Chapter 11:
It wasn't easy staying away from Byakuya now that he was aware he was the vampire. It seemed like a poor decision, considering they were allowing him free reign. Byakuya was too dangerous to approach which also meant that he was too dangerous to leave alone. Surely, they could capture him or something.
Hitsugaya did not agree with Akon's decision to leave things as they were. Left unchecked, Byakuya could bite numerous people and turn them into his minions. Dozens of Soul Reapers in the sickbay. He had to be stopped.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a good way to do that without letting Byakuya know they knew the truth. He understood that was why Akon wanted to leave things alone but how many more would Byakuya hurt while they were feigning ignorance? Any move they made could tip him off, even saying they were going to run some tests to make sure he was healthy was too risky. If he suspected even for a moment that it was a ploy to keep him in one place or feared that a test would reveal his vampiric nature, he would probably fight back. In that sense, doing nothing but observe was probably the best solution.
His servants were another issue. What if they did capture Byakuya and held him in a cell until a cure was found? If Byakuya didn't try breaking out himself, his minions would do that for him. They would not allow Byakuya to remain caged and fight anyone who tried to stop them. Depending on their level of devotion, they would probably be irrational, possibly seriously injuring a comrade or killing them in the process of rescuing Byakuya.
Momo worshipped Aizen so much that she was willing to fight her best friend. Hitsugaya remembered the look in her eyes when they fought nearly two years ago. Such reverence towards a man they knew now to be an enemy, discouraging any act against him and coming to his defense even after being stabbed and left for dead. Hitsugaya couldn't understand how Momo could be this way but if her behavior was any indication of how Byakuya's victims felt about him, then it was clear that taking action was a huge mistake.
Renji, Hisagi, Ikkaku. They were all innocent. They were just under the spell of a vampire. It wasn't their fault. Harming them didn't seem right. But like this, they were a threat to anyone who was against Byakuya. They could fight and kill someone or they could be killed themselves for attacking an ally. Imprisoned, they would try to get out. To be with Byakuya, carrying out his will, what would they do? How far would they go to please him? Would they saw off their limbs just to squeeze through the bars of their cell to go back to him? They were a danger even to themselves if they were that deeply enthralled.
Hitsugaya sighed as he flopped down on his bed. It seemed to him the best solution was to prevent Byakuya from obtaining any more victims.
"As a vampire, Byakuya will need blood to live, so we can't limit his supply. Those three are already spellbound. As long as we can keep those numbers from increasing, that should put things in our favor."
Using what he knew about the lore seemed like the best way to limit Byakuya's power without drawing suspicion. Sunlight was a good deterrent. Hitsugaya decided to increase outdoor activity for himself and others knowing Byakuya would not be able to get near them. Vampires hated garlic. Akon never mentioned if this was true or not but it came up in all sorts of books so there must have been some truth to it. He decided to add garlic to his diet and encourage others to do so as well.
Would this be enough? Hitsugaya hoped it would help keep those nearest to him safe.
In the morning, Hitsugaya made his way around the Seireitei delivering cloves of garlic to the different Divisions. He dug up a bunch late last night from a garden and surprisingly some he found in the wild. He gave a bunch to Kensei and asked him if he could make some dishes he could then give to the Women's Association and his own Division. Garlic was a staple in Japanese cooking along with ginger so having garlic around wasn't too out of the ordinary. Kensei agreed and got to work, feeling ambitious.
Hitsugaya ate a whole clove which left his mouth burning and his eyes watering, but he wanted the smell on his breath just in case Byakuya came close. He wasn't sure what would happen to him if Byakuya did bite him but he wasn't willing to find out.
He left several cloves by Momo's place, two on her windowsill and one hidden in a potted plant she kept near her door. Hopefully the smell would be enough to repel Byakuya just in case he tried to feed on her as she slept. As for her walking around outside her dwelling, Hitsugaya made sure to add bits of garlic into her food. He slipped some into her soup when she wasn't looking and a whole handful to her noodles she packed for lunch.
As for his office, he stashed garlic in a variety of places which he hoped wouldn't be too outlandish if discovered. In a small bamboo basket on the coffee table, he left half a dozen cloves in plain sight along with a note reading 'had some extra, enjoy' which he placed among the cloves. If anyone bothered to ask, he could tell them that the basket was a gift from someone who kept a garden and couldn't use all they harvested. He also placed two potatoes on the coffee table just in case the garlic looked weird on its own.
He delivered similar baskets to other divisions, adding carrots and tomatoes to make it look like more of a garden basket. Some he just left on tables and others he handed to people saying that he received them as gifts from a gardener and wanted to spread it around since there was no way he could eat them all. No one questioned him. Unohana would sometimes do the same thing, distributing things from her garden to other Divisions when she harvested more than she could eat or was just feeling generous. Usually he was regifting the candy Ukitake gave to him so receiving vegetables instead was the only thing odd about this delivery.
After the final delivery, Hitsugaya was feeling pleased with his work and returned to his office. Since he had taken himself on a walk, he didn't have to expel any excess energy and could work without having to take a break.
Rangiku walked in a short time later, chewing something. "Captain, Kensei made a whole bunch of things for our Women's Association meeting. We were just talking about what we wanted to do for snacks. How lucky was that?"
"You don't say." Hitsugaya kept working.
"You should try his yakitori. The sauce was a little garlicy for my taste but it was delicious."
"Uh-huh."
"Say, we were thinking of moving our next meeting to Byakuya's place. He's been making himself scarce lately so he probably won't mind."
"Don't do that!" Hitsugaya snapped, standing up.
Rangiku recoiled at his tone. "Wh- why not?"
"Because… Because you have your meetings there all the time and it pisses him off. Remember when he locked you inside the secret room? He doesn't want you there."
Rangiku chuckled, waving him off with her hand. "Oh, Captain, it's fine. There are so many ways in and out of Byakuy'a place. We had no problem getting out after he boarded up the door."
Hitsugaya changed tactics. "Isn't Rukia supposed to be getting ready to receive her title as Lieutenant soon? Having a meeting there would probably stress her out and cause problems."
Rangiku pouted. "Well, I suppose you're right. A girl does need her space, especially during such an important time. Byakuya's bound to be pleased with her going up in rank."
"Which you shouldn't diminish. You know how temperamental he can be. Showing up like you do could sour the whole thing and get him upset with Rukia and you know how much his approval means to her," Hitsugaya added quickly.
"I guess you're right," Rangiku sighed.
"There's nothing wrong with the room you use now. And relocating to a different spot could make it harder for Kensei and Hisagi to find you guys and bring you food. I know how much you like free meals. More of Kensei's cooking. Wouldn't the other women enjoy that?"
"You're absolutely right, Captain," Rangiku said with a smile. "I should put in a request for our next meeting. I'm sure Kensei and Hisagi won't mind catering."
Hitsugaya sat down with a sigh. He hoped bringing all those things to her attention would be enough to keep her away from Byakuya's manor.
Rangiku looked at the basket on the table. "Captain, what's this?"
"Oh, that's just a gift. Extra food and that sort of thing."
"Hm. I've been seeing a lot of those baskets today. Must have been a big garden."
"Yeah." Hitsugaya didn't look up again, unwilling to answer any more questions regarding the basket."
Byakuya had been doing very well for himself lately thanks to his servants and refined itinerary. In an effort to please Byakuya, Renji filed all the paperwork while the Captain slept. With all the blood packets they squirreled away for him, Byakuya didn't have to take much blood from his servants, allowing them more energy to complete their tasks. He left his home early in the morning to reach his office before sunrise and simply slept there. The staff at Kuchiki manor hadn't noticed a thing once he changed his routine, leading to less suspicion.
While Renji filed paperwork, Ikkaku and Hisagi ran errands which mostly consisted of delivering files on Renji's behalf but also included securing more blood for their master.
Hisagi was in the sickbay doing just that when he overheard a nurse.
"Strange… I could have sworn there were more blood packs than this. Where could they all be going?"
"We did have several people in here needing transfusions."
"That would account for some of them but, if I'm not mistaken, there should be more. Take a look."
"They could have needed more than one, depending on how much was needed."
"Call me crazy, but I think some are missing."
"I told you where they went."
"But the numbers don't add up. Several bags are unaccounted for. And we haven't had anyone in need of a transfusion for the past couple of days. Look here, see? Yesterday we had twelve on this shelf alone and now we have ten. Where could they have gone?"
"Someone must have miscounted. It makes no sense for someone to steal blood."
"This closet's locked most of the time for that reason. We might need to increase security if keeping transfusion bags under lock and key isn't enough."
"I think you might be overreacting."
Keeping his back to the nurses, Hisagi tucked the transfusion bag into his kimono and slipped out of the room.
"Soup's on!" Kensei cried out as he served up a plate of garlic shrimp with fried rice at the Lieutenant's meeting.
Rangiku eyed the food hungrily then pouted. "Garlic again? You served that at the Women's Association meeting earlier."
"Hey, I gotta use this stuff up. Do you know how much garlic I got?"
"Save some for later," advised Kira.
"Gotta use it while it's fresh. Don't y'all know nothin'?"
Nanao adjusted her glasses which slipped down her nose as she shot Kensei a look. "Is that why a Captain has graced us with his presence during our Lieutenant's meeting?"
"I got no meetings going on and thought you guys might be hungry. Plus, I'm looking for someone."
"There's your excuse," she muttered.
Kensei looked around. "You guys seen Hisagi lately?"
Kira frowned. "Now that you mention it, no, I haven't. And he should be here. He is a Lieutenant."
"The guy never misses a meeting if he can help it," commented Iba.
"I heard he was stricken down with anemia," said Momo with concern. "You think he relapsed?"
"I saw him walking around before. I'm sure he's fine."
Isane gave a tiny gasp and said, "He was in the sickbay today. He looked ok, so I'm not sure why he was there. Maybe a follow-up?"
Kensei clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I don't care his excuse. The guy's harder to find these days than Soi Fon's sympathy."
Omaeda burst out laughing, already helping himself to the fried rice reeking of garlic. "Ain't that the truth!"
"Seriously," Kensei went on. "Hisagi's never disappeared like this before, leaving me to do all the work. He's always right there, eager to help me."
"Yet you seem to have ample time to cook for other people despite claiming to have extra work on your plate," commented Nanao.
"I can do two things."
"I hope he's alright," murmured Kira.
"He'll be walking funny after I get my foot up his ass for making me search for him," snarled Kensei. "I'm leaving him the paperwork to fill out like he was supposed to. I ain't doing it for him if that's his ploy."
"Doesn't sound like Hisagi to me…"
"Doing things that way will lead to a huge backlog," Nanso pointed out to Kensei. "If your Lieutenant isn't around, then you must fill it out so it arrives on time."
"Screw that!" Kensei slammed the door shut on his way out.
"The Head Captain will be furious if you leave it," Sasakibe called after him through the closed doors.
"Don't care!" Kensei's voice called back from down the hall.
What followed was a collection of sighs and some chuckles from the gathered Lieutenants.
Omaeda broke the momentary silence with a muffled gag, lips puckering after taking a bite of the fried rice. "Does that guy measure anything? All I taste is garlic."
"Instead of complaining about it, why don't you just stop eating it?"
"No," Omaeda whined, holding his bowl out of reach as if it were about to be taken from him.
Momo looked around the room as Omaeda went back for a second helping. "Renji isn't here, either," she said to Kira. "Renji and Hisagi are both missing."
Kira looked concerned. "This isn't like them."
"Oh, Renji's helping Byakuya with some work," said Iba.
"You talked to him?"
"Yup. Went to remind him of the meeting today and he said he couldn't make it because he had too much work and his Captain needed him."
Momo sighed with relief then perked up with a smile. "Oh! I wonder if he's getting anything special for Rukia. Everyone knows by now that she's going to be made Lieutenant."
"He's probably already got a gift picked out for her or is stressing about getting her the perfect thing which is why he has so much to do," said Rangiku as she crossed her legs.
"Good to know he's doing ok," said Kira. "Still, I wonder what's gotten into Hisagi. Rangiku, you didn't ask him any special favors, did you?"
"What, me?" Rangiku put a hand to her abundant chest and brushed her hair aside as if his question had been rude. "Don't blame me. I haven't seen him in days. Besides, even if I did, he can turn me down."
"Sure, he can…" Kira gave a sideward glace to everyone else in the room, knowing full well that Hisagi had a huge crush on Rangiku and found it difficult to turn down any request from her. He ran himself ragged just to please her but she seemed oblivious.
After the meeting, the Lieutenants divided up the leftover rice and went on their way. Rangiku was heading back to her office when she noticed Hisagi coming her way. She waved to him and he stopped.
"You weren't at the meeting today. Did you forget?"
"Meeting?" He blinked. "Oh, the meeting. Right. Yeah, I forgot all about that. I was busy."
"No problem. Not much went on, but I did save you some food." She thrust the bento of rice into his hands. She was tired of garlic and wanted to be rid of it. "Kensei showed up looking for you," she added quickly. "Maybe you should head over to your Division and help him out. He seemed pissed for some reason."
"Duly noted."
Rangiku gave him a wink and continued on her way. This time, Hisagi's heart didn't skip a beat as it usually did upon seeing her wink.
He looked down at the bento in his hands. Byakuya told him to maintain a healthy diet and eat regularly. Wanting Byakuya to feed off him again, Hisagi ate the fried rice and shrimp with gratitude, unaware of the effect garlic might have on Byakuya.
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