#inouehs

@inouehs

"so get it bandaged up or healed."

PLEASE TAKE CARE OF HIM . this girl was a strange one , that was certain. he’d begun to tear the flesh from her bones , when they’d first met . hardly something plausible to commune with . something that would terrify even those more divine than she was . inhuman . a monster . cannibalizing men , and obliterating animals . not many would live past sklavarei’s wicked light . and yet , she was only a mortal girl with a taste of power . and a heart far gentle , what some would call naïve , than his own . quilge thought his a citadel of cruelty . a place where no one else lived . except …

except for him .

a red gaze is cast upon her , & quilge sees the fear in her eyes . not that it stops her . unsure of what he could do to her , should the wrong words leave . still , the girl’s voice never wavers , and the hunter stops . listens to her . she sounds so earnest . a rarity around the palace , where vanity almost serves as currency .

his heart stirs . the man he loved so deeply . perhaps , to some , it hadn’t looked like love , but a soldier bringing home his spoils of war . a selfish , hungry motion of conquest . but it wasn’t all that . not in the time that had past , and hearts that had worn themselves raw in each other’s presence . because how do monsters love ? and what do hunters do when they are cornered ? rifle to the chest , fangs at the neck . an image reflected in the eye of your enemy . yourself . reborn within a heated gaze . then , silence . weapons sheathed .

i love you . i have always loved you . I love you , too .

stay with me ... please . don’t go . i’ll be right here .

it hurts , it hurts . help me ... ! hush ; come here . closer .

quilge cannot help but smile . slight , gentle . something genuine . “ he has such trouble seeing the good in himself … & I had told him until he believed it was true . “ an adoring laugh . “ ——— he says i’m too good for someone like him . that he doesn’t deserve me . I don’t believe that for a moment . we are deserving of each other .

the severed half of my soul i'd once thought lost . a beast & a hunter . a demon & an angel . an arrancar & a quincy .

so , I must take care of him . guide him alongside me . teach him about the joys of the world he had departed from , when he was alone & possessed by sorrow . hardly any others are so patient .

I will love him . I fear no man nor beast . I have to love him , as husband , consort & mate , as an equal match . and , since nnoitra has suffered so greatly , shouldering his despair is what I can do . Loving him —— all of him , the good & the bad —— is what I can do . his wounds , I kiss . his tears , I dry .

I must love him as he loves me : without abandon , without fear . he needs a man to love him the same manner . an intensity unlike any other . we were both in need . and we’d never voiced it until we met upon the battlefields . perhaps , i think … we were fated to meet . that i had loved him in a past life . “

she cannot see the softness his eyes suddenly possess . " but , in truth , it was never so simple . when we had first met , i had known that i was hurting him . that he was hurting me . we wanted to kill each other ... he'd wanted to eat me alive , you know . leave nothing left of me to find . and in turn , i was cruel to him . barbarically so . but , at the time , we'd only saw each other as our own natural enemies . we didn't know that we would become so ... devoted to one another . that we couldn't bear to have the other leave our side . our love was ... tumultuous , to start . and i suppose , that some would say that it still is . some claim that it is too strange . that a union between an arrancar & a quincy could never be . but they don't know everything about either of us . our love has only grown . it ... has changed , as love changes you .

he was a nobleman's son , once . long ago , when no one remembers . and he was in need of a guardian ... someone to protect him from the dangers just lurking within his home . perhaps , as his own living memory fractured , that was something he'd forgotten ...

i love him . i love him so very , very much . and it is a miracle that he loves me in return . " of her own curiosity , her concern , he is grateful . " ... thank you for your kindness . "

IN MANY WAYS, MATSUMOTO RANGIKU WAS AN OPEN BOOK. She was always more than happy to discuss lifestyle trends, makeup and fashion ----- not to mention boys, and how she felt about certain people in their lives. Rangiku had no issues telling it like it was, or calling someone out for poor behavior.... that is, unless the person in discussion was Ichimaru Gin. When it came to her own love life, the blonde was much more private ------ and while she thought she played off her lover's previous indiscretions quite well ( as well as their 'unofficial' relationship prior to his defection from the Soul Society ) Rangiku's body language always gave her away. She wasn't as good of a liar as she thought she was.... not when it came to something, or someone, that truly mattered to her.

So when Orihime asked such a genuine, heartfelt question, Rangiku found herself at a momentary loss for words. The ever bubbly, ever so confident mask slipped away as she considered the younger woman's words. Love... how do you know, really, when you're in love?

❝ Well... -----I suppose the best way to describe the shift from a cute little crush to full-blown love is the shift in your feelings. You think about them without even realizing it. You consider how they would feel with even the most mundane decisions, and want to include them in anything and everything. When something happens, whether good or bad, they're the first person you want to talk to... and you feel so comfortable around them, that it's almost like ----- well, it's almost like just thinking about them, or being with them, starts to feel like home for you. You feel... safe, with them. You know them for who they really are, and not just for what or who they decide to portray themselves as to the rest of the world. ❞

❝ As for telling them you love them, ❞ Rangiku began, her eyes shifting away from the floor so that they could hold Orihime's tender gaze, ❝ ----That's always the scariest part. ❞ The blonde then reached out to hold Orihime's hands within her own, and offered an encouraging squeeze. ❝ Anytime you bare your soul and allow yourself to be vulnerable in the presence of someone you love, it's terrifying. But the way I look at it, telling someone you love them isn't so much about how they might feel in return ---- it's more so about how you feel about them. How much you care about them, and adore them for who they truly are. ❞

❝ As scary as it is to be so open and honest about what you're feeling, it's also so... freeing. Love isn't something to feel nervous or ashamed of, Orihime-chan ----- it's something worth celebrating. ❞

*  ―  ONE RED FLAG, ONE GREEN FLAG.

"You're very pretty, you know. Handsome too! But...quite pretty. Is that strange to say? Hmm. Maybe so." Her legs are swinging from where she sits near him. Their history was certainly an interesting one. But given the chance, Orihime was ready and excited to befriend everyone. "Has anyone ever brushed your hair? Is that something you think you might enjoy?"

Tesla stares at the ground ahead of him, noting the swing of the young woman's legs from the corner of his eye. Pretty? Handsome? Him? PRETTY? It was a bit jarring, being complimented by Orihime of all people, considering what he'd done to her in the past, jarring still that he'd lived to see her again and get to this point in the first place.

She brings up...brushing his hair?! And he looks over at her, a bit confused.

an endless night wouldn't change what had happened. it wouldn't bring back the one he had lost. that ache was still inside him. it was as though a piece of him had been ripped away once yamajii's reiatsu disappeared from being.

the anguish that had overtaken him at that very moment, that moment he had realised he was gone. it had made him cry out from the depths of his very soul, in a manner he could not hold back. and now that the dust had settled and they were able to ascertain the actual damage of what they had lost. well... it was a lot. too much even.

he couldn't help sighing deeply in the following hours afterwards. too drained for anything else but those deep sighs. deep, heavy sighs that came from the weight of what he had to bear. adjusting to this new reality that felt as though he were living in an ending nightmare so much worse than what his inner world could ever conjure up.

then again, never in his wildest dreams. had he thought he would ever lose yamajii the way he had. it wasn't a dream, right? no. he was still awake. and this is who he had to be now. the last remaining pillar of the gotei 13. a relic from a time long past that had been left alive while all the others had passed him by.

It's weird seeing Orihime.

Karin has anything against her. The opposite, in fact. Her resentment has been reserved for her brother, and even then, it's something that dwindles with every year.