A coincidental, intense rage consumed her from the inside out for the next few days. A monster carving a hole through her chest and stomach laid her prone and strapped to the bed that she had borrowed from Kisuke when she first arrived. She swarmed herself in all the blankets she could find only to push them off of herself moments later, and then try to pull them back on again. Most times she missed, with her hand, blind and shaking, waving through the air to find her blankets. Sometimes she gave up the pursuit halfway through. Her head twisted into the pillow to suffocate the groans and whines as she squirmed along the futon like it was a disaster site beneath her and completely uncomfortable to her touch. She couldn't tell anymore what jibberish fell from her mouth, what she cried out, or if sweat became tears at some point.

It surprised her in that delirious sort of way at the beginning, when she stared back at people who marveled at her as if she was a specimen. When the wide eyed expression went back to intense pain, she gave up caring at the shock she had induced. She could barely remember who had even entered her room, though she remembered Tessai from the calloused hand that roved her forehead. By the time Tessai had gotten everybody out of the room, she was swallowed back into that euphoric state of unconsciousness. Upon seeing her condition, the gentle giant immediately started to enter the room without permission and would change the bedding, her clothes, swab down her skin, or make sure that she was replacing her fluids. No one else disturbed her except for the small times when Ururu would come in to give her food, which she was never able to eat.

With her sense of time all but gobbled away in her sickness, she could only place the time at morning when her eyes flickered open. Sekhmet whispered gently through her ears as her head limply tossed around for a moment. As she got up from bed, she could feel most of her mind leaving her behind as it stayed on the pillow. Her muscles stretched so long that they jumbled her entire body and made her forget how long her limbs were as she came up short on a lot of steps. This tossed her over her feet most times as she shifted her weight. She felt like wet clay beneath her skin with water still exuding under every pound of a fist. She was mutable and barely carved out under hands that were desperately trying to shape her quivering mass into some semblance of a person. She was wrapped into a porous cloth that was loosely bound around her frame leaving her to tremor at the hardening in the oven, and the heat that surrounded her from the inside out.

She quaked under her skin down to her very organs which twisted up tightly at the unwanted movements of her steps. She was semi-conscious enough to cling tightly to a handrail as she made her way down the stairs without falling, letting her knees knock together to create a pillar of support beneath her. She honed in on the sound of spaying liquid somewhere off in the house and began to follow rush of what was most likely running water.

"K - Kotomi?"

"Water," she whispered out as she sunk down against the closest counter. A chill ran down her spine as she sat against the wood, and then she was swamped into humidity again feeling the trek of more than a few sweat drops running all over her again. "Wa-"

"Here."

Her head was pushed back slightly from a force underneath her and her lips belatedly realized that a glass was there when she felt the smooth force against them. Something fluid slithered past her mouth and down her throat and drenched everything in her. She spluttered a bit at the sudden intrusion as if she turned to smoke with her fire suddenly being put out with the merciless water. Her head fell back and banged against the cabinets as she hacked up clouds of black from her lungs for a long moment.

Her head dropped back down falling down towards her chest as she sunk over to the side just slightly. Everything pulsed as she huffed out steam from her nose until it turned gray, when she picked her head up again. "More."

A hand came around her bicep and she glanced at the red-brown eyes that were peering at her closely. She let out another cough which rapidly spluttered into a long tirade of chokes and hacks from her lungs again. Through the moment she barely noticed as she was slipped somewhere else until she felt heated, yet completely cool, skin. Her face turned towards it and she was pressed up against a thick bone and nuzzled down into it. Just for a moment longer she would remember that glossed hand on her back and her hair again, before she wiped away to clean the surface of her memory.

"Mo' wata," she voiced out again.

The voice above her grunted slightly but the cup never came. "I think I should get Tes-"

"They'll jus' give me wata… Don't know wha's goin' on so tha's all they'll do. Wata."

"Kotomi do you know what type of shape you're in right now?"

She nodded up against the bone and blindly reached out for something to grasp onto. Preferably the hand that held the cup of water. "I's ol' news fo' me…. Since chil'ood. 'Appens."

Renji paused on the slurred wording and down at the woman that was awkwardly against his chest and collarbone. He had caught her as she slipped down and now he had one arm around her shoulders to keep her from sliding along the floor further. His eyes narrowed down at the soggy skin beneath his grip, beads of sweat slipping through the cracks of his fingers as if he had wrung her skin dry like a sodden towel. She radiated a blistering heat of a furnace, her head flopping unsteadily as it tried to stand up erect on its own neck but kept giving way under the weight of exhaustion and fever. Her hand caught onto his wrist, coiling quickly, before he slowly slide from her weak grasp, mindful of the glass of water he was holding for her, and watched as the hand fell limp to her lap.

He roved over the loose garments she was wearing, being nothing but short shorts and a tank top, and then along the sweat that had added a second layer to everything about her. Her fringe was swamped over to one side as it stuck together using all the sweat as gel, and then stuck there as if it was waiting to be fixed properly. The black smoke from her lungs which she was still breathing out with every pant of her crippled chest was reminiscent of the ash that spluttered of dying fire.

He set the cup off to the side on the ground, and then shifted the woman around until she was pressed more firmly against the cupboards. He kept his hand along her shoulder, feeling the jutting bones, and then reached back for the cup. Her eyes caught his in that delirious half-lidded expression as he pushed another small gulp down her lips. When she didn't splutter for the second time, he tipped a bit more in.

He didn't know what was wrong with her having suddenly woken up in this state. She had gotten into some sort of fight with Kisuke, although it appeared resolved and personal by now. His eyes locked onto the slowly shutting eyes of his fellow shinigami as they took in more water, and remembered the intensity of her rage that evening of the confrontation that seemed to pour out of her like the sweat was doing now. It was that indignant spark in them that made him know it was personal business by the end of the stare down. Then something settled across her face. She was suddenly the person he recognized again except with just a bit more exhaustion.

He let out a small sigh as he tipped the last of the water into Natsu's mouth. His eyes were quickly snatched from watching her face to the at the long limbs that were beginning to quiver and pucker in the cold. A frown crossed over his lips at the drastic change in conditions and looked up to find that her face had scrunched up and a small whine was toppling from somewhere in the back of her throat. Her head had fallen back down towards her chest and she was, as silently as possible, trying to move through the motions of pain.

Renji stretched up and tipped the empty glass onto the counter, before he swooped back down and took the woman up into his arms. Natsu emitted a small groan as he started his steps out of the kitchen and he flashed a look down to see the growing contortion of her face and the deep crevices from the pain. There was still something polished from the way she was holding herself, probably from the way she could cover up the intense agony of whatever she was going through. Renji narrowed his eyes at that, cataloging the new piece of information that he had siphoned from her. She had mentioned that it had happened since childhood, and that no one in the house knew about it which meant she didn't have a connection with the household that far back.

"Kotomi have you always been alone?" He whispered out as he made his way up the last step. He had never heard of Izuru or Ikakku mentioning this, and as far as he knew she didn't have too many friends either. "Is there anyone that could help you?"

He jerked down at her own unsteady, slurred whisper, "no…. 'e's gone 'way."

He stopped above the futon and took in the sweat patches that were everywhere, and then the much scrunched up pillow which she must have torn into through what he assumed was the more painful bouts of pain. He slowly knelt down and then placed the gangling, made worse by her lame and prone limbs, woman down along the futon. She immediately slithered into a tight coil and stuffed her nose down into the mattress. Renji made out the rivets of tension that were going through her and let out a sigh before draping the sheet back over her to give her the privacy that she seemed to seek.

When he got to the hall and clanked the door shut, he found Tessai was already waiting with his arms crossed in his usual fashion. Renji flickered his eyes over to the side and then scratched at his cheek for a small moment. "She came down to the kitchen for water… Can't you do something for her? She looks like she's in real pain."

"There's nothing I can do for Natsu-dono unfortunately," Tessai explained as the two went back down to the ground level. "It appears that it is something well beyond my reach… She told me not to bother with trying to use kaido."

"She's mentioned she's had this since she was a child."

Tessai picked up the glass and brought it over to the sink so that he could wash it immediately. She didn't have anything contagious but Renji could assume that it was just a precaution. Actually, she reminded him slightly of how some from division thirteen had described their captain when he had gotten into his worse fits. Yet, it was obviously not the captain's disease and something completely different. Particularly with the way that her reiatsu had been flaring up and down for days now. Even Ichigo would know that it was a reiatsu based condition by now.

"Natsu-dono is probably more than well equipped to handle it herself."

"You seem to entrust a lot over to her even though you barely know her."

Tessai peered over his shoulder and then resumed wandering around the kitchen to collect things for breakfast. He didn't pause in his work as he spoke, "while it may be true that we've only known her sporadically over the course of forty years…. She has proven herself of such trust."

"So you do nothing while she's in pain," Renji jammed out, surprising himself with the note of bitterness that was carried through. His finger thrust over his shoulder even though he knew that the large man couldn't see it, nor could he do anything about the condition of the other Shinigami.

"It is not that I don't wish to help her, Abarai-dono. It is that I can't." Tessai reminded with a small glance over his shoulder again. "Whatever is wrong with her is well over my level of expertise in medicine."

"Maybe I should call Sei-"

"Do you think she would forgive you if you did so?" Tessai cut through as he finally turned around to be the mountain like man he was as he issued more pressure on his words. "Besides it is more likely they sent her despite that. Do you really think that Unohana-dono doesn't know about the condition that Natsu-dono is in?"

Renji's words truly paused for just a moment before he shook his head. "Unohana-taicho is too kind for that. If she knew what Natsu was going through then she wouldn't have sent her."

"This is a time of war, Abarai-dono, and it is more than likely that Unohana-dono sent Natsu-dono here because of her use and connection with us at the Shoten, regardless of the implications of her health."

"Are you saying that Unohana-taicho sent someone dying to die?" Renji narrowed his eyes and stood up a bit straighter to bite back.

Tessai turned back over as he shook his head. "Natsu-dono will not die and I meant no offense to the captain… I mean that Natsu-dono has a use far beyond her weakened state - a state that is merely inhibiting."

Renji let out a deep sigh and his head tilted back slightly. There was a soft chopping sound as the knife met the cutting board with swoops through the air between them. The rest of the house was slowly getting up with the tiniest patter of feet to the bathroom. As the sun was coming in stronger outside, the warmth of the house was slowly growing more intense as the air was moving more avidly around the house. With each body beginning to scurry and wander wherever it wanted, new wafts of air were equally beginning to push around to heat up the cold house.

His mind briefly flashed to the girl that was probably still curled up tight and the sweat that was dripping through her down onto the soaked bed. His skin still felt hot from having just carried her for just those few minutes, and his arms that he had unconsciously crossed at some point during his meanderings fell a bit slack from across his chest. There was just a small pick in his heart at the new sympathy of a girl that was suffering, and his eyes dropped back down to the ground.

"How long has she been alone?"

Tessai stopped in his walk to the fridge at looked at him. Renji found himself blinking along with the man as the words were swept up in the small storm between them. There was a moment of intense scrutiny under the overlooking eyes, shaded by the way light reflected along his glasses, but there was no way of taking back to the words. Nor would Renji have thought of doing that.

The large man was backing off in the next moment, blinking eyes becoming visible to mask the true intended message behind his uttered statement. "I'd presume about one hundred years Abarai-dono."

The red-head found his teeth clenching and then he looked down to the ground. Even in the darkest days in the 78th district he had always had his friends and Rukia. That pain had never lasted one hundred years. Surely, watching his friends die hadn't been the most pleasant but he had never been truly alone to deal with his pain. He let out a long string of curses in his head and then set off to the other room to leave the large man alone in his cooking.

She slumped up against the wall as she scrolled over the book that Kisuke had shipped into her hands. Her fingers toiled over the top tip of the page and flicked it back and forth as she wandered over the words. Slowly she dumped her head up against the wall and let out a long sigh at the imposition of all the words on her brain and the sorting of her thoughts.

"Kisuke why I gotta do this?" She whined out slightly as she looked at him from the bottom of her eyes. He peeked over at her slightly and then resumed his work. "Ya jus' bein' lazy, ain't ya?"

"Why of course not Natsu-san~"

"Che… Liar."

In theory Kisuke would need help with seals, but he was a genius. It didn't slip her notice that he had about several different projects going on at one time and her help was probably doing little to aid or support his research. It was probably more to give her something to do that was relatively beneficial. It was less rigorous than working on her kido with Tessai and it made up for the eighteen hours of sleep that she had been getting to recover from her sickness. It was a constant presence that she could still feel even now, and she was sure the rest of the house was also aware of it with the way they were making sure not to sit too close to her during their meals together.

"Natsu-san," she peeked again at the man's call and saw that he was already facing her with a serious look on his face. "What do you think of Inoue-san?"

"She's a cutie."

"Yes I quite agree~," Kisuke chimed as he let a grand smile spread before dropping it back down. "I meant in term of her healing abilities."

"I's useful. Why?"

"And her personality?"

Natsu narrowed her eyes and then shifted up from the wall until she was finally on her feet and was able to walk closer to the table that he was working on. Kisuke inhabited a lot of different rooms in the shop; many of them already filled with gadgets and objects that he had worked on or was currently working on. This was arranged similarly to the dining room with a large, circular table in the center that he always sat at. There were more cupboards that he used to hold everything, and for the most part everything was relatively clean and dust free.

She settled by the table and slumped onto it as she took in the grave face that he barely ever adorned. It only meant that he was considering doing something different and was considering the next step. From the gravity of his words, she'd probably say that he was about to make a step that might cause a bit of tension. Particularly if it had to do with Orihime.

"Not much of fightin' 'terial… Though I can't really say tha'." Natsu put out and took in the sliver of steel that came along the man's eyes before they ducked into the shadows of his hat. "But determined 'nough…. Got pretty good sense too."

Kisuke let out a small hum and then his thumbs twirled around at the screwdriver in his hands as he bolted something together. There was a thin press of his lips that he wasn't able to cover up which never left even as he spoke. "Would you say that her abilities might be matched by those of the fourth division?"

"Tha's a stupid question."

A smirk filtered across his face before he nodded slightly. Natsu felt her own face falling down and she let out a dreary sigh. From the line of questioning she could probably guess where all this was going. The orange-head would probably take it sitting down, though Natsu could already imagine all the tears in her face as they swamped her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.

"Sucks… Ya gonna be a meanie." Natsu shipped her down to the desk and jutted her chin down onto the wood as she looked up at the blonde. "Ya got tha' in ya I suppose... War's makin' ya inta a real meanie."

"How cruel, Natsu-san~" Kisuke immediately whined back and looked as if he had been slapped with his appalled expression. "I have been nothing but kind to you…"

"Whateva…. I'll back ya if ya need it." Natsu waved off before pushing up from the table and going to leave the room. "Nigh' ol' man."

"I'm not old, Natsu-san."

Natsu stuck a finger into her ear and clanked the door behind her. "Che… Ol' men tend ta garble like ya all tha time."

Kisuke's response went unheard as she meandered down the hall with a few grumbles. Hard stuff was just not her forte and it always seemed to be what was dumped onto her shoulders as of late. Even her sleep and eating habits had been disturbed by everything going on around her and in her. It was probably a good thing that she was getting a bit more relaxing time, although it meant that she got plated with using her brain instead.

Tha's always so much more work.

… I suppose this is what the Sou-taicho was referring to during your meeting with him.

Shuddup.

People are relying on you Natsu.

Ya really suck… Jus' stay silent.

The weight on her shoulders increased ten fold as she slumped down towards the entrance of the shop. The night was already pitch black with those ever seen stars that could pop through even the thickest of clouds or the dark blanket around them. Her stomach clenched up in the revulsion of what was going on around her and she wished she could spit out the bad taste in her mouth. Nothing would help to drag away that ever present scent or that lingering taste. Everything turning to ash about her or was becoming a boiling pot, foam frothing over the top and into the burning flames, because she just couldn't control it all.

She blew out a long stream of air and emptied out her lungs to get rid of the feelings taunting her. Her shoulders sunk down heavily into their normal slouch and she tapped at her cheeks with her long fingers before stretching them about. In doing so she re-arranged the mask on her face and let her eyes droop into half-lids and her mouth to stay open. It hadn't crumbled at all in the days but every now and again she felt like she had to focus on reapplying it and was very conscious of it.

She let out a small hum and then sought out the small device in her sleeve that was letting out a small ring. "Wha's up?" She called down to the one end as the other small port was up by her ear to hear through. "She's gone?"

"Yeah… Hitsugaya-taicho just got the call from Seireitei noting her sudden absence." Renji called back through with a slight growl. "That woman is nuts… How the hell did she get through the onmitsukido?"

"Who knows… Looks like i's gonna by a long night." Natsu smirked down and scuffed her foot against the ground. "Ya take firs' shift lookin' fo' 'er an' then I'll take tha second wit' any o' tha others."

"Works out fine since I'm already out."

The device was placed back into her sleeve and Natsu let out a small snicker. Yuko would be making her way over to Kisuke undoubtedly with a mission. Her eyes roved back into the darkness with a small flicker of thought before she shrugged. It was just too much work to go back up the stairs and warn the blonde man. Instead she had to find a place far enough away and lower her reiatsu so that she could maintain an eye on the ex-con.

A/N: Sorry for the delay! To make up for it, I'm hoping to publish another chapter this week, so fingers crossed that happens.

Hope everyone is continuing to enjoy Dynasty. Shout out to the new readers who have liked/favorited and followed the story. Welcome!

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