Sorry this one is so short. It was written in kind of a hurry too, so feel free to point out any mistakes so I can fix them next time.

Disclaimer: Bleach is Kubo's. End of story.

Warnings: Mentions of gore, frustrating arguements and mature suggestions.

Renji lay still on the mat for what felt like hours. Not that he had much choice, really, as his Captain had placed a Hado Binding Art spell on him when Renji continued to struggle desperately. He was just winding up for another fight, cracked ribs be damned, when Rukia spoke up from beside him.

"Noriko's been quiet for awhile now," she observed. "Do you think they've managed to put out the flames yet?" Her tone was void of emotion, but her hands were clenched into fists on her knees.

Renji sighed. "Don't know," he answered truthfully. His voice was broken and scratchy from shouting for so long, and every muscle in his body ached from fighting against the binding spell for all he was worth. In his current weakened state, it had been almost nothing compared to what he had listened to Noriko doing down the hall when Byakuya told her about the missing Healer. She had screamed and screamed, and with her returning spiritual pressure had managed to set fire to the study and take down two walls. It took both Byakuya and Hisagi, plus two very brave servants, to subdue her.

Renji had wondered briefly what Shuhei had been doing at the Kuchiki residence, and quickly decided it wasn't important. "Just let me up, Rukia," he said now, glaring at his friend.

Rukia looked away. "I can't do that," she said. "My brother has sent people outside to investigate, and we'll find out soon if-" she stopped herself. "If they know anything."

Renji knew Rukia had been about to say 'if Hanataro is still alive," and struggled again, his ribs groaning in protest. "Why is everyone just sitting around doing nothing!" He shouted furiously. "He's still out there!" He tried to break free from within the confines of the spell but it proved to be fruitless; Byakuya Kuchiki's Hado was too strong. "Damn you, Rukia! Let me go!"

"I can't," Rukia sobbed. "You don't understand, Renji. It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have enough spiritual pressure yet to do something like that."

Renji stopped struggling and looked at her. He hadn't even considered that. While Noriko had been regaining strength quickly, having only been drained, Rukia's very soul had been damaged. It would take a while longer until she was back to her full power. Renji sighed as heavily as the binding would allow. "I forgot."

Rukia touched his hand lightly. "No one's been able to find any spirit threads to follow," she said, shaking her head. "It doesn't make any sense. And with nothing to go on there's no way to track them."

Renji closed his eyes and growled. He could still hear Hanataro's last desperate cries ringing in his ears. It was taking everything he had to keep himself from shouting out loud. "Hanataro…"

"Renji."

Renji heard Noriko's voice but couldn't turn his head enough to see her. He could feel her pressure though, and that of Lieutenant Hisagi, approaching the mat at a steady pace. They came into view as Noriko knelt down beside him, one thin hand on Shuhei's arm.

"Renji, tell me what happened." Noriko's voice sounded cracked and strained, but her silver-blue gaze was steady as she looked down at him. "I cannot find any sign of them, but perhaps if there is something in your memories, some key to figuring out what is going on, we may be able to act." She moved her other hand over his bandaged chest. "Release."

As the binding was removed Renji immediately tried to sit up, despite the three pairs of hands on him now. "We have to go!" he writhed. "Let's go!"

"There's nothing to follow!" Noriko yelled back at him. "Tell me what happened, now!"

Renji glowered at her. "We were in my rooms," he said through clenched teeth, not willing to waste time explaining. Didn't they understand that Hanataro was in danger? "Someone in black came through the window and attacked Hana. I didn't feel anything, but Zabimaru did. The bastard got away and I was bringing Hanataro here with those two guys from the Protection Division. I didn't even see the second attack." Renji brought one hand up to his face. "There was nothing. No spiritual pressure at all. They took Hanataro. They took him…"

"Impossible," Shuhei murmured. His usually narrow black eyes were wide with a sudden understanding as to the actual level of danger Renji and Hanataro had been in. "Nothing? No wonder they were able to take out all three of ya. And obviously their attack was powerful, if it knocked ya out so quickly."

"Is that all you remember?" Noriko asked as Shuhei sat still beside her with an expression of utter shock. "Was there nothing else?"

"I don't know…yes. A flash of some kind," Renji nodded. His head gave a painful jolt. "Hit me in the face, and I couldn't see." He jumped a little when Noriko grabbed his shoulder suddenly. "What?"

"Was it a bright light?" she demanded, shaking the injured man as Shuhei began to protest her rough treatment. "Were you blinded?" Noriko was leaning forward now, eyes so intense they were practically glowing. "Tell me, Renji! Is that was you saw?"

"Yes!" Renji snapped. "I already told you that! I couldn't feel a fucking thing! I couldn't even see!" He studied Noriko's look of dawning horror and growled fiercely, batting her hand away and latching on to the collar of her robe. "What do you know, Kuchiki?" he shouted. "What's going on!"

"It…can't be…" The Kuchiki woman didn't even try to move away. "That technique is called the Sun Shadow," she said quietly. "It was invented to give Soul Reapers with weaker fighting abilities the chance to defend themselves." She pulled back and dug her fingers into her scalp. "It doesn't make any sense," she continued. "It doesn't seem possible. I killed him myself, years ago."

Renji let go of her robe. "You'd better tell me what the hell your babbling about," he snarled. "What do you mean? Who did you kill? Where is Hanataro?"

Noriko looked from him to the silent Shuhei and back. "I can't be sure," she said, "but it's worth a try. Let's go," she stood up and motioned to Shuhei to do the same. "Get up, Renji. We're going to the Wastelands."

"Wait a minute," Rukia spoke up as she rose unsteadily from the ground. "He can't go, he's still injured. What if he gets himself killed?"

Noriko was already moving toward the door. "It'll take a lot more than a few broken ribs to kill a Lieutenant," she said over her shoulder. "You should know. On your feet, Abarai."

Renji got to his feet with some assistance from Shuhei, the other man supporting him by the arm. "Wait." He had made it only a few steps when Byakuya appeared like mist in the doorway, blocking Noriko in the room.

"Where are you going, Noriko?" he asked in his usual monotonous way. "There is nothing we can do."

"To find Hitoshimaru Takenaka," his sister answered evenly, and Renji was surprised, and a little frightened, to see Byakuya's eyes widen at the name.

"That would be a waste of time," Byakuya said slowly, regaining his composure from one instant to the next. "You have already informed me yourself that he is dead."

"The attack used on Renji earlier was one created by Izani, Hanataro's mother," Noriko explained, surprisingly calm given the current situation. "However, only three people ever knew of it's existence. She never had the chance to teach that specific technique to anyone else before she was killed. Somehow, Hitoshimaru has survived all these years, and now he's come for Hanataro. I have a feeling I know why but I hope I'm wrong."

"What is it?" Renji demanded. "What about his mother? Please, tell me Noriko. What does this guy want with Hanataro?" The Noble woman's tones and expressions were wreaking havoc on his mind, burying a fear deep inside his chest. He knew it wasn't good, if he hadn't already figured that out by the string of attacks and attempted murders against the timid Healer. "What did Hana ever do to him?"

Noriko looked over at the strained redhead with a cool, deadly gaze. "He survived." She ignored Renji's stunned and angry hiss and turned back to Byakuya. "Call for the Hell Butterflies. If my assumptions are correct, and I would bet my life that they are, we're going to need some help."

He was alone again. Sitting in the small, dark room where his captor had unceremoniously deposited him earlier, Hanataro was helpless against the fear over-crowding his mind. He was surprised, not to mention disappointed, that he hadn't passed out from it yet. He didn't remember ever being so terrified in his life. The attack in his rooms had triggered a kind of horrified acceptance, and the struggle in Reni's apartment had been eased by the presence of the redheaded Lieutenant.

Renji.

Renji was dead. Hanataro had watched as the hooded assailant slammed Renji into the ground so hard the earth had been split wide open. He hadn't moved after that, and Hanataro lost his sense of the other's spiritual pressure. He barely remembered screaming Renji' s name in a desperate attempt to get him to respond. And when the guards had come to help him-

Hanataro pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to block out the gruesome images imprinted on their lids. So much blood. So much pain. Hanataro had been unable to do anything, even move, as the murderous demon ripped the guards apart and took off, away from the Sereitei with Hanataro still screaming in his grip.

Hanataro was unaware of how long it took to reach the at the edge of the Wastelands, his heart breaking into excruciating pieces. Renji was only trying to keep him safe. He knew what had happened to the redhead and the others had been his fault; if Hanataro hadn't lived through the first attack, no one would have been hurt. Not the guards, not Noriko. Not Renji…

As the enormous man in black carried Hanataro through a series of tunnels and caverns, then dumped him on the ground inside a tiny room, the Healer had felt the first rays of hope for his survival flicker inside him. Noriko was still there, and she was strong. If she could find Hanataro, maybe she could save him. The hope was extinguished the moment his captor began to speak.

"You can try to get out all you want, it wont make any difference." The voice was gravelly, abrasive. "And no one's coming to get you, either. See this?" he raised one beefy hand and tapped the wall beside the door. "Seki Seki rock. Even if someone did manage to make it here, they'd never be able to find you. You're not going anywhere."

Hanataro tried to scoot back as the man made a dive at him but he was too slow. In less than a second he was on his back, wrists pinned above his head as his captor straddle him. Empty black eyes moved closer, that awful voice whispering in his ear through the dark fabric.

"I could do anything I want to you, and no one would even know." The other man ground his hips into Hanataro's roughly, crushing him against the ground in a lewd and meaningful gesture. Hanataro cried out in fear and pain as a new terror spiked through his entire body. The monster was planning to rape Hanataro before he killed him.

"What do you want?" he sobbed. "I didn't do anything! Please, just let me go!" His pleading fell on deaf ears. Hanataro jerked and tried to wiggle away when his captor tore open his shihakusho with bruising force and ground into him again. "Stop!" It was useless. That hand was everywhere, ripping the bandages away and taking the rest of the scabs with them. Hanataro shrieked again and renewed his struggle as the sadistic bastard reached lower and untied the Healer's hakama.

"Enough," another voice spoke from the doorway. It was cool and gliding, and reminded Hanataro of a poisonous snake. "Get off of him. Go help the others get ready for tonight. I want everything to be perfect this time."

The man with the hood looked at Hanataro with an expression in those black eyes that promised this would be finished later, and stood up. He brushed past the figure standing in the doorway. "As you wish, sir."

Hanataro quickly closed his shihakusho and sat up to get a better look at the one who had stopped the assault, and froze as the other spoke again.

"I have waited a long time for this," he said. His face was hidden in the shadow of a dark hood similar to the other man's garb, but the greed and revulsion was clear in his tone. "So long. And now, everything is finally set." The man closed the heavy door, it's reinforcing bars also lined with Seki Seki rock, and spoke through the small opening at the top. "Tonight, Hanataro Yamada, you will finally pay for your sins." He turned away and left with quiet footsteps, his words echoing back to the room. "Tonight, you will die."

Hanataro had crawled over to the nearest wall and curled against it in despair. How had things ever gotten this bad? Renji was gone, he was going to die for some kind of sick and fantasized retribution, if the big man didn't get to him first, and no one even knew where he was. Hanataro had cried for a long time, waiting for something, anything, to happen as he sat alone in the dark room.

Now his thoughts turned back to Renji and he held on to that whisper of presence with a desperate ferocity he didn't know he possessed. Even in death, the redhead could bring him comfort.

"Renji…"

I can't hardly stand it either! Next chapter...ON TO THE RESCUE!