Voices Cursing Helplessness [Kaito, Kurai]

His eyes widened as he saw that burning gaze, his breathing starting to pick up in pace as he could do little but watch her crawl over to him. As she brought her nail close, Kaito froze, his body only trembling as she sliced his shirt into nothing but tatters. Though he instinctively went to press his back against the wall, he shivered and jumped at the cold touch of the brick.

As she asked what he held onto, Kaito turned his head to the side, closing his eyes. While it didn't show in his face, it stung to hear someone reinforce what he was -- a nameless, talentless urchin from the furthest ends of the Rukongai. A look of shame came to him as his eyes opened, his hands moving to hold his arms. But, then, she figured it out, and Kaito's eyes widened in shock and fear, only to flinch as she scraped his skin.

His expression turned ever more crestfallen as she brought up what Hiroe saw under the influence of her powers. All the doubt that had seeped into his mind, taunting him in every quiet moment, every time he looked at Hiroe, saw her progress, saw her soar, all of that had been confirmed.

While he tried to keep himself away from her as she leaned in, what she said caused any sense of resistance and hope in his eyes to fade. The Senkaimon...had been destroyed? No...that meant...all this time he'd been waiting was for nothing.


The realization of it all hit him like a brick. There was no point in resisting. There was no point in keeping hope. Hiroe wasn't coming. Byakuya wasn't coming. Hono wasn't coming. Nobody was. They wouldn't waste their time saving a nobody, a weakling who didn't have even a fraction of the talent and blessings they did. All he ever did was hold them back.

Kaito's head lowered, his lips parted and trembling, his eyes wide as he stared at the floor. Tears welled up in his eyes, silently dripping to the floor.

He had always been afraid that Hiroe would leave him behind one day.

He just never imagined it would happen so soon.

Kaito's head remained focused on the floor, his eyes slowly glazing over as his arms fell to his sides and his body slumped backward against the wall. The bitter cold of the brick didn't even matter anymore. The rest of his body seemed to operate on its own, tears continuing to flow.

He didn't bother resisting her touch as she ruffled his hair, the prior wariness and paranoia gone as he didn't even so much as look toward the door as it opened. In processing what she asked, Kaito remained quiet. Nobody was going to save him. From what she said about the visions Hiroe witnessed, she didn't even care enough about him to look.

But, even as his heart became encroached with despair, small, pitiful embers still fought. Despite never having stepped foot on human soil before now, nor ever having drawn breath like they did, this Shinigami's heart burned with a basic human desire: to live.

"...Obey."

His voice was quiet, cracked, and its typical pitch was off. But, if it meant he would live for just a little longer, he would try and endure. If not for Hiroe, if not for the home that he could never truly return to, if not for the family that had been slaughtered at her hand...he would try and live for his own sake. He didn't even think of what he would do if he ever was free. The only thing he could even hope for at this point was to live another day.

Because right now, that was the only thing he could hope for.