Prompt: Butterflies.

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The butterfly flew towards her left finger. Her green irises followed the beautiful creature's traveling, staring in quiet awe as the black-and-red-winged eyed her in a curious fashion.

It was a male Laparus Doris—she knew most butterflies by heart, as if she had created them all herself.

(If she did create them all, she'd be one herself.)

Sometimes, when Mayuri is focusing on his more favorite subjects instead of torturing her, she'll go outside the Twelfth Squad Barracks and lay down next to a tree.

That certain tree was large and big and attracted many butterflies. For some reason, the beautiful insects also were fond of Nemu and would always land unto her body, from her hair to her shoulders to her knees.

One day, Nanao had approached the Twelfth Squad Vice-Captain and gave her a book that obtained all types of information on butterflies, and from then on, Nemu would eye and classify any type she saw.

She...envied the creatures. She envied the way they got to flap their wings of all shapes and sizes and colors, not a single father in sight to chain the creature to the restrictive earth.

It was a bizarre fact that she'd be jealous of insects only used in Seireitei for messaging-purposes. Mayuri thought so too, and he called her an idiotic girl when she told him how amazing butterflies were, but he usually say stuff like that, so it wasn't anything new.

"Hmm..?"

A blue butterfly—a Pipevine Swallowtail—suddenly came in and swoop a spot next to the Laparus Doris, pecking its head against the other one.

...She wasn't sure if her cheeks obtained a slight flush of either embarrassment or of what he once said was of "romantic affection," when they once trained together—

Him a bloodline-savior Quincy and she a scientific-love combination of a Gigai and Gikon. The two glittering creatures gripping their tiny antennas to her pale finger reminded her of the more liberal version of Uryuu and her.

The versions who were not children raised to either fear those not like them (him) or those who are exactly like them (her) but, instead, insects given free-range to fly around the world and be in love with each other without the disappointed glares of a father.

...Another butterfly landed on her nose. It was a Apatura Iris, and it almost looked it was...glaring at her, but then it turned to the other two butterflies and attacked.

Before Nemu knew it, the butterflies were away and the two "lover" butterflies were heading east, the Iris species chasing right after them, and the purple-haired Kurostuchi looked down and twirled around the ends of her ponytail.

Why couldn't she be a butterfly that patrols the sky, instead of a caterpillar whose own cocoon wants to see her flourish and yet succumb to the chains of the earth?

She did not know, and she wished she could lie to herself and say "you're just an experiment and feelings don't matter," like her father always reminded her whenever she mentioned to him that his words were untrue and hurts her hurtshurtshurts—

Nemu sighed and got up, taking small steps to go towards the laboratory of her squad's region.

She may not be able to a butterfly physically, but she just let her thoughts fly free and out of her head so that she doesn't suffer.

(Because Kurotsuchi's experiments are only allowed to fly once he's either opened up their cocoons or ripped apart their wings.)

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