damned_institute | Nightshift 30: F1-F10 Hallway.

Entry tags:

Nightshift 30: F1-F10 Hallway.

[ inside f7]

“What?” Kairi had been in the middle of getting off of the bed when she heard the announcement the head doctor made, surprise overtaking her face. Hadn’t the man on the radio been well known? Hadn’t he helped all kinds of people?

Her look of shock slowly turned into a sad frown as she moved across the room, not saying a word other than the “what?” she had muttered before. This place was so horrible –

Moving to her dresser, Kairi pulled open the doors in hope of perhaps finding another flashlight. What she found instead was something much better (in her opinion, anyway) and much more useful!

“Oh!” she exclaimed happily as she pulled the pink dress out of the wardrobe, a grin crossing her lips. It had been such a long time since she had seen the pink dress she usually wore, and to see it now just randomly sitting inside the large wardrobe was a pleasant surprise! Before she could really even think, she slowly began to change into the outfit, pausing once she was done to look down.

She looked like herself again! (Minus the bandages, anyway)

Pumping her fists, Kairi did a quick hair flip and let out a happy giggle.

Now all there was to do was wait for Axel.

After a few moments of waiting, Kairi decided that perhaps it would be better to wait in the hall. After all, nothing would happen ... and if something suspicious came, she'd just run back into the room.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ururu didn't need to be told twice, quickly stepping out of the hall into the safety of her room. She raised her arm to wipe her eyes, then stopped when she saw that it was the one marked like the ghost.

Marked with their sins, and all their pain.

Ururu didn't want to touch the skin, afraid of what would happened. So she switched hands, swallowing hard to try and finally force the lump out of her throat. It didn't work though.

"Th-there was a ghost." The small girl's voice hitched as she tried to speak, but Ururu had to warn Rukia. She had to warn everyone she cared about, so no one would get hurt again. "I couldn't hit it. I tried, but my arm went through. And n-now it hurts."

It. Everything. It all hurt so much, Ururu didn't know if she could bear it.

"I'm sorry."

"When did this happen?" she asked, feeling very guilty for asking Ururu to come to her room. "Just now? Well, come on and sit down on the bed anyway."

Stretching out one arm, Rukia set her katana on the desk, then grabbed the back of her desk chair for balance. Hopping a couple steps toward the bed, she waved her hand at Ururu, indicating that the girl should follow. Rukia hopped some more and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. She patted her hand on the mattress next to her.

Ururu saw what a hard time Rukia was having, and moved to help the shinigami inspite of her own agonies. It was such a fundamental part of her that even as she sniffled, the girl wanted to do something.

But Rukia made it on her own, leaving Ururu to climb up beside her. "Last night." The girl folded her hands in her lap, looking down quietly at them. "With Rangiku-san and Ichimaru-san. The ghost was after Rangiku-san, so I tried to stop her."

But she hadn't. Ururu had tried, and it'd done no good at all. And worse, Rangiku was hurting too because of it. Because Ururu messed up.

The thought made the girl cringe.

NOw that they were both sitting, Rukia took a closer look at Ururu. There were dark marks on her... tattoos! Which reminded her of one of the descriptions she had copied down from the bulletin board. A ghostly woman whose touch was painful. And there had been something about the tattoos lasting for a couple nights; at least Ururu hopefully wouldn't be in pain after tonight.

"You were very brave to try and protect Vice Captain Matsumoto," she said, patting Ururu gently on the shoulder. If both Ururu and Vice Captain Matsumoto had been hurt... What about Ichimaru? It would be just like him to stay out of the way while others were hurt.

"Is it just your hand, or are you hurt anywhere else?"

Ururu shook her head slowly. She didn't feel very brave, or that'd she'd done well at all. "It didn't work." Her words soft, Ururu ducked her head lower as she admitted her failure. "I...I tried. But it got her anyway. I couldn't stop it...and..."

Messing up. Of all the things Ururu hated, that was the worst. She felt so bad, even worse than when she read the box wrong back at home.

She hadn't been able to help crying then either.

"I couldn't help." Her sin in so many ways, that she couldn't stop the ghost, couldn't stop what'd she seen in her memories. The things that Ururu had seen when she was touched haunted her, and she couldn't keep it in anymore. So much had gone wrong! "Rangiku-san was hurt. And Kaname-san...Kisuke-san. He was bleeding!"

Rukia moved her hand to Ururu's other shoulder, gently pulling the girl to her. "Now, don't feel guilty, Ururu," she said, "You tried, and that's what matters." At least, that's what Captain Ukitake had always told Rukia.

She was confused by what Ururu said next; Urahara was gone. Could they have come across one of those mimics? "...Urahara?" she said uncertainly. "You saw him last night?"

Ururu had tried, but it hadn't worked. Maybe it was what really mattered, but when people got hurt, how could she settle for that? She wanted to help everyone. Wanted to so bad--she let herself be nailed to the ground, spikes pounded in, over and over, holding her--and she hadn't been able to do anything at all. Even as Rukia pulled her close, Ururu hugged herself, cradled her marked arm protectively against her chest.

"I remember it." Ururu nodded, but it wasn't quite true. "I didn't see him, but I remember. He was bleeding. He came to save me, and someone hurt him. S-Someone..."

So much blood. Kisuke-san holding her hand. Too much blood. The warmth of his touch. His eyes glazing over.

Ururu couldn't say it. She couldn't, she wouldn't. Saying it made it real. So she just sobbed instead.

What was she talking about? It didn't make any sense, what she was saying! Rukia could only assume that the pain, or some other effect of the ghost's touch, was causing Ururu to hallucinate.

Rukia held Ururu close, smoothing her hair with one hand. "Shhh, it's okay," she murmured, "No one has hurt Urahara. I promise you. If you did see someone who looked like him, it was only a monster who was disguised as him." Poor girl must have seen something awful; it was probably best just to let her cry it out.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/302754.html?thread=24619426#t24619426)]

Despite her hurry, she was still a little bit late. The door was already slightly ajar but Orihime tapped it lightly before letting herself in. She'd heard the sobbing but she didn't want to startle either of them too badly.

She moved towards them without a second's hesitation and kneeled behind Ururu to reach her more easily. She wrapped her arms around the girl from behind, her hands coming to rest near Rukia's shoulders.

"What is it?" She asked gently, directing the question at both of them. She had a good idea already.

Ururu was having a hard time finding the right words. Between the memories and the tears, it was hard to talk, and harder to want to. But she felt the added warmth of Orihime's embrace, and the part of Ururu that hated making people worry began to spark.

She couldn't stay sad. Staying sad wasn't going to help anyone at all.

So Ururu swallowed hard against her tears, though she didn't try to wriggle free of either embrace just yet. With how lonely she felt, how guilty she felt, there was something wonderful to be found in the arms surrounding her now.

"I-I didn't see him." Ururu lifted her head, just enough to be able to look up at Rukia. "I remembered it. I remembered a lot of things...when the ghost t-touched me."

Brows knitted together, Rukia looked at Orihime over Ururu's head. "She ran into a ghost-like creature last night," she explained. "It... I don't know exactly what the creature's touch did, but it's painful. In more than the physical sense."

Rukia nodded, still stroking Ururu's hair. "You remembered Urahara getting hurt?" she asked tentatively. Somehow she couldn't imagine the sneaky shopkeeper allowing himself to be wounded, but Ururu had apparently seen him injured once.

Orihime nodded, swallowed. "I should be able to heal the physical wound..." But she didn't know about the important ones, the ones that were really causing Ururu so much pain. Maybe the little bit would help. "Is there one?" She asked uncertainly.

She moved one of her hands to stroke Ururu's hair. Each one of those sobs tore out a little piece of her.

Ururu nodded quickly. Oh, she remembered that too well, could see it clearly when she closed her eyes. Kisuke-san bleeding, because Ururu couldn't help. "I remembered lots of things." The girl sniffled, the effort of talking making her tears lessen, if only a little. "L-like being nailed to the ground. To try and help."

But it was strange, because Ururu hadn't remembered any of that before. It seemed like something she wouldn't forget. It was so real now. So clear.

When Orihime mentioned healing, Ururu pulled away from Rukia, just enough to show the mark on her arm. "Just this. It hurts." And indeed it did, a cold so cold it burned. But as much as it did hurt, Ururu's pain wasn't the only one felt in the room.

"Rukia-san is hurt too. She was limping before."

Rukia looked alarmed. Had that really happened to Ururu?? It seemed too awful a thing to do to such a gentle girl, but if she was remembering it... Unless it was some effect of the ghost's touch? It was very confusing, and Rukia felt like she just couldn't make sense of the situation.

She shook her head at Ururu's concern, looking to Orihime. "Worry about her first. I can use a little kidou to heal myself." She knew it wouldn't grow the toes back, but she could at least jump-start the healing process in her foot and knee.

Orihime nodded. She'd almost forgotten about Rukia's own abilities and what Ururu had gone through sounded horrible. She moved away a little and supported Ururu's arm gently with one of her own. The gesture was more for comfort than anything. Her ShunShunRikka went to work right away.

It was more difficult than she expected it to be. She should be able to get rid of it entirely but.. "There's something really off about that mark." She said, her brows knitting. It wasn't quite like foreign spiritual pressure but there wasn't anything else for her to compare it to. "Don't worry Ururu-chan. It'll stop hurting soon."

Ururu nodded, though in reality, the girl felt like she couldn't do anything but worry right now. About Kisuke-san and herself, and everyone else around her. And now Orihime was trying to heal her, except Ururu knew how much it drained the older girl to heal here.

It was a lot to worry about, and it all kept cycling through her mind.

"Pl-please be careful, Orihime-san." Ururu didn't want the older girl to pass out like she had before, especially not healing her. She'd already done so much wrong, it'd only make everything seem worse.

But strangely enough, as the mark began to fade, Ururu herself began to feel a little better. Not just her arm, but somehow everything seemed less dark than it had before. It didn't make sense, but the little girl was glad for it.

Especially because she could finally stop crying.

Rukia watched in silence as Orihime used her strange ability to make the tattoo on Ururu's arm go away. Even though she had seen Orihime heal people before, it still amazed her; it was like nothing the shinigami could do. No wonder Aizen had taken such an interest in the young woman.

Looking up from Ururu's arm, which looked good as new, Rukia watched Orihime's face. If her friend started to faint, she would try to catch her.

Just a little more...a little more...done. "Feeling any better, Ururu-chan?"

Orihime swayed a little, managing to keep upright by sheer force of will. She wasn't going to faint but that healing had exhausted her more than the ones she'd done before, like whatever had gotten a hold of Ururu had been pushing back against her. She didn't think she had much more in her for the night.

She offered Rukia a reassuring smile. She wasn't going to faint. Fainting was not an option.

Ururu nodded slightly when the light of Orihime's power faded, leaving perfectly unmarked skin behind. But she wasn't so concerned about how she was feeling as she was about how Orihime was feeling. She didn't miss how the older girl swayed, almost like the night before.

"Maybe you should lie down for a minute, Orihime-san." Ururu was willing to move to make room, and even help Orihime rest. She looked up at Rukia, knowing the Shinigami would agree. "Thank you for helping me. I feel better now."

"Yes," Rukia agreed, "You should lie down." She reached around Ururu, to touch Orihime's arm. "Rest a while, and don't worry about holding us up. I won't be going anywhere in a hurry." She smiled crookedly, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's good." Orihime pulled the sleeve of her shirt over her hand and gently patted the tears away from Ururu's cheeks. "It's ok to worry about yourself a little bit. No more tears?"

"I've never been better," She insisted. She still moved to lean against the side of the bed, letting her eyes drift shut for a moment. With something to support her, it was a lot easier to say things like that. "I just need to catch my breath. Just don't go anywhere alone, ok?"

After a short rest she would be fine.

Ururu nodded slightly, and this time, she felt more sure about doing it. For some reason, even though she could still remember everything, the mark going away made some of her pain go away too. It was weird, and Ururu didn't really want to think about it.

She just had to be more careful when it came to ghosts. And to make sure no one else got hurt by them.

When Orihime moved to rest, Ururu slipped off the bed. She had said Fai would be coming, but the man wasn't here yet, and that made the girl worry. She moved to the door, not far, but enough to be able to see out into the hall.

Fai wasn't there.

"Do you think Fai-san is in trouble?" Ururu turned to Rukia with concern, and with an unspoken hope. She knew the Shinigami could read the spirit threads, but the girl didn't want to ask. Rukia needed her kidou to heal, and maybe Fai wasn't hurt at all.

Still, it was hard not to worry about him.

Rukia watched Orihime for a moment, just to make sure her friend wouldn't topple over, then turned her attention to Ururu as the girl moved away. "Fai?" she asked, confused. What did he have to do with anything?

It took her muddled brain a while to catch up. Orihime had said that she was bringing someone else along, but she didn't seem to have done so. Rukia gave Orihime a questioning look. "Oh, was he the person you were going to bring along?"

Rukia wouldn't have minded, not really. But Fai, for his own reasons that she couldn't quite understand, didn't seem like he wanted to be around her. He was a strange one; in the couple conversations she'd had with him, she didn't think he'd told her a complete truth once. Yet she couldn't be sure, since she didn't know him well at all. It was more of a gut feeling.

Rukia's eyebrows furrowed when Ururu looked to her. Maybe because the three of them had been together the day of the "field trip"? She was about to say something when the radio crackled. Listening to the Head Doctor's messages was usually irritating, but tonight his words seemed more confusing than usual. Which didn't seem right; he wasn't using too many metaphors or riddles. Just... Rukia felt like she couldn't think straight.

She shook her head. "Do you think he's telling the truth?" she asked her two friends. "Maybe it's just another trick..."

Orihime nodded. "He said he was going to stay in tonight but I gave him the room number just in case."

She wasn't entirely sure what the intercom was talking about. It took her a moment to link the announcements together, but when she did she shook her head slowly. She didn't think the head doctor needed to trick them into anything. "I don't know." She told Ruika, worried. "Do you want to look?"

Ururu tilted her head to the side, listening to the announcement carefully. They always seemed really bad, but really important at the same time. It made Ururu wish she could understand what they were talking about a bit better. She didn't know why they were all here after all, and the people who talked over the intercom and the radio seemed to.

Then Rukia and Orhime began to talk, and Ururu quietly waited. She was okay letting them decide what to do. She just wanted to help as best she could, and she was good at following directions. That's why her chores always got done, even when Jinta-kun's didn't.

Nightshift 30: F1-F10 Hallway.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)