Chapter Thirty Six: Yojinmozu's Curse
The sun seemed to be blazing hotter than ever in the sky over their heads as the four awkward companions made their way slowly down the trackways towards the Academy's big, imposing building as it cast its shadow over the grounds that surrounded it.
Shunsui paused, wiping the sweat from his brow as he glanced up at the gleaming blue sky. The white patches of cloud that dotted the azure blanket seemed to blur and haze into one another and he bit his lip, feeling faintly giddy at the strange effect.
It's damn hot, after all. I didn't notice it being this hot before - but I guess it is still summer, and I should know by now that heatwaves aren't unusual. Even so, though, it wasn't like this when Juu and I walked down. Surely towards evening it should be getting cooler, not hotter?
"Shunsui?" Juushirou's voice startled him out of his reverie, and he turned, a sheepish look touching his dark eyes as he realised all three of his companions were staring at him, a mixture of consternation and irritation spreading across their expressions.
"Are you all right? You just stopped dead." Juushirou frowned. "Has something happened? I can't sense anything except them still fighting, but..."
"Sense anything?" Shunsui shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Sorry. I didn't mean to stop. I was just thinking how hot it was - I suppose I paused to get my breath a little, that's all."
"To get your breath?" Hirata's eyes opened wide, and Shunsui was sure he saw a flicker of alarm in the young boy's pale gaze, and he shrugged.
"Don't look so worried, Hirata-kun. I'm lazy and out of shape, which we both know is true." He said casually. "I'm not like you - I can't run across Districts by night and day in search of rescue. And I used a lot ofreiryokuon shunpo and Kidou already this afternoon - I'm knackered, if you want the truth."
At the coarseness of his terminology, Hirata's eyes became even bigger, and Shunsui grinned.
"Sorry. I suppose that's not the right kind of word to use when a lady is present." He said apologetically, turning to bow playfully in Saku's direction. "My apologies, Saku-sama. I hope I didn't offend you?"
"Stop being foolish." Saku snapped, discomfort clear in her gaze, but as Shunsui raised his head once more, the world around him swam, and he drew breath sharply into his lungs as giddiness overwhelmed his body. For whatever reason his sense of balance seemed to have entirely deserted him, and instinctively he reached out, grabbing Saku by the arm as he fought to keep his footing.
"Shunsui-sama?!" Saku stared at him in disbelief, going to pull away, but as she touched her hand to his, she let out an exclamation, reaching out to grasp him firmly by the shoulders instead. Her formality was suddenly thrown to the wind, and she gazed at him in consternation.
"Shunsui!"
"Etsuo-san?" Juushirou was immediately alert. "Shunsui? What's going on? Why are you..."
"He's burning hot. His fingers...it's like touching charcoal straight from the furnace." Saku whispered, and the anxiety in her tones seemed to help pierce through the fog in Shunsui's brain.
"Hot?" That was Juushirou, fear in his own words. "As in...fever hot?"
"He did just say that he was hot." Hirata murmured, his tones troubled, and Shunsui felt fingers brush against his brow. "Maybe we should stop for a moment. If Kyouraku-kun is feeling ill..."
"I can't believe he'd be that worn out that he'd start a fever. I've never known Shunsui to be sick in all the time I've known him, and he's never been short of strength or energy if he's wanted to use it." Saku said quietly, and at this point Shunsui took another deep breath, struggling to assert himself back into the conversation.
"I'm all right. I can walk. I just came over a bit dizzy, that's all. I'm tired and it's hot - as soon as I get back to school I'll be fine."
"It's not as hot now as it was when we left, and you were fine then." Juushirou said worriedly. "Shunsui, if you're running a fever..."
"It's hotter in summer in District Eight than it is here." Saku added quietly. "Much hotter, and you used to chase me all around the woodlands and down to the lake on days that were truly blazing. This is nothing in comparison - there's no reason for you to overheat in temperatures like this."
"He did use a lot of strength getting us out of the house." Juushirou sounded guilty. "Because I was silly and got myself wrapped up in trouble."
"Sit down for a minute anyway, Kyouraku-kun." Hirata suggested softly, fumbling at his belt for his water gourd and holding it out. "Here. Take this and drink it. If you're hot and dry, it will help at least."
"But I..."
"We're stopping and you're sitting." Juushirou said firmly, and Shunsui found himself pushed down beneath the shade of an old willow tree. "So don't argue. Take Hirata's water and drink it. We'll take a break and then head on. We're a distance from the town now, in any case. There's no urgent rush."
"Except to meet our three hour curfew deadline." Shunsui pointed out, meekly taking Hirata's gourd and sipping the cool contents. Inside his body a thirst raged, yet he held back, knowing that if he drank desperately, he would only frighten his companions more.
But something is wrong. I don't know what it is, but something is. I've never felt like this before - and Saku's right. The hot weather in District One is nothing compared to some of the weather we get in Eight - I shouldn't be affected by that, even if I did use shunpo twice today. It's never affected me like that - which means...
He set the gourd aside.
"I'm all right, you know. I just overheated a little...a combination of fire and shunpo and too much exercise doesn't suit me. Nothing more."
Hirata's expression became even more troubled at this, and the younger boy shuffled down beside him, casting him an anxious look.
"Kyouraku-kun, did you...did you touch the flames? Of Yojinmozu's sword - did you?"
Shunsui raised his gaze, swallowing then nodding his head.
"Only brushed it, but I guess so." He murmured, holding up his charred fingers. "Blocking his attack - but it didn't do anything more than dust my fingers."
Hirata's eyes became grave.
"I thought so." He whispered. "I thought it must be...but..."
"Hirata-kun?" Juushirou stared at his friend in apprehension. "What is it? Something has happened to Shunsui - because of that?"
Hirata pursed his lips, grasping Shunsui's wrist and running his own fingers over the faint burning marks. Although his touch was light, at the contact pain seared through Shunsui's limb and he gasped, pulling it back and shielding it protectively with his left sleeve.
"Hey! What are you trying to do - that hurt!"
He coughed, his throat spasming at the sudden outburst, and Hirata shook his head.
"Yojinmozu." He muttered. "Seimaru's zanpakutou...you've been touched by it, Kyouraku-kun. When you said you were hot, I wondered - but now I'm sure of it. He didn't just burn you, did he, with his flames? He cursed them too."
"Cursed them?" Shunsui raised his head at this, immediately wishing he hadn't made such a quick movement as the world swam once more before his gaze. "What do you mean, cursed them?"
"Chi ni juso o." Juushirou whispered, and Hirata nodded.
"Yojinmozu's shikai has two levels of attack." He said uneasily. "Flames which he can control - normal flames that lick their way up wood and across people's clothing like a proper fire would if you set light to tinder and left it to blaze. His Kouen Kougeki is that kind of attack - nothing unusual, just a normal fire attack cast by a normal fire zanpakutou. However..."
He frowned, and Shunsui saw the darkness in his gaze.
"Seimaru isn't normal." The younger boy said bitterly. "He likes to make people suffer, and his zanpakutou's spirit reflects that. If he curses his attack before he casts it, it's with the intention of killing the person who it hits."
"Kill them?" Juushirou exclamation stabbed through Shunsui's already thumping head, and he frowned, reaching up to touch his friend's arm.
"Turn the volume down when you do that? You're giving me a headache."
"I'm sorry." Juushirou bit his lip. "I just...so what does that mean? What happens now?"
"Seimaru-sama cursed Shunsui and now he's feeling the effects of that curse." Saku said softly, and Shunsui was startled by the genuine worry in her tones. She knelt down beside him, putting a hand to his forehead. "And that's why he's hot now. This fire, Hirata-sama...it burns from the inside, doesn't it? It doesn't burn clothing or wood...it burns people."
"Yes." Hirata whispered. "That's exactly what it does. It's a curse on his blood...the fire's infiltrated his blood stream and that's why..."
He faltered, and even through the fog of fever Shunsui was aware of tears on the young boy's lashes.
"I'm sorry, Kyouraku-kun." He murmured. "Because you came looking for me, this happened."
"No. It's my fault." Juushirou said slowly, anguish in his own eyes. "The blast wasn't aimed at Shunsui. It was intended for me. He intended me to be cursed. Shunsui blocked it, and pushed it away with Kidou and reiatsu. But Seimaru didn't mean to curse him at all. It's only because Shunsui was thinking more clearly than I was...that's why this happened."
"Idiot. Do you think I'd let you be fried?" Shunsui demanded, taking another swig of Hirata's water as he fought the rising panic that welled up inside of him. Somehow he had to keep calm, no matter how frightened he truly was. Somehow he had to stay nonchalant and easy - though even as that thought crossed his mind, he was aware of the prickling, stabbing pins and needles crawling up through his burnt fingers and beyond, and he swallowed hard.
"It was owed for the forest and the Hollow. Let's leave it at that." He added now, somehow managing to keep his tones level. "Well, Hirata-chan? How do you break the hex?"
Hirata shook his head.
"I don't know." He admitted helplessly. "I've never seen...No one has...Seimaru..."
He faltered, and Juushirou bit his lip.
"Every time Seimaru's used it before, the cursed person has died, hasn't he?" He murmured, and Hirata nodded.
"Yes."
"Well, that makes it interesting." Shunsui frowned, reaching up for the low-hanging branch of the tree and carefully pulling himself to his feet. "In which case, sitting around here is probably not the best idea, is it? If I'm about to catch fire, I don't want to set the whole forest alight."
"How can you make jokes when you're in that kind of state!" Saku hurried to support him as he swayed and wobbled, anxiety and frustration in her dark eyes. "Stop making a game out of serious things, Shunsui! You're sick, and you can barely stand - what do you think you're about to do?"
"Get back to school." Shunsui said frankly. "We don't know h...how to do anything about this, but if you d...don't mind, I'm not that keen on burning to death, inside or out. So...I figure...at school maybe someone will know more than we do. About curses. And h...how to break them."
"Unohana-sensei!" Juushirou exclaimed, and Shunsui nodded.
"Good place to start." He agreed hoarsely, as bars seemed to tighten around his chest and he coughed, gripping hold of the branch tightly as the shudders wracked through him. For a moment he thought that he would not be able to catch his breath, panic flooding him afresh as he struggled to draw air into his lungs, and the world swayed and twisted again, making him feel dizzy and weak.
If only it wasn't so hot. If only I wasn't so hot. If only...
"Don't fight against it." Juushirou's words broke through the rising hysteria, and he felt his friend's hand between his shoulder-blades. Though Juushirou was obviously frightened too, there was something reassuring in his classmate's touch, and he clung to that thought, closing his eyes as he fought to calm down.
At length the spasm subsided, and he drew air greedily into his lungs once more.
Juushirou sighed.
"Are you going to be able to walk anywhere, like this?" He murmured. "You're the only one of us who can do shunpo, and carrying you is..."
"Maybe we should have taken one of Midori-sama's horses, after all." Hirata fretted, and Juushirou shook his head.
"Like this, he wouldn't be able to hold on. Even if he was the best rider in Seireitei, it would be dangerous." He said softly. "But that said, I don't know if he'll be able to walk the distance either. If what you says is true...how long does it take? Before this curse...how long before it...you know...spreads?"
"From the moment he touched it it was in his system." Hirata said sadly. "From then - it's difficult to say."
"Then answer another question, Hirata-kun." Shunsui managed, casting him a grim look. "How long between Seimaru cursing someone and...and them...losing their grip...on their consciousness completely?"
"Shunsui?" Saku stared at him in alarm. "Are you faint?"
Shunsui ignored her question, his gaze intent on Hirata, who frowned.
"At most, an hour." He admitted.
"And from then, how...how long till they...till it's over?"
Hirata swallowed hard.
"The longest...was three hours." He whispered. "That I know of. A prisoner...in Seimaru's dungeon...was three hours."
"Then whether I can walk isn't the issue." Shunsui made up his mind, drawing on whatever reserves of strength he still had inside him as he stood upright. "Chances are...there's only Unohana-sensei...who can do anything about me. Right? So...I need to be able...to get to her. So we'll go. Now. Enough hesitating. Let's go."
Juushirou shot him a doubtful glance, but sighed.
"If you think you can, we should." He agreed at length. "Let us help you, though, all right? Don't fall down because you're trying to act tough. We'll get you back to school, I promise. Whatever happens, we will. You took the curse for me, in the end, so I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Shunsui closed his eyes briefly, then,
"I'll make it." He said thickly. "I've made up my mind and I will. But time...time is ticking. So we need to move. Now."
"I don't know why everyone is in such a hurry to go out of the school grounds just because Sensei's lifted the embargo."
Back at the Academy, Naoko gazed out of the window of the girl's dorm, resting her chin in her hands as she watched the stream of students flowing in and out of the gates below. "It's crazy. Anyone would think they were being let out of someone's dungeon, the way people are swarming around down there."
"Well, I'm sort of glad you feel that way." Sora admitted. "Because I'd have felt guilty, had you wanted to take off out and we weren't around to tag along with you."
"Tag along with me?" Naoko stared at her for a moment, then she grinned, nodding her head.
"I don't want to know what you and Mitsuki were doing this afternoon." She said frankly, holding up her hands. "It's going to be against rules, so I don't need to know. And I really don't care about going out. There's only a common town over the brow of the hill and nowhere of interest anywhere nearby. I'm quite happy staying here."
"You really don't like District settlements, do you?" Sora looked amused, and Naoko shook her head, shrugging her shoulders.
"I don't." She said matter-of-factly. "I don't like the way they live. It's inconvenient and the way the people look at me makes me think I'm about to be set upon by beggars or something similar. So I don't like stepping out in District Four, and I have no intention of doing so here."
"You're going to make a funny healer, then, if you won't go visit people." Sora teased, and Naoko spread her hands.
"I'm not a healer. Not naturally. If I was, I probably wouldn't be sent here." She said evenly. "I'm the odd sheep of the family in that respect - Father sent me in order for me to find out what my talents were, since I have absolutely no aptitude for helping sick people at all. I don't even really like them that much. They're just a nusiance and a bother, if you want the truth."
She looked rueful.
"Mitsuki's much more that way inclined than I'll ever be - Unohana or otherwise."
"Maybe you two should switch Clans." Sora suggested, pulling her friend up from her resting place and gesturing to the door. "Come on. Let's at least go into the grounds and get some air. We don't have to get a token or go anywhere...but it's too nice out to be shut away in here."
"On the contrary, the daytime is the only time the dorm isn't inundated with that Nakamura Hanako girl and her constant complaining." Naoko sighed. "Which is another thing I don't like about the Districts, for the record."
"Hanako?" Sora looked blank, and Naoko shook her head impatiently.
"No." She said with a sigh. "The fact that they don't know anything, and protest about it constantly."
"Still sounds like Hanako to me." Sora said reflectively. "The other District kids don't seem like that. Do you think Juushirou's like that?"
"No." Naoko admitted, as Sora led the way down the hallway to the main stairs. "Ukitake-kun is something else. I don't know quite what, yet. But what does bother me is Mitsuki and how much she's getting herself involved with him. He's a nice enough person - I don't have anything against him at all. He has considerable spirit power, adequate manners and, in the end, he doesn't complain about things like Hanako does. But even so..."
"She's Clan and he isn't." Sora murmured. "And it's the same District, so it makes it more complicated."
"It does." Naoko said, her expression troubled. "I like Mitsuki, Sora. You know that. I understand how she is because I'm surrounded by people like her when I'm home, and even if she is a little strange, her heart is kind. You and she are my closest friends here, and I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt either of you, which is why I've not said anything to her. But it's starting to worry me all the more, to be truthful. That Mitsuki seems so keen on him. In a way that's beyond friendship - in a way Clan children shouldn't feel about District ones."
"It sort of worries me too." Sora admitted with a sigh, pushing back the door that led to the grounds. "But in the end, I don't think that there's much we can do about it. To speak to either of them would be mean - it would be like we were confirming that Juushirou was beneath Mitsuki, and I don't think that would be fair."
"By birth he is. By birth he always will be. Nothing can change that." Naoko said frankly, and Sora's brows knotted together.
"But would you turn against her, if she insisted on pushing forward anyway?" She demanded. Naoko sighed, shaking her head.
"No. I wouldn't." She owned. "And I don't...Ukitake-kun is different from other District boys. He has better manners and etiquette than Houjou-kun, and more sense than Kyouraku-kun. He's what you'd call a gentleman, I think - even despite his roots. And I understand why Mitsuki is attached to him. He's not a malicious or cruel person, and she's the kind of soul who flits towards kindness like a moth to a flame. Even so, though...what we think doesn't matter in the end."
"Mitsuki's father is very fond of her." Sora murmured. "But I don't think he'd indulge her falling in love with a boy from the District."
She sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"But at the moment Juushirou doesn't seem aware of it." She added. "So at the moment, there isn't a problem for us to worry about, Nao-chan. We just keep humouring her - and maybe, in the end, she'll snap out of it on her own."
"Shikibu-san! Shiba-san!"
As they headed out into the sunlight, a breathless voice accosted them, and the two girls turned, confusion on their features as they recognised the District girl about whom they had earlier been talking. She was running across the grass towards them, almost tripping over her feet in her haste and Naoko sighed, shaking her head in a resigned, long-suffering way.
"Nakamura-san." She said softly, her tones nonetheless forceful enough to stop the girl in her tracks. "What on earth has happened, that you're running crazily all over the place shrieking our names like that at the top of your voice?"
"I wanted to find you as quickly as possible." Hanako said frankly, faint petulance in her tones as she stopped a few feet from where Naoko stood. "I thought you'd want to know, seeing as she's your friend and all of that."
"Want to know? Our friend?" Sora blinked, then, "Hanako, has something happened to Mitsuki?"
"None of us really know what's happened to her." Hanako admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "She's having one of her odd fits – we can't make head nor tail of her, so I decided I'd come looking for one of you. You understand her Clan eccentricities better than we do, after all."
"Clan eccentricities?" Naoko was indignant, but Sora held up her hand, shaking her head.
"Where is she, Hanako?" She asked softly. "If she's upset then we'll go to her – you did the right thing, coming to find us. She didn't say anything specifically? Did she ask for us…or…?"
"She seemed giddy and faint and what she said didn't really connect together." Hanako said frankly. "She's in the common room. Come speak to her, anyway. She's making older students stare and gather around, and they already look at District students strangely. I don't want them to think that we did something to her, because if the Kuchiki-ke thought that we did…"
"All right. We're coming." Sora cut her off in mid-flow, realising that one of Hanako's legendary whines was about to rear it's head. "Thanks, Hanako. Come on, Nao-chan. If Mitsuki's upset, we need to get her out of the crowd. She'll calm down more quickly then – let's go."
Naoko sighed, but nodded, and the two girls quickened their pace, heading back inside the school building and through the corridors towards the students' social area. As they reached the door, they found it slid half open, and even as they walked towards it they could hear Ryuu's distinct and cutting tones piercing through everything else.
"I have already told you to leave my cousin alone." He was saying. "If Mitsuki is unwell, it is certainly no business of anyone else's – disperse and leave her be!"
"Kuchiki-kun!" Naoko was the first inside, and as the two girls entered the scene they saw their friend, pale and huddled in a ball beneath the window, tears glittering on her lashes as she gazed around her like a frightened, wounded animal. Several other students were gathered a short distance away, and between them and Mitsuki was Ryuu, indignation on his tired features as he stood guard over his upset cousin.
"Shikibu-san. Sora." At the sight of them, Ryuu looked relieved. "I am glad to see you. Nakamura-san seems to have moved quickly – thank you for coming so speedily."
"If Mi-chan's ill, then of course we'll come." Sora said simply, pushing through the crowd of older students with little care or attention to who she was shoving aside. "Though I didn't expect you to be here too, Kuchiki. I thought you'd exhausted yourself for one day."
"I did, but certain things in the air alerted me, and Mitsuki's spirit also seemed out of sync." Ryuu nodded his head, turning to glance at his shaking companion, then sighing. "I confess I do not understand her reaction, nor how to deal with it. But I will not have impolite students gathering as though she is some kind of freak show. Whatever her gifts are, a Kuchiki should be treated with respect, not hoarded around like a circus animal beginning its routine."
"Well, that should go without saying." Naoko paused to give the gathered students an imperious, withering glare. "I thought at least Clan people had better manners than to crowd around and stare."
At her cutting words, several students looked discomfited, and under her cold gaze they began to disperse, leaving the three girls and Ryuu alone in the corner of the common room.
"Mitsuki, are you okay?" Sora dropped down at Mitsuki's side, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, and Mitsuki's head jerked up as if seeing Sora for the first time.
"Sora!" She sobbed, flinging herself on her friend and burying her head in the other girl's shoulder as she shook with the violence of her tears. Sora sighed, raising her gaze to meet Naoko's, then,
"Should we take her to your Clan Leader? Unohana-sama's back here now, after all – should we take Mitsuki there?"
"Maybe." Naoko knelt cautiously at the girl's other side. "Mitsuki-chan, Nakamura-san said you felt faint and giddy – do you want to go to the Healing Bay?"
Mitsuki drew a heavy breath into her lungs, raising her head.
"I'm not sick. I'm all right." She murmured. "It's not me…I'm not…"
She faltered, then,
"Ukitake-kun?" Naoko asked, and Mitsuki shook her head.
"It's a curse." She whispered. "There's just…fire…everywhere."
"A curse?" Sora's eyes widened. "A fire curse? But…what…"
"No, I think who is the more pertinent question." Ryuu looked concerned. "Ukitake and Kyouraku left the school earlier on, to follow the results of our Bakudou experimentations. If Mitsuki has reacted this way, then it can only mean one of them is in trouble."
"Shunsui, then?" Fear pierced Sora's heart, and Mitsuki nodded.
"Yes."
Her answer was little more than a whisper, and Sora's heart clenched once again.
"Shunsui's been cursed?"
"Yes."
"By what, though?" Sora demanded. "How…? He's stupid, but he's not that stupid!"
Ryuu knitted his brows together.
"Endou Seimaru's zanpakutou." He murmured. "What a nasty piece of work that one is. And even though we aimed to avoid him – it seems doing so was an impossibility, after all."
"A zanpakutou's curse?" Sora whitened, staring at Ryuu in consternation. "But does that mean…"
"It means that Kyouraku is in trouble." Ryuu got slowly to his feet. "Take care of Mitsuki, both of you. Help her calm down, if you can. I will go and speak to Unohana-sensei."
"Curses can't be broken that easily, Kuchiki-kun." Naoko's expression became grave. "I doubt there's much that she can do. Not if there was real killing intent in the curse itself. It's not an illness, after all. It can't be healed."
Mitsuki let out a faint moan, sinking back against Sora once more, and Sora sighed, stroking her friend's hair absently.
"You can feel it too, can't you?" She murmured. "Well? If it can't be healed, what can be done about it?"
"By us? Nothing at all." Naoko spread her hands helplessly. "Curses are a matter of strength versus strength. They're entirely to do with will power and state of mind. If Kyouraku-kun's desire to live is stronger than Seimaru-dono's desire to kill him, then he will break it. But if it's the other way around, Kyouraku-kun will die. That's how curses work. They attack the soul in ways healers can't fix – until the curse itself is broken, there'll be nothing that Retsu-sama can do about it."
"Nothing?" Sora bit her lip, and Ryuu shot her a surprised gaze.
"Are you worried about him, then?"
"Of course, you idiot. Aren't you?"
"Yes. But that's because Kyouraku is one I have come to consider a friend." Ryuu said frankly. "You, on the other hand, spend all your time complaining about him and nagging him. I had thought you found him a nuisance."
"He is a nuisance." Sora admitted. "But…he…"
"It's a brotherly kind of nuisance." Naoko said succinctly. "Kyouraku-kun drives Sora mad, but it's always just banter, Kuchiki-kun. They're like siblings, because Tokutarou-sama grew up with Sora's family. So of course she'd be worried. Besides, anyone should be worried about someone if they're hurt like this."
"I don't see why." Ryuu pursed his lips. "I have absolutely no concern for Shihouin or Onoe, because they are not my allies and I have no interest in their situation."
"Mitsuki does, though, even though the Shihouin and the Kuchiki hate one another." Naoko pointed out, and Ryuu shrugged.
"Mitsuki is…different." He acknowledged. "Even among our Clanfolk she is seen as such. She is not like the rest of the family…she is different."
"A lot of people in my family think I'm crazy." Mitsuki murmured at that moment. "But…thank you for defending me, Ryuu-kun."
"I don't think you're crazy." Ryuu admitted. "Although I do not understand how you view things, I am able to comprehend that you are not acting this way out of madness or seeking attention. Your whims correlate directly each time to actual events – there is no insanity in that kind of perception."
His gaze flitted towards the window, then,
"I can feel them, coming back." He murmured. "Ukitake. Kyouraku. And…"
"And?"
"Two are with them." Ryuu's brows knitted together. "One is…Hirata, I believe. The other…a woman. I do not know who she is."
"Endou-kun too?" Naoko's eyes widened, and Ryuu nodded.
"That was the reason for leaving the school this afternoon." He said quietly. "To find Hirata. It seems at least they have succeeded in that."
"But at what cost?" Sora murmured. "Come on. Mitsuki, you too – if you can stand. Let's all go meet them. If Shunsui's hurt then they might need help – and there'll be all hell let loose soon enough."
"I can stand." Mitsuki agreed, relief flooding her features. "And I can sense it too. It is Hirata-kun. And…someone else."
"We'll take a short cut, then we can avoid the Seniors if they happen to be around." Sora flung open the window, neatly pulling herself through it onto the grass outside. "Well? If you're coming, come. Mitsuki, take my hand – we're on the first floor, so there's no drop."
"Climbing out of windows is not very ladylike, Sora." Naoko scolded, but nevertheless she hitched up her own hakama, following suit with a heavy sigh. Between the two of them, they helped Mitsuki to clamber over, then,
"Kuchiki-kun, are you coming too?"
"Yes. I am." Ryuu agreed, resting his hands on the sill and vaulting cleanly over the divide onto the grass outside. "I do not believe there is time to waste."
"I didn't think I'd ever see you do something like that." Naoko shot him a surprised look, and Ryuu shrugged his shoulders.
"As I believe I have said, they are my friends." He said pragmatically. "Hirata has been missing and Kyouraku may be hurt. Therefore needs must, as the old adage says."
"Needs must at a quicker speed, so stop babbling and come on." Sora said urgently, gesturing towards the rear gate. "They're coming that way, aren't they? Even I can feel it now – it's definitely Shunsui and he's definitely not all right."
"We're coming, we're coming." Naoko muttered, but nonetheless she sped up her pace, and before long the four were within reach of the rear gate, just in time to see the missing students reach the main gate.
It was unattended, the assigned Senior having been called away to separate two third year students who had begun a brawl in the Kidou arena, and as they slipped back into the school grounds, Sora ran forward, anxiety on her features.
"Shunsui!"
"Sora?" At their approach, Juushirou raised his head, his gaze darting between each of them and resting, finally, on Mitsuki. He frowned, then, "Edogawa-san – you felt it, didn't you? You already know…don't you?"
Mitsuki nodded, apprehension in her grey eyes as Shunsui himself stepped over the threshold, dropping down onto the grass with a heavy sigh.
"That's me done, then." He said softly, and Sora could hear the hoarseness in his voice. "I can't go any further…even if you paid me."
"You can't just drop here, Shunsui." The girl who had been helping him dropped down immediately beside him, her expression a mixture of reproach and anxiety, and Sora stared at her in bemusement as she interpreted the stranger's simple dress and familiarity of manner. "Weren't you going to keep going till we found your Unohana-sama? What use is it to anyone if you stop here?"
"Saku, stop it." Shunsui raised a shaky hand, resting it against her arm as he shook his head. "I can't. My legs…I can't go any further."
"Don't push him, Etsuo-san." Juushirou said softly. "It's fine. We're back here now. We'll get help to come to him."
"What is going on? Why were you fighting that nutcase? What exactly happened in town?" Sora descended on them in a whirlwind of questions. "And Hirata, where have you been, exactly, for the last couple of days? Do you know how worried everyone has…and what the hell are you wearing?"
"District Two." Hirata touched the fabric of his robes absently, then, "I went to District Two to invoke an alliance and get help."
"District Two?" Shock flooded Ryuu's features. "You mean…that Shadow Cat?"
"Midori-sama is my ally. I'm an Endou, not a Kuchiki." Hirata said gravely, meeting the older boy's gaze bravely. "Our needs are different. And I needed her help."
He cast Shunsui a glance, biting his lip.
"But I didn't intend…"
"This is Seimaru's work, correct?" Ryuu cut across him, and Hirata nodded.
"I'm sorry." He murmured. "I've made a lot of trouble for everyone, haven't I?"
"I don't think you were the one making the trouble." Juushirou shook his head. "We were worried, but it's Seimaru who's to blame."
He crouched down at Shunsui's other side, putting a hand to his brow.
"You're still getting warmer." He said quietly. "It's probably best if you don't try to move any more."
"There's none of my water left." Hirata said anxiously, and the strange woman who Shunsui had called Saku sighed, pulling her own gourd from her belt.
"There's mine." She said frankly. "Here, Shunsui. Sit quiet and drink this."
Shunsui did not answer, but he took the gourd in clumsy fingers, putting it to his lips. At the greedy, thirsty way in which he drained it, Sora was struck cold, realising how high her classmate's fever ran.
"I've never seen you sick before." She murmured. "What the hell did he do to you?"
"Mitsuki said it was a fire curse." Ryuu said quietly. "Didn't you, Mitsuki?"
Numbly Mitsuki nodded her head.
"Then I'll go to the Healing Bay and get Retsu-sama." Naoko decided, bringing everyone back to reality with her matter of fact suggestion. "Since you all want to stand around, gawp at him and mutter about how it happened, I'll do something useful. If he's got a fever he should be inside. Even without any inclination for healing, I know that much."
"There's no need for that, Naoko-san."
The voice of the healer herself interrupted them at that moment, and relief flooded Sora's heart as she felt the gentle, reassuring pulse of the Clan Leader's reiatsu as she shunpoed onto the scene.
"Unohana-sensei!" Juushirou exclaimed. "Sensei, Shunsui is..."
"Yes. I am aware." Retsu nodded her head, bending down to touch Shunsui's brow, then frowning. "I think you should come with me now. Don't you, Kyouraku-kun?"
Shunsui raised his gaze to hers, and Retsu's expression became sober.
"Yes. I think that would be the best thing." She murmured, slipping her arm around his shoulders. In the next instant they were gone in a whoosh of spiritual energy, and Sora bit her lip, sending Juushirou an accusatory look.
"How could you let him get hurt like that?" She demanded, irrational anger bubbling up inside of her. "I know he's stupid, dammit, but you're supposed to have sense! Couldn't you have pulled him back?"
"Sora, there's no use yelling at Ukitake-kun." Naoko rested a hand on her friend's arm. "You said it yourself. Kyouraku-kun is stupid."
Juushirou looked pained, and Sora was struck by the guilt in his hazel eyes.
"It's my fault he's hurt." He said softly, shaking his head. "Thank you for saying that, Shikibu-san, but it is my fault this happened. He took the curse on my account. Because I lost my head and acted...foolishly. Neither of us knew...what Seimaru's flames could do. But..."
"He's got bad very quickly." The strange girl said apprehensively. "As though there really is a fire inside of him."
"The curse can't be broken by a healer." Hirata added miserably. "Unohana-sensei may have taken him, but there's nothing that she can do. Nothing at all."
"Then it's like Naoko said. It's a matter of Shunsui's will to live?" Sora bit her lip, and Hirata shrugged.
"I've never seen anyone overcome it before." He admitted, tears on his lashes once more. "I'm sorry, Sora. I didn't mean that he'd get hurt...because of me...because of this..."
"Shh." Juushirou shook his head, somehow managing to reassert himself at his friend's broken words. "Don't. You did something you had to do and you're not to blame for anything that happened because we came out looking for you. We were worried, but if we'd trusted you, it wouldn't have happened. You had everything planned out and we should have known that. You're not to blame for what your kinsman does, either. None of the blame is yours, Hirata. None of it at all."
The strange girl got to her feet.
"I want to go to where he is." She said quietly. "Please, if it's no trouble."
"Who are you, anyway?" Naoko voiced the question Sora had been inwardly wondering about, fixing the girl with a scrutinous look. "What is your relationship to Kyouraku-kun and why are you here? You don't look like Clan."
"I'm not." The woman shook her head impatiently. "But right now that's not important. My name is Etsuo Saku, and right now I'm an old friend of Shunsui's. I'd like to go to where he is. Will someone please tell me the way?"
"Etsuo-san is not an enemy." Hirata murmured. "She works for Midori-sama, and she came back with us for her safety."
"And I think Shunsui would like to have her nearby." Juushirou added gravely. "So while there's nobody on duty to stop us, lets go to the Healing Bay. Unohana-sensei didn't say anything, did she, when she came and took Shunsui inside? She must have known you were here, Etsuo-san. But she didn't say anything about it. So I'm sure...if we ask her..."
"Are you sure letting a Shihouin employee into the Healing Bay is a good idea?" Naoko looked doubtful, and Juushirou nodded.
"I'll take responsibility." He said tiredly. "Besides, if I can, I intend on staying too. For a while, anyway. I don't think I can do anything, and Etsuo-san probably can't either. But at least if Shunsui knows we're there...if he does..."
"We'll go. There's no sense in arguing over it." Sora said at length. "If it's that way, then we'll go. Mitsuki, you want to go too - don't you?"
Mitsuki nodded.
"I'm trying not to focus on it, but his aura is surrounded by fire." She said softly. "Retsu-sama must have felt it too, that's why she came like she did."
She took a shaky breath into her lungs, then,
"Even if I can't do anything, going back to the dorm or the common room isn't going to change how I feel about it. So if I can run errands for Retsu-sama, at least then I'll be helping a little."
"Then that's what we'll do." Juushirou decided, relief in his eyes. "Now, before anyone tries to stop us."
"Wait."
The voice was deep and rumbling, and at the sound of it the students froze, each turning to face the speaker with a mixture of alarm and apprehension on their faces.
"Genryuusai-sensei." Sora whispered, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Hirata step instinctively in front of Saku, anxiety in his pale blue eyes.
For a moment there was silence, then,
"Endou Hirata." He said quietly, his piercing gaze resting on the youngest member of the group. "You have decided, then, to return to us after all?"
Hirata reddened, looking distinctly frightened, and Genryuusai nodded.
"Very well." He said evenly. "And you have brought Etsuo Saku, too...on the orders of your ally, I trust - Shihouin Midori?"
"Yes...yes, Sensei."
"I see." Genryuusai's eyes became near slits as he digested that, almost disappearing completely under his bushy white brows. Then he nodded.
"Retsu-dono has acted already." He mused. "So the curse has fallen on Kyouraku Shunsui, then?"
He tut-tutted slowly.
"When children play with things they are not ready to play with, tragedy can happen." He said frankly, and Sora saw Juushirou and Ryuu both flinch at the meaning in the old man's tones.
"It's my fault, Sensei. Not Shunsui's." Juushirou spoke up bravely. "What happened...was my fault. I did something silly and he rescued me. He got burnt in the process. It was...my fault."
"Then the burden will be even greater for you than for your companions, regardless of the outcome." Genryuusai said gravely. "But I don't think you need me to tell you that. You know, I think, only too well...that there is no guarantee that Shunsui will escape this with his life."
Juushirou hung his head, and despite herself Sora felt sorry for him.
"Sensei, is it all right for us to go to the Healing Bay?" She asked, one hand on Mitsuki's arm. "Mitsuki's worried, and...and..."
"I have no reason to stop you." Genryuusai shook his head. "You may go."
"I would like to go with them, please, sir." Saku said softly, and Genryuusai eyed her for a moment.
"I see." He mused. "On your mistress' behalf, or on your own?"
"M...my own, sir." Saku hesitated, then, "Though it was a long time ago, Sh...Kyouraku-sama and I were childhood acquaintances in District Eight. And I...even though things have come between us...I'd like to see that he's all right."
Sora's eyes widened, then a tiny smile touched her lips.
"Can we take her with us, Sensei?" She asked, and Genryuusai nodded.
"Go." He agreed. "Shikibu, you are also dismissed. Kuchiki, Ukitake, Endou. I wish to speak to all of you...but Hirata, I wish to talk to you first of all. Kuchiki, Ukitake - please go to your Dorm and wait there. If Houjou has returned from his remedial Kidou coaching, you may tell him that Endou has returned home safely, and that Kyouraku has received an injury. You are forbidden from telling him any more until we have spoken. Understood? I will not have wild gossip trawling the halls of this Academy!"
"Yes, Sensei." As one boy, Juushirou and Ryuu answered, and Genryuusai tapped his cane absently against the ground.
"My office, then, Hirata." He rumbled. "Now."
"Let's go." Sora slipped her arm in Mitsuki's, casting Saku a glance. "The Healing Bay is this way - follow me, Etsuo-san."
"Thank you." Saku offered her a faint smile. "I'm grateful. And sorry for appearing so suddenly like this."
"Are you really an old friend of Kyouraku-kun's?" Mitsuki asked her softly, and Saku nodded.
"When he was six years old, he came to stay at the manor near where my family come from." She agreed, and Sora saw a slightly wistful look enter her dark eyes. "I was about eight at the time and Father had just entered Shunsui's Uncle's service. So we saw a lot of each other as small children."
"The Kyouraku-ke allowed you to mix together, even though he was Clan?" Naoko was surprised, and Saku shrugged.
"It was Shunsui and I who made that choice. We were children and we didn't understand the levels between us." She replied sadly. "But when his family found out, we were separated. That was four years or so ago - a lot has happened since then. But...even though it has..."
She shrugged again.
"I'm fond of him." She murmured. "I can't change that, whatever else changes. And I'm worried about him. In all the years I've known him, I never remember him getting sick."
"Me either." Sora shook her head, feeling a strange kind of rapport with this odd newcomer. "Shunsui's like my brother in a lot of ways - his half brother is a blood relative of mine, so it's complicated but it means...well, Shunsui and I have a special sibling kind of bond. Even though we fight a lot."
"You seem to do most of the fighting." Naoko reflected, and Sora shrugged.
"That's only because Shunsui doesn't fight back. He just smiles and says something infuriating." She said sadly. "Seeing him like that...collapsed on the ground, barely able to speak...I don't like it. I'd rather he was teasing me as loud and hard as he could go...I don't like seeing him weak."
"Sensei seems to know a lot about everything that's happened today." Mitsuki murmured. "Don't you think so? He didn't ask a lot of questions. He seemed to know."
"He's the Headmaster, so I suppose it makes sense." Sora sighed, but Mitsuki shook her head.
"No." She whispered. "Because the fight stopped. Midori-sama and Seimaru-sama's fight...has stopped. And then Sensei..."
"You think Genryuusai-sama stopped Midori-sama and Seimaru-sama fighting?" Saku shot her a startled look, and Mitsuki nodded.
"Yes."
"Then..."
"If he let you come with us, it means he's chosen your side." Naoko said pragmatically. "Or at least, he believes Midori-sama to be in the right this time around. Which, if Kyouraku-kun has been cursed, seems a logical choice to make."
"Midori-sama came back to District One to stop Seimaru-sama from acting in a way that would hurt a lot of people." Saku said softly. "I'm not really sure how else to explain it. But even so...even though that's true..."
"Seimaru-sama is a powerful Endou." Sora said bitterly. "And without hard evidence against him, nothing will be done."
"Something will be." Mitsuki said resolutely. "He cursed Kyouraku-kun. Sensei must know that. If he does...then something will be done."
"But probably not the level he deserves." Sora clenched her fists, and Saku shook her head.
"Most of that blame will fall on the Shihouin-ke." She said gravely. "Midori-sama sees it as important that she forge and uphold as many alliances as she can - since the times in District Two will soon be difficult ones."
"For now, District Two can take care of itself." Sora said frankly, as they reached the door of the Healing Bay. "For now, Shunsui is more important than any of that. And if Naoko's right that it's down to him and to his willpower...we have to let him know that we're here, fighting on his side!"
Author's Note:
Why is Naoko in this chapter? Well, she had a moan to me about having had not much to do so far, even though she's a member of Class One. As the most neglected class member in the fic so far, I decided she could have a little bit of airtime here with Mitsuki and Sora.
She's a persuasive individual after all ^_^.
As for Nakamura Hanako - She's another of the four first year District students, along with Kira Hideharu and Juu...and one other who also hasn't been introduced by name. She's not particularly important at the moment so feel free to forget all about her XD