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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 25, 2024 2:47:11 GMT -6
Yumiko hesitated before following him, her hands clenching at her sides. It would be easy to stop now — as she had so many times before — but she wouldn’t this time. Not yet.
“You’re ignoring the question, Vale. Sorry, Seto. I didn’t bring him up to hurt you or to even compare you two. You’re not similar at all besides you both holding criminal records, not even in the way you’ve handled those records.” She grabbed his sleeve. “It’s never served me a purpose to put you two together. It’s only brought on as much grief as trying to compare Kita to myself.”
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 25, 2024 2:58:01 GMT -6
"At this point in my life, telling the truth of my past would sway no one." He looked at his love. "Except maybe you. Yumiko I am not looking for sympathy or even understanding. I don't want to lose you. So I am baring it all for you. But, don't ask me to talk to your Kyoraku and Ukitake about it. I tried. It didn't work. And, it won't work if I do it again."
"You still won't answer the question, Seto," she murmured, ignoring the part about herself. "Do you care what they say?"
"Of course I do." he admitted. "But, only because of you. I worry about what will be said of you...because of me."
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 25, 2024 3:28:54 GMT -6
Yumiko leaned against him, looking at the river again as she considered his reply. Something seemed off there, but she wasn’t sure if she knew enough to call him out on it. She closed her eyes and took a gamble. “Maybe that’s the reason now, but I don’t think it always was.” She released him and walked back to the bridge, sitting on the railing. “Unless you were doing it for my sake when you first pursued me in Las Noches. When I still believed him.”
She realized that she was treading on thin ice between his secrets and hers, but it seemed the only way forward. And for now, because her focus was on the man before her, her heart remained calm. It would hurt later.
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 25, 2024 11:40:46 GMT -6
Seto wrapped his arms around Yumiko again, this time he held on tightly. "Listen, if you think that is the right course of action, then I will do it. But, I do not do it willingly." Seto rolled his eyes. "I put this task in your hands. Set it up and I will speak my history. But promise me that you will not get your hopes up. I don't see this going the way you think it will."
"I'm the last person who would know how it would go," Yumiko replied, stroking his hair. "It's only the beginning of your history and according to you, it doesn't explain your destruction on Soul Society later. However, killing your division matters a lot to them and you always come back to it. If getting to the bottom of that will help you, that's what matters to me."
Seto nodded. He was quiet for a while. His eyes closed as he inhaled deeply, taking in her scent. He smiled. "What else would you like to know, love?"
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 25, 2024 16:59:05 GMT -6
Yumiko fell silent, her hand continuing to move through his hair as he leaned against her, eyes lowered against the sunlight. “Why did you go to Aizen? You weren't part of the first rebellion as far as anyone knows, so why after? Why would you seek him out in Hueco Mundo?"
"I don't like being without a place or purpose..." he whispered, his eyes still closed. "He offered me both. I had nothing else, Yumiko. I needed something...Otherwise, I would have been lost and probably not among the living..."
That reply hit a little too close to home for Yumiko, and her arms tightened around him momentarily before relaxing again. But she couldn't stop her heart pounding. She closed her eyes as she spoke next, her voice halting, thick with emotion. "Then... why leave now?"
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 25, 2024 17:17:16 GMT -6
Seto smiled again. "I found purpose outside of that place. I have Kadaj and Ide. I have you." Ide... Seto pulled away from Yumiko. "I have a fourteen years old son. His mother, Kaya, she found out she was pregnant right before I left for Las Noches again...Back when Alister first started playing his games." He took another step away. "I couldn't deny the boy if I tried...We share a face...And, a personality."
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 25, 2024 17:50:59 GMT -6
As he moved away from her again, Yumiko resettled her kimono, her churning emotions fading with him. She followed his movement. The idea that Vale- Seto- had another kid should have angered her but it didn't. Maybe it was his smile. It would be better if that were the truth. But she'd started realizing that it might be something else she didn't want to name.
"If he's like you then he must be a handful. Did this happen when you started fighting in Las Noches when you were supposed to be without any powers?"
Back when he was still in Karakura pretending to be human and she was trying to keep her distance despite his attempts to woo her? That had been the case until she found out his secret... and couldn't stop worrying. She lowered her eyes as the memory of what happened after she pushed him back into that apartment that day filled her head. And the time in the rose garden more recently that echoed the same words.
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 25, 2024 18:02:45 GMT -6
"Before Alister returned my powers, I believe." Seto shrugged. "If my math is correct. Um..." He stepped toward Yumiko again, reached for her and taking her arm. "My memory of that time is still fairly ugly. But, this happened outside of us. Memory...No memory...Power...No power...I wouldn't have done that to you. And, I've done some horrible things to you." Seto took her hand in his and pulled her back toward him. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay...." she murmured in reply as she let him pull her along. She offered him another smile. "Is Ide as cute as his little brother? Does he know about Daj?"
Seto nodded. "I sent him to Urahara's on the day we met...Which was only yesterday. A bit of a sneaky meet and greet, if you will. They become aware of him and he becomes aware of them. If he ever needs them, he knows where to find them. And, if I am not around to protect him, I know Urahara and his clan will. I haven't spoken to him since then though. So, I'm not sure who he met."
Yumiko nodded. "I'm sure I'll meet him someday." She pushed onwards. "And his mother? have you seen her?"
"No." Seto tilted his head to the side, a look of confusion on his face. "I get the feeling that you're keeping secrets, Yumiko Ryouma." He smiled. "I know that none of this is easy to digest. And, you can be upset and hurt. Even annoyed. But, please don't keep those emotions from me. Don't do that."
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 27, 2024 2:17:32 GMT -6
She sighed deeply and pulled away. “I don’t know what to feel, Vale- Seto.” She shook her head. “You’ve changed again. You’re talking to me, but there’s still some distance between us, and now you have two kids with other women. I should be mad, at least annoyed. But,” she closed her eyes, pushing the tears back, “it’s hard to put a finger on what I feel at the moment about that. It’s such a subdued emotion.” It was her turn to move around. She walked back to the railing, looking at the water below as continued. “You’ve left Las Noches. I should be overjoyed, but I’m more relieved and happy for your sake than my own. Until now, you’ve been pushing me away ever since we left Las Noches, and I haven’t had the heart to really chase after you. Maybe because I thought I’d lost you. Again. Or maybe….” Her hands clenched on the railing as she dropped her head to hide her tumultuous expression as the pain started to bubble up again.
A few moments later, she threw her head back up, voice brittle from keeping it from breaking. “You’re right, Vale. You’re not the only one with secrets, and I came here not only to talk to you. To maybe find some clarity of emotion. I need to tell you mine.” She closed her eyes against the overwhelming glare of the sky. She was still adjusting to standing in the sunlight. It could still be painful at times.
Another secret she’d never spoken of since leaving that room.
She sighed and looked skyward again, squinting at the clouds. “I know you say you’re in love with me, and I’ve wanted to believe that I’ve been as attached to you, but now I have to admit that I’m uncertain. Maybe I've always have been. Because what drew me to you was always different than what pulled you towards me.” She hesitated, blinking tears out of her face, and faced him, her hands digging into the railing. “I’m sorry, Vale. Seto. I fell in love with Aizen first, and I- I have never managed to escape that.” She dropped her head. “I’m sorry.”
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 27, 2024 8:56:55 GMT -6
Seto sighed and watched her from where he stood. "I know..." he said. "And, knowing that you will always love him - more even - should be enough to leave you be. But, it's not." Seto shrugged. "Call me stupid." They were silent for a while.
"Do you...Still hold onto hope for him to come back to you? If you do...You should probably let me know that." he gave a nervous chuckle. "I could move on and leave you to it...Like Kyoraku and Ukitake want..."
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 27, 2024 18:27:23 GMT -6
“No, I don’t. I hope I don’t,” Yumiko murmured. “But it is not an easy thing. He may doom everything around me, even what matters about myself, but that truth pales compared to what he set me free from. From everything that came with that confinement. Not even Ukitake and Kyoraku know all that I lost there.”
She lifted her head. “I walked away from you in the first war to put it all behind me. The confinement and the healing from it. I hoped that if I could build up my life without relying on someone else that I could face both those scars and bonds without succumbing to their power again. But there was another reason too, one I’m only starting to understand.”
She inhaled. “Do you want me to continue?”
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 27, 2024 18:36:28 GMT -6
"Yes, because I don't know what you're trying to tell me." admitted Seto. "This very much feels like a really long way of you telling me that, for your own sake you want to be on your own. And, I'm okay with that Yumiko, I am. It's not the outcome I am hoping for. But, I understand it."
Seto walked over and leaned against the railing next to Yumiko. "If you're worried that I will go back to Las Noches if you turn me away, I won't.
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 29, 2024 1:35:34 GMT -6
Turning around with him, Yumiko smiled at his words, despite the pain unfurling inside her . “I hope that’s the case. I really do. They’ll need you more than me.” The tender expression faded. “More than I ever have.”
She fell silent again but only for a moment. “I know that you’ve given me more than I could give you in any of our relationships, but I have tried many, many times. Not just for you either, Vale. Seto.” Tears started to bead at her eyes again. She swallowed and kept speaking. “Aizen may have saved me from my own perpetual darkness, but you broke me away from his. When I started to realize how far he could go and wondered if I had the will to truly oppose him, with my past and the new purpose he had given me. I don’t know why you pursued me in the beginning, but you made your mark inside me.” She let her arm rest against his on the railing. “You didn’t belong, in way that reminded me of myself, but unlike me, you defied any standards set before you. You allowed yourself to thrive where you could no matter what.” She brushed her hair behind her ear as she looked over at him with another gentle smile. “When you seduced me in Karakura, I didn’t want to resist anymore. I wanted that wild pull to set me free.”
Seto set his hand over hers and she closed her eyes, pulling strength from his effort. “For a long time, Vale, I thought it would. I thought you could break those bonds." She pulled her hand away. "Until the darkness in you resurfaced against Kisuke. Until the secrets piled up. Until I couldn't bargain my time to silence your doubts with Alister. I don’t know Alister’s full role either, how many times he worked with you or how many times he worked against your wishes. I- I don’t know how often you said you weren’t a part of the war when you were actually the one moving pawns around for your amusement or for him. Or when you used me for those schemes. As you said and I admit to, I made you the fool, but you’ve been the villain and trickster, too. So far, there’s never been one clear path.”
She stepped away, hands clenching under her kimono’s sleeves. “You’ve tore me apart in ways no one else has, giving him more room in my heart, and you left me alone to the shadows of those schemes when those emotions left me drowning. In the end, even now, it’s not Gin I compare you to when I’m left in the dark. It’s Aizen because you’re more similar to him than you ever were to him.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper . “Even when you set me free once more, soothing the scars left behind.”
She let the river rush underneath them for a few minutes, trying to slow the tears in her eyes. “It would be easy to try again, despite our past, but Vale, Seto, is this fair to you? To what either of us want? Are we just clinging to an illusion of happiness to stop our search?”
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Post by Seto Tetsuya on Apr 29, 2024 13:06:48 GMT -6
Is that fair to you...His mind ran wild with those five words, shutting out all other thoughts and sensations. His fists clenched and his chest tightened. Is that fair...To you?
To me? To me?! This has never been about me! This has never been for me! It's always been about you. You've always made it about you. You've disguised your selfishness, self-loathing and pity as a constant pain that needs tending. But, damn it if someone gets too close! Fuck me! Fair...Fuck you!
Seto could hear the rush of the water again. And, Yumiko speaking his name. "Hm? Sorry...I got lost in thought." He looked at the young woman as she struggled to keep from crying. He offered her no comfort. "I...I think I could have figured all of that out on my own. I should have. But, I wanted to hear you say it...However convoluted that NO was to my initial question. So, I am not going to to waste anymore of our time."
Seto took a deep breath then exhaled loudly, letting his shoulders relax. "Take care, love." He disappeared.
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Post by Yumiko Ryouma on Apr 29, 2024 16:55:04 GMT -6
“I’m sorry, Vale.” Yumiko closed her eyes. “Take care.” She wiped at her eyes, but she couldn’t stop crying. She didn’t want to either. Everything hurt. For a long time, she just stood there as the river rushed by her, not running away from the anguish, letting everything wash over her. Trying to face it without drowning, without falling. When the red sheen started to cover the landscape, she shut her eyes and turned away, returning to Soul Society. Hoping to rebuild what she’d broken. - END RP - "First Visit; The Healing Begins"
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