Meeting of the Minds (Closed/Hotaru and Jak)

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru was making her way to the Human World from Soul Society. She had locked up her office, since she was now off duty, and was making her way towards the Thirteenth Division. She was going to the Human World to meet up with her husband, but she was curious if she was going to meet anyone else. Though, while walking to the division, she did think back on when she first met Asmoskon after he had left her crying in the park in Tokyo.

It had been when she had to fight through the Quincy prison with Aevus and Jak. During that little mission, she saw that Jak had a pretty horrible reaction when she saw Asmo but she had no idea what Jak had thought about the display that she had put on when it came to Asmo. She hadn't talked to him since then and from the way they left, it seemed that he wanted to talk about it. Thankfully, she was heading to Karakura. She was wearing her Captain's Haori and she waved at Kagami's squad members while she walked to the gate. 

Once she made it through the gate, she looked around to see how close she had gotten to Jak's shop. She wasn't that far off and realized that Asmo's apartment was actually a lot closer to Jak's place than she had originally thought. She walked the street and remembered the first time she met Jak, a boy that was lost and knew nothing of the spiritual world. She saw the difference in him when they last met, but a lot had changed since then. She walked up to the door and knocked, hoping he was home.

[Jak Halcom]

Jak was sitting at his small dining room table drinking some coffee. He was shirtless showing his muscled torso to no one. His body was covered in numerous scars from his life time of battles. He had just gotten off his shift at the flower shop and was relaxing before anything bad decided to to him today. His black hair was in it's usual mess, his red eyes closed as he drank his coffee. His right arm glowed brightly the chain contrasting the bright red glow with the dense black metal.

Jak heard the knock on his door and opened his eyes. He was not expecting anyone today, nor did he think that anyone really knew where he lived. There were only two people who did know. He got up thankful that he was still wearing his pants as he went to answer the door. He left his cup of coffee down at his table running his fingers though his hair trying to make himself look half way presentable. He opened the door surprised to see Hotaru standing on the other side.

It has been some time since the mission he was dragged into, and he hadn't seen her since then. "Oh Hotaru, I wasn't expecting you please come in." He moved aside motioning for her to enter. He moved in a way that made the scar on his chest particularly viable. It was close to his heart. It was a scar one would receive from an arrow. He lead her over to the table as he went to the counter. "You want any coffee?" He offered.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

When Jak answered the door, she smiled at him. When he said to come in, she nodded quickly before she walked in. The shop looked the same as it had before when she had been here, so she was happy about that. She still remembered when he made her a beautiful bouquet of flowers. She smiled at the memory. She did notice, however, that he now had a scar on his chest close to his heart. It worried her, but she didn't know how to actually ask him about it. Once inside, she followed him to the table. Her mind was still trying to figure out how to ask.

He then asked if she wanted any coffee. "Yes please, Jak-san." She was standing at the table and she moved a piece of her hair away from her face with her left hand. Light sparkled off of the rings on her left ring finger, so he would notice the sparkling light of the diamond on her engagement ring. She then just decided to ask him, because she was worried. "I don't mean to be rude, but I saw the scar on your chest when I walked in, Jak-san. Are you okay? What happened, if you don't mind talking about it." She waited patiently for him to answer or not answer.

[Jak Halcom]

Jak had his back turned to her pouring her a cup of the strong coffee. He noticed the ring around her finger when he turned back around. He didn't think that Shinigami got married, but then again they were more like living people than most would think so why wouldn't they? He held her cup and was about to set it down when she asked about the scar on his chest. His body stiffened his mind going back to that day when that asshole Quincy Asmokon or whatever nearly killed him.

He handed Hotaru her coffee and sat down motioning for her to do the same. "That one has a touchy history behind it." He started in a low voice. He looked at her straight in the eye a look that said she was not going to like what she was going to hear. "I was training as usual when this Quincy approached me. He said that I needed to stop helping people whenever a spiritual incident had occurred mostly hollows and the like."

"That went about as well as you would expect. I blew him off but apparently if I didn't agree to stop he had orders from someone to kill me. We fought for a while, but the bastard used some sealing kido, or whatever the Quincy equivalent was. He said that if I answered some questions I can go on my way. I answered those questions and what do I get?" He asked getting angrier and angrier. He pointed to the scar next to his heart. "A fucking arrow to the chest. Luckily he missed my heart otherwise I wouldn't be here now."

He turned away taking a few deep breaths to compose himself. Once he was calm again he turned back to her looking at the ring on her finger. He did remember the way he treated her back at the prison and doubted that was who proposed. "Congratulations on the engagement by the way." His smile returned. He leaned on the table with his left arm getting a bit closer to her. "You know if you need someone for floral arranging you got a guy right here." He didn't mention his price, but wasn't sure if shinigami money was good in the real world. "So who is the lucky guy?"

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru was handed the coffee, nodding her thanks and taking a sip. The coffee was good. A smile spread across her face in joy as she took another sip of the coffee. She had no idea what it was about coffee, but it just made her feel at ease and at peace for a few minutes out of the day, not having to worry about anything. She did notice when she mentioned the scar he stiffened. It was a telltale sign that the scar was not a very pleasant memory, so she immediately felt bad about even mentioning it. She would completely understand if he didn't want to talk about it now.

He then motioned for her to sit, which she did, taking another sip of coffee. He started to speak, staring her straight in the eye. She knew she wasn't going to like where this was going. It seemed that a Quincy had approached him to stop helping people when spiritual incidents occurred, which she knew that Jak would more than likely blow off. It's not in his nature to not help people. Though, the Quincy had orders to kill him from someone. This made her think for a minute. She knew a little about what happened when Asmoskon was broken but not a lot.

She did know that he was somewhat of a mercenary, taking what jobs came his way and did a lot of random killing. She didn't like that part of their time apart, but it was in the past now. He still had a job to do, but she knew that he was in a much better state of mind now, and he chose jobs a heck of a lot better than he had before. It seemed that he fought the Quincy, answered questions and then got an arrow to the chest for his trouble. Jak almost died, but thankfully the arrow missed his chest. Hotaru's heart sank.

She saw how he acted with Asmoskon. It made sense that he was the Quincy he was talking about. She would now need to sit Asmoskon down and make him tell her everything that had happened while they were apart, no matter how bad. They didn't need secrets like this anymore. He congratulated her on the engagement and made a poke about floral arranging, which she chuckled about. When he asked who it was, she hesitated to say anything. But, she wasn't going to hide the truth from him. "Thank you, Jak-san, for the congratulations. I am very happy with that turn of events. The man, however, I don't think you're going to like, since you've met him in that prison. It's Asmoskon."

[Jak Halcom]

The smile on Jak's face vanished slowly. He got up and turned away from her putting his hands on the counter. He may not have seen much of Hotaru in a while, but he did count her as a friend. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt a friend; they were all he had left. He gripped the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. What was he going to do now? He had to either not kill him, which was out of the question, or hurt her which was just as bad."Why, why did it have to be that asshole of all people?" He whispered to himself. It was a possibility that Hotaru could hear him.

He suddenly slammed his fist against the counter making plates and cups shake with the force of the impact. "Damn it why does it always have to be this way?" He said louder. He was being overwhelmed with a mix of sadness and anger. Anger for how she was with him despite how he treated her at the prison, and knowing what he did, and his own personal reasons for hating the Quincy, but he also felt sadness that he must harm his friend the in the most painful way possible. He turned to her struggling to keep a straight face. "How," was all he could ask.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru waited. She knew that he wasn't going to be happy. The way he acted at the prison, it was pretty obvious that they had met before. The scar, she knew, must've been from Asmoskon. But, he didn't know the entire story behind that man, he only knew the fraction of him that was horrible. It was because of her that side surfaced so fast and horribly. After they talked through their issues, the old Asmoskon was starting to come back to her, slowly. She knew that he would probably never truly be the same person he was before, but she was willing to help him get there.

She was barely able to hear him whisper the words why and asshole. It was plain from that that Jak definitely didn't like the man. When he slammed his fist on the desk, she jumped slightly, not expecting him to put that much force behind it. It was slight enough that Jak wouldn't notice. His next comment made her feel bad. It was obvious that he had plans already set up around Asmoskon, but since she was a friend, things were different. He turned and asked how, and it wasn't lost on her that he was trying his best to keep a straight face.

Hotaru sipped on her drink before continuing. "Well Jak-san. You don't know the full story behind Asmoskon. I knew him before he went full throttle mercenary, before he was the man that obviously gave you that scar. He was still a child, in high school, balancing saving innocent people from hollows and his schoolwork in his small apartment in Tokyo. I met him on a mission by chance. There was something about him that drew me to him and we went on a date weeks later that blossomed into our relationship.

I loved him like I had never loved another, including family members. I knew, with all my heart, that he loved me the same way. We would meet at a certain park in Tokyo, on days I was off and that he had some free time. We would talk and enjoy each other's company. He's helped me out in fights against hollows and I would do the same for him. But, I did one wrong thing, before we were a couple, that he misunderstood and turned the way you met him. It was because of me. It's why he was acting the way he was towards me at the prison.

I had been hunting him down for six months, trying to find him and make things right. After that, I was able to find him again, on a tiny island. He looked horrible. Ever since the break-up, it turns out he was tormented by visions of me. I didn't know it until I was at the island. It was obvious. He was so broken, it broke my heart. My loving Asmoskon was now a broken mercenary. We fought long and hard until near exhaustion, and I finally told him the truth and got through to him. We were able to reconcile and we slowly started to work on us. He immediately proposed, saying that he didn't want us to be apart again, since it broke him the first time. Now, we're happily married. He will probably never be the same, happy-go-lucky boy I first met, but I'm willing to help him to see if he gets closer to it."

[Jak Halcom]

Jak listened to her story without looking her in the eyes. He kept his eyes down at his lap where his fists rest. He listened to her pretty much saying that the whole thing was over a misunderstanding. If only it were that trivial. Jak reached up to his bare chest and ran his fingers along his scar. It all made his decision that much more painful for him. He truly wished that there was some other way, but there was not. When she finished, Jak stood up and turned his back to her. He couldn't bear to face her when he told her his decision.

"I'm sorry Hotaru, but what he did is unforgivable. If he was in his right mind or not, it does not change the fact that he tried to kill me for nothing. I am sure what I have in mind. I would hope that you will not interfere, but do know this." He turned to face her with a resolute and dark look in his crimson eyes. "I will not hesitate to go though you to get to him." There was no hesitation, nothing that would suggest that moments ago he was devastated by her involvement.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

After she was done, Hotaru looked to Jak. She knew that Asmoskon had did horrible things in his past, but to her, they were in the past. He was working to make himself better, but it didn't change the fact that what he did effected everyone he did something to. Jak was no exception. She watched as he stood up and turned his back to her. It was pretty obvious from the way he's been reacting that he had already made a difficult decision about this. She took a breath, hoping that it wasn't what she thought it was going to be.

He said what he did was unforgivable, not changing the fact that he tried to kill Jak. Hotaru nodded. He then said that he hoped she wouldn't interfere but he would not hesitate to go through her to get to him. He looked her straight in the face when he said it. Hotaru finished off her drink and took a breath. She then let her spiritual pressure roll off of her, full force. She didn't let it linger long, just for a few seconds, before reigning it in. "I know what he did was unforgivable and I won't forgive what he did. He is a different man, but I understand your view, Jak-san. Just so you know, I'm a Captain in the Gotei Thirteen now and stronger than before."

She then stood up and looked him straight in the eye. "If you do go after Asmoskon, you will have to go through me. If you do face me and I get injured in any way, know that more than likely the Head of my House, Sozen-sama, will come after you for hurting a member of his family. It would not be wise to do that Jak-san. Also, what would happen, if by some random chance, we have a child together? I know of your history. Would you want to leave our child an orphan? I will not stand by while my husband is attacked. Just keep that in mind while you think of your plans."

[Jak Halcom]

"And we know who was responsible for that!" He shouted glaring at her. "We both know that it was you shinigami that left me alone, and it was the Quincy's that nearly finished the job!" His arm started glowing brighter showing his rising levels of anger and aggression. His fists were clenched and his breathing grew heavier as he struggled to keep from striking at her now. 'How can you hope to understand what I have been through!?"

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru looked at him while he ranted, noticing the color change on his arm. He wanted to hit her but he was holding himself back. If he did hit her and Asmoskon found out about it, he would move heaven and Earth to come and beat the living hell out of Jak. Thankfully, Jak was holding his anger back. "I have died, Jak-san!! How do you think I got this way?! I died, ON A BATTLEFIELD, to protect my family. When I died, it was horrible and painful. Once that was over, I became a spirit and just wandered, with no real purpose in sight.

I found my family, whole but without me. They cried for me for so long and prayed that I had found my way to Heaven. But, I didn't. When I couldn't bare to see their pain anymore, I wandered around, not even recognizing anything while trying to stay away from hollows. I don't even know how much time pasted before a shinigami found me and sent me away from the Human World, which I was starting to refer to as my own personal Hell, to the Soul Society, where I now have what I wanted in life. I understand, Jak-san, more than most..."

[Jak Halcom]

"SHE DID NOT!" He shot back at her. "She was not a warrior. She did she die fighting for some noble cause or crap like that. She was murdered right down there! Your kind stole her from me!" He shouted pointing down to the shop below their feet. He was still young when he arrived on the scene. It was like something out out one of those CSI shows. Police everywhere the whole place taped off, and a crowd of people trying to speculate what had happened.

"Do not for a second tell me that those are the same. They are completely different." Without realizing it, he was releasing his gravitational pressure just out of anger. Of course it would have little affect if any on Hotaru, but it could be felt that he came a long way from when they had first met. He was no longer a boy recklessly taking his anger out on everything that moved. Tears were now falling from his eyes down his cheeks. How could she stand there and say she understands when no one was taken from her like his mother was?

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

"I never said she was, Jak-san. You misunderstand. I know how it feels to leave loved ones behind. I've seen the pain on my parent's face when I was gone. So, I understand how being left alone is like, because I unwillingly left them and was completely alone. I know how your mother felt, in a way, since we have both died. I can't speak on her behalf, but I do understand some of the pain you feel. I miss my family everyday. I regret that I died so young, but it was worth it to keep my family safe, as it seems like your mother did for you."

Jak was still angry and she felt the pressure he was giving off. He was stronger, but not as strong as she was. "I never said that they were the same. It is something similar. I wasn't a shinigami that was patrolling here, so don't lump me in with those who did this to you. I have done nothing but to try to be your friend. But, it seems that just by me being here, it's upsetting you. If you want, I will leave. I don't want to put you through anymore pain." Hotaru slowly stood up, pushed her chair in and started to walk towards the door. Jak would have a chance to stop her, if he wanted.

[Jak Halcom]

"Maybe you sh--" Jak was about to say when he stopped. All of a sudden pain erupted from his right arm. It was an intense burning pain that he never felt before in his right arm. He clutched his arm and cried out in pain. The strength had left his legs and he fell to the ground with a crash. He writhed on the ground trying to keep from crying out again. The pain was intensifying, and it seemed to be spreading from his arm to his shoulder, and to the rest of his body.

His mind was reeling from the pain. He was not sure if Hotaru was even still in the apartment or not anymore. He closed his eyes gripping his arm tighter as the pain got worse and worse. The heat coursing through his body was making his body sweat. What was happening? Why was it happening? These questions came and left his mind as the pain continued to weaken and grow stronger. In his mind all he could hear was his own whimpers and a voice deep in his mind. 

The voice was only a whisper, but he could hear it clearly. "This world needs to burn." It whispered into his ear. "They all deserve to burn. The world is yours to destroy. Burn, burn, BURN IT ALL!" He started thrashing around, as if he was fighting off the body of the voice that called out for him to burn everything. "No, I will not...submit..." He growled lowly tossing and turning on the ground.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru listened to him, before she walked out. She figured that he would want her to leave, based on what's been said already between them. But, before she actually opened the door, Jak stopped suddenly. Hotaru thought it odd that he would just stop talking in the middle of a sentence, so she turned around to see what was going on. It was then that she saw him fall to the ground and cry out in pain. Jak would always be her friend, so she couldn't just leave him in such obvious pain like that. When he started to writhe on the ground, crying out, Hotaru ran to him.

She was kneeling next to him, not knowing exactly what to do. She knew that he wasn't normal, but she didn't know how different he was. She had no idea if this was a side effect of his power or not. He started to break out into a sweat, so she grabbed what towels she could find and soaked them in cold water. She ran back to his side, carrying ice cold water in a bowl, with towels. She started to soak the towels and put them on his body, trying to cool him down. While she was doing this, he said that he wouldn't submit. Wouldn't submit to what?