Hey new chapter finally! Yes I took a bit of a hiatus from writing...but I'm back for now! Thanks for the reviews and your patience! Hope you enjoy! Oh right and I thought I should put this warning, just in case. Even though you all probably saw something like this coming eventually.
Warning: Contains slight Slash a.k.a. Boy's Love content. Don't worry there isn't that much (I think)
Chapter 25 A Hunger
"Well good night then." Rukia said, attempting to sound cold. "Hey Ichigo…" She said a few minutes of silence later.
"Hm?"
"I…I love you." There was more silence, then Ichigo, without turning around reached his hand back and took Rukia's hand into his own squeezing it tight and not letting go. Rukia smiled contently, and closed her eyes falling into slumber.
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"Rukia…Rukia wake up!" The inky haired girl forced her tired eyes open to see a figure staring down at her. It was too dark to make out exactly who it was. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, she looked to her side to see that Ichigo was fast asleep. "Who…Renji?" Rukia guessed.
"Yeah." Renji turned on a flashlight and faced it upwards so she could see that it was him.
"What are you doing so…early?" Rukia grabbed Ichigo's watch which was still on his wrist to see that it was 3:30 in the morning.
"It's about Byakuya-dono…I don't think he was getting any blood while he was here."
"Really?" Rukia was more awake now. "You mean since he came to the hotel?"
"He didn't have any suppliers with him, and I never saw him drinking any blood juice boxes." Renji explained.
"Renji, are you sure? This could be very dangerous for both Nii-sama and anyone around him."
"Yeah I know…damn it I shouldn't have let him leave." Renji looked down solemnly.
"It's not your fault, ok?" Rukia put a hand on Renji's shoulder. "You know we should tell Ukitake-sensei about this."
"Yeah I'm on it, oh and you should probably wake up sleeping beauty over there too." Renji gestured towards the snoozing carrot top beside Rukia.
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"I see…" Ukitake nodded, after Renji and Rukia explained to him about the situation with Byakuya.
"…Why didn't you think of this before?" Ichigo asked, while sleepily scratching his head.
"I…I was…" Renji looked down.
"It's ok Renji, that's not important anyway. What we need to concentrate on now is to make sure Nii-sama is safe." Rukia explained.
"Yes, Rukia-chan's right." Kyoraku agreed.
"Maybe we should phone him?" Ukitake suggested.
Rukia nodded, while heading to her tent. "I'm not sure if I'll get reception…" Her voice trailed off as she disappeared in to her tent. She reappeared, cell phone in hand. "I got reception!" She exclaimed, and clicked to phone her brother. There was a pause. "Hello? Nii-sama?" The four men looked up.
"Rukia…what is it?" Rukia let out a sigh of relief at the sound of Byakuya's emotionless voice.
"Nii-sama, are you alright?" Rukia asked. "Renji said you haven't been getting any blood while you were here."
"D-don't use my name!" Renji whispered hoarsely to Rukia, as to not let Byakuya hear. Rukia ignored him and waited for Byakuya's response
"Nii-sama?"
"…Renji said that?" Byakuya's voice sounded strange all of a sudden, he sounded…shaky.
"Yes he did Nii-sama." Rukia sent a slight smirk Renji's way. "Is it true then? That is, about not having any blood?"
"I—" Suddenly the line went dead.
"Hello? Nii-sama are you there?" Rukia shouted into the phone to no avail. "The phone went dead! I think Nii-sama—"
"Kyaaa!" A woman's shriek rang through the campsite.
"What the hell was that?" Ichigo gasped, looking around wide eyed.
"It sounded like it came from close by." Kyoraku said, serious for once. "I'll go check it out."
"I'm coming too!"Rukia announced. "I think Nii-sama is close by."
"We'll split up." Ukitake explained. "I'll go this way with Shunsui."
"Rukia and I'll go this way." Ichigo pointed towards one side of the forest. "Renji, you stay here."
"What? No way in hell! If Byakuya-dono's out there I'm coming too!"
"But Renji someone has to stay here to protect the camp." Rukia explained.
"I know but…damn it I just…" Renji punched the nearby bench.
"I'll stay." Ukitake stood up.
"Ukitake-sensei…you will?"
"Yes, now hurry! Someone's in danger."
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"Oh my god! What are you doing?" Mrs. Mochizuki screeched, wide eyed at the sight before her. She had decided to take a nightly stroll and happened to stumble upon an isolated cemetery. She decided this is not the place she wanted to be, alone in the middle of the night, but as she was about to leave, something caught her eye right outside of the grave yard: a collapsed body. For some bizarre reason, she moved closer to see that the body belonged to the one and only Byakuya Kuchiki, and then she let out an ear splitting scream that could probably be heard for miles.
"…Quiet. You'll wake them up." Byakuya slowly forced himself off the dirt ground. Once he managed a sitting position, he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and began to wipe some crusted dirt smeared on his face. His clothes had been stained with soil from falling on the ground.
"Byakuya-san? What are you doing here? I thought you went home? Why are you on the ground?" Mrs. Mochizuki continued spewing out questions, irking Byakuya.
"If you shut up, I will answer your questions." The noble stated, retaining his cool demeanor.
"Hmph! You don't have to be so rude!" Mrs. Mochizuki pouted. "Well I guess we should get you back to camp."
"No…I'm not—." Byakuya was interrupted by his cell phone ringing.
"Ah its coming from over there!" A voice could faintly be heard through the silent darkness of the night. Mrs. Mochizuki hastily turned around.
"Yes! We're over here!" She shouted towards the voice. Soon enough, Rukia and Ichigo appeared.
"Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-kun?" Mrs. Mochizuki blinked.
"Nii-sama!" Rukia quickly stuffed her cell phone, which she had just used to call Byakuya, back into her pocket. "What happened? Are you ok?" She ran up to him with Ichigo not too far behind.
"Rukia…?" Byakuya asked hazily, his vision becoming blurry. "I…"
"Nii-sama its ok, we're going to take you back to the campsite." Rukia explained.
"No…it's…" Byakuya collapsed before anymore could be said.
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"Where is he?" Renji, with Kyoraku not far behind, rushed towards Ichigo and Rukia, who were standing outside the tents. The two, along with Mrs. Mochizuki had managed to bring Byakuya back to the campsite successfully.
"He's in there. Ukitake-san's checking to see if he's ok." Ichigo explained and gestured towards the tent.
"Is he ok…?"
"I don't know." Rukia answered, her eyes drifting towards the tent. Just then Ukitake came out.
"He's going to be alright…" Ukitake said, allowing everyone to breathe, "But…he's suffering from severe starvation. You were right Renji I don't think he's had blood in quite some time. I gave him a bit of blood substitute just now, but what he really needs is real blood."
"So how are we gonna get him some blood?" Ichigo asked. "Don't you have any suppliers with you Ukitake-sensei?"
"Actually I don't, Shunsui and I have been surviving on blood substitutes. However for Byakuya-kun's condition I think he needs real blood."
"But how are we going to get a supplier here?" Rukia asked.
Well we were thinking…" Kyoraku glanced towards Mrs. Mochizuki who was standing a ways away, pacing back and forth. This gave Renji a lump in his throat.
"You mean…seriously? Mrs. Mochizuki? Doesn't she hate him? And she doesn't even know about vampires and all that." Ichigo pointed out.
"Well she's the only human available right at this moment, and I think she wants to help." Ukitake stated.
"…Can…can I see him?" Renji asked, wearing a stiff expression.
"Yes, go ahead." Ukitake nodded. After Renji went in, Ichigo turned to Ukitake.
"Can't we just let Renji do it?" He asked the older man.
"Well…I don't think Byakuya-kun would allow it." Ukitake answered.
"Allow it? He's half dead!"
"Yes, but Nii-sama can be very stubborn, especially with rules and laws."
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
As soon as Renji shut the tent's flap, he turned to see Byakuya lying there, still. Renji hesitantly sat down next to the pure blood. On closer look, the noble was quite pale, and there were beads of sweat pouring down from his flawless facial features to his bare chest. Renji's heart ached, as he reached out, gingerly to touch the older man's cheek. His finger tips felt a shock of how warm Byakuya's skin was. "Byakuya-dono…" Byakuya began to stir, causing Renji to immediately retract his hand. Slowly, porcelain skinned eyelids opened, and icy blue eyes were staring back at Renji.
"…Renji?"
"…Y-you're ok?" Renji averted his gaze.
"I…I'm sorry." Byakuya almost whispered. Before Renji could respond, Ukitake crawled in.
"Sorry to interrupt, but it's vital that you drink some blood." He explained.
"I'll be fine." Byakuya stated, and forced himself to sit up, becoming dizzy in the process.
"We thought you could drink Mrs. Mochizuki's blood." Ukitake advised, while Renji looked away.
"No, I don't need it." Byakuya replied, noticing Renji's pained expression from the corner of his eye.
"Byakuya-kun, I really think you—."
"Just give me some blood substitute."
"I gave you a bit after you fainted, but that might not be enough, compared to real blood." Ukitake tried to explain.
"It will be enough." Byakuya was clearly done with this conversation, not willing to continue this dispute.
"Fine, I will get some more." Ukitake sighed, giving in. As he left, Renji decided to follow him out.
"Renji." Byakuya's voice halted the red head.
"…Yeah?" Renji turned back around, but still avoided Byakuya's eyes.
"Is there something wrong?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"You won't look at me." Renji felt his face flushing at those words.
"I…that's not it." Renji tried to keep his cool. "I-I just think that you should drink Mrs. Mochizuki's blood."
"…Do you really want that?"
"Well I think that—."
"Renji, I didn't ask what you thought about it I asked if that's what you wanted."
"Huh?" Renji blinked. He had no idea why Byakuya was asking what he wanted. "It's not really about…what I want is it?" He scratched his head awkwardly.
"I suppose not." Renji could still feel the other man's eyes on him.
"Uh…well I guess I should go then." Renji was stopped when his wrist was grabbed from behind. "Byakuya-dono?"
"Renji…" Byakuya pulled the other's wrist closer, causing Renji to fall back into sitting position.
"W-what's wrong?" Renji blushed, looking down at the hand that was now holding his own.
"Its smells delicious…your blood." Byakuya gingerly touched a small cut that was on Renji's finger. He then grasped the younger man's tan hand with both his paler ones, bringing it closer to his face.
"B-Byakuya-dono w-what are you—." Renji tried to cover his tomato red face with his free hand, as Byakuya's lips gently touched his skin.
"Renji…do you—."
"Byakuya-san! Are you ok?" Mrs. Mochizuki's shrill voice surprised both men as she stuck her head into the tent. Renji immediately pulled away from Byakuya's grip and escaped to the opposite corner of the tent, covering his heated face with his hands. "Hm? You were here Abarai-kun?" Mrs. Mochizuki noticed as she crawled inside.
"H-hey Mochizuki-sensei." Renji answered without turning around.
"I would think something suspicious is going on with you two, but Abarai-kun already has a cute girlfriend!" Mrs. Mochizuki smiled proudly. Byakuya raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "So it's not like he would do anything with you Byakuya-san! Because he has a girlfriend!" Mrs. Mochizuki emphasized. "A very cute and smart girlfriend!" She was giving Byakuya the stink eye by now.
"Is that so?" Was Byakuya's cool and collected response.
"Yes! That is so!" Mrs. Mochizuki snapped. "It's completely so!"
"I see."
"So how are you feeling?" Mrs. Mochizuki asked. "Ukitake-sensei said you collapsed due to hunger. Did you eat anything?"
"I was about to." Byakuya had to use every ounce of discipline he had to hide a smirk, as he noticed Renji's ears turn red. "So if you would kindly leave." He said to Mrs. Mochizuki.
"Well! I practically saved your life and this is the thanks I get?" Mrs. Mochizuki huffed and puffed and almost blew her own house down, as she exited the tent.
"Are you going to remain there forever?" Byakuya asked.
"…maybe…" Renji answered, not budging one inch. Byakuya stared at the tattoos on Renji's tan neck, his stomach leaped, his heart throbbed. Why this was happening, Byakuya had no idea. He could not explain his actions before, he tried to pass them off as just teasing, but wait—when does he ever tease people in such a way? Or in any way at all?
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"How is he sensei?" Ichigo asked, as Mrs. Mochizuki walked up to the nearby bench that Ichigo, Rukia, Kyoraku, and Ukitake were sitting at.
"He's ok. I asked him if he ate anything, and he said he was just about to. Then he told me to leave. So rude!" She scoffed. Everyone stared at each other in amazement.
"Was…Renji in there with him by any chance?" Rukia asked.
"Yes, why?" Mrs. Mochizuki asked confused by the looks the other four were exchanging.
"No reason…" Rukia smiled.
"Well," Mrs. Mochizuki shrugged. "I'm going to sleep, this was too exhausting." At that she headed inside her own tent, hopefully to catch a few Zs before sunrise.
"I wonder if there's still a use for any more blood substitute." Kyoraku grinned.
"I don't know if we should just assume anything…I mean this is Byakuya we're talking about. You know the guy with a stick up his ass? Why would he just forget the rules like that?" Ichigo pondered.
"Because of love Ichigo!" Rukia had sparkles in her eyes.
"Yeah…but didn't he reject Renji that time before?"
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"B-Byakuya-dono…" The noble looked up. Renji had turned around to face him, but didn't come any closer.
"Yes?"
"T-that time before you left…you know before you took Rukia aside to tell her about the council finding a dhampir partner and supplier for Ichigo. D-did you…hear what Rukia and I were talking about?"
"…I don't recall anything."
"R-really?" Renji gasped.
"Yes. Why?"
"No reason!" A grin formed on Renji's face which quickly turned back into a flustered expression, when he looked straight at Byakuya. "B-but then…" Renji had just reminded himself of what had happened earlier before Mrs. Mochizuki came in.
"Renji…"
"Hm? W-whoa?" Suddenly Byakuya was right next to Renji. "W-when did you…?" Byakuya didn't know himself what exactly had overcome him, most likely a thirst for blood, he figured, as he inched closer and closer to the flustered teen. "B-Byakuya-dono i-if you're hungry, I-I can get Mrs. Mochizuki!"
"Why do I need her…when you're right here?" Byakuya gently touched Renji's reddened cheek with a delicate hand. What the hell was he saying? Why was he doing this? These questions rang through both their heads. Byakuya felt like he no longer had control. His head was telling him no, but his body refused to listen.
"M-me…?" Renji breathed, wide-eyed. "L-look…maybe you just need to rest for awhile…yeah?" He tried to ease away from the milky skinned hand upon his cheek, but instead he ended up stumbling backwards slightly, with only his tanned elbows, propping him up to prevent his back from touching the ground. Byakuya had advanced much more by now as he crawled on top of the tattooed boy, his knees surrounding Renji's hips.
"Renji…" Byakuya's lips were now a mere centimeter away from Renji's, causing the latter to forget how to breathe. "Do you…not want this?"
"I…uh I-I wahhhaa…" Renji was rendered unable to form coherent speech patterns at this point.
-\/ \/-\/ \/-\/ \/-
"Hmm it's strange that Nii-sama is being so forward…" Rukia put a finger to her chin
"Isn't it stranger that you're sitting outside of his tent listening to him being 'so forward?'" Ichigo sighed and knelt down next to her.
"Ehh? Why would that be strange?" Rukia blinked, obliviously, camera in hand.
"Well then what's that camera for?"
"…This?" Rukia held up the Chappy adorned item innocently. "Oh this is for…well if the opportunity to take a picture of the…situation inside the tent arises, then I thought I should take it."
"And why would you need pictures?" Ichigo eyed her suspiciously.
"O-obviously to…to s-show to the council! Yeah! If anything should go wrong, we can always show them this picture to let them know, we're not the only ones, who've committed this so called sinful act!" Rukia exclaimed. "Ooh that's actually a good idea. There must be other pure bloods who've drank from dhampirs before! Maybe we can rally them all together, and go meet the council as a group to try to convince them that this law is pointless?"
"…You just thought of that all on the spot didn't you?"
"Who knows?" Rukia smirked.
"You do! You're the one who just—."
"Excuse me!" Mrs. Mochizuki suddenly appeared.
"M-Mochizuki-sensei?" Ichigo gasped. "L-look, did you manage to hear any of that stuff we were talking about…? Because that's just—."
"I heard all I needed to hear!" The curly haired woman announced.
"And…what exactly was that?"
"Don't try to play dumb with me kids! I heard the words 'situation inside the tent' and 'sinful act!' I know what's going on in there!"
"…Uh are you serious? Those are the only words you heard of the whole conversation?" Ichigo wore a deadpan expression. "And didn't you go to sleep?"
"Ichigo, don't try to push her!" Rukia warned.
"I know…but how could she have not heard anything else we were saying? Did she just choose the words she wanted to hear? What do they call that? Selective hearing?"
"Ichigo shut up!" Rukia slapped him over the head.
"What the hell? Excuse me for being concerned that our teacher has a serious problem!" Ichigo roared.
"She's a teacher! She's supposed to have problems!" Rukia yelled back.
"Um excuse me…I can still hear you." Mrs. Mochizuki commented, not looking too pleased.
"Oh now she listens..." Ichigo muttered, while rolling his eyes.
"Now on to important matters! I must look in this tent!" Mrs. Mochizuki had a gallant expression. "I don't know what I'll find! I don't know if it may scar me for life! I don't know if I'll have a nosebleed! I might even—!"
"Excuse me." All three looked toward an opening in the tent to see Byakuya's head sticking out. "It's too noisy, and I'm trying to rest."
"Oh my, we're so sorry! We'll keep it down because God knows you should get all the rest you're tiny heart desires!" Mrs. Mochizuki all but spat on the dignified man's face. "And another thing! Where is Abarai-kun? And what in Heaven's name are you doing to him? Let me see him right now! I demand it!"
"He's…" Byakuya glanced behind him for a brief moment, and then turned back around. "Sleeping." He finished and began to zip the tent back up.
"S-sleeping? That's the biggest lie I've ever heard in my entire life!" Mrs. Mochizuki ranted on.
"Do you really think he's sleeping?" Ichigo whispered to Rukia.
"It's possible. I felt tired the first time you drank my blood." Rukia whispered back.
"D-don't say that so openly!" Ichigo blushed.
"Y-you asked!" Rukia's cheeks were turning pink as well.
"…And then the FBI will come! And when they do, the sandwich you ate for lunch will not be accepted!" Mrs. Mochizuki finally finished her hair brained story.
"W-what the hell was she even talking about?" Ichigo sweat dropped.
"…I don't eat sandwiches." Byakuya answered calmly, causing Mrs. Mochizuki to begin pulling her hair out.
"He was actually listening?" Ichigo shouted in disbelief.
"If that is all…" Byakuya began to zip the tent back up again.
"No wait! I need to see Abarai-kun to make sure he's really ok!"
"Mrs. Mochizuki, if I didn't know any better, I would say you had some sort of outside affection for Renji. Am I wrong?" Byakuya stated, in an unruffled manner.
"W-what are you even saying? Stop trying to turn this on me and make me out to be the creepy cougar lady when that's obviously—!"
"Ok, Mochizuki-sensei, how about you calm down and go have a rest?" Ukitake put a gentle hand on the frazzled teacher's shoulders. "You see you're waking the children up with your…passionate voice."
"They're only just waking up? We've been making noise for an hour and they're just now waking up? What kind of children are those? Did they wear gun mufflers all night long?" Mrs. Mochizuki's freakish yelling continued for a few more seconds, until Ukitake jabbed her with some kind of needle, injecting some unknown fluids into her arm. Five seconds later she collapsed to the ground.
"W-what was that?" Ichigo asked nervously.
"Oh just a little something to help her sleep for a few hours. Don't worry it's perfectly harmless." Ukitake smiled and dragged the unconscious teacher in his arms, with the assistance of Kyoraku, to her tent.
"Note to self: Never piss Ukitake-sensei off." Ichigo thought.
A/N
That's the lesson for today kids. Don't mess with Ukitake or he'll inject you with mysterious liquids. (Unless you want him to.) I won't judge. Anyways…about this ByaRen stuff…I think it's obvious that I fail at subtlety. So to celebrate my failure, and if I get a lot of reviews (because I'm greedy) a super long chapter next time with hopefully some more IchiRuki in it!