” He shrugged.

Raiko sighed. She knew he was right. Her only hope was to find out what she could about the stranger in question while she could and then let it go. Fate would steer the rest and Raiko’s goals were clear.

“You better tell me if you find out anything else, alright? Weaknesses, enemies, hiding places …”

“Deal.” Kaien set the book down with a knowing smile and stood, letting the blanket underneath him drape and fall across the chaise as he left it behind.

Suddenly her white-tipped ears bristled and turned as Raiko sensed a gust of air rush underneath the door, signaling movement on the doorstep - Kaien’s housemates had arrived. She nodded, gave her friend a quick hug, and left with a wave, hurrying home for a cup of tea and her own book to wind down for the evening.

&&&

Finally Raiko collapsed into bed, pulling the warm, puffy sheets up around her and still reeling over the day’s events. Tomorrow would be the start of a new chapter for her and she truly believed that, but she needed a game plan. In a few days time … who knew what would happen. But that could wait until after her morning workout. And breakfast.

Before she fell asleep she could only think of one thing.

--- Hope.

#fanfiction #oc #ffxiv #raiko uemi #kaien yuzuka #short story

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crashingheavens · 3 years ago

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#Tag Dump #YORUICHI || I'm captivated by you baby like a fireworks show #KISUKE || A mysterious Illusionist who sets off fireworks in the depths #TESSAI || To be silent is to be beautiful. Stars do not make a noise #KAIEN || Close as hands and feet #GANJU || The mildest drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble #ISSHIN || Uncle Dearest I guess

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kuronanox · 4 years ago

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Our little secret-Kaien Shiba

"Kaien Shiba my super hot professor."

(Your Name) day dreams with brightful eyes as she sighs and smiles sheepishly.

"(Last Name)!" Kaien shouts smacking her desk with his rolled up paper as she flinched and looks up to him. His brows were knit and focused. "If you keep day dreaming you'll fall behind!"

"Ahh I'm sorry." She apologizes and bows her head respectfully as he laughs and grins.

"I'm joking, but seriously you should try to concentrate more."

(Your Name) chuckles and mentally screams, her tiny heart would hurt if he actually yelled at her.

"Wait he knows my name?!"

She looks back up and Kaien was already at the chalk board lecturing on the next chapter. With one hand on his hip and the other writing some unknown language on the board.

"Concentrate concentrate concentrate!"

She tries to smack her face lightly as she looks lower to stare at his butt and blushes a bit yelping as the students around her stared and she looked down embarrassed.

Once lecture was done she sighed from exhaustion and packed her bag before her name was called out.

"(Last Name)." Kaien calls out as most of the student cleared out of his lecture room and she mentally cursed.

"Yes sensei?" (Your Name) asks staring at her feet interested with the patterns of her new shoes.

"You can look up." He laughs a bit with both his hand on his hips. His tie moving along with his laugh and his tucked in shirt was so irresistible for her she licked her lips. "Anyways I was looking back at some of your test scores and you are falling behind! Is everything alright?" He asks now a bit concerned.

"No! Everything is fine! I'm just not understanding the material and I don't wanna stop class because of my selfish reasons."

Kaien pokes her forehead and grunts, lightly hitting the roll of paper on her head. "Everyone is here to learn. I guarantee someone else have the same question as you too."

(Your Name) goes back to looking at her shoes shyly as the older man sighs but in a concerning way. "How about I tutor you for 30 min after class each day you are here. Monday, Wednesday, Friday." His eyes raising for her answer as she slowly nods.

"I'm sure you are a busy man and I don't have money for a tutor."

"Don't worry about it, my students come first." He assures her with a smile as she smiles back.

"Jesus he's gorgeous! I can't believe he offered to help me learn on his own time for free!"

"I'll see you next week then!" Kaien cheers smacking her head once again before walking out the classroom.

The following weekend for her was so slow because she was excited to spend one on one time with him.

"He's my professor though! It would be wrong to like him! I'm sure he's married or dating already! I mean I should be too because I'm a junior year college student but still a teacher and student relationship would be to spicy."

Throwing her pillow across the room she squirmed in her bed like a fan girl. "A girl can dream though."

Composing herself she went onto her phone and searched through all social media to "research" him some more but she found nothing.

"Maybe he doesn't use social media? He ain't that old yet though." Putting her phone aside she closed her eyes and waited for Monday to come quickly.

Lecture time came as she sat towards the front of the class to concentrate more. Still this chapter and chapters before overlapped each other and she felt super lost and defeated.

Kaien would teach and sometimes look at her direction and from the expression on her face he knew she was struggling. Once the classroom cleared out he arranged his desk to be more roomy for her to set her things down.

"Cha! Are you ready?" He asks enthusiastically opening up his notes from a few chapters back.

She smiled and sat next to him as they got to work.

Over the course of their their tutoring sessions 30 minutes turned to 40, till it reached an hour and then till after dark.

Kaien didn't realized how much he was enjoyed her company that at times they would get off subject and just talked about themselves or their likes.

"I didn't think a 30 year old man would actually enjoy tutoring." He says to her as she gasped picking up her book bag and getting ready to leave their session.

"To be fair I didn't think a 22 year old girl would need tutoring."

Kaien waved her off, closing his classroom up. Looking out the window it was pouring all day. "Did you park in the garage today?" He asks putting his coat on.

"I did actually!"

"Me too, we can walk together."

The walk was normal it didn't seem like a teacher and student relationship, it was more like friends now. To Kaien there was nothing wrong with opening up your options even though he had none.

"You are still young (Your Name) go to parties and have fun." He tells her as she looks up to him, his eyes showed a bit of sadness but she couldn't figure out what.

"30 isn't old! But then again to see your professor at a party would be kinda sus."

Kaien chuckles and shook his head as they made it to the elevator. It was silent but her heart was racing.

They've spent a lot of time with each other since he offered to tutor her but she wanted to know him more. There was a part of him she could tell was missing.

"How was your college life?"

"Wild I did so many things." He tells her placing his hands in his pockets.

"Ahh me too, there are some pretty crazy frat parties." She tells him lightly as he laughs out loud.

"Tell me about it! I've been to plenty."

As they enter the garage, the rain started to pour harder as lightning mixed with the clouds.

"Will you be okay getting home in this rain?"

"Don't worry! I can wait it off on campus." She assures him as he shakes in head and unlock his car, opening his passenger seat.

"You wanna go to the bar? It's only a block down. We can wait it off there and then I'll drive you back to your car."

A part of her wanted to say no only because it seemed wrong to be drinking with her professor but she knew she wasn't a minor or some kid. It was totally fine and it wasn't like she was sleeping with him for better grades.

With a bright smile she gladly took a seat. "Sure!"

To her surprise the bar was pretty busy and it was blasting with music and people all ages mingling. He asked for a booth and took a seat across from her.

"He has to be interested if he took me to a bar or even offered to go out!"

Looking at the menu Kaien offered to pay for the night.

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure we are hungry also, it's been a long day."

(Your Name) was hesitant at first but gave in only because he wouldn't let her pay for nothing since he invited her out. They had a few rounds of drinks and it was easy for her to talk to him because Kaien was pretty open about everything.

"Yeah I remember falling down the stairs at a frat house blacked out in the bathtub after trying to get home." He tells her laughing his ass off thinking about his college days.

"Yeah it took 7 people to carry me out the house, I was dead weight and woke up in my friends house with different clothes." (Your Name) says sharing her side of stories as well.

"So you're a drinker? I wouldn't have thought." Kaien states as he drank the rest of his water. (Your Name) looks at her watch, it was about to hit midnight and the rain was slowing down enough to drive in.

"It's getting kinda late, I'm pretty sure your family is waiting for you." She says nonchalantly without realizing it may have been a sensitive topic.

Kaien slightly frowns but not enough to show discomfort. He kindly smiles to her after and says "no family, it's just me and I."

Her eyes widen in realization as she quickly apologized and bowed her head. He chuckles and ruffles her hair. "Don't worry, no offense taken. It gets lonely at times but I bare with it. Come on I'll drive you to your car."

The whole night they went out he was a gentleman, opening the car door and the bar door. Holding her bag and paying for dinner. It felt nice.

As they rode back she had to ask him, she wanted to know what this was.

"Kaien?" She asks and the way his name came off her lips felt foreign.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think this is weird? Going out to drink with one of your students and spending a lot of time with me even after tutoring me?"

There was a silence for a moment before he spoke truthfully.

"At first I was skeptical but we are both adults and what we decide to do shouldn't have to matter with imagine or what people think. That means yes I enjoy your company and I do like you."

(Your Name) blushed a bit, he admit to like spending time with her and hinted he didn't wanna stop either.

"How'd you know I like you?"

He smirks and shakes his head before pulling into the garage. "Word spreads fast around my students apparently."

Turning off his car Kaien walked her into her car so she would get home safely.

"(Your Name) if it's out of your comfort zone we could always try after you graduate." He seriously says to her leaning into her window as she gulped to how close he was to her.

"No I don't feel uncomfortable, I just didn't think this would actually be happening."

"Expect the unexpected." He says as she chuckles to how corny that was. "It can be our little secret for a while." Kaien adds with a toothy grin and she smiles.

"Yeah, our little secret for a while."

(Author Note: idk why I feel like I could make this one shot better but then it would turn to a whole story)

#bleach #tite kubo #bleach x reader #bleach oneshots #bleach imagines #bleach oneshot #bleach Kaien #Kaien Shiba

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dangerouscommiesubversive · 4 years ago

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Lucky + whoever you want, B

B is for basorexia, and who doesn’t want to kiss Lucky? For that matter, and more directly relevant to what I did with this prompt, who doesn’t he want to kiss? He’s an affectionate guy, you know? Like, I could write him kissing one person, or I could write him kissing everyone.

There’s a short segment near the end here that’s NSFW, but not so much that I’m putting the tag on the whole thing.

It’s not strictly possible to be an “early riser” in space, where there are no nights or days and the cycle of the week is even more of an agreed-upon fiction than usual. Nevertheless, Lucky bounces out of bed at an hour that the ship’s clock tells him is early, gets dressed, and wanders down to the bridge, and Raptor jumps when he strolls in and says, “Oh good, a morning comet,” in a tone that suggests that she disapproves.

“Morning, Raptor!” He kisses her on the cheek, and she swats at him, muttering something about not teasing her. “Did Spada make breakfast yet?”

“He did, but you’re not going to want to go into the galley unless you feel like kneading dough.”

“Lucky! I like kneading dough.”

“Suit yourself.”

Shou leans forward from his chair. “Feeling a little left out here, where’s my good-morning kiss?”

So Lucky kisses his cheek, too, which is tricky given the shape of his face. Really, it’s more a kiss next to his eye. “Morning, Commander.”

Despite having asked for it, Shou swats at Lucky much like Raptor did. “You’re going to make an old man blush.”

There’s a lot of dough, but Lucky is surviving, because there are also pastries. He takes a break from kneading to shove a third one into his mouth, and Spada raises an eyebrow at him from across the counter and says, “You see, this is why I have to make so much of everything.”

“Thif,” says Lucky, and then swallows his pastry, “this jam is amazing, did you make it yourself?” He wipes his hands off on a kitchen towel and gets back to kneading. “It tastes...familiar, somehow.”

Spada preens slightly. “I did, I like preserving fruits. It probably is familiar, the berries are from Kaien.”

“Oh, wow, then I think I know how it’s familiar, I think...I think our cook used to make some kind of tart with these.”

“One of the classic uses. You can stop now, that’s plenty.”

Lucky steps away from the counter and shakes his arms out as Spada gathers this last batch of dough into a bowl and stashes it in a large drawer under the counter. “You know, I never thought about it, but if you do that all the time you must be really strong. You don’t, uh. Have an extra jar of that jam, do you?”

Spada looks at him for a moment and then reaches into another drawer in a different counter and pulls out a small jar. “Don’t tell anyone I’m doing you favors, it’ll ruin my reputation in the intergalactic cooking community if people think I’m too nice.”

“All right, lucky. Thank you, Spada.” Lucky tucks the jar into his jacket, grinning, and then leans across the counter and kisses Spada on the nose. “I promise I won’t go telling people you’re secretly nice.”

Garu’s tongue is lolling out of his mouth, his left foot is tapping rapidly on the floor, and his stump of a tail is wagging. Over at the next table, Hame’s chin rests in her hands. She looks fascinated. “I almost feel like I shouldn’t be watching this.”

Garu makes a little whining noise in the back of his throat. “I can’t help it, I like having my hair combed garu.”

“Yeah, uh. Why is Lucky combing your hair?”

“I like combing hair.” Lucky doesn’t look up; he’s sitting on the table, his feet braced on the back of Garu’s chair. “Where I’m from it’s something you do for people you care about. Hey, Garu, if you jump like that I might pull it by accident.”

Another, slightly more pathetic whine. “You care about me garu!”

“Of course I do.” Lucky kisses him on the top of the head where his hair sweeps to the side. “You’re one of my best friends.”

Garu makes sort of a yip noise, a complicated mixture of confusion and delight, and spends the rest of the hair-combing session--only a few minutes more--looking so happy that he might float off the ground. Hame sighs. “You two are so adorable that I might just throw up.”

“You’re done.” Garu gets up, mumbling an awkwardly joyful thank-you, and Lucky waves to Hame with his comb. “Do you want me to do yours next?”

She turns bright red. “Do I what?”

Lucky gestures with his comb again. “Your hair. I know you basically always wear it in that ponytail, but it can be nice to have someone else take care of it for once.”

She stares at him for a moment and then gets up and moves over to the chair that Garu just vacated. “Does this mean you care about me or something?”

“Well, yeah.” Lucky bends down and, since she’s looking up at him, kisses her on the temple as he’s pulling out her hair tie. “If I didn’t then I wouldn’t offer.”

The plan was to spar, and that was what they were doing at first. Lucky’s not sure when the plan changed to, “make out on the floor of the practice room,” but he is glad that Stinger disarmed him beforehand.

Actually, that might have been when the plan changed. His sword went flying, so he dove past Stinger’s spear to tackle him instead, Stinger dropped the spear and tripped him, they hit the floor together, and now they’re making out. It’s sort of like sparring, but more fun.

Stinger straddles his waist and says, “Has it ever come up that you’re really easy to distract?”

“I’m not that easy to distract, am I?” Lucky grins up at him, hands on his hips to keep him steady. “I mean, you’re pretty distracted t--”

At which point Stinger grabs his wrists and pins him to the mat, tail whipping around so the sharp, delicate point of it hovers a hairsbreadth away from his throat. “Who’s distracted?”

Lucky looks at Stinger’s tail out of the corner of his eye. “That was incredibly sexy.”

Stinger stares down at him, disbelieving. “I could have killed you and you think it’s sexy?”

“You could have, but you wouldn’t. Besides,” with a glance downwards, “you think it’s sexy seeing me like this.”

Beat. Eye roll. “You’re not wrong. But also you have no sense of self-preservation.”

“Or I’m the luckiest guy in the galaxy. And I trust you.”

“Why are you like this?”

“You love it.”

Stinger makes a frustrated noise and then lets go of Lucky’s wrists in favor of grabbing his shirtfront and pulling him up into a sitting position again. “My life would be a lot simpler if I didn’t like you so much. Take your shirt off.”

“All right, luck--”

“Just...shut up and kiss me before I decide we should actually finish sparring instead.”

Balance is teaching him how to juggle, and has decided, for reason knowns only to himself, that today they’re using raw eggs.

“Drive Spada nuts when I do this,” he says cheerfully as eggs fly through the air. “He says it’s a waste of good eggs. I don’t think he realizes that Naaga just eats them when I’m done.”

“You don’t break any of them?”

“Well, maybe one or two.”

Lucky’s currently only got three, because he’s still learning the ropes, but he’s got a good rhythm going. It’s sort of meditative--toss, catch, toss, catch, toss, catch, watch the circle they make as they go around and around.

“The really important thing about being a good juggler,” Balance continues, “is that you gotta have great concentration,” and he tosses Lucky another egg.

Startled, Lucky steps back, misses the new egg, and hears it crack as it hits the ground. Then he nearly loses control of the ones he already has, steps forward to get them back, and slips in the egg white, toppling backwards in a rush.

Except that he doesn’t hit the floor, because there’s an enormous arm suddenly around his waist, and Champ catches all three of his original eggs in one hand with startling delicacy and then says, “Ha! Still got it.”

All right, Lucky thinks, slightly winded, lucky! Out loud what he says is, “Thanks, Champ.”

“No problem.” Champ snorts. “Spada said would I tell you guys it’s time for dinner and to stop wasting eggs.”

“We’ll be down soon.” Lucky lets Champ help him the rest of the way back to his feet, kisses the robot’s cheek with a cheery, “Thanks again,” and grins at the embarrassed snorting noise he gets in response.

Balance jangles as he begins to refill the egg carton. “That was impressive, I didn’t know the big guy could catch like that! Hey, Naaga, you want one of these now or am I saving them all for later?”

Naaga barely glances up from the book he’s studying--a large-format book of portraits, the expressions in which he’s examining closely. “I would like one now, please.” He catches the egg Balance throws him without looking, pops it into his mouth, and swallows it whole. “Thank you, Balance.”

“Baby, come on, you gotta eat dinner, that stuff can wait.”

“I’m almost done."

Balance glances at Lucky and flickers an eye--a wink, for him. Lucky nods, and together they slowly, quietly creep up behind Naaga, Balance holding his ears to keep them from jingling.

And then, when they're barely an inch away from Naaga, he turns, and instead of the back of his neck Balance's cool faceplate bumps his cheekbone. Lucky shrugs, then leans in and does the same on the other side, which, because he actually has a mouth, is more of a kiss than a headbutt.

Naaga flushes bright blue. “I’m confused.”

“I was just gonna be all cold on the back of your neck so you’d get up, Lucky’s the one getting kissy about it.”

“What, did you want one too?” Lucky grins and kisses Balance on an ear, right where the earring is attached. “Anyway, I wonder what Spada made for dinner, we should get going.”

Balance’s eyes flicker as Lucky straightens up and starts heading towards the common area. “He’s feeling cuddly today.”

Lucky’s back is against the wall, his legs are around Tsurugi’s waist, and it is hot, hot, hot in his room, only partially because of the ship’s climate control. Not that Lucky doesn’t usually keep the temperature turned up in here, he’s always liked warmth, but also Tsurugi is like a furnace, which Lucky can’t say he objects to.

Normally Tsurugi talks a lot during. Obviously. It’s just what he’s like. Right now, though, his mouth is on Lucky’s neck, and his fingers are digging into Lucky’s ass with the effort of holding him up. It’s a little too much for either one of them to talk.

They’ll get to the bed eventually.

“Up late” is just as much of a polite fiction in space as “early riser” is, but as he wanders down to the galley barefoot and in sleep pants Lucky is conscious of having been awake for a pretty long time. He doesn't regret it, it's been a good day, but he's pretty tired.

Maybe there'll be a few of those pastries left. If there are enough of them he can bring a couple back for Tsurugi too.

At the door of the galley he hears a light footstep, turns around, and nearly runs into Kotaro. "Hey, sorry. Can't sleep?"

Kotaro nods, looking wearier than it should be possible for a ten-year-old to be. "Bad dreams."

"Yeah." Lucky gets the galley door open. "Yeah, I get that."

He hasn't figured out the new code for the dessert safe, but he does know where to find everything for hot chocolate, and as long as he cleans up after himself Spada won't kill him for rummaging. There are a few pastries left, too--plenty, in fact, enough for Kotaro to get one and to put aside a couple for Tsurugi.

He passes Kotaro a cup of hot chocolate when it's ready, and a pastry, and Kotaro mumbles, "Thanks."

"Sure. You gonna take that back to your room, or did you want to hang out in here with me?"

"I was just going to get a snack in the first place and then go read a comic." Kotaro yawns hugely over his cup. "If that's ok."

"Sure it is, that was my first plan too." Lucky grins at him. "You should try to get some sleep, though, it's late."

"So should you."

"I'll, uh. I'm going to." Lucky glances at the dish of pastries in his hand and wonders if Kotaro realizes that they're for more than one person. "I just needed a midnight snack."

They walk back side by side and stop at the entry to the crew quarters corridor. Kotaro raises his cup, already half-empty, in a comically adult salute. "Thank you for the hot chocolate."

"You're welcome, thanks for the company." Lucky considers kissing him on the forehead, decides against it because he does get a little touchy about being treated like a child, and ruffles his hair instead. "It's late. Get some sleep."

#kyuuranger lucky #fanfiction #anonamouse #i am not tagging all of the other kyuurangers suffice it to say that they're here #but that lucky is the unifying thread

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woodrokiro · 4 years ago

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Hollowed (fic), Part Nine

Fandom: Bleach

Pairing: IchiRuki:

Summary: They call her a miracle, but he looks at her as if she’s normal. It scares her. Fantasy/Futuristic/Zombie kinda?AU. Read Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight.

“That is ludicrous.”

“It’s not. It’s true.”

“You’re telling me that you think Measure for Measure is better written than Hamlet--” she watches him sputter, near choking on his own bafflement, “--one of the greatest pieces of literature written, so legendary that what’s left of literary scholars today are still talking about it five hundred years later?”

“I am. You need to read Measure for Measure again.”

“No don’t turn this on me, you need to read Hamlet again--”

“I already did. Four times. I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m. Just. Not. Impressed.” She crosses her arms and looks at him pointedly, working admittedly hard to prevent the smirk working at her face. “Anyway, that’s my personal opinion.”

“Yeah, well, your opinion sucks--”

“My opinion is pristine.”

“Okay, so-so why would, like, hundreds of literary scholars disagree with you?”

“I don’t know these scholars you speak of that you read from one book, but I can tell you they’re dead and outdated.”

He huffs, twisting around so that his back is turned to her against the screen. Like he’s punishing her.

She knows he can’t see her, but just in case she smothers her grin into her palm.

It’s strange, she considers as she moves the chair she was leaning against, studying the floor beneath the table. How quickly they’ve fallen into a bizarre sort of friendship--and over books at that.

At the day’s end after they had exchanged Hamlet and King Lear, Rukia became rather embarrassed at herself. How rude she was at his misunderstanding her proposed arrangement, how quickly she had taken his valued copy from his hands…

How excited she became at the thought of having a reading partner.

She didn’t sleep well that night. It wasn’t like her to act that way. The fact that she hadn’t had a literary friend in so long was no excuse. As a lady she was to have poise, she was to be elegant and reserved and not expect more of other people than what their duties called for, that was something she swore to herself after Kaien--

She was ready to apologize when his next shift came. Instead, before she could say a word he came back with her King Lear in hand claiming that Lear “was a total pissant.”

She still chose her words carefully around him, and days after the hospital left her not wanting to talk to him at all.

But today was a good day, and she was rather ashamedly surprised that annoying him so easily was… Quite fun.

As if on cue, he turns his head--but not enough to look at her. “You’re wrong.”

“On the contrary: I’m always right. I’m the Prized One, remember?”

He scoffs and shakes his head. “Whatever that means, I can see it clearly hasn’t gotten to your head.” He stops, and she can hear him wrapping his knuckles on the floor. “So you’re telling me none of it resonated with you? I mean, this guy’s birthright was taken from him, so he fought--”

“No, not really.” she stops him half-mindedly. Her gaze and attention is really on the small chandelier hanging above her table that needs quite a bit of dusting.”Besides: he doesn’t deserve to be king. His self-entitlement cost lives, and for what? What he thinks may have been a ghost of his dead father?”

“Well no one’s arguing Hamlet’s a good guy, but--that’s my point! Lives were cost at the selfish decisions of the rich. How about Ophelia, didn’t you feel a… I don’t know, a connection to how vulnerable she--um EXCUSE ME what are you doing?”

She looks down at his sputtering expression from where she stands on the table. “What? I’m dusting this chandelier.”

“Yeah I can see that, but Kiyone’s coming later and… I don’t know, has a ladder??”

“Kiyone’s gone for the day, and I need this done now.” She blinks at him. “Did no one tell you? My brother’s coming for a visit.”

“No one tells me anything here.” He grumbles, but still eyes her skeptically as she reaches up to polish the decorative glass petals. “Look, could you just--can you get down from there? You’re gonna get hurt, and he’s not worth it.”

“No I’m not; see? I’m already done.” She drops her rag on the ground below. “And don’t talk that way about my brother. Now, he’s coming soon so I have to--”

She twists her body to find the chair from which she can step down, forgetting that she’s standing on what she realizes now is a rather slippery paper.

She hears a shout as she tumbles down.

He’s shouting and Rukia is on the ground and groaning and goddamn it he knew this would happen and if the psycho doesn’t answer him this second he’s gonna blame her for the ten years shaved off his life but he can’t think about that now he’s---

He’s inside the room. Holding her.

He doesn’t remember even twisting the latch open, or the exact moment that he decided to disobey her orders by coming in--but whatever. It wasn’t a question, coming to her side.

“Rukia. Hey! Rukia, answer me.” She grimaces in response, but he near bellows in a sigh of relief. “Jesus! You scared the shit out of me.”

“What are you doing over here, fool?” Her glare and tone could kill, but Ichigo just rolls his eyes.

“I don’t know, why were you thinking you could just stand up on such a weak ass table and not get hurt?”

“That’s not the point.”

“That is the point, dumbass, that’s why we’re here!”

“Don’t talk to me that way. Go back to your side, I’m fine--” she starts to get up, but flinches with a sharp intake of breath.

Her eyes meet his and they stare each other down.

“Where does it hurt?”

“I’m fine, I just said I was.”

“You just fell four feet at least, so no you’re not fine--”

“Quit overreacting, it’s not like I went unconscious--”

“Even so, you could have sprains. Let me have a look--”

“This is completely disregarding my orders--”

“Rukia, sit on the damn chair and shut up!”

He thinks she’s going to scream back for a moment, until she follows his orders with an irritated huff and pulls herself up to sit in the closest chair he had pulled for her. Ichigo doubts she really gave up that easy, and that he’ll have to pay for it sometime later.

Whatever, he can deal with it once he finds her injuries.

After giving her head a once over and asking her repeatedly whether she hit it (the answer is a bratty, resounding “no” each time, which leaves Ichigo somewhat relieved), he moves back to look at the rest of her body.

“Where does it hurt then?”

Silence.

“I’ll wait right here as long as I have to.”

“... My hands broke my fall, but my ankle is rather sore.”

Ichigo nods. “Makes sense, if you twisted it,” he mutters before kneeling at her feet to take a closer look.

Surprisingly the ankle looks fine; a little swollen, but nothing that can’t heal on its own. He gently feels out the rest of the foot, gingerly pressing his thumb into different points of the fragile bones.

“Here? Is it okay here?”

She doesn’t answer, but he can feel her nod. He swallows thickly, moving his hand slowly past her ankle, up around her calf.

Her skin--he tries not to notice--is very soft.

“Here…?” He looks up and finds her watching him. Her lips are slightly parted, and her half-lidded eyes look slightly… Hazy? Dazed? Curious?

He doesn’t know what to call them, but he knows he’s not able to look away.

He’s caught by the stillness of the moment--his looking up at her, her gazing down at him--and he’s pretty sure the only noise in the room is his breath, the creak of her chair. He should probably do something, say anything to make this normal again--and he’d rather not do anything because the only thing he can do would be very inappropriate and something he very much does not want to do so he opens his mouth to speak--

“My sister Karin is unhappy in the kitchens, would you be able to put her in masonry?”

Rukia’s eyes snap open wide. Her face falls, startled and even a little sad and she firmly kicks her leg from his grasp.

Ichigo wants to shove his whole fist in his mouth and choke.

You absolute piece of shit.

“Of course, I’d be happy to put a good word in.” She clears her throat, looking anywhere but him. “Are you done? I’ve told you, I’m all right.”

“Y-yeah of course. Sorry.” He stumbles back onto his heels, brings himself to stand on suddenly jittery legs. “Look, Rukia, I didn’t--that’s not what I--”

“That’s Lady Rukia to you.”

The two of them jump at the unexpected voice, and turn to see where it’s coming from. Byakuya is standing at the doorway, coolly eyeing his sister and her flustered bodyguard.

He sees her get up rather quickly and bow. “Brother, I thank you for your presence--”

“Are you hurt, Rukia?” Byakuya directs the question at her, but keeps his eyes trained on Ichigo’s. “I can only imagine that was what was happening so distastefully with your bodyguard. Though how he would have any medical knowledge is beyond me.”

“My father often offered medical assistance in the Valley--”

“Medical knowledge in the Valley is akin to a monkey learning how to be a doctor here: not even close in their knowledge.”

Before Ichigo has the chance to snap, Rukia pipes up. “He did well in searching for immediate injuries, Brother. And I have no doubt the medical facilities look for anything he might’ve missed tonight.”

“I would believe so.” He eyes Ichigo sternly for another moment before turning his attention to his sister. “In any case, you know better to be careful Rukia. I don’t need to remind you of your delicate condition.”

“Of course, Brother. I only wanted the room to look nice for you--”

“Guard, you may leave.” He nods curtly back to Ichigo. “I require a private meeting with my sister, and from there I will accompany her to the medical facilities.”

He hears a sharp intake of breath from Rukia. “So early today? Can’t it be a little later--”

“The hospital needs to see you sooner for another test. Their schedule cannot be helped.”

“... Of course.” Rukia bows again, then turns to Ichigo. “Ichigo, you may go. Thank you for your service today.”

Ichigo grits his teeth. He knows Rukia was looking forward to Byakuya coming, but he doesn’t like the idea of this fucking asshole nitpicking her without anyone to protect her.

But then… He was just a fucking asshole to her, too.

And Rukia’s still not looking him in the eye.

He walks out of the room, past the captain with tightened fists before slamming the door with a frustrated thud.

Lunch with her brother has never been… Well. Comfortable. Particularly after he’s just found her and her bodyguard in a compromising position.

Not that it was at all what it looked like; Ichigo was just checking her for injuries, after all. Maybe she felt… Dizzy when he was gently pressing her ankle, his calloused hand moving its way up her calf--but she can blame the lightheadedness on her fall. Besides: it was clear he thought nothing of it, either. The way he asked for his sister…

She’s not offended, she muses as she pours more tea into her brother’s cup. Not in the slightest. She’s rather used to people asking things of her, and it’s all right. Really. He’s already proved himself a capable servant, he can ask for things.

It’s better that there’s distance, she thinks as she holds the cup out to her brother with two hands. It’s better to think of him as just that: a capable servant. Don’t blur the lines like last time.

“You look deep in thought today, Sister.” Byakuya observes her from behind his raised cup. “Is something the matter?”

She shakes her head, shakes the annoying feelings of disappointment and loneliness from her mind. “Not at all. I’m just rather tired. I suppose I wasn’t expecting to… To go to the hospital so early today.”

“It is necessary. You know the tests are planned very carefully.” He replies shortly, but there’s a tinge in his voice that she knows is not unkindness. “After tonight, you will get a bit of rest. I have requested that they give you a longer break before your next visit.”

She bows her head low. “Thank you for your kindness, Brother.”

“It is no kindness. I would think it does little good for the doctors to have you so weary, as they have the past few weeks.” He sips his tea nonchalantly, but she knows his action for what it is: a mercy.

They are not common from him, but she knows he does try where he can.

Which is why she knows moments like these are the best times to ask.

“By the way, Brother--if you would be so inclined… I would like to ask for my favor of the month. My bodyguard--Ichigo Kurosaki--”

“I know who he is, you need not describe him by name.”

“Of course. His sister… I believe her name is Karin. If I am to be believed, she does not make a great fit in the kitchens--”

“Has she made your meals incorrectly? Does she need to be reprimanded?” Her brother drums his fingers slightly on the table.

“No! No, nothing like that. Just… I believe she might be better elsewhere. Perhaps Masonry? From what I’ve heard, there are always workers needed there--and I’m sure she is quite capable of the work.”

Byakuya watches her evenly, and she resists the urge to squirm or gulp down the rest of her tea in distraction. He doesn’t tolerate people that can’t hold a level conversation with him--no matter how intimidating he may or may not know himself to be.

Finally, he lets out a dignified snort. “That group has been spoiled enough already,” he lets out, clearly irritated. “The boy is your bodyguard, one is being led around our classified medical facilities, the others have jobs citizens more qualified than them have been requesting for years. Yamamoto believes they bring good, but I do not.”

“I think--I believe they are just hard working people with no place to go--”

“They could’ve gone someplace else. There are other villages that still exist… But very well. If you request to have the girl moved… Then I trust your judgement.” He looks at her, and it’s subtle--but she’d say it is one of exasperated affection. “You ask too much for others, Sister, and not enough for yourself.”

She is about to say something, thank him for his kindness yet again when he clears his throat and stands to leave. “Shall we go, then?”

Rukia nods, stacking her dishes neatly for Kiyone to take while she’s gone.

She tries not to think about discomfort she’ll face tonight, the raw pain that’ll sure enough be in her shoulder.

But It is worth it, she tells herself until it gives her the strength to stand taller.

So long as I’m helping people, it is worth it.

#ichiruki #bleach #ichigo kurosaki #rukia kuchiki #my stuff #hollowed

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recurring-polynya · 4 years ago

Note

saw your tags and I’M BEGGING YOU something about the rukia vs as nodt fight maybe just a drabble however you see fit 🥺🥺🥺

I am sorry this took so long!! Anyway, this ask was in reference to this post about the fears Rukia experienced during the As Nodt fight. I honestly don’t know why I have never seen another fic about this, but if you know of one, send it my way!!

In any case, I don’t usually write dark stuff, but I am good at it, actually, so this one gets a TRIGGER WARNING: Intrusive ideation of the gruesome death of a loved one. Eight times. Probably some spoilers for the TYBWA.

PS: If you want to know more about the time Renji broke his arm in Inuzuri, it’s a shoutback to this.

Rukia is running, her filthy bare feet pounding against the hardpack. She can hear the echoes of other feet behind her, but she can’t tell how many. She skids to a halt, panting, and turns, eyes wide and panicked, ready to count one, two, three, four heads. Four plus her means that everyone is safe.

She is alone.

---

Rukia flinches, waiting for the lead pipe to splatter her brains across the dusty Inuzuri street. But there is no pain, only the sound of bone crunching, followed by a soft grunt.

She has been rescued. Renji, as is his way, has placed himself between herself and the consequences of her actions once again. His arm now hangs uselessly at his side, dripping blood steadily onto the ground. “Fuck you!” he screams at her attacker, who raises the pipe for a second swing.

This isn’t right, Rukia tells herself. This isn’t how it happened.

Hot blood splashes across her face.

---

They stayed too late in the 77th. Renji kept eying the pale clouds gathering overhead, but Rukia thought she could score a few of scraps of food as the vendors in the market were shutting down. Not only was she wrong, but the snow had started falling when they were still a mile north of the Inuzuri border.

Now they were huddled against the bole of an old, half-rotten oak, under a pile of what little brush they were able to gather before the visibility went down to nothing.

Rukia’s brain feels fogged and sleepy. She honestly can’t tell if she’s hot or cold, temperature has become some alien concern. Renji’s arm, wrapped around her, pulling her close, feels heavy, too heavy.

“Renji,” she mumbles. “Renji, don’t go to sleep.”

Her eyelashes are crusted with snow, she can barely see. She shoves her ear against his chest, and listens for his heartbeat.

There is nothing.

---

It is raining, but she can still hear shouts from the courtyard.

“I just want to see her, you flash bastard! I just want to know that she’s okay!”

Rukia tries to make her way to the front entrance, but the hallways of the manor are foreign and seem to reconfigure themselves as soon as she picks a direction. It isn’t right, she tells herself over and over, trying to control the feelings of terror that course through her. I sent him away. I sent him away so this wouldn’t happen.

By the time she gets oriented, Brother is returning inside, his haori dotted with rain. He is wiping down his sword with a cloth that is stained very, very red. “The disturbance is dealt with, Rukia,” he informs her. “You may return to bed.”

---

“I won’t let you take her,” Ichigo snarls, and plunges his sword into Renji’s heart.

The rage melts from Renji’s face, leaving only disbelief behind. His eyes meet Rukia’s briefly, before they roll upward and falls, face-first, onto the street.

Her feet are frozen to the ground, a scream is lodged in her throat, unable to come out. She doesn’t want Ichigo to die, but she doesn’t want this either.

“Unfortunately, that is not up to you,” her brother’s voice echoes in her ears, and suddenly, there is a sword tip protruding from Ichigo’s chest, and an equally surprised expression on his own face.

A strangled sound, not yet a scream, emerges from her throat.

---

Rukia is walking across a bridge. Her thoughts are wrapped up in her own pending execution, when she feels it like a stone plunging into a lake.

Renji is gone.

She grasps frantically for his reiatsu, for a trace, a wisp. The guards are prodding her, yelling at her. Her reiatsu sense is becoming flooded by Ichimaru Gin, walking steadily toward her, smiling his snake-like grin, but she sifts for the tiniest sandgrain, trying to find some evidence that Renji lives.

There is none. Renji is gone.

---

Renji’s body cants forward, he can barely hold himself up, but his grip on her does not falter. Aizen’s shadow falls over them both. Aizen is talking, talking, talking, but his words are just empty buzzing. Rukia is pushing against Renji’s arms, his chest. She’s not sure if she’s trying to get him upright again, or trying to free herself from his grasp.

Just once, she thinks. Just once, let me put my body in front of yours, you bastard, just once.

“Please, Captain Aizen!” she begs, her voice desperate and shrill. “Please, I’ll--”

“No.” Renji’s voice gurgles in his chest. One of his lungs is punctured. “I told you to shut up… Rukia,” he murmurs, and she recalls that he often says “shut up” when he means “I love you.”

Not again, I can’t take any more, please not again.

“I’m not letting go of you,” he curses her, before raising his eyes to Aizen. “I’m not leaving her,” he swears. “You bastard.”

“I see,” Aizen replies. “That’s unfortunate.”

This time, no one intercepts the blow.

---

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez saunters down the empty Karakura Street. “So, which is it?” he drawls. “Which one of you three is the strongest?”

Renji sidles a step in front of Rukia.

“No,” Rukia murmurs. “No, you weren’t there. You were off getting gored by Yylfordt Granz, you bonehead.”

“Not you,” Grimmjow decides, ramming his hand through Renji’s guts.

It’s not pleasant to watch, but Rukia forces ice through her veins and refuses to look away. It’s not real. Renji lets me fight my own fights.

Renji coughs once. His body hits the ground with a wet smack.

---

The Arrancar, this pulsating mass with Shiba Kaien’s face, levels Nejibana at her, when Rukia feels Renji’s reiatsu storming through the hallways of Las Noches, his footsteps pounding like a heartbeat against her spiritual senses.

“Give it up,” Rukia growls, forcing herself to remember clasping his hand in the desert, making him promise.

“I swear on my sword,” he’d agreed, reluctantly.

“Say it. Say the whole thing.”

He rolls his eyes and sighs dramatically. “I swear on Zabimaru that I won’t die for you, okay, Rukia? Of all the stupid--”

“It’s not! It’s not stupid! I can’t fight all-out if I have to worry about you throwing your stupid body in front of me the minute I start to lose! I’m strong, Renji, you have to have a little fucking faith in me!”

“I do!” he had protested. “Of course I do! I always have! That isn’t why… that’s not… I…”

“It’s not the time for that.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. “But I know why. You don’t have to say it.”

One side of his mouth quirked up in a humorless smile. “Yeah. Well. You got your way. I promised. Do me a favor in return and at least try to stay alive, would you, Kuchiki?”

The promises were real, and Renji kept his. She didn’t then, and she doesn’t now, either.

“Sorry, Renji,” she sighs and throws herself forward onto the trident.

---

Rukia is screaming. She is screaming and screaming and she can’t stop.

Suddenly, there is a loud crack, and As Nodt’s Tatar Foras begins to shatter around them. Daylight leaks through, at last. Rukia has access to her senses once again.

She scrabbles, desperately feeling out with her reiatsu, trying to find Renji. She doesn’t know exactly when it happened that she became perpetually aware of him. Maybe sometime during the Winter War, she spent so much time groping around for him that he became lodged in her head, a half-forgotten song she couldn’t knock loose. Since the Royal Realm, though, he’s been a noisy, omnipresent companion, a rhythmic bassline steadying the tempo of her own soul.

He is halfway across the Seireitei.

He was napping, but he’s waking up now.

Napping.

It wasn’t Renji that came to her rescue at all, but Brother, whom she supposes also has a right to a piece of As Nodt.

Renji is sure to get in another fight sooner rather than later, but at least if he dies, it will be because he wasn’t strong enough, not because she wasn’t. That’s a bit of a weird thought, Rukia realizes, as the paralyzing fear slowly recedes from her body. She doesn’t want Renji to die at all.

The solution is obvious. She and Byakuya will just have to finish this quickly, and then she can go protect that bonehead with her own strength. He will likely chew her out and then she can tell him to shut up.

“Do you still have any fears?” Byakuya asks her, trying to gauge if she has shaken the aftereffects of As Nodt’s spell. “Rukia?”

Rukia adjusts her grip on her sword. “No!” she replies.

#bleach fanfiction #renruki #rukia kuchiki #renji abarai #ahhhh writing this was honestly very cathartic #tybw arc

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starsfreckled-archived · 3 years ago

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“who are you really?” forcing the raen on her knees, she looks up at the scions, sighing. “...a garlean spy.” she can see minfilia close her eyes for a moment, shoulders stiffening. this was probably the answer they had been worried about the most.

“aeliana is your name then?” minfilia holds up a letter and amaya shrugs “it’s the name I gave myself when I became a soldier. it’s easier to be accepted with a name that doesn’t sound doman.” she nods towards the piece of paper “have you read it?”

“yes, it’s the reason why we haven’t dragged you into one of the city states to be held as a prisoner. those are clearly papers meant to inform your higher ups about the state of eorzea and of us... but they are all false information” amaya smiles a little bit before tying to raise her hands a little. “would you please let me sit properly so I may explain myself?”

minfilia hesitates for a moment but then nods at the scions behind her as they let her go. rolling her shoulders amaya walks to the chair in front of the scion’s leader. “remind me to never piss off anyone from the main team if that’s how rough the waking sand’s guards are” the jest doesn’t really work. well she had tried to make the atmosphere a little bit friendlier.

“I did not lie, I am a born doman. my parents tried to flee but were recognized. you see they worked under lord kaien - we were shipped off and made a stop in the nation of werlyt. some officer tried to probably get some points from the legatus ...he tried coaxing out some secrets out of my parents. they didn’t survive”

her voice sounds quite matter of fact. the memories still hurt, but she had learned to ignore the pain. “I became part of a group of orphaned raen.” a soft smile crosses her face but she knows there is no time to dwell on the happier days.

“I was picked as a spy because everyone assumed I had a sickly nature. not fit enough to fight but fit enough to blend in with other refugees and find out how eorzea was doing - especially the city states and their primal problem” before she can continue, minfilia raises her hand, a questioning look on her face.

“I have seen you fight. you are not a sickly person” “no, I am not. but that is how the echo looks to people who don’t know it... ah right. I told you I got it when I arrived here. that was a lie. the things I see are much clearer now, but I always had the echo” from there on she continues her story.

she tells minfilia about how she left behind her uniform at baelsar’s wall together with the name she had picked herself all those years ago as a child. how she walked into gridania under the guise of an adventurer. it had been so terribly simple. nobody questioned a raen girl that knew nothing of eorzean life due to being a newly arrived refugee.

she tells her how exactly she found out about the scions and joined them. how, for the first time, she got answers to her questions about the echo. how for the first time, things started to make sense. “I did not plan to fight ifrit that day, I knew what monsters primal can be. but finding out I cannot be tempered... I knew if I returned to the empire there was a chance they would just cut me open and try to figure out how to use that power - not even gaius van baelsar would be able to protect me from this, even though I was one of the orphans that called him father”

crossing her arms, amaya’s gaze shifts back to the scroll on the table. “...it wasn’t just self-preservation though that made me start writing wrong reports. do not get me wrong, I love my family that I have there... but we are orphans for a reason and that reason is the empire. what you have here minfilia, what the scions stand for: I want to be part of it” when she looks back up at the hyuran woman, she is surprised to find her sigh in relief and smiling at her. she wouldn’t have blamed her if she had never believed her and just killed her on the spot but... no. no that was the smile of someone who was about to offer a second chance.

“do you intend on keeping up your lie with the empire?” amaya hesitates. she had thought much about how to deal with that particular problem. “no. I would soon need to return and answer for my false reports... so I think perhaps it is time to send a message to them. a warning that eorzea will not tolerate any spies.”

amaya rises to her feet with a determined look on her face “...we’ll need a heavy weapon and a healer. and I’ll probably have troubles keeping balance for a while but... it should work” for a moment, minfilia frowns, not understanding what the petite au ra had planned, but then it slowly dawns on her...

...days later a package appears in castrum oriens, containing parts of a raen horn covered in blood, together with a little gem that ‘aeliana’ usually wore on her forehead, as if to mirror the garlean eye.

#❝ ʰᵉᵃˡ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᶜᵃʳˢ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵒᶠᶠ ᵐʸ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ; ᶦ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ⁿᵉᵉᵈ ᵗʰᵉᵐ ᵃⁿʸᵐᵒʳᵉ ❞╱ garlean AU01 .#❝ ᵃ ʷᵃˢᵗᵉ ᵒᶠ ᶜᵖ ❞╱ little creations .#[ anyway this was stuck in my head forever. now i dont like it. its too much dialogue but eh !! it's out of my system now]

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celosia-starfall · 4 years ago

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Hakuoki: Oni no Chi

Interlude 1: Iba’s Musings

In which Iba and Harada have a talk

[AO3 LINK]

A/N: To sort of break up the story a bit more and not end up constantly writing 20 page long chapters (like chapter 4 was), I’m going to add some “interlude” chapters every now and then that will be shorter and just throw in a bit of perspective from some of the other characters too.

@pumpkin-patch-cat @ladyshiranui @impracticaldemon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A sigh fell from Hachiro’s lips as he slid down off of his horse.

Guilt had been gnawing at his chest for the past several days after he and his father had been kicked out of the Kururugi residence. He had been so sure that his plan would end up working. Even his father had agreed to it.

But when they had arrived and the suitor that Kaien was bound to marry was already there… Well, it seemed as though his plan was already bound for failure before it could’ve been put into action. To think that Kaien’s father had already worked so fast on securing a husband for her. That Takeda fellow...

Still, he couldn’t forget the anger that blossomed within him when Kaien’s father had raised a hand against her. All for simply speaking out against the future marriage. Even now, Iba felt pissed off, but there was little that he could do about it.

Instead, he chose to focus on the one thing that he was capable of doing for her. The single request that she had given to him before they’d parted ways.

“Iba?”

Blinking, he glanced over at the entrance to the dojo, a familiar dark-haired figure standing there with a raised eyebrow. “Ah, Toshi! It’s good to see you.”

“Mm. You’re back sooner than I would’ve expected. Is everything okay?” Hijikata asked, placing a hand on the young teen’s shoulder.

“Well…” Iba’s smile faltered as he glanced away, the guilt and anger rising up again in his chest the more he thought about it. “Not precisely.”

“Did something happen to Kai?”

“Not yet. Not exactly…”

Hijikata’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Would you like to talk about it over some tea?”

“Not right now. Thank you for the offer.” Iba bowed before looking around the dojo. “I’m actually here on a request from Kaien. Did Harada-san ever come back?”

“Ah.” Rubbing his face, Hijikata’s expression softened. “Yes, he’s back… He’s upset, so if he yells at you, try not to take it to heart. He’s mostly upset with himself. For not being here for Kai when she was having to leave…”

“Don’t worry, Toshi.” Iba patted the older man’s arm. “He’s not the only one…”

After all, I’m the one who had the most power to be able to keep Kaien safe. I’m the one who made a promise to her that I’d help keep her from being married off. And I failed… If I can’t even keep a promise to a friend, then I’m never going to be worthy of marrying Chizuru...

“I’ll go find Harada-san,” he said, waving a hand back at Hijikata and making his way through the dojo until he could find Kaien’s room. “Now let’s see…” He tapped his knuckles against the flooring around the room until he managed to find a spot where the wood was loose enough to lift up. Beneath the board was the journal he was looking for, just as Kaien had said.

Tucking the journal into his yukata, Iba left the room. His feet carried him around the grounds, following the sounds of someone training rigorously. Standing a few paces back against the wall, he watched as the redhead repeatedly swung and stabbed the practice spear into a set of training dummies. Far more aggressively than Iba had ever seen him.

Toshi wasn’t exaggerating… But I know I’d feel the same way if I were in his place.

Iba cleared his throat, causing the elder teen to stop and turn towards him. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, Harada-san.”

Grabbing a towel, Harada wiped the sweat from his face and neck, propping the staff against one of the dummies before plopping down on the ground near Iba. “No. Not interrupting. I was just…” He waved his hand before sighing, scrunching his nose up. “Frustrated. If I had known that Kai was going to end up leaving...” Amber eyes stared up at the young teen. “I wouldn’t have expected you to be back so soon.”

“You’re not the first person to say that,” Iba stated, a hint of amusement in his voice before frowning. “I’m actually here because Kaien asked me to speak with you. Apparently there was some kind of misunderstanding between the two of you, and she was worried about you.”

“A misunderstanding…” Harada repeated slowly, letting the words sink in.

“Mm. It was something about you being in love with her, but you thinking that she’s in love with Heisuke.”

“I do love her. I know she said something about thinking that I had started hating her, but that’s never been further from the truth. If that’s what she was worried about--”

“No, no. That’s not it at all.” He chuckled, sitting down on the ground next to the spearman. “It’s the Heisuke part. She’s never been in love with him. She never had a chance to tell you that though.”

Harada blinked at him. “Oh.” Biting his lip, he rested his forearms against his knees, his fists clenching and unclenching. “The two of them had gotten so close so quickly that I’d thought…”

“Would you like to know my thoughts about the matter, Harada-san?” Iba asked gently, resting a hand on the other’s shoulder. He waited until the other silently nodded before continuing. “I think Kaien was just happy to be able to have a friend that wouldn’t judge her or pity her--”

“But I didn’t--”

“--or feel guilty about not being able to protect her. Someone that she could feel normal around. Someone that also didn’t treat her like a helpless girl.” Iba paused for a moment, tilting his head in thought. “Did Heisuke ever even know that Kaien is a girl? Because if Kaien was simply only ever Kai around him, then I think that makes it pretty clear that they were just friends.”

After a moment, Harada let out a soft curse. “Now that you mention it, I don’t think he ever did… He might be the only one that doesn’t know. Though I think Shinpachi even forgot that she’s a girl at times too…” There was a pause. “If I had only noticed and hadn’t jumped to conclusions about how she felt... I feel like I ruined my chances with her…”

Letting out a huff, Iba shook his head, even though he could understand where Harada was coming from. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you had, then I wouldn’t be here right now.” Reaching into his yukata, he pulled out Kaien’s journal. “She sent me back here for me to find this journal that she had hidden in her room. She wanted you to have it, and said that there’s a note for you on the last page,” he said as Harada gently took the leatherbound papers in his hands, flipping through the pages.

“It’s...mostly about me…” Harada mumbled, his fingers skimming across the papers reverently, drinking in the gentle swoops and arches of the calligraphy that inked the pages. It wasn’t until he reached the last page that he inhaled sharply, eyes widening in surprise. “She…”

Harada stood up so fast that Iba almost fell over beside him, having to hurry to catch up to the redhead as he was quickly walking away.

“What’s wrong? What did it say?” he asked, concern suddenly filling his chest. At least...until Iba saw the happiness that was across the other’s face.

“That she wished she had a chance to say it in person, but that she loves me and...she asked me to marry her.”

“And...what are you trying to do right now? If you’re thinking of heading to their family’s estate and asking her father for her hand in marriage, it’s not going to work. I already tried.”

Those words seemed to freeze Harada in his place. “You tried to marry her?”

Wetting his lips, Iba continued, hoping to prevent any type of misunderstanding. Again. “My father and I tried to arrange a fake engagement so that Kaien would be able to continue training and for her to be able to still be around everyone. But her father already had a suitor picked out. They’ve likely already left the estate by now to head to his family’s home. The wedding itself wouldn’t be for several years though.” Iba hesitantly reached out and placed a hand on Harada’s arm, knowing the amount of pain he was likely going through. After all, Iba felt his own guilt for being unable to fulfill the promise that he had made to Kaien when they’d first met.

“So what exactly am I supposed to do then? Just sit around and let the girl I love get married off to some stranger?” the redhead bit out, punching the wall beside them, a growl in his throat.

“No. You trust Kaien. And you wait for her. She’s not just going to lay down and give up. She’s going to fight for what she wants, and I know that...somehow...someday...she’ll find her way back to you…”

“But what if something happens to her...and she doesn’t?”

Amber eyes met green, and for the first time, Iba saw the amount of world-shattering grief that filled the man in front of him. He was at a loss for what to say. After all, how could he even relate to having the love of his life being ripped away from him without being able to do anything about it?

“...Then we just have to pray that it doesn’t.”

#hakuouki #hakuoki #hakuoki shinkai #oni no chi #original character #harada sanosuke #Iba Hachiro #Toudou Heisuke #hijikata toshizo #harada x oc #iba x chizuru #ibachi #takeda kanryusai

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wolfiefics · 4 years ago

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WIP Wednesday-Vampire Knight

I wrote on this quite sometime ago, was cruising my files and stumbled across it. Read through it, tweaked it, started writing on it again but got distracted because I’m a Gemini with the attention span of a peanut. My favorite characters in Vampire Knight are Kaien Cross and Takuma Ichijo. No idea why. Just the way it is. This is a Kaien Cross story. Massive liberties taken with creator’s world and backstories, I’m sure, but I’ve done a little bit of tweaking here and there to make it a bit more ‘canon-compliant’. The title is The Vampire Without Fangs and it’s an origin story essentially. It’s set during the series arc (sort of) but this snippet is from Kaien’s past (totally made up). It is slash with an original character, mainly because shipping him with anyone else is weird? He’s as old as some vampires so everyone’s a child to him. This is actually from mid-way in the story thus far and from Kaien’s vampire lover’s point of view.

Autumn leaves swirled through the trees as Reya watched with no little interest the sandy-haired hunter worked his way through the undergrowth with surprising agility. There was something otherworldly about this one, like a human child trying to play grown-up games. The hunter silently pulled the razor-sharp long sword from its scabbard, the metal gleaming in the dull light filtering through the tree branches.

Reya longed to tell the hunter he was wasting his time. Most of the little pack of Level E vampires were dead at Reya’s own hand, or rather fang. He’d been hungrier than usual for some reason. However, Reya had no intention of garnering the attention of the Hunter Association. The fewer people who knew of a progenitor’s existence, the better off said progenitor would be.

Also less harassed by the so-called Vampire Senate and their Kuran puppet ruler.

There was a growling hiss, fallen twigs and leaves rustled with quick movements and Reya noted that the hunter disposed of one vampire already. Sand fell to the ground.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” whispered the hunter with no emotion.

Reya’s interest was further peaked. It was a strange thing to say. He watched the hunter kill the remaining two vampires in quick succession, repeating the same mantra as their dusty remains settled to the earth.

“You can come down, vampire, I know you’re up there,” called the hunter, turning in Reya’s direction and looking up right where he sat crouched on a tree limb.

“Impressive instincts, hunter,” approved Reya, leaping from his perch and landing expertly on his feet. He bowed formally, politely. “I am Reya and –“

“I don’t care. Fight or die or stand there and die. Either way, die.” The hunter rushed forward, sword raised and Reya nimbly dodged away. The hunter froze for half a heartbeat and then lowered his sword. “You are not one of them.”

Reya smiled. “Indeed, no. In fact, I just finished consuming my fill on them when you arrived.”

The hunter looked around with a frown. “I thought there should have been more,” he noted, as if interested despite himself.

He looked at Reya squarely and the vampire felt as if someone punched him in the gut.

The hunter was more than handsome, he was exquisite. Pain and loneliness shone from within, his brown eyes more golden than earthy and his features were fine and aristocratic in make. Sandy brown hair pulled back in a queue was tugged by the slight breeze. His long body and delicate-looking stature was misleading of his actual strength. If he’d been female, the term ‘elfin’ might have been applied to him.

The sword raised once more and Reya was brought from his reverie. “And it’s the hunters’ job to hunt vampires, not yours.”

“There was no hunt with these fools,” scoffed Reya, flicking a dismissive hand at the sandy remains scattered here and there. “I was hungry and I needed to eat. I frown on consuming the local human populace. That leaves rats or vampires. I assure you, vampires are less trouble than catching a rat. They taste better as well.”

The hunter’s confusion increased, if his furrowed brow was any indication.

Reya stepped forward, bypassing the sword point and grasped the hunter’s other wrist gently, bowing over the man’s hand in gentlemanly fashion as if he were a courtier and the hunter a fine lady. “Might I have the pleasure of your name, hunter?”

The hunter became flustered and drew away nervously. “Kaien Cross.”

Reya gave a start and then chuckled. “One of the famous Cross clan hunters! I have not met one of your bloodline in many generations.”

Cross’ features darkened. “You won’t meet another ever again,” he stated grimly. “I am the last and it will stay that way.”

There was bitterness there but something else nudged at the vampire, something that Reya couldn’t quite put his finger on. He dismissed the feeling for a moment and surveyed his wary companion. “I mean you no harm, you have my assurances.”

There was a distant roll of thunder but no clouds lined the sky.

“I see the battle has recommenced.” Cross sheathed his sword and nodded brusquely to Reya. “If you will excuse me, I have to return to my post.”

“Who are the French shelling now?” Reya asked with a frown.

“It’s mutual shelling,” the hunter told him grimly. “The Austrians aren’t giving up without a fight.” Cross looked at his vampire companion. “Do you not know where you are?” he asked incredulously.

“A mountain looks like a mountain, a river looks like a river and a sheep meadow looks like a sheep meadow,” philosophized Reya with a negligent shrug. “After thousands of years, one area looks the same as any other and the political borders of countries shift enough that it matters little.”

Cross waved a hand in the direction of continued cannon bombardment. “Austerlitz will fall soon and Empereur Napoleon will only have the British and Russians to worry about before unifying Europe under his command.”

Reya snorted derisively. “I wish the little general the best of luck. He is going to need it. Even the might of Rome failed and Julius Caesar, I assure you, was taller, prettier and more charismatic than Bonaparte shall ever dream of being.”

Cross’ honey-colored eyes narrowed in disapproval. His back stiffened and his lips thinned. Obviously he disagreed with Reya’s assessment of Napoleon’s skills and odds of success. “Vive l’Empereur,” he murmured stubbornly.

“I prefer Viva Espana but it is probably a touchy subject. Hunter Kaien Cross, until we meet again.” Reya bowed formally to his companion one more time. “And I assure you, we will meet again, I shall make certain of it.”

Cross scowled at him and shook his head. “It will be a battle to the death then.”

Reya looked amused. “Will it? I would prefer a battle of another sort but if not, that is a battle I would like to-“

There was shouting in French and German, followed by a close barrage of musket fire nearly drowning out agonized screams.

“Damn!” growled Cross and he put his sword at the ready.

“Fool, sharp as it is, it will do you little good against a musket ball,” snapped Reya and jerked Kaien to him before leaping into the air and into the highest tree top.

The hunter started to struggle but both of them stilled at German voices speaking low, muttering about the sounds of a fight they swore came from this direction. For twenty minutes, soldiers in Austrian uniforms searched the wooded area, never once looking into the treetops where two men watched them from above.

Once the Austrians moved away, both men relaxed. “That could have been unfortunate for you,” noted Reya casually, regretfully releasing the handsome armful from his grip. The hunter turned his scowling features from the ground to the vampire next to him. “What do you look like when you smile, I wonder?” The scowl increased. “I shall have to find out at a later date then.”

“You’ll be dust,” snapped Kaien, leaping from their branch perch and landing nimbly on the ground. “I must report back. Au revoir.”

Reya watched the hunter disappear toward the French lines. There was more to this hunter than met the eye.

Hunters normally stayed out of the politics and machinations of humanity and vampire alike, content only to hunt their prey as needed and stand on the sidelines. This hunter seemed to be up to his winsome neck in the French revolts and it’s following regime.

His interest peaked by the oddity of Kaien Cross, Reya decided he had nothing better to do so he followed the hunter home, so to speak.

#vampire knight #kaien cross #fanfic #wip wednesday #origin story #at least in my head it is #why kaien is the softy on vampires when he wants to be

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jasleh · 5 years ago

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Prompt 21: Crunch

[[ content warnings for: abuse, hand injury, and... imprisonment? dunno if that last needs one but there it is just in case ]]

Darkness. So much of his life was darkness now. He wasn’t permitted on deck anymore. Not after his escape attempt. They left him a lamp sometimes, but they cared little to keep it in oil. They had chained his feet together as well, so that he could not take a full step without falling. The manacles dug into his ankles painfully. He had tried to keep them healed, at first, but it did little good when the metal would only cut him again. Now he just did what he had to to keep infection away. He did not know how long it had been. The small cabin - or store-room, perhaps - that they kept him in had no porthole. He could rarely even tell if they were in port or at sea.

The door burst open with little warning, banging against the wall and letting in a wan red light. Kaien flinched at the sound, and cowered fearfully from the figure in the door.

“Oy, Leech. You still ‘ere?”

Drunk, Kaien thought. And bored. That was dangerous. He scrambled to his feet, chain clanking, and tried to suppress the whimpers of pain as the manacles dug fresh cuts into his flesh. He still hadn’t learned how to stand without running out of chain. He trembled as he stared at the pirate’s feet, not daring to raise his eyes to the man’t face.

“I expect ye ta answer me when I speak, cur.” The blow came faster than Kaien could anticipate it, striking him on the cheek and knocking him sideways, for all that the pirate had to reach up to do it. The blow knocked Kaien’s glasses from his face, and everything became an indistinct blur.

He dropped to his knees, gasping out “Sorry! I’m sorry!” as he felt around desperately for his glasses in the dark. He heard the pirate chuckle, and flinched back from a kick that was aimed sloppily at his head, so that it landed on a shoulder instead. Impossible to know what they wanted, when he was as likely to get beaten for speaking back as for staying silent.

His hand found the priceless bit of metal and glass, but no sooner had his fingers closed over it than a boot came down with a sickening crunch upon both. Kaien screamed in pain, curling around his hand in a fetal position. A few more kicks against his back that he could barely feel over the pain in his hand, and then the pirate lost interest and left him once more in the dark.

Sobbing, Kaien forced himself to uncurl. He had to deal with this, no one else would help him. He felt for the hand, flinched back as his fingers encountered a shard of glass embedded in the palm. He steeled himself, and reached again, pulling it out. Ignoring the blood, he did his best to set the small bones that had snapped, trying to block out the pain, trying not to faint from it. Once he thought they were where they should be, or as close as he could get them, he began to call upon his healing magic, the flowing aether soothing the pain and knitting up first the torn flesh, and then finally the bones. Letting go of the spell moments before it would have slipped from his control anyway, he passed out.

When he woke, some unknowable time later, he had a moment of confusion. The sticky blood soon reminded him what had happened, and he began feeling around very carefully. First he found the shard of glass that had been in his hand, discarded close by him. He moved it carefully to a corner, then began to feel around again. A few moments later, and he found his glasses, or what was left of them. A second shard of glass had fallen from the broken lens, and he moved it to the same corner as the other, then examined what was left. By touch, as there was no light to see by.

The frames were sadly twisted, one lens broken and the other, he thought, cracked. Somehow half of the broken lens still sat in the frame. He began, very carefully, to try to bend it back into shape. At least enough that they would again sit in front of his eyes. His vision without them was terrible, and he would not be given any replacements. As he worked, tears dripped down his face. He did not try to hold them back.

#FFxivWrite2019 #FFxiv #au ra #Kaien #in which I do horrible things to a character that absolutely doesn't deserve it :')#I do feel terrible about it if that helps #this is well before Awaji found and freed him

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rasenkaikyo · 6 years ago

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(Another) Last Light

[This is a remake of a drabble I wrote last year, while also referencing written recent events.]

The clouds yielded to the stoic light of the moon reflected off the rooftops of Kugane.

The cool nighttime breeze normally served to reinvigorate Sen, but it did her no favors this time. She inhaled deeply, in attempt to deter the inevitable yawn.

Still, the shinobi was determined to maintain her vigil, knelt firmly on that apartment roof, blanket beneath her to keep some of comfort. She pressed her canteen to her lips and took another swig of water to try further to stave off her fatigue .

Instead, it was as if it served to pull her down further. She struggled to focus through increasingly bleary eyes. Her head drooped... lower and lower.

Lower. She didn’t understand... No! She, she owed it to Lady Daigo! She promised... she promised that she would watch over Mozu, that-- that she... wouldn’t...

she wouldn’t...

she.....

The canteen...

Damn it... Sen’s cantine fell from her hand as she collapsed upon her side, the little remaining water therein trickling out and down the stone tiles.

“Sen, come on!!”

The girl struggled to maintain full awareness even as Nitori pulled her along, wrist in hand. Her perky-eared comrade was always quick to get things going with her, but this time it was clearly in a dire way. She looked around the village, where no shortage of concerned person stood or peered, and murmurs filled the air beneath the weight of darkened skies.

As they made it to Iwa’s prominent torii, what awaited the two ninjas brought the girl to her senses: villagers were gathering around a body - another Resistance shinobi, pooled in his own blood. He seemed to be still breathing, flanked by faces Sen knew well. While the seasoned old priest made a desperate attempt to heal the man’s withering state, Shigen - Resistance squad leader - kept attentive of the man’s whims...

“He’s... he’s coming... Please... You have...” He rasped as he reached out.

Shigen firmly grasped his hand. “You have done well, my friend... We will... we will.”

The warrior could give a weak smile... before his eyes went dull and he went still.

Sen bit her lip; it wasn’t the first time she had witnessed someone die, but it was the first time to see a brother-in-arms. The villagers around them winced and gasped while the Motouji slowly rose to his feet.

“Pray forgive me... I did my best, but I fear he was too far gone even upon arrival.”

“Of course,” Shigen shook his head and arose as well, as his subordinates covered the fallen shinobi’s head. “I cannot fault you. All that matters now is that we act on his warning.”

“What did he say?” Nitori pressed for detail.

Shigen grew further intense. “Doma has fallen. Lord Kaien’s rebellion has failed at a calamitous level.“

He paused for a second as his words incited cries of shock and sorrow in the gathered villagers.

“--Miss Daigo, you just arrived a short moment prior, right? I assume you gathered as much as is from your preliminary inspection of the battlefield.” He continued, as he turned to the high priestess in his periphery, who returned a faltering gaze. “As Keiten would tell it, the fighting showed promising results until the XIIth’s legatus, the accursed Viceroy himself, took afield -- nearly single-handedly crushing our united front. ...It seems that the Empire’s dogs weren’t so diverted as we thought.”

“Kami forfend... how could one man...” Kaya, Shigen’s lieutenant, yet mulled this over with as composure as she could manage. A taller, broader shinobi, Goro, furrowed his brow in tense silence. Nitori rested her hands on her hips.

“...There’s more, right?” Sen spoke up. “When we got here he was trying to bid us to do something.”

Shigen sighed. “...Yes. While the whereabouts of Zenos are unclear, the acting viceroy seems all too eager to weed out any surviving rebel. It appears that Keiten ran afoul of the Legion even while he was trying to spread the word, hence his wounds. He said they seemed to be northwest bound from Monzen.--”

“Here.” Hinako stepped forward. “You think they’re coming here.”

“Do they know?” Goro grunted.

“That might have something to do with how we’ve lost our wards...” Mine crossed her arms from behind Hinako...

“How in the hells would they know about those?” Sen rubbed her temples. No one had a real answer for that.

“Alas, there is little time to think on it.” Shigen said. “If our presence here has compromised the village then everyone here is in great peril.”

Hinako reflected on this. “...It is not a chance we can take, for certain. We can all expect a tenfold reprisal at worse, resistance or not. We must not linger.”

Shigen nodded.

“Evacuation, is it?” Mine asked. “Yet if they were close enough to mess with our wards...”

“Then we’ll stave them off,” Shigen said, motioning to himself, and following that up with a sort of lax shrug. “It’s the least we can do, after all, if we invited such candor here.” With that he turned to his subordinates. “Kaya, Goro, Nitori... You know what to do.”

“Sir!!” They returned in unison.

“Sen...” Shigen looked back to the youngest shinobi. “I need you to remain, and aid this village’s people in their departure.”

Sen’s eyes widened. “Wha... w- Sensei, wait a moment...! Are you for real?! I--”

“You have the most important job of all. If we falter, it falls on you to protect the villagers.”

It terrified her. Nothing terrified her more than now than the prospect of losing her family, and letting them go.

“But I should be doing it with you!!” Sen shouted.

“Sen...” He looked at his protégé in the eye. “I’m sorry, but this isn’t your fight. I couldn’t live with the cost of putting you against a foe like this, here and now. You deserve better.” He tapped the jeweled circlet Sen wore on her head, and she looked away. “We’ll take care of this. You take care of yourself, and them.”

“Don’t worry about us, Sen!” Nitori surprised Sen with one of her warm hugs. “We’re not going to go down so easily, you know.” The Miqo’te then flashed one of her smug smiles.

Kaya simpered. “We’re counting on you, Sen.”

Goro nodded. “Have care, Sen.”

While Nitori broke her hug to join her fellow shinobi, Shigen turned to Hinako and handed her a rolled sheet of parchment. “Commander Yugiri of the Liberation Front relayed an evacuation plan should the worst come to pass. Pray use it to make your way to the coast. We shall attempt to return within a bell, but do as you must.” He glanced to a defeated Sen and back. “Kami be with you.”

The priestess nodded. “Of course. Likewise.” Then she shifted her step. “Everyone, make haste!! Ready the carriages! Gather your essentials -- We needs be ready to depart out the east end as soon as we can muster!”

“See you on the other side, Sen...” Shigen said as he and the rest of their squad jumped outside of sight, leaving the girl stewing in her own frustration. Reluctantly, she followed Hinako as the masses scrambled around them...

Sen stood on top of the rock spire. The view was stunning; you could practically see all of Yanxia beneath the veil of clouds. It was just her, her sensei... and a set of wooden dummies.

“Alright, Sen. You have proved yourself a deft hand at the cut of ‘Ten’. However, it is one thing to channel a weapon and another to channel nature around you. Focus. Gauge the air. Find your center, unite ‘heaven’ with ‘earth’, and perform Raiton on the rightmost target here.”

Heeding these words, Sen took a deep breath, and tried to focus... Focus on the wind...

Ten... chi...!!

A rabbit medium appeared on Sen’s head. “Ergh..”

“Refine your cut and try again, from the top.”

A ball lightning.

“Try again.”

A lightning bolt strikes several yalms off behind the dummies.

“Try again.”

A lightning bolt strikes near Shigen’s flank.

“Oops...”

“...Try again.”

A burst of electricity occurs at Sen’s feet, causing her to step back.

“That’s enough for now,” Shigen stood up. “You’re getting frustrated. If you don’t keep your mind at ease then you’re liable to hurt yourself from the feedback of a lightning bolt... We’ll try again later.”

“Arrgh...!!” Sen fumed and fell back to sit. “Damn! Why’s it so tough, sensei? How can I become a chuunin like this?”

She gazed at the ground below her. “Hells, I bet Moonrise and Redbeak nearly mastered ‘Jin’ at my age...”

Shigen could just but sigh and shrug a little, before walking over to Sen, taking his place beside her. He watched the golden rays in the sky above. “Sen, those shinobi were raised under very different circumstances. You were cut from a different cloth. Not a bad thing. You will learn in time.”

Sen thought about it... It irked her so. She always felt like an outsider, barely even Doman, raised in seemingly endless strife. She struggled, and she doubted, but Shigen supposedly had an eye for character. He saw her no more disadvantaged than any other ninja, maybe in her even something special that she had yet to see in herself. She couldn’t know. She looked to her mentor. “When? How?”

Shigen looked back, giving a small smile. “Know your mind, body and spirit. Know your balance... It will come to you.”

Sen thought back, grunting while picking up a heavy rice sack... “...I wish it would come to me now...”

As she hoisted the sack, she was brought to attention by a sudden... boom.

She turned, as did others, to the rising smoke and flame billowing from beyond the torii, beyond the treeline.

Sen was livid. Something in her had snapped.

“You...!!” She glowered and dropped the sack to clasp her hands, taking firm grip of a massive shuriken. She slid her feet against the ground and drew her arm back--

“Ggh!” She felt a firm grasp around her wrist. She lurched around to see... Hinako.

“No... please..!!”

“Sen...” Hinako spoke soft, her sympathy pure. “We need to go. Don’t do this... Please don’t let their fight be for naught. Your story’s just beginning.”

The shinobi clenched her teeth and tried to jerk her wrist away, to no avail against a shockingly firm grip. In spite of her struggle, she found the priestess’ presence to be comforting, assuring... Eventually she relented and dangled to her knees, dropping the shuriken. Hinako drew her into a comforting embrace.

“D- Damn it...!” Sen hugged back, burying her face into Hinako’s shoulder. The Raen sighed gently, hearing the soft sobs and sniffles within.

“Let’s go...” Hinako eased and guided Sen, shoulder to shoulder, to the waiting carriages...

The girl remained silent for the excursion to the coast, curled up and huddled against Hinako. She again grew weary, and through heavy eyes she caught a glimpse of that last warm lights of the village, soon fading behind them into the dark of the unforgiving night...

...

The ninja slowly opened her eyes to broad daylight... The rooftop. How long had she even been sleeping? She pushed herself up and wiped the drool from her mouth, before noticing the blanket that had covered her. She blinked a couple of times, then looked at the canteen she had dropped, then back.

Reality had set in.

“Ah... bom boko bollocks...”

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv rp #drabble #sen tsurugi #hinako daigo #arc: shadows #arc: the cracks within

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zebrabaker · 5 years ago

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Hellsing Academy, teaser.

Seras trudged throught the dense forest, thinking. She had been on a trip with Sir Integra, hunting a dark witch. They had just burst through the doors of her ritual room, when the hag had cackled, dropped something into a brazier, and then Seras had been falling from the sky. She had fallen a good thirty feet before hitting the canopy. Seras had caught herself on a tree limb. It was then she realized she was wearing her old uniform, one she hadn't worn in near thirty years, since the battle of London. Unfortunately, she wasn't wearing her gloves, so her Faustian seals were on display. She had seen a tall building in the distance, and was making her way to it. Seras tensed when she smelled something on the breeze. It smelled somewhat human, if a little vampiric. Not a ghoul, but something similar. She jogged forward to a clearing, and whirled, readying herself for a fight. Why couldn't she have her Harkonen with her? Out of the woods came a short girl in a white school uniform.

"Hey! Students aren't allowed out of their dorms after dark! You're gonna wind up in detention for this, if you're lucky!" The girl pointed a finger at her, and Seras almost couldn't help but snort. This girl was small, and though there was obviously some muscle on her, she was no match for THE Draculina herself. Still, diplomacy was easier than fighting, and often more amusing.

"Terribly sorry, but I'm not a student. I'm Seras Victoria, and I'm afraid Im rather lost..." Seras manipulated some blood into her cheeks, and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, Miss Victoria! I'm Yuki, one of the student disciplinary commitee! Please, follow me, I'll show you to the headmasters office!" Seras smiled, closed lipped, and folowed the girl. She smelled sweet, but something about her screamed to be cautious.

×o×o×o×

"Headmaster, I have someone who needs to speak to you." Yuki stepped aside, opening the door to an opulent office, revealing a rather stiff looking man sitting at a wide oak desk. His scent was dull. Basic cologne, mixed witht he scent of human man. His eyes, however, held a gleam that made her think of Sir Integra. Calculating and cool, but with a hidden warmth.

"Good evening, Miss Victoria, I am Headmaster Kaien Cross. I see you've met my daughter, Yuki. Please, have a seat. Would you like a glass of water?" Seras perched on the edge of the offered armchair, and put up a nervous, embarrassed front.

"That would be nice." She kept a little blood in her cheeks, and forced her eyes back to a blue she only used for infiltration.

"Yuki, if you would."

"Of course!" The girl walked over to a water cooler, and filled a crystal glass.

The moment it began to flow, Seras' nostrils burned slightly. Holy water? So they were aware of what she might be.

"Thank you." She smiled and took a sip, subtly glancing the Headmaster in the eye, doing a quick surface scan of his mind. He was running over what to do if she was a hostile. Hm. How dull. She dove a little deeper, and hit absolute gold.

This was Cross academy, and, unbeknownst to the day class, home to a class of vampires. Perfect. She froze, and dropped the glass, hissing.

"Is this-" She choked out, grabbing her throat. It didn't hurt, but it was fun to ham it up once in a while. "How did you know?" She whimpered.

"We didn't. Yuki, put that away. She hasn't attacked us yet, so we have no reason to attack her. Remember the treaty." Ah yes, that treaty the vampiric elite of this dimension (that was her theory, at least) had signed. Still, couldn't seem too knowledgable.

"What bloody treaty? And what year is it?" She coughed rubbing her throat.

"The pureblood elite of your kind signed a treaty to never drink from a human, and instead drink blood substitute capsules. It is 3010, and you, Miss Victoria, seem rather lost. So," he set his glasses on the desk. "what are you doing here."

"Like I said, I'm lost. Last I knew, it was 1998. I was hurt, so I went to rest in my den. Then, I'm falling thirty feet into a tree. Your daughter yelled at me, and I followed her here. That's it."

Was she really over a thousand years in the future? That meant Integra was dead, and Alucard hadn't come back, else she would be able to sense him, as she was still his fledgling. She hoped she was in a parallel dimension. That would make life so much easier.

"Here at cross academy, we have a special class for vampire elite, held at night. We can either imprison you, or you can join them. What will it be?" Ah, now that was an Integra level move.

"I'll join. But, what are these blood substitute capsules?" The headmaster reached into a cooler, pulled out a water bottle, and retrieved what look like a mint tin from a drawer in his desk. He dropped a single white capsule into the bottle, shook it, and handed it over. Seras took a sip and gagged. She swallowed the liquid, and stuck out her tongue a little.

"What's in this? It's awful! How do vampires drink this?" She hadn't tasted anything so awful since she had drained a pedophile who was working for a child smuggling ring that was associated with Millenium! She felt her stomach begin to reject the capsule, and grabbed the trash can, letting herself be sick. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

" I can't drink that. I can't. I understand that there is a treaty, but I just...can't. I can drink fruit juice, animal blood, SOMETHING...but not those." She shuddered. Alucard would have killed whoever invented those things. The heamaster frowned.

"Fruit juice? Animal blood? I've never heard of a vampire drinking anything instead of the capsules or human blood..."

"What? That's foolish. We may need blood once on a while, but we an go up to two months on juice alone. I can subsist on animal blood for almost six months. I've clearly missed a lot." She still tasted the awful pill on her tongue.

"I'll get some juice delivered to the school. We'll figure out what else you can drink later. For now, Yuki will show you to your dorms. Sleep well, Miss Victoria, and welcome to Cross Academy."

#hellsing #seras victoria #vampire knight

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crashingheavens · 2 years ago

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#GALLERY || Against a dark sky all flowers look like fireworks #GANJU || The mildest drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble.#KAIEN || Close as hands and feet

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higuchimon · 6 years ago

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[fanfic] Embrace of Fate: Chapter 2

Yubel stared at the door. Like all those in the palace that they’d seen so far, this one was well-made and sturdy. If there was any noise outside, they couldn’t hear it very well. That would make sleeping a bit strange – after all their years of travel, Yubel found they were more acclimated to the sounds of nature or those that could be heard in a wayside inn than to absolute silence.

But they would get used to that. Yubel steeled their spine and turned around to view the room.

This is in the royal palace. It’s going to be beautiful. They expected that. Kuragari held a reputation all over the known world for how magnificent the architecture was, one almost as strong and well-known as their famous grapes and the wine made from them, or the fact that His Highness the Prince held the power of the Gentle Darkness.

What they saw when they finished turning put every mental image that they’d formed of this place to shame – not that they’d had many since Yubel hadn’t ever thought they would stay in the palace to begin with. But here they were and here they would stay because of all the people in all the world, they were the Prince’s soulmate and he was theirs.

Yubel still couldn’t totally wrap their head around that. It seemed like something out of a fairy tale, and Yubel tried to convince themselves for years that fairy tales were just that and not the sort of tales that came true.

Slowly they took a step forward, eyes moving from piece to piece and sight to sight. On all four walls hung at least one tapestry and one painting, each one being of some beautiful natural scene. On the floor spread out a thick rug, shaded in dark cream shades of white. Opposite from the wall with the door in it stood a wall with a wide window, that still had room for the painting – this one of a sunrise over a mountain – and a tapestry – this one depicting the ocean and the shore. What shore it was Yubel didn’t know, but it was beautiful regardless, a shining expanse of cerulean and sapphire.

In all their travels, Yubel hadn’t ever seen a bed as big as this one. Up to three people could have slept in it, with possibly room for four if all four were very close to each other. A touch revealed the sheets to be of finely made satin in shades of deep green jade, and the mattress and pillows were so soft that Yubel wondered if they’d somehow conjured a cloud in there.

On the table next to the bed they found a silver-backed mirror, matched by a silver hairbrush and comb, along with other odds and ends that could be used to tidy one up. A little searching revealed a wardrobe full of magnificent outfits of every type – not just the exquisite gowns one might expect from a room set aside for a prince’s soulmate, but sturdy doublets, tunics, trousers, and boots, which Yubel would far prefer to anything else if they had any choice in the matter.

There were chairs there as well, quite well cushioned, and Yubel sank slowly into one, still trying to understand all of this and not having a great deal of success.

It’s real. They slowly stared at the mark on their arm: a row of numerals all reading zero. The time had run out; Yubel and the prince – Juudai – had met one another. The numbers would stay like this until they touched one another, at which point they would become whatever the bond-mark between them would be.

Slowly Yubel traced the numbers with one finger, before tugging their sleeve back down over it. They would talk with Juudai about that soon. They had to – they were soulmates and Yubel came all this way to find their soulmate, they weren’t going to just run off into the night and never see him again.

Besides, Yubel thought, they didn’t know him very well yet. They’d heard stories about soulmates whose souls fit together flawlessly and yet whose personalities grated like two knives against one another. Sometimes such combinations stuck it together to work it out and other times they could not bear to be around one another.

I’ve talked to him for less than five minutes. I’m not going to leave just yet. Despite how plush and strange and comfortable and odd all of this was, Yubel refused to give up. They’d been committed to finding their other half for all these years. Nothing had changed except for knowing what he looked like and his name and that he was the prince of a major kingdom and the incarnate force of life itself.

And when Yubel considered that, nothing of it mattered at all, not compared to the fact that Juudai fit into them in all the ways they'd never thought anyone ever would, and Yubel wasn’t certain how to feel about that at all. No one had ever told them that being soulmates meant the other person completed you when you hadn’t even known you were incomplete to start with.

Words of their mother and father returned to them: to try their best, to learn to know their soulmate, to treat them like a person and be treated like one in return.

Being soulmates didn’t by any means force the bonded folk to stay together. If Yubel chose to walk away or if the Prince did, then while people would ask questions, they could still do it. Nothing and no one could stop them. Though the thought of what those warm brown eyes, so clearly thrilled at the sight of Yubel, might look like if they chose to leave cut into Yubel’s heart so very deeply.

Yubel pressed their lips together before nodding to themself. It would require time, effort, and everything else that a relationship that wasn’t between soulmates required. But they would see this through to the end, no matter what the end turned out to be.

Juudai leaned back in his chair, admiring the empty plates in front of him. He wasn’t certain of how many he’d cleared, only that there were a lot of them, and everything on there had been delicious.

I hope Yubel ate. Had anyone told Yubel that they could ask for whatever they wanted to eat? He would have to check on that.

Later, though. When he wasn’t so tired that he wanted to just close his eyes and go to sleep where he was. That sounded pretty good, he had to admit, though the idea of laying down was equally appealing. He just wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to move.

“Juudai?”

He raised his head up a little to see his mother peering at him from the door. She nodded towards him in greeting before moving over.

“I wanted to make certain that you’re doing all right.” Queen Kaien’s gaze dropped down to his arm where the counter rested at zero. “Have you thought about what’s going to happen?”

Juudai blinked, tilting his head. “I’m going to go to sleep? I guess Yubel is too – could you make sure they have something to eat? I didn’t think about that before.”

“Of course. But that’s not what I meant.” Kaien moved over to sit in the chair nearest to him. “When are you going to solidify your bond?”

Juudai blinked again, then shrugged. They’d brought that up before, but his mother more than once asked him the same question after he’d had a little time to think about it. Besides, now that he’d eaten, he could think about it. “I guess whenever Yubel wants to. They’re still new around here. And we do have to get to know each other, remember?”

From the first moment he’d realized this was his soulmate, Juudai wanted nothing more than to take Yubel’s hand, to hold them and never let them go. Only he knew how rude that would be and his parents raised him to at least somewhat think about other people.

That didn’t mean that he didn’t want to do it. He just wanted Yubel to want it as much as he did.

Kaien nodded. “You’re right, of course. But what about your announcement ceremony?”

Juudai groaned, slumping down into his chair and grumbling under his breath. “Do I have to?”

“Yes, you do.” Kaien turned a very stern look on him. Juudai called this one Stern Look Number Seven, This Is A Necessary Thing. His parents had a lot of stern looks that he’d seen over the years. At least he didn’t get this one all that often. “You don’t want anyone else turning up trying to make false claims, do you?”

That sent a shudder all through him. Enough that he’d had to deal with the Soulmate Party to start with. He didn’t want even more people pestering him now that he’d found Yubel. And he really, really didn’t want people trying to bother him about Yubel.

“I’ll talk to Yubel about it,” he said at last, grumbling. “We’ll figure it out and let you know.”

Sometimes Juudai really wished that he wasn’t a prince. There were all those rules about what he could and couldn’t do and people had to know things about him that he wasn’t all that sure that he wanted them to know. If he’d been an ordinary person then no one would care if he’d found his soulmate or not. But since he was Prince of Kuragari…

Kaien nodded approvingly. She glanced at the pile of dishes with a hint of amusement across her lips. “I see you’ve had a good dinner.”

“I was hungry!” Juudai defended himself. “I didn’t eat anything at the party.”

How could he have when so many people stared at him and stared at their arms, so eager for that moment when their counters would turn to zero?

“I noticed.” Kaien’s lips curved upward for a few seconds. “I’ll check on Yubel. You go get some rest.”

He nodded. He stretched a little, yawning and closing his eyes. The idea of moving wasn’t all that great right now. Then his mother’s hand touched him.

“Get in your bed, Juudai. You don’t want to sleep in your chair.”

“I don’t?” Juudai dragged his eyes open and wished almost at once that he hadn’t. Getting up would be so exhausting! But he shoved himself to his feet regardless. His mother told him to and he wasn’t going to not listen to her.

“No, you don’t.” Kaien nudged him a bit closer to the bed and Juudai fell in, pulling the blankets up over himself. Part of him wanted to remain awake, to bounce back up and go see Yubel, introduce them to the customs of the palace and show them around.

Instead, he closed his eyes and absolute exhaustion wrapped it self all around him.

Kaien watched for the few moments it took for Juudai’s breathing to even out and deep sleep to enfold him. She tucked the blankets in around him, staring for a few seconds at the series of zeroes on Juudai’s arm.

How long will it take? She wanted matters all settled; she knew that they would be in time. But Juudai took things at his own pace. He always had.

She glanced at her own wrist; the mark she shared with her husband shone back at her. His shield and her sword, together as they’d been since the first moment that they’d met.

We touched within moments. I knew. I always knew, even before we met each other.

She wanted Juudai to know that kind of happiness. She knew that he would. He’d met Yubel. But until that bond flared into full life it wouldn’t be quite the same.

Carefully Kaien stepped out of the room, closing the door behind herself. She crossed the hallway and tapped on the door over there. The door opened after a few moments and Yubel peered carefully out of the opening.

They blinked as it dawned on them who stood out there, then the door opened all the way and Yubel bowed low and respectfully. It wasn’t the style Kurgarian knights bowed in, but Kaien wasn’t going to complain.

“Your Majesty,” Yubel murmured, eyes cast down. “What can I do for you?”

“To begin with, may I come in? We have a few matters to discuss before it gets much later.”

Yubel nodded quickly, stepping back and closing the door once Kaien entered. Kaien glanced around; they’d kept the room as neutral as they could while they waited for whoever Juudai’s soulmate would be appeared. It would get more personal the longer than Yubel lived there.

“How long have you been waiting?” Kaien asked, taking one of the chairs. Yubel glanced at her, still drawn up a breath away from attention. “And you can relax.”

Yubel’s tension edged just the faintest bit. Kaien decided this would get better as they got to know each other. For all intents and purposes, she was Yubel’s mother in law, regardless of any official bindings or the lack thereof.

“I started this way a few years ago. I didn’t know I’d be coming here, though.” Yubel fidgeted, worrying at their lower lip. Before they could say anything else, their stomach rumbled, as loud and clear as Kaien had ever heard Juudai’s.

She smiled at that. It wasn’t difficult to already see ways the two of them would fit together.

“I’ll have food brought. Is there anything in particular that you’d like? Kuragari deals in quite a bit of seafood.”

Yubel slowly shook their head. “Whatever you like, your Majesty. I’m not picky.”

Kaien observed them for a few moments before nodding. “Yes, you wouldn’t be, would you?” Yubel traveled the world for years to find their soulmate, eating wherever and whatever they could. Kaien suspected once they’d left their homeland, food that Yubel was familiar with became far more difficult to get.

Yubel ducked their head even farther. Kaien made a note to find out just where Yubel came from and what sort of food it would be likely that Yubel would be used to.

But for now, she rose and stepped to the door, calling for a servant. One of the benefits of being Queen included being able to have one’s orders carried out almost at once. Right now, that would be very useful.

Waiting for that, she turned back to Yubel. “We’re going to need to announce you and Juudai are soulmates. Preferably as soon as possible.” Her lips quirked. “There are those who would attempt to claim that their particular chosen candidate is Juudai’s ‘true’ soulmate, through whatever means they could use to make it seem plausible. But once the announcement is made and the bond sealed, that won’t happen.”

Yubel’s eyes hardened, hands tensing into fists. “Is that why we – he – was attacked earlier? Someone trying to claim that he’s their soulmate?”

Oh, this is good. Kaien kept her features as composed as she could manage.

“To a degree, we think. Those we captured refused to admit to anything.” Kaien’s lips turned downward. “It may take some time but we’ll get what information that we can from them. But in truth, I suspect their true goal was to make certain that Juudai didn’t live long enough to meet you – or that you didn’t live long enough to meet him, if that failed.”

Yubel tilted their head, confusion in every gesture. “How could they stop that?” Their hand rested on the cycled down counter. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

“It is, but it’s not likely.” Kaien chuckled. “Philosophers have studied soulmate marks and the intersection of fate and the timers for as long as I can remember. For as far back as history keeps count, in fact.”

Yubel nodded, eyes lighting up a touch more at that. “It’s the same where I came from. No one knows how it is, but everyone has an opinion about it.”

“That they do. And my opinion on this is that where you and Juudai are concerned, more than just your timers brought you together.” Kaien had spoken to no one about this. Perhaps Yubel was the right person. “You know of what Juudai is, I presume.”

Yubel nodded. Kaien continued. “We know little of how sentient the Gentle Darkness is when it’s not in human form, but we do know that it does things. It sent us Juudai, for one thing. But I’ve considered that the Darkness sent you as well – the one to love him. His soulmate.”

For a few moments Kaien thought Yubel stopped breathing altogether. Then they nodded, hands clenched harder and head held up high. “I wouldn’t even need that counter to do that.” A sort of strained laugh fell from their lips. “Though I don’t know how I would have found him if I didn’t have it.”

Kaien chuckled, leaning back and running one hand through her hair. “Neither do I. But I don’t think it matters. You did find him and he found you. We’re going to announce it in a few days.”

Yubel’s gaze dropped down. “How long do we have to get to know each other?”

“As long as you need. Being announced doesn’t mean that you have to change that. Though I’m certain that rumors will say you’ve already bonded to one another.”

Before Kaien said another word, a knock came on the door. Yubel opened it to reveal one of the servants. Kaien recognized him; that wasn’t a surprise, either. Only servants actually vetted for years were allowed to enter the royal section of the palace.

The moment the servant saw that she was there, he started to bow. Kaien gestured them to stop and set the food on the nearest table. Now wasn’t the time for bowing. More than that, she wanted Yubel to get both food and sleep as soon as possible.

And she wanted to learn as much about Yubel as possible.

Juudai knocked hard at Yubel’s door, trying so very hard not to squeal. He knew he shouldn’t; it would be terribly rude to squeal at the door of one’s soulmate. At least he thought it would be, so he didn’t try.

But as soon as Yubel opened the door, blinking sleep out of their eyes, he grinned the biggest grin that he’d ever grinned in all of his life.

“Hey! Are you ready to go for a walk – uh, would you like to go for a walk? With me?” Juudai rubbed the back of his head. He wanted to be polite. He wanted to make a really good impression. He didn’t think he was doing the best job of it, but he tried regardless.

Yubel stared at him for a few moments before they nodded. “I’d love to, Your Highness – Juudai.”

Juudai hadn’t ever thought of how his name sounded when his soulmate said it.

“Could you say that again? My name, I mean.” He shifted, eyes dropping down and then raising back up to them. “Please? I like it when you say it.”

Yubel said nothing for a few moments, then a smile broke across their lips. “Juudai.”

Juudai shivered all over. “Thanks… uh, that walk? Please?”

“Just a moment. I need to put my shoes on.” Yubel glanced at the rug-covered floor beneath them and their bare feet. “I like the rugs.”

“Me too!” Juudai practically squealed at that, looking forward to moments when they could wiggle their toes together in the rugs, maybe by a warm fire. Juudai hadn’t ever looked forward to winter so much in his life.

Yubel left the door open and Juudai peered in curiously to see if they’d made any changes yet. So far he didn’t see anything, except for a single bag that he’d never seen before. The bag was worn out, with stitched places marking where holes had been, and a few worn spots that hadn’t yet been mended. It hung over the back of the chair, and he thought it was about half empty.

Yubel tugged on a pair of boots that looked as battered as the bag itself, though not with any holes that he could see. They didn’t look like the ones that he’d seen them wearing the night before, which were set over by the flickering fire.

Yubel also didn’t wear the outfit that they had the night before, instead wearing a tunic and trousers, faded and patched, and Juudai thought it fit them so much better than the fancy outfit as well.

Together the two of them headed down the hallway. Juudai’s hand twitched every now and then toward them, but he managed to keep from touching them. He wondered if he should get a pair of gloves; that would probably help make sure they didn’t touch before Yubel wanted it.

But for now they stepped outside into the expansive royal gardens. Warm sunlight spilled all over them and Juudai managed not to twitch at the feeling. Light didn’t bother him all that much but he still preferred the darkness.

Yubel’s hand twitched closer to him. He caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye and smiled.

“You can have whatever you want here,” Juudai told Yubel. “Clothes. Food. Anything you want for your room.” He rubbed the back of his head. “What would you like?” He would give Yubel everything that he could. He couldn’t even imagine something that he wouldn’t give them.

“I wouldn’t mind some new clothes,” Yubel admitted. Juudai nodded; he would talk to his parents about it as soon as he could.

For right now what he really wanted to do was just walk with Yubel.

Aodh watched as Yubel and Juudai made their way through the gardens. He suspected they didn’t see him or Kaien at all. The two of them sat across a marble table, sharing a light snack together, and discussing various small matters pertinent mainly to the two of them.

The two of them and their son, in all truth. And his new soulmate.

“What do you think of them?” Aodh asked, eyes tracking the two, who remained so close to one another and yet who didn’t touch, regardless of how much they clearly both wanted to.

Kaien sipped a hot cup of tea. “I think that Yubel is exactly what Juudai needs. Someone even fiercer in his defense than the most skilled or loyal bodyguard that we could ever hire.”

Aodh nodded. He’d suspected as much from the moment he’d seen Yubel’s attack on those who tried to hurt Juudai the previous night. He wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest if Yubel managed to claw their throats out.

He also wouldn’t have cared if they had. Juudai needed someone like that to protect him until he’d matured, in every way that he needed to.

Should I ask them? He’d barely been properly introduced to Yubel at all. What he knew was that they were his son’s soulmate and how fierce they were. Yubel would be suitable; he didn’t doubt that at all. But would it be fair? Would it be right to ask them this?

Kaien’s hand rested on his and he looked toward her. She knew what would be going through his mind. She knew what he worried about as intimately as he did. They’d never uttered a word of it towards Juudai or anyone else. How could they?

“Give them time,” Kaien said. “Let them bond, let them know each other. Let them have what time they can together before it all has to change, Aodh.”

A smile tugged at his lips but he didn’t really feel like smiling when it came down to it. “They’ll likely have forever together. Different forms but the same heart – the same souls.”

Kaien’s gaze shifted to the barely visible forms parading through the garden paths. “I know. But there isn’t any need to rush anything. Is there?”

Aodh sagged back into his chair, letting his weariness show as he so seldom did. “We can wait. But not forever. I’ve heard all manner of rumors and last night didn’t make it any better. The Light is building an army, taking people from all over. Even a few of our own have shown the signs.”

Kaien drew herself up. He would have to show her the reports; she was far better at strategy than he was. Juudai’s power would be able to hold off the Light of Ruin’s advance, but only if it were matched to the power that protected him. He had been born with a sword; now he would need his shield.

To Be Continued

Notes: Next chapter has their first kiss, Juudai’s pledge of eternal love, and Yubel becoming a dragon. Not necessarily in that order.

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygo gx #yuuki juudai #yubel #yubel x juudai #juudai x yubel #soulshipping #chapters: embrace of fate #series: fate's heart

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darisu-chan · 7 years ago

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I Call Your Name

Prompt: Fade to Black

Summary: Rukia cannot stop thinking about Homura and Shizuku. Ichigo is there to cheer her up. But there might be a reason as to why she's thinking about them.

You can also read it here.

Rukia was in her office doing paperwork. The task at hand was tedious, but it needed to be done. Soon, Hisagi would come and ask her for the paperwork, before handing it in to Nanao. The young lieutenant sighed. She had been reading the same sentence for about five minutes already, but she couldn't concentrate. "Focus, Rukia." She scolded herself, and, taking her brush, proceeded to sign the papers in her hands. This activity took her another hour, and once it was done, she smiled in satisfaction. "There. All done." Next, she organized every paper in an orderly manner, and then put them on her desk, where they would wait until Hisagi came by later that day. Rukia straightened her back, and yawned. She had had an almost sleepless night, and she was tired. She put her head on the desk, and closed her eyes.

Rukia opened her eyes and noticed she was no longer in her office. She was somewhere on the Rukongai. This surprised her, especially because she wasn't wearing her uniform anymore, but a purple yukata. She wandered aimlessly, trying to get back to Seireitei, but she realized she was lost. She didn't recognize any of the buildings she saw.

"Rukia." A voice called her.

She turned around immediately. "Who's there?" She asked.

"Rukia!" The voice called her again, and this time childish laughter followed it. "Come with us, Rukia!" Now, she could see two figures far away, beckoning her to follow them. Then, they sprinted.

"Wait!" Rukia shouted, pursuing them. As she ran after them, she tripped a few times. Whenever she thought she was close to them, they started running faster. "Hey! Wait!" She pleaded again.

"Come with us, Rukia! We're waiting for you!"

However, no matter how fast she ran, they seemed to get farther and farther away from her. "Please, wait for me!" Rukia shouted again, tripping on her feet. She fell to the ground and saw helplessly how they got away.

"Come, Rukia!"

They kept calling her name, but there was nothing she could do.

"Rukia!"

Soon, the voices faded away, and everything went dark, leaving Rukia alone on the floor.

"…taichou… Fukutaichou!" Someone said, as they moved her arm. Rukia opened her eyes and saw that Kiyone was the one moving her. She realized she had fallen asleep.

"Oh, Kiyone." Rukia acknowledged her third seat. "What is it?"

"You fell asleep." The girl replied. "I thought something might have happened."

Rukia shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"Yeah, our fukutaichou is a newlywed. She might not be getting enough sleep." Sentarou, whom the lieutenant had noticed until then, said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows for good measure.

Rukia frowned annoyed, and was about to say something, when Kiyone slapped him with such force he spun a bit.

"You're such a pervert, Sentarou!" She exclaimed, her cheeks red. "Stop thinking about that!" Then, she turned to look at Rukia. "I'm so sorry about him. We'll leave you alone now."

She snorted as she saw both third seats leaving her office, while they kept arguing. She was glad that, throughout the years, those two had never changed. They were still as lively as ever. Rukia also felt warm knowing they had been worried about her in their own way. Shaking her head, she chuckled and organized her paperwork, but her task was interrupted by the feeling of a familiar reiatsu approaching her office.

"Why is Sentarou complaining about Kiyone being hormonal, and why is he saying it's my fault?" Her husband asked the moment he entered the room.

"Don't worry about it. Come here." Rukia said, motioning him to come closer.

Ichigo complied and leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." She said smiling.

"Do you need help with the paperwork?" The man asked his wife, pointing at the papers that were on her desk.

"No, I already did it. But don't worry, in a while it's going to be your job." She said, winking. During their wedding, Kyouraku had spoken to both of them about the possibility of getting a promotion. There was really no one better than Rukia to become captain of the thirteenth squad, which had been Ukitake's wish as well. While Ichigo, during the last six years, had proved he was capable of being a lieutenant. They had both accepted, although Kyouraku told them it would still be a while until the promotion was made official.

"Well, maybe to get used to it, we could do half and half, right?" Ichigo said, scratching his neck.

Rukia smiled warmly at him. He was such a dork, trying to disguise the fact he wanted to help her. She was lucky to have him as her husband. "I think that's a brilliant idea. But be prepared, now you won't be able to escape it."

Ichigo smirked. "Doubt some documents will be too much for me."

His wife rolled her eyes. "Getting cocky, aren't we?"

"Always."

They spent a few minutes in comfortable silence, while Rukia put away the ink and brush she had used to sign her paperwork. Once it was all tidy, she looked at Ichigo. "So why are you here?"

"What? Can't a man visit his own wife at work?" He replied, crossing his arms and pretending to be annoyed.

Wife. Hearing him say that word still brought a smile to her face as a giddy feeling covered her completely. It had been two months already since their wedding day, and that feeling didn't seem like it was going to disappear any time soon.

"It's not that. I just thought maybe there was another reason for you being here, besides visiting me." Rukia answered.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd like to eat lunch with me." He said, showing her the basket he had brought with him.

Rukia smiled. "Of course."

They walked together, the tips of their fingers barely brushing. Both were kind of embarrassed to show their affection in public, despite the fact they had been together for six years, and that everyone in their squad knew they were married. However, that simple gesture was enough for them. They didn't need to say I love you all the time, for they knew what they felt for each other, and most importantly, they showed it in other ways.

After walking for a while, they reached a spot near the river which Rukia was particularly fond of. She had shown it to Ichigo long ago, when they first started dating, and she had shown him around her squad for the first time. There, Rukia told him about Kaien-dono, her mentor and former lieutenant, and all the lessons he had given her. Ichigo had listened intently to her back then, and hadn't said a word until she had finished telling her story. Then, he had told her he was happy that there had been someone in her life that helped her before they met, and that he was sorry she had had to go through such a traumatic experience. Ichigo hadn't acted insecure about her admiration for Kaien, nor had he enquired anything else. In that moment, Rukia decided two things, 1) their romantic relationship, like their friendship, could take anything, so she didn't have to fear telling Ichigo things about her past, and 2) that spot would be their new place to eat lunch or just spend time together.

They sat down together, and Ichigo took out their food, gently passing her the obentou boxes he had brought. Although he still wasn't as good of a cook as Yuzu or Rukia, he did a decent enough job. Rukia was very happy that they had managed to divide their responsibilities in their household as well as they had. They both cooked, cleaned, and took care of the management of their house. She was truly lucky. If she had married another man, maybe she would have been expected to take care of everything by herself, which was impossible given the fact her position in the squad took a lot of her time.

As they ate, Rukia felt tired once again. It had been happening all week actually, as well as her recurrent dreams. She yawned, and leaned on Ichigo's shoulder, closing her eyes. Her husband looked down at her, smiling. He kissed her forehead, and then held her, pulling her closer to him. Rukia smiled, and snuggled into him.

"I'm tired." She mumbled.

"I've noticed. Did you sleep well?" Ichigo asked, clearly concerned.

Rukia shook her head. "I haven't all week."

The man frowned at that. It was rare when Rukia couldn't sleep. In fact, she rarely had problems falling asleep, not in the past two months, and not in the past years. He was sure that even when they had first met and Rukia lived in his closet, she slept peacefully. There must be a reason for her insomnia, which he wondered if it was linked to their night time activities.

"Is it because of me?" He asked, his cheeks turning slightly red.

Rukia hit him on the chest. "Fool!" She exclaimed as she looked at him, embarrassed as shown by her red cheeks. "That's not it!"

"Then?" He asked her, worrying even more.

Rukia looked down for a moment, then returned to her original position in his arms. "Bad dream." She whispered.

"Oh? What is it about? Maybe if you tell me, you'll stop thinking about it."

That made sense, so Rukia proceeded to tell him all about her dreams. "It's about Homura and Shizuku."

Ichigo nodded, remembering the pair of siblings that had wreaked havoc years ago in their quest of returning to Rukia's side.

"I've been dreaming about them… well, I think it's about them… I'm somewhere in the Rukongai, and two voices keep calling me. They belong to children. I look around, and I can only see their silhouettes. They tell me to come with them, and I try to follow, but as much as I run after them, I can never reach them. After that, all goes black and I wake up. I can't fall asleep then."

Ichigo kissed her lips softly. "Hey, maybe you just miss them, and that's why you're dreaming about them."

Rukia simply nodded. "I'm still saddened about it, you know, how we were reunited only to be parted again."

He looked at her sadly, remembering the part he had played in that. "I'm sorry."

Rukia gazed at him lovingly and shook her head. "It's not your fault." She hadn't blamed him once. Nothing that had happened had been because he did something wrong. The siblings weren't meant to live anymore.

"I meant what I said back then. I'm sure, someday, you and they will see each other again." Ichigo said.

Rukai smiled. "Thank you, Ichigo."

"It's no problem."

After her talk with Ichigo, Rukia honestly thought she would get a good night of rest. However, she woke up at 3:00 am shaking after having the same dream. Well, it wasn't quite the same dream. There had been just one voice this time, which kept calling her. Much like on the rest of the dreams, she had fallen down before reaching the child. Yet, the voice told her something before everything went dark. "We'll see each other soon enough!"

She had been restless after the dream, and she had been unable to fall back asleep. It didn't help that she felt slightly nauseous. Perhaps it was because of lack of sleep, she reasoned. She stayed in bed until Ichigo opened his eyes. One look at his wife told him Rukia wasn't feeling any better than the day before.

"You had the dream again, didn't you?"

She nodded. "It was bit different this time." Then, Rukia told him about the new dream.

Ichigo looked thoughtful. "Maybe it's something else."

"Maybe."

"Don't worry, Rukia. I'm sure the dreams will stop eventually." She really hoped so.

They got ready for work. Rukia barely ate breakfast, for her stomach still felt queasy. Ichigo got worried about it, but Rukia calmed him down, believing it was due to lack of sleep more than her being sick or anything of the sort. She drank tea to try and settle her stomach down. Then, they went to their squad, and separated to do their different activities. Today, Rukia was in charge of kidou training, which was one of her favorite chores. The new members of her squad all settled on the training grounds, and followed her instructions. Rukia was enjoying herself. She was very proud of her newest members, and how far they had come since they first joined the squad. She had no doubts they would all become seated officers in no time. As she observed them, she started getting dizzy. Her vision blurred, and she lost her footing.

"Lieutenant!" They all shouted, and one of them managed to grab them before she hit the ground.

All of them surrounded her, asking if she was alright, while others went to look for Ichigo. As she was feeling better, and had finally sat, her husband arrived, looking frantic.

"What happened?!" He asked, as he kneeled down next to her.

"Kuchiki-fukutaichou fainted. I managed to catch her before she fell." The Shinigami said.

"Are you feeling better now?" Ichigo asked his wife.

"Yeah, a bit."

He frowned. She still looked too pale. "Let's go to the fourth squad." He announced, getting up and then carting her in his arms.

Rukia yelped. "Eh? What for?"

"You need to get checked." Ichigo simply said, as they walked out of the squad.

"I can walk, you know?" She grumbled, her cheeks turning red as several Shinigami turned to look at them.

"It's safer this way." He shrugged.

"You're just taking advantage of the situation to hold me." Rukia said playfully, feeling much better.

"Tch. Now I can't worry about my own wife." Ichigo complained.

"Of course you can, fool." She said affectionately.

They soon arrived at the fourth squad barracks, and ran into Hanatarou, who got worried when he saw Ichigo carrying Rukia. The boy immediately guided them to the captain's office, where Isane, having been newly appointed as captain, received them. Isane asked Rukia a few questions, writing everything down. She seemed serious, which worried the couple.

"Kuchiki-san, I'm going to need to make a blood test." The captain said.

Rukia merely nodded, and let Isane draw blood from her arm.

"I'll be right back." Isane announced, and went to the lab, taking with her the blood sample.

"Do you think something's wrong?" Rukia asked Ichigo, feeling scared.

Ichigo looked worried as well. "Let's hope it's nothing." He said, and took his wife's hand, squeezing it to give her strength.

Isane came back, no longer looking worried but with a smile on her face. "It seems congratulations are in order." She said gently.

This puzzled the spouses. "I'm sorry?" Rukia said, not really comprehending anything.

The captain giggled. "I know why you have been feeling dizzy, Kuchiki-san. I was a bit surprised and wanted to make sure, but there's nothing to worry about." She explained calmly. "Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-san, congratulations, you're going to be parents!" Isane exclaimed.

Rukia blinked once, then twice. Next, she turned to look at Ichigo, who was clearly surprised. They looked at each other and then smiles blossomed on both of their faces. A baby! They were going to have a baby! That was the best news they had gotten in some time. Happiness radiated from them. The prospect of having a child with the person you love most was overwhelming in a good sense. Although it was a big surprise, and certainly not something they had planned, they both felt elated. Rukia put a hand on her abdomen, while Ichigo covered it with his much bigger hand. They looked at each other and smiled.

Isane made more tests, and gave Rukia some recommendations, scheduling a visit for next month. They discovered Rukia was around seven weeks along, meaning they had conceived their child during their first week as a married couple. It seemed too good to be true. Still in a daze, they went home. Rukia lay down on the futon with Ichigo beside her, kissing her forehead and lips, while Rukia giggled.

"I can't believe it." Rukia whispered.

"Me neither." Ichigo said.

"I'm so happy!" She said.

Ichigo entwined their fingers together. "I'm happy too, Rukia! I love you so much." He said warmly, and then kissed her lips.

His wife smiled. "I love you too."

"Hey, do you think this was why you were dreaming about them? Like, your mind was trying to tell you about the baby?" Ichigo asked her.

Rukia pondered about it for a while. The dreams had been recurring for a week now, as well as the symptoms she had ignored. There was probably a bit of truth in what Ichigo had told her, specially taking into account the last dream she had, which featured a child calling her and his or her cryptic words. They would certainly be seeing each other soon. However, there was something else. Homura and Shizuku were special to Rukia in ways she couldn't describe. She had taken care of them, and given them names as if she were their mother. She felt as if she had been so, and their loss was something that she was still grieving. This baby would never take their place, yet, she felt like now she could truthfully come to terms with what happened. Maybe now she was ready to move on.

"I think they were trying to tell me they're still with me, in my heart." Rukia said at length. "And maybe the baby was also trying to make his presence known with that last dream."

Ichigo smiled. "They will never leave you. Not me either."

She grinned and then kissed him. "That's true for me too."

They kissed again, hands covering Rukia's belly, where their child would continue growing for the next seven months.

#ichiruki #ichirukimonth #I'm terribly late #I'm sorry #ichiruki fanfiction #my fanfiction

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