"Memory is the scribe of the soul." -Aristotle

Chapter Eight: Retreat

Present Day:

Night had fallen. They had made camp in a small clearing that overlooked the valley below. The Rukongai was now barely visible in the distance. Tatsuki slept fitfully as Renji watched.

She was sitting in the small building, watching the teenage boy tap his foot on the ground, clearly irritated. It was not the first time they had had the conversation, but time was now running short and her departure was imminent.

"Why are you leaving?"

"You know I'm not leaving," she replied, "I'm just going to school."

"You'll be back, right?" He looked up, his eyes probing her.

"Of course," laughed Tatsuki, "you know I will. It's not like I'm going far."

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked.

"We've been over this, Kazumi," she said, sighing, "Old lady Nakada will make sure you get dinner each night, and you can hang out with Chou and the others during the day."

"They're boring. I still don't understand why I can't come with you," he said, his face set with anger.

"We've talked about that. You're not ready for the Academy just yet."

"I'm thirteen years old," he said, straightening up to his fullest height. "And I've got strong reiatsu. You said it yourself."

She smiled patiently. "That's true, but you need to develop your skills a bit more before you can take the entrance exam."

"Will you teach me?" he asked.

"Of course I will," she said. "I'll be back every free day I get. We can train together." He turned away from her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Right."

The scene dissolved, and she found herself in an open field, facing him. He had grown nearly a foot in the intervening two years that she had been at the Academy, and now stood taller than she. He looked more like a man than a boy, both in the way he held himself, as well as in his expression. They had been sparring and, although her skills had improved measurably since she had left the Rukongai, he had nearly been able to defeat her without her using her zanpakuto. They both were panting, sweaty and exhausted. She smiled at him. "Your grasp of Kido has really improved, Kazumi. When do you hear back from the Academy about your application?" she asked.

"I didn't apply," he said, casually.

"What?" she said, shocked at his answer. "You're ready, Kazumi. I know they'd take you. You've wanted this for years."

"I don't care," he said, his face expressionless. "I have other interests now."

"What the hell are you thinking!" she nearly shouted, brows furrowed in frustration. She looked at him carefully, trying to sense what he was thinking. And then it came to her, the realization which sent chills up her spine. "You've been hanging out with the gang again, haven't you?"

"I can hang out with anyone I damn well choose to, Tatsuki. You're not my mother. You're not even my sister. I can make my own choices."

Tatsuki moaned in her sleep.

The scene changed yet again, and she found herself running through the Rukongai, searching for him. He was not here, she could feel it. He was far from here, somewhere she could not reach him. Beyond her help. And still, she had looked for him for months, and her schoolwork had suffered because of it. She hadn't minded, though; the thought that she might find him, bring him home, back to his senses, had been the driving force of her life since she had discovered him missing. "It's my fault," she thought, bitterly, "I shouldn't have left him here by himself. I let him down." She ran back to the place they had lived, now empty. The oppressiveness of the place overwhelmed her. When they had lived here together, as a family, the small shack had been filled with life, warmth, and possibilities. Now, it seemed gray, dead. He was gone for good, she knew it in her heart - even if she were to find him, he wouldn't come back with her.

She didn't want to feel it, the overwhelming pain that had taken up residence in the place he used to inhabit in her soul. "No!" she yelled, and she punched her fist hard into the wall next to her, creating a hole that went nearly through to the outside. The pain in her hand was far easier to bear than the pain of loss. Physical pain was concrete, lasting only temporarily. Losing him was far more painful, and she knew the pain would linger and lick at her insides like tiny flames in smoldering ashes that refused to die. "I did this to myself," she thought, pushing away the pain, "I should never have let myself care. I should never have believed I could change his life."

"Kazumi," Tatsuki moaned, and opened her eyes.

"You okay?" asked Renji. He was looking at her with some concern. It took Tatsuki a minute to realize where she was.

"Yeah," she said, her face reddening slightly, "I'm fine." She looked away quickly, afraid he'd see something in her face she didn't want him to see. "Let it go, Tatsuki," she thought, "It won't do you any good to remember."

"Bad dream?" he asked.

"Memories," she said, standing up and looking uncomfortable. Then, changing the subject, she said, "It's getting light, why don't we get going? We can eat on the trail." She knew she'd feel better if she got moving.

He raised an eyebrow. "Sure," he said, standing up and picking up his zanpakuto and pack. They walked for about an hour in silence. The sun was just starting to rise over the Rukongai below, and the trees were tinged with a pinkish hue. Tatsuki looked back at the Rukongai several times before the forest became thick with trees, blocking the view.

"It looks peaceful from here," she thought, still fighting to push back the memory awakened by her dream.

"You're from the Rukongai?" asked Renji, after a while. He knew the answer, of course, but he hoped to learn more about her history there.

"Yes," she replied.

"Tough place, huh?"

"You could say that," she said, staring off in the distance. "I lost a lot of friends there."

"So did I," he said. "That's why I finally left." She quickly looked away from him, not wanting him to see her face. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to pry."

"S'okay," she said, still not looking at him. They walked some more in silence. Renji knew better than to push her; she clearly did not want to talk about her dream or her life in the Rukongai.

"So," she said, finally, "tell me about the disappearances."

"Not much to tell," he answered, happy to be talking again. "There have been ordinary souls with no particular spirit energy reported missing from the Rukongai. There's also some intelligence about gang activity in the mountains and foothills. The Captain-Commander believes the two reports may be related."

"I don't understand why the Seireitei sits on its ass and does nothing about the gangs," she said, a hint of anger in her voice. The tone of her voice was not lost on him.

"They've been sending patrols for the past few years," he replied, not wanting to fan the flames.

"It's not enough," she said.

"No," he said, "probably not." She said nothing, and they were again plunged into self-imposed silence. "Something happened to her in the Rukongai," he thought, fighting the urge to press her for more details. He was now more convinced than ever that her life in the Rukongai was the key to understanding her fear of commitment and the mixed signals she had been sending. "Don't push it Renji," he thought, looking at her. "She'll talk about it when she's ready."

The terrain became rougher, and the trail began to ascend more steeply. They were now within an hour of the location Renji had marked on the map. As they climbed, their pace slowed, and the forest around them became denser, darker. It was about thirty minutes later that Renji felt it. Reiatsus. Not powerful, like those of shinigami, but strong enough to sense at a short distance. "I feel eight souls, not far from here, heading further into the mountains" he said, lowering his voice. "None of them are shinigami, so I think we can use shunpo to catch up to them. They're unlikely to sense us." She nodded, and they sped off in the direction he indicated.

They found the group a short time later: six men and two women, Rukongai gang members, judging from the small piece of burgundy fabric each wore on his or her body. They each carried knives and long sticks as weapons. Renji and Tatsuki hung back far enough to avoid detection, but close enough to overhear the conversation. "When do we go back?" asked one of the women in the group.

"A week," answered a tall, barrel-chested man with a scar on one cheek. He carried a crudely-fashioned sword which resembled a zanpakuto and, from his demeanor, Renji guessed that he was the leader of the gang. "Raiden wants two more for one of his little projects."

"Women?" asked another man, laughing. "Tell him I'll do it for free if he'll let me keep one for my own little project."

"You're disgusting, Iwao," said one of the women.

"It's not like Raiden pays us that much anyhow," grumbled another man.

"Better than the Rukongai bosses," said another man. "Right, Kin?"

"Shut up, all of you," said Kin, "or none of you get paid."

"Without help from that scumbag Aizen, Raiden's a little low on funds, eh Kin?" said one of the men, laughing.

"Shut up, Saburo," said Kin. "You don't know anything."

"I know that Aizen left Raiden here to rot before the War," laughed Saburo. "Left for Hueco Mundo, they say, and never came back." Kin stopped and turned around, grabbing Saburo by his collar and pressing the blade of his weapon to Saburo's cheek.

"One more word out of you," snarled Kin, "and I'll see to it that Raiden uses you in one of his experiments. Understand?" Saburo blanched visibly and nodded. "Good. And I'd better not hear any more lip out of the rest of you, or you'll all be his next lab rats." There was silence and expressions of fear on the faces of the men and women. The group began to move again, but there was no more conversation. Tatsuki looked at Renji, eyebrows raised. Renji motioned for them to follow.

An hour later, the group stopped at a rocky outcropping near a steep ravine. Placing his hand on the surface of one of the rock faces, Kin pushed hard, revealing the entrance to what appeared to be a cave. Kin walked through the entrance and the others followed, the last few looking behind them to be sure they were alone. After the last man entered the cave, the large stone opening was pushed back into place from the other side, re-sealing the entryway.

Renji waited a minute or two and then raised his hand. A black butterfly landed on his outstretched palm, and he focused his thoughts to transmit the location and information he and Tatsuki had obtained. The butterfly's wings moved slowly up and down, and then it took to the air in the direction of the Seireitei.

"Aizen?" said Tatsuki, after the butterfly had left. "I thought he was dead."

"He is," replied Renji. "This Raiden guy must have worked with Aizen before he left the Soul Society, before the War."

"What kind of experiments do you think he's conducting?"

"No idea," answered Renji. "We need to find out, get the word back to Yamamoto." Renji slowly approached the entrance to the cave, while Tatsuki stood back several feet, looking around to be sure they were alone. Renji touched the spot on the rock face and pushed. The stone door opened, and, after a brief look inside, Renji motioned for her to join him. Both drew their zanpakutos.

The entryway opened onto a long passageway that appeared to descend into the mountainside. The cave was manmade; the walls too smooth to have been naturally created. The passageway was not completely dark as might be expected; some of the stone that made up the walls appeared to radiate light. They moved slowly, looking out for sentries as they went. From time to time, Renji would look back at Tatsuki to make sure she was still behind him; she was so quiet he couldn't hear her footsteps. They descended slowly for nearly an hour on stone steps, finally reaching a large, naturally occurring cave with stalactites and stalagmites scattered throughout. Renji was relieved; the formations provided cover in what was a relatively open area. Renji pointed to a formation several hundred yards from where they stood; he felt traces of reiatsus which led in that direction. Sure enough, as they made their way around the formation, there was a small opening in the rock beyond. As soon as they went through the opening, they heard voices ahead. They stopped to listen.

"…back to the Rukongai," said the first voice, which Renji recognized as the leader of the group, Kin.

"You're not being careful enough," came a second voice, in a silky baritone. "Yamamoto has sent patrols to investigate the disappearances."

"I apologize, Raiden-sama," said Kin, "I will speak to my men."

"Perhaps they have outlived their usefulness," said Raiden. "It may be time to recruit new blood."

"Of course," said Kin.

"Come with me, Kin," said Raiden, after a moment, "we need to discuss something." Footsteps, and then silence.

Renji turned to Tatsuki and she nodded, following him in the direction in which Kin and Raiden had left. They walked through yet another passageway and into a large room which reminded Renji of Kurotsuchi-taicho's Shinigami Research and Development Institute, full of shelves of unidentifiable substances and lab equipment strewn haphazardly across numerous tables.

"Kin," said a voice from behind them, "our visitors have arrived." Renji and Tatsuki, still holding their zanpakutos, turned to see a silver-haired man, middle-aged, dressed in a burgundy kimono. Kin stood at his side. From several doors spaced throughout the room, a dozen more men and women who looked like Rukongai street fighters entered the room, taking up positions in front of Raiden.

"I see the Old Man took the reports seriously," said Raiden, smiling at Tatsuki and Renji. "You're Abarai-fukutaicho of the Sixth Division, are you not? And you," he continued, still smiling, "are Arisawa Tatsuki, Twelfth Seat of the Eleventh Division, correct?" Tatsuki shot a look of surprise at Renji.

"How long have you known we were here?" asked Renji, his face impassive.

"Since before you entered the cave, of course," replied Raiden, his face smug. "One must always be aware of the location of one's guests. We've been expecting you."

"Why are you kidnapping souls from the Rukongai?" demanded Tatsuki.

"A scientist cannot truly assess his theories without test subjects," replied Raiden. He was clearly enjoying the anger this statement appeared to provoke in Tatsuki, because he smiled at her even as she glared at him.

"What kind of theories?" asked Renji.

"Nothing the Seireitei needs to be concerned with," laughed Raiden. "I am truly sorry, but I neither feel the need to go into further detail about my work, nor do I have the time to chat with you at length. Kin?" Kin and the others surrounded Tatsuki and Renji. Renji swung Zabimaru in the direction of the closest fighters, and they jumped back to avoid his blade. A few flasks of liquid and what looked like a microscope fell onto the floor with a resounding crash.

"Kin," said Raiden from behind the fighters, "much as I know you and your friends would enjoy the fight, I really can't have my laboratory destroyed." Several of the fighters appeared disappointed. Renji and Tatsuki, still poised to fight, watched as Raiden pulled a leather cord necklace from under his kimono. Attached to the cord was what appeared to be a small, dark rock, pitted and dull. Renji glanced at Tatsuki, who gripped her zanpakuto tighter.

"Apparently, I will have to show you one of my little projects," sighed Raiden, theatrically. Then he laughed, and took the stone in his hand, looking directly at Tatsuki and Renji. Both felt a slight warmth coming from the hilt of their weapons. Renji looked at Tatsuki and they lunged at Raiden, pushing aside the fighters that blocked the way. As they did so, they were both overcome by a strong sensation of dizziness that forced them to stand still to keep from losing their balance.

"What the hell?" said Tatsuki, blinking her eyes and swaying slightly.

"Nice effect, isn't it?" said Raiden, smiling contentedly. Renji raised his zanpakuto and tried again to reach Raiden. "But that's not all it can do, of course," said Raiden, as Renji approached. As he said this, Renji and Tatsuki watched in shock as their zanpakutos shimmered briefly and then dissolved from the tip on down, leaving them empty handed. Renji started to say something, but the room suddenly became blurry, and he found he could not form the words. He and Tatsuki fell to the ground, unconscious.