[DISCONTINUED] Strive | Bleach

Chapter Fourteen: A Betrayer's Betrayal.

Chapter Fourteen: A Betrayer's Betrayal.

Abaron's POV

“Captain Kyoraku, wake up.” Nanao set me down on the floor and walked over to where her Captain was laying. His hat was over his face, so I wasn’t able to see if he was faking or not. But by the way he was breathing; I’d say that he wasn’t. Beside him was an empty bottle of sake and seven cups.

“Looks like he drank himself to sleep again,” I said quietly. I cringed as my head lolled slightly. I felt sick from all of the blood that spilled from me. I was really tired, too.

“Yes, but in these circumstances, he shouldn’t have.” She picked up the sake bottle and dropped it on his hat-covered face. He shot up in discomfort, clutching his bleeding nose. There was a slight blush layered over his cheeks as he stared up at his short-tempered Lieutenant.

“What was that for, Nanao?” he whined. “You couldn’t have just asked me to wake up?” Her nostrils flared in disgust, as when he spoke, a heavy smell of alcohol came out of his mouth and filled the air.

“No, I don’t think I could’ve. I’ve done as you requested, Captain.” She pointed over at me. His eyebrows rose. Nanao groaned. “I’m going back to my office now to finish my report.” She shut the door behind her.  Shunsui sent me an inquisitive look.

“Hello.”

“I’m glad… you could make it,” he tried to stifle a hiccough. “Would you care for a drink?”

“Well, it’s like Nanao said; under these circumstances, I don’t think that’s a great idea.” He shrugged and poured himself another glass with a different bottle

“Of course it’s a good idea,” he said, sounding shocked. “How could you say such a thing?” I shrugged, which sent a fresh wave of sharp pains in my shoulders. He noticed this and set his cup down on the floor. “You look terrible.”

“If you weren’t a Captain, I would’ve slapped you for saying that.”

“That never stopped you before. So, will you tell me why you look like that?”

“I can’t,” I said. “It’s a personal matter.”

“I know almost everything about you, anyway, Abaron, so you may as well—“”It’s not like I don’t want to, I just can’t.” He nodded as if he understood, but I knew him well enough to know that he was scheming to get me to tell him. He may look like a geezer, but he acts like a kid playing a game. He has the image of a guy in his late thirties, which is why I understand that the younger girls turn him down—I wouldn’t be surprised if they still did. But for someone who’s over a thousand years old, he looked pretty good. Besides him, Jūshirō, Unohana, and the Head Captain, Shōri and I were part of the higher aged age group.

“Would you ever tell me?” he asked.

“One day,” I said, staring out the window. “Hey, are you good at using Kidō?” He seemed surprised at my question. He took a sip of his drink.

“I guess I am, but why--?” He looked at my shoulders and my forehead and sighed. “What did you do to yourself?”

“It’s on a need-to-know basis, Shunsui. So, can you heal me?” He sighed again before sliding off of the pink flowery robe he was sleeping on.

“Come on.” But I couldn’t move. Nanao had carried me here. I couldn’t even push myself off of the floor because the wounds were too deep. I was afraid that they would fall off completely. “You really are a hot mess.”