Chapter 2: By Moonlight
(Thanks, once again, to Yaoihime420 for helping out and cheerleading. The characters Shinobu and Megumi appear courtesy of Aspenthaliabriarwood. Many thanks for allowing me to include them!)
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Filtered light from a pale moon reached down, illuminating a patch of land where a young woman knelt, taking tender cuttings from a carefully marked section of her well-tended garden. She worked comfortably by moonlight, her quiet green eyes focused on her task as, a short distance away, the rest of the healers in the little colony slept.
Nearby, a small mountain loomed and streams of water spilled downward, some following a little curve to end its journey in the pretty lake the healer worked beside, while the rest rushed off in the direction of the low Rukongai.
Shinobu took a deeper breath and sighed as she finished her task in one area and rose to move to another. She was just settling down to work again, when she sensed a familiar flash step and looked up at the person who appeared in front of her.
"Good evening, Megumi-chan," she greeted the young woman, "Oh, but it's after midnight, so I guess that would be good morning, ne?"
"That it would be," Megumi answered cheerfully, her pretty, aqua-colored eyes twinkling with starlight.
"And what has you up past midnight? I'm sure you were training until all hours."
"I was," Megumi affirmed, dropping down to sit cross-legged beside her friend, "I was just on my way home, but this was on the way, so I thought I'd stop by to say hello. Since you work at night and sleep a lot during the daytime, it's pretty much the only time I get to see you."
"And why would you want to see me?" the healer asked, smirking very slightly, "a boring old crone who sits up all night gathering herbs, roots and flowers for healing? I'm sure sleep would be better for you."
"You're not old!" Megumi laughed, laying down on her back on the dirt path and placing interlocked hands behind her head, "Anyway, it makes sense you're up at night, since that's when your powers work best. I don't know how you stay awake, though," she yawned, "It's so quiet that I start to fall asleep in seconds."
"You're welcome to stay," Shinobu offered, "Just take any of the empty rooms. There's still bread and stew from dinner, if you are hungry."
"I am pretty hungry, but I'd rather talk a little if you don't mind."
"I'm not going anywhere for awhile," Shinobu chuckled, turning to address another section of herbs, "I have a little more gathering to do, then I'll need to spend some time preparing these for storage. We can talk and you can eat while I do that."
The two women paused, looking in the direction of a howl that sounded nearby and Megumi sat up and her hand found the hilt of her sword. More howls and yips followed, fading slowly into the distance and the women returned their attention to each other.
"So, you said you wanted to talk?" Shinobu recalled, "Did something happen today?"
"You could say that," her friend answered, settling down again and focusing on the lovely moon that hung over them, "A group of shinigamis came through the town…"
"Megumi…"
"I know. I get that you don't really like them, but I want to be a shinigami someday and you know they always need healers there."
"I live here."
"Yeah, but I'm just saying that you can be a healer there as well as here. You should at least think about going and training at the academy with me."
Shinobu sighed.
"And what would that be like?" she mused, "I know how to fold and launder things, how to treat wounds and how to heal the sick. There's nothing I would learn in that place that would be worth the…"
She broke off, noting the look of mingled worry and sadness that had overtaken Megumi's usually cheerful features. Realizing the effect she was having on her friend, she set her work aside and laid down on her back, looking up into the sky with Megumi beside her.
"Sorry, Megumi-chan" she apologized, her eyes burning slightly as she blinked slowly, "I do wish it would be as easy as you say and I could pack up my things and just go to the Seireitei with you when you leave for the academy someday. But I'm already fully trained, and besides, healers are not treated well in the Seireitei. You know that. You're lucky that you fight as well as you heal and that you have strong powers. I know that you will be accepted into the academy soon. You just can't…let me hold you back from that. I will always treasure my friend and we'll always find a way to see each other. I promise. I just can't go with you."
Megumi bit her lips, frowning, but holding back saying anything right away in response. As she considered her next words, her eye caught sight of something that seemed to catch on the branches of a fallen tree that laid partially within the rushing water at the top of the nearby waterfall.
"Hey, what is that?" she asked, sitting up.
Shinobu sat up beside her, squinting as the object broke free and tumbled down the waterfall, splashing into the pool at the bottom before catching the little curve that carried it into the lake.
"It's a person!" Shinobu hissed, jumping to her feet and flash stepping into the shallow water with Megumi a step behind.
The two friends took hold of the naked, dark-haired man they found, their expressions clearly showing little hope he had survived, but as they dragged him onto the shore, he suddenly turned and started to cough. On hands and knees, he expelled the water, then balanced on quaking arms, panting and shaking, beginning to collapse again.
Megumi's breath caught for a moment as Shinobu stripped off her own yukata and wrapped it around the barely cognizant man's shivering body.
"Can you tell me your name?" Shinobu asked the man, ignoring her own near nakedness as she began a swift assessment of his injuries.
She froze at the moon suddenly lit the young man's delicate features and pretty, sapphire eyes, sending a dark memory coursing through her mind.
Smoke burned in her nostrils and lungs and hollow screeches sounded all around as she bent over the unmoving forms of a young man and a little girl.
"No," Shinobu whispered, closing her eyes tightly, "Not now."
"We're going to help you," Megumi told the man, "Shinobu is a really good healer, but…is there any danger? Is someone following you?"
"Ah…I…d-don't…"
"It's okay. We can figure all of that out later, but we need to know who you are so we can inform your family…so they can come to you here. Can you tell us your name, sir?"
"T-…" he managed, his teeth chattering, "T-…"
Megumi caught the man as he collapsed completely and eased him onto his back on the shore of the lake. Shinobu bent over him, carefully addressing his injuries as Megumi looked on.
"I wonder how long he was in that water," Megumi mused.
"He's chilled to the bone, but even so, it seems he must have a water ability of some kind. You saw him cough up all of that water. He was breathing under the surface. I can also see here that he has a system that allows him to breathe air or water."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"I think so, but we should get him inside before he freezes to death out here."
Megumi gave a little chuckle as she helped her friend lift the man's limp body.
"I think you need to get dressed before you freeze to death, baka!
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Renji quietly searched the banks of the river at the base of the cliff where he and his captain had found signs of the struggle between Tetsuya and one of the invading quincies, listening carefully for any hint of other enemies in the area. But the nearby splashing of a long waterfall drowned out the most subtle sounds, forcing him to expend extra energy to sense the reiatsu in the area as well. He tensed as he sensed the flickering signs of life that he knew must be the not-quite-dead quincy and he angled towards several large rocks near the shore. He found the bloodied and barely conscious man half in the water and half out, shuddering and gasping, obviously on his last breaths. The man glared up at the redhead defiantly, spitting out blood and water and giving a rattling cough.
"W-well, what are you waiting for, shinigami?" he demanded, gritting his teeth, "Go ahead, f-finish me off."
"Nah," the redhead growled, glaring back at the quincy, "I need you to talk."
"Huh!" the quincy spat, "What r-reason would I h-have to talk to you? Do you want me to tell you where to find your dead friend…K-Kuchiki Tetsuya?"
Renji's eyes darkened and narrowed malevolently and he stepped forward, placing one foot on the wrist of one of the quincy's clenched hands. The man grunted and swore.
"I guess you don't need this hand anymore anyway, right?" the redhead growled, "Cause see, we both know that even though you're dyin' here, I can make your death a peaceful one, or I can make your last moments a living hell, you bastard! So, if you don't want to die begging for mercy, you're gonna tell me what you did to my friend!"
The quincy gave a cackling laugh that ended in a heavy cough as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
"Do you think I'm afraid of you or afraid to die, shinigami? I don't f-feel the pain anymore, so you can choke on your useless threats."
The splashing of the waterfall drowned out the sound of Byakuya's flash step as the Kuchiki leader appeared behind his enraged subordinate. The noble's grey eyes watched closely as Renji's foot pressed down and the quincy grunted and cursed viciously.
"Looks like you're still feeling some pain," the former Rukon rat snarled, "You give me one more word of that bullshit and I'll give you ten broken reasons to wish that fall had fucking killed you!"
Renji's foot pressed down harder and behind him Byakuya's body tensed and his eyes widened at the sound of bone cracking then the quincy's agonized scream.
"You want to know how Kuchiki Tetsuya died?" the dying man rasped, twitching ominously, "He died frightened! He died alone! He died knowing he was nothing but a weakling and a disgrace!"
Renji's eyes blackened with rage and his mouth opened, but before he could make a sound, Byakuya's flash step sounded and Senbonzakura was thrust down into the dying quincy's chest with a sickening thunk.
"T-Taicho," the redhead stammered, paling.
"He was lying," the Kuchiki leader growled softly, his dark eyes glinting with fury, "and he insulted my cousin's honor."
"Taicho," Renji repeated more softly, the anger in his cinnamon eyes fading.
"Besides," the noble continued blithely, "that man's blood does not deserve to sully your blade."
Byakuya moved forward and wrapped a hand around the hilt of his sword, starting to pull it free of the quincy's body, but he froze as the motion caused the dead man's hand to twitch and unclench slightly, revealing a little flash of pale porcelain.
"Shit," Renji mouthed breathlessly.
He cleared his throat and watched silently as the noble bent to retrieve his missing cousin's hair clip from the quincy's stiffening corpse. A long moment passed before either spoke again.
"Don't believe it, Taicho," Renji managed in a low, aggressive snarl, "Tetsuya would never let himself be brought down by scum like him."
"No," his quietly reeling superior agreed, "I believe that Tetsuya survived…and that means that we need to find him."
The noble glanced back in the direction of the encampment.
"For the moment, there is nothing more that we need to do for the ones within the encampment. They have all of the food and supplies to sustain them, and with our squad posted within, they do not lack protection.
Renji's lips curved upward approvingly.
"Just say the word, Taicho. I'm with you. Let's go get him."
Byakuya's face softened, for just a moment, taking on a vulnerability that made the watching redhead's legs weaken and his heart pound. He moved closer to Byakuya, catching the noble's soft hand in his larger, rougher one and squeezing gently. At his touch, renewed determination welled up in his superior's dark, beautiful eyes and Byakuya nodded in affirmation.
"Come, Renji."
"I'm with you, Taicho."
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His mind still suspended just beneath consciousness, Yuki Rikichi rested quietly in a bed in the Kuchiki encampment infirmary with two nighttime medical attendants stationed a short distance away. As he slept, hazy images played in his muddled thoughts and soft, familiar voices echoed eerily. Through it all, the steady presence of one particular person, a pale young man with large sapphire-colored eyes and dark, misbehaving shoulder-length hair, brought a little, trembling smile to the injured soldier's lips.
He turned the handle of the squad six office door, stepping outside into the evening darkness. Weary from a day spent preparing for the threatened war with the quincies, he was already ill at ease, but it felt even worse knowing that he was to be stationed away from the fighting, within the Kuchiki family encampment.
~While most of the upper officers are out defending everyone in the battles, I'm to be locked away with the elders, the women and the children~
The thought hurt, especially considering how hard he had trained and how much progress he'd made.
~That day, so long ago, when I stood in that mid-Rukongai town alongside my little brother and watched Renji and some of the other shinigami officers save us from an invasion of hollows, I imagined being like him and fighting, not hiding away somewhere while the battles are fought. Who am I really protecting if I never have to draw my sword?~
He was still mired in thought as he reached the front gates of Kuchiki Manor, where he announced his name to the guards and was allowed to enter. He stepped into the courtyard, where he was greeted by a slim, dark-haired, green-eyed youth who gave him a warm smile.
"Officer Rikichi?"
"Yes."
"I am Kuchiki Koji, personal attendant of Kuchiki Tetsuya, who has been placed in charge of preparations for the evacuation of the main household and accompanying subfamilies. Please come this way."
Even having been to Kuchiki Manor a few times before, Rikichi felt a flutter in his chest at the intense beauty of the gardens they passed through…but nothing could have prepared him for the knee-weakening jolt he felt as he was led to a little gazebo, where his eyes first fell on Kuchiki Tetsuya's lovely, pale form and he couldn't stop his immediate tumble into those twin pools of deep, sapphire blue.
"You are Officer Rikichi?" Tetsuya asked.
"I am."
Rikichi was sure the man needn't have asked, as he'd heard that nothing happened at the Kuchiki estate without this man knowing about it.
~He is referred to as Kuchiki taicho's right hand, a man reputed to be as powerful as a captain, but a person who is almost never seen.~
And now seeing the vision that his captain's cousin was, he couldn't help but regret that last fact.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Rikichi-san, although I do wish the circumstances were different."
After that moment, Rikichi found himself unable to feel an ounce of regret about his assignment. Within the Kuchiki encampment, he found something he would truly give his life to protect.
The pleasant memory of their meeting faded and fleeting recollections of a sudden alert, the coming of an unexpected storm, voices raised in threat, and clashes of steel and reiatsu flickered in the injured soldier's mind, nudging him back into consciousness. The monitor at his bedside complained noisily and Rikichi groaned at the twinges of pain that erupted all over his body.
"Easy now," a youthful female voice soothed him.
Rikichi's eyes cracked open and squinted up at the healer leaning over him.
"It's good to see you awake, Rikichi-san," the young woman said in a relieved tone.
"T-Tetsuya-san?" the injured soldier stammered, "Wh-where is…?"
"Don't you worry," the healer reassured him, "Byakuya-sama has gone to look for Tetsuya-san. I am sure that they will return to the encampment soon. You must rest and regain your strength. You were seriously injured."
"B-but I have to go back!" Rikichi objected, trying to sit up, only to be gently pushed down onto his back again, "P-please, Tetsuya-san was hurt and he was alone once I collapsed."
"It's okay," the healer promised, her head bowing slightly as he released a measure of soothing reiatsu into his shaky body, "Help is on the way to Tetsuya-san and the others."
"N-no…n-no…" the young officer moaned drowsily, "Tetsuya…"
The healer watched sadly until the injured officer fell still and his breathing and heart rate slowed, then she stood and headed out into the corridor, where an elderly male healer stood, glancing into the room where she'd been.
"How is he now, Reina?"
"Hmm, his vital signs are stronger and he's physically stable for the moment, but he's very worried about Tetsuya-san and the others."
The two turned away and began walking to another room.
"Has there been any word, Michio?"
"No," the old man said, "but from what Byakuya-sama said, it was a terrible situation. I am worried for Tetsuya-san as well, but there is little we can do until the survivors are brought to the encampment. Come now, we'll need to check on the boy in the next room. His fever is rising enough to make me concerned."
The two healers entered the next room, just as Rikichi peeked out of his treatment room. Seeing no one in the corridor, the young officer flash stepped away, staggering slightly from time to time as he rushed back to his quarters to find proper clothing, then he slipped out of the encampment and back towards the forest and small rise where the fighting had been. His back and legs ached and his head swam from the strain he was putting on his body.
But I will find you.
I must!
I'm not going to lose you now, Tetsuya!