Chapter 4: Petals on the Breeze
Ichigo dropped onto his knees in the fallen petals and slipped an arm around the little boy, his expression sympathetic as Byakuya struggled to bring his burgeoning misery under control.
"Come here," the Shiba heir said kindly, coaxing the boy into a comforting embrace, "And don't blame yourself, okay? No one believes you hurt your mom. It's obvious you love her a lot."
"B-but, what they said...they said..."
"Byakuya, the truth is that if your mom got weaker after having you, it just means that she was already sick and she just got more sick. It would have happened anyway. It wasn't your fault. Trust me."
"Why should I trust you?" Byakuya asked, looking up at his through wide, teary eyes, "I don't even really know you."
"Well, I know you. And I know that you love both of your parents and you would do anything to honor them. Sometimes things like this just happen. It's not anyone's fault. I lost my mom when I was little too."
Byakuya blinked and stared at him in surprise.
"You did?"
"Yeah. My mom was really pretty and she smiled a lot. My dad and I, and my little sisters all loved her. And she wasn't just pretty, she was really brave. She was so brave that when a hollow attacked me, she died protecting me."
He heard the boy's breath catch and Byakuya's small hands held him more tightly.
"I blamed myself for a long time," Ichigo went on, "but after a while, I realized that it wasn't my fault that hollow showed up and attacked me. It just...happened, and my mom thought it was more important to protect me than it was to run away. That's when I decided that I wanted to be strong and brave like her. I was still small and I got scared sometimes, but even though my mom was gone, I still had my dad and sisters. You still have your dad, right?"
"Uh-huh," Byakuya agreed, rubbing his hand over his face and blinking several times.
"And I'll bet that he would tell you that none of this is your fault."
Byakuya considered his words quietly, breathing slowly as the wind brushed gently against their faces and made the ends of their hair flutter.
"You're right. Papa would surely say that."
"Yeah, he would," Ichigo affirmed, smiling warmly and patting the boy on the cheek, "By the way, does your dad or somebody know where you are? You're kinda far from home for a little kid, aren't you?"
Byakuya sighed and frowned.
"I can take care of myself," he said, looking away.
"There are hollows out here. Do you even have a zanpakuto yet?"
He felt mingled flares of amusement and affection at the lad's response.
"I don't need a zanpakuto to protect myself. My kido and flash step are enough protection."
"Your kido's that strong already, ne?" Ichigo chuckled, mussing the boy's hair and earning a scowl in reply, "You know, that doesn't surprise me."
"What are you doing?" Byakuya demanded, "Nobody does that to me!"
"Okay, okay," Ichigo laughed, raising his hands defensively as pink reiatsu blossomed around the boy and flickered dangerously, "I get that you're strong already. And you know what, Byakuya? You're going to get a whole lot stronger."
Byakuya's dark eyes blinked and looked back at him curiously.
"You're going to become so strong that all of the shinigamis and the people of the Rukongai will know your name and fear the power in your sword," Ichigo went on, his expression growing serious and his eyes going distant and almost sad, "You will be one of the great defenders of the Seireitei, of the noble houses, even the soul king, himself."
He realized then how the boy's eyes had widened and that the swirl of power around him had faded.
"Ichigo, who are you really?" Byakuya asked, reaching up to touch his face.
The Shiba heir reclaimed his lost smile instantly.
"I'm your friend, Byakuya," he answered.
Byakuya started to respond, but his words were blocked out as blackness swirled suddenly around Ichigo and he was violently pulled away.
"Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" he howled as his body seemed to tumble wildly out of control, until he crashed down into his body and collapsed onto his knees at Byakuya's bedside.
"Ichigo!" Rukia cried, dropping onto her knees beside him, "Ichigo, are you all right? What happened?"
Wordlessly, the Shiba heir rose and moved closer to the unconscious captain.
"Ichigo," Rukia whispered again as the ginger haired youth gazed down into Byakuya's vacant eyes and lost expression.
"I don't actually know what happened," Ichigo confessed, "It was really weird. I was...looking into his eyes and all of a sudden...I was with him."
"You were...with him?" Rukia repeated, frowning.
"But he wasn't like this at all," Ichigo continued, smiling slightly as he remembered, "He was just a little kid...a really cute little kid. He didn't act so much like Byakuya. I mean, he was pretty temperamental, but I saw little things that were just like him too."
"That's pretty strange, Ichigo. Are you sure you're feeling all right? We've all been under a lot of stress since the quincies attacked."
"What? I'm not having delusions!" the Shiba heir objected hotly, "I know what I saw!"
"Calm down and don't yell," Rukia chided him, frowning in a way that reminded him instantly of the young woman's older brother, "I don't think you're delusional. I just think that you're under stress and that can cause weird things to happen. But let's not argue about it here. Even though he's unconscious, remember, Captain Hachi said he might be able to hear us."
She rose and returned to her brother's side, dropping into a chair and slipping a hand into his.
"And if you can hear me, Brother, I want to tell you that I love you. I want you to come back to us. We all fought hard to protect our home and the fighting is over now. It's time for us to rest, to heal and to be grateful that we still have our Seireitei and each other. Please wake up, Byakuya. I need you to wake up."
But Byakuya only remained almost perfectly still, his eyes empty and staring at the ceiling and his chest rising and falling slowly. Ichigo laid a hand on Rukia's shoulder as the violet eyed woman gave in to a fresh bout of tears and rested her face on Byakuya's slender, pale hand.
"Don't worry," Ichigo assured her, "Byakuya isn't going to leave us. It's like I said before, once he knew that he had survived the blast at the palace, he made up his mind to stay with us. That he's still breathing and his heart is still beating means that Byakuya's still fighting. It's fine to cry because you're scared or because you're sad he got hurt, but don't cry because you think he's going to die. He won't, Rukia."
"What makes you so sure?" Rukia sobbed, "You don't know what will happen. No one does."
"I know Byakuya," Ichigo said firmly, "He won't give up."
Ichigo sat down in the chair beside Rukia's and placed an arm around her bracingly.
"Come on, now. Don't do that. You said that he might be able to hear."
"And he might be disappointed that I wasn't stronger," Rukia concluded, sniffing and rubbing her wet eyes.
"No, baka," Ichigo said, mussing her hair as he had the young Byakuya's.
He couldn't hide a grin as his friend's face contorted into the same indignant glare that her brother's had.
They may not have been born siblings, but there's no doubt they're alike.
"He'd be unhappy that him being like this hurt you," Ichigo finished, squeezing her shoulder gently, "Rukia, you know that if you want to do your best to help Byakuya, then the best thing you can do is to take care of yourself and not beat up on yourself while you wait for him to get better."
"Yes...I know," Rukia said dispiritedly, "And next, you're going to point out how little sleep I've gotten and you'll say I should go home and rest, right? But if I go, he'll be alone. I want to be here if he wakes up soon. Isn't that what anyone would want when someone they love gets hurt?"
"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "You're right about that. So, I guess if you're going to be stubborn about it, as your friend, there's only one thing I can do."
"Don't even think about knocking me out and taking me home!" the young woman warned him, stiffening.
"I wasn't going to do that," Ichigo chuckled, shaking his head, "I thought about it, but then I thought about how I'd feel if someone did that to me and I came up with a better idea."
"Oh?" Rukia said, looking unconvinced, "And what's that?"
"Well, I was thinking that we could stay here together and take turns sitting with him. One of us can be over here, and one can climb into that bed over there and sleep."
"Would you guys mind a little bit of company?" Renji asked from the doorway.
Ichigo and Rukia's heads turned and they spotted Renji and a pale faced Tetsuya, dressed in their sleeping yukatas and standing in the doorway.
"I thought you were taking Tetsuya home to rest," Rukia chided him.
"Oh, miss I can't leave his side for a damned second wants to be critical," Renji teased her.
"I couldn't make myself fall asleep," added Tetsuya, his blue eyes blinking wearily.
"I guess that all of us kinda feel the same," Ichigo acknowledged.
"What is this? A little family reunion?" asked a feminine voice from the window.
"Yoruichi," Rukia greeted her in a surprised tone as the cat woman joined them in the room.
"I came to see how our little Byakuya was doing. I heard that the quincies gave him a hard time at the palace."
"They sure tried," Ichigo remembered, "but Byakuya wasn't going to let them have their way. I think that explosion he caused must have been heard all of the way in the living world. And I know I couldn't have faced down Ywach and those others all at once. He was really courageous."
"And reckless," Yoruichi added, smiling affectionately.
"And honorable," Rukia sighed sadly.
"Have his healers said anything about his prognosis?" Yoruichi asked, sitting down in a chair.
"Just that it's hard to say what will happen at this point," Rukia explained, "There's a lot of swelling and he hasn't regained consciousness or started using his lower extremities. We just have to wait and give it time."
"I hate waiting," Renji complained.
"Like you need to tell us that," Ichigo teased.
"Shut up, asshole," the redhead snipped, half-heartedly, "You're no better at waiting than I am."
"He does have a point," Tetsuya said, smirking at Renji.
"That's enough, you!" the redhead complained, giving his lovely boyfriend a feigned scowl.
"What a friendly group," observed Hachi, surprising the five as he entered the room and moved forward to examine the unconscious clan leader.
"Uh, sorry Captain, Rukia apologized, "I know you said we should visit my brother in pairs, but..."
"But all of you are affected by his injury, ne? All of you are worried about him. I understand well enough," the vizard assured them, "And actually, I think it is beneficial to have some normality around him. It's hard to say exactly what might be the thing that will bring him awake again. And so, as long as you maintain a calm atmosphere, I have no objection to you all staying. Just...do not neglect yourselves. I doubt that would be helpful to him."
"Of course," Rukia agreed readily.
"Now then," said Hachi, turning an eye on Byakuya's violet eyed sister, "Byakuya is doing as well as can be expected, but I sense that you are very much in need of rest, Miss Kuchiki. If you will please lie down in that bed and rest, I am sure that your cousin and Captain Kuchiki's friends will make sure that he is well attended."
"I've been trying to get her to rest," Ichigo agreed.
"All right! All right, I'll rest," Rukia chuckled, standing and making her way to the extra bed, "Just wake me up if he shows any signs of waking up."
"We will," Tetsuya promised, claiming the seat that she had vacated.
Renji stood behind him, placing warm hands on his shoulders.
"You should be the next to use that bed after her," he advised Tetsuya.
"I will," the blue eyed noble promised, "as soon as Miss Rukia has had some rest."
"I'm holding you to that," Renji said, leaning down to kiss his cheek.
The group of friends went quiet then, listening as rain began to fall again outside the window. Ichigo and Yoruichi sat down on a small bench seat a short distance from Byakuya and the Shiba heir leaned wearily against the wall, watching with sleepy eyes as the clan leader continued to rest with his eyes open and unseeing.
"I understand it was a really tough fight in the palace," Yoruichi commented, "Things were bad enough where we were fighting, but the reiatsu echoes from the palace were damaging, even miles away."
"Yeah," Ichigo sighed, "Byakuya set a barrier around the area, but he warned me that it wouldn't completely shield everyone outside from the power eruptions. Still, it did help."
"It did," Yoruichi agreed.
"Yoruichi, I heard that there have been some attacks, even since we came back."
"There have been," the cat woman confirmed, "You have to realize that even though the war has ended and the quincies were defeated, there are still going to be pockets of resistance, survivors just wanting to get in a few blows before being hunted down. But the important thing to remember is that their king is gone. You eliminated him completely, something that old head captain Yamamoto was unable to do. A lot of people are very grateful to you for that, myself included."
"I just did what I had to do," Ichigo said off-handedly, "He came to Soul Society and he sent his troops out to kill thousands of shinigamis who were only here protecting their home. Whatever happened a thousand years ago, it doesn't give them the right to do that to people who weren't even alive then. I was just protecting my friends."
"Well, now we can get back to just living peaceful lives...although, how are you handling the move here? It must be hard for you to leave Karakura Town and your life there behind."
"It's not easy. I do miss my friends there. But I'm glad that I protected them. And I can see them when they come here to visit me. The new captain commander gave them passes to come here."
"That's good. I'm sure that helps ease things a little."
"Mostly, it's getting used to noble life that's hard. Funny thing is, my family's not that bad compared to some other clans."
He studied Byakuya's handsome profile for a moment.
"Byakuya probably had a pretty hard time growing up in his clan. They're way more anal than the Shiba clan...or yours, for that matter."
"They are," Yoruichi chuckled, "But Byakuya had Ginrei, who understood him pretty well. And when he got too serious, he had me to lighten things up a little."
"I don't know if Byakuya would want to be thanking you for that," Ichigo snickered, "You've told me what kinds of games you played with him."
"He always had a habit of being a little bit too cocky for his own good," Yoruichi remembered with a fond smile, "I just made sure that his ability matched his attitude. I didn't try to change him at all. Byakuya had a fire in his belly to be the strongest leader in the clan's history. Even before Soujun's death, he was committed to that. And after...he was driven by it."
"Well, it seems like he succeeded," Ichigo observed, "He's really damned strong now."
"And that strength is what is going to help him recover," Yoruichi asserted, nodding in the Kuchiki heir's direction.
The two went silent, practically dozing as Byakuya continued his slow recovery. Ichigo's eyes blinked and closed.
He opened them again to find himself in the same forest as the one he had found the child Byakuya in before. He smiled as he heard a sharp battle cry and the loud crack of a kido spell. He turned in the direction of the sound and found a slightly older child-Byakuya training alone in the forest.
The Kuchiki heir flash stepped up from the ground, then caught hold of a tree branch and launched himself forward, drawing his sword as his slender body flew through the air and making a strong downward slice and loosing another ringing cry as he landed. He noticed Ichigo suddenly and paused, frowning. Then his dark eyes lit with recognition.
"Ichigo?" he inquired curiously, "It has been a while."
"Yeah, you've grown up some."
Byakuya looked back at him appraisingly.
"I asked my dad if he knew you and he didn't. Neither did anyone else I asked. Ichigo, you said you were my friend, but...how do I know you?"
Ichigo sighed and looked down at the mossy ground.
"I noticed before that you look sad sometimes when you look at me. Why is that?" the Kuchiki heir asked.
Ichigo considered the question carefully.
"Byakuya, the truth is that...I don't know why I'm having these dreams...or visions...about your past. I know you as an adult, the leader of the Kuchiki clan and the captain of the sixth division of the Gotei 13. But for some reason, I keep getting pulled into your past. It's strange. I don't know why it's happening."
The boy looked up at him quietly with surprisingly thoughtful eyes and his words shocked Ichigo to the core.
"If you have entered my past and we are sharing this time, it is because I wanted you to see."
"Why?" Ichigo asked, stepping forward and staring harder into the young Byakuya's widened orbs, "Why do you want me to see this?"
"You said you are my friend, did you not?" Byakuya asked.
"Yeah, I'm your friend."
"You must be a good friend if I want you to see so much. Ichigo..."
Ichigo felt a flutter of reiatsu touch him and he came awake again to find his friends all awake and watching him. Between Ichigo and the unconscious Kuchiki heir, a stream of pink reiatsu flowed.
"Wh-what is that?" Ichigo asked in a stunned whisper.
Tetsuya Kuchiki's hand reached out and his fingertips touched the stream lightly.
"This," he said, watching Ichigo closely, "is resonance."