The Tarot Master

Chapter Nine – Tarot Card 10 The Wheel Of Fortune

Characteristics: Fast movement. Destiny, change from above. Life subject to the invisible forces.

"Free will is the ability to do gladly that which I must do."

C. G. Jung

***

Ichigo had left her home and was now flying aimlessly through the night sky of Tokyo. The harsh air stream sweeping his body wasn't helping to cool down his confusion. Something was off with him. He had finally bound her, all he had to do was to take the trophy for his efforts, why did it feel like he would rather not have bound her at all? Was Ishida right?... Had he started to take pleasure in humiliation?... How would he? What's wrong with him? Why couldn't he take her? The mere glimpse of memory from her body was enough to arouse him during flight, he never wanted a woman so much, why in hell couldn't he take her? It made no sense!

He decided to return to Seiretei and check a place he seldom ever entered – the Covenant Archives. Maybe records from previous Nephilim could shed some light on what's going on with him.

As he arrived, a woman was being taken to Eve's Tower, a part from the massive household where no Nephilim was allowed, apart from the Watchers, the ones responsible for taking care of the women and preparing them for each meeting with the Fathers. It was apparently Mizuiro's latest potential, given Ishida had been the one to bring her. He spoke when he saw Ichigo heading for the Elder's Tower's entrance, instead of the main door that leads to the Seekers' chambers above the center aisle.

"Weren't you supposed to have someone for me to bring with you tonight?"

He walked past him without even looking. "She's not ready yet."

Ishida followed him, smirking. "Not ready?..."

Ichigo entered the Archives and started searching the tomes in a shelf for anything that seemed related with his particular problem. "Look, Ishida, it's my binding, don't tell me how to do it, given you can't know it better than me." And he walked away to skim through another shelf.

The Carrier followed him like a shadow. "Am I to presume the reading spread failed?"

Ichigo sighed with impatience. "No, the spread didn't fail. Just don't try to bring her, unless you crave the destruction of your Covenant. The binding wasn't consummated yet, but if you don't believe me, feel free to reveal yourself to her and try to take her in, I won't mind seeing her hand print on your face when you return."

"You're right, I'm finding it hard to believe you left her half bound…"

"Believe what the hell you want, just drop my case, Ishida."

"You do realize you just made her easier prey to other Nephilim, don't you? All they have to do is cover the distance in between what you already took from her soul and whatever little she still has left before consummation."

Ichigo turned his head back and held The Lovers card to Ishida. "She's bound to ME. No one can change that." And he faced forward again, taking a tome to better inspect its contents.

The Carrier neared behind him. "I don't know whether your reckless excess of confidence relies on blind trust over the power from your own incomplete binding, or foolish faith in her personal ability to resist a power other than your own. But, truth is, she's bound to nothing until it's consummated. And this time, when life teaches you something you should already know, I won't be the only one to enjoy rubbing it in your face the extent of your own ignorance." And he turned his back, walking away.

The Seeker smirked with disdain. "As if I'm supposed to care about what inferior Nephilim want to rub me with."

Ishida replied, while still pacing towards the exit. "Of course you aren't, no wonder Abarai is in Karakura tonight."

Ichigo widened his eyes and his breath was caught half way. The next moment, he wasn't there anymore, the tome fell loudly on the floor, and the rustle of parchments which were swept out of the shelves around the place he once stood made guess he had used his wings to exit the room through one of the high windows. It was all too fast to be properly registered though, even through hybrid eyes.

One such hybrid complained from another side of the Archive. "Who did that? Damn rookies! It's forbidden to fly inside the household!"

Ishida was already outside, smirking to himself. "See, Kurosaki? Now you care."

Back in the real world, Rukia's head was aching strongly. She felt trapped, it was like the walls in her room were closing down on her, along with the inner walls from her skull that looked like they were squeezing her brain. She couldn't think straight, she needed air.

Only clad with a short blue satin nightdress, she walked out the Kuchiki Manor into the terrains that spread behind it, her bare feet not minding the cold grass they stepped on. Invisible to her, a red winged hybrid with equally bright red long hair was following, leisurely twirling three dice between his fingers. Her particular apparel – or lack thereof – was erotically pleasing to his eyes. This will be fun…

For minutes, she walked, unsure whether she was being driven to, or trying to escape from a choking grasp that seemed to follow her persistently. It was like something was being ripped from her head by force, and she couldn't make it stop. She fell to her knees and kept trying to reach somewhere in all fours, supporting herself to a tree to stand up and walk straight again. She held her head in despair, as even hope seemed to elude her. She collapsed against something warm, her brain slightly producing an illusion of safety, before it just couldn't take anymore and dove into unconsciousness.

Holding her dismayed form securely against him, with both his wings bent forward and around her as if to further shield her from the world and better stress the impermeability on the borders of his ownership, Kurosaki Ichigo stood tall before the red winged Seeker who pursued her.

"Release her, Renji." Everything in him was menacing. His tone, his stare, his pose, even having a small human woman held against him didn't hinder the aggression filling his aura.

He was taken aback, he had never seen Ichigo like this, but he was determined not to deem as futile his trip to Karakura. "What are you talking about? She's a potential to my Covenant, and you left her half bound!"

"She's mine. Either you get your dice out from her by your own means or by my force, it's your choice."

Renji shook his head. "You can't be serious! Ichigo, it's me here, ok? You've always let me take girls from you before, you know how strict they are with us in Hueco Mundo Covenant! She's a potential, they'll fry my arse if I fail to bring her a second time!"

"I'll do worse than that, if you insist on trying to bind her."

Renji raised his chin. "You're crazy… But I'm not getting my skin lashed because of you, I'll fight you for her if I have to, you can draw your scepter and try your best shot." And he produced a red staff with a flaming dice on top, his personal weapon, as part of him as his own dice.

Ichigo curved his lips in a sinister smile. "Do you really expect me to produce my scepter and play spar with you?... Tell me, Renji, do you know why I'm the most feared among our race?... I hold Death itself at the flip of a card." And he showed Death to his opponent, a hooded skeleton riding a white horse over a field of moribund, portrayed in the card he held. "So why would I clash sticks with you, when I can easily eradicate you where you stand?"

Renji walked back, horrified. "You wouldn't… It's forbidden!"

"It's also forbidden to steal a Nephilim's prey!"

"I'm stealing from no one! I checked with Ishida! Seiretei hasn't demanded for her! She's free game, not stolen!"

"It's stealing from ME!" Ichigo spat in between clenched teeth.

Renji spread his arms to the sides and kept trying to reason with the other Seeker. "What's the matter?... Huh?... Have you gained a fetish for her build, do you want so badly to have fellow Nephilim on your Covenant who look like her, or what?... What difference does it make to you whether she ends up in Seiretei or Hueco Mundo?!? It makes a difference to MY Fathers, since they asked for her, and to ME for being punished if I fail to bring her! Get a grip, man!"

"I won't ask you again, Renji, by your will or mine, you're unbinding her, there's not a third option and I'm running out of patience." He lit the blue fire in his irises to further enlighten the other Seeker about his next move.

Renji raised his palm towards Ichigo. "Don't do this, man, they'll shackle you for life…"

"Still better off than you, who'll cease to exist. Time's up." And he flipped up the card.

"WAIT!!" He shook his dice with a swift motion and held them in between his fingers, for Ichigo to see the exquisite carvings – signs from Rukia's soul – were gone. And he closed his hand around the dice, leaving one finger extended to point at Ichigo. "You… are crazy. There's a reason why Nephilim aren't born with that great a power, it screws with your head! … Killing a Nephilim to unbind a damned human! They should find a way to seal that deck of yours, man, you freaking lost it!" And his wings spread and drove him up and the farthest away from there, as fast as they could.

Ichigo rested his nose on her head and inhaled the sweet scent of her raven strands, relieved. Mine. He held her more tightly, realizing he had no choice. He had to possess her completely, he could not bear the risk of losing her to another Seeker again. He scowled his eyes shut. Mine!