Come Back Alive to This Place – Chap. 1
A/N: Lady Orihime Inoue's curiosity leads her into trouble when she falls into the hands of a masked pirate. Will her rescuer arrive in time? Does she even want him to? AU, romance on the high seas, set in a fictional world with a 19th century European flavor. AiHime, lemon later on.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
(Originally posted 9/16/11.)
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"Silence!" The old king pounded his scepter against the inlaid hardwood marquetry in the airy audience room, high in the royal palace of the land of Seireitei. The conversations around the room filled with lords and nobles began to die down. Orihime, Lady Inoue, was sitting on a window seat, her back to the arguing nobles, staring out the long floor-to-ceiling mullioned windows over the blue of the ocean stretching into the far distance, and twisting a few strands of long auburn hair around and around her fingers. It was an unseasonably warm day in late fall, and the sun was shining over the rocky cliffs of the shoreline occasionally broken by brilliant white half-moons of sandy beach. All seemed peaceful and quiet over the ocean – sure proof that appearances could be deceptive.
The Lord Chamberlain's fussy voice rang out over the crowd as Orihime uncurled her legs from under her and pushed herself out of the window seat. "Would the members of the hereditary ruling council please take their seats?" Chojiro Sasakibe, who had served at the side of King Yamamoto longer than anyone could remember, was standing at the head of the long, highly polished teak conference table in the center of the room. The king had just seated himself on an elaborately carved, high-backed chair at the head of the table, a stern frown upon his lined face.
Orihime walked to the chair inlaid with the Inoue crest as the other noble representatives took their places. She glanced at them sidelong, trying to remember her aunt Rangiku's many hours of instruction about her fellow council members. She had been drilled on them until her head ached.
Upon her brother Sora's untimely death only last year, Orihime had found herself thrust into the position of head of the Inoue family and ranking Inoue representative to the noble council. It was a position she had never expected or been trained for, as Sora had always been the heir, and he had been fifteen years older. She was only eighteen, and although she was of legal age, she was quite aware of her naïveté in the complex politics of the Seireitei and the risks that could entail.
Her eyes strayed to a man with spiky black hair and an eyepatch lined with cloth of gold. He had an aggressive grin on his face as he talked to his neighbor. Lord Zaraki was rumored to have arranged his own father's murder in order to ascend to his position. His neighbor, Lord Kurotsuchi, wore elaborate black and white face paint that supposedly represented an ancient family tradition. He was said to be insane; Rangiku had lowered her voice when she said that he was rumored to have carried out genocide on a racial group in his territory and still conducted human experiments.
Orihime shivered and turned her attention to King Yamamoto with the resolve to keep her wits about her during this council meeting.
"As you all know, I have called you here for a very important reason. We are now experiencing perhaps the gravest threat ever to our country's peace and happiness, and this meeting is to discuss a mutual defense pact and the building of a fleet of ships to protect our lands." Yamamoto's long white beard quivered as he spoke.
Orihime again heard Rangiku's voice in her head. "The king has been a strong leader for many years, but he is old and has become senile and vacillating. Power in the Seireitei has thus devolved to the noble families; power in the ruling council is held primarily by the triumvirate of Lord Kyoraku, Lord Ukitake, and Lady Soi Fon." Orihime glanced at each of the three in turn; they were sitting evenly spaced around the table, avoiding eye contact with each other. She had been forced to study flash cards her cousin Rukia had drawn up for her, and unfortunately Rukia was not a talented artist. She had drawn crude bunnies to represent each council member on one side of each card, and written a list of facts about them on the other. Orihime felt an unseemly giggle begin to bubble up from within her belly as she thought of the stern and correct Soi Fon with long bunny ears peeping out from behind her severe short black hair. She swallowed her hilarity and focused her gaze back on Yamamoto.
"We open the meeting with a roll call," intoned the Lord Chamberlain. He began reading out the names of the council members from a scroll he had just opened. Orihime's attention wandered again as he worked his way down the list of familiar names, until one caught her ear.
"Isshin, Lord Kurosaki." All eyes turned to the empty chair carved with the Kurosaki family crest. The Kurosaki family had been boycotting the council meetings for years, apparently due to some slight the king had given them. It mattered to Orihime because she had been betrothed to a young man she had never met, Lord Kurosaki's heir Ichigo, ever since she was five years old. Their territories were adjacent and relatively weaker than those of the surrounding families, so her parents had thought it of political advantage to promise their unimportant second child to the future heir of the Kurosaki lands.
Now they were dead and Orihime was Lady Inoue. There had been much debate among the remaining family members and councilors whether Orihime should go through with the marriage. Given her new position, a marriage to a mere heir would weaken the Inoue family and would leave them in danger of being completely absorbed into the larger Kurosaki domain. Ichigo Kurosaki, although handsome, was rumored to have a split personality with a violent streak. But close review of the marriage contract had revealed it to be ironclad. The Inoue family could not back out of their commitment without risking open conflict.
Orihime shivered. Although she had always known that a marriage of state was all she could expect, she had always foolishly believed in true love, and the ideal pairing of two souls coming together in a perfect match: soul mates. She forced her mind away from her unrealistic dreams and dark thoughts and back to the roll call. Once Sora and now Rangiku had always chided her for allowing her attention to wander. The important Lady of one of the thirteen highest ranking noble families in Seireitei should not behave like a dreamy child.
She felt someone's gaze upon her and lifted her eyes to see Lord Sousuke Aizen's mild brown eyes turned on her. The light from the windows glinted off his spectacles as he gave her a kindly smile. "Lord Aizen will be one of the few council members you can trust," Rangiku had said. "He's well known as a kind, honest man, something of a bookish intellectual, but not to be underestimated; you can turn to him for advice and know he won't betray your confidence. He has long been an ally of our family. You should seek him out early." Orihime returned a hesitant smile to the older man; they had already spoken briefly before the commencement of the meeting and she had felt oddly comforted by his warm, deep voice.
She sighed inwardly while keeping her face impassive. Yes, she was going to need allies. Sora's death had left the Inoue domain severely weakened, and Rangiku had warned her that several of the more aggressive nobles might be observing their family and lands with an eye to annexation. In this, her first public appearance as Lady Inoue, she was going to have to demonstrate her strength to keep the wolves at bay.
Sasakibe had finished the formality of the roll call and had yielded the floor to the king. He put his rheumy hands on the table and cleared his throat several times before beginning. "I now come to the purpose of this gathering. The first task of this meeting is to pool all our information about our attackers. I think we are all agreed that sharing knowledge is the best route to defeating this threat once and for all." His voice cracked briefly then returned to a baritone as he cleared his throat again. "I will begin by listing the damage these criminals have wrought." He lifted a long scroll the lord chamberlain had placed in front of him. "Three royal vessels each carrying six months' tribute from the colonies, plundered and sunk on the high seas. The estimated value of the goods on board is as follows—" He continued in a monotone, his voice occasionally dropping into a mumble. Orihime had started to tune out again when Soi Fon abruptly stood. Her face was creased with fury.
"Your majesty, with all due respect, I think we need to do more than just enumerate the damages. And it's time to stop referring to them as a ragtag band of criminals." Her voice rang out over the room as her gaze passed over the table. "They are being led by a single person, and it is clear that it is an act of war. War against the Seireitei." She held up a piece of parchment. "I have here incontrovertible proof that all the pirates attacking us are being organized from Las Noches."
A hubbub of conversation burst out among the nobles at the table until Sasakibe pounded for attention again. Yamamoto glared at Soi Fon, and was about to speak when Kyoraku made a lazy gesture from his place at the foot of the table.
"I for one agree that we are not here to account for our losses. Each of us has lost ships and has seen attacks at our docks. We need to gather information on the strategies these pirates are using in order to mount an appropriate defense." He shrugged and leaned back in his seat. "At least, that's how I see it."
Kurotsuchi leaned forward, his eyes narrowed behind his face paint. "There's no scientific evidence that the place known as 'Las Noches' even exists. For all we know, it's a myth."
Lord Byakuya Kuchiki, scion of the oldest and richest of the noble families, long black hair perfectly coiffed and held by elaborate hairpieces rumored to cost an average worker several years' pay, looked down his patrician nose at Kurotsuchi. It was well-known he regarded the man as an upstart. Of course, according to Kuchiki, almost all of the nobles were beneath him in status. "Whether or not it is a myth, it is enough to know that a single will is controlling these pirates. We need to find the man responsible and destroy him as well as his hidden base, whether it has been given a mythical name or not."
Soi Fon was still standing. "I have further proof," she went on, waving her parchment, "that the pirates have been receiving assistance from within Seireitei itself. Yes," she continued at the shocked stares and unbelieving intakes of breath from the nobles, "we have a traitor in our ranks."
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A/N: This fic was written at the request of several members of the Bleach Asylum AiHime fan club, who wanted AiHime smut in a Victorian or medieval European AU. It will only be ten chapters long. Constructive criticism, positive or negative, is always welcome.