BluBlazeFire0

A Lesson In Thorns — Dark. Secluded. An hour past midnight. Hanrae had swallowed a briar bush and her throat was full of thorns. That’s what it felt like when she woke up screaming from a nightmare. Her voice was hoarse, her throat scorched. Her body blazed hot, but her sweat was cold, pasting her clothes to her shivering body. Instead of Old Man Jouji’s corner store, her eyes met the weathered lines on the wall. Instead of being surrounded by the stench of rotting oranges and decay, she found herself sitting in a room devoid of any scent. She was all the way in the Hidden Mist Village in a mountain-side hideout that had been erected no more than ten days ago using a formidable, likely forbidden, technique. The Hidden Leaf Village stood thousands of kilometers away, across the gray sea. A greater gap couldn’t exist between them. And yet, there it was in her dreams, night after night. After the first night, she’d learned to soundproof her room with a technique she’d stumbled

It took a month, but at long last, Hanrae stopped having nightmares about Old Man Jouji. Things had started innocently enough. Her dream self would walk into his shop as usual, in search of something to snack on on her way home. Everything was as it should be: the sunlight shimmering through the windows, the shop’s fruity, clean scent. From a bird’s eye view, she’d watch her body, iridescent and wobbly with dream-logic, wander to a rack of chips. And suddenly, the dream would begin splintering apart. The sun would be snuffed out, plunging the shop into darkness. The walls would crack apart, the smell of decay would replace the fruity cleaner scent. Old Man Jouji would put a hand on her shoulder, and when she turned to face him, to figure out what was wrong, she’d see his eye sockets were empty… yet he was crying thick black tears. His mouth, wrinkled and warped, was groaning in pain, as his fingernails dug into her shoulder, straight to the skin. “You betrayed us, Hanrae. You

Ririko returned to her room in the Shino academy. the date of her final exam was coming up soon and she was as prepared to pass as she could be to pass it and join the 13 court guard squads. but, that was not what she was worried about. ever since she was born 210 years ago, as a member of a branch family of the noble Kuchiki clan, she had been born with a name written on her right wrist; 麒麟寺 天示郎, which was read as; Tenjiro Kirinji. her parents had told her she had been born with it and that they had not put it there. for most of her life, people had teased her with the name on her wrist, although she didn't know why she had it. she looked at the right wrists of other people, but most people didn't have it. most. she had found two people who had it. an old man and an old woman. they were a married couple and apparently, they saw their names being imprinted on one another since their birth as that they were each other's soul mates. so, whoever this Kirinji was, he would be her soul