Rippling Waters

[Ruhe Krieger]

In reality. It was hard to tell what had happened to Ruhe, even for Ruhe herself after she had a form of mental breakdown. Not that it mattered. For resting before Kimiko now was a soft and vulnerable form. Still adorned in the colors of the Vreich, the outfit looking baggy and large. She could hardly pass for a soldier of any kind. In reality, this was simply another one of Ruhe's powers. The ability to shapeshift, change her body, her very form. For Ruhe was water. The very nature of her power was incredibly diverse.

If she had the harsh mentality, or was even more mentally stable from the start in the face of Kimiko? She quite possibly could have killed her and Bushida in this very instant. After all. They weren't drenched in blood. They weren't covered properly by the life essence of subordinates and foes alike. They were all wrapped in her. Kimiko's presumptions were absolutely correct. All it would take would be a single moment of malicious clarity, for the blood to have sunk down upon them. Kimiko was wise to be worried.

To keep adrenaline pumping through her. The little girl clenched her robes and cried into her, up until she had her name called out. Ruhe. Her face lifts up, looking Kimiko in the eyes with a small mix of things. Uncertainty? Doubt? Maybe a little bit of fear? Until she was offered a bath, a bed, and food. A place to escape from this horrible place. Slowly taking Kimiko's hand in her own small one, she slowly nods her head. "O-kay." Before slowly hugging Kimiko's arm to her chest.

It was strange. How a soldier could become a broken man. Or woman. How even a grizzled veteran of a hundred battles might break on their hundred and first. She could see Kimiko's eyes, seemingly scanning and thinking through a bunch of different things. For Ruhe however? She hardly could think of a thing. Though everything felt wrong. Odd. Awkward in more ways than one. At least in the moment, she found herself looking upon Bushida in the distance. All of the dead bodies. Before she found herself wondering.

Did she do all this? Before proceeding to lean forward for a second and promptly vomit. Just looking at everything made her feel sick to her stomach. Wiping her lips, she could smell how terrible everything was. Before slightly whimpering to herself. "I'm sorry..." She calls out, slowly prepared to head out. Ruhe's spiritual powers for the momentary seemed to pause. As everything seemed to calm down. Her bow release came to end, her heart no longer pounding as hard as it was.

The fight seemed over. Though, before they'd begin to head out to who knows where? Ruhe asked a question that she didn't quite seem to know the answer to in a second.

"Are you my mommy?"

[Nakajima Kimiko]

This should have never been allowed to happen. That was the one realization that kept repeating itself within Kimiko's mind as she lightly held Ruhe close to her. Everything that's happened since the very beginning of this entire military operation should never have occurred. The officers of the Vandenreich should never have been unable to enter the Soul Society like this, they should never have attempted to approach the 80th district, and they should've never tried to bring a literal child - both in mind and body - with them. Meanwhile, she should've not allowed them to remain for so long here. She should've arrived here faster. No, she should've been there from the beginning, as a means to make sure that they would not advance. This should've never ended in a bloodbath or a massacre. It could've all been resolved peacefully, if it were not for the cowardice of that pathetic man who attempted to stab her and the cruelty of the other who stabbed Ruhe.

But it was too late to go back to that. Now, she was covered in a fluid that could kill her and Bushida at any given moment. Maybe it was blood, maybe it was something else. Ultimately, and once again, that didn't matter, for the one who controlled this fluid was unstable and prone to attacking the both of them should she suddenly believe it to be wise. In other words, she and her subordinate might as well be Ruhe's prisoners from there on out. Fortunately, it was doubtful that the girl was going to suddenly turn on them. After all that's happened, it appeared that she had been pacified, and now, there was nothing that suggested that she wanted the Shinigami to be gone. Moreover, it appeared as though she curiously had her ability under control, though it appeared less so like she consciously did so, and more so that she had somehow deactivated it. It was worrisome, Kimiko guessed, for it confirmed that that ability was currently tied to the little girl's emotions. Even so, it was a relief for the time being. She would rather not attempt to test if killing her would prevent this liquid from executing her and Bushida in time.

The promise of shelter, nourishment, and warmth would convince the child to take Kimiko's hand and stick close to her. This was something that the Captain had done several times before; after all, there were a number of children within the 40th districts that quite enjoyed her company. Some even referred to her as their elder sister, which she found to be rather adorable then, if not slightly awkward. However, she wasn't sure if she could say the same thing now. The hand she was holding wasn't the hand of a simple child of Rukongai. This was the hand of a Quincy, more specifically a member of the Vandenreich. If she ever dared to bring this child to Seireitei, all hell would break loose almost immediately, and for all that she knew, the both of them would be executed: one for treason and the other for being what she was. This simple fact, for as gruesome as it was, was enough to make the Captain let out a weary and somewhat exhausted sigh.

This wasn't the first time she has had to deal with a difficult decision regarding those of other kinds. Multiple times now, she spared those would have usually been executed by the Gotei 13 on the spot. She allowed Ailene to live upon first meeting her and did not attempt to stop her from returning to Humanity via Saigo no Houmen. Moreover, she did not do anything to prevent the benevolent Kishi from acting as a sort of strange Substitute Shinigami in spite of their dumbfounding existence, and even had a conversation with a prominent member of the Vandenreich without resorting to the immediate use of their respective weapons. None of those decisions made her feel as though she was wrong, and none of them felt as though they were going to get her in trouble, for they were easy to conceal from the Gotei 13. But this... wasn't it. She couldn't hide a Quincy amongst the people of the Soul Society forever, especially not a child who was so obscenely powerful. To do so would be dangerous to everyone involved, especially Ruhe herself.

For now, however, this was her only option. She was going to keep the little Quincy behind the walls of Nijūkan North, within the 40th northern district of Rukongai. There, the girl was going to be offered shelter - either by her students or the villagers - until the Captain could find a way to get her out of the Soul Society with the least amount of concerns as possible. How they were going to do so, she absolutely had no idea, especially considering that the only Senkaimon that she had full access to was the one within the very center of the holy city of Seireitei. Regardless, she needed to find a way to bring Ruhe there, for her safety, her students', her subordinates', and her own. The last thing she needs right about now is someone that will suddenly find out about all of this and then report her to do the authorities. Sure, she may be a Captain, and Captains do have the ability to bypass the law to some extent... but even their influence has a limit.

As she thought about all of this, she would head towards Bushida. She did so slowly, in part because she was shaken and still recovering from the earlier explosion, and in part to make sure that she didn't rush Ruhe on this. As much as she didn't want to make the girl spend a longer time in this devastated hellhole, she also didn't want her to feel as though she was in danger. Eventually, they would find themselves standing in front of the unconscious brutish man's body. It already wasn't pretty from afar, but from up close, it looked even worse. Back there, Kimiko thought that only a part of the man's left arm had been ripped off, but... no, it might as well have been the whole thing. What had been bitten off was such a huge chunk of flesh and bone that what remained of it was akin to a stump connected to a useless pile of tissue. Anything beyond the forearm was practically about to fall off, and from the looks of thing, conventional medicine was definitely not going to reconnect it all.

Now, Bushida came from a wealthy family. He was the son of a noble, so he would most likely be able to get his arm back in some capacity. With the people of Squad 4, anything was possible, really. With that said, she doubted that he was going to be happy about this loss. As short as this fight was, she could tell that the man had attempted to settle things on his own without her aid. He had wanted to prove himself, and unfortunately, this is where it got him: in a pool of blood with an arm that was so mangled that it might as well be completely lost. Unfortunately, in the end, he would require his Captain's aid to return to the Soul Society. In so doing, the swordswoman would lower herself before wrapping her free arm around his undamaged shoulder. Then, with a grunt, she would push herself up, bringing his body on her back in the process. "Tch... Bushida... I told you to cut on the junk food. You don't train enough to handle them right," she huffed as she held him up, trying to lighten the mood just a little bit in the process as she made sure to hide his mangled arm from Ruhe's sight.

Before they could proceed, Kimiko would hear an apology from the Quincy. It was meek and innocent, the kind that could only be said by an innocent child, and the kind that would make the dojo master pause for a moment again. She would blink quietly, thinking about what to say, before she would then look down towards the girl. "It's fine. Please, just... don't worry, alright? As long as I'm around, no one else will hurt you... Not even that guy," she would promise to Ruhe then, with a slight bothered tone at the end as she was reminded of the person who stabbed the girl. Wherever her subordinates brought him, she truly hoped that they could heal the jaw he lost, and then make him talk. That way, she could pay him another visit later, and maybe cut more things off his damned body. He won't need them anymore. Not as long as he remains here under her supervision. "You're gonna have to hold on to me for a bit. I don't know if they taught you something similar already, but we're gonna go really fast." 

The Shinigami would then prepare to use Shunpo to carry both Bushida and Ruhe out of the area and towards the 40th district. Being very knowledgeable in the likes of Hohō, she did not believe that she was going to experience any difficulties while carrying them. The man's weight was going to be a challenge to deal with, but she was going to find a way to figure out how to deal with it. The girl, however, was most likely going to be a bit dizzied by the process. As far as she was aware of the Quincy's methods of movement, they appeared to be completely different in comparison to everything Hohō had to offer, and so even if Ruhe was taught how to use those techniques properly, one Shunpo jump could make her sick, or worse, disoriented. Given that she was already sickly, that could lead to something rather unpleasant. Unfortunately, there was nothing else that Kimiko could do other than warn her in the moment. Any more time wasted, and other Shinigami were going to come here to the scene and arrest the both of them.

But then, just as she was about to step forward, she heard something else coming from Ruhe. This time, it wasn't an apology: it was instead a question. It was short, composed of only four little words. Yet, in spite of this, the weight that they carried with them was enough to cause Kimiko to completely freeze in the moment. Bewildered, the Shinigami kept her gaze away from the girl, blinking slowly as she tried to deal with the shock that came with that question. Her thoughts were speeding at a thousand miles an hour, trying to formulate an answer for something that was ten times, no, a hundred times worse than any other question that she has had to deal with thus far. She felt trapped, unsure of what to say, and fully aware that quite literally any answer that she would give to the girl could have a very nasty consequence for the both of them, be it physical or emotional. Eventually, she would take a deep breath before letting out a single answer.

"I don't know... but I guess we'll figure that out... together."

And with that, the three of them would disappear with a single Shunpo jump, heading straight to Nijūkan North.

[ E N D ]

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

Ruhe: 47 paragraphs -> 470 TP awarded

Kimiko: 108 Paragraghs -> 1,080 TP Awarded + 100 for winning -> 1,180 TP

I believe this was a fight so +100 to Kimiko for winning. (If I'm wrong let me know.)