A Missing Piece [Yuuto/Mirai]

It was dark when her eyes finally opened. The curtains were closed, lights off. The only hint of life came from a tall, narrow window that clearly led out into a hall. She was at a hospital, but… she had absolutely no idea why. The last thing she could remember was ending her mission successfully. She was walking down the street and then she was here, in this room… ‘What… happened… Where am I?’

As if called in on cue, the door opened and Mirai was instantly at her feet. If it weren’t for he recognizing the shihakusho, she would have attacked this woman. “Calm down! Calm down! You’re in the care of the Second Division; we’ll be notifying your Captain that you’ve woken up.” “What happened?” “All we know is that you were attacked. Your wounds were treated by 5th Seat Hatakeyama.”

"That explains the lack of pain at least... If I was attacked..." Mirai shut up and sat back down in bed. Her eyes darted around the room, as she mind rummaged through her memories and nothing was coming up. "... Damn it. I must have failed... Hurry up and inform Captain Hisakawa..." Mirai curled her knees to her chest, staring down at each thread in the fabric of her hospital blanket. 'Focus.'

Waiting was agony. Every second that he was stuck in this accursed waiting room only made him more anxious and upset, an expression rarely worn by the Fifth Division's Captain, something that everyone else in the waiting room looked at with shocked silence. He bit down hard on his index finger as he sat, easily, but unknowingly, breaking the skin, his blood clotting immediately in response.

The instant he heard his name, he was gone. He knew what room she was in, and he tore through the hospital, getting to the door in barely five seconds. His eyes were wide with panic as he looked at her, curled up in the bed. In the blink of an eye, Yuuto close the miniscule distance, bringing her into a tight embrace, one that he never wanted to let her go from.

For the first time since the attempt on his life that she had been caught up in, the Captain of the Stealth Force, someone that seemed to never be scared, a man that always sought to inspire hope in others, warmly and gently guiding them as teacher and Captain...the mask he wore, one of an invincible guardian, shattered as he trembled, holding his friend in his arms.

Beyond anything else, he was overjoyed that she was awake and okay.

Mirai could almost count down the seconds since his name was called. When she realized he was still in the building, that either meant he was here for hours or it had not been that long since her arrival. She raised her head as he entered, an unreadable expression on her face as too many emotions rushed through her. Everything from fear, to shame, to joy… She wasn’t sure what to feel until his arms wrapped around her and that sense of security only he brought to her returned.

Mirai was quick to return the embrace, laying her head on his shoulder and running a hand through his hair. She could feel this man’s fear… or was it anger? It wouldn’t be anger at her, so maybe it was relief. Yuuto’s care toward his friends was always a strong and notable trait of his, a trait that relaxed her. “I’m okay…” Mirai said weakly, her voice actually cracking as the words escaped her throat.

Slowly releasing him, Mirai gave a soft, but reassuring smile. "Physically, at least... Yuuto, what happened? I don't remember anything," she said. And when those words came out, they shook. Mirai was always a paranoid woman, scared of how unsafe the world was. She hated feeling vulnerable, and it showed in her trembling wide eyes, shaky hands that she cupped together, and a tightly clenched jaw.

Anger, relief, fear, so many emotions ran through him as he held onto Mirai. Fury at the person who did this to her, relief that she was okay, fear at how this might have affected her or what this currently unknown assailant might have done to her. But, as he heard her say that she was okay, his arms only tightened around her. But, when she asked what happened, that she didn't remember anything...initially, he started to panic.

But, in that same instant, he was able to calm himself. He needed to stay calm -- no, Mirai needed him to stay calm. If he was panicking, that would only make things worse for her. So, as he slowly broke their embrace, no matter how much he didn't want to, Yuuto carefully sat down next to her on the bed, running everything that he had done through his head after letting Kaminari get to work.

"Someone attacked you, I'm certain of it. I checked the records of the locations you were at for the mission to be sure, and, you didn't fail. You took care of your target, that much I know. As for the memory loss...my current theory is that someone used Hakufuku on you. Beyond that...I got a message from you that was a picture of..."

His voice faltered, quivering with hurt, as well as unbelievable fury. In all the years that Mirai had known him, or really, anyone in the Gotei and Soul Society at large, this was new.

"...Of you, beaten, and unconscious."

He had gone through records of every single Shinigami, sighted Arrancar, and past reports from Mirai to corroborate all the information he might need as to what might have attacked her. As far as anyone was concerned, there was no especially noteworthy humans in the area that day, no Arrancar sighted, no other Shinigami stationed there that would have done this. None on their side, at least.

At first, he had thought that someone had managed to deliver enough trauma to her that it caused her mind to defend itself by either blocking out the memories, or potentially malfunction in the process of memory-keeping. But, he had remembered the faint traces of energy where she laid, and the peculiar saltiness in her hair, and how dry it had been, despite still having wet area to it.

Then, there was the picture itself. From what he had seen upon looking at it again, it didn't seem like the photographer had zoomed in, given the lack of grain and pixelization in the picture. With that in mind, he could at least make a rough estimate of how far away the camera had been to the ground, as well as factoring in the difference for holding out the object, giving something of a middle ground for him with the estimate of the individual's height.

But, her Denreshinki had been disposed of after the image was sent, and nobody in the area had been able to find it, and any attempts to find it through ringer only led to an error message, leaving the possibility of fingerprints out of the question, as well as potentially figuring out exactly where the message was sent.

Water, Hakufuku, the possible height of the assailant, and what he knew of both Mirai's past reports and records he had looked into when she first brought up a similar individual on one of her last missions to the Living World...

"I have an inkling as to who did this, but, I'll have to do more looking into it to be certain. I won't let them hurt you ever again, Mirai."

With that, he wrapped his arms around her again, keeping her held close. Nothing else mattered.

Mirai watched Yuuto carefully as he explained what happened. ‘Hakufuku… No, no, no, no… Son of a bitch…’ Mirai hated that kido. She despised that kido with so much of her being. It had only come up once in her past, but it wasn’t used on her in that moment. It was used on another, and she also had a theory that an enhanced version of it was used on Kaminari herself. Messing with someone’s memories was messing with their reality… It was something she found unforgivable.

So, Mirai tensed up, eyes wide, pupils dilated as she stared off toward a random spot in the room. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, throughout her body, like it was crawling out of her skin. 'What the hell happened to me...'

Mirai didn't really hear his words, his promise. When he pulled her in, he could feel how resistant she was, how tense and still. "Yuuto... what happened to me..." she whispered, voice shaky in fear. "Where's the report..." Mirai pulled out of his arms and looked around the room. "She would have done a report..." Mirai kept talking under her breath, trying to hold back her own panic. She saw a clipboard handing from the edge of the bed and grabbed it. "Beaten... unconscious... No, no, no..."

Mirai paced the room as she flipped through the pages until she found the injury report and froze to read. She went through each injury, noting mainly the broken ribs and collar bone and the areas of kido damage, but... there was nothing else. A certain box on the third page wasn't checked and there was no description besides the words 'You're good.' Mirai put a hand on her lower stomach, suddenly breathing heavily as all the tension left her body. Her legs suddenly gave out and she collapsed to the floor, the fear settling. "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay..."

He noticed the dissociation, her head turning and focusing on that single point in the room. That low, fearful whisper was not something he heard often, but in the rare instance that it happened, it broke his heart. To hear one of his closest friends so scared and vulnerable hurt more than anything.

As she stood up, Yuuto immediately followed, a hand slightly reaching out to catch her if her legs gave out, or if she just needed support. He watched with a mildly crestfallen expression as she looked through the injury report. He didn't dare look at it himself, but, as Mirai suddenly collapsed, Yuuto immediately was by her side, a hand on each shoulder to support her, taking a brief glance at the fallen clipboard, before pulling her into another embrace.

"You're okay."

Perhaps, normally, he would have said more. But, right now...all he wanted was to hold her close, to never let her go, and, even when the hug would inevitably end, to never remain far away.

Mirai went completely limp, practically melting into Yuuto’s embrace as he held her again. She leaned into him, her hands firmly gripping the front of his shirt. It took her a few minutes to recover, minutes that were filled with nothing more than a few heavy breaths. When she felt enough at ease that her hands naturally loosened their death grip, she lifted her head to look up at Yuuto.

“I hate that spell.” she said in her usual tone, back to her normal self. "I was knocked out in the world of the living, after my mission… How did I get back here?"

He couldn't blame her. He had a feeling most people would, had they ever unfortunately been on the receiving end of it, especially for someone already fearful and wary of the world like Mirai. But, as she held onto him, Yuuto's arms would ever so gently wrap around her, a hand lightly running through her hair as he cradled her head close to him.

"I brought you back. Someone...presumably the person who attacked you, sent a picture of...of you, and I got there as fast as I could."

Ever so carefully, Yuuto went to help get Mirai back to her feet, guiding her back to the bed and sitting down next to her. A hand gingerly went to reach for Mirai's own, but quickly retreated. The Captain's lips parted, as if preparing to say something, leaving a rather notable, uncharacteristic silence before he finally spoke.

"I want you to stay with me once you're discharged. Just...just to be safe, so I can keep an eye on you and not be far away. Please."

It did not take long for Mirai to realize that someone had her life in their hands. She was down, unconscious. They took the time to take a picture and send it to her Captain. They wiped her memory and just left her there for him to find. Someone had complete and utter control over her existence and it was their choice to let her live. Now, an entire chapter of Mirai’s life belonged solely to another.

‘And I don’t even know who they are…’

Mirai kept her composure to the best of her ability, though her spirit was shaken, as she looked to Yuuto. “Thank you… for bringing me home.” She said, feigning a relaxed demeanor. She saw the momentary reach he made for her hand, and would have welcomed it, but he pulled away, so she turned her gaze to the bed. His next words were completely unexpected, but she was instantly grateful to them.

“Yes,” she said with no hesitation, a quick answer born of true fear and desperation. If anyone could keep Mirai safe from an entity watching her from the shadows, it would be Yuuto. “Please,” she said, a plea hidden beneath false confidence.