Chapter Fifty Three: Chasing Demons
"You do realise that this is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
As they walked through the grove, Juushirou cast his companion a rueful glance.
"It's all very well saying that we'll look for Eiraki-hime come the dawn, but that's probably going to be easier to say than it is to do. If she's in Keitarou-san's grip, who knows what kind of shelter she has? Whether she's his puppet or whether she isn't, she almost certainly has his protection."
"I know. I'm bothered by that too."
Shunsui chewed down hard on his lip, nodding his head in acknowledgement of his companion's words.
"Even if I wasn't, the fact we've been out since the sun rose looking and haven't found the slightest trace would be a dead giveaway that she doesn't want to be found. She never did have a very powerful spiritual presence, and I imagine that with Keitarou's help she'd be able to conceal even that...so we might not be able to find her."
"But you still think we should be looking?" Juushirou's eyes narrowed, and Shunsui nodded.
"Don't you?"
"Yes," Juushirou admitted, reaching up to run his fingers through his lank white hair. "We should keep looking, if for no other reason than for Hirata's family's sake. I badly want to find the girl and get her out of this mess, Shunsui. She's a gullible kid - she was the last time we met up with her, and even if she is doing Keitarou-san's dirty work, it may just be that she's been duped by his powers of persuasion into believing what he wants makes sense. If there's a way to get her out of this, then I'd like to find it."
"Yes..." Shunsui's eyes became thoughtful, "perhaps that's why I'm feeling like this too. The truth is, though, Juu, I don't know that it is for that reason. Hirata's my friend and I don't like that this is another instance where his relatives have been dragged into the dark, but there's something else to it as well. I can't quite put it into words right...but for the first time maybe I see it from his side. Yours too, I imagine."
"What do you mean?" Juushirou eyed him curiously, and Shunsui pressed his lips together pensively.
"As an older brother," he admitted at last. "I've become that for the first time in my life these past few months. It's silly when I've met her only once, but I want to make sure...nothing bad happens to her ever again. I'm cross with Father for abandoning her, and frustrated that circumstances mean there's so little I can do for her. I would have liked to have had sisters and brothers both, growing up. It would've been less lonely, and perhaps I wouldn't have clung to Saku so much and been such a burden on her life. You know I envy your chaotic family. Well, I'm realising that I might have had that too, only Father wasn't choosy about who he slept with, and Clan pride is such that some divides can't easily be crossed."
"You're thinking about Riri a lot lately."
"Mm. And whether there might be others. If there's one, who knows?"
Shunsui shrugged.
"If there are, I can't do anything about them. I realise that, because I'd never be able to find them. There's no way of doing it if Father didn't acknowledge them, and since Nii-sama reckons all of his other personal effects are still in Clan possession, it seems unlikely that he went around donating trivial pieces of metal to other bastard children round District Eight. But Riri is different. I know about her. Now I do, I'm determined to protect her. I didn't realise that I'd feel so strongly about something like this - but I really do."
"Mm." Juushirou's gaze softened, and he reached over to tap his friend on the arm.
"Riri's lucky," he said pragmatically. "Whether Tokutarou-sama can or will make any kind of contact with her, she's no longer on her own. She has Chi and Takeshi, and now she has you as well. She mightn't want anything from you, though, except your protection. I think you know that, don't you?"
"I anticipate it to be that way." Shunsui offered his friend a sad, slightly bittersweet smile. "I didn't meet Nii-sama till I was fourteen, and it took some good time to really establish a fraternal bond there. That was mostly because he wanted one...I don't really know how to go about doing something like that, and Riri doesn't want an attachment to the Clan. But I'd at least like to be able to keep her safe, if only from a distance. That means putting a stop to the business surrounding the Kuchiki in one way or another - since she was almost certainly attacked by one of Keitarou's people."
"Onoe Tomoyuki." Juushirou's eyes darkened, and Shunsui nodded.
"I still think that's the best and most likely explanation, and so do many on the Council," he agreed frankly, "but even if we found and caught him, it's unlikely he can act as any kind of witness. Keitarou already let him get caught once, and it doesn't sound as though he can or is inclined to speak. There's no point in taking risks looking for him, since even if we found him, there's little we can do. Eiraki is a different matter, though - I really think that if we can find her we can maybe bring this business to a close."
"I don't suppose Keitarou-san will let her go easily," Juushirou reasoned. "She probably knows far too much."
"Mm. Maybe," Shunsui acknowledged. "Her life could also be in danger if she was no longer useful to him. The Clans have more or less seen through his deception now, and it won't be long before formal connections are drawn between the mysterious hime in District Six and the missing daughter of the Endou Clan."
"We might actually save her from being killed too, if we can locate her," Juushirou realised. "She can't be so very old, even now. Seventeen, perhaps? She's still young enough to be treated with mercy by the Council, don't you think? Keitarou-san's rhetoric is very persuasive, even if he doesn't use his sword."
He looked grim.
"Believe me, I know. Shut away in that cellar with him and Shikiki for those few days alone, I felt the effects of the things he said. It has a strange way of probing into your mind and making you question the things you thought you knew. He's a master at using both truth and deception to twist things in his favour. It makes him very dangerous, especially to an impressionable young girl like that."
"Right," Shunsui nodded, "but the day's drawing on, Juu - and we've not found even the slightest clue as to her possible whereabouts."
"I've been thinking, though." Juushirou pursed his lips. "You remember the first night we were here? Ryuu and Enishi soul buried a young boy and we all spent a lot of time talking it out back at camp."
"I do." Shunsui nodded. "What about it?"
"Ryuu said that the boy mentioned a Hollow in the area, but that someone had cut the creature down with a knife," Juushirou said pensively. "Whoever it was had two people with him - a girl and a boy who acted...like he wasn't a person at all. The kid thought he was a monkey or a dog or some kind of pet. That's what they said, right?"
"Yes..." Shunsui's eyes became slits as he digested his friend's words. "I see. You think that was Keitarou and his companions?"
"It seems likely, doesn't it?" Juushirou pointed out. "Keitarou-san told me once that he didn't use his sword to slay Hollows, but to slay people. However, if a Hollow was threatening him - or one of his companions - I suppose he'd eradicate it rather than leave it to roam."
"Could he have been so close the whole time? Even watching Ryuu and Enishi reap that soul?" Shunsui said sharply, and Juushirou shrugged.
"It's not impossible," he said, stifling a shiver, "creepy though it sounds. He hasn't made any moves against Ryuu yet - but it doesn't mean he won't. He's more likely biding his time and waiting for a good moment. If it's Keitarou-san, I can easily believe him doing that. He's incredibly patient, Shunsui. He'll wait and wait as long as it takes to get something absolutely right. He's not like Seimaru, who rushed into everything and fell foul of it in the end. Keitarou-san is really, honestly smart. He'll know that Genryuusai-sensei sent Ryuu here probably as bait, because it would be a ridiculous risk otherwise. I think he'd wait until he felt the moment was right."
"Then we do need to find Eiraki today," Shunsui said firmly, "since the longer it goes on, the more risk there probably is of an attack. None of us quite know when Sensei will recall us, but it can't be more than a week ahead, I don't suppose."
"We should split up," Juushirou suggested. "If we think that they're in the area surrounding the paddy fields, then we should be able to cover the terrain more quickly on our own."
"You think that's really a good idea, given your history with this man?" Shunsui demanded, and Juushirou spread his hands.
"I don't sense his spirit anywhere nearby," he responded. "Whatever it was that touched me in that dream, it's not around here now. Besides, we won't be far apart. If you take the Real World settlement, I'll take the land just surrounding it, along to the paddy. It will take at most a couple of hours to cover and we can meet back here easily enough. It's well within shunpo range, so if anything amiss happens, we should be able to reach each other without a problem."
"I don't like it..." Shunsui was doubtful. "This sounds a lot like one of your ridiculous plunges into unnecessary danger, Juu-kun."
"Well, until we do it, we won't know if it is or it isn't," Juushirou said sensibly, "but what we do know is that somewhere here are people who want Ryuu dead. If we can neuter their plan by taking out one of their more harmless accomplices and depositing her back with Sensei and the Council, we might prevent any blood being shed."
"That's also true," Shunsui admitted unwillingly, "but..."
"Are you going to tell me that I need to be protected?" Juushirou arched an eyebrow. "If so, Sougyo no Kotowari is all the protection I need for something like this. I don't plan on taking stupid risks, Shunsui. I don't even plan on releasing my sword, but if a Hollow or something else bothers me, I'll be able to hold my own."
"If I sense Sougyo release, I'll be where you are quicker than you can breathe in," Shunsui said blackly. "Whether you need protecting or not isn't the issue...we're a team and I intend on honouring Yama-jii's wishes in that respect."
"Fine. Do that," Juushirou sighed, but nodded his head. "I won't ever be far enough out of your range that you won't be able to find me, so if you sense Sougyo's reiatsu flare, by all means come see what's going on. Probably it'll all be handled by the time you arrive, though. And just so as you know, I'm not going looking for Keitarou-san and I can't imagine he's going to waste his time looking for me, either."
With that the white-haired boy disappeared into shunpo, and Shunsui grimaced, reluctantly turning on his heel and slipping into his own swift flash-step towards the human settlement.
The fact you had a spider dream last night has absolutely nothing to do with it, then? Good grief, sometimes I want to take your head in my hands and rattle it so hard the brain falls out of your ears. At least if it did that, I might be able to see which bits need reassembling to bring their foolhardy level down to size. Juu, you really don't understand at all, do you?
Keitarou might be here for Ryuu - but probably he'd be quite happy to come after you too, given half a chance. You said he wanted to keep you, before. What's to stop him taking you and trying again? Yama-jii thought there was a risk of that as well - if he did, and I do, what makes you so sure that it's not the case?
You said the spider's thread came from beneath the waves. The waves are a manifestation of your spirit power, Juu - if the thread came from beneath them, doesn't that mean there's a risk that spider's evil technique may still be somewhere inside of you? What if it wasn't broken - what if it was just suppressed so completely that it was as though it was completely gone? Sougyo no Kotowari may have been protecting you all this time...yet you're still not seeing what's right before your nose.
He dropped down on the outskirts of the settlement, running his fingers through his wavy dark hair.
I'm going to have grey hairs at this rate, trying to keep up with the crazy way you think. I suppose that's what I get for choosing an idealistic idiot as my closest friend.
He sauntered along the central street of the small but bustling settlement, glancing briefly at the people who flitted this way and that around him as he walked. None of them paid him even the slightest bit of attention, and despite himself Shunsui felt a sense of isolation wash over his body.
In this world, he was alone. Surrounded by these oblivious people, he was once more the young boy trapped at his Uncle's manor, looking for someone to hear his voice.
I didn't have a family until I was almost grown up. The family was there, but bit by bit circumstances took away my chances of knowing them. Until I came to the Academy, I don't suppose I really knew how to reach out to people or how to trust them either. No matter how much Nii-sama gave me, it wasn't until I came to District One that I understood his interest in me was as his blood brother, not as someone who had status in the Clan.
His lips thinned.
Now I have friends and family. I'm not intending to lose either one of those things easily. Maybe I'm greedy, or just selfish about things like this, but I know what matters to me and it isn't being a member of the Kyouraku Clan. It's having people who I can talk to and who see me...not just my family name, but Shunsui. I want to find Eiraki and I want to have the Council stop Keitarou, but keeping the people I care for alive is higher on my priority list than tracking down the sister of a friend who may well have betrayed her family anyway. If it comes to that choice, Juu, I'd rather be backing you up than worrying about where a certain missing hime is.
He paused at the town well, resting his hands against the wood beams as he spread his senses out for anything vaguely out of the ordinary.
Eiraki has such a feeble reiatsu, dammit. Surrounded by all these spiritless people, it shouldn't be hard to pick up faint vapours but I'm not having any luck. Does that mean Keitarou and his companions aren't hiding in plain sight among the local people? Probably. They likely know this terrain much better than any of us, so this may be a futile errand anyway.
He picked up the distinctive flicker of his friend's spirit in the direction of the paddyfield, and he frowned.
Well, the sooner I clear this area, the sooner I can go back and find you. Enough mooning over unimportant things. If Eiraki's in this locale, I'll find a way to track her down.
The trail had stopped.
Ryuu slipped out of shunpo, gazing cautiously around him for any sign of anything out of the ordinary. He was far from the river, in a stretch of forestland that bordered the arid terrain where Akira's group had been sent, and Ryuu wondered fleetingly whether his classmates had also picked up the unusual flare of spiritual energy.
Whatever it was, it had gone now, and as Ryuu took a few tentative steps across the grass, he saw something small and silver glittering on the ground. He bent to examine it, his brows knitting together as he registered the very faint hum of reiatsu that still trickled from what was obviously some kind of custom designed device.
Whose reiatsu it had been he had followed, Ryuu did not know. But whoever had brought him here was not a fool. Someone capable of setting down a decoy beacon to bring his prey into an isolated spot was someone who planned ahead…and Ryuu remembered with sudden cold clarity the devastation of Ribari's murder and the lack of leads that had followed.
He frowned, hovering his hand over the device as the last of the spiritual energy trickled away into nothing at all. The next moment it imploded into dust, leaving not a single sign that anything suspicious had ever been there.
I arrived too quickly, did I? It was supposed to do that before I came, but I moved a little swiftly.
Ryuu stood, pursing his lips as he considered his situation.
Perhaps that gives me an advantage. If I have arrived a little sooner than anticipated, maybe whoever seeks to meet with me has not yet arrived.
The next moment, as if to refute his thoughts, something silver came flying through the air, and Ryuu cursed, only just managing to pull himself back against the trunk of a nearby tree as the tantou knife came speeding past him. Its tip sliced cleanly through the trailing sleeve of his hakamashita and through to the skin beneath, and he flinched, wincing involuntarily as spots of blood began to spread into stains through the white fabric. It was nothing more than a glancing blow, and even as he hugged his arm to his chest, Ryuu knew it had not even hit a major vessel. His reaction had been just in time – for with an amount of force the knife had embedded itself in the ground, and had he not shifted, it would have pierced his chest.
The element of surprise had been utilised, and the surprise attack had failed.
But this wasn't any time to be smug or complacent. From the direction the knife had come he was suddenly aware of something shifting through the shadows of the branches over his head, and as he raised his gaze, he drew breath sharply, making out the sharp glitter of something gold among the wood and foliage.
He scrambled to his feet, bloodied arm forgotten as his fingers went automatically to his waist, curling instinctively around the hilt of his zanpakutou. For a moment he regretted his foolhardiness in leaving Enishi behind, for if this was to be a physical battle, there was none so reassuring as an ally as the tall, broad-built Yamamoto. Though he had not wanted his friend to be hurt, he knew that he had plunged into a dangerous situation without back-up – and though he had done it for his family's sake, he knew how unlike him it was to act so impulsively. He did not know the surrounding area very well, nor what kind of enemies he faced. Ryuu inwardly berated himself – his opponents obviously knew enough about him to realise that an impromptu confrontation put him at a severe disadvantage. Ryuu was a planner and a thinker, a strategist but not an opportunist. Whoever he was fighting had taken that into account, and this would probably be a battle to the death.
The enemy knew him, but he did not know them, and that was part of the problem.
Genryuusai had thought that those persecuting his family were in the Real World, and without a shadow of a doubt, Ryuu knew the old sensei had been right. Whoever was trying to bring about the destruction of the Kuchiki was here – and more, it was plain that he was now top of their hit list.
As he drew Shizurugi from its sheath, there was a rustle of tree branches and something clad all in black dropped onto the ground before him, raising its head to meet Ryuu's startled expression. Though the black clothing spread to almost the entirety of the assailant's body, only the bottom part of his face was hidden, and there was no mistaking the two golden eyes that stared at him blankly over the swathe of midnight cloth.
Immediately Ryuu knew who this person was.
"The Shihouin," he muttered, his grip tightening around Shizurugi's hilt.
A golden eyed demon dressed in black – just as both Senpai and Mitsuki said. The person who attacked Guren-sama, then? Did this one also slay Ribari-sama and begin this whole business? Surely this must be the one who slipped the cages of the Kuchiki, and disappeared into the night. There's no mistaking it now. I believe Kai when he says he and his sister are not involved in this – but the fact remains that even if acting alone, someone from the Shihouin-ke is. Furthermore that someone is right here…intending on making me their next victim.
Before he could speak the words to unseal his weapon, however, the dark-clad assassin was charging towards him again, hand at his own waist as he pulled a gleaming katana from its sheath. There was a loud clatter as Ryuu brought his zanpakutou up to parry the other's bloodthirsty, thrusting attack, yet despite the force of the contact the assassin did not flinch, his gaze not wavering for one moment from Ryuu's face.
There was not hatred in that gaze, nor resolution, nor fight. In fact, Ryuu reflected with a slight chill, there was nothing in his opponent's gaze. The eyes were open, glassy and empty – and as he darted back, parrying another succession of strikes he realised that his opponent's movements were much the same.
A Shihouin fights with stealth and subtlety. They do not give themselves away easily, and I did not feel this one before he launched his knife at me. The reiatsu I followed here was clearly not his, although it seems I was lured here to meet him. Even now I don't feel reiatsu from him. Although he made no attempt to hide the noise of his descending the tree, nor the sound of our swords hitting against one another, there is no spiritual pulse. He is here to fight me – probably he is here to kill me. But in such a haphazard, slapdash fashion…
His brows knitted together in consternation.
This is wrong.
The assassin leapt towards him again, and Ryuu found himself sizing up his opponent's physical bearing as well as his fighting technique as the weapons met one another a third, a fourth, a fifth time. He was well built – broader and sturdier of frame than Kai, yet in all ways inferior, for Ryuu found he could not only predict his opponent's method of attack, he could pre-empt it as well. He swung his blade back with a scornful exclamation, bringing Shizurugi down purposefully against his assailant's right hand and slicing through the man's gloves to the skin and bone beneath. Blood spurted from the wound as Ryuu's razor-sharp weapon seared through the flesh and tendons of three of the attacker's fingers, but though the strike had caused damage, there was no change in his expression, nor did his grasp falter for one second.
Ryuu's eyes narrowed, his gaze darting from Shizurugi's blood-specked tip to the spatters of red liquid now pooling on the ground beneath the assailant's arm.
No pain reaction. No reaction at all. You would think I had not done him any injury at all, seeing the way he continues to hold his sword. At this rate I could cut off his whole hand and probably he'd just use the stub as a weapon to thrust in my face. What kind of Shihouin fights thus? I've never heard of it before – such a clumsy, corpselike, predictable fighting pattern…
His lips thinned, as he remembered what Kai had said about his cousin.
A dead Shihouin walking? Well. Let's put that theory to the test.
Shifting his weight from his right to his left, he darted forward, lifting Shizurugi's bloodied tip towards the gauze scarf that hid the bottom of his assailant's face from view. As he had expected, the other man did not flinch away from him completely, and he was able to hook the sharp blade under the edge of the fabric, ripping it cleanly away and revealing his opponent's full face for the first time.
Onoe Tomoyuki. Just as I thought.
Ryuu stared at his foe again. His former schoolmate had aged a little in the time since his fight against Kai in the school grounds as first years, but it was not that which made him seem so different. The man who stood before him was undoubtedly Onoe Tomoyuki, yet he lacked Onoe's reiatsu…and he lacked the self-satisfied, arrogant gleam that had often reflected in the other's eyes.
Instead there was nothing. Just an empty gaze, and a puppet driven to fight without reason or will.
Despite himself, Ryuu felt a sense of pity for his companion.
"You are no longer Onoe, are you?" he murmured softly. "Onoe Tomoyuki has died, and his soul can never be returned. You are simply a shell – a shell being manipulated by the spiritual hand of an unknown puppeteer. Of course, if a Shihouin was seen at the murder of a Kuchiki, people would look to District Two to cast blame. That is your real purpose, isn't it? To be that Shihouin, to distract and confuse – though even your base pride would have balked I'm sure at being such a decoy. More, your very demeanour proves the Shihouin are not involved. Mind you, if you intended to convince me otherwise, you're wasting time. I already know they are not – because of a Shihouin I know in whose words I have begun to trust."
A faint shimmer of purple light began to glitter around the blade of his zanpakutou as he prepared to release his weapon properly.
A fighter this clumsy may have been fool enough to attack Guren-sama, but you surely could not have killed Ribari-sama. He probably saw you that night – and so Senpai remembered correctly that boy's last words. Perhaps you slashed up the stablehands, Onoe, and that would explain what that groom told Mitsuki. But no, I'm sure of it. Shihouin decoy you might be, but you were not the one who killed my cousin and sent my Clan into chaos. You were there…but you were not the one. Though I'm sure you can kill…such precise, stealthy work is beyond you now.
"I will end this for you, Onoe," he said quietly, determination in his gaze. "I will put you out of your misery once and for all – and send your body to follow your soul into the afterlife. Tatte, Shi…Shi…z…"
He faltered, as a sudden wave of dizzy confusion washed over him, and he drew breath sharply, as Onoe's dark silhouette seemed to flicker and waver before his gaze. He gritted his teeth, reaching out a hand for the sturdy trunk of the tree as he fought to get to grips with this sudden and unexpected sensation.
What the…?
He blinked, feeling nauseous as even the tree trunk seemed to sway and dance away from his touch. The purple light that had engulfed Shizurugi's blade moments before faltered and faded, and Ryuu felt the weapon slip from his fingers, for he no longer know how to hold it or even what it was he had tried to hold. He cursed, his words thick and incoherent as he slipped to the ground almost in slow motion, helpless to stop himself. He put out his hands to steady himself from falling, but they seemed to sink into the grass as though something was pulling them – and him – down towards the earth. A stinging pain shot through his wounded arm and in that instant Ryuu understood –the first attack had been the truly dangerous one, and his assailant had been merely killing time since until the potion took effect. It had taken a little more time, that was all – for the knife had not managed to break into a major blood stream and the chemical had taken longer to enter his circulation as a result.
But it was there now. And there was nothing Ryuu could do about it.
"A p…poisoned blade," he gasped out, dots dancing before his eyes as he struggled to keep his grip on his composure. "That was it…wasn't it? You poisoned me first…so your puppet…master…didn't care if I…killed you. Your work…was done…already."
He closed his eyes as a wave of nausea flooded through him, fighting tooth and nail against the urge to be sick. Panic surged through him as he tried to work out what the substance had been – but drawing his thoughts together into one coherent pattern was proving more and more difficult and in the end he gave up, his arms giving way as he flopped forward onto the grass. Random memories and images tangled together in his mind. The first day he had held a sword. The day he had met Mitsuki. The first day at the Academy. A fight with his sisters over something trivial. Ribari's birth. A scared maid in the hallways. His Father's anger. The First year fight against Juushirou in Ouyoudou. Shirogane's conversation in the library…Kai's words about Onoe's disappearance merging with another encounter long before. Faster and faster the thoughts came, till they overlapped one another into one big melting pot of colours, sounds and lights. Ryuu groaned, feeling his consciousness slipping away from him but knowing he was helpless to do anything about it. Even Shizurugi's deep, comforting voice was nowhere in the mass of chaos that was his mind.
He was in danger here…somehow he knew that, although he could no longer remember how or why and he didn't know how to move his body any more, anyway. His arm stung and ached, a burning, scalding pain that seemed to spread through every inch of his body, and as darkness flooded over him, he let out a faint sigh.
He did not see the amber-eyed demon standing over him, gazing down at him with empty, soulless eyes. He didn't see the blooded hand raising its black-hilted katana, nor it angling the silver blade over his spine, positioned to splinter bone and vessels and penetrate through to the organs beyond. He could not hear the screamed warnings of his zanpakutou's spirit as it struggled against the odds to make contact through the foggy haze.
He did not know when the assassin's blade came down.
It was growing quite dark now.
Juushirou gazed up through the thick branches of the trees towards the shimmering moon that shone overhead, a pensive expression in his hazel eyes. Soon he would have to give up on his search and return to the arranged meeting place, for he knew that if he was too late, Shunsui would only worry. Yet although he realised it was not safe to be out in the blackness alone while in strange territory, Juushirou was reluctant to return to camp empty-handed.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that the young soul Ryuu and Enishi had helped bury on the first night had indeed seen Keitarou and his companions, but after having walked the entire perimeter of the burnt out settlement, he had found nothing to support this suggestion. Though faint vapours of spiritual energy still lingered on the wind, Juushirou had quickly identified them as belonging to one or other of his comrades. Occasionally he had sensed the dying fragments of a broken Hollow soul, as, freed from the darkness, the pure Plus within had descended to Rukongai. It was a quiet, somehow nostalgic environment in spite of the clear violence that had ravaged it not so long before - but Juushirou had soon discarded it as a lead in finding Eiraki, for even at night there was little cover for anyone to hide from prying eyes.
If they are here, and so close to us, they won't be in open ground. The forests and mountainous areas are more likely hiding places, I would think - but I did promise I wouldn't go out of easy shunpo range. Still, if Shunsui finds no luck around the settlement and on the far side, it might be they're not hiding out in this area at all. They could be travelling around, for all we know.
There was every possibility that, if Eiraki was here, Keitarou was keeping her constantly at his side. However, as Juushirou had considered this, he had quickly dismissed it as unlikely. In order to keep a firm surveillance on their intended target without gathering the interest of the students or the local Hollow population, Keitarou would surely need to dispatch people of little spiritual significance. Onoe and Eiraki would most likely be the ones keeping track of Ryuu's movements - and although Juushirou was fairly certain Eiraki posed little physical threat to any of them, as a spy she would almost certainly be the perfect choice.
If she's abroad gathering intelligence, that's the best time to catch her. Whilst she's separated from Keitarou-san - and preferably before she can report to him about anything.
Juushirou's brows creased together as something sharp and distinctive flared suddenly through his senses, making him pause and gaze around him as if trying to find the source. It was not close by, he realised, but some distance from where he was standing, further even than the region where Shunsui was carrying out his part of the hunt. It was not any particular reiatsu - in fact, it felt more like the twisted remains of a broken Hollow soul, and Juushirou's heart clenched for a moment as he remembered the young Plus soul's statements to Enishi and Ryuu.
He didn't kill the Hollow to protect anybody. Keitarou's not interested in purifying monsters, so he wouldn't have looked to do that. Instead, he probably went looking for it. And, when he found it, he stole it's spirit power to use it somehow. But...for what? What was that? Where was it coming from?
Anxiously he spread out his senses, trying to pinpoint the source of the signal, but it was faint and intermittent at this distance, and it was impossible to tell where it had come from or what it's true purpose was.
I promised Shunsui not to hare off into danger. Probably that's a trap designed to lure me in, and after the dream I had last night, Keitarou-san would probably find that the best way to grab me. He's lured me out before, so he probably expects I'll follow any scent he puts out. Well, I've grown up. I'm not going to follow it. It isn't Eiraki-hime's reiatsu, therefore I'm not interested in it.
"I think maybe you've grown since the last time we met."
At the sound of the voice, Juushirou froze, a cold chill flitting through his body as he realised that he had once again been out-thought.
Without turning his head he knew who had spoken those words - and that the casual, almost friendly manner in which he had addressed the young shinigami was like so many other things - a veneer hiding his real intent.
The signal had been a distraction - a decoy - perhaps it had not even meant for him. But it had stolen his attention for a precious few seconds - in which time, like a silent shadow, someone had managed to emerge from the darkness and into Juushirou's presence.
"Won't you even face me?" The voice was reproachful now. "Surely as a shinigami you've been taught that it's never wise to turn your back on an enemy?"
"No, but turning either way with you won't make a difference." Juushirou slowly turned to face the speaker who laughed, bowing his head in acknowledgement.
"You look well, Juushirou. I'm glad."
"Glad?" Juushirou arched an eyebrow. "I would have thought you would've been disappointed. You did try to kill me, Keitarou-san."
"Kill you?" Keitarou raised his head, meeting Juushirou's gaze with a thoughtful one of his own. "I'm hurt. I've come all this way to renew our acquaintance, and you're speaking to me with such coldness."
He smiled, and Juushirou felt strangely uneasy at the twinkle in the man's mud-slurried eyes.
"You mistake my motives completely. At no point have I ever sought to kill you. You should know that...I told you in very plain terms what my interest in you was and why I intended to preserve you. If I had wanted to kill you, don't you think I'd have sacrificed you to my research?"
"I was under the impression that was what you tried to do," Juushirou said stiffly, "by using your demon weapon and making me attack a close friend. I died in that fight. I shouldn't have survived it. If you didn't intend to do that much damage to my body - why did you unleash your spell on me in the first place?"
"I see." Keitarou's expression became one of comprehension. "You really don't remember, do you? Your memories are hazy and I can understand why. It must have been a very traumatic event and your zanpakutou spirits would probably rather you didn't recall it in too much detail. It might have damaged your young mind, if you had seen yourself using that impressive power of yours to shatter the arm of someone you considered a 'close friend'."
"I may not remember, but I know what occurred," Juushirou said quietly. "I've no intention of letting you anywhere near me or anyone else. I didn't come here looking for you. I came on another errand completely."
"Yes, I know." Keitarou leant up against the trunk of a nearby tree, folding his arms casually across his chest, and despite himself Juushirou relaxed slightly, realising that at least for now the other man had no intention of launching any form of attack. "I heard you and your friend chatting away about it late into the night last night."
"You...were eavesdropping on us?"
Juushirou's eyes widened, and Keitarou winked.
"Chudokuga picked up a few faint threads," he said cryptically, "something like that. You came looking for Eiraki, didn't you? But unfortunately for you...she isn't here. She's rather busy at present with other things."
"If she's not here, I don't need to be either." Juushirou made to leave, but the sound of Keitarou's soft laughter made him pause.
"What?" he demanded. "What's funny about me seeking Eiraki?"
"Do you regret it, saving that girl's life?" Keitarou asked softly. "The end result was to have her become your enemy instead."
"Eiraki is Hirata's sister. I don't believe she's an enemy...just someone who's been used and deceived by you," Juushirou snapped.
"And as another who falls into that category, you want to save her?" Amusement sparkled in Keitarou's pale eyes. "You really are just as good at jumping to idealistic conclusions as you were the first time we met - I'm somehow heartwarmed by that fact. You're wrong, however. I didn't do anything to turn Eiraki's mind or influence her choices. I didn't even have to induce her to leave her family - on the contrary, she begged me to take her away."
"I don't believe you!"
"Ah, of course not. It doesn't fit with your image of how things should be," Keitarou said smoothly. "I used my sword on her only that once - and released my hold over her when you and I made that pact, back in District Eight some years ago. Since then I have not used Chudokuga on Eiraki. I haven't needed to. She understands me...and chose to follow me. You're looking to rescue someone who doesn't want saving. Unlike you, Eiraki has faith in me and the future I intend to usher in."
"She was a young girl you kidnapped. There's no way I'll believe you didn't influence her." Juushirou shot back.
"But you know, people don't always see the world in the same way, and just because you can't understand her reasons doesn't make them invalid," Keitarou said smoothly. "Besides, all of these accusations really are damaging my feelings. You're so cold towards me all of a sudden...is that all because I used my sword on you that one time?"
"You used me to try and kill Shunsui."
"On the contrary, I used it to try and make you stay where you were, deep below the castle where nobody need get hurt at all." Keitarou shook his head. "I told you not to leave and when you refused, I cast my spell on you to make you stay put. I underestimated your obstinacy - but I didn't choose to make you leave that place. I warned you that if you left my lab, bad things would happen. You didn't heed my warning. I'm not responsible for what happened next."
"But...you..."
"I put the suggestion into your head to fight, yes," Keitarou added. "You'd broken laws already - released your sword without permission, even killed a local resident with that blade. I wanted to keep you - bloodstained or otherwise, that didn't matter to me. I had no interest at all in your Clan friendships or the lives of those people. If the only way to protect you from their interference was to make you fight them then it was the path I chose."
"Local resident?" Juushirou's eyes widened. "I did no such thing!"
"You destroyed a Hollow, didn't you? A Hollow who threatened your life?" Keitarou asked, and Juushirou flinched, as suddenly memory of not only that fight but also the one in the storm to save Tsunemori flashed through his head.
An illegal release of my sword. An illegal fight against a Hollow. A violation of Council law...repeating the same mistakes, over and over again.
"That was a Hollow. Not a person," he muttered, "and it threatened Shikiki's life. So I had to..."
"Yes, you had to," Keitarou agreed, "but your action was still against the law of District Seven. Bad enough to kill a fully turned Hollow without permission to wield your blade - especially as a District Shinigami with no Clan to protect you - but a half-formed one like that may have been adjudged to still be human. You don't know yourself, do you, whether you killed a person or purified a Hollow that day?"
"It was a Hollow," Juushirou snapped, bristling as Keitarou's words tore through him. "You won't manipulate me into thinking otherwise. It was a Hollow and it threatened Shikiki's life. Therefore I had to..."
He faltered, remembering the look in Genryuusai's eyes when he and his companions had returned after his midnight rescue of the young First year student.
"If a Hollow threatens someone who can't save themselves, what else should a shinigami do but act for them?" he asked softly, his anger suddenly draining into confusion and uncertainty. "What other purpose does holding this sword have?"
"That's an easy one to answer. Has your old man not told you?" Keitarou feigned surprise. "You hold a sword to learn not to use it, of course. Isn't that how the shinigami ethic goes? You bear a weapon so you do not kill. A shinigami fights to protect pride and protect honour - you fight to protect. Shinigami don't use their spirit sword to end lives. Isn't that right?"
Juushirou's brows knitted together and he nodded his head.
"Yes. That's how it goes," he said quietly.
"But you choose to use your sword to cut through spirits, even if it's in contravention of those values and laws."
"I choose to protect people around me. I don't choose to kill them, not like you do," Juushirou retorted. "Hollows can be purified by zanpakutou blades. They can be saved...those souls..."
"And as I'm sure I've told you before, Rukongai is not such a haven for such purified souls to survive," Keitarou said evenly. "I've been there in the last year, many times. And not just there. I've seen things you're too naive and idealistic to have seen. You might think me evil, Juushirou, and I don't mind if you do, but bear in mind that I have not ever lied to you. I've only ever told you things as they are...even when you didn't want to hear them. Can you say otherwise? I haven't denied using my sword on you, nor denied the fact that I didn't care if you fought and killed one of your comrades. You can believe me when I say what I'm working towards is bigger than mollycoddling a few Clan infants or targeting your friends. I hoped you'd understand that most clearly - since you and I are very much the same."
"I'm nothing like you!" Juushirou exclaimed, his fingers drifting towards the hilt of his zanpakutou, and Keitarou laughed, tut-tutting softly under his breath.
"You think to draw your sword and kill me with it," he said frankly, "when you so proudly just told me you don't kill people with that blade. How is that thought different from my thought to kill your friend? To protect something you hold dear, you'll fight. Well, I fight that way, too, to protect the things I hold dear."
With some effort Juushirou lowered his hands, glaring at his opponent warily.
"Oh," he said coldly, "and what exactly were you protecting when you made me fight Shunsui?"
"I already answered that question." Keitarou let out a sigh of resignation. "My intention was to protect you, of course. What else of value was there in that equation?"
"You drove me almost to death!" Juushirou exclaimed. "How on earth can you call that trying to..."
"I intended for you to kill him," Keitarou cut across him, "and then I would have released you from my hold, only things didn't go as I expected. My cousin appeared and drew my attention - and you were defeated. That surprised me...I didn't expect it at all. I had to keep Nagesu-nii's attention away from your battle, hoping I could finish and return quickly, but instead you were the one who lost. I hadn't perceived your companion to even be in possession of a zanpakutou - but only a zanpakutou could have broken through your defences at that point in time. At that moment I learnt two things."
"Which were?"
"You were not as easy to manipulate as I thought when it came to killing someone you knew. And also...that the Kyouraku bocchan was someone whose path I probably wouldn't want to cross too many times in the future."
Keitarou shrugged.
"I didn't believe you would die. Shikiki was with you. It was the ultimate test of her skill, and she passed. I had faith she would, but the experiment was otherwise a failure. I withdrew - I had no choice - and you fell back into Clan hands. Until now."
"I'm not in Clan hands," Juushirou snapped. "I'm an Academy student and I'm a District Shinigami. I'm not under the influence of any of them - nor of you."
"On the contrary, you're influenced by all of them, and by me." Keitarou smiled. "Don't overestimate your own understanding of the world, Juushirou. It's been shaped and continues to be shaped by the company you keep. Everyone who has touched your life up to now has played a part in creating it. You can no longer say you're untouched by Clans. They surround you, and more."
He shrugged.
"You said we weren't alike, but we are," he added lightly. "Like you, I have Clan blood. Like you, I grew up in the Districts. Like you, my family was cast out of a noble family and left to fend for themselves. In your case, your mother. In my case, my father - but in both cases, we were rejected by the Clans. You continue to be every day you're alive. You walk with them, study with them - but no matter how hard you try, you are not one with them. You won't ever fully be accepted. Someone will always hate you - probably target you, and eventually you'll realise that your life holds value only as a corpse on the end of someone else's blade. Those of us in the world who think differently...act differently...we threaten its very foundations. You with your District zanpakutou. Me with my tainted Urahara blood. We were both hated before we'd even had the chance to move to violate laws. We are both fallen Clansmen in one way or another, Juushirou. You may like to call yourself District, but don't forget - your mother was born Clan just as much as my father was."
"My mother was born to a District mother, and my father was a District landowner. I am District. Not Clan," Juushirou said hotly, and Keitarou chuckled.
"Normally people protest their Clan honour with the kind of expression you have on your face right now," he reflected, "not try to emphasise their common roots with quite as much pride. You still intrigue me - I think you always will. You and that sword of yours."
He pursed his lips.
"The funny thing about my sword's Bankai is that nobody I've used it on has ever lived before you," he added. "Shikiki healed you, and she did a good job - but we're in unknown territory now. I've come to learn recently that my sword's entire manipulation relies most on the recipient having a will and drive of their own. Thoughts. Memories. Impulses. Otherwise it's hard to be accurate. Looking at you now, I wonder whether I could have used that knowledge better the last time we met - and whether it still holds any value now."
"You no longer have any hold over me. Shunsui broke it when he stopped my heart," Juushirou pointed out briskly. "Your theoretics will have to stay theoretics. Your Bankai's power was overcome. End of story."
"You seem very confident of that." Keitarou's eyes narrowed, and despite himself Juushirou felt an odd chill surround his body at the predatorial expression in those mud-slurried eyes. "The truth is this is new for both Chudokuga and I. Being near you like this...I don't sense a lingering connection. But...my sword believes one still exists."
"Well, your sword is wrong. It isn't there, and I don't intend on letting you reimpose it."
"Then I'll tell you something else," Keitarou smiled. "Since I used my Bankai on you, I haven't been able to use it on another. Although it's not something I choose to use often - that's unusual and concerning to say the least."
"Then I broke it? Sorry about that." Juushirou could not help but be a little facetious. "Maybe it caught haibyou from me - I guess it wasn't designed to be used in such a disease-ridden body."
"No...this is unusual, but still within the realms of my understanding of my sword's power." Slowly Keitarou lowered his hand to his obi, pulling the tantou knife from its hiding place and glancing at it pensively. "I can still use it in shikai, and effectively too. I can use my web to control weak individuals without too much trouble, and also to steal lives if I need to do so. Bankai is only necessary when faced with an opponent of high spiritual potential - someone like you, with your training, and that sword."
He lowered the knife, then,
"Your zanpakutou is probably a match for mine, in its true and final form," he said regretfully, "on account of its ability to absorb and re-fire, perhaps. You're not - not yet - but one day you will be. I knew that when I first saw you release Sougyo no Kotowari - you were one of the few who one day might meet my blade as an equal. Many shinigami bodies would break before reaching Bankai - yours is full of sickness but despite that, your life won't be destroyed by your zanpakutou's ability. You have a Bankai in that weapon - you just aren't at a point where you can use it yet. Because of that, I think, Sougyo no Kotowari has thrown down its gauntlet to me and to Chudokuga. It's daring me to try to hurt you again - telling me that I'll only fail."
He tilted his head on one side.
"Tell me, after our parting, how long was it before you heard your sword spirits speak to you?"
"That's not your business, but some weeks." Juushirou glowered. "For a while I thought I'd lost them completely."
"I see." Keitarou rubbed his chin. "You have no memory of being manipulated by Chudokuga at all?"
"I'm not your scientific subject, Keitarou-san." Juushirou shook his head impatiently. "I told you. I came looking for Eiraki. If she isn't here, then my need to be is gone. People are waiting for me, and I have other duties to fulfil whilst I'm in this world. I'm not here at your pleasure, and I'm certainly not going to let you mess with my head. I'm not as young as I was, nor as inexperienced with my sword, either."
"Then why not release it and fight me?" Keitarou asked playfully. "If it's as strong as that, you might win."
"Because I don't intend to kill you. However you try to twist it, killing people doesn't appeal to me," Juushirou said flatly. "Perhaps you're right in that I could do it - but I don't want to, and that's what really makes us different. I don't have a grudge against the Clans for anything. Nobody in my family was executed by them - and how you know about my history is a mystery to me, but it's none of your business."
"I have had sources inside the Kuchiki-ke for some time. If not, I wouldn't have been able to eradicate Ribari with such ease, would I?" Keitarou said sensibly. "My interest in you has never waned, though. I'm good at biding my time, that's all. I do have other reasons to be here right now - but I always had every intention of meeting with you face to face if I possibly could. This was the best moment to do so - and I haven't given up on making you see things from my perspective. You aren't Clan and you needn't take their part - they don't need your protection and you don't need theirs. You don't have to be an outcast in an outdated system. Surely you're fed up with being looked down on because of how you were born?"
"That's also no concern of yours."
"A Hollow killed your father, didn't it?" Keitarou suddenly switched his mode of attack,and Juushirou started, staring at the Urahara in confusion.
"So?"
"How does it feel to know that the shinigami who didn't come to save you both was your own grandfather, locked away in his manor house and disdaining his duty to his people?"
"What...?" Juushirou blanched, and Keitarou laughed.
"Kuchiki Kinnya-sama." He emphasised the syllables. "Younger brother of Senaya-sama, last Head of the Kuchiki. The man who brought your mother into the world through an indiscretion with a serving maid - so I understand. The Lord of the Coastal regions who discarded his daughter and did nothing to protect his grandson or his son in law when monsters came to call. By your own words, all shinigami should act to protect those who live beneath their rule...but he did not. Your father died because your grandfather was Clan and didn't care. That is the reality of it. Even if blood ties exist - he didn't care."
Juushirou swallowed hard, momentarily robbed of speech, and Keitarou nodded.
"I don't tell you lies," he said softly. "Even if the truth is unpleasant, I tell you anyway. In time you'll come to understand that much better, I think, than you're able to do now."
His eyes twinkled coldly.
"Your sword spirits worked hard to conceal from you the memories of your fight with your young friend. Tirelessly, I expect, to eradicate all trace of my presence from your system," he added. "By concealing the memory of it, my sword no longer has a presence within you and can't manipulate you any more. The fact I can't use Bankai now indicates that it hasn't been completely broken, however. If you were to remember those events - even a very little bit...perhaps things would change."
He shrugged.
"Now we've met again, after so long...who knows whether those memories will begin to return? It's an interesting experiment. You'll forgive me for wanting to study it for a while longer."
"Your spell over me was broken. You can't have any influence now," Juushirou snapped, and Keitarou shrugged.
"Maybe," he agreed. "Even I don't know for sure if that's true. Perhaps Chudokuga is just damaged permanently by your will to live, but it and I both feel that until I choose to withdraw my magic, some of that spirit still lurks within you. Sougyo no Kotowari is cleverer than I calculated. You've become stronger, too, and so those tendrils are completely sealed away. Just be careful what you remember, Juushirou. Sometimes ignorance is bliss."
Before Juushirou could respond, something silver and sharp-edged shot out of the darkness behind Keitarou, impaling itself through the flesh of the scientist's shoulder joint and causing him to stumble forward with the force of the blow. Juushirou started, unable to believe his eyes as from the darkness he made out the blurry outline of a human form, little by little becoming more defined as light penetrated the stubborn black.
From the shadows came a voice, strange and echoey in the night air.
"Kageoni."
Author's Note
Aah, the real demon has arrived!
March 18th, 2011: Comic Relief
Today in the United Kingdom is a charity "festival" day called "Comic Relief". If you're not familiar, it's where people dress up funny, do silly things and get sponsored for charity to support various causes around the country and the world. It's also known as Red Nose Day, on account of the red nose toys that are sold leading up to the event.
Why am I mentioning this? Just to give my strong and firm encouragement for anyone who's been brave enough to do something silly for Comic Relief this year. It helps a lot of people, so all credit to you if you've gotten involved!
...Me, I'm a coward, so I'll just be donating as usual...