Where Life Takes You
By: Raven612
Chapter 10: The Dresden Story
A/N: Sorry this took so long but I had severe writers block and then I realized I didn't know a lot about green diamonds, but I did find some interesting stuff about green diamonds.
It had been three days since the incident with Aizen and Ichimaru, Rukia and Ichigo knew better than to think that they might be getting a break. Rukia had kept in contact regularly with Kane, much to Ichigo's dismay. Kane had informed Rukia that Aizen was packing up and going to India for a couple of days and so this bought Rukia and Ichigo some time. Kane also informed them that Byakuya was on his way home with some of their parent's closest friends, the wife and husband gem hunting duo of Urahara Kisuke and his wife Yoruichi. They were the closest thing to parents Rukia had since the death of her real parents. She loved them very much and they entertained her immensely with their constant bickering, yet they always seemed to fall even more in love before her eyes every time she saw them.
"So since these guys kind of took you and your brother under their wing once your real parents died, it's kind of like they are your parents, huh?" Ichigo asked dumbly as they stood outside the train station waiting for the train to arrive with Byakuya, Urahara and Yoruichi on it.
Rukia rolled her eyes and sighed, "I guess you could say that, I wonder if they'll be bringing their children and right hand man along with them?" Rukia wondered aloud. She had earned money by babysitting Ururu and Jinta. Also they had Tessai on their team as kind of a pack mule because he could seem to carry anything and everything on his back while Urahara and Yoruichi went on their digs.
"Children? Right hand man?" Ichigo asked wondering what Rukia was talking about.
She only sighed and rolled her eyes at him once again. They heard a noise down the track and watched a train rumble towards them. Rukia's eyes doubled in size and excitement, she clamped onto Ichigo's hand and squeezed tightly, and unaware of the pain she was currently causing him.
"Here they come Ichigo," she stated excitedly.
"I see," he hissed between his teeth as he tried to get his hand out of the crushing grip Rukia had on it, but she only squeezed harder. Finally he gave up.
The train pulled up to the station and a sea of people surrounded Rukia and Ichigo and much to his liking and also worry the mass of people disconnected him and Rukia. He searched for her in the crowd but suddenly heard a high pitched shriek.
"Brother!" He heard his midget scream and he looked just as she jumped into his arms, tears running down her face. Two other people also joined in the hug.
"It's good to see ya Rukia," the man wearing a straw hat and what looked to be a green and white striped robe said as he patted her on her head.
"I'm so glad you joined brother, are Jinta and Ururu with you?" she asked excitedly searching for them.
"Yes, their actually helping Tessai with the luggage," Yoruichi said with a warm smile as she hugged Rukia.
"Jinta, helping?" Rukia asked with a laugh, for as long as she knew Jinta he would never lift a finger to help anyone, and when he would he would end up picking on Ururu and he'd always try to start a fight, he was a typical boy though.
"Urahara promised to take him to a baseball game, a real one, if he would pitch in with this trip and help out when we needed him to," Yoruichi translated.
"It gets the boy workin," Urahara said lazily as he sucked on his toothpick.
Just then Tessai and the kids rounded the corner, each of them were weighed down with tons of luggage.
"Sheesh, you guys staying for a couple days or a couple months?" Ichigo muttered, which caused him to get noticed for the first time by everyone.
"And who is this strapping young man?" Yoruichi asked as she eyed him and smiled slyly.
"This is Kurosaki Ichigo, I've known him since I was pretty much born," Rukia said as she introduced Ichigo to the group.
"Pleased to meet ya son," Urahara said with a slow and lazy smile as he shook Ichigo's hand.
"You too," he said to both Urahara and Yoruichi.
"Rukia!" both children chimed as they finally reached their parents.
"Ururu, Jinta," she greeted hugging them both, Jinta refused but she hugged him anyways.
"Hello Miss Rukia," Tessai greeted with a warm smile.
"Tessai," she smiled back and offered to take a few bags, as did Ichigo.
Byakuya fell into step next to Ichigo, "So how bad is this thing with Aizen, I know Kane left out some details to spare my feelings, but I want you to tell me the truth," he said under his breath to Ichigo.
Ichigo stiffened while he walked, "It's not good, he beat up Rukia pretty good the first night and since then we've been pretty much just sitting and waiting for the next attack which happened when he kidnapped Orihime." Ichigo said and then grew quiet as they neared the rental car for Yoruichi and the gang. Rukia, Ichigo, and Byakuya were using a loner from Renji.
"We'll meet at our apartment," Byakuya announced to the group.
"See ya there," Urahara said as he tipped his hat to them.
Byakuya, Rukia, and Ichigo made it to the apartment with time to spare. Ichigo showed Byakuya the damage in Rukia's room. Byakuya cringed at the sight of the dried blood on the bed and the wall and the floor.
"How much is hers?" he asked coldly.
"Most of it, some is mine too, he would've killed us but he still needs to know where this damn green diamond is, and we have no clue where it is or if it really does exist." Ichigo said with a sigh as he slumped down on Rukia's bed. Just then she came in and sat next to him.
"Brother, tell me about Hisana, Aizen talked about her," Rukia startled him with this.
For a moment he was at a lose of words. Hisana was Rukia's older sister, also her biological sister. She was also his betrothed. Rukia didn't know that Byakuya was not her real brother, but his parents had died a couple weeks after they had promised his hand to Hisana. Hisana was but a child, they both were. When Byakuya's parents disappeared Rukia's parents took him in as their own. Rukia believed that he was really her brother.
"There is so much to tell," he sighed as his face suddenly looked very tired.
"You don't have to tell me now, you can wait until you've gotten more rest," Rukia said as she went to her brother to help him to take a seat, he declined; he couldn't stand to be in the room anymore, not with her blood soaking the floor and walls.
"In the living room," he said as he left the room and took a seat at one end of the sofa. Ichigo and Rukia sat together on the other side of him.
Byakuya took a deep breath and began from the beginning. "I was but a baby the first time I was around Hisana, but my parents had promised, at the time of birth, I was to marry her. It was an old tradition that they wanted to hold up because they were such good friends of Hisana's parents, your mom and dad. When I turned 2 and Hisana was still a babe, my parents mysteriously disappeared. You're parents took me in and raised me as their own, and that's why you know me as brother. Hisana and I were great friends and I grew to learn to love her. When she died I and your parents were devastated, not wanting to remember that horrible day they made me promise to never speak of her for your sake, for you were still a baby and wouldn't remember her." Byakuya told them sadly.
"Brother…" Rukia couldn't think of anything to say, she felt Ichigo's arms go around her but didn't feel reassured. She felt like a huge weight was placed on her heart and she couldn't breath.
"She looked just like you, and she was such a nice person. Even though you were both so young she cared for you so much she acted like your second mother." Byakuya told her as he rose to answer the sudden knock on their door.
"You okay?" Ichigo asked as he forced Rukia to look at him.
"I'm not sure," she breathed as she leaned into him, "I really don't know how to handle all this now," she breathed as she buried her face into his chest.
"That's why I'm here to help you," he said soothingly as he brushed the back of her head softly.
"Thank you so much, God, why is my life such a damn mess!" she exclaimed as she punched the couch cushion with a loud curse.
"Rukia, you okay?" a timid Ururu asked as she entered the room.
Rukia quickly wiped away her tears and smiled at the little girl. "Of course I am," she said with a meek laugh as she invited the little girl to sit in her lap. "Did you miss me?" Rukia asked.
"Sure did, I had no one to keep Jinta from picking on me, but then Tessai would help sometimes when he wasn't with mom or dad," the little girl said happily and then she jumped down from Rukia's lap to go see what her mother wanted.
Yoruichi had asked Tessai to take the kids to the park down the street to the adults could talk. Tessai already knew everything that was going on so he obliged and took the kids to the park for the next few hours.
"So where do we want to start?" Urahara asked as he settled himself into a nice and comfy arm chair.
"A green diamond, do you know the history behind the Kuchiki diamond legend?" Rukia asked.
"Ah the infamous Kuchiki green diamond, given to the first born girl of every descending family," Urahara said with a sigh and slight grin as he pulled his hat over his eyes.
"It was found many generations ago by the eldest Kuchiki, he found it in India. It's the world's rarest diamond. The Kuchiki family didn't always own it. It was put on display in many museums before one of the decedents decided he wanted it back to give to his eldest daughter, whom he loved above anything else. By this time the diamond had come to be known as The Dresden Diamond. It's one of the only green diamonds with a natural green color and for that reason it is one of the rarest diamonds in the world and worth a fortune. Aizen must think you know this and have it in your possession but won't give it up." Yoruichi said as she sat next to Rukia and Ichigo.
"Well at least we know why he wants it, but we still don't know where it is," Ichigo said as he rose from the couch to look out the window.
"If we ever do find it, will we give it to him?" Rukia wondered aloud.
"Of course not," Byakuya said angrily.
Everyone whirled to face him.
"It belonged to Hisana, it will stay in the family and Rukia will be the heir to it," he stated calmly as he settled down.
Rukia knew he would defend it; she didn't want to give it up anymore now that she knew the entire truth about her family. "I'm with Byakuya on this one."
"Rukia, are you sure, after we find it and you have it in your possession it will spell a lot of trouble for you and the ones around you," Urahara said from his position in the chair.
"We'll defeat Aizen and his gang," Ichigo said with confidence.
"You seem so sure of yourself," Urahara snorted.
"Hey old man," Ichigo shot at him, his temper rising.
"Ichigo," Rukia snapped as she pinched his arm to settle him down.
"Ow," he hissed shooting a menacing look at her. She only shrugged with a grin. He plopped next to her with a pout.
"Well since we solved that mystery, I vote we get some food," Urahara announced happily. Everyone rolled their eyes at him and sighed. They all did agree with him though.
"Well my sister always makes way more food than necessary I can give her a call from here and let her know how many to cook for, my dad would be more than accepting of company." Ichigo offered as he made his way for the phone.
"Alright," Urahara agreed happily as he got to his feet and stood next to his wife and put an arm around her waist. Yoruichi lovingly leaned into him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.
Rukia volunteered to get the kids and Tessai from the park. She grabbed her jacket and walked out the door without anyone noticing. She knew it could be dangerous, but she needed some time to herself to go through what Byakuya had said to her earlier. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going and hadn't noticed that she had passed the park about three blocks back, she just kept walking. She then realized she was no where near the park and turned around to go back. As she was walking along the street someone grabbed her and pulled her into a dark alley.
"Let me…" she was cut off when a large hand covered her mouth. She began to struggle and kick at her attacker.
"Poor little Rukia, out all alone?" a cold voice breathed into her ear. She only struggled harder. The man used his other arm to snake around her small frame and pin her arms to her sides and so all he had to worry about was her legs, with which she landed a swift kick to his groin which caused him to drop her.
"Fuck you Aizen," she seethed as she ran at him, a shot rang out and she felt a stinging pain in her right thigh. She fell to the ground just as Ichimaru emerged from the shadows holding a smoking hand gun.
"You idiot, we could've been heard,' Aizen hissed as he scooped up the unconscious girl.
"Got her down though," the strange white haired man said with his ever present smile.
"Give me something to stop this bleeding," Aizen ordered and Ichimaru produced a white cloth from his jacket pocket. He tied the handkerchief around her thigh and just as a black car pulled up to the curb he shoved her inside and he and Ichimaru took off.
When the kids and Tessai arrived sans Rukia, Ichigo grew worried. Once he had noticed Rukia had gone out alone he cursed to himself and was getting ready to go after her when Byakuya stopped him saying she probably wanted to be alone.
"Did you guys see Rukia at all on your way home?" he asked worriedly.
"No we didn't" Tessai said.
"But we did hear a big bang, almost like a gun shot, bang," Jinta imitated as he pointed his fingers at his sisters head and pretended to shoot.
"Jinta," Yoruichi chided as she smacked the back of the little boys head.
At this confession Ichigo turned white. He grabbed his jacket and ran at full speed from the apartment and out onto the street. Byakuya, Tessai, and Urahara were close behind him.
"Split up," Byakuya ordered.
"Rukia!" they all three screamed as they made their way down streets and alley's looking for any sign of her.
Ichigo had turned down an alley and was about to run back out onto the street when he noticed a small puddle in the alley. He got closer and noticed it was blood. He fell weakly to his knees and stared at the small puddle. Byakuya stumbled upon Ichigo.
"Ichigo?" he asked cautiously.
"They shot her," Ichigo whispered as he continued to stare.
"Ichigo, we don't even know…" he was cut off.
"Shut up, we do know it's her blood and we do know he has her," Ichigo yelled as he whirled to face Byakuya.
"Alright, we do know that I guess, but we have to plan our next move," Byakuya said as he looked around the alley then noticed the tire marks in the street. "I'll contact Kane and see what he knows," Byakuya said as he pulled out his cell phone, he dialed Kane's number and waited. As soon as Kane answered he knew the entire story.
"Kane says they did shot her, but she's being taken care of," Byakuya said, Ichigo knew there was more.
"Where is she?" he asked with a forced calm voice.
"That's where it gets complicated."
"How complicated?" Ichigo asked with a voice filled with worry and anger.
"She's with Aizen and Ichimaru on a plane to India and once he finds the diamond he plans to kill her."
Ichigo didn't know what to say to this. "He won't kill her unless he gets the diamond, we don't know where the hell it is, what if he finds it before we do?" he asked worriedly as he began to pace the alleyway.
"He may not know where it is, but I have an idea as to where it might be," Byakuya said as they made their way back to the apartment.
A/N: And so what do you all think about this chapter? Review please!