Azdeha blinked back the tears that were beginning to stream steadily from her eyes. Her cheeks felt itchy with the dampness each trail left behind, but she had to be strong and not let this get to her. The minute she did, she would let her guard down and she would be dead. But it was hard to concentrate. Byakuya had a point. He had never actually indicated that she was anything more than a plaything to him. He had certainly never mentioned the word 'love' around her, and she wasn't altogether sure that if her life was in danger, he'd try and save her.
She adjusted her position, shifting her weight to her stronger foot. It gave her the advantage that she could choose to fall into either and attack or defence stance. Whichever she was going to need first. It had been something Byakuya had taught her a while back when he had taken to training her privately; along with being able to predict an opponent’s movements from their stance, and how to use flash step. The latter part she was still trying to get the hang of but she was good at predicting her opponents.
Except Byakuya. He knew full well that she had that ability and he kept his stance neutral, as if goading her into making the first move. She could tell he was weighing her up and working out what she was going to do and shifting from foot to foot wasn't helping her, but she wasn't quick enough to get into position from a neutral stance if the need arose. She needed to do something though. Something he wouldn't be expecting. She stared at his stony face for a moment, the gas light flickering off it, causing shadows to dance across his well sculpted cheek bones, when suddenly it hit her.
It was probably the most ridiculous idea she had ever had, and no doubt it would get her killed, but if there was a chance it would throw him off guard enough to get one single hit in, then it was a chance she was going to have to take. She lowered Kurobara.
"Are you giving up so fast? I thought more of you, Deha." He sneered, "Then again you always were weak when it came to your emotions. Emotions have no place in the Gotei 13."
"You don't really believe that." she took a step forward, hoping that her opponent didn't find it threatening. He didn't. He just looked at her. "If you did you would have let Rukia die back then."
"I was honouring a promise."
Another step forward. "To someone you love."
"Loved. You cannot love someone who is no longer alive."
"Is that why you keep a shrine to her?" another step, she was only a few meters away now, and still Byakuya didn't seem concerned with her movements.
He blinked, slowly, "I do it out of honour."
"Is honour all you care about Byakuya? What about my honour?" she was getting closer.
"Your honour is insignificant. You're a peasant. A commoner from the Rukon, willing to give yourself away to the highest bidder. I merely took advantage. I saw the way you looked at me. It was easy to seduce you, and you drank it up. Believed that I saw anything more in you than just the whore you are."
Azdeha was shocked, but she couldn't let it show. She bit down on her tongue and inched closer. She could just about touch him. He looked down at her, confusion now evident in his eyes, but her zanpakuto was still lowered and he clearly saw her as no threat. "If that's how you feel, then why not use me one last time? If you're going to kill me you might as well get some pleasure out of it first."
"Is that what you're trying to do here? Get me to admit I care?" the corners of his lips turned up in a half smile. "Your efforts are wasted. I could take you right now, and stab you as soon as I'm done, then walk away without so much as a backwards glance."
Azdeha nodded. "I don't doubt it. What I do doubt is your ability to make me feel pleasure." she reached up, standing on tiptoes and planted her lips firmly against his. He responded, kissing her deeper, one hand grasping her hair and forcing her head back as he crushed his body into hers. This was it, she had momentarily distracted him by catering to his sense of pride. In a flash she raised Kurobara and thrust the sharpened blade through her captain’s ribcage. He reeled back, staring at her in shock as his hand flew to the hilt of his zanpakuto. Too late however. Azdeha had already disarmed him when she stabbed him. He looked down at the zanpakuto protruding from his chest and frowned.
"You tricked me." it was a statement. "But....you love me."
"When have I ever told you that I love you? Or that I even care about you?" She echoed his own words back at him, each syllable feeling like poison on her tongue. The man fell to the side staring up at her in horror for a split second before he gurgled once, blood bubbling from his lips, and went limp.
Kneeling next to him, Deha yanked the sword out from his chest. It required a little bit of effort since she had wedged it through his ribcage, but she didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse at her actions.
After all, he wasn't real.
She had figured that out quick enough once she'd remembered that Byakuya had taught her essential fighting skills. He realised that he might not always be able to come to her rescue, so he had given her the ability to fend for herself, so that he wouldn't have to. He had made her a stronger warrior. If he hadn't cared about preserving her life, he wouldn't have bothered. After all, he didn't give anyone else private tuition. Not even his own sister.
She stood up and wiped the blade on her hakama, clearing it of blood before re-sheathing it. "Well Kurobara, looks like I know where your bitch side came from." The blade vibrated in response and Deha grinned. It was time to get out of this place wherever it was.
She stepped over Byakuya's corpse and went to the far wall. There was no join in the wall here, which meant the only exit was the way she came in. But that couldn't be right. She had come from one end of the corridor, where there was nothing…to the other which ended with the door. Unless she had missed a turn off somewhere, which she doubted.
Deha groaned and walked back to the other room where she had left Renji. His body still lay limp on the floor. She glanced at it once, then strolled past it, not bothering to mourn him. He wasn't real either. None of this was. That's why there was a room so far underground, one that was lit with gas lamps even though there was no gas supply down here. That had been the biggest give away. It had been annoying her since she'd seen them but it was only when she had combined her thoughts about Byakuya and the gas lamps that she fully understood what was going on.
Something, somewhere was making her live her worst nightmares and whatever it was, was going to pay dearly for making her feel the way she had in those rooms. She reached the doorway and stepped out into the corridor. Only this was a different corridor. The blood was gone and there was another path in front of her. This one lined with grey stone. The path she had used before was gone.
She looked up at the ceiling, "You are in a whole pile of shit, whoever the hell you are!" she called into the darkness beyond, and with a renewed sense of purpose, she began to stalk down the pathway.
