Here it is, the last chapter of "Comfort and Safety"! I'm releasing it a day or two earlier than intended as a special thank you to one of my reviewers who sort of figured it all out…you know who you are
Disclaimer: Bleach world and characters belong to Tite Kubo.
CHAPTER 10
Their train arrived at Karakura at midnight. They made their way through the station, navigating by familiar signs and landmarks to exit on the only street they knew well enough. No sense getting lost after dark. This necessitated several small detours, and those detours made it somewhat obvious they had company. Renji noticed first.
"Kuchiki-taichou," he intoned in a low, formal voice. "Don't turn around, but we are being followed."
Byakuya stopped to look inside a store window selling watches and jewelry. The reflection in the large glass made their leather-clad tail obvious, their eyes hiding behind shades.
"Let's not pick up my stuff from the storage locker right now," Renji said, giving his captain a crooked grin as though their conversation was about something else entirely.
"Agreed." Byakuya walked on, Renji followed. They rode up the moving escalator. The tayaki stand on the surface was now dark and closed. Only street lights lit the area.
"Let's lose them," Renji said, dropping his skateboard on the pavement. Byakuya rose his eyebrow and did the same.
They rode faster than their pursuers could run, barely avoiding sidewalk cracks and drainage gratings. Outside the business district, lighting was dimmer and they had to dismount.
"That oughta do it," Renji said, his adrenaline high. He reached for Zabimaru, only to realize his zanpaktou was unattainable in his current form. A familiar, comforting presence stirred in the back of his mind.
They were so close – close enough that even Byakuya began to recognize the streets around Urahara Shoten when a dark, breathless shape appeared before them, a small metal object in his hand.
"Stay where you are."
Byakuya's eyes discerned one of their leather-clad followers. Renji turned back to back with him; assuming their customary combat position was strangely automatic.
"Four more," Renji said. "Watch out, taichou. They have guns."
"Guns?" Byakuya asked quietly.
"Long-range projectile weapons. Bad for gigai."
"I see."
Byakuya said no more, but Renji felt his reiatsu gather and pulse like a beacon.
Their leader stepped up and addressed Byakuya to his back. "Kuchiki-sama. I am Murasaki Aio of the Dragon Claw Benevolent Brotherhood. Who do you represent?"
Kuchiki Byakuya turned about to face Murasaki.
"My affiliation is of no consequence to you." His voice was chilled like the winter wind and the currents of his reiatsu stirred the air, displacing the dry leaves nearby. Renji reoriented himself to keep one eye on the man facing his captain's back.
"It has become of consequence to us. Join the Dragon Claw or die."
Byakuya paused in consideration. "Who is your leader."
"You answer to me," Murasaki sneered, pulling a gun from under his jacket. Its chrome-plated barrel gleamed in the darkness. "I want to see your hands in the air. And I want to hear your answer right now."
Byakuya's hands rose gracefully before him, pale fingers describing a motion Renji knew well. His chill, glass-smooth voice resonated through the area.
"Hado no. 48: Entangle." A cord of gold light snaked itself around Murasaki, his arms affixed to his trunk, his gun pointed at his right foot.
Murasaki smiled, unshaken, his finger off the trigger. His voice resounded. "It is as they said. But you are unarmed. Not much you can do against the five of us."
"I have no interest in competing with you," Byakuya said, his eyes as level and unyielding as his voice.
Time stood still.
Looking back, things happened too fast to plan or analyze. A gunshot sounded simultaneously with the flash of a kido blast; the other gunman fell, his weapon clattering to the ground. Renji noticed a movement behind them; the fifth gunman aimed. Renji took three swift steps to his left.
A split-second before he heard a gun report, Renji felt an impact to his chest and then time slowed down again and he was falling, falling as though floating on clouds down a mountain ravine, feeling the rush of the wind in his face and the bone-chilling, penetrating cold of the mountain air. He heard his name uttered by familiar lips and he kept falling still, not remembering to hit the ground. A nue screamed in the back of his mind and he reached for the familiar presence with what power was left him, disoriented by his weightlessness, paralyzed by bone-chilling cold. A thin voice resonated in is memory: "You could die…"
Byakuya heard the last shot and he felt rather than saw Renji fall. Urahara's words came to his mind in that infinitesimal split-second: in this type of a gigai, death would be the human, wait-to-be-reborn kind. In a sudden flash of inspiration he shed his gigai, drew Senbonzakura, and pressed its seal to Renji's forehead. Painfully, unwillingly, Renji's soul body began to separate, head first, from the damaged gigai and Byakuya grabbed Renji's emerging shihakusho and pulled.
He saw the yakuza members cautiously approach their fallen gigai and examine them. One of them took several pictures with his cell phone camera and they left them for dead, their mission accomplished.
Byakuya pulled some more; he felt Renji's reiatsu ebb away and, on an impulse, placed his hands over his fukutaichou's joined forms. The green glow stemmed some of the reiatsu bleed and he stayed there, hoping for Urahara to feel his exposed energies.
As though summoned by his thoughts, a figure in a striped green hat appeared next to him.
"Yare, yare…Let me see, what have we here." The shopkeeper's voice was grave. He lifted Renji's gigai and carried him bodily to the nearby shop, allowing Byakuya to keep up and maintain the stabilizing spiritual pressure.
"Let's settle him down and see what I can do."
XXXXXXX
"I'll lead the way, you follow!" Yoruichi's swift figure disappeared through the senkaimon gate, Byakuya with Renji's unconscious body on her heels. It felt like an old game of shunpo tag – where Renji's life, not Byakuya's dignity, hung in the balance.
They burst through the gate on the Seireitei side, almost knocking the startled guards over in their haste. Yoruichi Shinouin led on to the 4th division healing center, clearing their way. Byakuya was just a flash of black and white, his kenseikan gleaming in the sun and a splash of Renji's loose crimson hair twined in his wake with his pale silk scarf.
Byakuya sat by Renji's side, their reiatsu still intertwined. His posture was erect, his face relaxed, breathing meditative. A personification of calm to the outside observer, his emotions roiled under the surface. Those blood-red hair were pooled around Renji's head as, once again, his life slowly ebbed away. The emergency transfer to the Soul Society, with its high spirit particle concentration, was going to increase Renji's chances at survival but even so the sight reminded Kuchiki Byakuya of the fateful day when their swords crossed. He closed his eyes, hoping to hide his pain.
"Kuchiki-taichou. Abarai-kun was forcibly separated from his gigai, resulting in severe reiatsu loss. Had you not used your zanpaktou to free him, he would be dead by now." Her serene, placid voice belied the tremendous power she wielded. Unohana taichou felt her hand over Renji's chest and a small, surprised smile crossed her lips. "If you can do healing kido with us, you are welcome to stay… If you cannot, it is better you disengage and recover your energies at home."
Byakuya's eyes opened. They were the color of dark clouds before a storm: violent, volatile.
"I wish to stay."
He reached deep down for that steel-clad Kuchiki control. Few breaths to ground and center, few more to gather his reiatsu. With his gaze now calm like a surface of a mountain lake, he extended himself toward the weak tendrils of Renji's reiatsu which were still there, tremulously holding onto his own. White would become rose, rose would become flame red. Very slowly, gently he pushed power around, bolstering his fukutaichou while other healers worked to stabilize what still remained of Abarai Renji.
XXXXXXX
Days passed with Renji in the hands of the 4th division. His friends would visit, gaze at the still body, talk to him in encouraging voices before leaving to attend their duties. A rotation roster developed as though naturally: Ikkaku spelled by Yumichika, Hisagi replaced by Matsumoto, Kira reinforced by Ukitake-taichou. Rukia was escorted to see Renji only once. Her own powers still in need of regeneration, she gently placed her hand on his forehead. "Betcha you can beat me, baka. Betcha you'll get better soon. Renji, if you die I'll kill you."
Byakuya's duties at the 6th division were still partially spelled by the 8th and the 13th divisions' seated officers. He spent his days training his recruits, writing reports, filling out forms. He found the Kuchiki manor too still with Rukia asleep most of the time. His captain's quarters at the 6th division were serviceable, but…empty. The whole building seemed too quiet, too orderly. Abarai Renji's abrupt arrivals and departures, his boisterous bravado, his crooked grin left gaping holes in Kuchiki Byakuya's day.
The silence gave him time enough for contemplation. As he wrote his extensive mission report, he reflected on the subtle changes in their mutual interaction which led to…to…
A drop of ink fell off his still brush, suspended in midair. The blotch on otherwise perfect sheet reminded him of Renji. That wild infusion of chaos in an otherwise orderly, predicable life. Frustrating. Maddening…enticing.
"I got you a cot to sleep on, Kuchiki-taichou." Hanatarou's slight figure slipped around Renji's bed as he deposited an extra pillow and blankets for the captain's use. "Since you keep falling asleep in that chair."
Byakuya's eyes widened. He didn't know anyone noticed.
"Try to get some sleep, Kuchiki-taichou. We don't need you here as a patient." Byakuya aimed his withering, cold glare at the short healer, but Hanatarou merely looked back at him, seemingly unaffected.
"If you need anything, just ring the gong."
Stretched out on the cot next to Renji's bed, Byakuya felt his fukutaichou slight, slowly stabilizing energy. He felt Renji's faint reiatsu tendrils seek him out as soon as he entered the room. He allowed the contact, letting his energy flow. This could have been him, lying here in bed unconscious and helpless. Both of them could have died, imprisoned in the newly experimental gigai, butchered by primitive projectile weapons of the living world. Renji's voice, tinged with the pain of Byakuya's rejection, carried to him on the breeze of his memory.
"It is my duty to keep my captain safe and comfortable in this world, Kuchiki-taichou."
And it is the duty of a captain to take care of …you…, Renji.
XXXXXXX
Inhaling the steam of his morning tea, Byakuya heard a knock on his office door.
"Enter."
His eyes lifted in surprise. Urahara Kisuke and Tessai stepped into the 6th division office.
"Ah, good morning, Kuchiki-taichou! We thought we would deliver some of these items to you. And your living world clothing, of course."
Tessai dropped a large duffle bag on the floor. "Where do you want Abarai-san's things?"
Byakuya recognize the duffel bag immediately: a large satchel full of items purchased for the Shinigami Women's Association. He barely stopped himself from grimacing.
"I take it you found the key on Abarai-fukutaichou's gigai?"
Urahara smiled. "Abarai-kun will want these. Can Tessai put them in the storage closet?"
Tessai left on his errands while the two men sat on the low sofa, small cups of astringent, green liquid in their hands.
"The key is not all we found on Abarai-kun's gigai, Kuchiki-taichou." Urahara smiled and fanned his face lightly.
Byakuya kept still, inhaling the fragrance of tea.
"We found that both gigai were…marked."
"Oh?" Byakuya raised his impassive gaze.
"Both gigai bear light…bruises…on their necks. I would not normally mention it. However…I do not like my gigai to be returned to me in a damaged condition."
The shopkeeper pinned the captain with a penetrating gaze. "And I'd rather not see Abarai-kun hurt."
Only after Urahara took his leave, Byakuya allowed his memory to search for a source of several light bruises on the two gigai. They had no falls, engaged in no fights…Byakuya felt a slight flush creep up his neck and into his cheeks. Of course…the meditation exercise. And now Urahara knew.
Renji was propped against a fallen tree, the canopy of a tropical rainforest shielding him from the punishing sun. His eyes were closed as he soaked up the humid, midday heat. The nue stirred beside him.
"You should head back. Our reiatsu's strong enough."
"Yeah, lets go and do stuff, Renji," Snakey hissed. "This is boooo-ring!"
Renji's eyes opened. He tilted his head back and sighed.
"I don't know what to do."
""bout what, baka?"
"Kuchiki-taichou. Byakuya."
The nue snorted. "If he didn't like you, his reiatsu wouldn't be attached to yours half the time."
"He's just feeling obligated, is'all." Renji picked up a stick and drew wavy lines in the soil under his bare, tanned legs. "He said we can't be in a relationship. What else is there to say?"
"You have a choice. You can either stay here and wait for your muscles to atrophy in that hospital bed, or you can go out there and have some fun. Obviously, you are not escaping the problem by being here." Zabimaru's voice had a frustrated lilt to it.
"How am I gonna face him, though."
"With your old bravado and confidence. How else? We're in your corner."
"Yeah," Snakey chimed in. "We'll stick around and help you out."
Zabimaru chuckled. "We can even give you pointers on courting that cold bastard, if you decide to pursue him."
"Don't call him that," Renji snapped. The nue and Snakey exchanged knowing glances.
"OK, whatever. I still have a lot of friends. It's just…different with Byakuya. I can't even explain it."
"Then don't. Just follow your gut, like always," Zabimaru chimed in a deep chuckle as the jungle around Renji receded into darkness.
Renji opened his eyes, his nose picking up the enticing odor of hospital food. That alone told him how hungry he was. An unseated 4th division shinigami was at his bedside.
"Abarai-fukutaichou! Let me get Unohana-taichou!" He saw her black uniform disappear out the door.
Things happened fast after that.
"You will be released as soon as you feel strong enough to walk to your division and back unassisted, Abarai-fukutaichou." Unohana-taichou's eyes were gentle, her voice teasing.
The word spread and visitors streamed in. Matsumoto brought Renji real food. "Here, I know you cook. You probably can't stomach the bland stuff they serve here, Renji!" She put his bento on the side table and bent down to embrace him. "We were all so worried!"
"Rangiku, get off the poor man, you'll squish him to death," Ikkaku grinned from the door. He watched Renji eat, savoring each bite slowly.
"I miss sparring with you, dumbass. You better get out of that bed soon."
Hisagi came, and Yumichika, and Ukitake-taichou stopped by on his way from his own medical checkup.
"Abarai-kun." His warm, brown eyes met Renji's maroon ones with a kind smile. "So glad to have you back. How do you feel?"
Renji thought about that.
"Tired. And…incomplete, somehow. Although Zabimaru's been with me all along."
Ukitake looked at Renji searchingly.
"If you need to talk about anything, come right by. I always have time for your company, Abarai-kun."
"Kuchiki-taichou." Renji sat propped up with pillows, reading a book after another one of Matsumoto's bento dinners. He closed the book and put it away.
"Abarai-fukutaichou." Byakuya looked at his lieutenant with his impassive, level gaze. He was dressed as always, perfect black shihakusho with white haori, the pale silk scarf draped around his neck. A sign of his noble house leadership, the kenseikan gleamed in his shiny, raven-black hair. Yet there was a hint of warmth in those gray eyes, and Renji's heart harkened to it.
"I see you will be ready for duty soon," Byakuya said, suddenly uncomfortable.
"Looking forward to it, taichou," Renji said with a shadow of his old crooked grin.
An awkward silence filled the space between them. Byakuya broke it first.
"Abarai-fukutaichou…I came here to commend you for stepping in. I have never encountered those projectile weapons before."
Renji's jaw felt slack with shock. "Of course. Just doing my job, taichou. Anytime."
Byakuya's eyebrow rose slightly. "Anytime? I hope you don't make a habit of dying for me, Abarai."
The words spilled out unbidden, filling the space between the two just as Renji's weak reiatsu reached out to brush against Byakuya's. "This mission ain't over yet. After all, your safety and comfort are my responsibility, Kuchiki. Taichou."
There. He'd said it. Renji's warm eyes met his captain's hooded ones with a flash of a brazen challenge. Byakuya's been put on notice.
Byakuya reigned his reiatsu in tighter, not allowing the tendrils to entwine but, to Renji's delight, not leveling Renji with a blast of his oppressive power, either. His impassive eyes were betrayed by a tinge of regret in his voice:
"I see you are reading. It is time for me to leave, then." Seeing the Kuchiki heir's scarf flutter out the door, Renji wished he had the guts to ask him to stay.
"Baka, should have asked him for a good-night kiss," a voice in the back of his mind chuckled.
"Shut up, Zabimaru." Yet Renji still smiled, reaching back for "Meditations". Some old, long-dead human emperor wrote it. Odd name…Marcus Aurelius.
XXXXXX
Full week passed with Renji back to his duties. He worked in the office in the morning, led the recruits in sword drills in the afternoons, and in the evening he spent a bit of time on kido. He could still see the mysterious Gabriel's finely-lined face, feel his immense, well-controlled power. Now that he could actually see power, he would no longer suck at kido. It would require lonely, hard work: as much as controlling Zabimaru and achieving bankai. Everything seemed to be…just fine. But only to those who didn't know Renji well.
"Why aintcha drinking, baka?" Ikkaku's rasp of a voice rose from across the table.
"Yeah, are you really healed up all the way?" Ranjiku asked over her cup of sake. "You just don't seem…I dunno."
Renji lifted his flat eyes to his friend. "Just missing your cooking, Ranjiku-san."
"Awww…but you look so sad, Renji." She sat right next to him. "You should talk to someone."
Ukitake-taichou offered his advice before. Ukitake-taichou was kindly and sensible. Ukitake-taichou was old…as old as the emperor who wrote "Meditations" was dead. Maybe so old he'd no longer understand. His current relationship spanned centuries. How could he possibly remember that fluttery feeling, the fear of rejection, the pain of unrequited love? The topic of discussion needed to be handled in the strictest of confidence, and the result would be a detailed strategic analysis and a plan of action.
"Yeah, maybe I should." Renji's garnet eyes sought out the intelligent, violet orbs at the far side of the table. He was never particularly close to Yumichika – but Ayasegawa Yumichika, 11th division tough and idiosyncratic 5th seat, would know just what to do.