Chapter 37:

"What did the nurses say?" Isane asked Nanao when she saw her in the hall. "The blood bank was broken into again. Were you there to witness it? It happened right around the time you said you were going there."

Nanao smiled at Isane. "No. I didn't see anything amiss when I was there."

"It must have happened after you left then…"

Isane's sister, Kiyone, looked at Nanao. "Why are you smiling? This is serious."

Nanao rubbed her neck, looking at the ground. "I was just thinking about something else. Sorry."

Kiyone looked up at Isane. "Don't worry. We'll solve this. We just need more people involved."

"But even the Stealth Force can't seem to… And the nurses and everyone here and I… There must be something we're doing wrong. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," said Kiyone loudly. "It's those thieves who should be apologizing."

"What makes you think there's more than one?"

"It's so obvious at this point. How else could they get past all this without being caught?" Kiyone folded her arms. "I say we already caught a couple of the ones responsible. Ikkaku and Renji are both locked up for confessing yet the crime's still going on. I think they're involved and just covering for their boss."

"Renji and Ikkaku would never," said Isane. "It's so unlike them, I mean…"

"Think about it, sis. Renji did fight Byakuya a couple years ago when it came to protecting Rukia. He's got it in him. What makes you think he would just do it once and that's it? If he's got a good reason, I bet he's capable of anything."

This was making Isane even more anxious. "Yeah, but- but… I, but… He and then… with those… and he… But I…" She couldn't articulate as her nerves got the better of her, at war with what she was hearing, what she knew and what she believed. She didn't think she knew anything anymore.

"That incident was a long time ago," said Nanao, taking charge. "And that was when Rukia's life hung in the balance over something that speaks to the moral code."

"Huh?"

Nanao adjusted her glasses. "Rukia's a good person and Renji didn't feel she deserved to die over helping someone in need, especially when her own life was in danger. It was either give her powers to a human and defeat the Hollow or die and have it continue its rampage, killing many humans. And it wasn't like she intended to give him all her power. It was an accident and Renji didn't believe she deserved to die for that. He went along with it until Ichigo shed some light on the matter and brought Renji to his senses. Why go along with something you feel in your heart is wrong? Ichigo didn't believe Rukia deserved to die and he was right and made Renji realize he felt the same way. That's all it was."

Both Isane and Kiyone stared at her. "Yeah…"

"So I'm saying that what Renji did didn't involve harming others but merely protecting someone. I don't see him helping someone if it means doing harm to others."

"But he attacked a Captain."

Nanao adjusted her glasses again. "Well, he didn't do it again. And we're a closer-knit group than we were before. I'm not saying Renji did it or not, I'm just saying… Well, it doesn't matter."

Isane and Kiyone exchanged looks. Usually Nanao had a better point when she went off like this.

"In any case," Nanao went on, "I don't think we'll get anywhere if we turn on each other like this. As long as we trust each other and stay focused, we'll find a solution. In fact, I have an idea for a trap."

"A trap?"

"What kind of trap?"

Nanao pointed. "I'll require a single blood pack. I'll place it somewhere and keep an eye on it to see who takes it."

"But… We already have a guard watching over the blood vault and still haven't caught the person. How is this any different?"

"I'll be placing it out in the open. Just one pack. Call it an experiment, if you will. I'll watch it and see where it goes. I've taken extensive notes so I'm sure I'll be able to solve this or at the very least obtain more clues."

Isane hesitantly gave Nanao a blood pack, writing down in the log that she had removed it. Nanao took it with her, but not for an experiment. This was to feed Ichigo.

She arranged to meet Ichigo later in the day when meetings took place among the Captains and their Squads. She waited for Ichigo inside a building with few people and few windows.

Ichigo showed up, emerging from the shadows, his eyes aglow. Nanao presented him with the blood pack and he took it from her with gratitude. She watched with a smile as he drank from the blood pack, sucking it down noisily until there wasn't even a drop left. He handed it back for her to dispose of.

"You're looking well, Ichigo," she told him, admiring his features. "Did you get enough?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I have a few stashed away in case. Thanks."

She blushed at being thanked by him.

"They suspect Ikkaku and Renji are not working alone," she informed him. "They don't seem to suspect you at all. However, there's talk about having multiple guards around the blood supply. People from different Divisions volunteering their time to guard it. Soi Fon is fed up with her men. She called them incompetent. I don't think she trusts them with the work anymore."

"Rightfully so," said Ichigo, looking into the distance. "From what I understand, Byakuya's already infected them. They're purposely not doing their job."

"Should I inform her of that fact?" Nanao asked.

Ichigo shook his head. "There's no way to do that without incriminating me. Besides, if the blood packs continue to go missing, it won't matter. It's better to have them around to take some of the attention away."

"Of course." Nanao bowed her head.

"Byakuya's a threat, though…" Ichigo blinked slowly, staring at nothing. "It's because of him I'm like this. Yet…"

Nanao waited for Ichigo to form his thoughts, watching him mull this over silently. If there was something he wanted her to do, she'd do it without hesitation. She lived to serve him, after all.

Ichigo withdrew into the shadows without giving her an order. Even so, the message was clear.

Hitsugaya found Ichigo in his office again and sighed in annoyance. "Must you?" he asked.

Ichigo lifted the pillow off his face. "I'm tired and can't go in the sun. I'll find another place tomorrow."

"I still need answers about before."

"Just get to the point," he complained. "I'm tired."

"I'll be blunt, then." Hitsugaya folded his arms. "Did you bite anyone?"

Ichigo paused. "I bit Kira. Does that count?"

"Kira?" Hitsugaya knew he had already been bitten by Byakuya. What did this mean, him being bitten by another vampire? "And?" he pressed. "What happened?"

"He got mad and I left. Why?"

"I don't know what Shinji told you but you can't bite anyone."

"Ok, fine," said Ichigo, rolling over.

"Did you bite anyone else?"

"No," he lied.

"Just Kira?"

"Yes. Please be quiet so I can sleep."

Hitsugaya left his office to look for the others. He waited until he couldn't sense any Stealth Force members then howled, drawing the wolves to him. In minutes, they all came to where he was and discussed what was discovered. They didn't have long, as the scent of several Stealth Force members were on their way to their location this very moment. Hitsugaya made it brief and went to the lab to tell Akon what he learned.

Several Stealth Force members were hiding above them, watching and listening. To play it off, Shinji told Momo that they needed to go over the next drill and asked Hisagi if he had any tips for how his Squad did things. This would explain why they were together in this location.

"An open field would be good for drills, don't you think? It's too cramped where we are. Hard to move. Do you suppose there's another place we could go for this?"

Hisagi picked up on what he was doing right away and nodded. "I can ask if we can use our training grounds for drills but have you thought of a different location? Like a forest?"

"That would be good," said Shinji. "Hollows sometimes take cover in trees so that's a great idea. What do you think of that one there behind the buildings?"

"That one? I'll have to go check it out. Maybe later. Momo, didn't you say you saw a dog around here a little while ago? Maybe that's its home. Dogs make a lot of noise. Not a place to go if you want to not be noticed."

Shinji nodded. "We'll check it out later and see if it will make good training grounds for our drills during the day. Thanks for the tip, Hisagi. See you later."

Momo kept quiet, thinking she knew what they were doing but didn't want to question it out in the open.

"So Kira got bitten twice by to different vampires?"

"According to Ichigo, that's what happened. What does this mean?"

Akon stopped his work to think this over. "Well… I really don't know. A vampire slave can't serve two masters. So this can go either one of two ways. Either Kira's still loyal to Byakuya because he got there first, or the loyalty transfers based on who bit him last."

"Meaning Ichigo's the new master." This might be a good thing, but only if they could prove it. "How do we test it?"

"Have Ichigo give him a command and see if he listens."

"What if Byakuya's previous command is still in effect and will obey Ichigo because he was told to? There's got to be another way to test it."

"Ask him to hurt Byakuya. If he's loyal to him, he'd never do that."

"Too dangerous. Remember, we don't want him hurt. And if Kira is a threat to Byakuya, what's stopping him from killing him in self-defense?"

"There's always something, isn't there?" Akon rubbed his neck and Hitsugaya flinched. "It's stiff," Akon defended. "I've been hunched over a desk all day. Would you calm down? I'm not acting like them, now am I?"

"Can't be too careful," said Hitsugaya, calming down.

"I'm still wearing this thing," Akon said, pulling the garlic necklace from under his clothes. "People have already taken notice so I'm sure the smell is enough to keep a vampire away."

"But you haven't been eating it which was why you were able to donate some blood for Ichigo."

"I have the necklace. That's enough."

A timer went off and Akon swiveled in his chair to look at a machine. He pulled something from inside and brought it over to a table where a petri dish sat with a sample of blood in the center. Akon filled a syringe with some fluid and squeezed the smallest drop onto the blood sample. The blood began to sizzle and dry up into powder.

Akon sighed and put the needle down. "Well, I got good news and bad news. The good news is that we're nearing the end of the trials to see which batch of antidote is safe. The bad news is this wasn't it."

Hitsugaya sighed. "It'd kill them."

"I'm trying to isolate the vampiric blood so only that gets destroyed and not the rest. Healthy cells remain intact, their DNA goes back to normal without doing them harm. This kills the vampire part which in turn kills the rest of the cells."

"Is there no way to do this without killing them in the process?" asked Hitsugaya. "You said it was nearly ready."

"And I stand by that. This batch passed every trail except for this one, which was the last stage. However, that wasn't the only batch I have that made it this far. I have six more to process."

"So one of the six should work."

"In theory."

"Then let's move this along."

"Not so fast," said Akon. "I have to put them through this machine individually to avoid cross contamination. It has to be in there for an hour and ten minutes before it's safe to use for the next stage and the final test. Now that we know this one's a bust, I can put in the next batch and hope that doesn't fail."

"And there's no way to skip that part?"

"Not safely."

Hitsugaya sighed. "Well, I suppose an hour and ten minutes for six isn't too bad. We've waited this long."

"I hope Ichigo being a human isn't going to be a factor," said Akon.

"What?"

"Just saying. Byakuya's a Soul Reaper and Ichigo's a human. They're both vampires and that's the part we're trying to get rid of so it probably won't make a difference. I suppose I could always cure Byakuya first to be safe if I want to run additional tests. You don't suppose you could get me a sample of Ichigo's blood, could you?"

Hitsugaya growled.

"What? Too difficult?"

"I'll see what I can do," Hitsugaya seethed.

Evening came but Akon hadn't noticed because of the windowless lab. He knew it was late only by feel and observing how many researchers had gone home. He toiled away at another batch until he finally had success. This batch attacked the vampire DNA while leaving the rest of the cells alone. He waited to make sure it wasn't just buying its time or just a slow acting poison. He had to be sure. So far so good.

He heard a noise and looked around. There was only one door in this lab and it was closed. There were no windows and the ventilation system was too narrow to fit even a small child. There was no way in except for that one door.

Akon reached for his sunglasses and put them on, just in case.

A knock on the door had him on edge. He didn't answer, hoping they'd leave.

The door opened and Nanao came in. "Akon, I'm sorry it's so late but I need to talk to you."

Akon relaxed a little. Nanao had never been named as one of the ones bitten and she seemed to be herself. She wasn't rubbing her neck and she had been reported walking in daylight.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"As you're probably aware, more blood has gone missing and we're at wits end."

"So I hear."

"I was wondering if there's anything you could do about this. Perhaps our precautions aren't enough. Do you suppose there's a concoction you have on hand that can either repel the culprit or make it easier to track them? Like a luminal sort of thing. Something that's invisible to the eye but shows up under certain light?"

"There's a few."

"I'm thinking of coating the blood packs with the substance to trap the assailant. Could you assist me?"

Akon moved his notepad and samples into a drawer and locked it before getting up, cautious. "You couldn't have waited until morning for this?"

"It only occurred to me now and the assailant only strikes at night. Or so we thought. Two packs went missing during the day. Never made it into the storage locker."

"Wasn't Soi Fon's men working on this?" Akon asked as he moved towards a locker that held many of their less harmful supplies.

"She's fed up with them and I can't blame her. You'd think after all this time, they'd have found something."

Akon kept what he knew to himself. "You'd think she'd be the one to ask me about this, not you."

"She likes to do things herself," said Nanao. "If she came here asking for help, it'd be a jab to her pride. She'd never admit that. I figured if someone has to make the move and admit we need help, I should be the one. Things are going from bad to worse so something has to be done, pride aside."

"I hear you." Akon took out a jar. "This mineral has the effect you want. It will glow under ultraviolet light. Just sprinkle it on the blood packs and you'll have your thing. A little goes a long way and it spreads like crazy so use only a little bit."

Nanao looked at the label on the jar and at the ones in the locker. "Hm."

"What?"

"I wasn't aware that carbon had that effect."

Akon didn't move. He knew giving her the actual material would be too risky since it would point directly at Byakuya and his minions. Even if the cure was on hand, it was too dangerous of a move.

"Oh, sorry. I grabbed the wrong one. Just a second."

Nanao grabbed him. "What are you trying to pull here? Do you know what's going on?"

"It was a mistake. Let me get the real thing."

Nanao felt the necklace under his clothes and ripped it off his neck.

"Hey!" Akon reached for it and she pulled away. "Give that back."

"Interesting fashion choice. Are all you lab techs so anomalous?"

"How I accessorize is my business."

"Hm. Interesting." Nanao tossed the garlic necklace aside. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to ward off vampires."

"Nonsense."

"Is it?"

Something dropped down behind him and tried to bite his neck. Akon was ready for this and took a clove of garlic from his pocket and shoved it into Ichigo's open mouth. He hissed and jumped backwards, spitting and gagging.

"Ichigo!" Nanao cried in alarm as Akon made his escape.

He ran from the lab and slammed the door shut, hurrying to a more populated area.

Where would he go? Ichigo and Nanao both knew that he could identify them. There was no place he could hide. He knew the truth and could expose them. He knew they would never leave him alone.

He avoided going to the Captain and ran to where the other lab techs liked to congregate.

If he got bitten, he'd tell them everything he knew. They'd make him get rid of the cure if Ichigo asked him to. Locking it away only stopped them from getting it, but once they controlled him…

Taking precautions only bought him some time. Using the garlic saved him from being bitten then but not altogether. They knew he knew. If he found more garlic, it would only buy him time. He had to warn Hitsugaya not to trust him anymore. At Ichigo's command, he'd send them into a trap, he knew it. He had to get a message to them somehow.

The room he entered was empty but he found a discarded lab coat which he fashioned around his neck as a scarf to protect himself.

Even if he found another Squad member, how could he trust them? What if they had been bitten like Nanao? Who could he trust?

He made it to the door and opened it, running away from the building. He knew he would be caught any second in the open like this.

Preening his feathers on a dividing wall sat Yumichika. His last hope.

"Yumichika!"

He looked down, curious but uninterested at the same time.

"Get a message to Hitsugaya, please! Hurry!"

Yumichika sighed. "You look horrid. Are you aware that you're wearing a lab coat like a scarf?"

"Just hurry! Tell Hitsugaya not to come back to the lab. Tell him Ichigo was there with Nanao and he was hungry."

He never used the word 'vampire' or 'bitten' just in case he was overheard by someone. He knew Hitsugaya would understand.

He didn't bother to tell him that he found a cure either, fearing it would be destroyed or used against them.

"Tell him!"

"Fine," sighed Yumichika. He jumped down from his perch, disappearing behind the wall.

Akon looked all around but could not find Ichigo or Nanao. Were they still in the lab? That door didn't lock from the outside. They must have been able to get out. They wouldn't have given up so easily. He knew they'd go after him.

"Hiss!" Ichigo wrapped both arms around Akon's torso, pinning down his arms and bit Akon's shoulder.

"Ahh!"

Ichigo threw Akon to the ground and feasted on his blood. Akon could feel it being drained away and was filled with regret.

It seemed Hitsugaya's dream was right about him being bitten, only it was a different vampire.