Chapter 22: Poison
Kisuke hummed to himself absently, checking the levels and clarity of fluid in a set of beakers, then crossing the laboratory to enter results on his computer. He waited while a program ran a number of calculations, then recorded them and sat back, rubbing his eyes. He was just about to lean forward to turn off the monitor when a pair of warm, naked arms wrapped around him from behind and rough lips pressed against the side of his neck.
"You comin' t'bed soon?" Ichigo mumbled sleepily.
"Mmhmm," Kisuke answered, turning his head to meet the shinigami substitute for a longer, deeper kiss, "Was just about to shut down. How about we…?"
"Boss!" Tessai called urgently, bursting in from the hallway, "You need to send Ichigo after Miss Orihime and come to the underground training room!"
"I've got it," Ichigo said, giving the shopkeeper a parting kiss on the cheek, "You go see what's happening. It sounds bad."
Ichigo flash stepped away, leaving Kisuke and Tessai hurrying to the training room entrance.
"What is it? What's going on?" Kisuke asked hastily.
"It's the ones Koji-san was watching over, Tsuneo and his daughter, Kiko," Tessai reported as they reached the ladder and dropped down into the training room, "Something happened at the cottage where they were staying. Koji and the girl are unconscious. Tsuneo is injured too, but he managed to get them here when Koji collapsed."
Near the far end of the room, a shaky and coughing Tsuneo leaned over Kiko and Koji, who both appeared to be unconscious.
"P-please, you've got to help them!" Tsuneo said urgently, "Th-there was a fire at the cottage. Koji and I were able to get Kiko and get out, but we couldn't find Kiyoshi! I…I didn't want to leave, but Koji and Kiko are badly hurt and Kiyoshi was nowhere in the house or on the grounds!"
"I'm gonna take care of them," Kisuke promised, moving to lean over Kiko.
Tessai placed an oxygen mask over Koji's face.
"Koji said something strange," Tsuneo recalled, "H-he said something about…about a snake. He was bitten."
"Did he say where?" Tessai asked quickly.
"No, sorry."
"Hmm," Tessai mused, studying the unconscious attendant's extremities closely, "I don't see any bite marks. Odd…"
"I woke up feeling dizzy," Tsuneo went on, watching as Kisuke placed an oxygen mask over Kiko's face, then checked her vital signs again, "I thought it was because of the smoke."
"You felt dizzy, huh," Kisuke said in a low, angry voice, "That definitely sounds like a certain noble snake, doesn't it, Tessai?"
"You suspect Orochi Kuchiki, boss?"
"Yeah. I don't see a mark on this girl, but her breathing is off and her heartbeat's erratic. I don't like what I'm seeing here."
"Please, Urahara-san, is she going to be all right?" Tsuneo pleaded.
"Her condition is critical," the shopkeeper concluded, "Something put some stress on her systems and the smoke inhalation didn't help either. Whatever you were all shot up with is reiatsu based, so it dissipated quickly to become untraceable, but it's still affecting these two, and it's probably affecting you too, Tsuneo. It is starting to wear off. I guess ol' Orochi didn't think he needed to have you knocked out for long, since he planned for you all to burn up in the fire."
"Bastard!" Tsuneo seethed.
"Look, if we want these two to survive, I'm gonna need to take a little risk, here, and put them in stasis until Orihime can get here."
"Stasis?" Tsuneo repeated breathlessly, "But…!"
"Yeah, it's not my favorite thing to do, because it also puts stress on their bodies, but the other thing to do is wait, and if they die before Orihime can get here, they'll dissipate into nothing and she won't be able to save them. This is necessary, trust me."
A little shudder went through the vendor's body, but he forced a nod, focusing on his unconscious daughter's smudged face, and took her hand in his.
"You're going to be fine," he said soothingly, "Just be calm and rest for now."
"Boss, Koji has stopped breathing!" Tessai reported, laying hands on the motionless attendant's chest.
"Get him into stasis now!" Kisuke snapped, "I'll take care of Kiko."
"Right!"
"C'mon now, you guys. Hang in there. Help is on the way!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Byakuya woke to the touch of Torio's reiatsu and nudged Renji awake as the attendant hurried into the room on silent feet.
"Wh-what'sit?" Renji mumbled, sitting up and running rough fingers through his messy hair.
"Torio?" Byakuya prompted his attendant.
"Sir," Torio mouthed in a voice barely above a whisper, "a message arrived for you from Karakura Town. It was urgent, so I thought I should wake you."
"Very well," Byakuya said, extending a hand to receive the hell butterfly.
As the three listened, Kisuke's voice rose out of the hovering insect.
"Byakuya, I hope this message reaches you. I've tried to take precautions so it won't be interfered with, but with things being what they are right now, there's no perfectly reliable way to make sure. Anyway, you need to know, Tsuneo showed up earlier, carrying Koji and Kiko. Something happened at the cabin, some kind of attack and a fire…and Byakuya, Kiyoshi is missing. I need you and Renji to come to Karakura Town right away. Orihime is caring for Tsuneo and the others, but we need to find Kiyoshi quickly."
Renji read the intensity of his partner's expression and reiatsu, and he nodded and climbed out of bed, grabbing his clothes and dressing hastily as Byakuya did the same.
"Torio, go and wake Akio. Have him prepare Ronin to go with us."
"Yes sir!"
Renji gave Byakuya a worried look.
"You think all of us running over there in the middle of the night is a good idea?" he asked, "I mean, Tsuyoshi knows he can't attack us or Ronin here, and the fact that Kiyoshi and the others were attacked…could that have been to get us out of Kuchiki Manor?"
"I do not know," Byakuya confessed, "but if Tsuyoshi is acting behind the scenes, I want our son close to us."
The two left the bedroom and headed down the wooden walkway to their son's room, where Ronin had emerged, followed by a sputtering Akio, who was trying to help him dress.
"What is it? What's going on?" the boy asked anxiously.
Renji moved out onto the grass, extending his blade to open a senkaimon while Byakuya helped their son with his hooded cloak.
"There has been trouble at the cabin," Byakuya explained.
Ronin's face paled and his hand moved to grip his sword's handle.
"Kiko?" he asked softly.
"She is at Urahara's shop, receiving treatment from Orihime."
"Sh-she'll be able to help, right?"
Byakuya captured one of his son's hands in his.
"Remember that her power is the one that saved Renji from the Assassin's Circle. A power that can do that, which is borne by a heart as caring as hers will find a way to save our friends."
As the words sank in, Ronin steadied and gave his father a little nod.
"If you believe in her, I will too."
"Come on," Renji urged them, "We need to go."
The five hurried into the senkaimon, flash stepping quickly down the indicated path. They didn't waste breath on speaking, the only sounds being their echoing steps and the sounds of their heavy breathing as they ran. The two elder men kept careful eyes and reiatsu extended, looking for any sign of a trap, but nothing appeared to interfere with them, and a short time later, they exited the precipice world and flash stepped down into the underground training area underneath Kisuke's shop. They found that an area on the sandy floor had been turned into a triage space and Koji and Kiko laid, unconscious, within it, while Tsuyoshi knelt near them, wearing a weary expression as he watched over his daughter.
"Tsuneo!" Byakuya exclaimed, moving closer, but remaining carefully outside the sanitized work area, "Tsuneo, what happened?"
"I'm not completely sure," the vendor admitted, "We were sleeping and Koji was on watch. Everything happened so suddenly…"
"When Tsuneo arrived with the other two, they were in critical condition," Kisuke added, "I had to put Koji and Kiko into stasis so that their souls wouldn't dissipate before Orihime could get here. I'm telling you, Byakuya, this whole thing stinks."
He turned his head to observe the recovering vendor for a moment.
"When Tsuneo arrived, he was injured and seemed dizzy and confused," the shopkeeper went on, "When I questioned him, he mentioned that Koji said he was bitten by a snake. I checked all three of them and found no bite marks, but…"
He paused at the fury that lit in Byakuya's dark eyes. Renji gave the two a questioning look.
"What's going on? What does that mean?" he asked, shaking his head, "Were they bitten or not?"
"They were definitely bitten," Byakuya seethed, "and the man who sent the snakes was none other than Tsuyoshi's younger brother, Orochi."
"Tsuyoshi's brother went took Kiyoshi?" Renji concluded.
"Yes, Orochi has long had a fascination with our cousin, Kiyoshi. For years before I left, Orochi constantly teased and harassed Kiyoshi on every possible occasion, but he dared not force him…"
"Because he knew you'd be all over him in a second," Renji concluded.
"I would have," Byakuya agreed, "But once I was gone, the harassment intensified. As long as Kiyoshi was a member of the council of elders, Orochi could not make a serious move beyond just trying to seduce our cousin…but once Kiyoshi was determined to be a fugitive, it gave Orochi an opportunity. So, when Tsuyoshi ordered Orochi to capture Kiyoshi, Orochi probably imagined he could act out his fantasies while Kiyoshi was in his custody!"
Renji's brow furrowed and he reached up to scratch the back of his neck.
"You really think that Tsuyoshi had the balls to send someone after Kiyoshi? With the elders breathing down his neck? I mean, the guy is really sneaky, but that move seems brazen."
"Perhaps," Byakuya reflected, "but he may have anticipated Orochi holding Kiyoshi until the battle to give himself time to inflict his wickedness on our cousin."
Renji nodded.
"Sounds like we need to move quickly."
"Yes."
"I want to go with you," Tsuneo said solemnly, looking up at them from within the healing area.
Renji scowled.
"You're hurt and tired, and we need to go right away. You'd only be…"
"Wait," Byakuya said quietly, his dark eyes meeting the vendor's.
"Byakuya, you agreed that we need to move quickly," Renji argued, "This guy's just been healed and what can he do? I don't think he's gonna match Orochi with a flash step and kido balls."
"Tsuneo does not have any significant powers. That is true," Byakuya agreed, "Still, are you saying that…?"
"Who cares if he doesn't have powers?" Ronin interrupted, "He's fast enough…and he protected Kiko and Kiyoshi before, even with just that and kido balls!"
He met Renji's piqued eyes stubbornly.
"Father and Tsuneo protected all of us kids from the hollows when powerful soul reapers like you didn't care whether we lived or died!"
"Ronin, that is not…" Byakuya began.
"But it's true!" the youth insisted, "Father, we were the ones fighting…"
"And even though we fought, people died!" Byakuya reminded him, "It was not our fault that they died but that was also not the fault of the soul reapers."
"Whether it was or wasn't, people without powers did stand up for each other," Ronin exclaimed, clenching his hands into fists, "because even though the soul reapers didn't care about us, we did care."
"We did," Byakuya agreed, "and I understand and commend you for standing up for our friend, but we do need speed and strength as our ally in this attempt to rescue Kiyoshi."
He paused, staring in surprise as the vendor's face fell and he looked down at his hands shamefully.
"I…I suppose Renji is right," he said softly, "I may want to help Kiyoshi. I may love him enough to risk my life, but…I don't want to be a burden that could cause him to come to harm."
Byakuya remained quiet and downcast, while Ronin huffed out a disgusted breath and fell silent. Renji gazed at the two for a moment, then looked back at Tsuneo's bowed head.
"Kisuke."
The shopkeeper met the redhead's eyes questioningly.
"Huh?"
"You know how we can transfer some of our spirit energy to humans. Does it work the same to transfer some to a soul?"
"What? You mean, you wanna…?"
"I wanna give this guy some of my power!" Renji snapped.
"Wait, what?" Tsuneo asked, blinking in surprise, "C-can you do that?"
"Is he strong enough?" Renji asked, ignoring the vendor.
"Yeah, he's strong enough," Kisuke chuckled, smirking, "He's a little tired, but he's fully healed. You can lend him a bit of your power. His flash step should be faster and maybe Torio and Ronin can teach him to use some basic kido spells before you get there."
"But what good are a faster flash step and a few kido spells going to be against Orochi Kuchiki?" Tsuneo asked dispiritedly.
"You aren't going to fight Orochi," Renji asserted, "Leave that to us."
"But why take me along then, if I'm not going to fight? What can I even do to help?"
"You're gonna have one job, and one job only," Renji said, drawing his sword and extending it in the vendor's direction, "While you're borrowing this power from me, the one thing you have to do is to follow your heart and save Kiyoshi."
"But why? Why are you doing this, Renji?" Tsuneo asked in a mystified tone, "I know you have never liked…"
"Sorry," Renji apologized, "I was pissed that anyone else was with Byakuya ever, but…I had no right to hold anything against you. We weren't a couple anymore. I broke up with Byakuya, and the reasons I did don't change that fact. You were there for him. The only thing I should feel is grateful."
"But that's not all you feel."
"No," Renji agreed, bringing the tip of his blade to the vendor's chest and looking into Tsuneo's widened eyes, "What I feel is that Ronin was right to say what he did. Y'know, there was a time when I was a Rukon kid with weak powers, living in Inuzuri too. I remember what it felt like to watch the people I cared about getting hurt or killed, and me not being able to do a damned thing about it. Maybe I'm just doing what I wish someone had done for me."
"Renji," Byakuya breathed affectionately.
"Hang onto your bootstraps," the redhead warned the vendor, "Zabimaru's a little cranky today."
Still looking into Tsuneo's grateful eyes, he drove the weapon home.
XXXXXXXXXX
"What have you done?" he managed breathlessly, "What did you do to Koji, Kiko and Tsuneo?"
"Hmm."
"What did you do to them, Orochi?"
"They were traitors and they were harboring a family fugitive," Orochi answered smoothly, "so I sent them to the death that they deserved."
Kiyoshi stiffened, his heart pounding as he tried desperately to recall anything of the confrontation at the cottage, but his mind continued to swirl with an unnatural fogginess he knew well was the result of the application of his wicked cousin's serpentine power.
"Y-you poisoned them?" he asked, paling, "Even his child? How heartless can you be? Koji and Tsuneo were just protecting me, and Kiko, she is an innocent little girl who never hurt anyone!"
Orochi's dark, abyssal eyes locked sternly on his distressed cousin's.
"As usual, Kiyoshi, you forget that there is a price, a consequence for interfering with a noble clan's justice."
"What kind of justice is that?" Kiyoshi spat, pulling fiercely against his bonds until blood leaked from wounds on his wrists and ankles, "Killing an attendant, who was loyal to his master's order…murdering a simple vendor who had no powers, but was more courageous that you or your vermin brother will ever be?"
Kiyoshi broke off, gasping as Orochi's hand delivered a stinging slap to his face, hard enough that it left a dribble of blood running down from his nose.
"I killed him to punish you!" Orochi hissed menacingly, "That you would turn your back on your sworn commitment to the council of elders, to your clan and to your clan's leader!"
"Ugh, Tsuyoshi is not my leader!"
"That you would lie down and dirty yourself with that Rukon filth!"
He paused as Kiyoshi loosed a guttural sound of disgust.
"That's what this is really all about, isn't it?" he asked in a shaking voice, "You didn't pursue me because it was your brother's order. You just hated that I fell in love with someone else!"
He paused, gathering himself.
"That I let him make love to me!" he lied.
If nothing else, this will anger him so that he will just kill me and Tsuyoshi will lose his bargaining chip. In any case, he will not touch me if he thinks that Tsuneo has already taken my virginity. He is too proud and I was just a thing to him…only a prize for as long as I was pure and unspoiled to him.
That man knows nothing about love, but…thanks to you, Tsuneo, I understand and I am willing to give my life in the name of love.
Even with his teary eyes closed, he could feel the heat and the swell of reiatsu that rose with Orochi's burgeoning rage. His cousin's spirit energy bore down on him on all sides, an unyielding weight that left him gasping for each stinging breath. Kiyoshi's mind spun and darkened until even the pain that had been inflicted on his bound body began to disappear.
I wonder if you and Kiko and I can still be a family in whatever comes after…
But just as he felt as though he would simply slip free of his body and die, he heard a distant crashing noise and door to the room blew apart into splinters. Amidst kido flashes and explosions of power, the restraints on his wrists and ankles were suddenly shattered. Strong arms gathered him in and Kiyoshi burst into tears as the voice of the man he thought Orochi had killed sounded in his ear.
"I've got you, Kiyoshi. Come now, I won't let anything happen to you!"
"Tsuneo!" he gasped, holding on for dear life, "I don't know how you found me, but…thank you!"