Chapter 14

Author's Note: So, I'm sure some of you have noticed that I have the story scheduled to update three times a week. Yup, that's true. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I will update this because... well... I have a confession; I have the entire thing written already. Part 1 – Part 3. Done. Just done. So, luckily for you guys, you get three times a week to read what happens! Yay! Read, enjoy, review, etc!

They had run for their lives. They had run without a moments rest from the main tower and had managed to escape to the edge of the Seireitei, heaving and panting for air that couldn't fill their lungs fast enough.

Somehow, for some reason that they had yet to determine, the creatures had refused to leave the perimeter of the ruined Seireitei. Perhaps they couldn't, or perhaps they had been ordered not to, but it had been their moment of luck that they were not going to argue with.

The captains rested at the base of a massive tree at the edge of the clearing just trying to catch their breath. Some sat, some stood, but all were exhausted from having to literally run for their lives.

Captain Ukitake's hands were on his knees as he tried with all his might to catch his breath. His lungs screamed at him, scalded him for having run so fast for so long, but he ignored their pleas. He simply concentrated on catching his breath before an attack could present itself. He knew having an attack now could prove fatal.

"I... need water." Ukitake panted, glancing up at his best friend whom was coaxing him to stand up straight.

"We'll find some. Are you going to be ok?" Kyōraku asked, barely having brought his own heavy breathing under control.

"That's if there is water. This is Sawada's inner world so only she knows." Soi-Fon said with hands on her hips as she sucked in breath after breath.

"As soon as Byakuya and Nyruki arrive, we'll ask." Kyōraku said, lightly rubbing Ukitake's back.

"Where are they? They should be here by now." Komamura said, resting his head back against the black tree he was leaning up against.

"Don't... say that... They'll be here." Ukitake panted, finding that relief was his as the ache began to ebb away. His risk of an attack was going down.

Suddenly, a massive blast back within the ruined Seireitei drowned out the storm overhead, sending a huge plume of smoke and debris skyward that billowed and twisted as if it was the one being experimented on.

"Bet that's them." Kenpachi said, leaning up against the tree next to Sajin Komamura, his lungs too desperate for air to allow him to stand.

Ukitake gulped painfully, worry clear in his chocolate eyes as he stared out at the plume. He didn't want that to be them, but at the same time, a part of him did. That explosion could mean any number of things, from a creature having caught up to them, to Byakuya and Nyruki managing to kill one. He desperately hoped for the latter.

All were silent as they just watched the smoke, wondering and waiting what would happened next, but in a wink, the very two they were worried about appeared before them from a flash step.

Byakuya stood behind a limp Nyruki, holding her tightly to him and panting for breath. Their hair hung damp, flowing with the wind and Byakuya's flawless pale skin had been covered with dust, cut with a small slice across his right cheek that cried a single tear of blood. Their clothes dripped and both were caked with dirt and blood that smeared together from having gotten wet.

However, it wasn't their condition that garnished Ukitake's horror, but the javelin that thrust through Nyruki's middle that sent his heart plummeting towards the ground.

"No... No! No no no!" Ukitake cried out as he ran to her and grasped her shoulders, tears filling his eyes from panic and despair.

At his touch, Nyruki raised her head and looked up at him with blurry eyes and tear stained cheeks. A slow, thin line of blood had crept from her lips and down her chin, but that was all. It hadn't come gushing out as it should have with such a wound.

"C-Captain?" She stuttered, weakly reaching up to grasp his arms, desperate for anything to hold onto.

Ukitake's chest hiccuped with a silent sob, "W-What happened?" He managed to ask, never removing his eyes from her as he helped to raise her head by cupping her chin gently.

"He... caught up to us." Byakuya answered for her, his breath hopping in his chest with every pained inhale.

Ukitake tried to take Nyruki from the younger captain, but Byakuya's hold was firm. He wasn't going to let her go. His arm refused to unwrap itself from around her waist and with each tug Ukitake tried to wrest her from his grasp, Byakuya's face winced as he bit back whatever clogged his throat.

Kyōraku, rushing to help, stopped suddenly when he reached the pair that was somehow still standing. Byakuya refused to fall to his knees, or to let Nyruki go and it struck him as odd why the captain was so steadfast in holding onto her. Normally, Byakuya would have relinquished his hold to allow Ukitake to take the woman, but as he drew close, he realized that it wasn't out of a desire to continue holding her, but rather, he couldn't let go of her.

"Jūshirō... Stop. He can't let her go." Kyōraku said, his expression blank as he stood behind Byakuya, staring down at his lower back.

Ukitake's brows furrowed as he stepped around them, keeping a hand on Nyruki's shoulder and Byakuya's upper arm to see what his best friend was looking at and it wasn't good.

The javelin had punctured through Nyruki's middle entirely and had speared through Byakuya's abdomen, sticking out of his back a solid two feet. They had been skewered together.

"By the gods-" Ukitake exhaled.

the last of Byakuya's energy faded and his knees gave out from under him. He collapsed, using the last of himself to twist them to the side and land on his shoulder so the javelin wouldn't hit the ground and possibly cause more damage than it already had.

"What happened? Tell me!" Ukitake called out as he too dropped to his knees and placed his hands on both their shoulders.

Byakuya curled around Nyruki, still holding her to him to keep the javelin from moving, "It was the Mer-Ukitake... He killed the demon chasing us to... claim the kill for himself... We were trapped at a dead end with nowhere to go... It should have lead us to an exit... not far from my estate, but... it had been walled off... I had no choice, but to try a high level Kidō." He said, swallowing down a cry of pain with a low groan that made its home in his throat.

"Go on." Ukitake said quietly as he brushed aside a damp lock of the man's hair from his face.

Byakuya gulped, "I pulled her back against me as I planted my hand against the wall... I began the incantation as we watched... and waited for the Mer-Ukitake to fire, but... I hadn't counted on the speed at which he could fire it... She jumped ahead of me and took the javelin to buy me time to finish the incantation... thinking that her body would stop it, but... it didn't... It pierced through her and the force of it threw her back against me just as the spell triggered." He finished, curling around Nyruki a bit more and realizing that the closer he was, the less it hurt.

"She what?" Ukitake whispered, placing a worried hand on Nyruki's cheek that earned him a shaking glance from her.

"This is my fault, Captain... I... I didn't protect any of you." Nyruki said softly, her chest hopping with barely contained sobs from the pain that had completely surrounded her.

"Lets get this out of you two." Kyōraku interjected as he reached for the javelin, only to stop when both Ukitake and Unohana yelped.

"Stop!"

"What? We can't very well leave them skewered together like a kabob." Kyōraku shrugged.

"We can't remove it right now. It's the only thing keeping them from bleeding out. Healing Kidō only marginally works here. We have to rely on standard World of the Living medical practices while we're trapped here." Unohana said as she began to rip her captain's haori into long strips and tied them together.

The others cautiously approached and knelt down, surrounding Byakuya and Nyruki on the ground in a tight circle. They all helped to prop the pair up as Captain Unohana began to wrap the strips around them, looping the makeshift bandage around the javelin on each side to keep it as still as possible and in place.

With the javelin secure, she wrapped what remained around their waists and yanked it tight, causing both to grunt in pain before she tied the ends together against their sides.

"This will keep them still and hopefully hold the javelin. Can you carry them, Sajin?" Unohana asked once she was satisfied with the knot.

"Without trouble." Komamura said as he carefully slipped his thick arms beneath Byakuya under his knees and behind his shoulders.

The gargantuan Komamura easily lifted Byakuya's and Nyruki's combined weight, but the sudden jarring of being lifted was enough to cause both to hiss in pain once more. Byakuya had managed to bite back his cry, but Nyruki hadn't.

A hiccuped wail leapt from her throat as she squeezed her eyes shut and tightly gripped the javelin protruding from her middle. The very cry that emanated from her was enough to cause a tear to fall from Ukitake's eye as he helped to position the pair in Komamura's fully capable arms.

"You have them?" Ukitake asked, overflowing with concern that no one was faulting him more.

"Yes. Now, where do we take them?" Komamura asked, his large fingers curling around Byakuya's entire shoulder as his own grip tightened on Nyruki laying over his front.

"Head... North... There's a cave near a small stream there." Nyruki said quietly, her breath wet and full of pain.

"Good. That will serve as a good hideout. Let us go." Unohana said softly.

The group had recovered just enough to flash step into the branches, leaping onto each one to keep the jarring to a minimum for the injured pair. They simply lay against Komamura's massive fur covered chest, allowing him to do all the work. Even Byakuya, whom was normally the picture of endurance and grace, simply lay limp with his arm wrapped around the woman laying against him.

Her warmth covered his entire front with her head lolled to the side and resting against the front of his left shoulder, but he didn't care. The warmth helped to ebb the pain shooting through his entire body, radiating outwards from the javelin punched through his abdomen. The pain was intense, but he just didn't have the energy to even move his head, so instead, he just let his cheek rest against the top of her head. It was the only way he could keep from moving and causing them both more pain.

It was here he realized that the woman was actually fairly average. Her height was slightly above average, being a few inches shorter than he which brought the top of her head just beneath his sharp chin. Her figure was curved just enough to prove that she was a woman, but still being lithe enough for him to use one arm to latch onto her almost completely around. She had become much stronger than when he first saw her four years ago, with firm muscles that were defined just enough to show how much she had worked. Despite her rather average build and average height, she was still pretty and built exactly for it.

As they flew from branch to branch, the fresh air felt like purifying nectar to Nyruki's lungs. They burned from the charring smoke and foul stench from the lab. Her exhaustion was absolute to the point where she didn't have the desire to keep her head up. Her ear rested against her captain's chest and despite the whoosh in her ears, she could hear the slowed thump, thump, thump, of his heart. It was steady, but far too slow to ease not just the physical pain, but the emotional pain as well. She hadn't done enough to protect them.

Time didn't seem to matter anymore as the captains reached the cliff Nyruki had told them about. A small creek bubbled along the ground not far from the cave's entrance, which was carved into the base of the tall cliff that was topped with more massive shadowy trees. The ground rustled with forgotten leaves and the forever twilight twinkled above them through the thin blanket of sepia clouds.

They walked inside where Komamura gently knelt down and went to rest Byakuya back against the cave wall, but halted when he raised a shaky hand to stop him.

"I can't... You need to break off the end first." Byakuya said, blowing out forced breaths to help him breathing through the pain.

"Alright. Captain Unohana?" Komamura called out.

"He's right. I'll hold them still. I want you to break off the end, but not completely. Leave a few inches so it doesn't withdraw into his body." She said as she knelt beside the speared pair.

Komamura nodded once as he let the small woman hold them before wrapping his hands around the javelin protruding from Byakuya's back.

Ukitake and Kyōraku soon knelt down on their other side and helped to keep them still with Ukitake holding their shoulders and Kyōraku holding down their legs. Both knew this was going to hurt and he wanted to limited how much they might flail. They were very much at risk of causing more damage.

With everyone in their positions, Unohana began to count. "One... Two... Three!"

With a splintering crunch and two cries of screaming pain, Komamura squeezed the javelin and broken off a foot and a half of its length which left a mere six inches protruding from Byakuya's back. The action had shuttered the javelin in every way possible, vibrating it through Byakuya and Nyruki and both howled from the intensity that whited out their vision with wide splotches.

"It's over! It's ok... Just breathe." Ukitake said softly, hoping his calm voice would ease their pain as he tucked a loose lock of Nyruki's hair behind her ear.

Both Byakuya and Nyruki did just that, blowing out stiff puffs of air as the pain slowly ebbed away, leaving them to shake with shock that was quickly draining the blood from their faces.

"We should shorten the other end as well." Unohana said, earning a pained glare from the pair.

"Do it." Byakuya said as a bead of sweat crawled down his temple.

Again, they all held them still as Komamura knelt down in front of Nyruki and wrapped his hands around the javelin. With another count from Unohana, Byakuya and Nyruki held their breath until Komamura squeezed again and broken off a large portion of the javelin, leaving behind only a foot.

Again, as the javelin splintered, Byakuya and Nyruki yelped from the pain, both throwing their heads back as their throats rumbled and chests heaved with the forced breathing.

The length of spike now significantly shortened, the others helped to lean Byakuya back against the cave wall and made sure that there was enough space for the javelin so it wouldn't make contact with the stone. Kyōraku removed the pink kimono from his shoulders and placed it over them, helping to keep them warm from the setting shock that was causing their skin to turn far too pale for their liking.

"Ow-" Nyruki wept, her own arm wrapping around her middle, laying over Byakuya's and grasping the length of javelin in her shaking hand.

Ukitake softly sniffled as he placed a soft hand against her cheek, "You going to be ok?"

Nyruki nodded, "Could be worse." She managed a short lived smile.

Ukitake returned the smile, "Not sure how," he shifted his eyes up to meet Byakuya, "Are you comfortable?"

Byakuya nodded and swallowed, "I'll be alright. Some water would be appreciated however." He said, evening out his breathing and resting his head back against the hard cave wall.

Ukitake nodded and maintained his smile as he stood and went to the others whom had begun to discuss their next move near the entrance of the cave.

"So what do we do?" Kyōraku asked, crossing his arms.

"We need to worry about providing care for them." Unohana said softly, keeping her voice low as Byakuya and Nyruki rested, their eyes closed.

"I'll help." Ukitake said.

Unohana nodded, "I was about to suggest that. Your extensive knowledge of human medical practices will help greatly."

"Hitsugaya and I can go find something to get some water from that creek." Kyōraku said with a nod of agreement from Hitsugaya.

"Then Sajin, could you provide sentry in case those creatures decide to come after us?" Unohana asked.

Komamura simply nodded once.

"Then I'll go get us something to eat." Kenpachi said with a grin.

"Can we even eat here?" Ukitake asked.

"Yes... You can." Came Nyruki's voice.

The group all looked back at her, having thought they were asleep, but both were awake and watching them.

"My inner world is complete. There's wildlife here and water. Fire works too. I've camped here on more than one occasion." Nyruki said, her breathing much more normal, but still pained.

"Then that's settled. Soi-Fon, could you gather some firewood?" Unohana asked.

"Yes." The small woman said simply.

"Good. We all have our tasks. I'll stay here and watch over them. Be careful. We don't know if those creatures will come after us." Unohana added.

Each captain nodded as they broke from their meeting and set off, leaving Unohana and Ukitake to stand at the mouth of the cave with Komamura to help keep watch. They were very much within earshot of the pair should they call out for either one of them.

As Nyruki simply stared out of the mouth of the cave with her ear resting against Byakuya's cool chest, she simply let her mind go blank as she watched the three standing guard. She couldn't hear his heart since she had turned her head to the other side, but she knew he was alive, as his chest rose and fell with each breath he took. Her arm still rested over his with her hand gripping the javelin as if it helped to ebb the pain. It didn't, of course, but it just gave her something to hold onto to serve as a distraction.

With a short swallow, Byakuya lifted his head from the cave wall and looked down at the top of her head. He could feel her shaking through the javelin she held and it was only serving to maintain the pain at a sharp level. He removed his arm from beneath hers and grasped her hand, using his other to gently coax her fingers open.

"There's no sense in holding onto it. It's not going anywhere." Byakuya said softly, his voice nearly a whisper.

Nyruki only resisted a moment before letting his hands remove her fingers from around the javelin, "It hurts." She said just as quietly, turning her head back to the left to listen to his heart.

Byakuya nodded, "Yes, but we've got to power through it." He said as he slipped her hand from the javelin for some much needed relief. It instantly stilled.

"I know." Nyruki simply exhaled as her fingers wrapped around his hand instead, "I'm sorry, Captain. I just need something to hold onto." She added.

Byakuya's own fingers curled around hers, as he understood her need to hold onto something. It was a comfort to have something in your hand when your whole being was in immeasurable pain.

"Better my hand than the javelin. Your trembling was shaking it." Byakuya said lowly, fully encompassing her hand with both of his where she placed her other on top of the pile.

"Sorry." She breathed.

"Why did you do it?" Byakuya asked after a moment.

Nyruki shrugged, but the action sent a jolt of pain shooting through them that both jerked from.

"Don't do that." Byakuya lowly groaned, blowing out the breath he held to hold back his yelp.

"S-Sorry." Nyruki blew her held breath out of her mouth, "I just did. I can't tell you why." She added as the pain eased once more.

"I see." He whispered, letting his head hang forward so his mouth was close to her ear. The cave wall was hard, uncomfortable and jabbed into the back of his head.

"I guess... maybe it was because I wanted to do something to protect you, protect anyone, since I've been doing such a lousy job so far." She said, feeling his breath brush over her cold, sweaty skin.

"You couldn't have predicted Mayuri Kurotsuchi's reaction to this. None of us could." Byakuya said, slowly, cautiously raising a leg slightly to plant his foot in the dirt to keep them from sliding forward.

Nyruki swallowed and licked her lips clean, "I guess. I thought... maybe I could deflect it away from us, but-" She stopped when she felt Byakuya shaking his head against her own.

"There was no way to deflect that. The speed at which the creature can fire is absolute." He said as he released a hand from hers to brush off some dirt from his face with the back of his hand.

"So I proved." Nyruki scoffed gently.

Byakuya returned his hand to covering hers, "I will not be angry with your decision, Nyruki. I've taken a blow for someone before; A near fatal one."

"Really?" She asked, letting her head loll back into his chest.

"It was after my battle with Ichigo Kurosaki the first time he came to Soul Society. I saved Rukia from being killed by a former captain's blade. I took the hit meant for her." Byakuya said quietly.

"I see." Nyruki breathed softly.

"If it had gone slightly deeper, it would have killed me. As it was, it had punctured a lung." Byakuya said, casting his eyes downward.

"I can't even imagine the pain... well, maybe I can." Nyruki said, somehow managing to crack a lopsided, slightly forced smile that he could see.

Byakuya huffed and the barest hint of a returned smile crested his lips, "That is true."

It hurt to talk, but at the same time, it was a distraction that both wanted. The pain was intense and with each breath they took, their bodies moved just enough to twitch the javelin about in their flesh. They let themselves fall silent to just rest, too afraid to move out of the fear of causing more pain.

For Nyruki, the silence did help her to relax, and in doing so, she relieved herself of a bit more of the fire. Her muscles relaxed around the javelin and she heard a soft sigh of relief from the man behind her. In fact, they were both relieved and it drove them to relax that last bit which rested her forehead against his cheek.

This was all they could do. Rest and just breathe through what pain remained. Their hands were grasped together in a single ball like an anchor grasping the ocean floor, firm and unmoving, and it was here where they would wait for the others to return.