ACT 2:

BLACK AND WHITE

CHAPTER 1:

AND THEY WILL COME

"I'm ho〜me!" Yumiko enthusiastically yells into the halls leading towards her friends' rooms in the 13th Division's barracks, carrying all of the souvenirs she bought in one big sack. Nobody seems to come out.

"Well, it is pretty early. I think." she admits, marching towards Kumi's door with the assumption that everyone is gathered there, again. She throws it open without a single hint of consideration, announcing her presence again, "Hey, I'm back! Come on, where's the welcoming party?"

Sprawled across the table, apparently. Kumi has her headphones on and is completely ignorant of her surroundings at the moment. Kokoro is lying on top of the kotatsu, completely knocked out from the looks of it. Yumiko grumbles and approaches Kumi from behind, cupping her hands over her eyes. "Guess who?" she asks facetiously.

"Fuck you." is the immediate response. Yumiko can only smirk. Kumi pulls her headphones off and gets up to stretch for a minute before addressing Yumiko. "So," she says lazily "you're finally back, huh?"

"What?" Yumiko asks "How long was I gone?"

"A week." Kumi emphasizes.

"Oh. Didn't even realize a day had passed." Yumiko says in deadpan.

"Do you still not have that time dilation under control?" Kumi crosses her arms disappointedly.

"Guess not." Yumiko admits, then changes the subject. "So what happened to her?" she points at Kokoro.

"Oh, that." Kumi glances at her. "She hit the bottle pretty hard, last night."

Yumiko groans again, "I leave for one week and she becomes an alcoholic?"

"Apparently." Kumi says as she returns to her seat. "It's been hard, lately."

"It's always hard." Yumiko insists.

"Not when you're around." Kumi immediately blurts out.

Yumiko is caught off-guard, "Eh?"

"What?" Kumi acts dumb.

"...Nothing." Yumiko sighs. "Anyways, here's your souvenir." She hands the electronic handheld thing that Kumi asked for.

She turns around, "Wait, you actually got something?" She takes it and investigates it closely for a moment. "Wait..." she says "...Oh shit, this is a Gameboy! I've been trying to get one of these for the past month!" She sounds completely awed by it. "And the batteries are included, too! How did you get this in the fucking Rukongai?"

"Just a collector I knew. Had all sorts of neat things in there. Maybe I should introduce you sometime." Yumiko explains while she crouches down next to Kokoro and begins to softly shake her.

"Yeah, that would be great." Kumi says, beginning to tinker with the tiny handheld.

"Hey," Yumiko starts to whisper into Kokoro's ear "wake up. I got something for you! Come on..."

Kokoro shuffles around and groans painfully. "Let me slee〜p..." she slurs.

"Hey," Yumiko draws closer and shakes her some more "it's Yumii. I'm finally back!"

She instantly perks her head up. "Yumii?" She looks around and has to rub her eyes clear before finally noticing Yumiko at her side. She nearly jumps up in excitement, "Yumii〜!" She gives the girl an absolutely immense hug, right around her neck.

Yumiko nearly falls over, "H-Hey, hey! Watch out, you'll crush everything!" She manages to hug back with one hand.

Kokoro backs up quickly, "Oh, sorry! I just... I'm so—" Suddenly she stops and grabs her head, groaning painfully, "Oh...O〜h! Head hurts!"

"No shit!" Kumi scolds her "Don't drink a whole bottle unless you want a hangover!"

Yumiko pats the groaning girl on the head sympathetically, "Relax. You'll get yourself hurt if you do that. Here, I brought you a little something..." She holds up the two sticks of dango she bought earlier.

"Oh." Kokoro says upon seeing it. Then it hits her harder, "Oh! Oh my god, I haven't eaten this in forever! And they're all orange; you remembered!" She takes a stick and grins so wide that it looks like her jaw might just dislocate.

Yumiko smiles back, "Glad you like it. Now on my count: one, two, three..." They both take the first bite in sync, smiling like idiots the entire time.

Kokoro swallows first and comments, "It's...just like I remember. Wow..." She takes another ball in and slows down a little, just staring at it. Her eyes slowly fall halfway, then closed. She sniffles a little and sheds a tear.

Yumiko takes notice quickly, "Oii, something wrong? You look fine, but..."

Kokoro interrupts, muffled from the dango, "It's okay... This is just so nice..." By the time she finishes the second ball, she's blatantly crying.

"You say that, but..." Yumiko worries, but stops to think about it for a second. "No, that's not right. I know what this is. 'So happy I could cry', right?"

After another moment, Kokoro asks, "Yumii, what's that word?"

"Huh?" Yumiko looks up, chewing her second ball.

"When you think about something old and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside." she elaborates, finishing her dango.

"Eh? Old and 'warm and fuzzy'..." Yumiko wonders "...nostalgia?"

"That sounds right." Kokoro accepts "Yeah, that's what this is. It feels nice. But, a little lonely."

The two fall silent while Yumiko finishes her own dango. Eventually, she speaks up again, "I get it. Don't worry about it. You'll be okay." She stands up and pats Kokoro on the head, who smiles the feeling away.

Kumi manages to ruin the mood by yelling at her, "Hey, could you get off my damn table, now!?"

Kokoro just now realizes she's still laying on it. "Oh, sorry!" she panics and hops off of it ASAP. Her and Yumiko stand side-by-side while they continue to talk.

Yumiko asks, "Hey, how is Jinpachi doing? Up and about by now?"

Kokoro looks down, disappointedly, "No... He's still pretty depressed."

Yumiko hums, "Well, go ahead and give him this thing for me. Hopefully, it will at least distract him with something healthier than drinking." She pulls the wood carving kit out of her bag and hands it over.

"Sculpting? You really think he'll like this?" Kokoro seems skeptical.

"You never know. Besides, it's better than nothing." Yumiko optimistically insists.

Kokoro shrugs. "So..." she changes topic "...did you hear about what happened?"

"What?" Yumiko asks cluelessly.

"That Rukia Kuchiki girl we were sent to rescue; they got her!"

Yumiko seems less surprised than she ought to be, "Oh, really? Thought she would be dead."

"And it gets crazier!" Kokoro adds. "Her older brother and his lieutenant had to go after!"

"They went that far? I get that we were unlucky, but isn't that a bit excessive?" Yumiko comments.

"And she transferred her powers to a human!" Kokoro yells.

"Wait, what?" Yumiko is dumbfounded.

"They're going to execute her!" Kokoro explains.

"That...doesn't sound right. I get that there are rules, but execution?"

"That's what I said!" she yells again. "It's horrible!"

Yumiko suddenly hears footsteps coming from nearby. She silences Kokoro with one hand, "Shh."

Just on queue, Rieko carefully slides the door open and peeks in, looking quite worse for wear than usual. She tried to conceal them with makeup, but there are obvious bags under her eyes. As soon as she spots Yumiko, she gasps, "Oh! I didn't know you were back!"

"Well shit, I yelled it down the hallway as loud as I could." Yumiko quips in deadpan, but fails as soon as she smirks at the end.

Rieko grunts aggravatedly and draws closer, stopping a couple feet away and glancing nervously between the two. She tries to start up conversation, "So did you hear about that Rukia girl?"

Yumiko says, "We were just talking about that, actually."

Rieko immediately hooks on, "It's horrible, right!? How could they want to kill such a cute girl!?"

Kokoro agrees, "I know, right!?"

Suddenly, they both fall silent and look away from each other, as if ashamed for having communicated just then. It's now that Yumiko suddenly remembers, "Oh, right. This little issue."

Yumiko sighs heavily, "Girls, I know you're both still on edge after what happened last week, but I think I've made up my mind."

Both of them simultaneously swing their heads at her. Kokoro speaks up first, "Really!?" Rieko says nothing, but becomes visibly tense. Only she can feel it, but Yumiko can easily see that she got a pit in her stomach just from that sentence.

She clears her throat and begins by patting Rieko's arms, "Rieko, I think we can all agree that how you did that was...not exactly the best way you could have done it."

She looks down like a sad puppy.

Yumiko continues, "Instead of doing it in the middle of the hallway like that, at a time like that, perhaps you could have... I don't know, took me on a clear, midnight stroll through the countryside? You know, do it there? Maybe a little slower, maybe with—" She inhales heavily, "I'm getting off-track. The point is: Do it better, next time."

Just saying "next time" is enough for Rieko's hairs to stand on end in anticipation.

"That said..." Yumiko continues "...I do forgive you. It's not a big deal, so don't worry."

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief so loud that Kumi becomes annoyed by it. "Oh my god, thank you." Rieko adds.

"Also," Yumiko demands their attention "I accept."

"What?" Rieko and Kokoro ask in unison, both equally shocked and confused.

Yumiko explains, "Well, I've never really done anything like this before, so I don't know what else to say or do. It would be easy to say no, but I guess it's better to do something new every once in a while. So, let's try."

They both look incredibly hopeful, but slightly skeptical, now. Rieko asks just to be sure, "Even though we're both girls?"

Yumiko crosses her arms, "Eh? I don't really care about that. You're good to me, and that's all that matters, right?"

Rieko goes from 10 to 100 in exactly two seconds. "Oh my god." she says as the revelation hits her. "Oh my god!" she becomes louder, eyes going wide and smile going wider. She pumps her arms up and down while nearly jumping up and down and yelling, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"

Meanwhile, Kokoro just collapses onto the floor while sighing heavily, "Ah...everything went better than expected." She lies there with a finally relaxed smile, eyes closed.

Rieko continues to jump around and celebrate, grabbing onto Yumiko and pulling her into a tight hug while she spins around and yells at the top of her lungs, "Oh my god, it's finally happening! I did it! I did it! I actually did it! AA〜H—!"

Right on queue, Kumi yells over her, "SHUT UP!"

Rieko quickly stops, resorting to a quiet, whispered "Yay!" instead.

Yumiko speaks up, voice muffled from being stuffed between Rieko's breasts, "I can't breathe."

She lets go, "Ah! Sorry!"

Yumiko takes a step back and gasps lightly, "That's...better. But what's been with you, lately?"

Rieko apologizes again, "Sorry. I'll explain it all later, but right now I'm just really, really happy right now!" It shows with her utterly beaming grin.

"That's good and all, but I meant..." Yumiko starts.

She covers half of her face and looks away nervously, "Oh! Aside from that. Well, I haven't been able to get this whole thing off of my mind. It's just the usual."

Yumiko raises an eyebrow, "Even if you say that, something else tells me you're not being entirely honest."

Rieko intensifies her act and completely looks away, "It's really nothing, let's just enjoy today."

Yumiko shrugs, unwilling to prod much further. Instead, she directs her attention to Kokoro, "Hey, you okay? Don't tell me you went and passed out." She pokes the girl's side with her toe.

"My head hurts." she responds.

"Well of course, if you got drunk last night. Come on, up." Yumiko crouches down to help her up.

Instead of taking her hand, Kokoro reaches for her nearly empty Sake bottle and tries to drink the rest of it. Yumiko immediately knocks it out of her hand. She yells in shock, "Hey! That's mi〜ne!"

"No." Yumiko commands. "Bad girl. No alcohol. You'll turn into a wreck again."

"But I want it!" she whines.

"No!" Yumiko insists as she lifts her back up.

"Aaah! Yuumii!" Kokoro continues to belligerently whine.

Kumi yells at them a second time, "Oh my god, shut up!"

Kokoro looks like she instantly feels terrible about it. She groans and moans. Yumiko is about to console her, only to be interrupted by Rieko who picks up the bottle, "Hey, wait. Why don't we toast?"

"Eh?" Yumiko grunts.

"You know," she insists "to us! I think things are looking up again. Let's celebrate!"

Unwilling to fight back, Yumiko gives in and takes a seat at the kotatsu. "Fine," she says, sighing "just get us some saucers."

"Yes!" Rieko obediently confirms.

Yumiko immediately turns back to Kokoro, "But I expect you to not overdo it again! Understand?"

Kokoro groans, "Oka〜y..." She sits across from her.

After a minute of leaving the room, Rieko comes barging back in with three saucers and a fresh bottle of alcohol. "I was saving this thing for just a special occasion as this!" she proclaims, slamming it onto the table. Kumi scolds her for being reckless, but she ignores it.

She pours everyone a small amount in each one and slides them over to the other two. Yumiko picks hers up and asks, "So what do we toast for, exactly?"

"To being alive!" Kokoro blurts out.

Everyone stares at her awkwardly. Rieko says next, "To our future success?"

Kumi jumps in, "How about peace and quiet?"

Yumiko rolls her eyes, "And to...happiness. Yeah."

Rieko chuckles, "...You're cute, Yumiko."

"Shut up." she instinctively responds, even while vaguely blushing. And so, they all raise up their saucers and toast to each of their suggestions before chugging. They ended up partying for the rest of the day, much to Kumi's annoyance.

On the evening of August 3rd, alarms sound all around the Seireitei, signalling the arrival of intruders. For the first time in decades, something had finally broken through their defenses; something finally posed a threat. Of course, the alarms hadn't sounded in so long that when they finally had, nobody quite knew what was happening. And even further, those who decided to sleep in that day had a hard time hearing it, as in the case of Yumiko Nishimura.

"Yuumii! Wake up!" yells Kokoro from the other side of her door, banging on it so violently that it looks like it might give in. "Yuumii〜!"

Eventually, the excessive noise forces Yumiko to at least open her eyes and peer into the darkness of her room. She looks beside her, noise still surrounding her annoyingly, to find someone lying beside her. Someone excessively hot and large.

"Eh?" she wonders absentmindedly. "Rieko, is that you?"

Rieko responds by rubbing up against her lazily. Yumiko groans, "Mmmh. Couldn't sleep alone?"

She nods silently. Yumiko groans again as she hears Kokoro continually yelling at her. "I don't want to get up..." she complains.

Eventually, she has to give in and get up. Rieko tries to hang onto her arm, but she yanks it away. "Alright, I'm up! I'm coming!" she yells back. "Rieko, come on, something's up."

She, too, groans in displeasure but gets up anyways. Both of them are completely disheveled messes after waking up, so it's doubly painful for others to look at. Finally, Kokoro stops banging on the door and just says the thing, "Yumi, the captain needs to see you and all the other officers! It's an emergency!"

"Got it!" Yumiko yells back while she flips the light on and straightens her uniform out. "Uuegh..." Rieko groans as she rolls over into the spot Yumiko was lying in, arm hanging off the bed. Yumiko looks down at her with a sympathetic sort of annoyance, then begins to rip her out of the bed. "Nooo..." Rieko cries lazily.

"Come on." Yumiko insists, pulling her out of the bed and dragging all of the sheets onto the floor. "You can grab onto me." she keenly offers.

Suddenly, Rieko springs to half-life and stands up, latching onto her back so tightly that it's difficult to move. "This is fine." she says.

"Oii..." Yumiko frowns and mutters as she tries to haul both of them out of the dormitory.

Several long minutes of tired shuffling later, they both manage to get to the captain's office where everyone has been waiting for them. Sentaro Kotsubaki says as much in an increased volume while marching out of line to accentuate his point, "You're late! During an emergency, no less! This is completely inexcusable, what do you have to say for yourselves!?"

Kiyone follows up behind him and parrots, "Utterly and completely inexcusable!"

Ukitake tries to cut in and reign the pair in, "There's no need for yelling, now. Just—" but unfortunately, the arguing speaks over him.

"Hey, nobody talks to my girl like that!" yells Rieko who suddenly attained the energy of an enraged cheetah.

Yumiko just stares onwards and quietly says, "Rieko, no. Stop."

She doesn't listen. The three get into a heated screaming match which eventually escalates into Sentaro getting decked in the face so hard that it leaves his entire cheek red.

Then, just before a fight can really start (in which Kiyone has wisely backed off), Ukitake pulls Sentaro back while Yumiko pulls Rieko back. At the same time, Ukitake and Yumiko both announce, "That's enough."

The two get pulled aside, and Yumiko questions her partner, "What the hell? Fighting in the middle of everyone? Why is it always like this between you and that idiot?"

Rieko averts her eyes and stays mostly quiet besides a muttered apology. Yumiko sighs and pats her on the back, "Just don't get me in trouble too, alright?" Rieko nods.

Finally, everyone takes their places. By now, the alarm has just recently stopped sounding. Ukitake takes his place just in front of his desk while the officers all line up on the walls. He begins to brief them, "As you may have noticed, the emergency alarm system has gone off for the first time in a very, very long time. For some of you, it may be your first time hearing it. I assure you that this is nothing we cannot handle, but it will not be easy. This is what we are dealing with:"

He pulls up a holographic screen from his desk and uses a pointer to navigate it as he speaks, "The Seireitei's outer protective barrier was breached by an unknown projectile originating from the Rukongai." The monitor displays a simulation of the even while he speaks. "As you can see from this display that our friends in the 12th division made..."

Yumiko scoffs when she hears that. Ukitake pauses for a moment, then continues, "...our friends at the 12th division made, the projectile split into four separate entities upon breaching the barrier. As we speak, every other division in the Seireitei has sent search parties out to find and identify the nature of these invaders. At this moment, they are considered hostile and dangerous. Until we know more about these Ryoka, you are all under strict orders to avoid direct engagement. Is that clear?"

All of the officers speak clearly and at the same time, "Yes, captain!"

Ukitake nods and smiles, some stress having been relieved. "The four entities are predicted to have landed in these four areas..." he continues, pointing at four moderately-sized circles in four cardinal corners of the city, on an overhead map. "For those of you who I assign as scouts, your mission is to travel to these points of impact and find any trace of the entities. You will report your findings directly to your superiors. If you find the invaders in any circumstance, track them as far as possible. You are here to gather intelligence." He then proceeds to list off the four designated scouts, one of which is Yumiko.

"Next, I will be sending several officers alongside a party of several unseated, to patrol the streets and minimize any damage done to either the city itself or our personnel. Your orders are the same: Do not engage if you find the Ryoka. If you are attacked or come upon another patrol party being attacked, you may act in defense. These officers will be..." And he lists several more people, one of which is Kokoro. "Are my orders clear?" he asks them. Each one confirms in unison.

"And finally..." he begins to finish "...everyone else, your orders are to stay within these barracks as a garrison. We are on high alert: nobody leaves or enters without my expressed permission. You will carry your weapons on your person at all times. You will be up by 6:00 and to bed by 20:00. Anyone outside of their dormitories beyond these times without good reason will be detained for questioning. Do you understand?"

"Yes, captain!" they all say.

"As for myself, I will not be present in the barracks or available for direct consultation at any point during this emergency. In my absence, 3rd seats Sentaro Kotsubaki and Kiyone Kotetsu will handle all supervisory and administrative matters. For the sake of simplicity, they will be my acting replacements until further notice. Is this clear?"

"Yes, captain!"

"Are there any further questions?" he asks, pausing for a minute.

Rieko speaks up, "Captain, may I be a designated scout?"

"Request denied. We need you here, in the garrison." he instantly replies. She becomes clearly upset.

"Any others?" he asks again. This time, nobody speaks up, so he adjourns the meeting, "Then you are all dismissed. These orders take effect in ten minutes; I expect you all to be at your stations before then!"

Everyone hurriedly rushes out of the room within seconds. However, Rieko and Yumiko stop some ways down the hall when the former calls out to the latter. "Wait!" she says. Yumiko turns around slowly, only to be hugged from behind. She grunts, "Hey, we need to hurry; there's no time for this."

"Please!" Rieko cries, voice cracking. Yumiko raises an eyebrow, then looks up at her to notice that she's on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong?" Yumiko asks after a short sigh.

"A lot." she vaguely and briefly explains.

Guessing she's not about to spill her heart out, Yumiko just speaks her mind, "I know, you must be scared. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay?"

"But—!" Rieko tries to retort, but gets interrupted.

"I said it's okay. I'm sure this is nothing terrible. We'll be done with it soon and get to spend plenty of time together. Okay?"

It doesn't seem to console her, "But...what if something happens? What if you get hurt, or worse!?"

Yumiko thinks for a moment, "So that's what it was. Honestly, you're just like a kid. But, I guess it's fine if it's her." Then, she speaks, "You worry too much. Nothing bad is going to happen to either of us. Now calm down before that stress gets to you."

Seeing as how it's Yumiko saying it, Rieko believes every word. "I... I know. Sorry, I—"

Yumiko interrupts her again, "Shh..." she hushes while hugging her back, tightly.

It mostly works. They stand there for a few more moments in silence, but Rieko breaks it, "I kind of admire how you can think about everything like that. I can't even control myself when things get like this, but you... You're such a strong person. More than anyone else."

Yumiko can't help but enjoy the flattery, but feels slightly ashamed for it. She says nothing, and merely parts from her soon after. "Well, we should get going. Don't want to be in the wrong place in a few minutes."

"Yeah..." Rieko solemenly agrees. The two stare at each other for a bit longer, and Rieko speaks out just as Yumiko prepares to leave, "Wait, one more thing!"

"Eh?" Yumiko turns back around.

Rieko bends over some ways and kisses her on the forehead, whispering, "I love you." while grinning and still trying really hard to not cry.

Yumiko takes a second to absorb it, and ends up making a strange expression between awkwardness and more flattery. "Crybaby." she teases to ease the awkwardness. The two giggle for a moment, until Yumiko starts to walk away again, "See you soon, Rieko."

She walks leisurely down the halls until Rieko is far behind her, still standing in that same spot. As she rounds the corner, she ponders depressively, "Hmph. 'Strong'. That idiot..."

Finally, Act 2 arrives with a moderately strong first chapter! Not much actually happened plot-wise, but that's going to happen when a certain event kicks up the dust a little. Until then, our girls will be preparing warmly for whatever may try to break them again! Next time on Nikushimi no Ya: Act 2, Chapter 2 - Friend Amongst Foes. That thing you thought would happen a chapter ago? It's happening now, under different circumstances.

Obligatory apology for lateness. I am now an entire act behind thanks to real life issues. Yes, Act 2 would have been done by now had it not intervened. I will attempt to get all 6 chapters done by the end of July. This means a lot of overtime, but I will finish this fanfic one way or another.

For those still reading, thank you for your continued support. This has been an arduous journey for everyone and I'm just glad that there are still those persistent enough to hold interest despite the the release schedule. You are truly a blessing in this world of impatience, and I hope you stick around to see the excessively climactic ending in store for this story.