Everyone is staring at her; Ishida and the guards just look startled, but the look in Ichigo's eyes is one of concern. "Rukia?" he asks carefully, and steps closer to her. "Did something just happen?"
Her gorge rises suddenly, and Rukia claps a hand to her mouth before she hurries into the open door of Ichigo's office. She is on one of the benches, body shaking and face pale, when Ichigo steps inside. She swallows several times, trying to keep from retching.
He sits down next to her and takes her hands in both of his. They are freezing cold, and Ichigo chafes them to warm her, even as healing power trickles into her, slowing her heartrate and easing the nausea and shakes. "Can you tell me what happened?" he asks again.
"I—I Saw something," Rukia whispers, and there are tears in her amethyst eyes. Ichigo just waits patiently. "I've – it started happening after the Adachi incident. It's why I left the guard. I started to hear voices and see things."
A tall, slender man in black holds onto Karin tightly, one large hand clamped around both of her wrists so that her arms are twisted painfully behind her back. His eyes are an eerie bright green and the shock of hair on his head is dishwater blond. Rukia shields and dodges the projectiles he flings at her: children's toys, paperweights; anything with a sharp edge is fair game. One hits her forehead, and the sharp edge of the paperweight splits open her skin, sending a flood of red into her left eye.
Shouts from around the corner echo through the room and Adachi turns to look at the source of the noise, dragging Karin with him. It leaves his side open and Rukia's blue fire slithers, biting into him and wrapping around the wrist of the hand holding Karin. He yells in agony and lets go of Karin's wrists. The girl immediately runs toward Rukia and ducks behind her shield.
"Rukia!" she gasps, and Rukia doubles the strength of her shield. She shoves Karin behind her. More blue fire streaks toward Adachi from Rukia's right hand; he dodges, and Rukia curses under her breath.
"Rukia?"
He throws something toward them. It's an explosive, Rukia suddenly knows, and she turns away, throwing herself atop Karin as it explodes in midair. Her shield shreds under the onslaught and Rukia screams as fire burns her legs and back. Shrapnel – maybe from the bomb, maybe from the broken toys and furniture scattered around the room – embeds itself in her skin. Her ears feel stuffed full of cotton and she can barely hear Karin as she squirms out from under Rukia's bleeding body and shouts for help.
Rukia rolls herself over even though it makes her dizzy with pain, and blue fire explodes from her hand. When the other guards find them a few minutes later, Adachi is dead and Rukia is struggling to stay conscious.
"Rukia. Can you hear me?"
When she is released from the healing halls a few days later, she can't even form a shield. "Where is your blue fire?" Arisawa asks her when Rukia is cleared to return to duty. When Rukia's efforts produce nothing but a flicker of ordinary fire and a little smoke, a few guards whisper that Adachi must have damaged her magic.
The first time Rukia dreams of something that comes true – a member of the women's guard runs off with a kitchen servant – she thinks it is a coincidence. But then the whispers begin in her head: things as mundane as the kitchen's fish order and as esoteric as an obscure metal crafting technique.
"Rukia?" Ichigo says again and squeezes her hands gently. "Come back to me. Look at me." His voice is low in her ears and it cuts through the memory.
She drags in a breath and stares at him as the memory leaves her. "I didn't just smell the Night's Slippers in your tea that day. I dreamed about it early that morning. I thought it was just a dream. But when I woke up my hands were tingling, and I felt the same thing when I watched you pour the tea and lift the cup to drink from it," she explains. "The same thing happened at supper; I Saw the woman in the pink dress fake a trip to fall into your arms, and then when she did trip, I blocked her."
He glances back toward the office door briefly and then looks at her. "So then you Saw something just now. What was it?"
"There's a man. I think it's the man who's behind all of this. He told me that I was going to be his personal Seer and that he was going to conquer Athal." Rukia swallows again. "You were on the ground, bleeding. You weren't moving," she finishes in a whisper.
Ichigo's hands tighten around hers. "You've been able to prevent these visions from happening so far."
"Ah – there's one vision that hasn't…happened yet," Rukia prevaricates. "And I have no control over when I See something. I thought I was going crazy, until I smelled the tea."
Ichigo's hands let go of hers, but only so that he can pull her closer, arms tight around her. "You're not going crazy, Rukia. You have an invaluable gift. Seers are supposed to be a myth."
"You believe me?" The relief spreads through Rukia's body and the tension leaves her so quickly that she sinks into his arms.
"Of course I believe you." When he pulls back to look at her, Ichigo adds, "Maybe it's something you can train. Have you tried?"
She shakes her head briefly. "When it happened at the manor I just…thought I was losing my mind. The Kuchiki elders thought I was a stunted mind mage," she reminds him quietly.
"Your ability to locate someone by sensing their magic is closer to mind magic than battle magic," Ishida says from the doorway. When Ichigo and Rukia both stare at him, he adds, "Forgive me, the door was open. You say you can See, Lady Kuchiki? Neither my father nor I have ever met a Seer, but I have an old text with a few exercises; they might help."
"If I can control it and help Ichigo – yes, I'll do whatever I need to," Rukia says quickly.
Ishida nods to her. "I'll have the book brought to your rooms. I think if you can master the exercises, you'll find that your Sight will be clearer," he explains. Then he looks over at Ichigo. "I've taken everything I can from the hallway. I'll analyze the samples and confirm whether the same mage killed Murata and attacked you. It's all I can do for now, Sir."
Ichigo takes a deep breath. "Thank you, Ishida. I want to see Advisors Ukitake and Kyouraku. Have them sent here – please," he adds. "I want to see Shihouin and Zaraki again as well – with Rukia's skills, we may have an advantage."
Rukia's cheeks heat, but she just nods solemnly. "I'll do anything you need me to do in order to help," she repeats.
Ishida grunts. "I don't think this mind mage can attack again right away," he says. "That attack must have taken a lot of energy – he'll need some time to recover. But we may only have a day or two. If this is the same mage, he's very powerful."
Rukia nods in agreement. "I couldn't – see any sense of time in the vision, only that we were in a small room and I felt cornered. But I couldn't see much of the room either." She rolls her eyes. "As if that does any good at all."
Ishida grimaces. "I'll find your advisors," he says, and steps back outside. The door closes behind him.
Ichigo's lips touch the corner of her mouth. "Without any training you've already saved my life," he says firmly. "With training, you'll be more formidable than you already are." He grins when her cheeks flush.
She turns her head so that her lips can meet his in full, and Ichigo's arms tighten around her. The strength of those arms makes Rukia relax even as they kiss, and when her lips part on a breath he licks into her mouth, sending little shocks of pleasure through her body and prompting a soft moan that vibrates between them. Before they can do more, however, footsteps echo in the hallway and a knock echoes on the closed door. Ichigo pulls his mouth away but rests his forehead against hers.
At Ichigo's call, Kyouraku opens the door and steps inside. Ukitake follows him. "Ah – were we interrupting something?" Kyouraku asks with a grin.
Ichigo loosens his hold on Rukia but keeps her close to him. "Yes, but this is a crisis. Another one."
Ukitake shuts the office door and sits down on the bench, hiding a coughing fit in the folds of his robes. "Another?" he asks when his breathing has recovered.
"There's a mind mage in the palace, and we don't know who he is, or why he has attacked both my sisters and I," Ichigo explains. "Rukia can trace his magic – but I want to avoid a confrontation if we can. It might be the same person whose magic killed Murata. I want you to try and find out who amongst the nobles and courtiers still in the palace has mind magic. Kyouraku, you're known for being congenial," he starts.
Kyouraku huffs and tips his straw hat at Ichigo. "I'm known for being a drunk, you mean, and free with my special alcohol," he drawls.
Ukitake laughs softly but sobers when he looks at Ichigo. "With the empire still in mourning we can't exactly hold a party," he tells the young emperor. "We'd need either an official dispensation, which would look suspicious, or to hold an illicit party, which would be even more suspicious."
Ichigo bites his lower lip in thought. "What if it's not a party? Just dinner, one or two nobles at a time."
"Hn. Are you feeling well enough for that, Juushiro?" Kyouraku asks.
Rukia straightens up against Ichigo as she watches the two older men. This close, the signs of illness are easy to spot: Ukitake's pale skin and the shadows beneath his eyes give him away, as does the slight shaking of his hands.
"I'll be fine," Ukitake assures him, and the two exchange a look so tender that Rukia wants to turn her eyes away, as though it is something too intimate for her to watch. "If I get tired, you can always ply them with more alcohol and tell them your husband is a stick in the mud."
At that, Rukia hides a laugh behind her hand and she can feel Ichigo turning his face toward her hair, hiding his own smile. "Are either of you able to sense mind magic?" she asks.
Kyouraku grins at her. "I can sense every kind of magic," he explains. "It's why, while Advisor Ishida and his son handle magic-related matters, I keep a hand in it and in the empire's spiritual affairs." He looks at Rukia closely. "I can tell you have battle magic, for example – but you're a Seer as well." He pauses. "You have something of a mind mage about you too, Lady Kuchiki, but it feels almost entirely blocked."
Rukia stares at him and looks up quickly at Ichigo. "Maybe the Kuchiki elders were right," she whispers.
"What would block mind magic?" Ichigo asks, an eyebrow arched at Kyouraku. "And what do you mean mostly blocked?"
Kyouraku shrugs. "If you experienced trauma when your powers were maturing that could have done it. It's unusual to have considerable ability in three different magical specialties. Not unlike our Emperor here, Lady Kuchiki, you're…not exactly an anomaly, but rare."
"Ah – why is that so unusual?" Rukia asks.
Kyouraku rubs his chin lightly. "Well, it's not unusual for someone to have skill in multiple areas of the same kind of magic. Mages with skill in the material arts can frequently work with more than one material. But it seems that the magical pathways in the body can usually handle only one or two different types of magic. The Emperor is a good example of an anomaly – healing and battle magic alone are an unusual combination, but it's downright rare to have any skill with material arts as well."
"And my abilities?" she asks.
"Yours are a little more understandable, Lady Kuchiki. Battle and mind magics are not so far apart as healing and battle magics. But being able to See is…well, it's supposed to be a myth." Kyouraku shrugs, and then grins at them both. "Your children will be very interesting."
Ichigo and Rukia look at one another and then away, blushing brightly. "Ah, isn't it a bit soon to talk about children?" Her voice sounds shy to her own ears, and Rukia flushes deeper in embarrassment.
Ukitake smiles kindly. "My husband is teasing," he says, and nudges Kyouraku gently. "Of course it's early, you've just started courting." But he looks between them speculatively and turns to Kyouraku to whisper something that makes the other man tip his head back and laugh loudly.
They all look up at a loud knock at the door, and the door swings open to reveal Zaraki and Shihouin again. "You wanted to see us?" Zaraki asks and sketches a bow.
"Close the door," Ichigo orders. When the door is shut tightly, he explains, "We know that there is a mind mage somewhere in the palace. Rukia – Lady Kuchiki – has pointed out that all the guards in the palace won't do any good if a mind mage can easily incapacitate them. I want you to take your mind mages and have them test the other members of the guard for their ability to resist mind magic. And we need a plan to go after this mage."
Shihouin perches on a bench while Zaraki throws himself down on the one opposite her, legs spread wide and elbows resting on his thighs. "How are we going to find this mage?" he asks in a low growl. "Does anyone know who he is?"
"I can trace him by the feel of his magic," Rukia says.
Zaraki stares at her before grinning. "Useful," he says.
"And we will be taking a more…subtle approach," Ukitake adds.
"It will take time to have the entire guard stationed in the palace tested," Lady Shihouin points out. "We might lose the mage before we can do that."
"He seems fixated on the Emperor and his sisters," Rukia says, with a shake of her head. "I don't think he'll leave the palace as long as we haven't caught him."
"Hn. Maybe not. But all these painted ladies are leaving the palace – what if it's one of them?" Zaraki asks.
"I have Fujita testing nobles as they exit the palace," Lady Shihouin explains. "It's causing a terrible backlog though, your Imperial Highness. It could take a few days."
Ichigo grimaces. "That's just going to cause more chaos. Kyouraku, can you assist Fujita? Or are there other guards who can sense magic?"
Shihouin purses her lips. "I have three more in the guard, but one is on leave. I can send the other two to help Fujita, but that will leave us without anyone else in the palace besides Advisor Kyouraku," she muses.
"Hn. My guards can just shake it out of them," Zaraki suggests. When the two advisors, Ichigo, and Lady Shihouin all glare at him, he laughs. "Just a thought."
"Hn. I'd rather not have the entire nobility at my throat," Ichigo grumbles.
"So this mind mage. How are we going to catch him?" Shihouin asks.
They spend over an hour discussing it, raising ideas and discarding them. Rukia doesn't bring up her Sight; unreliable as it is, she won't be able to rely on it.
But eventually Zaraki laughs again and stands. "Keep this one, Sir," he advises Ichigo and points at Rukia. "Shihouin, if you send another one of your mages up to the gates, I'll send back-up in case anyone gets antsy," he offers. When Lady Shihouin stands to follow him, he nods to Ichigo and leaves, the door banging behind him.
Rukia's cheeks flush brightly again as Shihouin and then Kyouraku and Ukitake take their leave.
"It's nice to have the endorsement of your General," Rukia says faintly. "At least he isn't calling me useless."
Ichigo grins at her and rises before offering her his hand. "He's called the rest of the candidates useless as a group. It's as ringing an endorsement as you'll get from him," he agrees. When Rukia takes his hand and rises he pulls her close. "Do you mind if I keep you?" he asks in a low voice, lips a breath from hers.
"We've only just started courting properly. You might change your mind," Rukia protests, but she can't help the way she smiles up at him.
"Hn." Ichigo's teeth nip lightly at her lower lip, startling a gasp out of her. "That's very close to insulting yourself. I did tell you I'd take matters into my own hands if you did that again." His arm slides around her, a warm weight against her back.
"You still haven't explained what that means," Rukia complains.
Ichigo's eyes meet hers, and there is something both warm and dark in them. He murmurs into her ear, "I'll show you. Later, when you're not still wearing bandages and I really do have you all to myself."
Rukia's cheeks warm again, but she keeps her eyes on his as she says, "I look forward to it."