One is the Loneliest Number [Closed]

"God-fucking-DAMNIT!" The pillow was receiving a beating today, Daigoro sitting on his bed and hitting it repeatedly with anger in his eyes. "Who does that woman think she is, telling me specifically that I cannot be there to help save Kaminari, despite the fact that it was clearly my fault!" The pillow was picked up and thrown at the wall, bouncing off of it and landing on Daigoro's bed in front of him again. He growled quietly, putting his hands onto the soft object and shaking his head. "Just because she's a fucking Captain. Just because she's that, doesn't mean she can tell me no." His breathing was heavy, and his eyes were laced with wet tears. "And to top it all off, the woman who took her was none other than that harlot Lasciel." Standing up and clambering off of the bed, he huffed and shook as he looked around the immaculate room. His face was contorted in a mixture of pain, anger and sadness--every fibre of his being wanted to march into Hueco Mundo alone and kill that bitch. But it was orders, wasn't it? He was to remain here, otherwise he'd be playing directly into Lasciel's hands. He had to stay behind, in order to avoid compromising the mission. "But all I want to do is fix my mistakes." He frowned and looked up.

It would have been easy enough for him to simply walk home with Kaminari. I mean, there was nothing more to it. He could've walked back with her, taken her back to the barracks and it would have been kosher. Instead, Drunk-Dai made a stupid decision. Drunk-Dai left the woman behind. Then again, what would it have mattered? If they were being tailed, would it have been possible for Dai to just have been knocked out then and there? Every single possibility of occurrence flickered through his mind, and he brought his hands up to his temples, sitting down and growling again. Tears slowly began to flow, and no matter how he tried to shake them off, he could do naught but sit there and cry. He had thought that losing Manae would be the last time he could've felt that lonely.

He was wrong.

"For the first time in a long time, I'm not entirely sure what to say." Slowly, ever so slowly, his eyes would move from their place on the floor and move up to look into her eyes. If she looked closely enough, she would be able to see the regret and sadness that permeated his thoughts. His entire body shook with fear, and for the first time in a long time, Daigoro Ito--the Iron Wall--was vulnerable and scared. He stood in place, watching her while she moved around, looking back at him. "K-Kaminari is s-strong." He swallowed, closing one eye as she approached closer to him, green hair fluttering slightly in the air around her. "And... so is C-Captain Koenig." She stepped in closer once more, placing her right hand in his. He wasn't sure why, but his fingers instinctively locked in place around hers and he felt himself just staring into her eyes for a few seconds, watching where she was looking, trying to see if he could uncover exactly what it was she was thinking about. His heart beat slightly in his chest, and he shook a little bit more as she lead him towards the bed, sitting down beside him. He finally managed to break away from her eyes, looking down at the ground again. "Sure, they may be strong. But that means nothing for me. I just want to fix my error.

He looked back up towards her, seeing that she was raising a hand up to wipe a tear from her eyes. He frowned slightly and reached up with his free hand, wiping away a couple of tears from her cheek. Now that he thought about it, he had never had the chance to see her up from this close before--she was a lot more beautiful from this distance than he had considered. His fingers lingered on her cheek for a moment more, before moving away and back to his lap. "Kaminari is going to be fine. She will come back safe. They will bring her back. And when she does return, you will see that none of this was your fault." He felt her soft fingers gingerly moving across his face, trying their best to comfort him and tidy him up. He sighed softly, reaching up to his face and taking her other hand in his, pulling it down and to his lap, holding them both while frowning. "You say that, but I'm the one they want," He sighed again and let go, looking at a distant wall with narrowing eyes, "No matter what I say or think, I know that they're after me. Their leader, Lasciel, appears to have some kind of grudge against me--one that I am not sure I understand, frankly..." He looked back at her once more, cheeks reddening when he noticed just how much closer he'd shimmied towards her while he was speaking.

"It's something that just crossed my mind, but..." She looked at him, and his heart skipped several beats. For some reason, he couldn't exactly break his eyes away from hers. "What do you think would have happened if they had gotten you over Kaminari?" His mouth opened slightly in response, but he couldn't seem to get the words out. There was a pain in those eyes that he recognized--a pain that he'd seen in the mirror one-too-many-times. Their eyes broke away, and Midori stood up to start tidying up the room; apparently even when there was a situation like this going on she would still continue to do such a thing. She wasn't even supposed to be doing anything today. It was... strange, to him, that she'd be here like this. She had only come around to clean his house, right? Shaking his head, he looked up at her with a worried expression. "We wouldn't know. You would have completely disappeared on us and the chance of seeing you again would have been low. Kaminari would hunt and I would hunt, and we'd never find you." He swallowed a little, watching her with an expression of near-sorry, trying to recognize her demeanor, and trying to understand a few things himself.

" Because if they got you over Kaminari, there wouldn't have been a note, there wouldn't have been a hint. They would have killed you and I don't think either Kaminari or myself could handle that." He bit his bottom lip, shaking his head. Why did she speak like that? She was a friend, a guardian--nothing more! He didn't understand why she would talk like this. His mind went back to the day that he'd woken up from the long period of unconsciousness. He thought about how they had first spoken, interacted with each other. It was a simple offer: she was attempting to get him back on his feet, so she said that she would help clean his apartment in the barracks and keep him fixed up. He agreed, but did not expect her to arrive every day, exactly at 7am. Eventually, he managed to convince her to arrive every other day--though this took about six months. After this, it took effectively two years for him to convince her to only come twice a week, and to do that he needed to pay her. He'd felt guilty about it, but at the same time he wondered if he could even function properly without her anymore. She was just so much a part of his life--they were practically married. He looked back up at her and finally understood why she was looking so worried.

"At least this way, there is a chance to bring Kaminari back. Do you understand what I mean?" He nodded, and got to his feet, at least a little bit shakily. --stop keeping her waiting... Y-Ya -hic- jerk." Even when being kept prisoner in Hueco Mundo, Kaminari's presence seemed to echo in the back of his mind. She said a line that he couldn't quite recall, not understanding who or why it was said. However, something finally clicked and he walked up to her, placing a light hand on her shoulder and pulling her in close to his body, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. For the first time in fifteen years, he spoke the words that he should have said so long ago. "Thank you, for everything. And sorry for worrying you." He still felt like shit, and would probably continue to blame himself for a while. But at least he could make this person feel better... right?

In fairness, this was not the reaction that he'd expected. For her body to simply collapse in on his like that and for her to start crying, he realized that she must have been holding back a lot of heartache and sadness over the years, simply to watch him be happy. Wait, really? He frowned slightly as she buried her face in his chest, trying to best make sense of what her actions had entailed. The question was on the tip of his tongue, and he wanted to ask it--but he wasn't sure if he could ask it right now. He wasn't sure of anything--of his feelings, of her feelings, of the situation that they'd been placed in... He sighed quietly, closing one eye and biting his bottom lip. "M..." He quieted himself, pulling her in as closely as he could and just closing his eyes, letting this happen. Things would occur as they would occur, he just needed time to understand what would occur.

"Don't... cry." His voice was barely a whisper, crackling at the edges with worry and care. He still wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt like seeing her cry would be a bad idea. He pulled her slightly away from him and reached down, taking her chin underneath his finger and raising her to look up at him. His free hand would attempt to wipe the tears off of her cheeks, and get the bangs out of her eyes. "It's wrong for such a pretty woman to cry like this, especially in front of me." His smile was soft and caring, and he felt himself almost wanting to press his face up towards her. However, the sound of a breaking neck stopped that thought in its tracks. Instead, he was left with the lifeless body of his wife in his vision, taking up everything to do with Midori right in front of him. And in the background of that sound, he heard his wife laughing... standing before him with a cruel grin, attempting to cut the very life out of his chest. He bit his bottom lip and stepped backwards, shaking his head. "S-sorry. Y-you will..." He sighed and stumbled backwards, sitting down on his bed, Daigoro forcing his best smile through the pain, "You will certainly make your lover happy, no matter who you choose." He couldn't accept any more of those thoughts. Not right now.

Okay, to the not-so-oblivious, being looked after by someone for fifteen years means a lot. It, for all intents and purposes, tells you that 'HEY, YOU MEAN A FUCKLOAD TO THIS PERSON'. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy for Daigoro. While he had the intelligence and insight to actually see this in theory, in reality, he was too hung up on what had occurred in his past. In reality, he could not see past the fact that Manae had been killed right in front of him, all while he was too powerless to do anything about it. He didn't want that to happen to Midori. Looking up at her, he could see something change in her face and in her eyes. Had he...? Did she...? He didn't know anymore. The images of Manae finally vanished from his eyes, and all that was left there was Midori. Midori, Midori, Midori. The woman who had been by his side for fifteen years. The woman who had looked after him for all of this time. Why couldn't he see it? What was in the way? Whenever he looked into her eyes, he could see something there, yearning to be let out. Why couldn't he see it?! What was blocking his vision?! Again, Manae's voice entered his mind. Everything was maddening. It was driving him insane! His entire body shook and shivered. "So don't worry too much. They'll bring her back and no one will let them hurt you." His eyes opened up and he got to his feet, turning away from Midori slightly.

"I can't." He knew that he'd get a questioning response, so he continued on, "I can't do it. I know what could happen--I know the potential ramifications. I know what denying direct orders will get me in. So why don't I give a damn?!" He turned around and stared at her, fire burning in his eyes. "She'd do the same for me. I... can't let the second-most important woman in my life just be killed for my sake. If I'm not there, what's to stop them from killing her? I can defend myself." He leaned in, pressing his lips up against Midori's forehead and turned away again, placing his sealed Zanpakutō against his hip and pushing the door open, before looking back at her with a soft smile. "If I don't return, I'm sorry. It's been a wonderful fifteen years." He sighed and turned away, closing the door behind him.

Within a few minutes he was at the Senkaimon. Within a few more, he was through the Dangai. And when he finally breathed the air of Hueco Mundo and placed his feet into the sand, his resolve had already been set.

"Lasciel. I'm going to kill you."