The Darkness In Our Hearts (TDiOH Bk1)

Chapter 11: "You're free, but you're not."

"Good morning, Kera."

I groaned into my pillow, my face pressed deeply into the soft material, the blanket pulled up over my head.

"Kera?" Unohana asked. I moaned, rolling over as she tugged on my shoulder. "It's time to wake up now, Kera."

I wasn't moaning because I had to wake up; oh no, I was moaning because I hadn't come up with a plan.

Nada.

Zilch.

Nothing.

"Kera!" Unohana said sharply, pulling the blanket from my head.

"Fine! I'm waking up!" I snapped, sitting up and throwing back the blankets until they piled on the floor. "Happy?" I instantly regretted my little temper tantrum.

"Why are you so evasive this morning?" 

"I, uh..." Here I hesitated, knowing that she had me cornered. I was acting like I had something to hide, even though I did, but she didn't know that. But she might soon.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "What's going on, Kera?"

"Nothing," I mumbled, adverting my eyes. I couldn't put off the inevitable.

"Have you eaten yet?" she asked, changing the topic and touching my shoulder lightly.

"No. I heard Yachiru come in with the food, but I was still partially asleep."

"Would you like to eat first before I inspect the wound?"

"No, let's just get it over and done with," I replied, raising an arm so she could get to the end of the binding.

She adjusted the screen, throwing the blanket around my shoulders, before unravelling the bandages. When only a strip of bandage covered my chest, I quickly pulled the blanket to cover my chest region, looking away from the wound. I didn't want to know what was underneath that last strip of bandage and I sure as hell didn't want Unohana to find out.

But it was too late now. I waited for her cries of horror or surprise, but it never came. When I felt something cool brushing the wound, tickling my skin, I looked down in confusion.

The Hollow bone was gone.

"It seems to be healing quite nicely," Unohana stated happily, dabbing it with antiseptic cream.

But she obviously couldn't see what I could; the faint, almost unperceivable, outline of the bone. It was a blurry outline but all together invisible to those looking at it and it reminded me of when Hollows would disappear between the worlds – you could sense it, but you couldn't see it.

Only, I could still see the bone since it was a part of my body.

Unohana wrapped the would back up, handed me a new set of clothes and allowed me to change behind the screen, before she folded it away into the corner. I followed her with my eyes as I nibbled on my breakfast, hoping that bacon was still edible cold.

Suddenly, the door caved inwards and Yachiru stood amidst all the destruction. "Kera! How come you didn't answer me this morning?" Yachiru whined angrily through puffed up cheeks.

"I was asleep," I lied, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly.

Unohana laughed behind her hand and left, patting Yachiru on the head as she went by, leaving the cell door open.

"Liar!" she screamed after checking to make sure Unohana was gone, jumping on me and pulling my ears.

"YACHIRU!" I screeched as she pushed us both off the bed, crashing to the floor with her on top of me. My breakfast tray went flying and added to the cacophony of sounds in the cell.

"LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!" she continued, tugging on my ears sharply with each cry.

"Yachiru!" I yelled sternly, pushing her off me. I cradled my ears in both hands, bent doubly from a slight throbbing in my chest. "Okay, fine; I lied. It was only because I was still tired and didn't feel like eating."

The door filled with a figure and in stepped the Captain. "I could hear you guys screaming from the other side of the building. Who's killing who?" he asked, grinning.

I pointed at Yachiru, uncovering one of the ears in the process, and Kenpachi laughed when he saw how red they were.

"Thanks Captain," I replied sarcastically.

But I was secretly glad that they didn't hate me or distrust me after the incident.

"So what's been going on?" I questioned.

"Ikkaku got clean up duty," Yachiru stated happily, bouncing on my bed.

"And I got reprimanded for your behaviour," Kenpachi added, grumbling.

Sheepishly, I hung my head before the image of Ikkaku dressed up like a maid, with a cloth on his head and a mop in hand, popped into my head. I began to laugh, but then couldn't stop, and I realised that the last couple of days had been extremely stressful and painful. Laughing seemed to be my body's way of releasing it all.

"Okay, what else?" I said, wiping tears from my eyes.

"The Head Captain held a meeting to discuss the Hollows' frequent occurrences in the world of the Living. Apparently, you and Ikkaku weren't the only soul reapers to face level 5 Hollows; but you two were the first to survive such an attack. The others who had been reported missing are now confirmed dead."

"Oh," I murmured, glumly glancing at my hands. All those poor soul reapers, totally unprepared for a level 5 Hollow, being devoured and killed.

"Ikkaku would have been like them if you hadn't gone with him Kera," Yachiru said softly, hugging me from behind. She really seemed to sober up after hearing about all this.

"Nah," I answered, cracking a smile even though I didn't really feel like it. "He could have held on by himself."

"Anyway, the Head Captain has decided to revoke your sentence," Kenpachi stated.

"Wait, what?"

"You now have to spend only another two days in jail."

"Yippee!" I cried, jumping up and fist- pumping the air.

"There is still one condition," Kenpachi interrupted my little happy dance with Yachiru. "You're confined to the Squad barracks for a week. That means no partying with friends and no fetching candy for Yachiru." I groaned, sitting back on the bed. "And you have to help train the younger individuals who will be coming to try out for Squad 11." I groaned louder and flopped backwards on my bed.

"We'll see you in two days, Kera," Kenpachi smirked, laughing as he left, Yachiru trailing behind.

Smiling as I heard the door close, I shut my eyes and wallowed in the happiness and excitement building in me.

~

Two days later and they were back to escort me to the barracks. Dressed, I stood to follow them. "Ah, Kera, aren't you forgetting something?" Kenpachi pointed to the corner where Ikari was propped against the wall.

I hesitated to grab my zanpakuto, afraid. For the past two days, I had tried reaching out to him but I kept getting electrified by some sort of force field around him. Kenpachi gave me a weird look, so I squared my shoulders and headed for my sword.

In my head, I was chanting 'please don't zap me' over and over in my head as I leant down. My hand didn't encounter the force field but as my hand circled the hilt, I felt a spark of electricity. It jolted through my arm, sending all my nerves alight with fire, and I grimaced.

"Kera?" both the Captain and Yachiru asked.

"I'm fine," I lied through gritted teeth, quickly attaching Ikari to my hip.

I released the hilt happily, rolling my sore shoulder. My arm still tingled from the contact and I worried that it might have been damaged by the shock as I clenched and unclenched my fingers repeated.

"Come on, I'm ready to be free," I said, forcing a smile onto my face, pushing past them and out into the open.