Chapter 1: Dakara Nakanai De
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Hanatarou would have gripped his chest if he could, but his hands were still bound behind his back by those damn ropes, which by now were cutting into his skin.
If only I could stop the pain.
He coughed again, as he watched more of his blood fall to the floor.
"I'm not going to tell him"
"I'm not going to tell him"
"I'm not going to tell him"
Hanatarou coughed once again, bringing up more blood then the last time.
"No matter what he does to me, I'm not going to tell, I can't"
Another wave of pain quickly made its way through Hanatarou's small body.
He closed his eyes as tight as he could, to suppress the pain.
A few drops of clear liquid fell from Hanatarou's eyes.
They mixed together with the pools of crimson liquid which was also falling from his face.
He winced again as the salty tears entered the small open cuts on both of his cheeks.
"No matter what he does to me, I'm not going to tell him, not going to tell him where you and the others are hiding Rukia-sama".
Hanatarou could feel new warm fresh blood coming from the slits in his wrists, that the ropes were creating.
"But please Ichigo-san, don't let me die here, I don't want to die alone"
The small boy began to cry in the darkness of the prison cell.
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"So you just expect me to sit here and do nothing, while that bastard does whatever he pleases to Hanatarou!?"
"No Ichigo, that's not what I'm saying now sit down and stop yelling before someone hears you, if they do then all of our lives will be in danger" Urahara said calmly.
Ichigo cursed under his breath before sitting back down again.
"Besides Ichigo, we don't have the slightest clue where Captain Kuchiki has taken him anyway" Renji pointed out needlessly.
There was a long moment of silence before Rukia spoke up.
"This is my fault, it's because Ichigo rescued me that my brother is upset like this, so therefore it's my fault that Hanatarou was kidnapped"
"No it's my fault, I should have been paying more attention, when he attacked us" Inoue said looking at the floor.
"No, me and Renji should have kept a closer eye on him instead of leaving him to you" Ishida sighed, Renji nodded in agreement.
"No you guys, this is entirely my fault"
They all looked up from the table and looked over at Ichigo, who had moved from the table to the window.
"I should have paid more attention when that bastard attacked, I should have kept a closer eye one him"
"Hanatarou didn't get kidnapped because of any of you, he got kidnapped because I was too weak to protect him"
"Ichigo" Inoue said to herself quietly, she had never heard Ichigo say something like that before.
"Well we can't just put all of the blame on you, either way you look at it we are all to blame" Renji said bluntly.
"So what do you plan on doing about this Ichigo?" Urahara said glancing at the orange haired soul reaper.
"You don't know where they are, and compared to him you're just a harmless child"
Rukia watched Ichigo's hands clench up into fists.
"Do you think that will stop him, Ichigo didn't think of that when he came to rescue me, so don't think for a minuet that the same thing will stop him from rescuing Hana".
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Hanatarou was forcefully dragged down the dark and damp hallway of the prison cells.
They got to the end of the hallway when he heard one of the cell doors open.
The next thing he knew, he was picked up off his feel and thrown into the cell.
"Ouch" Hanatarou yelped, as he dragged his small body off of the cold stone floor.
"So just what do you want with me?"
Hanatarou knew in the back of his mind that someone of the 4th division like himself, should never talk to someone higher up like that.
To Captain Kuchiki no less.
Byakuya approached the boy slowly, and never took his eyes off of him.
As he got closer, Hanatarou began to shake.
He couldn't control it, but he had the right to seeing that he witnessed some on the fights between Ichigo and Byakuya, so he knew just how strong he was compared to himself.
He picked the boy up by the collar of his kimono, and forcefully dragged him to his feet.
"You know where he took Rukia, so tell me and I'll let you go"
He wasn't yelling, nor was he trying to scare the boy but still his voice sounded serious.
"No, I can't tell you because I promised Ichigo that I wouldn't tell anyone"
Hanatarou could feel that something bad was coming when Byakuya's face began looking more serious then before.
Before he could react his world burst into stars, as he felt his body collide with the floor again.
Hanatarou lifted his hand to the corner of his mouth, and wiped the blood away.
Then he looked up at the Captain.
"I'm going to come back later, and if you can not come up with a reasonable answer by then, the consequences will be more then a punch to the face".
Hanatarou didn't reply, he just continued to look at the blank floor.
Byakuya scowled again, then left the cell leaving the guard to close and lock it.
After Hanatarou was sure that the hallway was empty, he slowly moved into the corner of the cell.
Once there he wrapped his arms around his knees and brought them closer to his body.
He buried his face into the sleeve of his kimono.
He made it so that you couldn't see his face, the only thing that you could see was a small stream of clear liquid sliding down his cheek.
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Translation:
Dakara Nakanai De: So Please don't cry