Chapter 8: Homecoming

(Reviews are still coming in on Chapter 7, so I will catch up on shout outs next chapter. You guys are the sweetest! And Spunky promises, Bya and Ichigo will be meeting face to face soon!)

Kisho smiled as he and Kiwa walked ahead of the slow moving cart, entering the East 78th's District, called Inuzuri.

"The house we have is pretty small and it gets cold," Kisho explained, "but with the extra blankets that we were given for helping Michio-san, we will be warmer. And the extra food and money means there will be enough for bread and fresh soup for all of us for at least the next month!"

"Mama used to make her own bread sometimes," Kiwa said, looking up at Kisho as they passed the rows of poorly kept buildings and milling peasants, "We had fruit from our trees."

"Michio-san had me harvest some fruit from your family's trees," Kisho said kindly, "We can have that to eat, and we can use seeds from those fruits to grow trees on our land that will be like the ones you remember."

"Kisho-kun, are you sure your papa will let me stay for a while?" Kiwa asked uncertainly.

"Michio-san sent a message ahead of us," Kisho answered, squeezing her hand, "Dad knows you're coming. He's really nice to kids. He'll let you stay, at least until we find you a family."

"I wish I could be your family," Kiwa said, sniffing, "I'm scared."

"Don't be afraid," Kisho said reassuringly, "My father told me that when things change, it's not always a bad thing. Some things that change are bad things, like when someone we love dies or we lose something. But then, there's often something good that comes after too."

"I met you while Mama, Papa and Cho were dying," Kiwa said, her hand tightening on his, "Meeting you is a good thing."

"I think so too," Kisho agreed, smiling as they moved through the town square and started towards the far end of town, "There are a lot of scary and horrible things around here...hollows and bad people. But there are good people too. I'll teach you who you can trust and who you have to watch out for. And I'll teach you how to fight so that you can stand up for yourself, Kiwa-chan."

"But I'm not strong like you, Kisho-kun," the girl complained, "I'm little."

"Being little doesn't make you weak," Kisho chided her gently, "It just means that you have to make up for being smaller by being smarter."

"Did your dad teach you that too?" Kiwa asked.

"Yeah. He's pretty smart. He had to be, living here. I'm worried about him, though. He was sick before we left. He was better, but he still looked like he didn't feel so well."

"Oh, Kisho-kun, I'm sorry," Kiwa said, rubbing her eyes and moving closer to him as they walked, "I'm sure he'll be okay."

"Our house is in the little glen, just past the last row of buildings, there ahead of us," Kisho said, pointing out the dilapidated buildings, "We took over the little shack there and we grow some fruits and vegetables...herbs, things like that. Sometimes thieves come and steal some of it, so we don't have a lot. But Dad wants to..."

Kisho froze as they turned into the glen and spotted the plain, but newly built house, new fencing, sections laid out for gardens and a training ground, and a larger building in the back, meant to house their new school.

"I don't believe it!" Kisho whispered.

"Kisho-kun, who are they?"

A huge smile broke out on the ginger-haired youth's face as he spotted Bya standing in front of the house, beside a plainly dressed, but smiling jade-eyed man. He ran forward and leapt into Bya's arms, hugging his father tightly.

"Dad! This is amazing! How did you do this?" the boy exclaimed.

"Kisho," Bya said, setting him down and indicating the man beside him, "this is Akira. He is...a business partner. He helped me to complete payment for the construction of the school."

Ondori smiled and shook the boy's offered hand warmly.

"It's good to meet you, Kisho-kun," he said pleasantly.

He looked back at Bya and cleared his throat softly.

"Well, you need to get reacquainted, and you should show Kiwa-chan her room."

"I have my own room?" Kiwa asked, her blue eyes rounding.

"Yes, child," Bya answered, "Michio-san's message said that you would be staying with us for a while."

"D-do I get to go to school?" Kiwa asked, staring at the half finished school building.

"Of course," Bya assured her, "Go on with Kisho and you two can get settled. We will have dinner in a little while."

He watched as the children ran into the house, then turned back to Ondori.

"You don't have to leave," he assured his friend, "and it isn't necessary to hide who you are anymore."

"I'm not," Ondori assured him, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek, "My real name is Akira. And this is the most real I've felt in a long time. I barely remember having family around."

"Well, you are like family to me, and you are welcome in my home."

"As long as I don't let on about who I am or what I misled you into doing, ne?"

Bya gave the brothel owner a look of guilt.

"I never meant it that way," he answered in a tormented tone.

"I know," Ondori assured him, smiling warmly, "You just need to avoid adding that to your troubles right now. I'm okay with that, really. When I come to see you, I will dress like this and be your business partner, Akira. No one needs to know the other role I play...until you are ready to tell them."

"I don't deserve you," Bya sighed, embracing Ondori, then letting him go.

"No," Ondori laughed, "You deserve way better than me, Bya-chan. Go now. Enjoy some time with your family."

Byakuya observed silently as Ondori flash stepped away, then he walked into the house and found Kisho kneeling on the floor in Kiwa's room, holding the crying girl against his shoulder and patting her back gently.

"I n-never had a r-room of my own...or so many clothes or..."

Bya knelt in front of them and slipped a hand into the girl's, giving her a sympathetic look.

"Kiwa-chan," he said softly, "I understand you have been through a very difficult time. Kisho and I can't replace the family that you had, but we will do our best to make you feel at home here. You are welcome to stay here...as Kisho's sister, and as my daughter, if you want to."

"Y-you mean, I don't have to find a new home?" Kiwa whispered shakily, "But you don't even know me!"

"I will get to know you," Bya assured her, "I can't promise you that living here will be easy. We will all have to work hard to get the school operating, but once it is, we won't have to worry so much about food or other things we need."

"I helped Mommy with chores every day," Kiwa said, looking around, "But does Kisho-kun have a mommy too?"

Bya's eyes saddened for a moment.

"Kisho and I just have each other," he replied softly, "And now we have you too."

"We should go and look at the school!" Kisho said excitedly.

"We will be planting the gardens tomorrow," Bya informed them, "The two of you can help me."

"I can dig holes and plant seeds and water," Kiwa said, putting her arms around Bya's neck and looking up into his eyes, "We had trees and plants. I had a kitty, but he ran away."

"Well," said Bya, holding Kiwa against him as he stood, "we will need your help picking out a couple of barn cats for the property. We will need them to chase the mice and rats away from the gardens and house."

"We can have cats?" Kisho asked excitedly.

Bya nodded.

"A farmer near the other end of town has offered to sell me some baby chicks, so that we will have some hens to lay eggs. We have to wait for the chicks to hatch, but we will be getting those soon as well."

"And then, there will be eggs!" Kisho shouted, "We can make them with cheese or make cakes or muffins or..."

"For now, we will be having soup and tea," Bya said, frowning sternly, "Go and wash up."

"Should I go too and wash up?" Kiwa asked, still hugging him around the neck.

"You can wash up in the kitchen and help me pour the tea."

"Okay...erm...umm...?"

"Bya. You may call me Bya."

"Not Dad, like Kisho-kun does?" the girl asked.

Bya gave her a sad look.

"You had a father, child. I can't replace him. I don't want to. But, I can take care of you as he would have wanted. I've wondered what having a daughter would be like."

"I like you, Bya-san!" Kiwa sighed, kissing him on the cheek, "You aren't scary at all."

Bya smiled back at her.

"Come, let's go and pour that tea."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Damn it!" Ichigo sighed in frustration, sitting down on a gnarled stump near the little fire the three had built, "I know I felt Byakuya's reiatsu. I know I did."

"I felt it too," Tetsuya agreed, "You were right about that. My cousin is definitely alive."

"But where is he?" Ichigo worried, "We've been through so many districts in the last few days."

"There are still places to look," Kuri assured him, laying a hand on his arm, "Primo, we just have to keep on going. We are going to find him."

"But we all need to get some sleep," Tetsuya reasoned, "I will take the first watch. You two should go to bed."

He moved away from the fire as Kuri and Ichigo laid down on their sleeping bags, looking up into the star-filled sky.

"I know you miss him terribly, Ichibun," Kuri soothed him, "I know I would be crazy to find my Hideaki if he was alive somewhere and missing."

"Sometimes I think I'll lose my mind," Ichigo said in a tormented tone, "It was awful when it first happened, and I didn't understand what happened or whether he could still be alive. Then, for years, I searched, but found no sign of him anywhere."

"Feeling his presence again is a mixed blessing, I know," Kuri acknowledged.

"I feel like laughing and crying at the same time. I want to be angry at him for leaving, but at the same time, I just want to put my arms around him again! I want to bury my face in his hair and feel how soft it is, smell how sweet it is. I want to hear his voice...feel it while I'm holding onto him. I want to yell at him and tell him that if he ever leaves me again, I'll break him in two, myself. But the other part of me wants to cry and beg him never to do this to me again. I don't even know what I'll do if I see him."

"You know what you'll do if you see him," Kuri chuckled good naturedly, "You'll scold him for scaring you like that, and then you'll take him to your bed and make love to him. You'll tell him that you love him, and even if it kills you, you will forgive him for leaving...and you will never let him leave you again."

"I'm not like you, Kuri," Ichigo said in a wounded tone, "You forget. Byakuya dumped me. He was leaving me already. I could find him, and he might not want me back. And maybe he doesn't want that life he left behind."

Kuri gazed at him for a moment, then slapped him soundly.

"OW!" Ichigo cried, "What the hell?"

"¡Idiota!" he snapped, "Qué disparate tienes en la cabeza?" (Idiot! What nonsense have you got in your head?)

"What the heck?" Ichigo objected, "I don't understand you. What are you saying?"

"Sorry," Kuri apologized, "Not for slapping the shit out of you, but for using Spanish on you. You made me angry."

"Well, you're not exactly making me feel like sharing tea with you either!" Ichigo fumed, "What a jerk!"

"Ichibun, you have a very screwed up attitude!" Kuri said scathingly.

"Oh, I have a screwed up attitude?" Ichigo shouted, "Well, I'm not the one slapping people for no reason!"

"For no reason, pfft," Kuri huffed, "I had plenty of reason. Your true love is at least alive and you can find him and reason with him! My Hideaki died, Ichibun. He is never coming back. I could take him hurting me and leaving me in a thousand horrible ways if he would just not be dead! As long as he is breathing and his heart beats, you have a chance to work things out. Don't waste that."

"How can we have a chance?" Ichigo said, sadly, "You know Byakuya was right that the noble clans don't allow a leader of one clan to marry the leader or heir of another."

Kuri gave him a skeptical look.

"They all said I couldn't defy my marriage contract with Kuchiki Sasune either, or marry a commoner. I did both."

"Byakuya's no commoner," Ichigo said, his misery deepening, "He's the head of a clan."

"Not right now, he isn't," Kuri reminded him, "And maybe that says something."

"He didn't leave his position in the clan for me. I don't know why he left. Maybe he wanted to, or maybe someone forced him to go. But it wasn't about me, Kuri. It wasn't about us."

"I say you don't know that. Remember, you said to me that you found a broken pregnancy charm. We both know what would have happened if he had stayed and had to face the elders of his clan, confessing an affair with you and a fatherless child."

"Yeah. I really wrecked his life, didn't I? He tried to tell me, but I was just so in love with him, I couldn't take no for an answer. And what's weird is that even though he left me and it hurts like hell, I still love him...and I wish he could be alive, and that he's with our kid somewhere. But wherever he is? I wanna be there too. I just want to be with him...them. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Kuri assured him, patting his face as Ichigo shied away, then laughed ruefully, "There is nothing wrong with you for wanting to be with your family."

"When we met Kisho," Ichigo said, smiling affectionately, "I sort of told myself, that's probably what our kid would be like. He's the right age to be our kid. And when he said what Byakuya used to say about Kenpachi and how swords should only be raised to protect who we love, I wanted to just...I wanted him to be mine, you know? I want it to be that easy, to go down to Inuzuri and walk into Kisho's house and find Byakuya making tea and talking with him about his day. I want to go up to him and shake him a few times."

Ichigo paused and blinked sleepily.

"Then...I want to take him to bed and touch him all over, just so I know it's all real. And I think I'd be willing to do damned near anything so that we could be together."

"Well, keep up that thinking. We aren't done looking yet."

"I know," Ichigo yawned wearily, "It's just that as the days go by and he's still gone, it starts to feel less and less real again. For a long time, I just gave up and tried to accept that he was gone."

"And I'll bet those were the hardest days of your life, Primo. To have run out of hope and to be brokenhearted like that."

"It reminds me of how Byakuya looked when he was breaking up with me," Ichigo remembered, "The truth is, I knew he didn't want to. I tried and tried to convince him, but I just couldn't find the right words, or the right way. So, I yelled at him and said that if he wanted me gone, I was gone."

Ichigo shivered and let out a shaky breath.

"I didn't think for a minute that would be the last time I'd ever see him."

"You couldn't know."

"No, it's true. We never know when it's going to be the last time we'll see each other. It just hurts to think that whatever happened to him, he went into that, thinking that I might not forgive him...that I wouldn't want him back. That's why I still have a little hope he'll come back to me, though. I mean, maybe he only stayed away because he thought I wouldn't take him back, even if he did come home. If I find him, I can tell him that nothing is worth losing him over. I don't want to waste another day."

"That's what I would tell my Hideaki, if he could come back. My chance with him is over, but you still have a chance to be happy with Byakurai."

"If we ever find him," Ichigo breathed more softly, starting to drift off.

"We will find him," Kuri said firmly, "Now that we know he is alive, we will not stop until we bring him home. You will have your chance to mend things with him."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, yawning again, "I hope so."

Kuri started to answer, then paused, staring as a coded hell butterfly arrived and hovered in front of Ichigo. Ichigo shot up out of his sleeping bag, hurriedly urging the insect to deliver its message.

"Shiba Ichigo," Kuchiki Koji's voice whispered, "I have to warn you. I wanted to send this before, but Orochi keeps me close to him so that I won't sneak away and find Tetsuya-san."

Tetsuya appeared out of the darkness, his blue eyes tormented at the pain and fear in his attendant's voice. Kuri curled an arm around him, and held his hand as the message continued.

"If Tetsuya-san is with you, assure him that everyone here is okay. Orochi is focused on something else right now. I'm sure you sensed it. Byakuya-sama is alive and somewhere in the lower Rukongai. Just...I have to warn you that Orochi knows that. He has been gathering a group to go and search, under the guise of looking for Byakuya-sama to return him home. But he can't be allowed to find him. If Orochi reaches Byakuya-sama first, then he will not live to reach the Seireitei. Please, you must find Byakuya-sama quickly! You are the only hope he has. Torio gave me a message for you. He told me to tell you that before Byakuya-sama broke up with you that day, he witnessed Byakuya-sama crying at his wife's grave and confessing his love for you. Torio has been Byakuya-sama's attendant for most of both their lives and he had never seen him so distraught. He told me to tell you not to despair. Byakuya-sama didn't leave you for lack of loving you. It tore him apart to walk away, and he confessed to Hisana-sama that he wished it could be like with Rukia-chan...that you could come and force him to follow his heart. You shouldn't give up. Byakuya-sama wants to be rescued. He wants to come home...and he wants more than anything to give his love to you."

Koji inhaled sharply as Orochi's voice sounded nearby.

"I am sorry. I have to go. Please...take care of Tetsuya-san if you find him and bring Byakuya-sama home to us safely!"

Fresh chills ran down their spines as Orochi's voice sounded more clearly.

"It's time to leave," he said in a cold, emotionless voice, "It's time to put an end to this, once and for all!"