Chapter 18:

Hitsugaya went to Akon for more information. The cure was coming along but was nowhere near ready yet and had no idea if it would work or not. He mentioned the use of garlic and that Kira was now one of Byakuya's minions.

"I never said my dream was a premonition," he went on. "No matter what Shinji thinks. After all, it has been altered numerous times and not just because we changed things on our end. Whether or not we interfere, it's different from the dream I had. I just don't see what the issue is with me using events in my dream to better plan for what we do now. Knowing certain people are certain creatures gives us an edge, don't you think?"

"Just don't be blind to certain events, Captain," said Akon, not looking up from his work. "I'm not a big believer in fate, but sometimes your actions don't change the outcome. And interference could make things worse."

"I know that. But for things like the possibility of you becoming one of Byakuya's minions is still a concern. I mean, look around. Your lab has no windows, it's dark, plenty of rooms and not every one of them is occupied, people who don't move from their stations for hours on end… It's a good hunting ground for him."

"He still has to get here in the daylight."

"And we've established that he can use an umbrella to accomplish that." Hitsugaya turned around to give Akon a pointed look. "Don't let your guard down around him. He snuck up on you once."

"In a dream."

"And I suppose it's impossible to sneak up on you in real life?" Hitsugaya folded his arms. "Be careful, is all I ask. If you get bitten, that cure will never happen. We need you."

"I'm aware you consider me a vital asset, and while I'm flattered, I'm also not arrogant." Akon stopped what he was doing to look at him. "I maintain my awareness of my surroundings and I know Byakuya has added stealth as a vampire. I know he can drop down from the ceiling and bite me. But I've taken precautions."

"Such as?"

"I have been eating garlic. It is a stable in Japanese cooking, you know. Plus, I have cloves all over the lab where I work. And this." Akon pulled out a necklace he kept under his lab coat decorated with garlic cloves. Byakuya could not bite his neck without either inhaling the smell or biting through it.

"What if he uses hypnosis on you?"

"Got that covered." Akon pulled something out of his pocket and fixed it to his face: a pair of sunglasses.

"Really?" Hitsugaya said skeptically.

Akon shrugged. "If he can't make eye contact, I doubt it will work. It's not total immunity but if he can't see my eyes… Plus, the tinted lenses could distort anything I may see. It's better than nothing."

"I guess…"

Akon removed the sunglasses and put them back in his pocket. "Full moon tomorrow. You ready?"

"I've been preparing but I don't know how it will go," Hitsugaya admitted. "My dream went a certain way but I doubt that will happen this time. I'm not sure what to expect."

"If you're interested, we could cage you guys in here until morning."

Hitsugaya moved away from him. "Fat chance. Once we're caged, Mayuri can do anything he wants to us. I'm not doing that."

Akon didn't refute that. "Well, he's certainly interested in you guys. He's not doing a cure, I am. That's why it's taking longer than it would with him doing it."

"I wouldn't trust it anyway. Knowing him, he'd screw us over."

Akon blinked. "I can't say that he wouldn't."

"Exactly."

When Hitsugaya returned to his office, he found a very strange sight awaiting him.

His Lieutenant was there, which was unusual in itself, but it was what she was doing that struck him as extra odd. She was sitting on the couch with Hisagi sitting between her legs on the floor and she was massaging his scalp with her hands.

"What is this?" he asked, leaving the door wide open.

"Hi, Captain," said Rangiku, running her long fingers slowly through Hisagi's hair. Hisagi kept his eyes shut, slack jawed, enjoying it.

"What are you doing?" Hitsugaya rephrased.

Rangiku kept playing with Hisagi's head, now rubbing his temples with her thumbs. "Hisagi seemed so stressed, so I thought I'd do something about it." She leaned down to babytalk in his ear. "Didn't I, Hisagi? Didn't I?"

"Oh, yes, you did," he chuckled. She scratched behind his ear and he kicked.

Hitsugaya face-palmed and walked to his desk. "Can you please do that somewhere else?"

Hisagi pointed to her hands currently rubbing behind his head. "This feels so good, by the way."

"I know it does," she cooed and gently tilted his head back to smile at him lovingly. Hisagi turned bright red and giggled nervously, body tensing up.

"I have work to do," Hitsugaya said loudly, staring at them.

"Thank you for the rice, Hisagi." Rangiku poked him on the nose.

"I'll make you a whole batch tomorrow," he said before he could stop himself.

"I know you will, sweetie." She scratched under his chin before standing up and stepping over him to leave the office.

Hisagi began to crawl after her. "Forget that. How about dinner tonight? I'll make you anything you want."

"Maybe another time. I've got plans." She winked and left the office.

"I guess she's not working today either…" Hitsugaya muttered bitterly. He looked at Hisagi crouched on the floor, staring after her like a faithful dog. "Would you get up? Do you know how you look?"

Hisagi shook himself and stood up, running his hand through his hair. "Man, she's never touched me like that before. I gotta get depressed more often."

"Do you know how you sound?"

"Sorry." Hisagi looked down sheepishly. "I was just all worried about Kira and then she came in and somehow I ended up on the floor with her rubbing my head. God, that felt good. I calmed right down. Her fingers are magic, Captain."

Rangiku often flirted with men to get what she wanted but she rarely resorted to touching unless she was drunk or really liked the person. Then again, she touched Hitsugaya all the time but there was an age difference. Specifically, she rarely touched Hisagi in that way, now that he thought about it more. It wasn't unheard or, just rare.

"Now that you're calm, will you leave me to my work?" Hitsugaya asked him.

"Huh?" Hisagi was still daydreaming. "Oh. Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry, sir."

After licking Momo on the cheek, Shinji tried to avoid the office as much as possible. He managed to sneak in some paperwork during her Women's Association meeting but left soon after, knowing the average duration of their meetings. He had a feeling things would be awkward and couldn't explain himself, so he was going to avoid running into her as much as possible.

He found himself traveling towards the 3rd Division and decided to check in on Rose. With any luck, he could just hang there for a while. There was music coming from his office. Shinji could hear it before he even got to the right floor. He knocked and let himself in, watching Rose tune his guitar.

"Hey, Shinji. What's up?"

"Not much. Mind if I crash here a while?"

Rose glanced up before looking back at his guitar. "Sure. Why?"

"Just avoiding Momo. I embarrassed myself and don't want to talk about it."

"Fine."

Shinji sat down on the couch and watched Rose strum the guitar. "Slow day?"

"Kira took care of all the paperwork. I think he might still be doing deliveries. I haven't seen him since this morning."

"You don't say…" Shinji knew Kira was loyal to Byakuya now and probably wouldn't answer to Rose anymore, no matter his demeaner.

Rose strummed the guitar again, everything properly tuned. "Gives me more time to work on this." He started playing.

Shinji settled into the couch, listening.

For a while, the only sound in the room was Rose's music.

"Kira inspired that tune," said Rose.

"Really?" Shinji was feeling mellow.

"Yeah. I really like him. He works hard, he's a caring individual. Plus, he doesn't ruin the ending of any manga I haven't finished, unlike a certain friend of mine named Love." Rose started playing again. "I suppose he's become a bit of a muse for me."

"There are worse things." Shinji laid down on the couch and listened. It wasn't jazz but he liked it. Rose's music sounded different somehow.

Rose took notice of his audience and had similar thoughts. Shinji usually didn't pay that much attention to his music, not that he hated it or anything. He tolerated it since it wasn't his style. Now it seemed to touch him in a way it hadn't before. He couldn't tell if he liked it or not but Shinji stayed to listen, sending the message that he enjoyed his playing.

Shinji could feel the vibrations in the air and on the couch cushions. The music itself wasn't bad either.

Rose played a different song and Shinji listened. When Rose played a certain note, Shinji mimicked the sound by howling into the cushion.

Rose looked at him and played the same note again.

"Awooo!" Shinji howled, lifting his head off the couch to get the sound out. He sat up and bit his lip, staring at Rose. "Uh… sorry."

Rose didn't know if Shinji was messing with him or if he was booing. "Do you like my music or not?"

"I, uh… Don't know." Shinji wasn't sure how he felt about it, but he liked it a little. The howling he couldn't explain.

Rose played that note again and Shinji visibly restrained himself from howling.

"You know, I just remembered I'm hungry. I'll see you around, Rose." Shinji bolted out the door.

Rose rested his arm over his guitar. "She's right. He is acting weird."

Byakuya summoned his servants for a meeting in his office. Only the male servants. The nurse remained in the 4th Division collecting information and didn't alter her schedule unless ordered to do so. He wanted her to stay there and keep an eye on the transfusion supply while the others did everything else. He felt splitting up the work in this way would make things less suspicious.

"Garlic can harm me," Byakuya told them. "Ingesting blood from someone who's eaten large quantities of it can harm me. From this moment on, I want you to cut all garlic out of your diet."

"Yes, master."

"Consider it done."

Byakuya approached the newest member of their group. "Kira…" he said gently to him and stroked the side of Kira's face with his hand. "Have you recovered your strength?"

"Yes, Byakuya," Kira said with a smile, looking up at him with adoration. He blushed a little when Byakuya touched him.

Kira addressed him familiarly and dropped his title. He may have been under Byakuya's spell but he wasn't as deep as the other two. After another feeding or two, he would be completely wrapped around his finger and address him as 'master' just as they did.

Byakuya smiled at him tenderly and Kira's knees felt weak. "Glad you're feeling better."

Kira felt so giddy around Byakuya and he couldn't understand why. All he knew was that Byakuya was the most important thing in the world to him and he would do anything to please him. He would gladly give Byakuya anything he asked for. If he could make Byakuya happy, he'd do it in a heartbeat, no matter the cost. Byakuya had given him purpose.

Rose knocked on Kensei's door and went inside to talk to him. Seeing as how he was alone, this was the perfect chance to get his opinion. "Have you noticed anything… different about Shinji?"

"Other than him being as childish as ever? Nope." Kensei finished signing the paperwork and put the form on the edge of his desk. "Where is that Hisagi? I need him to deliver this."

"I don't know. Shinji just seems a bit off to me. Have you noticed?"

"He's a childish, annoying, genius idiot. What do you want?" Kensei was losing his patience already.

Rose sat on the arm of the couch to face Kensei with his arms crossed. "He's been acting strange lately. I can't be the only one to notice it."

"Define strange."

Rose was trying to think of a good example but nothing he could describe easily. "I guess you'd have to be there."

Kensei threw his arms in the air as if proving his point.

"But his Lieutenant said he was doing strange things and she seemed really freaked out."

"Like what?" he asked, minorly interested.

"Only what she told me," said Rose. "Things like him disappearing for long periods of time and suddenly taking off and giving phony excuses."

"How does she know they're phony? Sometimes the weirdest things we say turn out to be the truth. We live weird lives."

"Yeah, but I'm starting to think she has a point." Rose looked at him with concern. "He's more flustered than I've ever seen him."

"Shinji gets flustered sometimes. Like when Hiyori tries to pick a fight with someone. He grabs her and runs off looking freaked. Or when Ichigo turned us down for training. Remember his reaction? He's not always chill."

"I guess…" Rose wasn't sure. "But what about him running off at random moments? That seems weird to me. He takes off without a word, she says. He even cut their training demo short. She seemed upset by it."

"That's her problem. If she's gonna be a sensitive child about it…"

"And I suppose if we cut your demo short, you'd be cool with it?"

"Hell, no. But I wouldn't pout about it."

"Well, Momo isn't the kind to punch the guy in the face, unlike you. She handles things differently." Rose sighed. "How do I put this?"

"Go ahead and say it. I got a short temper and don't take crap from others."

"Not about you, about Shinji." Rose sighed again. "He has been acting different lately. I'm starting to wonder…"

"Wonder what? You think he's living a double life or something?"

"No… But I am wondering if he knows something about the missing blood packs from the sickbay."

Kensei scoffed. "What would he need those for? It's a stupid thing to steal and I don't see him doing it."

"That's just it. He's been acting so different lately, I wonder if he knows who did it. Maybe he's taking off to help the one responsible."

"Why help them?"

Rose shrugged. "Why help us? Why help Ichigo? Shinji probably has good reason. If he didn't steal those blood packs himself, maybe he knows who did and is trying to cover it up."

"Still doesn't make any sense to me," said Kensei.

"He won't talk to me. Just a little while ago, he ran out of my office after howling at me."

Kensei raised his brow. "He howled?" Kensei leaned back in his chair. "What'd I tell you? Childish."

"It's more than that. I think something's up." Rose gasped. "Maybe he howled to cover up a noise he didn't want me to notice."

"Not the spy thriller manga, Rose. Stick to one genre." Kensei buried his face in his hands, tired of hearing manga comparisons. Between him and Love talking about romance manga, he didn't know which was worse.

"This has nothing to do with manga. I really think something's going on." Rose looked around the room. "I also noticed that Shinji and Hisagi are spending an awful lot of time together lately."

Kensei looked to the other desk in the room. "Now that you mention it…"

"I'm not pointing fingers. I'm just saying it's odd."

Kensei pondered this a moment then stood up. "Ok. Let's find 'em and ask 'em."

"Are you nuts?" Rose asked with a chuckle. "What makes you think they'll tell us the truth? If Momo's getting weird excuses from her own Captain, he's bound to do the same with us, close friends or not."

"We can pound it out of them."

"They'll just say anything to get you to stop. We need to find out more and get to the bottom of this."

Kensei nodded. "Alright. If they want to play it that way, we'll go over their heads."

Shinji stuffed his mouth full of food and washed it down with some tea. Tea tasted strong to him now that he was part wolf and didn't really care for it.

He wondered if his wolf side was coming out more often because he was putting himself in situations that would draw them out or if he hadn't been satisfying his wolf needs enough. There was a full moon tomorrow night. That could have been a factor.

"This is ridiculous," he told himself. "If I can control my Hollow, I can control this. I know, two different things, but still. I can get through this."

He wondered how many suspected him. They probably wouldn't guess the truth, that he was a werewolf, but they might suspect that he was losing his mind. They might even blame his Hollow before blaming the wolf they knew nothing about.

He smelled something. It smelled like Rose. Why would his friend be out here? Was he looking for him? No, the smell was further away and went into the building. He must have been visiting Kensei. Probably to discuss him. Shinji wanted to tell them but couldn't. Kira had already been bitten so there was a risk of either of them being bitten as well. If that happened, they'd tell Byakuya everything they knew. He had to keep this between his fellow werewolves.

Shinji stood up to leave when he noticed the scent was moving. He followed it and realized that they were indeed traveling, taking a shortcut through the 6th Division. "Oh, crap."

Heading in opposite directions, Byakuya spotted Rose and Kensei coming his way and greeted them. They seemed upset and on a mission, which caught his interest.

"What's this about?" he asked them.

"We've been keeping an eye out and think we have something to report to the Head Captain."

"I say we don't have to go to him just yet and can just talk to other Captains before going to the head honcho about it," said Rose.

"That's a roundabout way of doing things," Kensei criticized.

"You wanted to beat him up."

"What's this about?" Byakuya asked them.

"The missing blood packs."

Byakuya tried not to react but couldn't hide his eyes briefly widening at those words. "Oh. What about them?"

"We think Shinji has something to do with it," said Rose.

"Shinji?" Byakuya relaxed a little. They were way off course.

"He's been acting weird lately and we doubt he'll talk, so we-"

"You."

"I decided to talk to the other Captains about it and see if we could come up with something together. I was thinking Soi Fon could spy on him or something, see where he goes. Maybe the Captain of Squad 7 can help. They'd be good at tracking, right?"

"I thought it was best to go above their heads and just tell the Head Captain about it," said Kensei, folding his arms. "Let him sort it out."

"What if we're wrong?" asked Rose. "It's only a hunch of mine."

"You wanted to investigate," retorted Kensei. "You're the one who suspects him."

"I suspected he was covering for someone. If we get other Captains involved like Soi Fon, we can easily work something out."

Byakuya was growing concerned. Suspecting the wrong man sounded like it would bode well for him at first, but now he was rethinking it. If they thought Shinji was protecting someone, any investigation could lead back to him. Shinji was a Captain, which meant no Captain would be above suspicion, including himself. If they went to the Head Captain about this, it would make everything worse for him and his servants. If they were seen behaving out of the ordinary, their activity could be traced back to him. Even if it didn't, having his servants under suspicion meant less would be accomplished. Byakuya couldn't let this investigation happen.

"Now, let's think about this rationally," Byakuya interjected. "Do you have any proof?"

"They're acting weird. What more do you want?" asked Kensei.

"That's hardly proof. You can't go around accusing people without any proof. What if you're wrong?""

"That's part of why I thought going to the Head Captain was best. Let him sort it out."

"Even so," said Byakuya, trying to deter them, "you're still making accusations without evidence. What if you make things worse?"

"How?" asked Kensei, unconvinced.

"What if Shinji isn't involved and you wasted resources investigating him doing something completely innocent?" reasoned Byakuya. "What if you think someone he's close to is the culprit and it turns out they're not? It's easy for you to damage someone's reputation making false claims or accusing them without any proof. Say the wrong thing, and every word out of their mouth will be discredited. No one will trust them again, even if found innocent."

"He's right," said Rose. "Look what happened to us. What they wanted to do to us and we were the victims. Maybe we should leave Shinji alone. We were allowed to be Captains again. If they think Shinji did something, we would also be under scrutiny."

"Exactly," said Byakuya. "You point fingers, how many are pointing back? Plus, since you're all Vizards, there's a good chance you'll be faulted as well."

"The hell we will," barked Kensei.

"But he has a point," defended Rose.

"It's probably best if you forget about going to anyone on the matter and leave it alone," said Byakuya.

"And if we do, nothing will get done," said Kensei. "False lead or not, I wanna know what's going on and stop the blood packs from disappearing. People need those. Someone's gotta take action."

"But the wrong kind of action could set you back. You need more evidence than what you have."

"Then we'll find evidence. Do our own investigation."

This wasn't going well at all. If only these two would be as compliant as his servants but there was no way he could bite both of them without one defending the other. While he was recovered from the garlic blood, Byakuya wasn't so cocky as to believe he was strong enough to take on two Captains by himself. Even if he tried, there would be a lot of noise, out in this open hallway.

Although, there might have been a different way to get them to do what he wanted.

So far, he was only able to put people in a trance or have them fall asleep. Having them fulfill orders was a little different and hadn't really tried it before. He supposed it would be no different from convincing someone they were getting sleepy.

Byakuya focused and tried to do it. He could feel his eyes beginning to glow.

"Never mind going to the Head Captain about this. Forget about your suspicion."

"And let the blood keep disappearing? Fat chance, Kuchiki."

Byakuya tried harder. Kensei's anger seemed to be preventing the hypnotism from working. He needed him to calm down.

"Calm down and listen to me."

"I am calm!" Kensei shouted, nostrils flaring.

Rose moaned. "Honestly…"

Byakuya tried to will them to look him in the eye and calm down. "Just listen to me. I know what you need to do."

Rose looked at him and, though Kensei had been looking at him, had yet to really take notice of his eyes. Rose was the first to get a good look at them and gawked at him, surprised.

"Kuchiki, your eyes… Your eyes are…"

"Be quiet and listen to me," Byakuya said rhythmically. "I know what you need to do. Just listen."

Rose didn't say anything, staring at his eyes. He couldn't look away.

Kensei was looking at them, too, but was far from calm.

"It's alright," Byakuya said slowly and gently to them. "I know what you need to do. Calm down. Calm down and listen to me."

Rose wasn't moving, perfectly placid. Byakuya's voice was like beautiful music to him, each pleasant note putting him at ease. He could listen to Byakuya talk all day.

"You're feeling calm, aren't you?"

Rose nodded, openmouthed.

Kensei was finally starting to calm down. He felt weird. He didn't know what was happening. The more he stared at Byakuya's eyes, the better he felt. His anger just drained out of him, leaving him feeling mellow. This felt nice.

"Relax," Byakuya told them. "Forget your suspicion."

Rose couldn't think anymore. He stared stupidly at Byakuya, hearing his words without fully comprehending them.

This felt really good. Kensei couldn't remember the last time he felt so tranquil. His mind and body were at ease.

Byakuya was amazing.

"You no longer want to report your suspicions to the Head Captain or anyone else. Everything is alright. You don't want to investigate the missing transfusion packs."

Rose's head started to sway a little. "… Don't want to… investigate…" he mumbled hazily.

"That's right," said Byakuya. "You don't want to investigate the missing blood packs anymore."

Had Byakuya always been this alluring? Kensei wanted to be with Byakuya forever. He wanted to do whatever he told him to do. It was just easier that way. Byakuya made him feel so…

"Forget your suspicion. Everything is alright."

"Everything… alright…"

Byakuya smiled, pleased at his work. They seemed to understand. It seemed convincing entranced Soul Reapers was even easier than he thought.

They were just standing there, staring at him. Vulnerable. They had no idea where they were or what was going on.

Byakuya licked his lips. Perhaps a little taste would be alright. It would be so easy.

Byakuya moved closer. Kensei was so tall compared to the other. Getting through all that muscle might be difficult. Starting with the other one might be easier. He brushed Rose's blond hair out of the way and moved in for the bite.

Shinji entered the hall just as Byakuya was preparing to bite Rose. They were just standing there, unalert. Byakuya must have put them in a trance already.

"Kensei, Rose!" Shinji said sharply and rushed over. "There you two are! I've been looking everywhere!"

Byakuya pulled away and watched Shinji throw his arms around both men in a tight hug. The noise and the violent hug caused Rose's eyelids to flutter and he moaned groggily. Kensei was a little harder to wake up.

"What's with you guys?" Shinji asked cheerfully. "Come on! I finished my work so now I got a job for you two." Shinji looked over at Byakuya and smiled. "Hey, Kuchiki. Mind if I borrow them for a bit?"

Byakuya stepped back. "By all means."

"Thanks, Kuchiki." Shinji hung from their shoulders and tried to pulled them down the hall. "Look alive, guys. Wait until you hear what I've got planned."

Rose looked around, confused. "What just happened? When'd you get here, Shinji?"

Kensei was beginning to come around. "What's going on? What happened?" He rubbed his forehead. "I feel weird."

"Never mind that. Just come with me." Shinji practically had to drag the two lagging Soul Reapers out of the building. He couldn't see any bitemarks and didn't smell any blood. He had gotten to them in time. It was a huge relief knowing they were safe.

Once safely in sunlight, Shinji stopped pulling them. Rose looked at the building and back at his friends. "Didn't we come here to do something?"

"Shortcut," said Kensei, still trying to shake off the fog in his brain.

"Oh, yeah. But… Why were we going through here again? I can't remember what we were doing."

"Something about the Head Captain, I think."

Rose scratched his head. "It's the strangest thing. Why can't I remember? I think it was important."

Shinji grabbed them both by the shoulder and gave them a serious look. "Listen to me. Whatever you do, stay away from Byakuya."

"Why?" Rose asked, puzzled.

"Because… Because he's been in a mood lately and anything can piss him off. A lot of people are trying to avoid him, so I thought it might be a good idea if you did, too."

Rose hadn't gotten that impression from Byakuya but Shinji tended to have a sixth sense about these things so he trusted his judgement. If he was this serious, it must have been important.

"Ok, I guess. Don't really have any business with him anyway."

Shinji looked at the other one. "You get me, Kensei?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." He was annoyed at Shinji for treating him like a child, but that didn't weigh on his mind as much as the other feeling he couldn't place.

The conversation he had with Byakuya moments ago had already been forgotten but the feeling it gave him left him feeling strange. Whatever it was, he liked it.

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