tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When: Yesterday evening
Rating: We'll have to see, though, most likely PG
Characters: Shiba Kaien

reverse_swirled and Kuchiki Rukia

x_cryptic_x
Summary: Death had separated them...now they've been rejoined.
Log:

He had died.

There was no question. With her own two hands Rukia had held the sword that had pierced his body. Her arms had been the heavy pillars that enveloped him as he breathed his last breath. It was his blood that still lingered on her kimono the morning after; It was his voice that echoed through her head for the many months after he had gone; it was his death that had plagued her every waking hour since that night…

And now he was back.

Tangible enough to touch and feel, real enough to understand and hear...

It didn’t make sense.

“He acts like it never happened,” Rukia thought to herself despondently, svelte form nestled comfortably into her apartment’s new (and surprisingly large) closet, arms lazily folded across her chest, navy hued oculars slightly shadowed by her half-lidded gaze, “I killed him…It can’t have been that easy to forgive…even if it was what he wanted.”

Sighing, she turned on her side, her mind swimming with a frenzy of questions and thoughts, most of them revolving around the center Kaien’s appearance was creating, a rift in her brain that seemed to augment lucidity by the minute.

What would she say to him when they finally stood face to face? How would she feel? He had meant so many things to her in life, and his death proved to be nothing short of devastating. It had brought about feelings Rukia wasn’t comfortable entertaining, and his reemergence into being had resurfaced said flurry of emotions. She thought she had gotten over this….but now…

Now was as uncertain as it had ever been.

All she could do was wait, wait to see what would happen…There was no point in speculating since the future had its own agendas and a sick, twisted sense of humor.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Kaien headed over to the apartment where he agreed to meet up with Rukia. It definetly had been a while, since she had last saw him, so maybe she really did need to talk to him. It felt really strange though, because for him, his death had only been just before he arrived in this city.

Even now, he could hardly believe he was alive at this point, hearing this, and talking with the people he'd thought he would never see again. After having spoken to Renji just recently about some of the things he missed, involving Aizen and Ichimaru, and about some random guy saving Rukia from being executed, he could only imagine the things everyone had been through.

He approached the door, and knocked waiting to be let inside.

[ooc; Just letting you know, since he just assumed this happened and didn't log Kaien coversation with Renji. Basically, Renji didn't want him to know about Ichigo, since they look/act alike and wants Kaien to see for himself or something. So yeah, Renji told him everything he missed after his death, except with the parts involving Ichigo, he just said replaced him with some guy when and said that 'some guy' saved Rukia, etc. XD; So he doesn't know about Ichigo at all, you can have Rukia tell him, or just leave him to find out himself ^^;]

She had barely heard the soft knock on the door as she lay consumed in a sea of though, muscles straining indignantly as she lifted herself from the comfortable perch in the bedroom's closet, bare feet padding softly across the carpeted floor as she made her way towards the door, all the while, involuntarily holding her breath.

As she reached out a hand towards the straight, silver handle, she noticed herself shaking.

Shaking for fuck's sake.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she thought while grasping the metal apparatus with a near vice-like grip, determined in her own right to show her body that whatever game it was playing, she could beat...but the small remnants of confidence that had lingered within the deepest parts of her person were shattered as Kaien's face appeared behind the parting wooden barrier...Those familiar lines she had often traced inside her head; the lines he shared with...

Ichigo...

"Kaien...come in," she managed to speak, putting on a forced smile as she waited for passageway to close, hands clasped behind her back as she strode into the rather large apartment, head motioning towards the newly knocked down wall, "That's where you'll be staying. Second door on the right down that hall. I got some things for you, since like almost everybody else, you didn't come here with anything you'd need...There are some clothes in the drawers and some fresh sheets on your bed. I hope one pillow's alright. It's all I could find. Settle in first if you want, we'll talk after."

She had meant to walk away, leave him to his thoughts, but her feet had stationed themselves to the floor and were currently either stuck because of another curse, or simply frozen in fear.

Yup, it was definitely the later.

[ooc: OH, okay...Got it...Not a problem...I think Rukia might mention him in passing, but she's usually very reserved about her feelings towards Ichigo, and talking about him to someone like Kaien directly might be a little awkward, at least at first. I think she might after Ichigo and Kaein meet...OH..if you ever just want to talk, drop me a line on AIM... o M e K u S o . XD ♥]

"Hi Rukia," Kaien smiled back at her, as she opened the door for him and he stepped inside the apartment.

The moment he walked inside, Rukia immediately went onto showing him where he would be staying.

"Ah, thanks" he laughed, "Everything is just fine, Rukia, don't worry about it. As for settling in, I can do that later, you wanted to talk, so we can do that first"

He reached out for Rukia's hand to move to some place comfortable in the apartment, like the couch, so they could talk; however, when he tugged on Rukia to follow him, it was like she had completely spaced out on him because she wasn't moving.

He let go, and placed his hand on her shoulder, looking directly at her with concern, "...Hey Rukia, are you sure you're okay?"

[ooc:Yeah, I figured as much, so that works~ ^^ Heh. Okay~ same here, my AIM is x k c s t x if you ever need to contact me ♥ ]

The feel of his hand was too much...

It was just too fucking much.

Before now she had only known he was real by seeing him...but touching him? It brought back too many memories...Felt too strange...It wasn't altogether unpleasant, but it was definitely something Rukia wasn't use too.

Fighting the urge to pull away, Rukia managed to snap herself back into reality, eyes blinking in rapid succession as she placed a smile on her coral lips, eyes apolagetic as she willed her legs to move once again, slowly making her way towards the nearby bed. She sat town tentatively, immediately fisting her hands into the soft sheets, face downcast as she tried to find the words to say.

"I'm...I'm sorry for what I did Kaein...I'm sorry for what happened," breathing out a small sigh, she allowed her gaze to wonder to his enigmatic eyes, doing her best to appear unaffected as she sat in his scrutiny, "I've dreamed of this day for so long..."

[ooc: I shall definitely be dropping you some lines. XD ♥]

Kaien could only look at Rukia in surprise, as she apologized to him.

He sat down beside her on the bed, and hugged her.

"Rukia, it's okay - what you did..." he began, "It was what I wanted, if you didn't...then more people would have been hurt, so in the end, it's not your fault"

It was an ethereal feeling…the way his arms slid across her back and pulled her close to his body…they way his heart felt beating against her chest…

“Ka..Kaein,” she said in surprise, eyes going wide, body tempted to pull away from the comforting feeling around her, but stilled simply into immobility by the sound of his voice. Allowing her eyes to flutter closed, she tentatively slid her arms around his back, hugging him briefly before letting her hands drop to her sides, guilt gnawing away at her heart, a singular tear sliding down her left cheek. “No Kaien…It isn’t okay…And the fact that you’ve wound up here makes it worse…”

Breathing in a heavy sigh, she started to pull herself away from his embrace, eyes cast downwards as she hung limply in the air, shoulders hunched as she tried her best to keep her composure, “this city…even if we managed to get away, you could never leave…I did that to you…I did that to you Kaein.”

Here she lifted her eyes to face him, tears threatening to brim on her long ebony lashes, mouth a linear, coral painted line, countenance remaining as stoic as she could manage it.

As he hugged her, he felt Rukia hug him back slightly, before he noticed a single tear run down her cheek. He reached up, and brushed the tear away.

"Oy. Rukia...I told you it is okay," Kaien said reassuringly, "Even if I wound up in this place, at least I got to see everyone again"

He paused, as Rukia pulled away from him momentarily after,"And it doesn't really matter to me if I'm stuck here. You killing me...it was was what I wanted. You did me a favour by killing me and saved me, Rukia. I'm thankful for that. Besides, it's better of this way...in reality, I am not alive like the rest of you so it wouldn't be right for me to go"

It’s okay…It’s okay…You keep saying that ,Kaien…but its not…I don’t want to have to say goodbye to you again…I can’t say goodbye to you again…I just can’t…

Rukia did her best to smile despite the torrent of emotions that ripped through the foundations of her soul like a hammer of retribution, “Then at least I’m glad I did what you wanted, Kaein,” she said, unsure if the sentiment she had just uttered was genuinely heartfelt, sticking by it despite the inkling sensation she had it wasn’t.

Clearing her thoughts and shaking her head, she touched a tentative hand to his, “No…I won’t leave you behind. We’ll find a way together, alright?” Putting on that familiar euphoric mask, Rukia stood, hands clasped behind her back as she gazed her dark haired companion over, lips procuring a straight row of white teeth as her lips were parted in a smile, “So…let’s go look at your room.”

From looking at Rukia, Kaien could tell she still wasn't satisfied with him telling her it was okay, even if she said otherwise. He decided not to push the subject any further though.

"Of course, and you shouldn't think otherwise,"he said, turning to face her, as she suddenly placed her hand on top of his. As he heard Rukia say she wouldn't leave him behind, he let out a sigh

"Rukia...I--even if I do get to leave this place with you guys. I still won't be alive, like I am in this place, you know..."he said as he stood up alongside her, and the next thing he knew she had changed the subject on him

"My room,huh? I thought you wanted to talk to me about something...or was that all you wanted to say?" he laughed, "But we can check out the room first, I guess"

Rukia merely looked away, despondent, as Kaien once again tried explaining himself. It was pointless really, and although she held the man before her in higher regards than she would ever let on, there was nothing he could say or do to convince her that he didn’t belong with the rest of them.

Perhaps she was just being selfish.

It wasn’t enough that she had been given a chance to apologize like she’d so often dreamed of doing; no, she wanted to save him. To return the life that had been stolen from him. The life she took.

Clearing her head, she breathed in a sigh of relief as Kaien dropped the subject matter all together, smiling tentatively as she respondent in an assured voice, “That’s all I wanted to say for now,” she said, twirling on her heel, feet padding towards the room down the corridor, eyes briefly looking behind her to make sure Kaien was following, “and I hope you don’t mind…but I took the liberty of decorating a wall for you.”

And what a decoration it was. As the door swung open, the far side of the room revealed a drawing etched into the wall of Soul Societie’s infamous Chappy. The figure vaguely resembling a rabbit smiled cryptically, one tiny triangular hand holding a waving flag, the words ‘welcome home’ barely visible on the drawn fabric.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only