[DISCONTINUED] Strive | Bleach

Chapter Fifteen: Turmoil and Distrust.

I heard it. It was faint, and vague, sounding barely of a whisper, but I heard it. I shot upright from my position on the wall, trying to figure out of who it was.

“Abaron, what’s wrong?” Ichigo was looking up at me, his eyes full of worry.

“Didn’t you hear that?” I asked, my voice beginning to tremble. Who was it? Who screamed? It was definitely a girl’s. Was it Rukia? Was it Shōri? Was it Orihime? No, this voice was unlike theirs. It was smaller and as gentle like Orihime’s; it was forceful, like Rukia’s; and it was full of pain, like Shōri’s. That’s when I heard it again. I knew full well of whom it belonged to.

“Abaron, what’s wrong?” I glanced back down at him before picking up my zanpakutō and heading for the passage to the above ground.

“Get to Rukia as soon as you can,” I told him. “Watch out for the other Captains. Steer clear of going out in daylight.” Hanataro and Ganju came around the corner, looking confused.

“What’s going on?” they asked. Ignoring their question, I strapped on my zanpakutō and climbed up the ladder. I propped the tile up and peered through. Seeing that it was safe, I climbed out and broke into a run at the steps that led to Squad 1. Her spiritual pressure was highly unstable. It wavered every moment, sending chills through my entire body. As I got to the middle point of the steps, I shifted through the short cut, running uphill. When I reached the top, I jumped up onto the roofs and followed her spiritual pressure. Turning around the corner, I stopped dead.

“No way…” I hated this bastard. I hated this bastard so much that I felt sorry for him. I felt sorry for him because I wasn’t the one to kill him, like I had planned. He had died by another’s hand, but with his own zanpakutō. Prying my eyes away from his bloodied corpse, I looked over to see Izuru standing with Shūhei, Rangiku and Tetsuzaemon, and Momo, whose spiritual pressure I had been tracking. She stumbled forward, her eyes tying her to her pain.

“C-Captain Aizen,” she said weakly, her voice shaking in the same way that mine was. “No… no… you can’t be dead… you can’t…” She reached for him before falling to her knees, screaming, “Captain Aizen!” over and over and over again. The others were as still as statues, either staring up at Aizen or down at Momo. Unable to see her in this state, I rushed to her side, falling to my own knees as I came up in front of her.

“Momo, look at me.” I forced her hands from the ground and pulled her upwards. My heart ached as her face was covered in her tears and her eyes were bloodshot. Her lips quivered uncontrollably. I knew of how loyal she was toward him, even when he was just a Lieutenant, himself. She looked up to him in more ways than I did, as I had my loyalty solely for Shinji and no one else. I guess I still do, now that I think about it. “Momo, please, look at me.” She stopped sniffling long enough to stammer my name.

“A-Abaron…” Before I could say anything more, she threw her arms around my neck and resumed sobbing, this time, into my shihakushō. I looked up at the others, who looked completely out of it. Rangiku, who couldn’t pry her eyes away from Aizen, wouldn’t stop blinking. Tetsuzaemon, well, I couldn’t really tell of what he was looking at, as he was wearing a pair of black tinted sunglasses. Izuru gazed down at us, his entire body shaking like a wet dog’s. Shūhei wasn’t looking at anything but his own two feet.  It was a while until I was finally able to calm her down, seeing as the others were of no help. She curled herself up into a ball and stared into her lap. Oh, Momo…

“What’s with all this racket so early in the morning?” I peered over Momo to see Gin standing a little ways behind us. Momo gasped. “Oh, yes, this certainly is a tragedy,” he added, staring up at Aizen. Despite the change of tone in his voice, he didn’t sound all that upset about it. They were colleagues; partners, I guess. Why wasn’t he doing something, or helping console Momo? But I wondered… was if it was he who killed Sosuke? Momo stared back at him, and this time, with anger and fury lingered in her eyes. I wondered why her emotions changed so suddenly… Her remaining tears were thrown away as her face scrunched up into a wrinkled glare.