A Dark Past

After successfully getting away, Kisuke wanted to check the eastern side of the 18th floor to make sure things won't get too dangerous for the girls. On the way, however, while leaving his trail for the girls to follow, Kisuke came across another pond where someone was bathing.

Normally, Kisuke would have ignored this, but the one bathing seems to be very aware of her surroundings and immediately found Kisuke who was leaving a trail, and threw a knife towards him.

Kisuke didn't dodge as it wasn't really aimed at him and only served as a threat, "Who's there!?" The blonde elf immediately covered her body with her arm and turned towards him with a glare, "Urahara-san?"

With a smile, Kisuke greeted her, "Oh, if it isn't Lion-san~. Good day and I'm sorry for disturbing you. But before anything else, please dress up." He then went behind one of the trees as a sign of respect.

Ryuu Lion, who now had blonde hair color, instead of the green which she always had when she was serving in the Hostess of Fertility, glared at Kisuke for a moment before he disappeared. She then started dressing as fast as possible, so that she could ask him what he was doing here.

"I'm done," Ryuu muttered in her Adventurer attire which included a green flower-shaped hood and a white sleeveless top underneath. She also wore a pair of long, brown gloves and boots and a white sash around her waist where she kept her wooden sword and a pair of short swords.

Kisuke went out and showed himself soon after, "I won't pretend that I didn't see anything, but I'm really sorry about that." He knew how overly sensitive Elves could be about others' touch or being seen by others from a different race or opposite gender, so he apologized first.

Ryuu saw his sincerity which she hadn't seen before due to how he always acted around others in the pub. Ryuu's strict atmosphere died down, as this could not be purposely peeping after recalling his reaction when he first saw her naked body, 'Now that I think about it again... There was no lust in his eyes.'

"Ehem..." Feigning a cough, Ryuu tried to dispel the awkward atmosphere and asked, "What are you doing here?" She also liked the fact that he apologized first before citing any excuses.

"Ah, about that, I peeped on the girls of Loki Familia and they are now after my ass," Kisuke answered with a bright smile.

"Huh...?" Ryuu became dumbfounded. Who wouldn't be? After asking him for a reason why he 'peeped' on her only to get an answer that he peeped on others and who were now after him, anyone wouldn't be able to react quickly.

"I peeped on the girls of Loki Familia and they are now after my ass," Kisuke repeated his words as if Ryuu didn't understand it the first time.

Ryuu, of course, was understandably furious as she thought that he had a proper excuse and was planning to forgive him. Pulling out one of her short swords, Ryuu pointed it towards him, "Do you want me to hand you over to them?"

Kisuke's casualness didn't change as he replied, "Don't worry about it. I already proposed a solution~."

Ryuu didn't put her sword down and asked with a fed-up expression, "Yet they're still after you?"

After getting enough of the changes in her expression, Kisuke finally explained what was going on, "And there you have it~. I was able to escape their pursuit for a moment and just strolled around before they could find me again when I found you taking a bath here~."

With her mouth agape, Ryuu put down her sword and asked, "...Are you stupid?"

"Ahahaha~. I always get that a lot~."

After putting her palm on her face and sighing, Ryuu continued, "So Hermes-sama started this? And you put your body on the line as an apology? I'm surprised that they haven't captured you yet."

"When it's about escaping, I can't say I'm one of the best, but I'm pretty proficient in it." Kisuke proudly declared.

"Hahh... Whatever... Where are you heading now?" Ryuu had already given up on understanding the man in front of her.

"Thank you for sparing me~. You're such a good person~. For now, I intended to go towards the eastern part of the floor where the forest is the thickest. There are still more than two hours of chase remaining, so I'm also pretty free."

Hearing Kisuke's words, Ryuu could only smile wryly, "A good person, is it? You don't know me."

Kisuke knew that he had touched something and recalled her history. Due to the weirdly strong waitresses, Yoruichi decided to investigate the place and she was able to uncover everyone's identity from the Hostess of Fertility after a week or two of investigation.

"I'm a pretty good judge of character and there was only one person which I mistook in my past. I judged you to be a good person from our interactions until now." Kisuke replied.

Ryuu looked at him and said, "Only one person? That's amazing... But for all you know, I could be the second person."

Chuckling, Kisuke replied again while recalling Aizen, "There's no way that you could be like that person. And after meeting him, I became even more careful against his type." Aizen was the man who fooled everyone in Soul Society, thanks to his intelligence and abilities. Kisuke refused to believe that there were more people out there like him or else it'd be a really scary world to live in.

Ryuu looked at him with a blank expression and finally decided on something, "Do you still have time? Mind if you come with me?"

"Sure~. It'll take some time for those girls to track me down." Kisuke immediately agreed, curious about what she wanted to show him.

The two of them walked through the forest silently. Along the way, Ryuu picked up some fresh white flowers and Kisuke had an idea where they were going so he also picked some flowers for himself.

Ryuu was a bit shocked at his actions but she smiled slightly at his gesture while thinking, 'Maybe he's really a good judge of things.'

A few minutes later, they reached a clearing with a small hill in the middle and on this hill were weapons of various types sticking out.

"You won't ask why I'm not staying in the Loki Familia's camp?" Ryuu suddenly asked.

"You have your reasons," Kisuke replied simply.

"Well, I don't want others to see my face." Ryuu gave an answer regardless of his reply, "Even if Cranel-san and his party have not gone missing in the Dungeon... I still planned to come to this place." She then laid the flowers she picked up in front of the swords.

Kisuke did the same and he heard Ryuu from his side, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Kisuke took a step back. And while watching the grave, he asked, "Who are they?"

Ryuu silently stared at the grave for a while before she answered, "My allies. I occasionally receive time off from Mama Mia to bring my fallen ladies in arms some flowers... Once someone knows who I am, it would be only a matter of time before they learn the truth."

"Well, hate to break it to you, but I already know who you are." Kisuke suddenly said.

Ryuu looked at him with a shocked expression and saw him keeping a straight face while looking at the grave, "...How? And why?"

Kisuke then faced Ryuu with a smile, "I already told you, right? I already became more careful so that a second person couldn't fool me big time."

Ryuu finally realized, "So you've already investigated us... Just how much do you know?"

"Just enough for my girls' protection. Gotta be careful of people around us."

"Haah... I see." Ryuu sighed, "For your girls, huh. That's indeed a very valid motivation." She then looked back towards the grave, "So there's no need for you to hear my story. What do you think? Do you really still think that I'm a good person?"

"Before I say my answer, I would really love it to hear from the person directly. After all, there could be some discrepancies from the data we gathered."

"I see... That makes sense." Ryuu smiled wryly, "Then please listen."

"My name is on the Guild's blacklist. I have been stripped of the title of Adventurer and there was a bounty on my head for a short time."

Ryuu first looked towards Kisuke but he didn't have any changes in expression so she continued, "My Familia devoted itself to protect peace both inside and outside the Dungeon. It meant to often fight those who threatened that. For that reason, we had many enemies."

"One day, we fell into an enemy Familia's trap." At this point, the atmosphere around Ryuu became cold as she spoke, "I was the only one to survive. Unable to recover their bodies, I collected what articles I could and entombed them here."

Clenching her fist and teeth, fury was visible in Ryuu's face, "I swore to avenge them. In a rage, I ambushed, ensnared, and murdered our attackers in cold blood. I employed any means necessary to fulfill my mission..."

"Any person with the faintest connection to that Familia... I sought out all of them. There was no trace of justice in my actions any longer..."

Kisuke only kept silent while looking at her.

"Once my last target had been eliminated, I collapsed... Bleeding and dirty... A fitting end for a vile creature like myself. However..." Ryuu then recalled the time when someone reached out to her, "After rescuing me, Syr convinced Mama Mia to employ me as a waitress at the Hostess of Fertility. I also keep my hair dyed..."

Ryuu then faced Kisuke, "I apologize for soiling your ears. In short, the Elf you see before you was a shameless, violent criminal. Do you still think I'm a good person?"

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Editors:

28th00: So, my opinion still remains the same for Ryuu as it did in canon. She's far too negative in her own world view of herself. Honestly? She didn't really do anything wrong. Compared to these guys though? "Oh, you killed a bunch of criminals and their allies? Cool. That's like, an average Tuesday for us." or something like that. I'll never get the "Thou shalt not kill" mindset.

Alexander: Well, it's actually a paradox for me. On one hand, I am Christian, so I've been raised to judge the act of killing as evil. On the other hand, let those fu#$ers die and be done with it. At least they won't go after you anymore if you do it in the right/smart way. Yeah, I am looking at you, you outright dumb Chinese protagonists.

Goyya: Though really, the point of Ryuu's agony is the fact that she might have wrongfully killed some people. Good people who have nothing to do with the demise of her Familia and good people who're living earnestly for their loved ones. As someone who worked for justice, she knew how wrong a 'justice' can be.