Chapter 3:

Byakuya felt dizzy. He hadn't been able to keep food down since yesterday and was starting to get weak from hunger. The sun seemed brighter than usual and it irritated his skin even through his clothes.

He felt strange and couldn't understand why. He was burdened with new desires and fought with himself over whether or not to give in.

He couldn't see straight. Attempting to do the paperwork was impossible. The words no longer looked like words and every time he tried to focus, the room would spin.

"Captain, are you alright?" Renji's voice sounded as though he were hearing it from underwater.

Byakuya attempted to stand to move over to the couch. "I need to lie down for a minute." He took two steps and fell.

"Captain!" Renji hurried over to help him.

Byakuya braced himself on the side of his desk. The room kept spinning.

"Captain, you cut your lip."

Byakuya heard what Renji said and instinctively licked his bottom lip. He didn't expect the copper taste to be so… delicious. The magnificent flavor teased his tongue. One drop wasn't enough. He wanted more. He wanted to experience it again. More. More!

"Captain, are you alright?" Renji was concerned and confused by the look in Byakuya's eyes. The euphoric sparkle upon tasting his own blood had Renji worried.

Byakuya's eyes shifted to look upon his Lieutenant. He licked his lips, staring at him hungrily.

Renji started to back away. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Renji was food.

Byakuya sprang towards his Lieutenant and tackled him to the ground. He pressed his hand over Renji's mouth to muffle his screams, forced his head to the side and bite down on his neck. Renji writhed and protested noisily but Byakuya held him down with the weight of his own body.

This taste. This wonderful flavor. It was amazing! Blood was so delicious. He couldn't stop himself. He sucked out mouthful after mouthful of Renji's blood, his lips forming a tight seal around his neck. Not a single drop was wasted.

Renji finally stopped moving and lay quietly under Byakuya.

He managed to stop himself at this point and looked down at the semiconscious Renji, realizing what he had done. He sat on Renji's lap and swallowed the remaining blood in his mouth.

What had he done? What possessed him to do this? Why did he do that?

Although, he was feeling a lot better. The dizziness had stopped and he was feeling more energized. He couldn't keep food down but blood was surprisingly tolerable. And tasty.

It shouldn't have been. Why did it taste so good to him?

Renji moaned and Byakuya got off his lap. "Renji."

Renji looked at him before his eyelids fell over his eyes, passing out.

Byakuya stared at him for a long time, unsure of what to do. He was also confused by what he had done and alarmed.

If he got Renji help and they asked how this happened, what could he tell them? The truth made him sound like a monster and he had no idea what motivated him to do this. Without an explanation, what would he say? What could he say?

Byakuya sat beside Renji on the floor and wondered what he should do. He questioned himself and what this made him.

Hitsugaya sat down and went over the details of his dream to Akon after Mayuri excitedly ran to the other lab to grab the box of bones and claws for further research. Akon listened to everything up until the end when he had to point out the flaws.

"Your dream couldn't have been a premonition because Rukia is already Lieutenant and Ichigo just got his powers back a couple weeks ago."

"But everything else is what I'm worried about," said Hitsugaya, exasperated. "Byakuya recruiting those Soul Reapers to do his bidding, that girl from Squad 4 getting cut down by Ikkaku in order to keep the secret. Him killing Yumichika and Rukia. Those are the things I'm trying to prevent."

"Which, though plausible, don't seem likely." Akon gestured to the two of them. "What we're doing right now didn't happen in your dream. And neither did the fact that I couldn't understand you in wolf form, which tells me that the situation is already not meshing with what happened in said dream."

"And I told you that's what I want. I don't want things to happen the same way they did in the dream. I don't think it was a premonition, either, but we should still use this information to help us solve the issue at hand. Ignoring it could cause those same events to occur, even if not in the same fashion."

"I see your point, but…"

"We need to contain Byakuya before he gathers his power," Hitsugaya went on. "We'll hold him here until we have a cure and give it to him."

"What about the whole 'cornered animal' thing you were worried about? The same thing could happen here."

"If we act quickly, we can prevent it because Byakuya wouldn't have had enough time to gather his strength, like I said."

"Or he could freak out just the same and cause a different issue. Dragging him here would put us in danger. What if he bites me like in your dream and I turn against you?"

Hitsugaya sighed. "Right, good point. But leaving him to roam free…"

"Could allow us to gather more information while we work on fixing the problem," Akon interrupted. "There is a chance he won't be a threat. There's a chance we could turn him into one by acting too quickly. I guarantee you that my Captain will do things to him if he's in the lab. He's probably safer out there. Why not allow us this time to gather our strength, Captain Hitsugaya?"

He sighed again.

"Besides, based on that logic, we should cage you as well, just in case."

"Me? But I'm not-"

"One could argue, Captain." Akon leaned back in his chair. "Besides, as far as we know, Byakuya hasn't done anything yet. Why make assumptions? Your dream has already taken a different turn in several ways. This could be another instance."

"Alright, fine. I see your point." Hitsugaya turned back to look at him. "At least do some research of your own, like you did in my dream."

"That is where I'm already ahead of you, Captain. Prior to all this, I did research on these creatures because of the contents of the box. We needed to be informed before starting any experiment."

"Smart."

"We're not fools here, Captain."

BOOM!

Hitsugaya and Akon looked towards the closed door as a bad odor filled the air and footsteps hurrying up and down the hall as Soul Reapers shouted orders and complaints. "I told you two drops was too many!" came Rin's voice followed by the sound of what could only be assumed to be an extinguisher.

Hitsugaya raised his brow and Akon didn't react in the slightest.

That night, Hitsugaya wandered around the Seireitei, troubled and thinking. He passed by a building he had walked by countless times without so much as a second thought. Tonight, however, his wolf ears picked up the faint sound of guitar strings.

He stopped and looked up at the dark building, realizing this was where Hisagi would come to practice at night so he wouldn't bother anyone. From the sound of things, he wasn't improving very much.

This was also the building where Hisagi was attacked in his dream by Byakuya. He was the first victim.

Hitsugaya sprinted up the stairs and into one of the offices, which would have been empty if not for the Soul Reaper learning the guitar in the dark. He plucked the string in alarm, Hitsugaya bursting inside so quickly.

"Captain." He blinked and lowered his head shyly. "Was I too loud..?"

He was safe. Byakuya hadn't gotten to him yet.

Chances were he wouldn't. Hitsugaya was just going on hunches and he did not know if this was the same night he was even attacked. Even so, Hitsugaya was determined to protect those he felt were in danger. In hindsight, he was overreacting and didn't need to be so frantic, but he responded impulsively, a powerful desire to protect and change the outcome of his dream.

"Hisagi, you need to leave now."

"Why?"

"You just do. Come on. Off to bed."

Hitsugaya may have been a Captain, but wasn't his Captain and was still younger than the person he was ordering around afterhours. Hisagi instinctively got defensive and repeated the question.

"You can practice that thing in your room, now go," Hitsugaya said hurriedly.

"Not since the others in my Division kicked me out for bothering them. People are trying to sleep, sir. This is where I come when I can't go to the World of the Living to do so."

Hitsugaya was annoyed that he wasn't being listened to. "Just do as I say."

"But why? Is there a problem?"

Hitsugaya didn't want to tell him the real reason for fear he wouldn't be believed or make matters worse and he didn't want to lie about there being danger when there probably wasn't. He just insisted on Hisagi leaving at this exact moment.

He pulled on Hisagi's arm with both hands, trying to get him to leave. "Hisagi, it's late and you should be in bed. You need your rest."

"I'm not a child, Captain," Hisagi said, pulling his arm out of his grasp. "And no offense, but you can't really order me around like this. It's afterhours in a different Division and you're not my Captain."

"Just leave and go home."

"Tell me why, Captain. At least give me that much." He was suspicious of Hitsugaya's motives. There seemed to be no reason for this unless the Captain was up to something, covering something up or wanted to throw his weight around.

"I just want you to go home. Can't you just listen to me?"

"All I want is an explanation. Can't you just give me that?"

"Just… Ugh!" Out of sheer anger and vexation, Hitsugaya bit Hisagi's forearm.

"Ow!" He dropped the guitar. He looked at the bitemark on his flesh. "That was uncalled for, Captain."

Hitsugaya covered his mouth, aghast.

Why had he done that? He knew better. What had he done?

"Hisagi, I'm so, so sorry." He didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to lick the wound but he knew that was a very wolf thing to do and didn't want to display that nature. He wanted to heal him but didn't know how. He wanted Hisagi to know how sorry he was.

Looking at the wound, it didn't seem too deep. It barely punctured the skin, though it was hard to tell in the dim light filtering into the dark room from outside. Hisagi rubbed the skin and the pain subsided.

"Jeez. Biting? A little crude, don't you think? Maybe even-" Hisagi looked down, body tense. "Uh, Captain? What are you doing?"

Hitsugaya was hugging him.

Pressing his head into Hisagi's torso, Hitsugaya hugged him around the middle to display his feelings. It was his way of apologizing, letting Hisagi know he wanted him to feel better and trying to do just that.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Hisagi. I'm sorry I did that. I don't know what got into me. I'm sorry."

It was strange for a Captain to apologize this much, especially for a male and especially in this fashion. Hisagi didn't know how to respond. It was just plain weird having Hitsugaya hug him like this. It was hard not to view him as a child in this moment. It was as if Hitsugaya couldn't stand the idea of Hisagi being angry with him.

"It- it's fine." Hisagi stiffly and hesitantly patted Hitsugaya's back with his left hand. "Don't worry about it. All good."

Hitsugaya quickly pulled away, as if realizing how this must have looked, and cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "Right. Um, well. Ahem. Yes. So… Um. Maybe we should, uh, get some rest."

"Yup." Hisagi quickly gathered his things and took off, wanting to removing himself from the situation as quickly as possible. "Goodnight, Captain."

"Goodnight, Lieutenant."

Hitsugaya put a hand to his mouth, wonder what consequences awaited this action of his.

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