Chapter 7: Blood Trail
(AN**Just so readers are aware, I have posted a longer, more sensuous Chapter 6 Katsuro/Tetsuya wedding night love scene on Archive of our own and Aarinfantasy. I am still figuring out the tag system, but the fact that I post frequently seems to make my stories pop up in searches of Bleach. I tried providing a link, but it kept getting censored on this site. Anywhoo, you should take a look. Just, bring a fan...Thanks going out to FanFicStalker (Sorry, I know, I'm so mean!), Autheane (Renji might have lost his memory, but his soul connection with Byakuya will not let him forget his beautiful life partner. Just, Byakuya'd better be careful. Those claws are dangerous!), Bloop (Okay, here's another!), MandeeMaggot (Byakuya will be focused on one thing, finding Renji. He won't let himself think too much about what might have happened. But luckily for him, someone will be figuring out what to do...a certain healer, who is very close to Byakuya and can't join in the search.), TomyAllen (YES! I am pulling my hair out over the manga. I know that some people complained that no one ever died. But we really don't need a bloodbath and the wholesale slaughter of characters we love in the beginning battles. Poor Kira didn't get even a sorrowful flashback. And I'm still freaked out about Byakuya standing there with no ban kai, maybe no connection with his zanpakutou, and screaming in a very unByakuya-like way at Renji to not release his ban kai. It kills, knowing that they can only steal one ban kai at a time, but not being able to tell him that! It's one time I hope Renji doesn't listen to him. Grrrrr! Okay, enough!), Alabirdie (XD Update for you!), Firebirdever (I hpe you get over to one of the other sites to read Katsuro and Tet's extended lemon for Chapter 6...it's even better!) and Mina Kye (The demon's reiatsu will affect Renji's behavior, so he will be confused and drawn to Byakuya...maybe stalk him a bit. Won't that be chilling?) Ah, enough chitchat...On to the story! )
Wide-eyed, heart pounding and his chest clenching with a chill of foreboding, Byakuya crashed heedlessly through the forest, barely needing to look for signs as he ran. As much as seeing the crimson and black splashes on the lush, broken foliage, where the two had passed, Renji in pursuit of the demon, the noble scented his lover's leaking blood and reiatsu and loosed his name in harder, more insistent cries.
He slid to a momentary stop at thinking he heard a sob of response. But as he stood, his chest heaving and sweat breaking out on his pristine white skin, the only sounds that reached his ears were rushes of wind, footsteps pounding in pursuit, the voices of the royal guardsmen behind him, and the harsh, guttural sound of his own breathing.
He threw himself into flash steps again, abandoning any kind of caution as he pursued what might have been a shaking wind, a peal of thunder, or just a phantom, born of his own desperation. He sank into his mind as he ran, reaching out in that other way that he and Renji had recently learned to connect, and his reaching mind caught horrifying flashes of something gone awfully wrong. Usually, when his mind touched Renji's, he sensed the man's warmth and love. But what he felt now was darkness and chill uncertainty...fear that was as foreign to Renji as anything Byakuya had ever felt.
He stopped again as the forest opened into a clearing, his heart skipping painfully at the larger splashes of black and red blood.
"So much blood...too much. Renji..." he panted, his body shaking and flaring with harried reiatsu.
He sensed others approaching and flash stepped away, leaving it to the men who followed to solemnly catalogue the hard facts...the blood and broken twigs, to shake their heads in sadness at the probability of darkness in Renji's fate. Byakuya couldn't look at the situation that way. As much as he had always been cold and analytical, able to cast off heavy emotion while he dealt with tense situations, there was something about this flight through the forest, this pursuit, that resonated deeply inside him. And he would run until he simply collapsed, rather than turn back and accept what others might call inevitable.
Renji cannot die.
I won't allow it.
And to punctuate the thought, he poured reiatsu, heart and broken soul into moving faster and closing the distance between himself and the demon and samurai ahead of him. He moved so quickly that the voices and sounds faded behind him, so recklessly that he could almost hear Ginrei's rebuke as the elder man followed, with a unit of royal guardsmen.
I don't understand this behavior in you, Byakuya. I thought that the years of training and education had cured you of that heedlessness, that childish loss of control.
But it wasn't heedless or childish, he thought, to throw all of himself into saving the man who had turned his life upside down, and then made it over into the best of dreams. And he wasn't alone in his appreciation of Renji's impact on his life. The others that followed...Akabuke, Kazuki Kuchiki, and Katsuro Akabuke...even Tetsuya, who was too shattered to assist and was forced to wait in the palace, behind them...yes, all of them knew the role that Renji played in making Byakuya's world, a world enriched by their mutual joy at having the two children, now under the protection of the royal guard.
Renji...
Byakuya reeled, crashing through bushes, ignoring the tearing of his skin and the slow leaking of his own blood, bounding over rocks and fallen trees, and calling Renji's name repeatedly as the race went on. Then came an odd moment, when the feeling of Renji's reiatsu burned against Byakuya's heart and the two life forces pulsing somewhere in the forest ahead of him throbbed strangely and began to merge. He thought it must be the pressure of the long pursuit. He was pushing himself to the ends of his strength, running at top speed and putting everything into reaching his mate.
There would be time for paying the consequences later. All that mattered now was finding Renji. But finding the redhead was turning into a much more complicated matter. And as Byakuya reached the shore of a black, misted lake, he began to sense just how very complicated it was.
There was blood here too, but amidst confusing signs. He could see easily where Renji had crashed through the brush, emerging in the clear area near the lake's edge, where he appeared to have collapsed. But strangely, the blood on the ground was still mingled red and black and the reiatsu mixed, although the scene yielded no more signs of the fleeing demon than that.
The signs say that Renji entered the clearing here alone, that the black blood dripped from where it had pooled on his skin.
And although the blood and reiatsu from the demon could have been the result of their battle, something about that didn't sit right with the noble. He pondered the matter, walking carefully around the area, and noticing something heart-shaking.
There was no sign of how Renji had left the area. The signs of his arrival there were obvious, the place in the brush, where he had broken through, the blood trail that led to the larger splashes of blood at the lake's edge. But there were no footprints leading away, no sign anyone had taken him, and nothing to indicate that he had entered the dark water.
Where are you?
He ignored the burn of tears in his eyes and the sting of cuts on his skin, looking around and trying to sense the redhead's direction. But it was as though both Renji and the demon had simply disappeared.
"Impossible!" he hissed, staring at the place where Renji had fallen and lain for a time, "A person doesn't simply disappear. There has to be some sign. I am just not focused enough."
He knelt, then and touched his fingertips to the blood and reiatsu traces that had been left behind, closing his eyes, slowing his breathing, pushing everything out of his mind and aching heart to reach through their connection. He thought he felt Renji's presence for a moment, then was stricken with a shocking iciness, a horrid dark presence that welled up in his stunned mind and screamed at him in pure hatred.
What in kami's name...?
What...is that?
"Byakuya!"
Katsuro's voice slashed through the noble's deep reverie, bringing him snapping back to the water's edge, where he knelt with his fingertips touching the blood.
"He was here," Byakuya managed in a low voice, "Renji was here, but...Katsuro...the signs, they just...disappear!"
Renji's father stepped forward, turning for a moment, to trace his son's movement out of the trees, across the clearing, and to the place where Byakuya sat, still panting from exertion and searching desperately for something to tell them where Renji had gone. He knelt next to the distraught noble, scenting the blood and reiatsu, touching it with his fingertips and thinking carefully. Sudden comprehension registered in his eyes, but was gone too quickly for Byakuya to see. He captured Byakuya by the arm and the two came to their feet as Akabuke and Kazuki arrived, followed by the group of royal guardsmen.
"What is it? What has happened?" Kazuki asked, flash stepping to the two.
"I don't know," Byakuya admitted, shakenly, "The trail ends here, and there is no sign of either Renji or the demon leaving the area."
Katsuro raised his eyes and met Akabuke's for a moment, as the eldest samurai read the situation and came to the same suspicion Katsuro had. As Kazuki and Byakuya joined the royal guardsmen in a careful search of the area, the two samurais separated themselves and walked back into the trees.
"You sensed it, ne?" Akabuke said in a low voice.
"Yes," Katsuro confirmed, looking down at several splashes of blood on the ground, "One reiatsu consumed the other."
"And that means one of two things," said Akabuke, "Either the demon killed and devoured Renji, or Renji killed the demon, but it managed to preserve itself by infecting him."
The two went silent, staring down at the drying blood and listening to the whisper of the wind in the trees.
"The king needs to know about this," said Akabuke, "I will return and speak to him. I think he will not want to unsteady the royal guardsmen with the information, lest they should hesitate at a critical moment and fail to protect the royal family."
"I understand," said Katsuro, looking back at where Kazuki stood with Byakuya, beside the dark lake, "But I am going to tell Kazuki, Byakuya and Tetsuya."
"Very well," agreed Akabuke, "But beyond them, no one. It is too dangerous. It is dangerous enough for the ones who have to know. It could be the death of us if we lower our guard at the wrong moment."
"Yes," acknowledged Katsuro, "We shall have to proceed carefully."
He watched as Akabuke flash stepped away, then sheathed his zanpakutou and returned to the lake, where Kazuki and Byakuya stood, quietly talking. They paused in their conversation as he joined them, waiting to see what he had to say. Katsuro saw the glimmer of expectation in Kazuki's eyes and gently confirmed it with his own. Then, he turned his eyes to meet Byakuya's.
"Son, we need to talk privately. Let the royal guard handle this part of the investigation and let's go back."
"But, Renji..." Byakuya objected.
"I understand your worries," acknowledged the samurai, "however, I have that to say to you which is for our ears alone. It's important, Byakuya. You need to know, and you need to know now."
The noble bit at his lips, shifting uncomfortably.
"Katsuro is right," added Kazuki, exchanging glances with the samurai again, "We need to speak privately. Come."
They turned back and followed the path Renji and the demon had made, reading the signs again as they walked in near silence back to the palace. They emerged from the forest and crossed the grass beneath the palace balconies, then followed Katsuro to Tetsuya's room.
Tetsuya loosed a sigh of relief and sought Katsuro's embrace immediately as they entered the room. Kazuki spoke briefly with the Kishu and royal guardsmen, then closed the door as they were left alone in the room.
"We need to speak about what happened," Katsuro said, meeting Tetsuya's eyes, Byakuya's, then Kazuki's, "but what we say must not be heard by anyone else."
"I suspected that you knew more than you were saying," Byakuya said softly, "You noticed something out there, didn't you? You suspect something?"
"You would as well if you were not focusing so hard on what just happened. You are too caught up in the initial shock. But if you slow down and think, I think you would reason it out."
"What are you saying?" Byakuya said, his reiatsu flaring softly, "That I am too emotional? That I cannot be objective?"
"Not at all," said Kazuki, giving the samurai a look of gentle reproach, "What my son was rather clumsily stating is that we haven't had a chance yet to process, but as we do, the situation will become more clear to you. You, of all people, Byakuya know the nature of these beasts. You have been attacked by one before, and it had a powerful effect on you."
"Tetsuya and I, too, have been cut by this kind of demon," added Katsuro, glancing at his husband and noting the glimmer of understanding that rose in Tetsuya's sapphire eyes.
"Do you mean that Renji...?" Byakuya began, then his body tensed, and he stopped mid-sentence.
"They poison the soul," Katsuro said, lowering his voice, "and before one infected with their reiatsu can be healed, he must first be purged of that reiatsu. I did this when I healed you, and the healers did it when they healed me when I was injured. I did the same for Tetsuya while we were in the healing pool. And this is the thing that Renji needs most quickly."
"Then, why are we standing here discussing it and not out looking for him?" Byakuya asked stridently, "We should be doing our damnedest to find him!"
"We will," Kazuki said, soothingly, "But before we go to do that, you must understand what Akabuke and Katsuro sensed when they were down at the lake."
"Then, tell me!" Byakuya said impatiently, "Renji has already been missing for too long. If we are to have any chance of healing him, then we must find him quickly! We are wasting valuable time, standing here, talking about it, while..."
"Byakuya, we sensed that he might already have been killed or infected to the point of transition," said Katsuro.
The noble's eyes widened.
"What?"
"I know that the signs confused you," the samurai went on, "but being that both of my fathers and I are beings more familiar with the beasts of the spirit dimension, we know that when demons are threatened and do not want to be found, they can make themselves seem to disappear without a trace. The demon that was attacking all of us employed this ability several times to elude our search teams. That is what makes them so hard to track. And when we reached the lake, all of the signs disappeared, meaning that the demon used that ability again."
"But what about Renji?" asked Byakuya, "He doesn't have an ability like that!"
Katsuro swallowed hard.
"But he could have gained it from the demon...if the demon either killed and devoured him, or Renji killed the demon, but for some reason, changed at an increased speed. It suggests a violent, direct attack a demon would only use in desperation. But if it was dying, it could have forced its reiatsu into Renji's body and caused him to transform."
Byakuya's heart went cold inside him.
"You are saying that...Renji is either dead or possessed? That is what you are telling me?"
Katsuro's eyes closed for a moment, then opened and met his again.
"Renji did not leave the lake area under his own power," the samurai said with finality.
The four went silent for several painful minutes, then Kazuki continued their explanation.
"You understand why it is important not to say anything to the royal guard," he said softly, "Renji is liked and respected by those men. They would balk at killing attacking demons, because they would worry that it was him, and that they might be killing their friend. We will likely hesitate. But as family, we must take that chance. So, Akabuke has gone to the king to explain what has happened. And the king will very likely simply announce that Renji is missing, and that the search is ongoing. He will have us investigate, because we are the ones he would most likely, at least hesitate to kill. But we must be very cautious, even if we do find him. Whatever state he is in, he will be dangerous until the demon's reiatsu is purged from his systems."
"But...if Renji has already transformed, then...can he be...? Can he be saved?" Byakuya asked, flinching as Tetsuya moved closer and slipped a comforting arm around him.
"I don't know," admitted Kazuki, "When my father's uncle was devoured by a demon and trapped within the demon's body, he could not be saved, only purified, as he was, by the White Night's Enchantment. But...if Renji was infected by the demon's reiatsu and transformed, there may be a way to help him. We will need someone to explore that while we search for him."
I will conduct the research, Tetsuya whispered into the samurai's mind, I cannot leave the palace until I have healed more completely, so I will go to the King's Archive and search for information.
Katsuro nodded.
"Very well. Tetsuya has offered to conduct the necessary research, here in the King's Archive while we search for Renji. Byakuya, as we want to get started as soon as possible, why don't you and Kazuki begin to look? I will wait for Akabuke and we will join the search as soon as he returns from his discussion with the king."
Have them take Arashi with them, Tetsuya said, his worried eyes on his cousin, Byakuya does not want it known, but I can feel that he is in deep distress. He will need Arashi's protection.
Katsuro smiled and squeezed Tetsuya's hand affectionately.
"My lovely spouse has kindly offered the services of his stallion, for your protection."
"Thank you, Tetsuya," Byakuya said, gently returning his cousin's embrace, "We will find Renji. We will find him and we will find a way to heal him!"
Kazuki an Byakuya flash stepped out the balcony doors and down to the grass. Tetsuya and Katsuro walked out onto the balcony and watched as the two disappeared into the forest.
"Your search for information is going to be critical, anata," Katsuro said softly.
Finding him is critical too, the noble pointed out, slipping his arms around his husband, Be careful, Master Samurai. Come back to me safely.
Katsuro turned and met Tetsuya with a kiss that promised everything. The two stood solemnly on the balcony, watching the dreary sky cloud over as a storm moved in. And by the time Akabuke arrived, a light rain had begun. Katsuro left Tetsuya with a final kiss and followed Akabuke into the forest.
Tetsuya watched them disappear, then turned back and headed for the King's Archive, hating himself for the weakness that had made them leave him behind.
But if all I can do for Renji is look for an answer that will bring him back to us...then I will find that answer, whatever it takes!
