Chapter 4: Light the Darkness
(Apologies for not being able to thank people with shout-outs, but I'm still out of state, helping take care of my brother's four kids while he recovers from surgery, and the Internet is really touchy. I have to reload pages constantly and can't get my e-mail and PM's to work right, so have little access to PM's and e-mails. But, we should be going home tomorrow or the next day, thank goodness. This is really annoying for someone used to easy, high speed Internet! Anyway, thanks so very much to everyone reading and reviewing. This story is really doing well! And I will have another update for you very soon.),
"Here, Byakuya-sama," Torio said encouragingly, setting a bowl of hot soup, fresh bread and steaming tea in front of the troubled clan leader.
"Arigatou," Byakuya said, bowing his head submissively, "I am grateful."
"Oh, it is nothing, Cousin," Torio said, shaking his head, "I am glad to serve Byakuya-sama! It is such a relief that you have returned to us."
"But, I do not even remember anyone. I do not remember you. Does that not bother you? Are you even sure that I am truly your leader?"
"What kinda talk is that?" Ichigo asked, entering the room through the open garden doors, "Do you think that I wouldn't know you?"
An uncomfortable blush colored Byakuya's face and throat.
"I...I don't..."
Ichigo sat down beside the bed and smiled at him disarmingly. Byakuya felt an odd sensation of familiarity.
"I know you don't remember me," Ichigo said bracingly, "That's okay, if you feel a little awkward about the bond between us."
"The bond between us..." Byakuya mused softly, freezing for a moment as a dark voice rose up in his mind.
"He had Kurosaki Ichigo's bastard, Emiko"
"Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya said softly, biting at his lips gently and waiting until Torio had gone to go on, "We were...lovers, then?"
Ichigo gave him a look of feigned disapproval and crossed his arms.
"Huh, doesn't even remember our hundreds of hot, breathless nights together...I don't know..."
He shook his head and laughed softly at the noble's deepened flush and the way his eyes flicked away nervously.
"I..."
"I was kidding," Ichigo chuckled, taking his hand again, "The truth is, you and I started out as enemies."
"Did we?" Byakuya asked, looking curious, "Then, how...?"
"We got to know and respect each other over time. And I don't know why, but...you started to really trust me. You trusted me and respected me so much that even when someone once invaded your mind and tried to play with your memories, your respect for me overcame his mental games. You trusted me so much that when you thought you were going to die, you entrusted to me, the most sacred task you consider your own...the protection of Soul Society. And after I defeated the guy who tried to destroy Soul Society, you were healing me, and we started to realize that what's between us goes way deeper than the respect we have for each other. That was the one time that we made love. And that seems to be when the soul bonding happened, as far as we can tell."
"Ah," Byakuya said, still avoiding meeting the younger man's eyes directly.
Was this when we made Emiko?
He frowned and shook his head.
I called her Emiko-sama. I was a servant. I know that much, but...
"You all right?" Ichigo asked as Torio returned to fluff up Byakuya's pillows and adjust his blankets, "You went kinda pale again."
"I am still trying to get my bearings," Byakuya said, looking down at his hands.
But...how could I be Emiko's parent, yet be her slave too? Something is wrong with this. And I remember something else...a man with dark, wicked brown eyes...
"Hey, uh, you sure you don't want your healer to come back?" Ichigo asked.
"You do look very pale, Byakuya-sama," Torio agreed.
"It does feel as though the room is spinning somewhat," the clan leader confessed.
"I will find Michio-san," Torio said, swiftly exiting the room and leaving him alone with Ichigo again.
"Ah, Byakuya, I want to ask you something."
"Hmmm?" Byakuya queried distractedly.
"You...didn't just remember something bad, did you?" the younger man asked, "The reason I'm asking is because you seemed to go inside your head for a minute. And it was then that you went all pale. So..."
Byakuya sighed softly.
This man...he seems to anticipate me so well. We do seem very connected.
"It may be a memory," Byakuya said, meeting Ichigo's warm, affectionate eyes, and feeling a gentle twinge inside, "I remember a man...with narrowed brown eyes. He was angry about something, and it seemed he was angry with me."
He bit at his lip anxiously, considering his words carefully.
"And I remember a girl...Emiko-sama. I think I was her servant. But, I was...we were also..."
He went still suddenly as a dark memory fired itself through his stunned mind.
"You will not defy me anymore, Byakuya," the brown-eyed man said darkly, looking at where Emiko laid, cooing softly in her bassinet, "I told you I will not allow it."
Byakuya looked up at him worriedly.
"What are you going to do?"
Following his gaze, Byakuya realized what was about to happen, and turned to run in the infant's direction. The other man's quick kido spell sent him crashing to the floor, startling the baby and making her give a frightened squeal and start crying.
"No, don't!" Byakuya cried, "Don't take her..."
He struggled against the bonds, but bereft of his powers, he found himself unable to shatter them. His captor picked up the child and left the room without comment. Byakuya struggled to crawl in the direction he had gone, and was nearly to the door, when the other man returned and dragged him roughly to his feet. He shoved him down on his stomach, on the bed, leaning down and holding him painfully in place.
"Bring her back, you bastard!" he cried, "You said that I..."
He reeled as a shock of kido jolted his body, leaving him unable to move and barely capable of drawing a breath.
"I told you that if you did anything to try to leave here, then you would lose her."
"Wh-what have you d-done to her?" Byakuya stammered, panting harshly, "you didn't..!"
"I did not kill her, but I am not giving her back to you either. I will keep Emiko as my own child...insurance, if you will, of your cooperation."
"I am doing all I can!"
"No. I know that you were testing the barriers around this place yesterday. You are so very predictable, Byakuya. But as you have broken the rules, I can not allow that to go unpunished."
"But she is just a child! She needs her..."
"She will have her father," the man told him, his brown eyes glinting, "She will have me. You...will be her servant."
"What?"
"And so that you do not try to escape again, I am going to have your mind emptied, Byakuya."
"No!"
"I will also warn you that if you ever do escape, there is no place that you can hide form me. Wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever helps you, I will find you and I will punish you with her death! Prepare to say goodbye to Kuchiki Byakuya," the man said, drawing a green-hilted sword, "You are about to lose everything that is meaningful to you, until you give me what I want!"
Byakuya realized suddenly, that he was no longer in his bed, but kneeling in the bathroom and emptying his stomach violently. Ichigo's arm was around him, and the healer knelt on his other side, infusing him with healing energy.
"Wh-what happened?" he managed, then he leaned forward and threw up again.
He fell against Ichigo, his eyes closed and the brown-eyed man's maddeningly calm voice ringing in his ears.
If you ever do escape, you will not be able to tell him. When you try, my power will inhibit you...and you will 'punish' yourself for trying. No one is ever going to know about her, or about what you know, Byakuya. It will all disappear now...Shatter..."
He felt Ichigo's hand caressing his back, and felt tears in his eyes, thinking about the girl they had made.
I have to find her, but that man's spell inhibits me from explaining! I have to find her, but I know they will not let me go. Still...I have to try.
"I think I will be all right now," he said in a shaky voice, starting to stand, then finding himself swept unexpectedly into strong arms.
"What're you doing?" Ichigo chided him gently, "You shouldn't be trying to walk around. You're really sick, Byakuya. But, we're going to make you well. We're going to protect you. And as soon as we can, we'll find your friend, Emiko. I promise."
You are truly one I think could have won my heart, Ichigo...
"Arigatou."
Ichigo laughed softly.
"You should be telling me something like, "Put me down, Kurosaki Ichigo! This is unseemly! For a clan leader to be carried about like a new bride being taken over the threshold!"
"If you know that, then why are you doing this?" Byakuya asked, regaining the aristocratic air in his voice for a moment.
"Be quiet, okay? I'm just taking care of you," Ichigo said, smiling in a way that made him go instantly calm again.
"Very well, if it pleases you," he said dryly.
"Hang on," Ichigo chuckled, flash stepping back to the bed.
He set the noble down gently, then surprised Byakuya by waving Torio off and tucking the clan leader in, himself and kissing him warmly on the lips.
"Try to get some rest, all right? I have to go for a while, but Torio and Koji will be here, and Rukia, Tetsuya and Renji will be by to see you later, too."
"Ah," Byakuya answered, not knowing quite how to respond, "That is good."
"Yeah, they'll take good care of you until I get back. Then, we should talk. I'll need to know anything you can tell me about the girl, Emiko. I'd stay and talk to you now, so that we could get the search started faster, but my dad sent a hell butterfly and is all up in arms about something to do with my clan's elders."
"Y-your clan?" Byakuya queried, "You are a noble too?"
"Oh yeah, you don't remember," Ichigo said, shaking his head, "I'm the heir to leadership of the Shiba clan. We found that out while we were recovering in the spirit dimension after..."
"The spirit dimension?"
"Eh, don't worry about it," Ichigo said, turning to leave, "We'll get you all caught up in no time, now that you're conscious. Just...stay here at the manor and don't run off anywhere, okay? Whoever you escaped from might come back and want to try to take you away from us again."
Byakuya's heart skipped almost painfully at the solemn, wounded look in the younger man's eyes as he went on.
"And, I don't want another minute to go by with me not knowing whether you're safe, or even alive, ever again."
Ichigo.
You really do love me, don't you?
If not for Emiko, and the spell that inhibits me when I try to tell you...
If not for that...
He laid quietly in his bed, looking out into the gardens and taking slow breaths of fresh air that was sweetly scented with flowers.
A delicate step in his doorway made him turn his head, and his eyes met Tetsuya's as the interim clan leader moved to sit down at his bedside.
"How did you meeting with the elders go?" Byakuya asked softly, "I imagine that they are disappointed with what has been returned to them?"
"Not at all, Cousin," Tetsuya assured him, "They did vote to extend my leadership until you are well enough to lead again, but they are all very relieved that you have been found. Do not worry, Byakuya-sama, all will be well."
Byakuya thought quietly for a moment.
"I am grateful to you for seeing to my obligations faithfully, Tetsuya-sama."
"Wh-what? Byakuya-sama, please, do not refer to me that way. You never use honorifics when speaking to me!"
"But you are the clan leader, even if only for now."
"But that does not change who you are...not to the clan and not to me."
"But you use an honorific when you refer to me," Byakuya objected.
"I am your..."
Tetsuya took his hands and looked deeply into his eyes, stopping him, mid-sentence.
"You once rescued me, when I had spent the first fifteen years of my life as a prisoner. No matter what I do, I will never be able to properly thank you for that. You are my beloved cousin, my rescuer and my leader. I refer to you as I do to honor that."
Byakuya surprised his younger cousin with a warm smile and a soft kiss on his fingertips.
"You honor me with everything you have done since I was taken," he sighed, "You held our family together, and you are still doing that so that I can focus on my recovery. Let us honor that bond, then, by neither of us being so formal. Thank you, Tetsuya. But, there is something I must ask you to do. It is something I will entrust to you, knowing that you will accept and assist me."
Tetsuya looked back at him questioningly.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked curiously.
"I know that I am not recovered yet. But time is short, and my ability to explain is limited for reasons I cannot tell you right now. Tetsuya, I must return to Hueco Mundo."
"What?" Tetsuya gasped, looking alarmed, "Byakuya-sama...!"
"Hear me out," Byakuya said quickly, squeezing his cousin's hands, "This is urgent, and I cannot explain it, but still, I must ask it. I want you to come with me, to act as my protector."
Tetsuya's head tilted, and his blue eyes registered comprehension.
"This is about the girl? It's about Emiko?"
"Yes," Byakuya confirmed, "I can say no more."
"Why not?"
"It is...painful. I am inhibited," Byakuya confessed, not daring to say anything further.
Tetsuya nodded.
"I understand. But, Byakuya-sama, why did you not simply tell Ichigo-sama? He surely would have..."
"Yes, he would have insisted I stay here, and he would have gone and endangered himself. That man would have..."
Byakuya broke off for a moment, pain registering on his face.
"Byakuya, are you all right?"
"Y-yes, but no more talking. Tetsuya, please, we must go now. You have a stallion, ne?"
"Yes, Arashi, but..."
"We must go now. Emiko's life depends on us finding her quickly!"
"Then, Emiko escaped with you?" Tetsuya asked, rising, and helping him out of bed.
"Y-yes, but we were somehow separated. She is just a child. We have to find her before something bad happens to her!"
"But, why not leave it to us, and just..."
"No, I cannot do that. Tetsuya, I must go after her. You said that you owe me, and you can honor that by protecting me and helping me to find my...to find Emiko. Come quickly now. I don't want anyone to try to stop me!"
"I should be the one to stop you," Tetsuya said, looking conflicted, "And I insist that you at least leave a hell butterfly for Ichigo-sama. He loves you, and he was devastated when you disappeared. You cannot hurt him by just disappearing again."
"Very well, then," Byakuya said, nodding as he began to dress.
Tetsuya summoned a hell butterfly and waited as Byakuya whispered a message to it, then sent it on its way. The younger man then, helped his cousin to dress, and the two slipped out into the quiet gardens, where Tetsuya whistled softly for his mount to come to them. A few moments later, Arashi, trotted into the gardens, coming to a stop in front of them. Tetsuya helped Byakuya onto the stallion's back, then climbed up behind him. He touched his heels to the stallion's sides, then opened a senkaimon.
"Again, I am grateful to you, Cousin," Byakuya said as Tetsuya's arms curled around him.
"I think Ichigo will be furious with both of us," Tetsuya said worriedly, "But if you are right, then every moment counts. And that hell butterfly will lead him to us, so we can go ahead and let him catch up when he receives the message. Do not worry, Byakuya. We will find Emiko-chan."
"I hope so," Byakuya sighed, closing his eyes, only to be faced with the dark gaze of the brown-eyed man who had been his captor, "But be diligent, Tetsuya. The one who took us must be very dangerous."
"I will protect you," Tetsuya promised, "I swear to you that I will bring you and Emiko back safely!"
