"...How does one talk to someone when they seem to be distant? Do you keep trying and hope that they'll eventually break down their barriers to tell you, or do you just try once and if they ignore you, just drop it? To tell the truth, most don't know really. They just go with what their gut tells them at the time and that's that. Nothing more, nothing less. Or what do you do when both want to talk, but neither know the words that should be said? In that conversation, it seems that no one can answer that question. It's either fly or fall when it comes to that time. It's even worse when it involves those that like each other. Why do we have to be so scared when it comes to these things?...It makes no sense...yet that is the way of life..."
July
SOUL SOCIETY
Cree's Perspective
"Ugh, is all the work done?" Virginia groans.
"It will be once you stop whining." Kayla says, putting one of her papers into the done file.
"Oh, come on!" Virginia whines, "We've been working on these papers for Mariya since eight this morning!"
"So?-" Bianca starts.
"It's almost six!" Virginia snaps.
"Virginia, you'll have to get over it." Cree says, "Besides, we're almost done anyway."
"I still think that this is dumb." Virginia grumbles as she finishes her last page, "Why can't Mariya do her own work?"
"Cause she's still recooperating at Squad 4." Bianca replies.
"Man, does it always take her this long to get better?" Virginia asks.
They fall silent for a moment.
"No...infact, she's usually at Squad 4 for a day at best after she wakes up." Cree replies, "This is the longest she's ever taken to get back to her usual self after being injured."
Virginia looks away.
"Really..." Virginia trails.
Kayla notices a hint of suspiscion in Virginia's tone.
"Virginia, something wrong?" she asks.
Virginia blinks, and looks at her.
"What?" Virginia asks.
"Is something on your mind?" Kayla asks.
Virginia shakes her head.
"Oh, no, it's nothing, really." she answers.
Kayla watches her for a few more moments, before she shrugs.
"Alright, but if something does come up, you tell alright?" Kayla replies.
Virginia nods.
"Can do."
Cree grins, and looks back at her paper, and sighs.
"Well, I'm done." Cree comments, "Who else is?"
"Me." Virginia replies.
"I only have two pages left." Kayla says.
"And I'm on my last." Bianca adds.
"Good, well, I'm gonna go ahead and head out alright?" Cree says as she stands.
Virginia and the others blink.
"Where are you going?" Bianca asks.
"Oh, no where special. I probably will end up going to go see Mariya or something." she answers.
"You know where you should go?" Kayla says.
"Where?" Cree asks.
"You should go to Rikuto's barraks." Kayla answers.
Cree turns beet red.
"W-Wha-" she stutters.
"Honey, did you really think we hadn't noticed you staring at him?" Virginia asks.
"You don't even know who Rikuto is-" Cree starts.
"Yes I do, Kayla introduced me to him a few days ago." Virginia interrupts, "And might I just say, he's quite a catch."
"Cree." Bianca starts.
Cree turns to look at her as Bianca keeps her eyes focused on her paper.
"I know it's not my place to comment on your love life, but I must agree with Virginia. Rikuto is a very attractive guy, and not to mention he's a heart broken one." Bianca says.
"Heart broken?" Virginia asks.
"Rikuto liked Mariya." Kayla says.
"You're kidding."
"Nope-" Kayla starts.
"Anyway," Bianca interrupts, "I think that out of any of us, you really would be the best match for him. I mean, from what I can tell from what I've seen of his personality, he seems to be your type. He's funny, compassionate, brave, kind hearted, and seems to follow the same morals."
"And where is this going?" Cree asks.
Finally, Bianca looks up at her.
"Go after him. Stop being out of character and shy around him, and maybe ask him out." Bianca finishes.
"A-Ask him out!?" Cree stutters.
Kayla sighs.
"Yes, ask him. You never know what he may say." Kayla says, pushing her out the door, "Now, go and find him."
"B-But guys!-" she starts.
She's cut off as they shut the door on her.
She huffs, and turns away, walking down the walkway alone. She crosses her arms in front of her, and sighs, looking up at the sky as she comes out from the underhang, the sunlight warm as it should be for the summer time it is here, unlike the cold it is back home, seeing as how it's about Februrary there.
...I love the warm weather, it just makes life seem a bit easier...
What Kayla and Bianca said return to her mind. She rubs her neck.
...I can't ask him out...He just got over Mariya, and wouldn't be right for me to rush into doing something like that. Besides, he probably doesn't even like me...I mean, he doesn't remember much of the fight with Isonade...He doesn't remember what I said, or anything....
A breeze blows past, causing her hair to go all around her face, blocking her sight, and snapping her back into reality.
"Oh, c'mon." she comments, as she tries to move the hair from out of her face.
Suddenly, as she turns a corner on the path, her foot finds itself behind a loose rock, causing her to trip.
"Ack!" Cree yells, her eyes wide as the concrete closes in.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she awaits impact.
"Cree!"
Without warning, she finds herself met with strong arms, breaking her fall as she holds tight to the familiar black fabric. She still squuezes her eyes shut, embarrased, for more then one reason as she recognizes the person's scent.
Rikuto.
"Cree, you ok?" he asks, sounding a bit concerned.
"O-Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Cree stutters, loosening her hold on him as she still tries to avoid eye contact with him.
"You sure?"
"Mhmm."
"Oh...ok."
Cree blinks as she hears the difference in his tone, looking up to see he's slightly red, maybe sick or something.
"Hey, are you ok?" Cree asks, "You're face is all red."
He blinks, seeming to turn redder as she pointed it out.
"I-I'm fine." he stutters.
"You seem to be burning up." Cree comments, putting her hand to his forehead, causing her to redden some herself, "But, you're not that warm-"
"Really, I'm ok." he interrupts, taking her hand from his forehead.
Her eyes widen some as she blushes a bit, secretly wanting him not to let go of her hand. Yet, he catches her stare, and quickly releases his hold, making her hopes fade.
"So..." Rikuto says before coughing, probably trying to move past the awkward moment.
"How's your injury?" Cree asks.
"Oh, good. Good. Lieutenant Kocamura has been checking it everyday, and I go to go see Captain Unohana about it tomorrow to see if I can finally get off the pain killers." he replies.
Cree blinks.
"You're still on pain killers?"
He nods.
"Yeah, but I don't really need them now."
"You don't heal as quick as the rest of those in our Squad do." Cree comments.
"Yeah, that's why I'm usually not on the front lines." Rikuto answers, "And it's also the reason I didn't want to fight that Bijuu, cause if I got hurt, you would of had to of defend for yourself."
Cree raises an eyebrow, now more comfortable with talking to him.
"I'm sure I could of handle myself." Cree says.
Rikuto chuckles.
"I know, but still, I would of worried." he replies.
She feels her cheeks heating up again as he grins, causing her to look away before he notices.
"But in the end I did get hurt, and you did kill the Bijuu, so I guess I'm indebted to you at this point." he continues.
The red in her face multiples.
"N-No! You don't owe me anything!" Cree says, taking him by surprise, "I wanted to protect you, so really you don't have a-anything to say you o-owe."
He blinks, some red also rising in his cheeks as he stares at her. After a minute, she turns away, and crosses her arms infront of her, and sighs.
"Remember that, alright?" she says.
She hears him chuckle after a moment, standing.
"Ok, I get it. I won't bring it up again." he replies.
She does her best to keep from turning around, not wanting to look desperate. Then, she decides it would be alright to at least turn around to say goodbye. Though, before she can, she senses him behind her.
"Huh-" she starts.
"Thanks for defending me, I knew you could do it the moment I was stabbed." he whispers into her ear, "At least let me do this."
Taken back, she does nothing as she feels his lips connect with her cheek, pulling away a few moments later before he disappears, flashstepping in the other direction so that Cree doesn't see how red he is. She remains standing still in shock, not knowing what to do.
Finally, she turns towards the direction he went.
"Rikuto..." she trails, before grinning, "Thank you..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toshiro's Perspective
"Yattamori?" Toshiro says, knocking on her door.
"Come in." she replies from the other side of the door, her voice seeming to be more livelier then it has been.
He grins, opening the door to her room to find Mariya slipping on her haori, Aneko tying the end of her hair together with a second ribbon which is now part of her new look. She looks over at him, and grins, seeming to be in a good mood.
"Hey Toshiro." she says.
"How are you feeling?" he asks.
"Better then I have been, I think some of my strength is finally starting to come back." she replies, doing a little fist pump.
He chuckles.
"I can see that." he comments.
"But it is true, Captain Unohana said that her readings and levels have stabilized again." Aneko says, "Now, she can return to her acting duties as Captain of our squad."
"That's good to hear." he says.
"Yeah, now I don't have to hang around these rooms anymore doing nothing, it was beginning to irritate me." Yattamori comments, "And we can get back to what we were doing before all this missing nonsense happened."
"You mean the Mahinahime Case?" Aneko asks.
Yattamori nods.
"Yep." she answers.
Toshiro blinks.
"You really want to get back into that so soon?" he asks, "I mean, it is this case that is making you a target. Don't you think you should at least wait til you're back to full strength so that we won't have to worry about if a Bijuu attack happens?"
She shakes her head.
"Of course not, I want to know what they are hiding." she replies, her stubbornness showing, "They must know something big about the Princess. I want to know what connects them to her. And I can't accomplish that by hiding."
He watches her for a moment, before he sighs.
"Well, your normal personality is definitely coming back." he comments, "Can you just promise to be careful?"
She blinks.
"Huh?"
"I don't want to worry about you getting hurt, I already almost froze myself because of what happened to you, I don't want to go through that again." Toshiro says, trying to keep his tone from leading her to thinking he means something else.
She watches him for a moment, wide eyed.
"You were really that worried about me?" she asks.
"Yes, I was, you are my best friend, of course I'm going to worry." he replies.
She doesn't reply for a minute, before she sighs as well, giving a grin.
"I promise to be careful." she answers.
He grins.
"Good, now come on, let's go find Cree and the others." he says, turning towards the door.
She nods.
"Alright," she answers, before looking back at Aneko, "I'll see you later Neko."
Aneko smiles, waving.
"Goodbye Captain." she replies.
With a smile, Yattamori turns and quickly follows after Toshiro down the hall, soon coming to walk beside him.
"You know Yattamori, your case is still open." Toshiro comments.
She blinks, looking over at him.
"Huh?" she asks.
"We're still investigating your kidnapping."
"But why? I'm here now." she answers.
"Because we want to find out where they were keeping you so that we may be able to find their headquarters." he explains, "But to do that, we need your help."
"M-My help?" she stutters as they walk out of the building.
He turns and looks at her, lifting an eyebrow.
"Yes, your help. You're the only one who knows where it is. Once you tell us, we'll be able to start planning for an attack on the Bijuu." Toshiro says, "Is there something wrong with that?"
She shakes her head.
"N-No, of course not..." she trails.
He stops, taking her by surprise.
"Toshiro?-" she starts.
"Mariya, what's wrong?" he asks.
She blinks.
"What do you mean?"
"Why does it seem that whenever I bring up the question of where you were held that you seem to...I don't know...become nervous?"
Her eyes widen.
"Nervous? I'm not nervous-" she starts.
"Then why won't you tell me?" he interrupts.
She doesn't respond for a minute, trying to think of a good answer, but failing to do so.
"I-I...I don't know..." she trails, "I guess my head is still trying to straighten everything out."
He doesn't respond, just watching her.
"And besides that, I can't even remember what I saw for the most part, I was barely half-conscious and I was only able to escape cause of adrenaline." she continues, "Believe me when I say that I would tell you if I could, but at this point...everything is just...a big, fuzzy blur to me."
The tone in her voice begins to win him over, little by little beginning to convince him that she really doesn't remember what or where she was kept.
Again, he sighs.
"Alright, I won't ask about it for a while, ok?" he says.
She nods.
"I'm sorry." she replies.
"Don't apologize, this isn't your fault." he answers, before walking on again, "C'mon."
As he walks on, she watches him, her concerned frown slowly changing to a grin, a chuckle escaping her lips.
"I really am sorry Toshiro..."
July
SOUL SOCIETY
Cree's Perspective
"Ugh, is all the work done?" Virginia groans.
"It will be once you stop whining." Kayla says, putting one of her papers into the done file.
"Oh, come on!" Virginia whines, "We've been working on these papers for Mariya since eight this morning!"
"So?-" Bianca starts.
"It's almost six!" Virginia snaps.
"Virginia, you'll have to get over it." Cree says, "Besides, we're almost done anyway."
"I still think that this is dumb." Virginia grumbles as she finishes her last page, "Why can't Mariya do her own work?"
"Cause she's still recooperating at Squad 4." Bianca replies.
"Man, does it always take her this long to get better?" Virginia asks.
They fall silent for a moment.
"No...infact, she's usually at Squad 4 for a day at best after she wakes up." Cree replies, "This is the longest she's ever taken to get back to her usual self after being injured."
Virginia looks away.
"Really..." Virginia trails.
Kayla notices a hint of suspiscion in Virginia's tone.
"Virginia, something wrong?" she asks.
Virginia blinks, and looks at her.
"What?" Virginia asks.
"Is something on your mind?" Kayla asks.
Virginia shakes her head.
"Oh, no, it's nothing, really." she answers.
Kayla watches her for a few more moments, before she shrugs.
"Alright, but if something does come up, you tell alright?" Kayla replies.
Virginia nods.
"Can do."
Cree grins, and looks back at her paper, and sighs.
"Well, I'm done." Cree comments, "Who else is?"
"Me." Virginia replies.
"I only have two pages left." Kayla says.
"And I'm on my last." Bianca adds.
"Good, well, I'm gonna go ahead and head out alright?" Cree says as she stands.
Virginia and the others blink.
"Where are you going?" Bianca asks.
"Oh, no where special. I probably will end up going to go see Mariya or something." she answers.
"You know where you should go?" Kayla says.
"Where?" Cree asks.
"You should go to Rikuto's barraks." Kayla answers.
Cree turns beet red.
"W-Wha-" she stutters.
"Honey, did you really think we hadn't noticed you staring at him?" Virginia asks.
"You don't even know who Rikuto is-" Cree starts.
"Yes I do, Kayla introduced me to him a few days ago." Virginia interrupts, "And might I just say, he's quite a catch."
"Cree." Bianca starts.
Cree turns to look at her as Bianca keeps her eyes focused on her paper.
"I know it's not my place to comment on your love life, but I must agree with Virginia. Rikuto is a very attractive guy, and not to mention he's a heart broken one." Bianca says.
"Heart broken?" Virginia asks.
"Rikuto liked Mariya." Kayla says.
"You're kidding."
"Nope-" Kayla starts.
"Anyway," Bianca interrupts, "I think that out of any of us, you really would be the best match for him. I mean, from what I can tell from what I've seen of his personality, he seems to be your type. He's funny, compassionate, brave, kind hearted, and seems to follow the same morals."
"And where is this going?" Cree asks.
Finally, Bianca looks up at her.
"Go after him. Stop being out of character and shy around him, and maybe ask him out." Bianca finishes.
"A-Ask him out!?" Cree stutters.
Kayla sighs.
"Yes, ask him. You never know what he may say." Kayla says, pushing her out the door, "Now, go and find him."
"B-But guys!-" she starts.
She's cut off as they shut the door on her.
She huffs, and turns away, walking down the walkway alone. She crosses her arms in front of her, and sighs, looking up at the sky as she comes out from the underhang, the sunlight warm as it should be for the summer time it is here, unlike the cold it is back home, seeing as how it's about Februrary there.
...I love the warm weather, it just makes life seem a bit easier...
What Kayla and Bianca said return to her mind. She rubs her neck.
...I can't ask him out...He just got over Mariya, and wouldn't be right for me to rush into doing something like that. Besides, he probably doesn't even like me...I mean, he doesn't remember much of the fight with Isonade...He doesn't remember what I said, or anything....
A breeze blows past, causing her hair to go all around her face, blocking her sight, and snapping her back into reality.
"Oh, c'mon." she comments, as she tries to move the hair from out of her face.
Suddenly, as she turns a corner on the path, her foot finds itself behind a loose rock, causing her to trip.
"Ack!" Cree yells, her eyes wide as the concrete closes in.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she awaits impact.
"Cree!"
Without warning, she finds herself met with strong arms, breaking her fall as she holds tight to the familiar black fabric. She still squuezes her eyes shut, embarrased, for more then one reason as she recognizes the person's scent.
Rikuto.
"Cree, you ok?" he asks, sounding a bit concerned.
"O-Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Cree stutters, loosening her hold on him as she still tries to avoid eye contact with him.
"You sure?"
"Mhmm."
"Oh...ok."
Cree blinks as she hears the difference in his tone, looking up to see he's slightly red, maybe sick or something.
"Hey, are you ok?" Cree asks, "You're face is all red."
He blinks, seeming to turn redder as she pointed it out.
"I-I'm fine." he stutters.
"You seem to be burning up." Cree comments, putting her hand to his forehead, causing her to redden some herself, "But, you're not that warm-"
"Really, I'm ok." he interrupts, taking her hand from his forehead.
Her eyes widen some as she blushes a bit, secretly wanting him not to let go of her hand. Yet, he catches her stare, and quickly releases his hold, making her hopes fade.
"So..." Rikuto says before coughing, probably trying to move past the awkward moment.
"How's your injury?" Cree asks.
"Oh, good. Good. Lieutenant Kocamura has been checking it everyday, and I go to go see Captain Unohana about it tomorrow to see if I can finally get off the pain killers." he replies.
Cree blinks.
"You're still on pain killers?"
He nods.
"Yeah, but I don't really need them now."
"You don't heal as quick as the rest of those in our Squad do." Cree comments.
"Yeah, that's why I'm usually not on the front lines." Rikuto answers, "And it's also the reason I didn't want to fight that Bijuu, cause if I got hurt, you would of had to of defend for yourself."
Cree raises an eyebrow, now more comfortable with talking to him.
"I'm sure I could of handle myself." Cree says.
Rikuto chuckles.
"I know, but still, I would of worried." he replies.
She feels her cheeks heating up again as he grins, causing her to look away before he notices.
"But in the end I did get hurt, and you did kill the Bijuu, so I guess I'm indebted to you at this point." he continues.
The red in her face multiples.
"N-No! You don't owe me anything!" Cree says, taking him by surprise, "I wanted to protect you, so really you don't have a-anything to say you o-owe."
He blinks, some red also rising in his cheeks as he stares at her. After a minute, she turns away, and crosses her arms infront of her, and sighs.
"Remember that, alright?" she says.
She hears him chuckle after a moment, standing.
"Ok, I get it. I won't bring it up again." he replies.
She does her best to keep from turning around, not wanting to look desperate. Then, she decides it would be alright to at least turn around to say goodbye. Though, before she can, she senses him behind her.
"Huh-" she starts.
"Thanks for defending me, I knew you could do it the moment I was stabbed." he whispers into her ear, "At least let me do this."
Taken back, she does nothing as she feels his lips connect with her cheek, pulling away a few moments later before he disappears, flashstepping in the other direction so that Cree doesn't see how red he is. She remains standing still in shock, not knowing what to do.
Finally, she turns towards the direction he went.
"Rikuto..." she trails, before grinning, "Thank you..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toshiro's Perspective
"Yattamori?" Toshiro says, knocking on her door.
"Come in." she replies from the other side of the door, her voice seeming to be more livelier then it has been.
He grins, opening the door to her room to find Mariya slipping on her haori, Aneko tying the end of her hair together with a second ribbon which is now part of her new look. She looks over at him, and grins, seeming to be in a good mood.
"Hey Toshiro." she says.
"How are you feeling?" he asks.
"Better then I have been, I think some of my strength is finally starting to come back." she replies, doing a little fist pump.
He chuckles.
"I can see that." he comments.
"But it is true, Captain Unohana said that her readings and levels have stabilized again." Aneko says, "Now, she can return to her acting duties as Captain of our squad."
"That's good to hear." he says.
"Yeah, now I don't have to hang around these rooms anymore doing nothing, it was beginning to irritate me." Yattamori comments, "And we can get back to what we were doing before all this missing nonsense happened."
"You mean the Mahinahime Case?" Aneko asks.
Yattamori nods.
"Yep." she answers.
Toshiro blinks.
"You really want to get back into that so soon?" he asks, "I mean, it is this case that is making you a target. Don't you think you should at least wait til you're back to full strength so that we won't have to worry about if a Bijuu attack happens?"
She shakes her head.
"Of course not, I want to know what they are hiding." she replies, her stubbornness showing, "They must know something big about the Princess. I want to know what connects them to her. And I can't accomplish that by hiding."
He watches her for a moment, before he sighs.
"Well, your normal personality is definitely coming back." he comments, "Can you just promise to be careful?"
She blinks.
"Huh?"
"I don't want to worry about you getting hurt, I already almost froze myself because of what happened to you, I don't want to go through that again." Toshiro says, trying to keep his tone from leading her to thinking he means something else.
She watches him for a moment, wide eyed.
"You were really that worried about me?" she asks.
"Yes, I was, you are my best friend, of course I'm going to worry." he replies.
She doesn't reply for a minute, before she sighs as well, giving a grin.
"I promise to be careful." she answers.
He grins.
"Good, now come on, let's go find Cree and the others." he says, turning towards the door.
She nods.
"Alright," she answers, before looking back at Aneko, "I'll see you later Neko."
Aneko smiles, waving.
"Goodbye Captain." she replies.
With a smile, Yattamori turns and quickly follows after Toshiro down the hall, soon coming to walk beside him.
"You know Yattamori, your case is still open." Toshiro comments.
She blinks, looking over at him.
"Huh?" she asks.
"We're still investigating your kidnapping."
"But why? I'm here now." she answers.
"Because we want to find out where they were keeping you so that we may be able to find their headquarters." he explains, "But to do that, we need your help."
"M-My help?" she stutters as they walk out of the building.
He turns and looks at her, lifting an eyebrow.
"Yes, your help. You're the only one who knows where it is. Once you tell us, we'll be able to start planning for an attack on the Bijuu." Toshiro says, "Is there something wrong with that?"
She shakes her head.
"N-No, of course not..." she trails.
He stops, taking her by surprise.
"Toshiro?-" she starts.
"Mariya, what's wrong?" he asks.
She blinks.
"What do you mean?"
"Why does it seem that whenever I bring up the question of where you were held that you seem to...I don't know...become nervous?"
Her eyes widen.
"Nervous? I'm not nervous-" she starts.
"Then why won't you tell me?" he interrupts.
She doesn't respond for a minute, trying to think of a good answer, but failing to do so.
"I-I...I don't know..." she trails, "I guess my head is still trying to straighten everything out."
He doesn't respond, just watching her.
"And besides that, I can't even remember what I saw for the most part, I was barely half-conscious and I was only able to escape cause of adrenaline." she continues, "Believe me when I say that I would tell you if I could, but at this point...everything is just...a big, fuzzy blur to me."
The tone in her voice begins to win him over, little by little beginning to convince him that she really doesn't remember what or where she was kept.
Again, he sighs.
"Alright, I won't ask about it for a while, ok?" he says.
She nods.
"I'm sorry." she replies.
"Don't apologize, this isn't your fault." he answers, before walking on again, "C'mon."
As he walks on, she watches him, her concerned frown slowly changing to a grin, a chuckle escaping her lips.
"I really am sorry Toshiro..."
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