Liberation

He crouched low in the tall grass, his face sweaty and dirty with mud. But he had to stay absolutely still. He was waiting for the signal from Renji's end so that they could attack the enemy tribe. He spotted his little sisters near the edge of the encampment, grinding his teeth and trying not to run over to them. If luck was on his side at all, they would have understood his message to run to the south as soon as they had the chance. Rukia and some of the others were waiting there.

He was unable to swat away the bugs crowding for a taste of his blood, or shade his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. his skin burned, and there was not even a bit of cool breeze. He was forced to breathe in the stiff, stuffy, humid air that sat on his chest and wish he'd chosen a spot up in one of those trees.

He glanced at his watch and blanched, gripping his shot gun as panic flooded him. Renji was late. 2 hours late, in fact. For all the bird cries he'd heard, there wasn't a Geebi bird among them, nor a Thorntail, which meant retreat. There was nothing, just the buzz of cicada and the muted chirps of chickadees and the jovial songs of larks. Nothing was anything like their native land, which was so much cooler than this place. He was beginning to regret wearing so much clothes. But he couldn't shed it right now.

Perhaps he should sneak back to camp? What if everyone was gone with out him, or he hadn't heard the Thorntail call? Would they think he was a coward if he went back now? Or, what if something terrible had happened? He chanced a shake of his head, scowling at the long green grass as he firmly told himself that wasn't possible.

None of his men would go down without a fight. Especially not Renji. And he'd make sure his fight made a lot of noise, with a lot of familiar curses with their native tongue mixed in. He inhaled through his mouth, and regretted even opening it as nothing but dust, hot air and insects flew in. Disgusting.

Hacking and coughing, he barely noticed a long shadow cast over him. He spit a few more times, wiping his mouth on his dirty jacket sleeve. He looked up, amber eyes going wide as he stared into the golden yellow eyes of an enemy. And not only an enemy, but the leader of the encampment, if the three eagle feathers stuck in his hair were anything to go by.

The pale man grinned at him, making no move to take his gun from him, or capture him, he simply stood there, watching. "You're good at hide and seek." he said finally, making him twitch at the weird quality of his voice. "We found most of the others, but you were the hardest,"

he had to get away, get to camp, warn the others and tell them to retreat. He couldn't let any more of his people get captured to become slaves. Already, too many of their people had been slaughtered or taken. He started backing away slowly, but both his legs were cramped, and he let out a tiny cry of pain.

The man grinned at him, stepping on his leg and grinding his heel in. "You're it." he muttered with a smirk. He was picked up from behind, tied roughly and blindfolded. Words were shouted around him that he didn't understand, and he recognized one of the voices as the man who had captured him. He was thrown roughly to the dirt ground. He couldn't hear or feel anyone around him, and he was pretty sure he was in a tent.

"Where are the others?!" he shouted, turning in the direction he assumed his captor would be. He was answered only with a giggle. "Well!?" he struggled against the rope holding him, but succeeded only in making it dig into his already sunburnt wrists. He hissed quietly. He could feel his captor approach him, roughly take his chin.

"What if I said there were no others?" he grinned even though he couldn't see the expression of the one before him.

"Then I'd have to kick your ass and escape myself." he received another giggle. Suddenly, there were lips on his, and the blindfold was taken off. "What the hell are you doing?!" the pale man grinned, as though he hadn't just been kissing another man, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. There'd only ever been one other man who did that to him. His eyes widened as he saw the pale man wink.

"B-but, y-you're supposed to be–!" he was kissed again, allowed the man's tongue in because this was the most natural thing in the world. It was Shiro after all, who had the rites to do whatever he wanted to him, though he'd never admit it. He moaned quietly, and Shiro pulled away, smiling at him.

"Does it matter if I'm supposed to be dead or not? I'm here now, aren't I?" he nodded eagerly, smiling. He'd been so depressed when he saw Shiro fall from the cliff. For so long he'd felt sorrow at having lost his best friend. But now his lover was captain of an enemy tribe. Shiro had watched his own mother murdered by these people, so why was he a captain? His fears were washed away as Shiro kissed him again. Who cared anyway? Shiro was alive.

"Where are the others? Are the really gone?" he asked finally after a few minutes of silence, leaning against the supporting beam of the tent, his face flushed. Shiro shook his head, running his fingers through soft orange locks.

"No, I sent the men looking in the wrong direction."

"But Renji was late..." he glanced up into glowing yellow eyes.

"He was napping when I found him." he cursed the red head's stupidity. The stupid pineapple had made him worry for nothing, even made him swallow bugs because of his mix up. "Woke him up before I found you. He should be making the signal any minute."

Shiro reached behind him, trailing gentle finger tips along his now scantily clad back (shiro had forcefully told him he'd die of heat stroke if he stayed in his jacket), grabbing his ass and making him yelp before untying him. Just then the Geebi bird call came, and he whistled back, loudly as he could. He heard his men outside the tent, yelling, gunshots, swords clashing.

Shiro pressed another kiss to his lips. A farewell. "Come with us." he pleaded, picking up his shot gun and shooting one of the men that came into the tent. Shiro grinned, taking something off from around his neck.

His mother's old necklace. "I'm gonna meet up with you guys later." another kiss. "Hurry and go."

He nodded, smiling slightly as he pinned the chain around his neck. "And Ichi." he turned, questioning. Shiro put his forefinger to his forehead, then nose. He smiled.

"Love you too."

OWARI

short and sweet, but I wanted to deal with a different kind of universe. Perhaps I should put more stories in this universe, I like it. Review please!