A/N: Sorry for the long wait for the update, it actually took a while because I had a lot of things irl crop up that needed attention. But I'm back and hopefully we'll get into the action coming up in the next chapter really soon! Thank you again to everyone who reviewed, and without further ado...!
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Rukia's POV)
Ryuuken was frightening when he was in one of his moods, and it looked like right now was going to be one of those times. Her breath was quick and ragged as she was led a little ways away from the room before he stopped and spun to meet her gaze.
"You're going to tell me everything."
If this was even part of the glare he'd given to Ichigo that one day, it was no wonder he'd looked so defeated; if looks could kill...
"I know how and why Ichigo can't remember what happened with Uryuu. I don't know why it happened, but I believe Ichigo's inner Hollow was actually the one who hurt Uryuu, and I believe it was the Hollow who was tormenting him before hand, too. Ichigo probably just figured this out himself; we were in class when it happened, and he snapped up from a dead sleep and took off. I tried to follow him, but he was running aimlessly and I lost sight of him. I figured in the long run, he might come here to see Uryuu. I don't know if it'll be Hollow or Ichigo, but I'm pretty sure he's going to end up here."
Rukia forced herself to take a deep breath, since she felt extremely close to panicking. It wasn't just the look Ryuuken was forcing on her, but the worry for Uryuu that was driving her rising wariness. If anything more happened to him, she'd see it just as much her fault since she at least had some means of being able to stop something from happening now. But it was as Ryuuken expelled a held breath, finally turning his gaze away from her, that she had to hold back a yelp as he suddenly hit the wall beside her, as if in frustration.
So she wasn't the only one wound up with all this sudden information.
"I'll kill him." was his only response, but immediately it kicked Rukia into Ichigo's defense, despite her earlier convictions.
"He's just as much of a victim as Uryuu!" This earned her another death gaze from the man, but she tried as hard as she could not to flinch under the gaze. "Whether you like it or not, they ARE friends, and Ichigo tries as hard as he can to look out for Uryuu. After you kicked him out of the hospital, he's been tearing himself up inside because he feels like all of this was his fault. Blaming him for this would be like blaming a blind man for letting his friend get hit with an arrow."
She could see his eyes narrowing, and a part of her wondered if the white haired man was even listening to what she had to say, when she watched him glance behind himself, toward Uryuu's room.
"Something's wrong." was all he said, but she thought she heard it too.
A high pitched whine, that almost sounded like... a flat line.
Instantly, Rukia's thoughts flew to Uryuu, but Ryuuken reacted faster, and was in front of the door several steps before her. Perhaps, that was a good thing, since a second later the door flew open and one of the metal medical carts was launched from the room, hitting Ryuuken squarely in the gut. It knocked him to the side as the cart skidded to a halt in front of him, leaving Uryuu standing, pale as death itself, in the doorway.
The look on his face reminded her of the day at the ice cream shoppe, as well as when he'd passed out on his couch in front of Ichigo. It was that same, sweaty, panic filled look on his face that made her call out to him, but he had already taken off running in the opposite direction. Rukia started after him, but her gaze flickered to where Ryuuken simply righted himself, and began pushing the cart back into the room. In the shock of the moment, she couldn't help the words that flooded from her mouth.
"What kind of a father are you?! Go after him!"
The man paused before turning a death glare on her; one that hardly even mattered in her astonished state.
"What I do is none of your business."
"So you're going to let Uryuu die just because you're too self absorbed to see that he NEEDS you right now?"
Rukia knew she was saying things she wouldn't normally vocalize, but her fury was getting the better of her, and there wasn't any other way to contain it anymore. Balling her fists at her sides, she didn't even give Ryuuken a chance to respond as she shouted,
"No wonder Uryuu never spoke of you; you're a horrible father!"
She spun on the ball of her foot, unwilling to see the death glare of the man she'd insulted as she ran after Uryuu, admittedly several minutes behind him, but he was slowed due to his injuries, so she hoped she would be able to catch up to him quickly.
She searched the hospital up and down, in every crevice she could find, but she never found Uryuu.
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Uryuu's POV)
It was no big deal, right? Ryuuken might have found out; might have made his own assumptions, but he didn't tell him, so that made it okay, right? He didn't tell anyone the secret, right?
Regardless of the several minutes of being alone, Uryuu still hadn't calmed down, and the rapid beeping filling the silence in the room was only serving to make his heart pound louder in his chest, making sure Uryuu didn't forget his panic. No matter how he tried to rationalize what was going on, he still couldn't quell the feeling of dread beginning to settle over him. No matter what he did, Ichigo was going to come for him. It was like he knew it with every fibre of his being, and that only made a thin sheen of sweat break out on his forehead.
A noise outside the door brought his heart into his throat, and for several long seconds, he could just SEE Ichigo's outline in the closed shades on the door, blocking him from actually seeing what was going on outside his room, but in his mind he knew exactly what was going on. Ichigo was here for him. This time, he really would die; there wasn't any kind of a chance he would be spared.
Trying to swallow around the lump in his throat, Uryuu's eyes flew around the room, looking for any kind of hiding place, only for him to remember that he still didn't have his glasses, so everything past a few feet was blurry. Biting back a whimper, the arm that didn't have the IV in it flailed toward the side table, hoping to whatever god that could hear him that somehow his glasses would be in reach. For the first time since Rukia's attempt at helping him, he had to choke back a sob of relief as his hand caught the edge of glasses. He brought them up to his face, clumsily trying to position his glasses on his ears, though it took a few seconds.
Once he was actually able to see again, his vision caught at the IV in his arm. And the clamp on his finger for the heart monitor. And the stickers on his body with several cords hooking him up to machines, and the cords lying over his body and around his bed, effectively acting as restraints. If Ichigo came in here, he was a sitting duck. What didn't help his train of thought was the next things his eyes caught, which were the doctors tools on the counter to his right and left, and pretty much around him.
Needles, scissors, pointed steel instruments that could easily be worse than just being thrown or kicked into a wall. Broken bones from blunt objects or continual pain from sliced flesh and the pain of bleeding out? Neither idea made him any less restless, and his entire body was tensing up, ready to jump from the bed at a moment's notice. The shadow was still outside his door, and Uryuu could almost see the smirk on Ichigo's face as he stood there, knowing that Uryuu was panicking, unable to do anything against him.
He needed to leave. Despite he only had one way out of the room, Ichigo only had one way in, and if he could slam the man out of the way with the door or something movable, he could make a run for it. That did mean, of course, that he would have to rip himself out of everything he was attached to, which would probably make Ryuuken furious. Still, he found it extremely hard to even worry about his father with Ichigo breathing down his neck. He could almost feel his hands over his skin, heavy and bruising and painful and -
Biting back a whimper, he heard the erratic beeping halt to a steady, whining its loud, piercing wail as the clamp was pulled from his finger. His motions growing more unsteady with each second that passed, he all but ripped the IV out of his arm, hissing quietly at the sudden stab of pain in his arm, but noticing the blood was beyond him as he started yanking off the stickers on his body, cords flying everywhere in his haste to untangle himself. To his ears, it sounded like the wail filling the room was getting substantially louder, almost making him cringe, especially when it looked like the shadow outside the door moved again.
He was enjoying this; Ichigo was enjoying having Uryuu panic and fumble around. For a moment, Uryuu actually felt tears lift to his eyes, but he refused to let them go any further than that as he hastily finished removing himself from all the wires around him, swinging his legs off the bed and jumping off. It was instantaneous, the liquid fire that shot through his entire body crippled his legs and sent him face first onto the floor, hitting his shoulder on the floor in the process. The agony shooting through his body was enough to make him cry out, his entire form shaking under the strain of pain that was spamming through him.
His breath hitched, but he clawed at the floor, trying desperately to make his body obey his orders. It took him a few precious moments, but he was finally able to reach out and grab onto the bed, ignoring as much of the pain as he could while trying to raise himself onto his feet. His entire body was trembling something fearsome, and every nerve in his body screamed for him to lay back down, no matter what would happen because of it, but he couldn't allow himself to be tempted. Sweat had begun to mat his hair to his forehead even as he tried to think clearly. He couldn't just rush out of the door with Ichigo standing there, but neither could he wait any longer. If it wasn't Ichigo who came in, it would be the nurses to strap him down until Ichigo did arrive.
Fighting against his body and trying not to vocalize his pain with every agonizing step, he limped over to the metal cart the last nurse had left in the room. Despite the pain that shot through his broken hand as he grasped onto the handle, he forced himself to lean on it and steer it toward the door. His head felt scrambled with the conflicting thoughts running through it, but he couldn't let himself falter. He wasn't safe here, and no one but him realized that. So it was up to him to do something about it.
With a deep, but hardly reassuring breath, Uryuu swung the door open wide and pushed with every bit of strength he had left, feeling satisfied when the metal cart connected with a body, and he heard Ichigo expel a sharp breath. He'd actually done it...! A distant shout of his name reminded him he couldn't rest yet, and as soon as the shock of excitement faded, he took off, running as fast as his trembling legs could carry him, thankful that it was Ryuuken's hospital he'd been taken to. Within three minutes, even at his slower speed, he was out of the hospital and running.
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~
The sun was too hot, beating down on what skin was uncovered by the hospital gown and causing him to sweat out what fluids he had managed to get from his stay at the hospital. By this point, he felt sticky and dirty, and every step he took only made his body want to give up movement all together. Still, he leaned against the wooden fence to his left, tugging the gown closer to his body no matter how much hotter that made him. Panting quietly, he couldn't stop himself from leaning more heavily upon the fence, using it to prop himself up while he waited for his legs to stop shaking.
His mind was racing just as fast as his heart, which was hammering against his chest and trying to work its way out of his barely healing ribs. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the splitting pain everywhere, especially in his head. He felt like the world was rocking at his feet, trying to throw him off balance, even as he leaned more heavily against the fence, his knees buckling finally. He began sliding down the fence, even as what surroundings he could see blurred like his glasses had been knocked off again. He swallowed thickly, coming to rest on his bottom and still having to bite his lip to keep himself silent.
He'd made it away from Ichigo. That was the only reassuring thought in his mind as he crumpled in on himself on the dirt, uncaring for the way his body protested even resting at this point. He'd managed to get away from Ichigo, and after a short rest, he'd keep going. He would never be able to put enough distance between them, but if he could keep moving, then maybe... just maybe... he'd be able to get away.
Maybe one day, he wouldn't have to worry or look over his shoulder.
Maybe one day.
Uryuu's eyes closed, his body overheated and throbbing with the pain of pushing his broken body to the limits. It was there that he slipped into unconsciousness.