CONTAGION

CHAPTER TEN

"Ishida-kun?" Orihime said slowly.

There was a blur of light around Ishida's body. It moved and crawled and flexed like a spider's web caught in the wind, making it hard to look at him clearly. Chad brought up one hand to shield his eyes.

"Pride of the Quincy," Ishida said dreamily. The same nimbus of light crawled around the constructs of energy that formed his bow and arrow, giving them an unhealthy sheen. "I will destroy the Hollows."

"That's marvellous, Ishida-kun!" Orihime said, taking a bouncy step forward. "I --

Chad grabbed her shoulder. She looked up at him with big surprised eyes, and Chad had to harden his heart against that devastating cuteness. "Stop, Inoue," he said. "Something's wrong with him."

"Rubbish!" Orihime declared blithely. "I'm sure Ishida-kun's just reached a new level of power. Everyone keeps on doing it!"

"Inoue," Chad said gently, "you have noticed that he is pointing his arrow at us?"

Orihime leaned closer. "Hush," she whispered. "I'm trying to act as if I don't notice it so that we can get closer to him."

"Oh." Chad decided that telling her he'd thought she was going to happily waltz into the metaphorical jaws of the metaphorical alligator would not help the situation. "Of course." He tried waving his free hand at Ishida. "Hello, Ishida! I hope you're having a good day!"

Ishida blinked at them, slowly. The flickering light made his spectacles seem to bulge like a lizard's eyes.

Chad released Orihime's shoulder with a final squeeze, and stepped to the right, away from her. He relaxed a fraction as Ishida turned to follow him and that lethal arrow swung away from Orihime. "Nice day," he said. "Isn't it?" He tried to think of topics of conversation that might help reassure Ishida, or at the very least not set him off into a violent spasm, and was saddened at how few came to mind.

It had to be the infection. But Urahara had said that non-shinigami couldn't be affected. But if Ishida was affected, then any of them could be . . .

"Such a pretty day!" Orihime chirped, moving to the left. Ishida refocused on her, the arrow swinging across the widening arc between her and Chad. "The sun is shining nicely and the weather is lovely and maybe if we're very lucky some birdies will come and sing us a happy song --"

Lightning flared only a few blocks away, painting the sky white and throwing their shadows black against the road, and almost simultaneously reiatsu came thundering out in a long rolling boom.

Ishida hesitated, blinking again.

And Chad dived for him, sprinting a few steps forward and then throwing himself into a long tackle that caught Ishida at waist-level and smacked him down onto the ground. Something made a nasty snapping noise, but Chad didn't have time for it. Ishida cried out incoherently, his bow and arrow dissolving into blazes of light around his hands. His back arched as he squirmed underneath Chad's weight, screaming something about Hollows and how he wasn't going to let them get him, they were going to get him . . .

"Hold him still," Orihime said breathlessly, falling to her knees beside them. Her six fairies swirled around her head in a complex of halos.

Chad reluctantly shifted his weight, then dropped hard onto Ishida's stomach, and pinned his friend down while he was trying to remember how to breathe.

"Right," Orihime said. "Sacred Twin Shield --"

In the distance, the lightning flashed again.

Rukia shifted position so that the wall was behind Yuzu and she was in front of Yuzu, and most importantly, so that she was between Yuzu and anyone or anything else that might try grabbing her, and invoked shikai. Sode no Shirayuki pulsed in her hand, responding to Ukitake-taichou's rising reiatsu and to the crackle of Ukitake-taichou's own zanpakutou. She could hear it, even from here; a sound like distant thunder, like the heartbeat of waves on the shore.

Yuzu was curled up in a tiny ball. That was probably the safest way for her to be at the moment. Rukia liked the girl, but she didn't have time to reassure her or pat her on the shoulder. Guarding her was going to take all her attention. She would have liked to be able to assist Ukitake-taichou -- and in her heart of hearts, she thought she might even have been able to be of some help -- but the most important thing she could do, for both Ukitake-taichou and for Yuzu, was to stop the girl being used as a hostage again. Keep her safe. For Kurosaki Ichigo. For Kurosaki Isshin. For all of them.

One of Ichimaru's minions came speeding at her. He was in white. He was blond. He had a nasty smile. He had a fragment of bone clinging to his head. He was tall and graceful. And most of all, he was pausing to sneer down at her and at Yuzu before attacking.

Well. Who was she to pass up a perfectly good opportunity.

"First dance!" she called. "White moon!"

The moron didn't even have the time to blink as a circle of ice formed round him and blasted skywards.

Thunder rolled across town. The sky was still cloudless, still serene, but the air had abruptly begun to hum as though a storm had been building for hours.

Renji lifted his face and sniffed at the air. "What the fuck?" he said.

Ichigo knew that he wasn't as good at spotting reiatsu as the other shinigami -- or at least, not as practiced -- but even he could feel something. But it was quicker to ask Renji than stand there and try to do it himself. "What is it?" he asked.

"Trouble," Renji said flatly, shedding his body and standing away from it in his shinigami uniform. "Captain-level reiatsu. Thataway." He nodded towards the south-west; now that he knew what direction to try looking in, Ichigo could feel it as well.

Something else struck Ichigo. "That's the way my home is," he said, the words coming slowly. "It couldn't --" Then he dumped his own body, leaving it collapsed there on the roof of the school. "Tell your artificial soul thing to look after my body too, and let's get moving."

"Don't lose your cool," Renji said. "It may not be --"

"Let's just assume it is and get moving," Ichigo snarled. Because the hell of it was, there was every reason why it might be his home, and none at all why it would be anywhere else.

Rukia had absolute faith in Ukitake-taichou. He was one of the oldest and most experienced and strongest captains in the Gotei 13. He'd even fought Yamamoto-taichou to a standstill, together with Kyouraku-taichou. (Well, all right, she wasn't entirely sure about the "standstill", but they hadn't lost, had they?) And they'd come so hurriedly to the world of the living that he hadn't even had time to get the usual limiter tattoo, which was currently proving to be a very good thing.

She was totally sure that he could handle the current situation.

The creature with the long scorpion-tail leered down at her, its braid swaying backwards and forwards.

What she wasn't sure about was whether she could handle the current situation.

Yuzu was a handicap. Even though the girl had sensibly crawled into the nearest corner of wall and was curled up with her hands over her head (frankly the best position to adopt with Ukitake-taichou exerting himself nearby, Rukia wished just a bit that she could do the same thing herself), the fact of having to protect her meant that Rukia couldn't move around as much as she'd like to. Mobility was a useful thing in combat. Having to hold her position was hampering her style.

Kurosaki Isshin -- no, Shiba Isshin, Rukia corrected herself -- seemed to be handling himself adequately. The reiatsu that he was giving off was at the vice-captain level, possibly even rivalling some captains. Which explained a lot about Ichigo.

Now all that Rukia wanted was to get through the current situation with all of them in one piece, so that she could do some very serious complaining.

Ichimaru Gin fenced somewhat automatically with Shiba Isshin while considering his options. Fortunately Grimmjow (such a good boy, he really must say something nice to Aizen-taichou about him) had jumped in on Ukitake in a whirl of claws and teeth and hissing and spitting, so he had at least a few seconds leeway before Grimmjow learned a salutary lesson or two.

At that point, Shiba Isshin very nearly managed to cut a slice in Gin, and Gin had to give the man a bit more of his attention. This was all sorts of unreasonable. He'd been a vice-captain and he was supposed to have been out of practice for a hundred years or so now. Gin ought to have been able to cut him ass from elbow and have the time to drink a cup of tea while he was at it.

He was aware that the clock was ticking. It wasn't just a question of the Kurosaki boy showing up (he could be easily diverted and then cut down from behind) or Abarai-kun (who had no subtlety and even less brains): it was Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi. Either of them would complicate the situation. Both of them would make it a right little clusterfuck.

Well, the mission objective was already screwed six ways from Sunday. Weren't no way they were going to be taking Shiba Isshin away with them, let alone doing it quietly and discreetly and all that. And if they'd got there just five minutes earlier, before Ukitake had showed up . . . oh well, no use in crying over spilled milk, or spilled blood for that matter. The question now was what could be achieved before pulling out.

Not much, he decided, as he sped backwards, parrying another set of blows from Shiba Isshin. They weren't going to be able to take the man alive, not with Ukitake making a nuisance of himself. Kuchiki Rukia wasn't worth the bother of grabbing for a hostage, and wasn't worth the exertion of killing. (Besides, he had to admit it: he kind of liked the way she looked at him.) So he'd lost a few Arrancar? So what. Aizen-taichou could always make more.

Secondary objectives and retreat, he decided.

"Shoot'im dead, Shinsou," he whispered, and his zanpakutou jumped and quivered eagerly in his hand as its blade shot out.

Shiba Isshin hadn't been expecting it. It took him squarely in the chest. He went down on one knee, still trying to parry -- hell, he was tough, no question of it -- and Gin was just about to finish him off when he heard the rush of incoming reiatsu.

He barely had the time to retract Shinsou and bring it round in a parry, and even then Shihouin Yoruichi kicked him three times, flipped round, and knocked him through the side of a building. If he hadn't had those little modifications from Aizen-taichou, he'd have been unconscious or dead. As it was, he was hurting.

It would have wasted too much time to stand round yelling for a retreat, so he just got the hell out of there and left the rest of them to it. Any Arrancar who didn't have the sense to run deserved whatever they got.

And hey, he did have one good thing to report to Aizen-taichou. Ukitake-taichou had to be infected as all hell. Now that was going to be . . . amusing.

Ichigo got there half a second before Renji, just in time to see the scorpion-thing bring its tail scything round just above Rukia's head in a move that would have decapitated her if she hadn't ducked, and that managed to take several hairs off the top of her head in any case. Under the circumstances, he didn't bother with challenges or anything like that, but simply whacked its mask in two and watched it dissolve into dust.

"Ichigo!" Rukia snarled at him. "That was my fight!"

"Ichi-nee-san?" a timid voice came from behind Rukia. Yuzu poked her head round the edge of Rukia's legs. "You're looking all weird."

A flying mass of white clothing and blue hair went sailing past, going through two buildings before coming to a stop. Ukitake came stalking after it, his sword somehow in two pieces (Ichigo vaguely remembered hearing something about him having a two-sword zanpakutou but had never got the full details) and lightning crackling round him in a nimbus, rippling through the long waves of his hair and the folds of his clothing.

Further down the street, as the clouds of dust faded, Ichigo could see his father. No. Wait. This was all wrong. Because his father was in shinigami clothing and he was lying there with a big wound in his shoulder and this wasn't supposed to have happened, his father and his family were supposed to have been kept out of this, he'd gone to all this trouble to keep them safe, and now how dare his father go get into trouble like this!

And, the back of his head pointed out, what was his father doing in a shinigami outfit and a fight like this anyhow?

Urahara came swishing down off one of the roofs and dropped to his knees next to Isshin, pulling the man's kimono back in order to examine the wound.

Ichigo knew he ought to be doing something, doing anything, but at the moment he was having difficulty closing his mouth and putting two thoughts together. This was not supposed to be happening. This could not be happening. This should not be happening.

"Ichi-nee-san," Yuzu said, her voice trembling, "is Papa okay?"

All right. Save the day first. Kick his father's ass later. Ichigo could handle that.

Chad pinned the screaming Ishida down as the sparkling cocoon of Orihime's healing shield settled over him. He looked up to see Orihime frowning.

"You should be able to heal him, Inoue?" he asked. "Urahara-san showed you how?"

"I think so," Orihime said, biting her lip. "Though I'm having to use my defensive shield as well to stop my reiatsu from being infected. But I think it's working, and I think I can check you afterwards too. But I'm worried . . ."

Chad waited for her to say what she had in mind.

"If Ishida-kun can catch this," Orihime finally said, "then can anyone? And if he caught it when he was near Tousen, and he's been running all over town since then . . ."

"Heal him first," Chad said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, the image of all Karakura infected. "Maybe it was just because he was a Quincy, after all. It's not as if Urahara-san would have known how it would affect a Quincy."

Inoue nodded, resolve settling into her face. "Yes," she said. "You're right. We need to heal him first. And then we can go and find out what's making all that noise over nearby."

Chad sighed. "I suppose we should," he agreed regretfully.

It was probably too much to hope that it hadn't been another catastrophe of some sort.

Ishida was falling backwards, back, down, through endless fields of cold black water, and his bow and arrows tumbled above him, out of his reach.

Arm yourself with your pride, Kurotsuchi's voice taunted him. The worms came wriggling upwards with their spines and their baby-doll faces and wrapped themselves round his waist and legs.

It was too late now. He was the last of the Quincy. There would never be any more. He would die and nothing would save him. He would die and nothing should save him because he had failed. The Hollows would eat them all and it would serve him right.

Nobody to help him. Nobody.

"Grandfather!" he called out in despair, but his grandfather was long gone and Kurotsuchi had killed him twice over. And Ishida had released Kurotsuchi on the world to kill again. And Ishida was a killer. And it was his fault. All his fault. And his bow came to his hand at last but now it was a serpent twined round his neck, it was Kurotsuchi's own bankai strangling him. He screamed and light came out from his mouth.

"Inoue! Get back!" Chad was having trouble keeping Ishida pinned down. Ishida might be bantamweight, but he was all muscle, and he was struggling like a madman.

"Just -- keep him steady -- a moment," Orihime said. Her hands knotted into fists as she forced her power into Ishida.

Ishida screamed. His back arched. A bolt of searing light came blazing out of his mouth, and Chad could feel the heat of it as it sizzled past him.

"Is it being purged out of him?" Chad asked hopefully.

"No! It's trying to change him! Talk to him, Yasutora-kun! Say something to distract him!" She grabbed Ishida's chin. "Ishida-kun! Stay with us! Hold on!"

Chad's fingers dug into Ishida's shoulders. "Ishida-kun!" he called. "You're stronger than this thing! We need you!"

Ishida heard voices in the distance. They were blaming him. He had let them die. He had let them all die, it was his fault, he had failed them, failed them all, Kurosaki, Kuchiki Rukia, even Yasutora and Inoue, and now that he had failed them there was nothing else to do but let the darkness take him

hold on

and he had failed his grandfather

we need you

and he had disappointed his father

Ishida-kun

and there was no pride left to hold on to

Ishida-kun

and it was easiest just to let the pain eat out his heart and leave him empty

Ishida

and forget that he had ever wanted to protect them

please

and in the distance, so very far away, he heard Inoue Orihime crying, and he would have turned back to protect her, but there was a huge black wall behind him. And each stone in the wall was something that he had done wrong. They tore at his hands when he tried to pull them down. And every stone had written on it, PRIDE OF THE QUINCY.

Inoue, he's burning up

Beyond the wall stood Ishida Uryuu in full Quincy uniform, his bow drawn in his hands. And Ishida held his own bow. He could fire. He could kill him.

please, Ishida

Everything was so beautifully simple, all white and black. It was time to destroy his master's worthless disciple, to cut out his heart and put an end to him and finish it all forever, and then maybe it would stop hurting.

don't leave us

Perhaps the voices would stop.

You would do better to save the living than the dead.

I want to be a powerful Quincy and protect the innocents from Hollows so that father will realise how important the Quincy are!

Some day you will understand what your father wants to protect, and when you really understand that, it will be because you know what you want to protect . . .

Not what his father had wanted to protect, but who his father had wanted to protect, and now that he could see that, he could see that he had failed at that as well as everything else, and all he could do was finish it and shoot the arrow and die.

Ishida Uryuu waited.

Master, you never hated the shinigami, even after they had killed us; you never wanted revenge; you only wanted to protect your son, and your unworthy grandson, and you put aside your own pride to do it . . .

Ishida's hand loosened on the bow and he let it fall, and he felt his heart shiver in his chest as if it was breaking, and it hurt, it hurt so much.

Ishida

The world swung. He was falling upwards towards the light, he was the arrow from the bow, and someone had his shoulders and was pulling him up and out of the water, there was water on his face and he could hear the lightning. He was the broken sword and the broken road of pride and his heart was burning in him, but he could not sleep yet, he was needed. They had told him so.

Gin couldn't quite bring himself to stand still. He wandered up and down the hall as he made his report, pausing to gaze at Aizen-taichou where he sat on his throne. He couldn't help thinking that Aizen-taichou wasn't taking it too well.

"So," Aizen-sama finally said. "No survivors. Except yourself."

Gin shrugged. "They were Arrancar, weren't they? Ya can always make some more, Aizen-taichou."

Aizen tilted his head, resting his cheek on his hand and looking at Gin thoughtfully. "You weren't always so careless with the lives of your subordinates, Gin."

Gin shrugged. "Guess I got my priorities a bit more in order. Even if Shiba Isshin survives, ain't much he can tell them -- after all, they'd have cured it the first time if they could, wouldn't they? And he'll be infected. All of them will. We might even get lucky and have the Kurosaki brat get it too." The thought made him want to snicker. "And then there's Ukitake. Guess he'll be too principled to risk going back to Soul Society if he's infected. We can lead another mission, wipe him and the others out while they're in Karakura. Deal with them all."

Aizen shook his head, once. "Not for the moment. I think we can use our forces better than that. Don't you, Gin?"

"If ya say so, Aizen-taichou," Gin agreed submissively, since it was obviously what his Captain wanted him to say.

Still, the idea of wiping them all out kept its appeal. Maybe Aizen-taichou would change his mind, if he gave it a little while. Nice and permanent. Clean it all up. Make it tidy.

Maybe Aizen-taichou was just getting a little careless. Gin would have to take care of things for him. That was it.

He smiled. Nice and mild. Nice and sneaky. He could take care of everything. Aizen-taichou could trust him.