damned_institute | Day 27: Library

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Day 27: Library

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be. Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information. Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet? They'd all been fairly close together when they'd left Rekord, but he hadn't seen a trace of any of them. He was able to communicate easily with the people here though, which led him to believe Mokona was within a mile or so. Unless the ones running this little game had some other way to let all these other-worldly people communicate amongst themselves. In which case, the others could be very far away indeed.

The library had that wonderful smell of old books, and Fai traced his fingers along the shelves, skimming titles and pulling books that struck his fancy. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The War of the Worlds, and with a smile, he found Bram Stoker's Dracula as well. Raven had been telling the truth then, in spite of his own lies. Ought to be a good start. He sat leisurely at one of the tables and began flipping through his selections.

[waiting for Tamaki~]

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Rukia's mind felt blank, as goosebumps prickled along her arms. Why was she so terrified of Ichimaru?? Why did his blank smile make her feel like something was crawling under her skin? Ever since the first time she had seen him, speaking with her brother, she had felt that way.

She wouldn't run, though. She wouldn't let him see how much he scared her. Slowly, as though her legs were operating without the consent of her mind, she walked forward, and sat stiffly in the offered chair. She didn't yet trust her voice, though; she couldn't think of anything to say, anyway.

Homura raised an eyebrow as Rukia approached, unable to help thinking that she might just break if Homura were to touch her right now. If the girl was trying to hide her apprehension, she was failing miserably. "I take it you both know each other. My name is Homura, miss. I'll answer your questions in a moment. But first..."

Turning to Gin, he pulled out a set of the maps from his waistband. "They're a bit colorful. I think the person who copied them for me was rather bored before lunch." Offering the sheets of paper, he grinned, then addressed Rukia again.

"You wanted to know about my past, and why I despise the Heavens, correct?"

Kuchiki sat, though hesitantly. It really wasn't his fault. Was he supposed to bolt like a scared little girl any time she came near just to appease her attack dog? She was a big girl, she could make decisions on her own. "We've met."

Gin took the maps and tucked them away, glancing over the colorful paints briefly. "S'alright."

As for the last part... It was difficult to decide. If he stayed to listen, he could potentially find out some vital information about Homura. But right now he did have everything he needed from the man, so he could just pick up and leave. 'Talk fast,' he wanted to say, but didn't. The question had been directed at Rukia anyway, not him.

Rukia looked at the maps Homura handed over, while carefully avoiding looking at Ichimaru himself. She wondered why Ichimaru had come to Homura for maps; did he have more areas filled out than the Arts & Crafts people? She didn't remember their maps well enough to compare them to this one, though, especially with such a brief glimpse.

She looked up at Homura, trying hard not to look like she wanted to crawl under the table and hide. "I... yes," she said hesitantly, "I was curious."

Homura had silently given Gin the choice to walk away, and that was enough to satisfy the demi-god. The information he would share with Rukia would be given freely, but it would serve a purpose in both cases.

Especially if he was right in what he had pieced together that day.

"There are beings born with golden eyes, considered heresies in Heaven. Forbidden creatures, said to bring misfortune, they are feared by the gods for their power and their strength. So the gods try to assert their superiority by imprisoning them, condemning them for their mere existence."

He looked slowly from one to the other, studying their reactions and their interest, particularly Rukia's with his golden right eye. "I am one of those creatures hated by the Heavens. My mother was a god, and my father human. Because the rules of Heaven dictate that gods cannot murder any creature, they used more underhanded ways to try and make me die. I was imprisoned for the first years of my life, then released in hopes that the overwhelming agony of living without purpose might make me die faster. Then in the end, I was bestowed the title of Toushin Taishi, the War Prince, destined to die in battle for the glory of the gods."

He grinned, his pride obvious as he thought over those long years, five hundred worth of battle and bloodshed. "But I didn't die. Instead I rebelled against the Heavens."

He turned his eyes slowly, the blue one that marked his divine blood meeting Gin's gaze. "I tried to destroy them, and to replace them with a more honest paradise."

The question still remained, why was Homura telling him all of this? He wanted Gin to know, obviously enough. Was it to draw him out? Get him to give details of his own betrayal of the "heavens?" Besides, if that was what he wanted, he still had questions left to ask. Maybe it would do Kuchiki some good to see that others systems were corrupt. Just like her precious Soul Society. They'd tried to kill her and still she stood with them? It seemed more and more apparent that the shinigami were fools, who had trouble seeing much of anything that wasn't right before their eyes.

"Didn't work out too well then, ne?" Gin supplied. If Homura had only tried then it was just as likely that he'd failed in his grand scheme.

Rukia listened to Homura's story with a growing sense of dread. Somehow, she knew where it was going, and Ichimaru's presence didn't make her feel any more comfortable. She looked down at the table, shoulders hunched, when Homura had finished speaking.

His words - both on the bulletin board, and now - forced her to think about some things she had been purposely avoiding. It had always bothered her that the inhabitants of Seireitei lived so much better than the people out in Rukongai. She and Renji had lost their closest friends to the harshness of the 78th District, and become Shinigami to escape it. In her years in the Academy, and later as a Shinigami, Rukia had always been busy with studying, training, and missions. Had there been any time to think about the people in Rukongai? It had always been in the back of her mind, but had pushed it away. She and Renji were safe, now, and they couldn't help their friends who had already perished.

That had been good enough for her. And now she felt like a terrible person for having been so selfish.

But the question still remained: had the traitors any real intentions of making things better for all the souls of the dead? Or were they just out to grab more power for themselves? Rukia didn't have the nerve to ask ichimaru outright, and she knew she wouldn't get a straight answer from the man anyway.

Instead, she asked Homura, "What would your paradise be like, then?"

"Not for the purpose of creating a new universe, no." The end of Homura's efforts, the end of his life might seem a failure, but to those who had followed him and even to those who had followed him, it was far from the truth. "Unfortunately, mortals aren't dissuaded very easily. They don't remember it, but the ones who stopped my efforts, and the boy who killed me are both here."

There was no regret in Homura's voice, and no shame, even as he spoke of the apparent loss. He had found the opportunity to live as he wanted, by his own choice, fighting for his own cause. That satisfied him, in the end.

Then Rukia asked her question, and Homura couldn't quite help a gentler smile. What would his paradise be like indeed. "There was a woman in Heaven. One of the few gods who could see past labels such as 'heresy'. She was innocent and kind, and very...vibrant."

Rinrei, the one who showed Homura that even he could have a purpose. The woman he had loved, still clearly did, despite the passing of five centuries.

"It would be deserving of her."

So even Homura had enemies here. Interesting. And to be killed by a boy? Gin supposed it was no worse than the child ryoka that had waltzed in and defeated vice captains and even some of the captain level shinigami in Soul Society. Then again, the boy had Kisuke helping him.

Kuchiki's question was a little strange though. He hadn't expected that of her. And Homura's reply... something about it hit just a little bit too close to home. Deserving of her...

Gin forced himself to push the thought aside. It was attachments like those that made a man question, second-guess himself, doubt.

He was content to listen to the two speak for now. It helped distract him, somewhat.

Rukia's gaze strayed to edge of the table, just in front of Ichimaru, but she looked back to Homuraquickly. After a moment, she asked, "Why did they want to stop you?" she asked, feeling like she was picking at an open sore.

A soft, sad smile touched her lips, though, when Homura talked of the woman. Anyone could tell by the change in his expression and voice that he loved her. By his use of the past-tense, Rukia was pretty sure that she wasn't alive anymore. Or perhaps Homura just hadn't seen her in a very long time? Rukia hoped it was the latter, but she suspected the former.

"So," she began, choosing her worlds carefully, "you tried to create a new Heaven for her?" She didn't quite think that was the reason, but it had to be close.

"Why indeed." Homura laughed as he thought about it, remembering the passion the four had been famous for in Heaven, only burning brighter in mortal flesh. Homura had told himself he was doing it for all of them as well, every god and heresy victimized by Heaven, and yet they stood against him without hesitation. "Perhaps they only wanted to take back what was theirs. Or perhaps it was as simple as they didn't want to die by anyone's will but their own."

His eyes grew distant as he thought of those times, and his voice dropped nearly to a whisper. "Muichimotsu...right Konzen?"

The gods he admired, and the god he loved. Homura had only hoped to be like them in the end, and in his heart, he felt as if he succeeded. "For her, and for the others that had be persecuted unfairly by the Heavens. But, yes." Homura's focus returned. "When I first stepped through the doors of that new paradise, my thoughts were only of her."

As exciting as it was to listen to Homura prattle on about his past, whispering half-mad references to people who weren't there, and reveling in his own martyr, Gin thought he'd heard about enough of what could be considered useful. It'd given him a few things he hadn't known and he now had his maps, regardless of what the Arts and Crafts group might or might not give him. Ran trusted them, but he was still wary about diving headfirst into a group of people who, for the most part, despised him.

Then he caught sight of another familiar face. His own face, however, remained the same, smiling quietly as Homura told his story. He gave no indication that anything had changed.

So the older Kuchiki was here too? How wonderful. Even in Landel's absurd uniform he still retained that same disgustingly regal grace that could only come of those born into privelidge. Luckily, he was too busy pestering his vice captain to be bothered with his own family. Seemed nothing hand changed in that regard.

It was likely about time for Gin to make himself scarce. He was outnumbered, diminished his reiatsu, and didn't need any more excitement for one day. He'd get enough of it in the evening.

"All very touchin'," Gin smiled easily as he rose from his seat. "But I think I might best be goin'. Got a couple other people t'see n' all, 'fore the day's out." A lie, but there were always new people coming in, it paid to keep up with them. He gave a short waved as he walked away. "Be seein' ya," he said, to neither of them in particular.

Rukia listened intently to Homura, wondering what exactly he meant by muichimotsu. "Hold nothing?" she asked gently, "You couldn't hold on to her?" So Homura had tried to remake the Heavens for the woman he loved. Rukia found it very romantic, but she had to wonder what his methods had been.

"How did you--" she started to ask, but then Ichimaru stood, reminding Rukia of his presence. She tried not to look at him like he might throw a snake at her at any moment, but visibly relaxed when he moved away.

Then Rukia heard a strange sound. She was pretty sure it was Renji's voice, but it sounded kind of like he was choking. Spinning in her seat, she spotted him dipping into a very low bow, with Kairi and Sora nearby. And there was another man there... He looked like her brother, a LOT like her brother, but... He was wearing the same silly grey clothes that everyone else was, and where was his scarf, and, and...

But it was her brother, she Rukia just couldn't understand how he, of all people, could be here. It just... didn't make any sense.

Homura watched as Gin left, wondering exactly what had set the man off. He doubted it was simply because of the story, but it was hard to tell, as the man was incredibly good at covering his tracks.

Then Rukia became distracted, stopping a question midway. Thankfully, the girl wasn't nearly as subtle, and it was easy to pick out which of the group she was staring at.

"Someone you know?" It was questionable whether the girl would hear him, but it was obvious that the conversation was reaching an abrupt end. Grinning, he gave the girl an out; she'd likely embarrassed herself enough that day. "We can talk more another time, if you'd like."

Rukia blinked, looking back at Homura. "I... Yes. He's my brother," she said slowly, as if she couldn't believe her own words.

Standing, she faced Homura, offering a quick bow. "Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I don't remember if I introduced myself, but my name is Kuchiki Rukia. Rukia is fine." She looked to where Renji and her Byakuya were, then to Homura again. "I, it was nice talking to you. I hope we can speak again," she finished.

Another small bow, and Rukia turned to head cautiously toward the others.

[Going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/212694.html?thread=15265494#t15265494).]

[sneaking off to the Sun Room~ (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/212466.html)]

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Day 27: Library

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