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 Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:10 pm
Hitsugaya litened to her intently and dared not to interrupt. He waited her to finish and smiled. "That's... wow. Ummm, may I ask how you were blinded?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:28 pm
Involuntarily, Kurai brushed a hand over her eyes. Of course there were no scars or disfiguring marks around her eyes. Just the golden irises, muted by a fine layer of frost.
"I was born this way," She replied, brow furrowing at a particular memory. "It's part of the reason my parents were so ashamed. Why they hid me. I was imperfect, and they were the ruling line of the clan. Yoruichi didn't even know about me. It took her years to learn of my existence. By then I had been...locked away,"
This was where the story took a more disturbing turn. Kurai hesitated. She would tell Hitsugaya, but she had to work up to it. Surreptitiously, she read his reiatsu, but it seemed as calm as before. Interested, but not revolted. Not yet. Please, not at all.
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:07 am
Hitsugaya noticed Kurai becomming hesitant as she began to talk about a disturbing part in her past. He knew it would be torture just to have her continue this reduntant explanation of her life. Though he realized that he was most likely the only person outside of the family to hear this story. He stopped himself from interrupting and continued to listen. It would be refreshing for her to tell someone else this story... he wanted to help her bear the pain. Allow her to know that there is someone else out there that will give up their life in order to protect her, and her secret.
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:06 am
Kurai traced a meaningless pattern in the picnic blanket's weave with a finger as she spoke again, not daring to meet Hitsugaya's eyes, even with her clouded ones.
"My blindness is only part of the story. But a much larger part is what else is wrong with me... Tell me, have you heard of the Maggot's Nest?"
She wasn't sure how much of the Soul Society's inner workings were common knowledge. Of course, she had personal experience with much of its darker aspects, but she wondered in the prison in Squad 12 was known to the other shinigami.
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:26 pm
Hitsugaya shook his head, he got even more interested at Kurai's unfolding story.
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:09 pm
"The Detention Unit..." Kurai told Hitsugaya. "It's a subdivision of Second Squad that works in concert with Twelfth. They're charged with the imprisonment and supervision of criminals within the Seireitei. Or at least, that's their main duty.
"They have a special duty, too. 'Special Detention' it's called. The imprisonment of shinigami who, through their thoughts or actions, are judged to become a danger to their comrades. The Detention Unit was to investigate, apprehend, and observe these individuals within their special underground detention facility.
"Surrounded on all sides by a deep moat, under heavy guard...The center is commonly referred to as the Maggot's Nest," Kurai finally shifted her eyes to Hitsugaya's. They seemed to urge him to make the connections behind her words.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:43 am
Hitsugaya leaned forward with a serious look on his face. "What... did they do to you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:43 am
"Oh, they don't carry out arcane experiments, if that's what you thought. Or, at least they never did back under Urahara's direction. Under Mayuri Kurotsuchi's, I'm not so sure. They let most prisoners move freely about the complex. They're usually too troubled to cause much harm," Kurai continued grimly. "But there are a few who are considered 'dangerous elements'. They're kept locked in solitary cages,"
She rubbed her left ankle absently, remembering the heavy manacle that used to encircle it. "I was incarcerated when I was barely a year old. One of only two 'dangerous elements' ever to enter the facility,"
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:40 am
Hitsugaya was now confused. "Why were you considered so dangerous?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:52 am
"I'm not sure," Kurai confessed with a sigh. "I don't even know how the Detention Unit figures it out. 'Dangerous thoughts or actions', but how could I have displayed either when I was so young?"
But she had a theory about this. "In any case, I spent almost seventeen years in the Maggot's Nest. Confined to a cell. Always alone. I grew to be what they feared: unstable.
"They say I was like a wild animal. Totally untamed. And, of course, I was always in the dark, never having developed any of my senses beyond my most basic instincts... I probably would have lost my mind had things continued this way,"
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:15 am
"What happened next?" Hitsugaya asked eagerly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:24 am
"Yoruichi found me," She said simply, smiling at the memory. "She became the Tenshi Heisoban when I was twelve. She learned of my existence only months after gaining the title.
"It took me a year to learn how to 'see' with my other senses. She even brought out my unique aura sense. I remember how happy I was when she came and how I was terrified she wouldn't come back each day, but she always did.
Kurai's face was grim. "She couldn't free me, though. Even the Tenshi Heisoban couldn't flout authority like that. Even when she recognized my imprisonment was what had made me dangerous to begin with,"
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:29 am
"And here you are today?" He asked looking at her in the eyes.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:45 am
"And here I am today," Kurai affirmed, meeting Hitsugaya's gaze. "When Yoruichi defected and ran off with Urahara she freed me. She wouldn't be there to protect me, so she did the only thing she could. I disappeared into the Rukongai for nearly a hundred years with her necklace as a token and her promise she'd return.
"She always knew it was wrong to cage me, but I'm not so sure. There's always going to be a dark thing inside me. Caged animals grow savage, and I've seen that side of me,"
Her hand moved to her heart. "I've let myself lose control, and the idea I could hurt someone is frightening,"
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:56 am
Hitsugaya smiled. "That's quite...a story. My lips are sealed and my ears are deaf."
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