Crossroads: Gods of Death

Part One: Journey Declared
''' One Month Ago. '''

"I'm joinin' the Shinigami", Kazuki could feel his heart drop as Shū spoke. They had been stood on that small hill outside of their home for what seemed like forever. They usually met like this, the Sun was setting at the end of the day, its golden radiance casting a light across the crop fields and tiny hills of the area. It was the part of the day that Kazuki looked forward to most, he'd come home and meet Shū here, on these very steps and they'd talk about all sorts of things that went on between them. He knew he was meager and ill suited to adventure, his sister being so active, having all these kooky tales to tell, it was how he lived beyond the day-to-day. It was how he saw beyond the dreary counting of customers, served and lost. It was how he stood beyond the unknowing, eternal fact that outside of the Rukongai, he knew nothing. A blank reality that remained lost to him.

And this was to be the last. "I never believed in any a' this, y'know?", she continued, sounding somewhat down herself. "I was never superstitious, or religious, I was tossed a bad hand growin' up, didn't waste time believin' in another world, I'd just start thinkin' it abandoned me too", she explained slowly. There was nostalgia in her words, she was looking back to a time before Soul Society had awoken to her.

"I always thought I'd end up face down in a ditch, and then it'd all quietly fade to black, that'd be the end right?", the memory was there clear as day for her. She could still feel the dying heart beat, how every inch of her body felt like it had been buried in ice. Her vision had gone red, and then it blurred out. People were there with her, she could hear them. It had been a clash on the sea, her crew had attacked a ship that was supposed to have been full of gold. Instead it was loaded to the brim with mercenaries. None of them had the time to notice that she was there, bleeding out. She simply took the time for one last smile as it all washed out.

"But I woke up here, I was tossed a ticket and thrown to a home before I could even get my head around what had happened", she clutched at her chest as she spoke. The feeling of the sword bursting through her flesh was there even now, years after it had happened. "I was gonna just laze around, just waste a way in this big ol' purgatory, but I never had time for that back in that world, I was always doin' somethin'", her tone picked up. The nostalgia and the melancholy clearing away.

"I need somethin' to work towards, I have a-, uh, its stupid, but its a goal", she rubbed at the back of her head, remembering her talk with Toshiaki earlier that day. An Ocean, really?.

"I think you should come too", her tone became somewhat more serious.

"W-what?", Kazuki replied in muffled confusion.

"You wanna get your memories back, right?", she started. "Shinigami get ta' go all over the world, sure, most of its fighting, but you'd have the chance to find clues and piece it together. I know its a bit of a long shot, but its better than nothin'", she reasoned.

Kazuki cast his gaze downward, contemplating the ground as it were. He had never seen a Hollow before, and as much as the stories could scare him, what truly put him ill-at-ease was the idea of fighting. As far as he could remember the closest to a fight he had ever been was arguing over breakfast. It scared him more than anything, just the notion of it, the possibility. There was still so much he didn't know about himself, and what he did know wasn't exactly flattering. Walking into a likelihood of death, even a second one, did not sit well.

"N-no, I'm sorry Shū-nee, but I'm not like you", he replied, his voice was quiet, more directed at himself than anyone else. "I'm not strong..."

His head lifted slightly as he felt something on his shoulder. Shū had crossed the gap while he was disparaging himself, her hand placed on his shoulder as a sign of reassurance. "Its alright, I know you don't like this kinda thing", she replied rather upbeat given their discussion. "These shoulders are strong enough for two, I'll take a' my goal, an' yours, alright?"

"Y-yes, sorry...", to rely on her like that, to put Shū on the spot so he could be selfish. It made Kazuki feel miserable, but he couldn't deny the sense of relief that came with it.

"It'll be fine, I promise", Shū said lastly, as the two began the slow walk up the steps to their home.