Chapter 10: End of Solitude
(Thanks so much to Sariniste for requesting the chapter, and to everyone reading and reviewing! I really appreciate the kind support!)
"How is Byakuya doing?" Renji whispered, glancing over at the noble where he stood at Tetsuya's graveside, gazing off into the distance, "I know he and Tetsuya were really close. He told me about how he rescued Tetsuya from that prison when they were kids."
"He's not doing well at all," Rukia said, brushing tears away from her eyes, "My cousin may have, at one time, been looked down on for his mixed blood, but Renji, he came so far, and really conquered a lot of hatred and misunderstanding in the short time he was here. Anyone who ever met him sensed he was different."
Renji wrapped his arm around his grieving friend and kissed her on the top of her head.
"You might have expected that someone who had been treated the way he was...the way all of those prisoners were," Rukia went on, "that he would have been angry...vengeful, that he would have struck out at others in retaliation for what was done to them. But that was never Tetsuya's way. He was very quiet, shy really, but once Byakuya connected with him, he decided that, while he couldn't undo what had been done, he could fight the attitudes and lies that led to the half-bloods being persecuted as they were."
She sniffed and rubbed her eyes again.
"I really can't believe he died this way, Renji. Just...so suddenly. He was in perfect health, happy, and about to tear down another of the walls that tried to hold him back. I know they would have made him a council member in the end, Renji."
"Yeah, he was real special. I felt that too. He was quiet, but you could tell that his mind was always busy. And there's nothing he wouldn't do for Byakuya."
"I...I'm so glad that my brother has you!" Rukia exclaimed, bursting into tears, "He was really lost for a long time after my sister died, and it was Tetsuya who was closest to him during that time. My brother doesn't let a lot of people inside, b-but he and Tetsuya had no b-barriers between them. He's going to need you to get through this Renji. He'll act like he's okay. He'll say he is fine, but he isn't fine. And now, you're the only one close enough to get him to let it out. He'll be honest with you, Renji, because he really loves you."
Renji hugged Rukia tightly as she struggled to regain control and brushed the tears away. She swallowed hard and sniffed several times, then took a breath and straightened.
"Look," said Renji, "Why don't you go and spend some time with Orihime and the others? I will take a walk with Byakuya and see if I can't get him to talk a little."
"Okay," Rukia sighed, giving the redhead and final hug, "I'll show them to their rooms. They're all staying over tonight."
Renji watched with troubled eyes as she walked away, then moved to join Byakuya at Tetsuya's graveside. He stood alongside the silent noble and slipped a warm hand into Byakuya's, then followed his gaze to the portrait of the younger Kuchiki cousin, sadly noting the kind, smiling expression that Tetsuya had so often worn in his presence.
"I'm going to miss him too," he said, squeezing Byakuya's pale hand and feeling a shiver at the tension in the noble as he worked to maintain stiff control of his emotions, "He was a really great guy...down to earth, do anything for you, tough fighter, and probably the most loyal friend a guy could have."
Byakuya said nothing, but tightened his hand in Renji's to show he had heard. He swallowed hard, and turned with the redhead, then left the cemetery and walked back out onto the forest trail. They followed it to the gate that led into the family gardens, then continued past and walked slowly up to the waterfall, where it overlooked the lake and open meadow. They settled beneath a sakura tree, and Renji waited quietly as the wheels turned in Byakuya's reeling mind.
"Arigato, Renji," the noble said finally, "The past few days have been nearly unbearable. And without you at my side, I cannot imagine I could have coped as I did."
"Hey, it's nothing," the redhead said, kissing him lightly on the cheek, then on the mouth, "I have been where you are a few times...well, not with a relative, but with friends, when I lived in the Rukongai. It's hard to make sense of it all..."
Byakuya's lips tightened.
"It doesn't make any kind of sense, Renji. Tetsuya had undergone physical testing recently and was in perfect health. And I saw him just as he left for Central 46. He looked and acted perfectly normal."
"And they didn't find anything there that could account for what happened," Renji added, "Everyone thought it was suspicious that it happened while Aizen was being moved, but they couldn't find any evidence of poison or reiatsu consistent with an attack."
"No," agreed the noble, "I was really expecting them to find something, somewhere...somehow...that would help explain this. But this is beyond both explanation and comprehension. My head accepts that he has left us, but my heart still feels him there."
"Because that is where he is, now that he can't be with us," Renji said, curling his arm around Byakuya and bringing his head to rest on a strong shoulder.
Byakuya closed his eyes and took slow breaths, trying to restore some sense of calm inside.
"This isn't the way I saw things ever ending if they had to," he whispered, "This is so...senseless, Renji."
They went quiet then, looking out over the darkening meadow, and almost seeing Tetsuya astride Arashi and racing through the long grass, the reiatsu glowing blue all around them.
Goodbye, watashi no itoko.
At very least, your parting from us was swift and peaceful.
XXXXXXXXXX
Aizen watched from the meadow below the waterfall, as Renji helped Byakuya to his feet and led the grieving noble back towards the manor. He concealed his reiatsu carefully and followed, using his powers to hide himself from all eyes as he slipped in through the back gate and into the gardens. He was cautious, even having the use of his powers, as he knew that Ichigo was present, and as yet, had still not seen his shikai. He located the room that Orihime had been directed to, and waited inside as the girl sat in the gardens and spoke quietly with her friends. It was well into the night, when the nakama parted and moved into their rooms to settle down for the night. He remained concealed until Orihime had changed and stepped out of the bathroom, then he released his hold on her senses, and allowed himself to appear before her.
She gazed at him for one long, breathless moment, then put a hand over her mouth and went pale.
"Orihime," he said quietly.
"L-lord Aizen?" she managed softly, her eyes going wide and filling with fear, "But you are supposed to be...?"
"Locked away in Central 46, yes," he answered solemnly, "And until recently, I was. I was assisted in escaping by my manifested zanpakutou. He helped me to create a diversion, and we escaped the prison."
Orihime stared, her mind working quickly. Then, realization spread across her features, and she went even more pale.
"Th-then you...killed Tetsuya Kuchiki?" she whispered, "You killed him so that you could distract them?"
"No," said the brown-eyed shinigami, looking into the girl's eyes and watching closely as his very presence seemed to freeze her in place, "I did not kill Tetsuya Kuchiki."
"Then...?"
"Tetsuya saw through Kyouka Suigetsu's illusion, so my zanpakutou subdued him and we took him with us when we left the prison."
"And...wh-where is he now?" Orihime asked breathlessly, "Is he...? Did you hurt him?"
"I did not harm him. But he has been injured, and is badly in need of your healing power."
He reached into his breast pocket and retrieved the hougyoku. Orihime stared in silence as he unwrapped the binding on the crystal and held it up so that she could see it. He let the front of his shirt fall open so that she could see where the hougyoku had been housed.
"Look closely now," he said solemnly, Your senses are not being fooled. You may touch the stone so that you know what you are seeing is real."
Orihime hesitated, then stepped forward, swaying slightly on her feet. She first reached out and with the barest brushing of her fingertips, touched the hougyoku and felt the reality of its presence. Then, her fingers left the crystal and reached out again, gently extending and trembling as she touched the round scar where the hougyoku had been fused with him. Slowly, the disbelief in her eyes faded, and she returned her eyes to his.
"It is still sealed," she said softly, "but it is not fused with you any longer. How did you do this? Why? I thought that you were going to attack the king."
"That was my plan, then. And someday I may still follow that path, but when I do, I will do so under my own power and control. The hougyoku betrayed me. You may remember that, always when I asked others to follow me, I told them to follow, but not to trust. I discarded my own rule and trusted too much in the hougyoku. In the end, it exerted too much control, and I abandoned the trust I had yielded to it. This is why I failed in my quest to create the king's key. In the end, I was determined to separate myself from the hougyoku and destroy it."
"Is that why you are here?" the girl asked, catching her breath, "You want me to...?"
"You cannot destroy it," he told her, "I do need your help, but that is not the reason. It is your healing ability I need."
"H-healing...?"
"Tetsuya Kuchiki...Tetsuya is alive, and has been assisting me in my quest to separate myself from the hougyoku and destroy it. I had only just separated myself from the hougyoku and become mortal again, when Tetsuya was injured, protecting me from a poisonous hollow. He was poisoned, himself, and now lies unconscious and slowly dying in Las Noches. I have come to you to ask you to come back to the fortress with me, so that you can heal him. I will see that you are safely returned after that."
Orihime hesitated, her eyes moving from the hougyoku to the scar on Aizen's partially bared chest, then back again. She thought deeply as her former captor waited silently, his eyes calm and unblinking. Finally, she looked back into his eyes.
"Will you give me your word that you will allow Tetsuya Kuchiki to come home when he has finished helping you?" she asked, "There are a lot of people who love him, and they are all very sad, thinking that he died. They are suffering badly, and I want them to have hope that he will come home."
Aizen's lips curved upward and he slipped his fingertips underneath the girl's fine chin.
"You have a lovely, warm heart, Orihime. Perhaps if I had known someone like you earlier on, I might have had a very different fate."
He paused for a moment, gazing at her less frightened eyes.
"Will you go with me, then?" he asked, "If I give you my word that you will be returned safely, once Tetsuya is healed, and that I will release Tetsuya, unharmed, once the hougyoku is destroyed?"
Orihime studied him for several long, silent minutes, then took a steadying breath.
"There is something different about you, Lord Aizen," she observed, "Could it be because of him?"
Aizen's eyes blinked slowly and he did not answer immediately. When he finally did, his answer stunned Orihime all over again.
"Perhaps."
It was as much of an admission as he would ever give, and she knew it. Orihime gave a barely perceptible nod and accepted Aizen's extended hand. He led her out into the darkness and set her carefully on Arashi's back.
"Arashi," Orihime whispered, giving the stallion a gentle pat on the neck, "I had thought you had faded. I am glad to see you."
Aizen climbed up behind the girl and opened a garganta. The manor alarms began to ring as Arashi entered the black cavern that led to the hollow world. Voices and running feet sounded in the distance, but faded as the garganta closed.
"If we are attacked, allow Arashi and me to protect you," Aizen instructed Orihime, "You must arrive safely at Las Noches or Tetsuya Kuchiki's death will become a reality."
"I understand," Orihime answered, holding on tightly with her legs as Arashi charged through the darkness.
They went quiet, except for the sound of the stallion's hooves pounding on the rock floor of the cavern. They reached a place that seemed to satisfy Aizen, and emerged from an exit, out onto the dark sands. Arashi turned instinctively in the direction of the fortress, his long legs stretched out and his graceful neck extended.
As the horse ran on, Orihime stole a glance at Aizen's moonlit face, and the brown eyes that had instilled such fear in her before.
It is not to say that he is any less a dangerous man, but something is different. It is not just that he has freed himself of the hougyoku. It is more profound than that. What could make a man like him change inside? Could it be this person he risked exposing himself to save? Why else would he go to such lengths to save him...using time he could be using to complete his mission and taking risks that could get him caught? C-could Sousuke Aizen...be in love?
Could he?
Ichigo said after the battle, that he sensed solitude...loneliness in Lord Aizen's blade. Is that what is different, then? He found someone to love, and has abandoned that solitude?
But what will happen if I cannot save Tetsuya Kuchiki?
I won't think about that.
I will save Lord Kuchiki's cousin.
I will!
XXXXXXXXXX
Renji followed Byakuya into the noble's bedroom and quietly closed the garden doors. He walked into the dressing area and waved Torio off, then removed the noble's ginpaku kazahana no uzuginu, the kenseiken and fingerless gloves, then his formal kimono.
"Torio could have done that," Byakuya sighed, "You don't need to..."
"I wanted to," Renji said, taking a burgundy colored yukata and wrapping it around the noble's lean frame.
He quickly undressed himself and found one of his own yukatas that he had left there. They walked out of the dressing area together and slid into bed, then settled into each other's arms. Byakuya rested his head on Renji's shoulder, his dark gray eyes distant and somber as he remembered something that Tetsuya had said only days before his death.
Byakuya, it is not so often that one finds true happiness and contentment with a soul mate. You and Renji are very connected...very much in love. You should stop being so worried about what the elders will think and start thinking about making a life with this man who you love, while there is still time to partake of it. I think I remember a very wise cousin of mine telling me that there are no guarantees of the future, good or bad. Our focus must be always on bringing what beauty we can into our lives and into our worlds. That advice helped me to set aside the darkness that was the beginning of my life. It helped me to break down barriers and change things I never dreamed I could. I will live and die a free man now. And if I find a love like the one you share with Renji Abarai, I will hold on tightly and never let go.
"Tetsuya," Byakuya whispered soundlessly.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the shriek of the house alarms. In an instant, he and Renji were on their feet and racing out into the gardens. As they left the room, Byakuya looked in the direction of the back gate and blinked in surprise.
"What is it? Did you see something?" Renji asked.
"I couldn't have," Byakuya said softly, "Because...he should have faded by now. He couldn't be alive..."
"What?"
"Renji, just before that garganta closed, I think I saw Arashi go into it! And if Arashi is alive...then..."
Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Sousuke Aizen's reiatsu has been sensed within Kuchiki Manor!
"Aizen," exclaimed Renji, "How is that possible?"
He was barely able to keep up as Byakuya hastily opened a senkaimon and flash stepped away.