Chapter 3: Awakening

"Hey, Pesche, she moved," Dondachakka said, leaning over the small child who laid in the sand, "She's still alive."

"Huh? Really?" Pesche mused, moving closer and gazing down at the girl, "I thought she was dead, for sure!"

"Should we tell Nel-sama?"

Pesche swatted his more portly friend on the head and let out an annoyed breath.

"Duh, of course we should tell her...if we can find her, that is. Remember, we were in the middle of a game of hide and seek."

"Oh! Oh yeah, I was so surprised we found this shinigami girl that I forgot all about our game. NEL-SAMA! NEL-SAMA, COME OUT!"

"Hey, baka!" Peshe objected, not noticing that the girl's pretty gray eyes had opened and were staring up at them and widening in surprise, "Shut up! Do you know how stupid you're being?"

"What? I'm going to tell Nel-sama we found this..."

"That's not what I mean! Dondachakka, I know it's not something you usually do, but try to think, for a minute, okay?"

"Huh?"

"That girl...was running away from something when she collapsed here. It didn't find her, BUT IT COULD STILL BE LOOKING AROUND HERE FOR HER!"

Dondachakka glanced at the girl, noticing her bemused look and not registering the fact that she was awake just yet.

"You know, Pesche, if you don't want that thing to come after us, then maybe you shouldn't be yelling like that."

Pesche's bone mask went red with fury.

"You stupid ass! That's what I was trying to tell YOU! Get a clue, will you? You..."

"Ah, Pesche..."

"...amaze me with your cluelessness!"

"Pesche?"

"Just give me the kid and..."

Dondachakka's eyes rounded as he sensed the approach of a powerful being. Sensing that time had run out, he grabbed the little girl and dove behind a rock as the dark, wicked presence honed in on his still muttering friend.

"I'm always having to save your ass. If you'd learn to use that wooden head of yours for something other than kindling..."

"Excuse me," said a soft, male voice.

"YIIIII!" howled Pesche, leaping into the air, then crashing down into a heap on the sand, "G-gah! Aizen-sama, you scared the shit outta me!"

"Hmmm, Pesche, is it?"

"Y-yeah?" the hollow managed, his teeth chattering inside his bone mask, "What do you want, Aizen-sama? You really shouldn't sneak around like that. You scared me to death!"

"My apologies," Aizen said silkenly, "Now, I was looking for Neliel."

Pesche swallowed hard and struggled to think of something to say, but no words would come. He winced as Aizen's powerful reiatsu assailed him.

"Do you know where she is? You are one of her fraccion, no?"

"Y-yeah, but...she ah...she went off with Grimmjow. S-said something about some trouble near the old fortress or something," Pesche panted breathlessly, "S-sorry."

"It's no trouble," Aizen said, freezing the hollow with his gaze, "When she returns, I want you to tell her something for me."

Pesche stared at the tall shinigami, still unable to speak.

"I am searching for two people. One is a black-haired man who will be poorly dressed and looking injured. The other is a small child, a young girl. If you see them, you are to delay them here and send for me at once."

"Uh-huh...okay," Pesche answered dizzily, swaying as Aizen's intense reiatsu seemed to squeeze the breath from his lungs.

"Thank you," Aizen said, disappearing in a flash step and leaving Pesche to collapse again in the sand.

There was a long moment of silence, then Dondachakka peeked out from behind the rock where he had taken cover. Carrying the staring child in his arms, he walked to his friend and dropped onto his knees, looking down into Pesche's hazy eyes.

"Y-yeah, no...uh...no problem..." Pesche mumbled incoherently, "We'll just...do that..."

"Hey...hey, Pesche, you okay?"

The hollow's eyes blinked slowly, several times, then found Dondachakka's huge mask and strayed to the ginger-haired, gray-eyed girl who was looking back at him.

"I think he fainted," said the girl, startling the two hollows.

"AUGH!" squealed Pesche, "She's awake! Drop her, Dondachakka, quick!"

"Yii!" shouted Dondachakka, letting go of the girl, who clung to his shoulder and giggled, "Ah! Let go! Let go! Let go!"

Dondachakka danced around wildly, trying desperately to dislodge the clinging shinigami girl, but only succeeding in making her hang on more tightly and giggle more furiously. Pesche stopped and watched for a moment, the gears in his mind coming to a screeching halt as he realized.

"H-hey, hey Dondachakka...Hey!"

"What?" the other hollow asked, stopping his motions and looking back at his friend questioningly, completely forgetting the little girl who still clung to his shoulder.

If Pesche's face wasn't already white, it would have gone white as he stared in the direction Aizen had gone, swallowing hard and clenching his bony hands.

"Hey, ah, Aizen-sama was here before."

"Yeah," Dondachakka agreed, "That's why I was hiding! I was surprised he didn't kill you right there."

"Uh, yeah, I'm kinda surprised at that too. Buddy, he said that he was looking for a poor guy with black hair and a little girl."

"A little girl?" the portly hollow mused, scratching his head and thinking hard, "So?"

A soft giggle issued near his ear, and Dondachakka's eyes rotated to meet the girl's. The girl smiled at him and giggled sweetly.

"Yikes!" he squealed, slipping free of her grasp and running away with Pesche on his heels.

The girl stared after them, her gray eyes clouding up and filling with tears. She looked around in the darkness, finding herself alone again, and wondering where the tall, sad man who had helped her escape was.

"B-bya-san?" she sobbed, sitting down in the sand and rubbing her eyes, "Bya-san!"

Pesche and Dondachakka peeked out from behind a rock, where they had taken cover, watching as the little girl dissolved into tears. In moments, the two hollows were fighting tears and hugging each other.

"That's so sad!" Dondachakka sobbed, "Pesche, we can't just leave her there!"

"B-but, Aizen-sama was looking for her!" Pesche reminded him, "That's got to be the girl that he was talking about. Do you know how badly he'll torture and kill us if he finds us with her, and we didn't tell him?"

He realized then, that Dondachakka had left their hiding place and was inching his way on hands and knees to where the girl sat, crying. He stopped in front of her, watching as she realized she wasn't alone and hiccoughed a few times, then stopped crying and rubbed her eyes.

"Do you know that Aizen-sama is looking for you?" he asked her.

The girl's face paled, and she nodded.

"Bya-san said that we couldn't let Daddy Aizen find us, or he would hurt us," she said, sniffing and rubbing her eyes, "There were hollows chasing us, and something hit Bya-san, and he fell down and told me to run into the doorway. But it closed, and the hollows scared me. So, I just ran and ran until I fell down and had to sleep. I don't know what happened to Bya-san. I couldn't find him again."

Pesche stopped as he reached Dondachakka's side.

"We didn't see anyone else," he told the girl, "We just found you dead...erm...passed out on the sand, there."

"C-can you help me find Bya-san?" the girl asked.

The two hollows exchanged glances, then looked back at the girl.

"Hmmm, I don't know where your friend is, but..."

"Bya-san isn't my friend. He is my servant. Daddy Aizen assigned him to take care of me for him. He's nice and he tells me lots of stories. He teaches me things and we play games together. But Bya-san is more important than a friend. I need to find him!"

"Awww," Dondachakka said, sniffing, "Of course we'll help you. We have a friend who's really powerful. She might be able to help you find your Bya-san!"

"Ack! What are you saying?" Pesche objected, looking scared, "Dondachakka, what about her daddy? You know, the scary, murderous, backstabbing Aizen-sama? What about when he comes back and kills us all?"

"Well," said the big hollow, "I think we are already in the fire, so it won't be too bad in the frying pan, ne?"

"Eesh!" grumbled Pesche, slipping a hand into the girl's and helping her to her feet, "Would you please stop trying to think too hard? You always get us into mountains of trouble!"

"Who's in trouble? Nel-sama will know what to do!"

"But, who is Nel-sama?" asked the girl, "Is she nice?"

"She's very nice, kid," Pesche assured her, "And she's smart, too. She'll think of something to help you out, okay?"

"Okay," the girl said, pressing up against Pesche's side and looking around cautiously.

"Heh...cute," Pesche chuckled, "Yeah...to die for. So, kid, do you have a name?"

"I'm Aizen Emiko," the girl told him, earning a scared look in return, "My father is Aizen Sousuke and I don't have a mother because she died."

"Awww, I'm sorry," Dondachakka said sadly, "But it's even more sad that you have to run away from your own father."

"We understand, though," Pesche sighed, "Who'd want to be that guy's kid?"

"I wish Bya-san was my daddy," Emiko sighed, pressing even closer to Pesche, "Daddy Aizen scares me. I don't know why. He doesn't yell at me or anything. But he hurts Bya-san. And while he was hurting Bya-san, I heard him say that he would hurt me too. I don't know why he said that. Why would my daddy hurt me?"

"Eh," Pesche muttered, patting her on the head, "Who knows why that guy does the things he does? He'd give his own mother to the demons to eat if it would help to make him king."

"But how would hurting Bya-san and me help him become king?"

"I don't know, Emiko-chan," Pesche said, shaking his head and tightening his hand on hers, "But we'll make sure that you don't have to worry about that. Come on."

XXXXXXXXXX

Byakuya struggled desperately to make his body move, but found himself unable to do anything but summon tears of frustration. They leaked onto his face, and he felt gentle fingertips brush them away.

"Hey, what's that all about?" said a warm, friendly and very familiar sounding voice, "It's okay. You're safe now. We're not going to let anything happen to you."

He wasn't sure where he had heard that voice before, only that it seemed to have been before becoming Aizen's possession. He strained hard to remember the others that he sensed, but was left with only vague impressions. The one holding his hand, however, seemed to have special significance.

He looks like her.

But the girl's face was becoming hazy in his mind. The image of her flickered teasingly, and he felt twinges of panic as he struggled to hang on to that dimming impression.

The attack that struck me.

It must be affecting my memory.

Emiko...

I must remember...

He struggled harder, feeling shivers invade his body as something came back that he wished he hadn't remembered.

"Aizen-sama, I am sorry," the healer said sadly, "I did try, but I am afraid that Bya-san was not able to carry your child to term this time either."

He flinched at the way that Aizen glared down at the semi-conscious noble's restrained body.

"I am sure that you did your best," Aizen said quietly, his reiatsu flickering dangerously, "You cannot help it if Bya refuses to give his best effort."

"But, he did, sir!" the healer exclaimed, shaking his head, "He came to every appointment as scheduled. He did everything I told him to, except that he could not follow the dietary advice when you were angry and had his meals restricted. I assure you, if there was anything that he could..."

"You misunderstand," Aizen said, his glare intensifying, "The hougyoku's power is such that if Byakuya truly desired this child, the power of the hougyoku would have helped him carry it to term."

"But, you said, yourself, that the hougyoku's power only works on desires that one has the innate ability to attain."

"Byakuya can get pregnant. He had Kurosaki Ichigo's bastard, Emiko. He can have my child. It is as simple as that."

"But sir, male noble pregnancy is not so straightforward. What I mean is that, if perchance, Kurosaki-san was his soul mate, then it would no longer be possible for him to have another man's child. I assure you, it must be something like this. Bya-san has been very committed to his baby's health. If he failed, it was certainly not his fault, sir."

Perhaps not," Aizen said, non-committally, "but whether it is that he is not committed to this, or because of his bond with Kurosaki, the path I must take is the same."

"N-n-no!" Bya gasped, struggling against the bonds at his wrists and ankles, "Not...not Emiko! P-please, Aizen-sama! Don't...not Emiko!"

Aizen moved closer, looking down into the noble's desperate, glazed over eyes and shaking his head reprovingly.

"Disgraceful," he said, frowning, "I remember when you would rather have taken a sword through your heart than to plead like a useless slave. But then...you don't remember being that person, do you?"

He sighed softly and looked away.

"You used to be strong. And if you had not forced me to break you, you would be strong still, Byakuya. It is a good thing everyone thinks that you are dead. You wouldn't want them to see you like this. Who could look at what you are now and not cringe? But, be comforted. I will make sure that you forget your daughter, so that you will not suffer too badly. I could kill you, but, somehow, despite the pathetic thing that you have become, I still desire you. Perhaps it is the satisfaction of having taken the greatest of the king's noble leaders and having made him into a weak, pathetic excuse for a man. Of maybe it is that pretty, soft skin and the scent of sakura that still bewitches me."

He frowned more deeply and shook his head again, then looked at the healer.

"Wipe his mind clean and then return him to his room. I am going to find the girl. It is time to get this over with."

"Yes...Aizen-sama," the healer said, bowing, then watching Aizen leave the room.

He bent over Bya, sighing sadly and biting his lip gently as he spotted Emiko hiding behind one of the chairs in the room. Clearing his throat softly, he touched Bya's face lightly, and loosened the hold of the kido spell over his consciousness.

"I must go for a few minutes," he whispered, looking down into the hazy gray eyes meaningfully and releasing the restraints, "When I return, I must follow Aizen's orders to wipe your mind of memory."

He turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as he was gone, Emiko scooted out from behind the chair and moved quickly to Bya's side.

"Bya-san!" she called urgently, "Bya-san, wake up! Daddy Aizen is going to...he's going to hurt us! Come, Bya-san! You must get up! Get up, Bya-san!"

Bya stirred and blinked several times, then accepted the girl's hand as she helped him to his feet.

"Bya-san, do you know the way out?" she asked, her voice shaking, "Hurry!"

Bya's grip tightened on her hand, and the girl smiled up at him.

"That's better," she said approvingly, "Now, how do we get out, Bya-san?"

He couldn't manage to speak yet, but he led her to the door, where the two peered out and waited for an opening. When the way looked clear, the two abandoned the examination room and slipped into a servant's passage to remain hidden. Emiko held on to Bya's hand tightly and looked around nervously as they hurried along the dark, quiet corridor, listening for sounds of pursuit. They had just reached the fortress gates, when an alarm began to ring and they felt the swell of power that preceded the locking down of the area.

"Quickly, Emiko-sama!" Bya managed, "Your kido!"

The little girl's eyes widened, but she raised her hands obediently and took aim on the exterior wall.

"Hado number thirty-three, Soukatsui!"

They ran forward as the kido struck the wall, opening the way to the dark desert outside.

"Run, Emiko-sama!" Bya cried, abandoning any attempt to be quiet as the guards spotted them and started firing ceros, "Use your flash step and head towards that glimmer of light. It is the old fortress, Las Noches. There are a couple of the former Espadas there, who work against Aizen. They will help us escape to the living world. Go!"

Emiko invoked her flash step as Bya ran as fast as he could behind her, altering his path to dodge the intermittent ceros. They neared a rise, and Emiko reached the top and dashed over. But, as Bya followed, he felt Aizen's eyes touch on him.

"No!" he hissed, "Not when we are so..."

He didn't have to look to feel the incoming blast that took him off his feet and sent him crashing to the ground. His body screamed in protest as he rolled over and came to a stop on the cold sand, but he forced himself to his feet and threw himself over the rise, tumbling down and sliding to a graceless halt at the bottom of the hill. He quickly spotted the open garganta that the officers used to move about and yelled for Emiko to run for it.

"We won't make it to the fortress! Get through the door before it closes! Go now, Emiko-sama!"

He scrambled forward, knowing full well that the doorway would close before he could reach it.

"Emiko-sama, run!"

His heart froze as the girl looked back and seemed to realize. She turned back and ran towards him.

"No!" he cried desperately, "Emiko-sama, you have to escape. Leave me!"

"I'm not leaving you, Bya-san! You belong to me. You are my servant! Get up!"

Tears coming to his eyes, he rose and reached for her hand as the doorway closed.

"Run, Emiko-sama!" he panted, We can't let them find us now. Use the rocks as cover and...and call your zanpakutou, like I taught you. You can open a senkaimon. It is our only hope now."

Emiko held out a small hand and focused deeply, shutting out the sounds of kido and cero, the coldness of the desert and the harshness of their breathing. She reached out for her zanpakutou spirit and connected with her.

"I can feel their reiatsu," said Aizen's voice, somewhere in the distance.

Emiko's heart raced wildly as she focused her mind on her zanpakutou spirit and invoked her will furiously.

"I will help you," a soft, feminine voice said in her mind.

And suddenly, the two escapees felt the wrapping around of immense power. They were lifted away and shot through the darkness at blinding speed that made them close their eyes and cling to each other. As they were pulled away, a huge blast of power struck at them, and Emiko felt Bya's hand tear away from hers.

"BYA-SAN!" she screamed.

To her relief, she saw him crash down into the sand, well away from their pursuers. But she was flung much farther, and soon lost sight of his collapsed form.

Bya laid on the sand, panting hard and unable to move anymore. He tried to crawl forward, but lost consciousness quickly, and laid in a silent, vulnerable heap on the black sand.

...At least she got away...

"Emiko," Byakuya whispered, feeling tears in his eyes as her voice began to dim and her visage faded, "Don't go...Emiko."

"Nii-sama?" said a young woman's voice.

Who...is that?

"I've called for the healer. Open your eyes, Nii-sama. I can feel that you are awake."

"He's awake?" said the familiar male voice he had heard before.

"Yes. But he doesn't seem to be lucid, Ichigo."

Ichigo?

He heard Aizen's voice in his mind again.

He had Kurosaki Ichigo's bastard, Emiko

"Ichigo?" he whispered dazedly.

His mind spun away again, even as that warm hand captured his and Ichigo's voice reached him.

"Byakuya, I'm here."

"Emiko...is...she is..."

He tried desperately to remain awake, but felt the darkness close in again.

"Emiko, she is...lost."

Even though he couldn't move or speak anymore, his heart flooded with emotion as Ichigo's voice broke through the darkness.

"We will find her, Byakuya. If she means that much to you, we will find your friend, Emiko."

It felt as though he had been stopped short of falling completely into darkness...as though, teetering on the edge of the abyss, a hand had captured his and pulled him back to safety. Anchored by the emotion in those words, and by the one who spoke them, Byakuya took a breath and opened his eyes again.

"Byakuya?" Ichigo whispered, his brown eyes widening as the noble's opened and struggled to focus.

The Shiba heir felt a sudden swell of the reiatsu in his body, and white light rose around him, illuminating him from within then coursing through the hand that held Byakuya's. The Kuchiki heir's body recoiled in shock as that pure essence flowed into his body, flooding his sleeping spirit centers and making them glow a bright pink.

The newly lit embers flared painfully, and Byakuya wondered suddenly if he was being consumed. The manor shook with the power of the exchange, and swift flash steps sounded everywhere around the two as the household awakened and the security forces rushed to find the cause of the disturbance. Behind Ichigo, Rukia came to her feet, staring.

"N-nii-sama?" she stammered, "Ichigo? Ichigo, what's happening?"

"I don't know!" the Shiba heir gasped, trying to let go of Byakuya's hand, but finding that he couldn't.

He met the eyes of the old healer as the man ran into the room, his own desperate as the power blazing around them flared brightly again.

"What is this? What's happening, old man?" Ichigo demanded.

Michio stared, wide-eyed at Byakuya and Ichigo, understanding flooding him and bringing a returning calm.

"It is all right," he assured them, watching closely as Byakuya and Ichigo's bodies glowed brightly, then slowly, the power that had risen between them began to calm and fade.

Ichigo panted softly, his eyes locking on to Byakuya's and his body burning inside with the released power.

"But, what was that?"

Michio managed a soft, relieved smile and nodded.

"Your spirit centers have awakened his," he explained, "You are both very powerful shinigamis, so the awakening was forceful. But, it means that now Byakuya-sama will begin to truly heal."

"But, why did that happen between him and me?" Ichigo wondered aloud, looking into the widened eyes of the awakened Byakuya, "I don't understand."

"The signs are clear," Michio said softly, waving to the house security forces to disperse them, "You and Byakuya-sama...are mated souls. Your souls have been bonded to each other. That is why he needed your power to reawaken his."

"Bonded souls?" Ichigo repeated, still staring into Byakuya's eyes, "Byakuya and me?"

"Yes," the old healer affirmed, "There is no question what we all just witnessed. Our clan is grateful. Thanks to this bond, our leader begins to return to us."

"I don't understand," Byakuya whispered, the sound of his voice startling the ones who had gathered, "I cannot be your leader. I am just a slave...a servant."

"What?" Ichigo said, frowning, "Byakuya, what are you talking about? A slave? What do you mean? Byakuya, where have you been all of this time? Who took you away? Where were you taken?"

Byakuya's lips parted, and he tried to answer, but found only a strange blankness where the past had been. He caught a flash image of a little girl, the tinkling sound of her laugh, but her name escaped him.

"I...I was..."

He frowned and squinted, pain rocketing through his shocked mind as it registered that everything had disappeared.

"I don't know," he admitted in a stunned voice, "I cannot remember."