1 - first news - rebellion

Shuunske heard the girl running nearer and nearer his direction. It was a perfect day. The sky was blue, and the air was warm with the warm sun shine coming in through the window he was standing at. The vice captain was doing the paper work for the day, and this meant that Shuunske had the day off. It was the perect day to have off so far. The only problem was that, being a captain, no matter how much work he gave to Kasumi, he would still have to do a lot as well. Through out the day he had been asked to sign certain things, and had been approached with small news on the Menos in the realm of the living. But all was going well until the moment came.

A sudden knock came from the opposite end of the room. It was much more furious than before. He answered in a cool tone, telling her to come in. He already knew who it was. When the door opened, he saw Hiiro, sweat on her brow, as if she had run all the way from another division. She came in clutching papers, meagerly written on in ink type. Whatever was on the paper, it was not very much. On the first peice however, there was a picture. He did not know what of, but it was a clearly printed picture from where he was standing.

The girl started blurting out the information that she had aquired, in a sloppy fashion. At first, he did not know where what she was saying was going, but when he understood, his perfect day shattered. It was as if the nice tame blue sky started laughing at him before darkening. How could all of this gone on without him knowing? It was his squad. And what did she mean it was not by the Menos Grande? How could it not be.

Shuunske's lip turned into a snarl. His spiritual pressure began to seap out, causing the air too feel like 100 pounds of extra weight. His fist clenched. And it was wrong that she be the one to tell him. It was more than she was supposed to do, but Kasumi was too far away to tell him.

Catching tone of his spiritual power, and the pressure he had asserted because of it, Shuunske started to pull it back. He was still beautiful when he was maddened. His eyes gained a certain flare that they didnt have before. His flushed face brought out onlt more of his perfect features. He was beautiful.

"Where did you hear this? May I see the report 5th seat?" Shuunske gestured to the peices of paper. If what she said was true then he would be more surprised than mad. If what she said was true then the ability to mess up Soul Societies communication was too easy. It should not be so.

As his rieatsu cooled back down, the captains white haori fell back to his normal position. He waslked over to Hiiro. He trusted his 5th seat, he would not doubt her. But he needed to see the spacifics of the picture and report. He wanted to see for himself.

"What time was this report filed, and why have I not been notified sooner? 5th seat, Hiiro, it is not your job to notify me of these reports unless otherwise told by Vice captain kasumi-san." He knew that she was trying her best, but he did not want to see her exuast herself with duties that were not even under her job description.

Shuunske held out his hand from where he was standing, near the window, now turned in her direction, requiring that she move, rather than make him move.

At that very moment, the intercom came on that rang all over the Gotei 13, and rang directly into the Captain's intercom, not allowing any other shingiami to hear, giving the information that he had just recieved. She had beaten the imperial time. She had done well. After a tap tap, the intercom began to talk:

"As of recent, we have recieved info that 11th squads unti, sent to patrol the living world, section 334, has just been targetted and wiped out before being able to contact us. This is troubling news as we may or ma not have conflicting evidence saying that it was indeed not the Menos that attacked the shinigami. We are requiring all captains to come to an emergency meeting."

This was all he needed to know. Looking at Hiiro, he started to walk past her, expecting her to stand and walk behind him as would be the respectful way to go about it. She still had to give him the picture, but she would do that from behind him. This was such troubling news. He was glas they did not broad cast the message over all of the baraks, and that only the captains had heard, aside from his 5th seat.

"This is all I want to know. Give me the picture. I am required else where at the moment. Meet Kasumi in the squad 12 baraks, and gather as much information as you can for me when I get out. He will be there. I sent him there only 20 minutes ago. Tell him what you and I know. Be quick."

With that, Shuunske broke off and exited the baraks, using the flashstep to get to his destination faster. It was over his head. This was his first emergency as a captain, and of course it had to do with his squad being targetted.

It seemed like night already. The dark room, lit by thousands of mechanical lights had no real source of light, all ambient. It was rather annoying to Kasumi. He liked real light over the many brightly colored, but highly inconvenient lights, shaded with everything from an insect orange, to the color of year old milk. Further more, there were many men scurrying through and through out the room, all in funny white almost lab coats, but more leaning towards a captain's hoari in a fashion sense. Some of the men looked to be morbidly misshapen, and almost as if they had been mutated. It was not unheard of. All the captains from the 12th squad had been quirky and crazy scientists, not minding hurting other, or themselves to obtain knowledge to do research on.

Looking in front of himself, there was another small woman, looking only to be about 17 or so, quickly slamming her fingers into the key board with other brightly colored symbols and such on them, anything but the normal written language. Analyzing them would be more than useless. It took years to even know all the things that a single combination of buttons did, seeing as they could do different things when in different situations. At least, that was what he guessed.

The door behind him in the room was closed, separated from him by a small center section of the room that was sunk in, and only accessible by the small stairs on either side of it, containing multiple rows, three in total, of computers, with more legible things on the keys. The seated officer of the squad, 4th seat Jun, paced through the rows, supervising when ever there was a moment when another code came up that the trained computer operators did not know how to answer to.

Jun was a highly composed girl, who chose not to wear the trade marked shinigami uniform, but a smaller, tighter dress, which came up to her high thighs. It was tight fitting everywhere until it stopped in a small "v" at her neck. He did not normally look at other shinigami like this, but this was one of the first times he had seen her at work. He had seen her fight, and although sword play was not her strong point, she was a master of kido, and he had seen her use bakudo 83 without even resiting the incantation. It was amazing. She was also rather young, about his age.

The ruff room was about to get to him, what with its spiky, unclean, and jaggered edges, with small tubes and such coming through the walls, barely visible through the dim light, when he heard his name being called. It sounded like the new 5th seat, Hiiro. Snapping to attention, he moved through the room, until he was at the door of the dark mess of a room. Jun acknowledged that he was going out for a second, and he left the room, walking through the door, into a more lobby like room. It was still not well lit, with an interesting maze of standing lights on the ground, only lighting a small area around them, so that the dark room looked as though it had various balls of light, floating. It was a test room, where smaller tests were conducted. He knew this much because there was a time when he wanted to serve under 12th squad, back in his academy days. His father had, and so he knew minor information about it, here and there.

At the other end of the room, he saw, sure enough, Hiiro. The light hit his face so she could see him as well. He stood right by one of the standing lights, that looked like a tear falling the wrong way from the ground. He was curious as to why she was here. He had been sent here by Shuunske to gather information about the Menos, and the little he had known about the squad. That was about thirty minutes ago.

"I'm here, 5th seat Hiiro-chan. What do you need?"

As soon as the girl saw him, she quickly moved closer. He had liked her since she joined the 11th squad, as the 5th seated officer. She was nice, and the perfect thing that the 11th squad needed. A female. She was able to hold her own in fights, although not as strong as some of the other men with a sword, her ability to think in battle, and create clarity out of a situation was amazing to watch. He had seen her in the academy. She had entered his senior year there, and he was able to see her progress with the speed of a cheetah.

The odd lighting played out emotions times ten, what with the dim ability to bring out features that one did not really see in broad day light. She was still pretty. She was always pretty, but he did not think of her like that. He felt protective over her. She had worked her hardest ever since the promotion, being as good if not better than the past 5th seats, despite what the guys joked about her.

It was funny to him actually, that the only two female officers ever in the history of the 11th squad came right after each other. If female was what you would call the last. She was a beast on the battle field, able to easily take down any man that got in her way, and piratically would. She would go as far as she could get away with, some times even drawing her sword against other members of the division. She was a night mare. Kasumi remembered seeing her fight against simple hollows on a minor missions he was in that she lead. It was horrible. Given they were hollow, but she looked as if she truly enjoyed cutting every last one down in as many places as possible before killing them. It was to be expected from any one from the 11th squad however. The stereo type. It was different now. They had Hiiro, and Shuunske-sama.

Hiiro started to blurt the report, as if it was protocol. He had already heard it now, and knew more than she on the matter. She was close to him. placing his single finger over her lips he stopped her speaking. It only worked for a second. She come closer to him, asking whether he wanted to go to 4th squad now or stay at 12th. It was not a hard question to answer.

"I'm sorry. It seems you have been running all over the place lately. But I was going to go to 4th squad any minute. I could not stand it in there any longer. It was noisy, and so unclean. Dirty. They had their wiring coming out from the wall. I don't understand how they could work in that, cell."

Looking back down at her, he smiled, only to see that she was thinking about something else. Something that she voiced to be worrying about her captain. He was almost worried too. He knew that Shuunske was the strongest captain that 11th squad had ever seen. Not in fighting ability, but in emotional control. He was able to shake off the insanity of confusion and such. He had seen it happen.

"Don't worry about Shuunske-sama. He would not want you to doubt him. And there is no need to. He was picked to be our captain because he can deal with emotional strain. That among many other reasons. He will do fine. But it is good to have a sense of loyalty to your captain, which I see in you. Don't let that loyalty cloud your senses however. He can take care of himself."

Holding up his hand as if to say "wait one minute," Kasumi walked back to the door he had just come from. He opened it a slight bit, before pulling back out. Hiiro would not be able to hear him, but it didn't matter. The walls were sound proof, so as not to leak any info before they were supposed to. Kasumi nodded before once again coming from the door.

"C'mon 5th seat," he said, beckoning her over with a playful smile, a smile that only he could conjure in such a time. It had been a while now since he had been here, and a while now that he suspected Hiiro had been looking for him. There was no telling what the outside would look like when he got there. It was impossible to know anything about the outside in fact from inside the 12th squad barracks unless you were looking at it from a screen.

Waiting a moment for Hiiro to catch up to him, about twenty feet away from her now, due to the walk to the door, he turned to walk out, knowing that Hiiro would follow him. He had received information to tell 4th squad, that had just come from 12th squad. So not only would he learn, but he would tell. Walking to the next door, on the far side of the fake lighted room, Kasumi opened it to find exactly the opposite of what it was only an hour before.

The outside had grown darker, because clouds had gathered up in the sky, blocking the sun, and there was a cold drizzle, spitting down on the ground. It marked how his had gone perfectly.

As soon as Kasumi saw the face that 5th seat Hiiro-chan was making, he knew what the problem was. He knew why she was so worried, and hated seeing him like that. He had seen it with many girl, regarding Shuunske. He had always been a rumored beauty, worthy of any and all praise. It had made him jealous when he first started working as the vice captain, always being compared to him and such, but he had learned to get over it. He was not bad looking, just not as perfect as Shuunske-sama. In fact he had gotten much praise for his looks while he was in the academy, but since then, he had stopped seeking it, and only sought to fulfill his duty as vice captain. It was quite the work load. Even on easy going days there was a lot. He was always being sent places, and always off securing ties with other divisions, but that was not how it was going to always be, it was simply now due to the large mass of troubling news that 11th division had received.

Stepping out into the cold air, Kasumi tested the whether with his hands. It was cold alright. Chilling cold, that swept through your clothes and made you feel hallow. Looking back at Hiiro-chan, Kasumi noted that only her shinigami outfit was not going to be enough to keep her warm, and it was the same for him. But this was okay, it was not such a long walk that they would die in the rain and cold on the way over. The thought made him chuckle.

Kasumi stepped out into the rain, listening to what Hiiro said about the day changing, but choosing not to reply. It was not a conversation that was important enough to budge his mind from the matters at hand. He had his own thoughts. He had seen the pictures of the bodies, and although they provided little evidence themselves, he had already guessed that the wounds were not from Menos Grande hollow attacks. Menos caused large scale damage what with their huge cero blasts, and the ability to crush buildings with their foot. Other than this, they had no way to accurately create slicing in vital areas. To him it looked like the work of either different hollows, or knives or some sort. There was no other way around it. Although he placed his belief in the fact that there might have been other hollows that were there, and did have smaller scale attacks. Still. Those attacks were very precise. He would not worry Hiiro any more about this.

In fact, he had seen Hiiro and the 3rd seat Kifuume walk together. He had thought they were friends, and yet the remorse that was coming from her was more along the lines of not liking seeing Shuunske agitated. Maybe he had misjudged their friendship. Maybe it was nothing more than peer on peer conversation, nothing more.

As soon as his full body was emerged in the water of the rain, he shuddered. But at least he was outside in nature. Better than 12th squad. It seemed that the day had always been dark. As if at any second he would hear sorrowful music playing. As if he was doing all he could for nothing. Opening his eyes as he tracked his thoughts, he mentally slapped himself. He was doing what he was doing for Shuunske-sama, and he needn't be doing it for anything else. It did not matter, as long as Shuunske-sama ordered it. He respected Shuunske more than any man in Soul Society. Even more than the captain of 1st division, and the seeming ruler over all the other captains. In fact, he did not like him much. He seemed irrational.

Looking back at Hiiro, he started to walk quickly. He knew that the flash step would get him there much faster, but he also knew that Hiiro, although naturally fast, could, in no way keep up with a flash step. Kasumi however was rumored the fastest shinigami in the 11th squad, aside from Shuunske. His fighting style relied entirely on his ability to out maneuver the opponent. If he could not do this, then he lost the advantage of the fight.

He vowed to teach Hiiro the flash step when he had the time off. When ever he could. He had seen her fight, and with her natural speed, she would make an excellent flash step. Kasumi however would out match anyone below the captain class in the 11th squad due to his history in 2nd division, the assassination squads, where speed and stealth were everything. It was there that he had learned the flash step.

Looking back at Hiiro, Kasumi noted that he could simply carry her and flash step there. He decided that it would be a better way than to simply walk through the boggy rain. "5th seat Hiiro-chan, this whether seems to getting to you and me both. I can carry you at a much faster pace than we are moving now. Please, allow me." With that, he bent down into a kneeling position, offering her to get on his back. Of course it would slow his flash step a small bit, it would not prevent them from getting there much faster.

Kasumi smiled. He enjoyed taking care of her. So did Shuunske, they had talked about her once, the day after he promotion, and they both agreed to like her for her hard working personality, and ability to put up with the men that jeered at her. He wanted to tell her that she needed to stand up for herself. Even though she may not be as good with a sword as some of the other men were, she had achieved shikai, not that he would suggest releasing her sword on her own men, but she should not feel intimidated, and she should be able to appose their comments with her rank alone. Verbally throwing the men into shape was something that she could do. But id he ever heard them calling to her like that while he was in ear shot, he would embarrass them to the point that they would never insult her again. It was all made up in his mind.

Hiiro came over, obeying his plea, and placed her legs through the loops his arms made against his body, so as to carry her "piggy back" style. As soon as her legs were through he stood, and squeezed them slightly, as if telling her to hold on. He smiled.

The next moment there was a slight blur, and they were on the roof top, only the roof top was far away from where they had been already. His speed was overwhelming to even himself. He loved it though. Squeezing Hiiro tightly so as to secure her position on his back. Lifting his heel another time, he flashed to the next roof top, and so on and so forth. It was unreal to him, and would seem improbable to someone who had not experienced the speed of flash step.

Within four minuted Kasumi landed on the solid ground, under a hang over, built off a wall, keeping the rain from them. At their walking pace, they would have just left the 10th squad boundaries, and now they were here. Kasumi let her down and pointed to the marking on the large door in front of them with the emblem of squad 4. Smiling he asked, "How's that?"

The day was drawing nearer and nearer to its end, however it seemed to be ending prematurely due to the clouds covering the sun. He actually loved the dark and the rain more than the sun, but hated it to be this cold. The only way he could tolerate the cold was when it was snowing. It seemed like the only way to manage it. Also, he was born into the snow, he loved it. He loved the winter in general.

Stepping forward, two men came forth from the gates, each with their zanpakutou around their wastes as was proper for guards of a certain division. Not that 4th division shinigami were a force to be feared as far as battle. He had never seen a shinigami from 4th squad actually fight worth recognition. He had seen some with much potential, but the shinigami from this division never got any time to practice. They were all consumed by cleaning and healing shinigami that had just come back from missions.

This being said, he had an incredible amount of respect for the members of 4th squad, and hated that they were often teased for being weak. 11th squad did not seem to get that this squad was not designated for fighting, but for healing and maintaining Gotei 13.

As soon as the guards that had emerged saw who it was they bowed their heads, allowing the two to pass, saying respectfully, "Vice captain Engu-sama, 5th seat Takaniki-chan." Kasumi took the opportunity to pass as soon as possible, and smiled at the two kindly, walking past, into the white building.

As soon as he entered, he was taken aback by the whiteness. Everything was perfectly clean, as was expected from the 4th squad. It was perfectly white, and no sign of anyone even being there except that one could hear foot steps through out the division, and ever once and a while a shinigami would run past, realizing who it was they were running by at the last moment, and bowing their head, and respectfully saying their name.

Walking through the long hallway into the back of the division as he had many times before, Kasumi lead Hiiro back to where they had the bodies, and where they were doing the autopsy. About ten feet in front of them, a door opened in the well lit division, and out of it came the captain of the 4th squad. As soon as Kasumi saw her, he bent his posture into a standing bow, waiting for a second before coming back up. Hiiro would do better to wait a small bit longer, but Kasumi was not sure that she knew that. However she was a seated officer, and thus it would not be a total disrespect.

The captain smiled as if she had expected Hiiro and Kasumi. Kasumi knew she had been expecting him, but was not sure about Hiiro. It didn't matter. Just after coming up from the bow, Kasumi spoke. "Captain Kurinami-sama, I am back, on orders of Shuunske-sama. I have a report from 12th division, but they are still working on proving anything." He looked the captain in the eyes, and smiled, timidly.

She smiled at him, and replied. "I felt your spiritual pressure, both of you. I knew you were coming. And follow me. Kasumi-san, we have some interesting discoveries ourselves. It will most look most interesting on the reports that you bring back to Shuunske and 12th squad. Welcome Hiiro-chan, I do not believe you have ever been in this division's interior. I hope it sits well with you being from the 11th squad." She joked. She knew that Hiiro was not the type to judge based on her squads beliefs.

Kasumi, following the seemingly never upset captain, looked back and smiled a warming smile at Hiiro. He loved seeing her treated as an equal. And she was as far as a captain could do so. Kasumi walked in Kurinami's foot steps until he lead her into the room at the end of the hall. It smelled like paint or air freshener, which was good considering the walls were dotted with vaults were they kept the dead shinigami for autopsy. There was another door at the end of the room where the actual autopsies were happening. Kasumi would enter there later were only his rank was allowed.

Kasumi took a moment to try and picture all the faces of those men who had gone in the unit that had been targeted. But the one that kept coming back was the face of 3rd seat Kifuume. He had held back tears when he had heard that Kifuume had been killed. He had gone through the academy with Kifuume, graduating with him as friends. They enjoyed each others company, and although they were both swept away with their duties as official ranks in the 11th squad, Kasumi getting vice captain, and Kifuume getting 3rd seat, the rank right below him, they spent their time together, playing shogi a sort of japanese chest game, and practicing their zanpakutou skills together, against each other.

"Can I see 3rd seat Kifuume, Kurinami-sama?" He looked like he was sad. But he did not want to show Hiiro to make her worry about him. She was already working on getting over that feeling and letting Shuunske be. Another person to be saddened over would not help her. he had hid his grief over the matter since she had seen him. He was good at protecting her feelings. But it was beginning to leak out now.

The captain caught on, and nodded, a forlorn expression on her face as well. Walking over to the far corner of the wall, she unlocked one of the vaults, each having their own combination that the members of 4th division had to memorize. It opened with the high pitch squealing sound that suggested it was air tight in the small cells. Kurinami pulled out a metal tray, with a body and a cloth on it. Kasumi was not sure that he wanted to see. "The important news article we have discovered here is that the shinigami here were not, in fact, killed by any sort of hollow. We have proof to show that they were killed by a blade of some sort. After my own looks at the bodies, I made the prediction that the attacks came from above half based on what I saw, and half based on the fact that I did not think a normal person with said blade could destroy an entire unit, but looking into it more, the cuts suggest that the fight was short, and that it was an ambush, only coming from above, however most of the shinigami here were taken down from straight on. Further more, we discovered that both units were killed entirely by three people, as each way of killing had a certain signature move by which they disposed of their victims."

Kurinami paused, letting the info she had just given sink in. It was a lot. Kasumi was taken aback. He had hoped with all his heart that he was wrong about the wounds and how they were not dealt by hollow. He had wished it with everything in him. This meant that there was an unknown factor that they had to conquer as well. This was not good. This was definitely something to tell 12th squad upon returning. Or rather now, via hell butterfly.

"Kurinami-sama, please allow me to make this a report to 12th squad immediately!" Kasumi was almost scared now. He had not even seen Kifuume, due to the white sheet that was laid over him, but this unknown factor was huge.

"Do not worry about it. Just before you came here I sent the report to 12th squad. I do not want this information getting very far yet, because it is undeveloped, and I would rather deliver the full piece instead of nagging the captains with details they need not know. Of course I have to tell the captains when we find something that could be of use to them, and we are telling 12th squad everything." Kasumi watched her talk, a smile still on her face. It was as if she never stopped smiling. It was if she was never unhappy. Not even when shinigami were slain.

Turning back to Hiiro, Kasumi tried to erase the sadness from his face as much as possible so as to not worry her. "How are you taking all this Hiiro-chan?"

The info was given and the room fell into silence. It was so much, and the blank was yet to be filled. If hollow did not do it, and if they were certain that it was katana, or some type of blade, then what exactly were they up against? It was unnerving to think that they were up against something this out there, unknown, and powerful enough to destroy multiple units with seated officers, and not even leave one shinigami alive to give evidence, or leave hardly anything but dead bodies, and no trace of where whatever it was had gone. What was this? Only a captain could do this much damage, and anything else entering this world would be detected.

Hiiro spoke. If Kasumi were holding anything, he would have dropped it. What was she suggesting, that our own men killed each other off for sport. A soon as she spoke, the captains warm smile shattered into a a frown. Kasumi loved Hiiro-chan, but it was too wild an accusation to even fathom. Of course it was not. It could not be. And yet, what else could it be. There were no souls with the ability to kill that many trained men. There simply was no other possibility. But she spoke out of place. Kasumi gave a piercing look back at Hiiro, hoping that she would realize what she just said and stop in her tracks, but it did not work.

Hiiro spoke again, this time not even to herself, but directly to the captain. "Hiiro-chan!" Kasumi said, only to be cut off by the captain, her face still not recovered into the normal smile that lit up the 4th division. "It is okay. Let her talk," Kurinami said, disturbed slightly.

"Forgive me captain." Kasumi said, hoping that the captain did not take offense to it. She would probably not, but Hiiro could not get in the habit of talking like that to a captain. Shuunske, and Kurinami were, by his standards, the nicest captains. Others would not be so forgiving. Especially not the 12th squad captain!

"I said it's fine Kasumi-san." Kurinami said. Kasumi bent slightly, as if saying sorry for his actions, and shut his mouth. Kurinami beckoned Hiiro over, Kasumi slowly following, where she pulled the sheet back from his head. Kasumi did not want to look but did any ways. He was shocked. Kifuume's face did not look as though he was dead at all. There was no blood, nothing suggesting he was dead other than his pale skin. He looked as though he was merely sleeping. The thought disturbed him. Kasumi's lip quivered. He told himself not to cry. It would be the least dignified way to go about it. Instead, Kifuume turned his head, looking away from the body. He could not take it. Kifuume's distinct orange colored hair was still untouched, in its shaggy, yet neat, perfect due. His zanpakutou lay next to him, broken into three pieces.

It was too much.

Kasumi watched as she apologized, which in no way made it acceptable for her to speak like that at her rank, to a captain. But he did not care. He only saw that her inner emotions were rubbing their way to the surface. He had to stay composed for her. Looking at the captain, she was regaining her composure and began smiling again. It was as if seeing so much caring in the room had over shadowed the feeling of disrespect for her. For him to.

Kasumi watched even closer as she moved back up to the table, looking at her and his old friend. As her emotion heightened, his did as well. She was so moved by seeing him. He did not know why, but he felt worse seeing her up set about it than the actual feeling.

Taking a step back, he looked at the captain for her, as always, reassuring smile that he hoped would help him stay strong for Hiiro. It did not, but he kept himself from crying. Chills ran down his spine, and after they left, another set of chills began. It was so eerie to him. It was as if he was not dead. Kasumi waited for him to open his eyes, and waiting for Kurinami to laugh. He wished that would happen. He wished, but knew it would not. He was never that fortunate.

His throat clogged, and a lump gathered. He knew that using his voice at all in this moment would cause him to cry. His heart seemed to be in his mouth, throbbing at a huge pace. He had to leave. He needed to stay focused. He was a vice captain after all. He could not let this get in the way. Shuunske-sama had lost his men in this affair, his own men, and his friend, Kifuume. He must be dealing with much more. He had to stay strong for both of them.

Looking at the captain again, he nodded, and she returned the gesture, both knowing that he had to go. Timed seemed like it passes in slow motion. He stood there for a second, two seconds, three, ten, thirty, a minute, two minutes, then he lost track of time. It seemed like he was alone in the room, dead silent, other than the sound of Hiiro's tears.

He started to remember all the things they had done together before their duties had dragged them down. He remembered back in the academy, how they met in the kendo class, each brandishing wooden swords, bokken, trying to beat the other. Their fight was the longest that day. It ended with him winning. He had beaten Kifuume. Now he remembered. he remembered the teacher announcing that he had won, and the look that Kifuume had given him. It was not a nasty look, but an inspired look, like the start of a friendly rivalry.

Then there was the day that they both confessed in liking the same kido spell, and just because they were bored they got in an argument about who liked the spell more. He remembered that at the end of it, they were both laughing, and on the ground, backs down, exhausted, looking at the sky.

Kifuume had once told him that he would surpass him. That he would one day become a captain, and that when he did, he would make Kasumi his vice captain, so he could rub it in that he was a step ahead. Kasumi had challenged that belief, and had playfully told him that he would never make captain. He remembered it all now. It seemed like all these memories were locked away, and now the death had unlocked that door. He wished he had never said that to him. He would have made a great captain. He had a secret that he had never told any one. He had only told Kasumi. He had told him that he was going to tell peer since the academy that he loved her, but now he never could. She would never know.

The room began to spin. His foot moved slightly to stable himself. What was happening? His head had become light. The memories were pouring into him. Some forgotten, others memories that he though about often. He felt his body go numb. He remembered more and more, how one time, Kifuume had taken the blame from Kasumi. It had made him stay after that day, and get in trouble with his parents.

It all came back now. Holding out his hand to Kurinami, she handed him the report that she had typed and a kind smile with it. He tried to smile, but knew that he needed to get outside, where the rain would mask the fact that he could cry. He could blame it on nothing more than rain. It was a weak shield of defense, but it was better then blaming something in this room.

Turning, the room still spinning, Kasumi said, "Whenever your ready Hiiro, I'll be outside." With that, he moved to the door, and left the room. He was not conscious of whether she was following him right now, he wanted her to come only when she was done.

What was this feeling he was feeling? It was as if her tears had made him feel the same uncontrollable sadness. Why was he so confused. His mind flashed to the images of her crying. It was more than he could handle. A tear ran down from his face, falling on the ground, leaving his bent head. He loved her.

He just now realized it. He loved Hiiro. Seeing her sad, and crying made him want to change everything more so than he already did. It made him want to get mad, mad at the person causing her tears. Mad at himself that he could not protect her from that emotion always! Why was he so weak. Kasumi was reduced to crying a second later. The door had not yet opened from behind him yet, meaning she would not see him like this. He needed to be strong.

More and more memories. More still. Kasumi stumbled to the last door, a glass door, showing him that it had become even darker, like his thoughts, and the rain had pushed harder and harder, until now, it was pouring down, laughing at him. Opening the door, he let the rain over take his body, the cold water bringing him closer to what he thought the cold of death felt like. Opening his mouth, he let it out, face up to the darkened cloudy sky, hot tears streaming down his face.

Her face, Hiiro's face came to him. He tried to picture Hiiro smiling and happy, the girl he loved, but it was replaced with her sad, innocent, crying face. His knees weakened, and he fell into the cement ground that moved three feet from the building, like a side walk, his knees falling in a thin layer of water. She should not have to cry! He should be the only one crying. She did not deserve that. Why was he so weak?

Why was he too weak to protect her. His love.

The cold gripped him through his thin cotton shinigami clothing. It seemed fitting. In times like this, you did not want a happy energy around you, you wanted more and more to keep the tears coming. Kasumi almost sought for more reasons to keep them coming, to vent it out. He did this until he heard the foot steps behind him. He knew that Hiiro was looking at him though the door, he could feel her spiritual energy. It was soft, and pure, just like she was.

As he felt her coming closer and closer he tried his hardest to stop, but he could not. He was too weak. He was too powerless to stop anything. Even his best friend dying. The doors opened from behind him, and at that moment, another set of memories washed over him, causing his restraint to break, and more tears to fall. It was against every moral in the 11th squad to cry. And what more, he was crying in front of a girl. It was blasphemy.

Wiping the tears from his face, he tried to come off as though he was not crying. He knew that it was impossible to convince her that he had never been crying, but he wanted to appear stronger than he was. Everyone did.

It was then that he felt the warmth of her hand on his back. As soon as he felt it, the image of her smiling face flashed into his head, only to be replaced by the image of her crying. And yet, the roles had reversed. He was the weaker one now. Her warmth spread over him, until she bent down also, and hugged him, even though he was wet, and even though she was the one that he wanted to be able to comfort.

Shifting his body, slightly so he could hug her back, he did so, grasping her entire petite body in his arms, hugging her, and letting her cry on his shoulder. Holding her made him feel better. He smiled, still crying, embracing her. After a long pause he took her head from his shoulder, and placed his hand against her cheek. Tears filled his eyes when he saw her crying. He could not resist himself any longer. Bending inwards, he grazed the side of her soft skin, his lips touching her cheek, until he kissed her cheek, his lips warm from tears. He closed his eyes. As he did so, the image of her crying face began to change back into her normal smiling one.

He smiled, his lips still against her. Taking them away, and removing his face from hers, his eyes still closed, he curled his lips as if spreading lip stick on them, causing them to go inwards. Kasumi bit down on them. He did know why he did that. That was a lie, he knew why, but did not know why he could not refrain from it.

He had his eyes closed, listening to the pure of rain as he let the shocked silence carry on. Returning his lips to normal, he smiled, and opened his eyes. It was just what he had wanted to do. It was what he had wanted to do for a long time now. Kiss her. He owed her his heart, and he wanted to give it to her, but this would never happen. He had already seen the emotion she had given out about Shuunske. She, like most other girls, was more fancied to him. It tour him apart. He could not let her see this guilt however, he could not let her see his feelings for her. It would ruin their relationship. Their friendship.

Holding her for a second longer, Kasumi held her back slightly, so he was able to stand up. His legs were weak, and he shook from the cold, but it was what he needed to do. His hand fell into place with hers, and he pulled her up as well.

"I'm sorry Hiiro-chan. I should be stronger." he left it at that. It was a given that they needed to get back to 12th division before it was too late. Looking at how cold she was, and now wet, Kasumi smiled, a sad smile, and gave her his hand. She took it and pulled her up, before he crouched for her to climb on his back. She did so, and he started off, her warm face once again where he loved it, against his face. He wondered what was going through her head.

Walking down the road, there was no more shinigami on the streets, except for one every now and then, scurrying from place to place, or the ones on guard in different areas. He walked, cherishing the peaceful silence and rain falling. It was the sweet perfection of silence spent with the one person you want it to be spent with, right after such sadness. He was still heart broken, and ripped from the inside, over his knowledge of her feelings for him. Shuunske. He was used to it. It seemed that every girl was in love with his perfect face and body. His brilliance on both the battle field and in the mental games as well.

One foot in front of another he walked until he finally made it back to the 12th squad. Setting her down, he walked inside. He would only be a moment. As soon as he walked in, vice captain Jun-san walked from around the corner. They had probably seen him walking here from monitors and such posted around the division barracks. Kasumi smiled, and handed her the papers that 4th squad captain had given him, the whole report of the new information. She quickly fingered through it and nodded before walking off.

Turning back to the door, and back to Hiiro, he smiled. It had been a long day for both of them, sleep and time was all they needed. He hoped at least. "Come on Hiiro-chan. Its time to go back. Tomorrow will be a new day." With that, Kasumi walked outside and waited for Hiiro.

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