damned_institute | Nightshift 23: M11-M20 Hall

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Nightshift 23: M11-M20 Hall

Gin sat quietly on the edge his bed, hands folded in his lap as the doors unlocked. The knives were still beneath his pillow, where he'd stuffed them before Naoe came in for dinner. He'd prefer the man didn't know he had them, but if Ran arrived before Naoe left, well, it wasn't that important.

He still didn't know if she was going to show up at all. He'd wait a few minutes, check and see if her spirit thread was getting any closer, if not... there were plenty of other things he could do tonight. Jack was reliable if nothing else and wouldn't be too difficult to find. The disembodied voice of the announcer was right though. It was possible, terribly likely in fact, that he was not on the grounds. That he was somewhere else entirely. It would help if he knew a little more about how their announcement system worked. Obviously the Head Doctor wasn't the only one who could use it.

Regardless, he had to focus his thoughts on the here and now and then proceed forward. He sat patiently, for now at least, waiting for his visitor.

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Present tense... Yes, that was better. Sora nodded confidently. He wondered what Kurosaki was doing now, what Nowe was doing. Maybe Nowe was with his dragon again. What had he called it? Legna?

It was nice to think about, but lingering in the hallway was making him impatient. He glanced over, eyeing the door that Rangiku had entered. "What's taking her so long?"

Rukia followed Sora's line of sight. "I don't know." She was pretty sure Rangiku had gone to see Ichimaru, but she wasn't sure she felt comfortable telling Sora her theory. Then again, the kid had a right to know. "But it might be an old friend of hers."

Being perhaps an overly trusting person, Sora didn't seem to notice that Rukia was apprehensive about discussing the subject. "Oh! That's nice," he responded with a smile. Old friends were almost always good to see again, weren't they? He'd missed Kairi and Riku so much when he'd been separated from them, and when they had all finally been reunited he couldn't have been happier.

Even so, he didn't want to wait much longer. Without really thinking about it, he started tapping his foot.

Rukia offered a noncommittal, "Mm." Deciding that she was being too taciturn around the boy, though, she decided to turn the conversation to a more useful topic. "So, you said you've never been to the chapel, but where else have you been? Have you found anything useful?"

"I've been to most of the rooms down here, I think," Sora explained, distracted now that he'd been asked a question. "Onto the field, and then part of the second floor. Renji and I did a lot of exploring up there together." And with one other person, but they definitely weren't going to get onto that subject again.

"It's good that we're going up there again tonight, though, since I don't know the layout that well." It was a little embarrassing, considering how long he had been stuck in this prison. Then again, the layout had changed on him a few times, so he had an excuse.

Well, it was good that Sora had seen a decent amount of the place; he would probably be able to provide them with useful information. Rukia hated being behind, so to speak, but it was something she had had to get used to as a low-ranking Shinigami. No one told you anything you didn't absolutely need to know.

Reluctantly, Rukia said, "Renji didn't tell me what was going on tonight. Do you know what exactly we're looking for?"

While Sora knew that he was more experienced than a lot of the other patients, he didn't ever make a big deal out of it. He could have easily held it over their heads or used it as a bargaining tool. That wasn't the way he worked, though. He was just glad that he was able to help people out instead being dead weight.

"Umm, no," he admitted with a small sigh. "He wasn't very specific or anything. I think he just wanted us to explore some more." He doubted Renji would be too upset if they didn't find anything significant. It wasn't like that sort of thing was in their control.

"I see." Rukia folded her arms, still watching the door down the hallway that Rangiku had entered. She kept an eye out for any creatures, though; no sense in being surprised.

Rukia felt like she should say something else, but she was still angry with Renji, and upset aver Ichigo's disappearance, and just in a foul mood in general. So she stayed quiet for the time being.

Quick! Something had to be done before this got awkward. Luckily, Sora was no stranger to striking up conversations and chattering on and on with someone he barely knew. That was the only way to become friends with them, right? And he figured it was especially worth befriending Rukia, since she was Kairi's roommate.

"So what was your life like before this?" It was usually a question he didn't ask, since that was in the past and hardly mattered now. However, they needed to kill time. "I never really asked Renji about it, but... I kind of get the feeling he wouldn't tell me." He smiled sheepishly. He had no idea of Rukia would be any more open about it, after all.

Rukia couldn't help smiling at Sora, even if it was a weak smile. He seemed like such a gentle, innocent kid; no wonder Renji had grown so fond of him. She wondered for a moment why Sora thought Renji wouldn't tell him things about their past, but then she realized that the big dummy probably had it in his head that he could somehow protect people by not telling them things... Which, come to think of it, was probably why he hadn't told her what he was doing tonight. That bastard. She never could seem to get through to Renji that he didn't need to coddle her.

Back to Sora's question, though. Rukia chuckled quietly, saying, "Well, Renji tends to be a tight-lipped, cranky old man, but that's why he has charming people like me around." It couldn't hurt to joke. "Renji and I, and Rangiku... we all died a long time ago. I don't know if Renji told you that, but we're not alive. At least not where we come from." She waited to see how Sora would react to that.

"Old?" Sora's tone was between surprised and amused. "He's not that old, is he?" While Sora might not have been the best judge of that sort of thing, he had never gotten that impression from Renji. He didn't act old, and he was definitely in good physical shape. He'd never heard him complaining about his back or saying anything about "when I was your age...", like old people always did.

But his question was answered - sort of, anyway. "You're ghosts?" he asked, his eyes widening. Though he didn't seem shocked for too long. He had met a lot of dead people in Halloween Town, after all, and they had all been pretty nice. Well, except for Oogie Boogie...

"He never told me," he said, sounding a little hurt by that. "Maybe he thought I'd be scared." That wasn't fair. He wasn't a child that was going to be frightened and push people away - if anything, he was more accepting than most adults!

Rukia held back a small chuckle at Sora's question. It was a natural reaction, after all. In response to his last words, she said, "I doubt that's why. Renji just tries to hard not to burden others. With anything." Maybe Sora would understand. He'd be doing better than her, if he managed that.

"Anyway, we're not ghosts, exactly. We help ghosts who are lost find their way to... well, to the afterlife, I suppose. I don't know what you call it in your world, but for us it's Soul Society."

That did make some sense, actually. Sora could understand wanting to withhold information that was troublesome so that he wouldn't upset others. He had always been able to tell that there was a lot of good in Renji's heart, but that was becoming more and more obvious as he continued to learn about him. He was sure that Rukia was the same.

"Oh, so you help put them to rest? That's good." After all, having angry or depressed spirits wandering around couldn't be good. He had never thought that there were people that actually helped take care of that as their job. "It sounds pretty interesting!" With everything he had seen, it was still exciting to learn about new things.

Rukia wished being a Shinigami was as simple as Sora seemed to think. While they did do good things, like soul burials, and defeating Hollows, Rukia had always wished they could stop souls from becoming Hollows in the first place. Restless souls were a lot harder to detect than Hollows, though, so she could understand why the Twelfth Division hadn't yet come up with any way to reliably find them. Still, she wished they would devote more of their attention to that, rather than Captain Mayuri's sick experiments...

No use bothering Sora with her worries, though. "Yes, it is interesting," Rukia said. "How about you, Sora? What is your world like? How did you and Kairi meet?"

Since he had pried into her life, Sora had been expecting the same treatment. He didn't mind talking about it, though. While there were definitely aspects of his past that were still sore spots, he could avoid those. And normally he would have wanted to get things done instead of standing around and chatting, but they were being forced to wait, anyway. (How long did it take to pick up a knife?)

"She washed up on the beach at my home!" he announced, finding the whole mystery behind their meeting very exciting. "Me and my best friend, Riku... We found her. The mayor ended up adopting her, and the three of us have been friends ever since."

"Oh, well, that's dramatic," Rukia said, turning to regard Sora. "Certainly a meeting you won't forget, huh?" Though she supposed dashing out of nowhere and kicking the man who had been chasing Renji and their friends was an equally dramatic entrance. So many years later, she couldn't even remember why she had done that, except that it had seemed like a good idea at the time. In any case, she was glad she had.

Rukia folded her arms, shifting her weight. "Must have been nice living on the beach. I've only ever seen the ocean a few times."

"Never!" That had been the start of their little trio, and bonds had been formed between the three of them that he hadn't seen mirrored among many others. Sora was almost proud of just how attached he was to Riku and Kairi. Some would have seen it as a weakness, something that could be used against him, but he had always gathered his strength from his friends.

"Really?!" While Nowe had said something similar about never seeing the ocean, each time Sora heard it he could barely believe it. "I grew up right by the water. We went down there to play and lounge around every day... It was great!"

Did that mean Renji hadn't seen the ocean many times, either? Oh, he'd have to take them!

Rukia smiled at Sora. His sweet disposition was growing on her already. She felt suddenly sad that she had never met Nowe. If Renji and Sora had both gotten so close to the missing boy so quickly, he must have been worth knowing.

"Renji and I used to play in streams and ponds all the time." She thought for a moment. "I'm not even sure we knew what an ocean was, back then."

"Wow... I can't even imagine that!" Now that he thought of it, there was a good chance that a lot of the people he had met during his journeys had never seen the ocean before. He wasn't even sure if some of the worlds he'd been to had oceans. That was so sad! Someday, he would have to show the sea to as many of his friends as he could.

"So has he ever seen the ocean?" he asked. He wondered secretly if the two had seen it for the first time together - that would have been pretty romantic, huh?

Rukia thought for a moment. "Hm, I imagine he has. We get sent to places all over Japan for our missions, and many of the cities are on the coast." She didn't know if Sora even knew what Japan was, given that everyone seemed to be from different worlds and times, but Renji had probably at least mentioned it. She shrugged. "Although, I suppose he may never have had the chance. We didn't..." She paused, not sure of how to phrase it. "We didn't see each other for a long time, so I don't know."

Rukia cringed inwardly. She hoped maybe Sora wouldn't ask about that. Searching for something to ask him, she said, "Kairi's here. What about your other friend, Riku?" The name was ambiguous; Rukia didn't know if the person was male or female.

[From Gin's thread]

Rangiku took a breath once outsde the door, steadying herself because Gin always managed to leave her off balance and she couldn't afford to be at the moment. She headed quickly back over to Rukia and Sora and bowed slightly to them both in apology. "Sorry for the delay."

While Sora didn't know much about Japan, he had heard the other patients talking about it. He was accustomed to the idea of there being many different worlds, so he wasn't that surprised to hear of other ones. "I guess I'll have to ask him," he said, smiling. And he understood what it was like to be separated from friends for a long time. However, it had only been a year or so that he had been apart from Riku and Kairi, while Rukia and Renji hadn't seen each other for centuries. He didn't know that, though.

Distracted by her next question, he sighed and his eyes found the floor. "He was here, but then he disappeared... He came back, though! But he didn't remember anything. Then he disappeared again, and... came here as a visitor." Sora didn't want to think about what sort of things his friend had been put through.

Luckily, Rangiku chose to return then. "Took you long enough," he teased.

Rukia felt bad for having asked the question, given what had happened to Sora's friend. She couldn't imagine what she would do if that happened with Renji, or Ichigo. Coming and going, and not remembering anything... Dealing with that once was enough. She wanted to ask him more about the visitors some people had mentioned, but then Rangiku made her way toward them.

"Oh, it's okay," she said, not quite meeting the other Shinigami's eyes.

That look on Sora's face was too adorable. And he really did remind her of Hitsugaya. It was really too much to resist, even if she'd wanted to. She grinned widely and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close and speaking cheerfully. "Ah, I couldn't stay away from you for so long! You're so like my Captain!" Except less grumpy.

She let him go after a moment, rather more cheerful now than she had been a moment ago. She noticed Rukia avoiding looking at her and sighed inwardly, but there was nothing that she could do about it now. "We should find the closest stairs," she said, slightly more quietly.

While Sora might have noticed the slight amount of awkwardness between the two women, he was distracted by Rangiku suddenly reaching for him and yanking him into a hug. While he was slowly getting used to the idea of hugging (first Tron had taught him, then he'd tried it with Roxas and Renji), this had been so sudden!

And this was different from hugging another guy - for one thing, his face was suddenly cushioned by something very soft. His arms flailed until she let go of him and he backed away, red as a tomato. And, and... she was acting like nothing was wrong!

Normally, he would have boasted about how he knew where the stairs were and could lead the way, but he was too shocked and embarrassed at the moment to say much of anything.

Nightshift 23: M11-M20 Hall

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