Crows x Souls

“If you lie to yourself how can you have friends or be trustworthy? In the end, all these lies will keep you from seeing your true self.” — Itachi Uchiha. 

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Gin’s eyes slowly cracked open and no sooner had they opened that his body flared up in pain that was accompanied by a sharp wince. 

He has never once fallen sick since waking up as a soul but he could immediately tell upon waking up that he was extremely feverish. There were also the constant flashes of searing pain from every single part of his body that would have made him cry out in agony had it not been that doing so would only result in more pain. 

“U…ugh..” A cracked groan that filled him with pain and relief escaped his mouth. Even thinking hard and trying to remember how he got here was a pain-filled mental endeavor. The only silver lining is that the memories were slowly fragmenting themselves together but the pain was stopping him from focusing on them. 

He braced himself for more pain and tried pushing himself off whatever bed he was laying on but that was the worst choice as lightning bolts of pain traveled through every nerve ending and bombarded his brain  excruciatingly. 

His body went taut while an extremely pained groan filtered out of his mouth, which was all the information he needed to remain where he was and wait for whoever would come to check on him. 

…… 

Itachi entered the makeshift room in one of his hideouts where he had restrained Gin in. Given, the young man’s chances of escaping was very slim, minutely so, that didn’t stop Itachi from holding him bound in place with a few sealing Bakudō. 

His knowledge and mastery on Kaidō, while remarkable, wasn’t intensive enough to heal the damage on Gin’s spirit core. He could stabilize him for now but only Unohana could guarantee Gin’s chances of survival. 

His Sharingan took note of Gin’s current condition and after seeing that Gin was in no way to even rouse up his Reiatsu, he removed the seals on his head and mouth to enable him speak more freely. 

Gin’s current complexion was vastly different from the poise and confidence the genius 3rd Seat used to carry himself with. Now he looked no different from a terminally ill patient on his deathbed. 

“Heh… Want… to… watch..as I slowly… die?” After finding it easier to talk, those taunting words were the first thing that came out of his mouth. 

Itachi didn’t bother answering that but he had to say he was impressed. Even in the stay he was in, Gin was still trying to rile him up and divert his focus. 

“I’ll have you know that I’m no expert in interrogation and it’s not a part of duty I am intimately fond of.” He stood beside Gin’s head and stared directly into the man’s eyes. 

“…” A pair of squinted, wary grey eyes stared up unflinchingly at the pair of black-dotted red eyes staring down. “… Kill away.”

“How drool.” Itachi remarked drily. “I think you are getting the wrong idea. I am neither that naïve nor kind enough to generously let my enemy go scot-free by granting them the luxurious reward of death especially in situations such as these.”

Gin had already prepared himself for torture the moment he came to realize where he was so Itachi’s threat didn’t faze him one bit. 

“At least take pride in it.”

Gin frowned, wondering what Itachi was talking about. Since the rest of his senses were sealed, he couldn’t sense the slight change of Reishi in the air. Well even if his senses weren’t sealed, he probably wouldn’t have sensed it anyway. 

“Welcome. To the world of Tsukuyomi.”

Gin’s eyes widened in shock and confusion, either from the ominous words from Itachi or from the red moon up in the sky and the clouds of cawing crows. 

“Now answer me; under whose command were your actions sanctioned.” Itachi calmly asked. “Take as much time as you want. I am not in a hurry.”

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[Hueco Mundo] 

A few days have passed since Itachi left the realm of Hollows and returned to the Soul Society. He was lucky enough to leave by the time mass panic struck a certain part of Hueco Mundo – with Las Noches being the center of it – and the Hollows in those areas fell into a heated frenzy as Baraggan’s wrath consumed everything in his path as he searched for a particular Hollow and his Shinigami companion. 

Starkk and Lilynette were forced to be extra careful as they hid from Baraggan, which was Starrk’s idea while Lilynette had suggested that Starrk just beat Baraggan so that he wouldn’t chase them anymore. Obviously Starrk ignored her. 

For two extremely pacifist Hollows, at least in Starrk’s case, being forced to fight other Hollows – something they’ve done less that ten times for as long as they’ve been alive – was jarring and conflicting, especially when they thought of how it'll be more frequent in the coming months/years. 

Even if there was rarely any Hollow in Hueco Mundo that posed a threat to Starrk, the fact still stood that Starrk abhorred fighting and violence above all else. 

“Rather than running around in circles, let’s continue on straight. We’ll go above the Menos Forest which is the safest path since other Hollows will think twice about running through a forest of Menos and risk getting ambushed.”

“And we don’t have to fear any ambush since they’ll run away the moment you get near!” Lilynette happily exclaimed, not knowing how much damage she just did to Starrk’s soft spot. 

“Basically.” Starrk nodded sourly, but that didn’t last as Lilynette hopped on his back and hollered that they should get moving before Baraggan sniffs out their hides. 

…… 

In another part of Hueco Mundo a Hollow hid in a naturally forming cave system with eyes squinted and ears focused on the group of four clueless Hollows that were walking through the caves. 

The topic of their discussion was the clash of spiritual pressure that she had felt coming from the direction of Las Noches a few days ago. She had honestly been panicking when their Reiatsu colored the sky and darkened it for minutes, only to stand rooted in fear when the explosion happened. 

She knew Baraggan was strong, stronger than any Hollow she’s ever seen, and to find out that an unknown Hollow not only fought the God-king, barred his advance, and also escaped from him… was unbelievable to say the least. 

Getting all the important information she could from the chatty group, she quietly slinked back into the shadows to ponder what to do with what little she was now aware of. 

Obviously she would avoid both of those plagues to the best of her abilities as failure to do that meant servitude or death. She knew that all too well. 

The two plagues could fight for the title of God-king all they want – even destroying the magnificent city of Las Noches in the process – as long as she was hundreds upon hundreds of miles from Las Noches, she couldn’t care less.

Now the problem was where could she relocate to and lay low for the meantime, at least until a clear victor was made known? By the spirits if she knew. 

…… 

[POV: With Itachi, Soul Society] 

Inside the world of the luminescent red moon, an altar was erected up from the ground and blood flowed down every corner of it in huge unending volumes. All of which belonged to the person chained atop the altar. 

Gin’s croaked voice was only a guttural groan at this point as blood continuously flowed out of his orifices. The whites of his eyes couldn’t be seen anymore even as he had them wide open since they had both been stained crimson from the blood oozing out of his eyes. 

“How long has it been, Ichimaru Gin?” A clone of Itachi formed at the end of the altar where Gin’s head lay. 

“… e… n..”

The man tried speaking but blood just flowed out of his mouth as he opened them, filling him with the sensation of drowning and suffocating. 

How long? 

He had no idea how time seemed to have passed on so fast and yet so slow that he remembered every second of it. This was torture. 

Why was he even here? Oh right, because he thought that that monster would just easily kill him or take him back to the Gotei 13 to stand trial. He’d have kept Rangiku safe and protected by ignorance by not spilling Aizen’s name but he had overestimated both his and Itachi Uchiha’s limits. And the vast differences between them. 

At the end of it all, he couldn’t even tell if any of it was worth it. 

Was it the after the third or fourth year of torture, after Itachi had remarked that he had absolutely no business with Rangiku if it was true that she wasn’t involved in this conspiracy, that he slowly started spilling everything he knew. 

Gin was prepared to face torture of any kind, but unfortunately he had nothing prepared for Itachi’s methods. 

Completely defenseless against Itachi’s manipulations (due to his injuries, mental fatigue and sealed Reiatsu), he had been thoroughly defanged and had everything stripped away from him. Brought down, broken and trampled, from his once vaunted status as a 3rd Seat. 

For the first time in as long as his soul could remember, Ichimaru Gin cried… at least he wanted to but only blood kept flowing from his eyes. 

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