The arc is coming to a close and I'm starting to contemplate what the next one will be like, how long it will be until the next. You'll get an official announcement soon, hopefully.
Part I
The gathered Shinigami sat around Kukaku's dining room table. All looked grim. All looked ready to either punch something, or collapse (or perhaps both), and though he couldn't speak for any of the others, Ichigo felt about as tense as a bowstring, ready to snap.
"You found this at the scene of the fight," Kukaku said slowly. Her hand hovered over the shielded remains of Orihime's find, fingers illuminated by the glow.
The Fourth Divisoner nodded solemnly. "Chances are it was watching us the entire time."
"And I'd bet it's not the only one," Ichigo growled out. "Fuck, we don't even know how long they've been watching us."
Yoruichi leaned back, looking about as casual as she could. The look in her eye gave it away, though. "Probably not as long as you're thinking," she said. "They gave it away when they said, 'Mission Accomplished' before running off."
"See, that's where you're losing me," Ikakku grumbled. "You keep on talking about this mission, but last time I checked, they didn't even take anything! They just planted some stupid thing that we found almost immediately. What the hell did they 'accomplish?'"
They did a little more than that, Ichigo thought cynically. He glanced across the room to Tōshiro who looked to be forcing himself awake, bandages creeping up from under his shirt, to Ikkaku and Yumichika's harsh bruises. His thoughts even went to his own aching back. They were exhausted, and certainly not by chance.
"That's for us to find out," Kukaku said firmly. She turned to her nephew. "You're positive that Rukia and Uryuu are fine?"
"Absolutely," Orihime stressed, "Renji is with Uryuu right now, and Rukia has–"
Briiing! Briiing! Briiing!
With a frown Kukaku dug into her kimono, pulling out her phone and flipping it open.
"…It's Rukia." She muttered. She answered the call. "Hey, we were just talking about you… Rukia?"
Her frown deepened. She took the phone from her ear, looking at the display once more. The call was still going. Rukia's caller ID could be seen clearly.
"Rukia?" she called again into the microphone.
"What is it?" Yoruichi asked.
"She called but she's not saying anything," Kukaku grumbled. "Rukia!" Suddenly the line went dead for all to hear.
"Perhaps a misdial?" Orihime offered in a quiet voice.
Ichigo stood up suddenly. "I'm going to check on her."
Kukaku let out a growl. "Damn, and just when I was going to install a tracker. Yoruichi, could you–?"
"On it," the woman said. In the next moment she was gone, out of the door in burst of air.
"I doubt I could keep up with her," Ichigo admitted with a grimace, taking a stiff step forward. "I can at least cover our bases, though."
"I'm not letting you go alone," Orihime nearly commanded. "You're still hurt." Ichigo started to protest but was cut off before he could even get a word out.
"We have strength in numbers," Tōshiro said in a rough voice. "She's the best one to have with you in case a fight arises."
Ichigo almost groaned. There was no arguing with that one. "Okay," he said to Orihime, "you're coming, too, then."
She beamed back.
Part II
The sun had nearly set, the sky having turned a deep navy, and under it stood Rukia, staring right at her sworn enemy. She reached towards her front pocket for her Soul Candy.
Ulquiorra's eyes caught it immediately. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Rukia's hand hovered mere centimeters from the dispenser, her heart pounding. She allowed her hand to settle to the side, drifting to the phone in her back pocket. She couldn't do it now while he was looking, but when the moment arose…
"This is pretty bold of you," she tried. "You're here alone and with so many Shinigami close by. It'll be what, one minute, two, before they get here?"
"I've been going undetected thus far," he said with a shrug. He reached into his pocket, drawing out what looked like a glass eye. "Besides, I have collateral."
His eyes averted for just a moment, barely long enough for her to pull out her phone and press the number that had Kukaku on speed dial. She let it ring quietly, and then finally saw what Ulquiorra was trying to show her.
The eye acted as a projector, holograms lighting up in the air. In them was what seemed to be live video feed.
She saw Renji nodding off on an unfamiliar couch, Ishida silently curled up under the covers, Ichigo sitting stiffly at a table with other Shinigami, all looking worn down, all looking tired. That still didn't manage to be as worrying as seeing her brother pacing their living room or Miné settling down for a beer at the table, staring at the front door and wondering.
"Is that supposed to intimidate me?" Rukia asked. She was bluffing. It intimidated her plenty. She could already feel the panic settling in as sweat ran down her neck.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, easily seeing through her. All she could do in return was growl under her breath.
"What do you want?" she asked stiffly.
"Cooperation."
She scoffed. "Threaten me all you want. I'm not working for you."
"Lord Aizen desires nothing so extreme," he said flatly. "He is simply interested in your progress and has asked that I bring you to him. You'd stay at Hueco Mundo as a guest."
Prisoner, he meant. "No," she said immediately. "There is absolutely no way I'm becoming that bastard's… guinea pig."
"Well," he said amicably, "I suppose that is your choice."
He raised a hand, pointed straight at the apartment complex through the trees, a cero charging, heat building up. Rukia's heart dropped.
"Wait, don't!" she rushed out. The light at his hand dimmed. He turned to her, look unreadable.
"I don't make idle threats, Substitute. It would be no issue to dispose of all here if you decide to refuse."
"They…" she stuttered out, "they wouldn't… they'd… they'd fight back. You wouldn't be able to…"
"Some might," he agreed. Then, he spared another glance at what little could be seen of the apartments. "It would be doubtful that they'd win, however. They're weakened, and even at full strength they struggle against our just our Number Six."
Rukia's hands shook. She took in a shuddering breath and shut her phone.
"That's what this was all about," she said quietly.
"So, what is your answer? It was as you said. You have one minute, less, now."
She almost felt like laughing. "I… I don't have a choice, do I?"
"You do."
The words rang in her ears, heavy and oppressive. Rukia looked back to the still lit holograms, wondering for a moment when they'd gotten blurry.
(There were tears welling up in her eyes, she figured. With a deep breath she swallowed them down.)
"I'll… go with you."
The Hollow looked at her flatly, a hand reaching into his shirt. "It seems we have reached an agreement, then. You'll need this."
He pulled out a simple metal bracelet, though even from this distance she could tell there was something strange about it. He tossed it to her, the girl nearly fumbling the catch.
"Put it on," he ordered. "It will help you go undetected."
She put it on her good wrist, feeling nothing.
"You will meet me at the crater in the park before sunrise. Do what you must, thought I warn you; you are permitted to say goodbye to one person and one person alone."
The threat there was implicit. Violate this and they die. Rukia nodded, staring at the ground. He left with not a word more, disappearing without her notice. The second he did, though, Rukia fell like a puppet whose strings were cut.
She landed boneless on the ground, barely even noting the impact, and with a sniffle she curled inwards, wrapping her arms around her knees. Her phone dropped to the ground with a hollow thud, and she made no move to pick it up when it rang.
What on earth was she going to do?
Part III
When Renji jerked awake, it was with the alarm of someone that hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. It was also with the alarm of someone that woke up on an unfamiliar couch, and it took a moment for his brain to catch up to him–
There was a loud pounding at the door, he realized, and it was probably the thing that woke him up. It was insistent, startling. He dragged himself to his feet, taking a glance at the clock.
9:26PM
The time alone startled him awake further. He rushed to the door.
"What is i–?"
Ichigo shoved past him.
"She's not here, is she?" the Shinigami asked quickly, looking around, probably sensing for things that Renji couldn't.
"What's going on, here?" Renji snapped back.
It was Orihime that answered in a strained voice, "Rukia's missing. We're not quite sure what happened, yet, but according to Lieutenant Matsumoto–"
"I told Rangiku not to let her out of her sight, and what does she do?!" Ichigo yelled.
Orihime bit her lip. "She left home over an hour ago. No one's seen her since."
Renji's heart stuttered. "W-we don't know that anything bad's happened," he tried. "She could be off training or something. She usually does that after a fight, anyway."
"If it was just that Yoruichi would have found her by now," Ichigo bit out, "and we haven't gotten anything from her since she ran off."
"Shit…" Renji cursed. "Shit!"
"We need to keep searching," Orihime told Ichigo.
Renji gulped heavily. "Okay, I think I can help. Yoruichi might be a tracker, but she doesn't know Rukia like I do."
Ichigo looked to Orihime pointedly, conflicted. The medic gave him one solid nod. "As long as you can keep up…"
"I will."
The looked Ichigo gave Renji was suddenly much more confident.
The three ran out, after that, Renji pushing himself to keep up as they ran to their next destination. All the while, Renji was already making a mental list of places she might be.
He forced himself to remember that this was Rukia they were talking about. She was one of the strongest people he knew. There was no way she'd just let herself get taken without a fight.
No, he had a pretty good idea of where she might be. He just needed to check. He yelled out where he thought they should head, first.
"Right, we'll go there, then!" Ichigo yelled back.
They'd find her, Renji thought to himself. Of that, he was sure.
Part IV
The bracelet, as she learned, had some odd effects.
It was downright surreal walking down the darkened streets, seeing Yoruichi's blurred form right in the corner of her eye. She looked up, seeing a flash of orange blow by overhead, not even stopping, not even noticing.
With that, she knew the bracelet worked, at least.
She continued walking aimlessly after that. The Hollow had given her permission to settle what she needed, even say goodbye to someone, but somehow just thinking of that made her stomach hurt.
Yes, she had options. She could take care of some things at home and subtly tip Matsumoto off, give the Shinigami some room to prepare. That wasn't technically against the rules. Though it was far too risky, she quickly realized.
Her next option involved instead seeing her brother one more time, but that was quickly thrown out of the window. She'd just start crying and probably ruin everything somehow, not to mention leave him horribly confused.
She could see the Visoreds, but Ulquiorra had been very specific when saying one person and they were hardly ever alone.
Maybe she should just go to Miné's and apologize for standing her up like that. The woman was probably worried right now (or maybe she thought nothing of it, Rukia couldn't be sure). Still, that had her running the risk of seeing…
Renji.
She wanted to say goodbye to Renji so bad it hurt. The only thing keeping her was the fact that she knew exactly what he would say. He'd grab her by the shoulders, shake her, and yell at her about how she should have just trusted them to save themselves.
She took a moment to mentally correct herself. If he knew the kind of danger his mom was in, then, he may not be so sure. Still, she knew that seeing him would hurt her more than anything.
So, she kept on walking, looking up at the sky of Karakura and hoping that this wasn't the last time she'd see it. (The starts were surprisingly beautiful. Why hadn't she noticed that, before?)
She glanced back down, jerking to a stop when she realized she'd nearly run over some poor elderly woman locking the front of a shop. Rukia barely brushed against her, before quickly stepping back. The lady's head snapped up.
"Sorry," the girl said immediately, "I wasn't paying attention."
The woman continued to look around, turning towards Rukia, the dog at her feet barking twice before seemingly losing interest. She shrugged, tucked her key away, and walked off, muttering something about supplies she needed to order.
A shock went through Rukia's system then, and she looked down at the bracelet, collapsing back against the shop's front door. The bracelet worked a little too well, it seemed. It didn't just hide her presence. It made her invisible entirely. It was like she was a ghost.
Realizing that, felt strangely surreal to Rukia, but somehow it made her laugh. What was next, walking through walls?
She fell to the side, the door collapsing under her. The fall had her hissing in pain from how badly it jostled her wrist.
"What the…" Looking up at the door she realized with a start that it was both intact and still not only closed but locked.
This was just all too weird.
Climbing to her feet, she took in her surroundings. She was in a sewing shop, by the looks of things. Fabric lined the walls, the shelves were well stocked with yarn, needles, and various notions. Some supplies she recognized, others she didn't.
Saying goodbye to Ishida may not be a bad idea, she thought suddenly. She didn't think it would have her breaking down crying, at the very least, and he'd probably be smart enough to realize what would happen without her having to give away too much. If only he were conscious.
She'd better throw that idea away, then.
"What am I even doing?" she asked herself. "I'm just wandering around making myself miserable. I should just go already and get this over with.
"Then again," she argued with herself, "that's probably just what he wants. This is all just some weird mind game, anyway. Why else would he allow this?"
No, she thought. She liked the idea of making him wait just a little longer.
Rukia walked out the same way she came, a shiver going down her spine as she moved through solid wood. She decided to, at least, pick her next destination consciously this time, somewhere that she'd like to see that hopefully wouldn't involve a full-blown break down.
She walked to the town square, glancing at some of the shops and restaurants. A few looked to still be open. The theater was even doing some midnight screenings, right now. She wouldn't even have to pay to see one.
See, take little victories where you can! That thought somehow rang hollow to her.
She walked past the few lit displays, ignoring the restaurants entirely. It wasn't like she could get anything to eat in her state, not that she was even hungry, right now. She gave a mental commentary on things she thought looked interesting, on things she thought didn't, and dodged the few people still walking around.
Glancing up at the box office display she considered her options. When she quickly realized that she didn't recognize a single one of those titles she let out a deep sigh.
Maybe she'd just sit at the fountain, then, and consider the merits of drowning herself in it.
(She winced inwardly at the thought. That was meant to be joke, but even in her own mind, it sounded… dark.)
"Rukia!" a voice called out suddenly. She turned, alarmed, seeing Ichigo and Orihime in Gigai, running down the street. Plenty of pedestrians looked on, confused.
"Rukia!" the voice called again. It wasn't Ichigo and it certainly wasn't Orihime. Right behind them she saw Renji, huffing and puffing. She pressed herself against the nearest wall, concentrating to not fall straight through.
"RUKIA!" he yelled as loud as he could. It almost hurt her ears.
He turned, looking around wildly, and for a split second she thought he met her eyes. He cursed to himself, then, before he kept on running. Without even meaning to, she outstretched a hand to him, missing the collar of his shirt by just a hair. He didn't look back.
Come back…
The thought was traitorous, and instantly she was cursing herself for even daring to think it. She bit her lip, stomped away, and didn't realize it at first when she started crying. The only thing that alerted her to it was the tight feeling in her chest and the thought that she couldn't breathe. Her hands wiped away tears as they came, but they just wouldn't stop. She ran out of the town square.
Her feet took her to the edge of the park, and without even seeing herself, she knew she looked pathetic. There was snot dripping down her face, her eyes felt absolutely raw, and there was no way she was going to Ulquiorra looking like this. She rubbed her face down the best she could with her shirt before marching down to the crater, fists clenched. She stopped right at its lip.
Ulquiorra sat in the center on an upturned rock. In a flat tone he said, "You are here earlier than I expected. Are you ready?"
No, she thought. "Yes," she said firmly.
With a snap of his fingers a portal opened behind him. He stood up, beckoning her with a hand. She followed him without another word.
Part V
Renji felt something that he could barely put into words as he walked back up to Ishida's apartment, sometime on the worse half of Twelve AM. They had searched just about everywhere they could think of and had come back with absolutely nothing. Rukia wasn't at any of their usual hangouts, wasn't at home, and the Visoreds wouldn't even talk to them to confirm if she was over there.
(He must have stood outside of that shitty hideout for nearly an hour, practically screaming his lungs out as he tried to get them to open up dammit! They never said a word. Ichigo and Orhime left about halfway through, probably out of second-hand embarrassment, or even worse pity, not that he'd blame them.)
Hours of searching amounted to nothing. Eventually Ichigo had said, "We'll have to stop for the night. Maybe something else will turn up tomorrow."
He tried arguing. Oh, he tried, but without any idea better than "run around aimlessly until sunrise," Renji didn't have a leg to stand on. The two Shinigami headed back to Kukaku's and Renji was left to go back to Ishida's. He trudged into the apartment, practically slamming the door on his way in.
He slumped down into the couch, head in his hands, not even bothering to look up when muffled footsteps came near. Ishida yawned quietly from the hallway.
"What…" he mumbled from the entryway. He yawned again. "What are you doing here?" He glanced at the clock, eyes narrowing. "What time is it, even?"
"Arrancar attacked, remember?" Renji said through his hands. "You've been out all day."
Ishida blinked a few times, eyes starting to focus. "Yeah…" he muttered. He took another good look at Renji. "What's got you like this?"
"Rukia's gone. No one knows what happened."
Ishida paled. "You're kidding."
"It's like she just… vanished into thin air!" he yelled. "How the hell does someone just disappear?"
The phone on Ishida's wall rang loudly, suddenly. The two glanced at each other, and in a moment Renji was scrambling up to answer it.
"Hello!" he nearly yelled into the receiver.
"Renji?" his mom asked on the other side. He almost dropped the phone.
"Mom?! How did you get this number?"
"That friend of yours, me and his father ran into each other yesterday. He was happy to give it to me," he heard Ishida let out a noise of annoyance beside him, "but that's not important right now! Do you know where Rukia is?"
"…No, we don't."
"Darn it!" The line crackled for a moment. He could hear rustling on the other end. "Honey, Rukia came by earlier today. She said she was going to come up to the apartment later, but she never did. Oh, I should have called earlier! If only I hadn't dozed off…"
"That's alright, mom!" he rushed into the receiver. "When did you see her?"
"Around Eight, I think."
Renji's heart stuttered to life. "Thanks! We'll be right over!"
He slammed the phone back on its dock, turning to Ishida.
"We're going, right?" the archer asked.
"Oh, we're going."
The two rushed over to Renji's apartment, not even slowing down until they reached the lot.
"Your mother was the last one to see her," Ishida surmised, "so if Orikasa was taken, it couldn't have been far from here."
"Problem is," Renji started, "there's nothing but apartments and houses down here. If a fight happened, we would be looking at the aftermath right now, and I don't know about you, but I don't see any rubble."
"That's assuming there was a fight," the Quincy said pointedly.
"Rukia wouldn't go down without one!"
Ishida frowned at that, tapping his fingers on his arm impatiently. "Okay," he tried, "then where do you think a fight may have happened."
Renji looked around, thinking for a moment. He glanced behind the apartment building to the fenced off cemetery.
"There," he said, pointing. "She ran into this weird blue-haired Hollow over there. Who knows, he might have fought her here again."
He didn't wait for a response before jumping the fence and running, though he did hear Ishida mutter behind him, "Blue-haired Hollow? You'll really have to catch me up, soon."
They walked past the patch job at the original fight, walking straight through the main garden. There was no new rubble, no destroyed trees, not even a single puddle of melted ice. It looked like nothing had happened.
Great, he'd gotten it wrong again! What a good friend he was not even being able to do this one little thi–!
"What's this?" Ishida asked. He was crouched down in the grass. Gingerly he held a silver flip phone, a Chappy charm dangling from the top. Renji snatched it away immediately.
"It's hers!" he cried out, turning it over. "She was here!"
He opened it up, flipping through, quickly finding Kukaku's number. The woman answered immediately.
"Rukia?!" she cried.
"Sorry," Renji said, "not her, but I'm pretty sure I found something important, here."
He explained their situation the best he could, starting with his mom's phone call.
"I'll send Yoruichi right away," Kukaku said finally. "Thank the gods–"
The line cut off. Renji pocketed the phone, only to see Ishida looking at him strangely.
"What?" Renji scoffed.
Ishida averted his eyes. "Nothing. Just thinking." Renji half expected a jab at his expense to come quickly after, but it never did.
It barely took a minute for Yoruichi to arrive, nearby leaves rustling with her entrance.
"Of course," she muttered, "the one place I didn't think to check." She turned to the two boys. "Kukaku told me everything. I can take it from here." Her eyes were already darting around the scene, the woman taking in everything she could.
Ishida frowned. "No!" Renji exclaimed. "We're sticking around until we find her!"
"You could do that," she said with a raised eyebrow, "but you'd be here well into tomorrow, and no offense, but you look like you're going to pass out on your feet, kid."
Renji was fine, he thought with a growl. He felt fine. (He could ignore the burning of his eyes, thank you very much.) He… could admit that Ishida looked a bit worn out, though. The Quincy's glasses were askew. He was still in pajamas, and somehow the energy he was giving out felt… different, though Renji couldn't quite place how.
Renji stared at Yoruichi for a moment longer. Ishida couldn't seem to be able to look at her at all. "Fine," Renji bit out, "but we'll be back tomorrow."
Yoruichi gave him a strained smile. "Good, go get some rest. Maybe even try and go to school. It'll probably make you feel better."
He seriously doubted that.
The two stalked off, just stopping when they reached the front of Renji's apartment.
"I don't like this," Ishida said. Good, for once they agreed. "We're just trusting the Soul Society to take care of things from here?"
Renji forced himself to untense. He had to remember what Captain Ukitake had told him. They swore to protect Rukia.
"I hate to say this, but it's all we got," Renji muttered. "We're gonna have to do what she says."
"Yeah," Ishida spat out, "and hope they don't screw us over again."
Renji gulped. He'd expect they'd find out soon.
I usually do my chapters in three phases, with a rough draft, a second draft, and then a proof read, hence why I take long breaks between arcs, but usually get each chapter posted within a week of each other. This was a chapter I really enjoyed reading back.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on how this one went, or even just your hopes for this next arc. The next chapter will be all about the set up for the inevitable rescue while the final interlude should be a bit of crucial backstory. After that ?
(Your reviews give me life ?)
