~Crimson Lace~

By- ByaRukifan

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything!


Rukia went back into her and Byakuya's room and laid back down on Byakuya's side of the bed. She stared a the ceiling. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep so she'd just lay there until morning.

--

"I can't thank you enough for watching Yuuki for us, Orihime, Ulquiorra." Rukia said as she handed Yuuki to Orihime.

"It's no problem. I'm sure she'll be great company for us." Orihime replied happily.

"Yes. Yuuki, remember to behave yourself okay?"

"Okay, Mommy." Yuuki said in a fake happy tone of voice as she gave a fake smile to match.

"Well, I'll be going now." Rukia said before she gave a smile and walked off.

"Okay! See you soon!" Orihime exclaimed happily as Rukia turned the street corner.

--

Rukia arrived back at her own home to find Shuuhei and Izuru waiting outside the front of the house.

"Where do you think we should start looking?" Rukia asked walking up to them.

"Well. It would probably be easier if one of us were to phase into wolf form and the other stay in human form so they can translate if the one who's gone wolf finds anything." Shuuhei explained.

"Okay. So who's phasing?" Rukia asked.

"I'll phase. Izuru can translate. Is that okay?" Shuuhei asked calmly.

"Yes, it's fine." Rukia replied. Shuuhei nodded and walked into the forest.

"He doesn't like to phase in front of people." Izuru explained.

"Oh. It's okay." Rukia answered.

Suddenly, a wolf, bigger than normal, with ashy black fur emerged from the woods. It walked over to where Rukia and Izuru were standing.

"Is that...?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah. It's Shuuhei."

The wolf turned around and then looked back at Izuru and Rukia.

"He wants us to follow." Izuru stated as he started following Shuuhei into the woods. Rukia followed after a couple of seconds passed.

--

Shuuhei was sniffing the leaves for any trace of Byakuya's scent.

"Found anything?" Rukia asked worriedly. She wanted to find Byakuya as soon as possible.

"No. He hasn't found anything yet." Izuru answered.

Rukia's already unhappy mood dropped even lower. She was worried sick. She's hoped he was alright.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find him." Izuru tried to calm her. "Just try not to think about it."

Rukia's eyes teared up a bit, but she quickly wiped them away. She didn't want anyone to see her cry. She just couldn't help thinking about him. She wished everything could just go back to the way things were.

Shuuhei's head suddenly perked up. He looked at Izuru and it sounded like he was quietly barking. Rukia looked at Izuru for an answer.

"He's found something." He said walking over to Shuuhei and grabbed some sort of cloth off the ground. He walked back to Rukia and handed her the piece of cloth.

Rukia looked over the piece of cloth, her eyes widened as she realized what it was. It was part of the sleeve of one of Byakuya's shirts.

"Do you know what it is?" Izuru asked.

"It's part of his shirt." She replied sadly.

Shuuhei sniffed the ground around the area where he found the cloth and then growled.

"What is it?" Rukia and Izuru asked in unison.

Shuuhei made those quiet barking noised again. Izuru's eyes widened.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Rukia asked confused, clutching the cloth to her.

"Shuuhei's got the scent of some others..." Izuru answered.

"Others?"

"Other werewolves."

Rukia's eyes widened. Other werewolves? She was starting to get scared. How many were there? Did they attack Byakuya at once? Did Byakuya....los-. No. She wouldn't let herself think like that. She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts.

"H-How many other werewolves?" She asked nervously.

"Hmm. About three." Izuru said after Shuuhei gave another couple of quiet barks.

Rukia wondered if Byakuya could have possibly taken on all three werewolves at once. If he did, she couldn't help but to think he didn't have much of a chance of winning.

"...Sorry to ask, but...what do you think Byakuya's chances of winning were? You know, against those three wolves?" Rukia asked nervously.

"Well. If they all attacked at once he wouldn't of had a good chance, but if they did he still might be alive." Izuru answered.

Rukia was expecting that kind of answer, but she just couldn't help but be saddened by it.

"Don't worry. We'll find him." Izuru told her calmly.

Shuuhei was sniffing the ground before he suddenly lifted his head, growled and darted off into the deeper area of the woods. Rukia and Izuru immediately followed.

"What's wrong with him?" Rukia asked as she ran.

"He's found a trail." Izuru replied as he tried to catch up with Shuuhei and Rukia.

That made Rukia feel a little better. Hopefully, they would find Byakuya at the end of this trail. If he was. She silently prayed that he would be okay.

--

"I wonder what Yuuki's thinking right now. She looks troubled." Orihime whispered to Ulquiorra as they secretly watched her sitting on the window Ceil, gazing thoughtfully out the window at the setting sun.

"I don't know. Think we should ask?" Ulquiorra replied.

"Hmm. I don't know. She might not want to talk. If something is troubling her it's her own personal business. She can tell us if she wants."

"You're right, but I don't think it would hurt to ask."

"Yeah. Maybe she'll tell us something." Orihime said to Ulquiorra before they walked over to where Yuuki was sitting.

"You look troubled Yuuki. Is anything bothering you?" Orihime asked kindly.

Yuuki continued to gaze out at the setting sun. "Sorry, but you wouldn't understand." She replied in an emotionless tone.

"Well, you never know. We might understand if you tell us." Orihime said smiling.

Yuuki sighed. "I can't. I'm sorry."

"Well. Alright then. If you ever have any problems you want to share don't hesitate to seek our advice." Ulquiorra said before he and Orihime walked off.

Yuuki sighed. She desperately wanted to help out with finding her father. She wanted to know what was going on now. Did they find him? Was he okay? Where Shuuhei, Izuru and her mother okay? If they didn't find her father, did they find any clues? She wanted to know everything that was going on. She hated being left out, but she could easily see why she was forced to stay at Orihime and Ulquiorra's apartment. She knew that if something did happen to her, her parents wouldn't be able to concentrate if they were fighting. They would be too worried about her to do fight for themselves, and the ending result wouldn't be good on their side if that were to happen.

"Why does this have to happen? Why did something bad happen? All we wanted to do was just live our eternal lives peacefully. It's not fair. It's just not....fair." Yuuki said to herself on the verge of tears. What she didn't notice is that Orihime and Ulquiorra were still watching her and that they heard every word that came out of her mouth.

Orihime and Ulqiorra went into the kitchen to where Yuuki couldn't hear them. "What do think she meant by all that?" Orihime asked.

"I don't know. What did she mean by 'eternal lives?'" Ulquiorra wondered.

"Yeah, and I wonder what the 'bad' event that happened was."

"Yeah. Though, I kind of feel bad for spying on her, but she's a four year old girl. She shouldn't be thinking this hard or be acting this trouble and depressed." Ulquiorra stated.

"I know. I feel bad for her. When we first met her she was so happy and carefree. Now look at her. It's like she's a totally different person."

"Yeah..."

"I wish we could help her somehow."

"Yeah, so do I. If we knew what was going on we might be able to help. Even if it was only just a little."

Orihime nodded her head in agreement. "Think we should ask her again?"

"I don't know. After what we just heard she might not even talk to us." Ulquiorra answered.

"Yeah...but...."

"I know. I know. I want to help her as much as you do, but if she won't tell us anything we really can't do anything."

"I know. It's just sad to see someone her age go through any kind of sadness."

"Yeah. It is. No child should have to ever experience any kind of pain. Being a child only lasts a short time and it should be enjoyed while it lasts."

"Yeah."

--

Rukia, Izuru and Shuuhei had reached the end of the the first trail to find nothing. Shuuhei sniffed the area and found another trail after a few moments, and they started on it. From there it led them to a clearing where the carcasses of some dead elk lay rotting and some paw prints, barely visible, in the dirt.

"Rukia! We found some prints!" Izuru shouted over to Rukia who was leaning up against a tree, still clutching the piece of sleeve they had found earlier.

Rukia quickly ran over to them. "Prints?" She asked.

"Yeah. Werewolf paw prints. We almost missed them. You can barley see the outline of the prints. See?" Izuru said pointed down to the area where the prints lay.

Rukia looked at the dirt and saw faded paw prints. She wouldn't have seen them if Izuru hadn't of pointed them out for her.

"This is good right?" Rukia asked.

"Yes, it's very good. It may lead us directly to your husbands location."

That made Rukia feel better. At least a little. She still feared what she might find when they reached the end of each trail they had come to find though.

Shuuhei kept sniffing around to find to where the tracks started so they could follow them. So far the carcass' of the elk where overpowering most of the werewolves scent.

--

Yuuki sighed. She still hadn't moved from the window and now she was just looking down at the streets as people went inside their homes where their happy little families were probably waiting for them.

"What do you think she's thinking about?" Orihime whispered to Ulqiorra as they watched her. She had barely moved an inch since the last time they had watched her.

"I don't know. She might not even be thinking, just staring out the window." Ulquiorra replied.

"Maybe."

"Let's just leave her be for tonight. We'll talk to her in the morning."

"Okay." Orihime said before walking over to Yuuki. "Yuuki, Ulqui and I are going to bed now. Okay? Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Yuuki replied in an emotionless tone before Orihime walked off with Ulquiorra following close behind.

Yuuki didn't really care if they were still awake. She didn't care about much of anything right now. The only things she was concerned about were her parents safety and her werewolf friend's safety. That's all she could think about at the moment.

She then suddenly started thinking about those three wolves again. They were fighting against someone. No. Not just someone. It was her parents. Byakuya was just barely fighting back, he seemed exhausted. Rukia was too busy protecting Byakuya to worry about herself getting hurt and Shuuhei and Izuru were in human form. Shuuhei was fighting the wolf with dirty blond fur while Izuru was helping Rukia and Byakuya with the other two.

Yuuki tried to stop herself from seeing this. She tired and tried, but it just wouldn't leave her head. Then suddenly. It did. The thought disappeared like it never happened. She knew she had seen it, but she was sort of shocked that it just disappeared so suddenly. She figured her mind was trying to tell her something.

"I've got to help them." She stated, before she started planning about how she was going to do just that.

To Be Continued...


Well...There's Chapter 7. And Thank you Rukia-hime For your reviews.

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