Yo, Ohishashiburi. Sorry it took so long to update. I came down with a case of slight writer's block and exams came, so I only had time to finish the chapter during the hols. Well, since there's not much chatter this turn, i'll just get to the reviews.
Special thanks to Sesshoumaru Minion, flyingphilosopher, SilverWhiteDragon, Kid Rachel, moongoddess421, HitsugayaAngel, Arisuke, Truth Is What You Make Of I..., Vixen-Ra, Jay Kamiya, Vampire Lord, Sleeve of White Snow, Shichimaru Gin, JenovaJuice97, Oh So Bang, Seven Black Roses, Rasgara, OShayO, aznpinayshinigami and Lea Cat for reviewing the previous chapter.
Now, please enjoy the eighth chapter of Reincarnation.
Note: To all of you that have no idea what this chapter means, I suggest rereading the chapter before. I changed the precious chapter once, so Minako doesn't exist anymore.
Reincarnation of Ice
Chapter 8: Betrayals
Matsumoto paddled her hair vehemently as she tried to dry the orange locks the best she could. Walking over to the table at the corner of her sparse apartment, she slung the towel over her shoulder and cracked her knuckles, looking at the intimidating pile of paperwork and homework she had assigned to her students. She sometimes wondered why she couldn't have been given the choice of being a student. But she had outgrown that, and the school definitely wouldn't be fooled. No matter how much brain washing gas Soul Society had it wouldn't be enough to allow her to masquerade as one. Thus the last choice was to be a teacher, since she had no plans on being a janitor. In all circumstances, the tenth division had been long without captain for fifteen years since Hitsugaya's death, and it didn't look like there would be anyone with a captain-class reiatsu anytime soon. She could always try working to become one, but she didn't think she would make a terrific captain. All the same, she would put the thought into consideration after she got back from the real world.
Her cheery mood dissipated slightly at that. Her current mission was to make sure that Gin was behaving properly (in other words not causing havoc plus not making any correspondence with any remaining Arrancar and/or Menos from Hueco Mundo). But in truth it wasn't that; Soul Society was afraid of Gin, much more than anyone knew. The reason for that was pretty darn simple actually, when you stop to think about it. After all, the real Aizen wasn't the kind of man that liked to keep close subordinates that were as weak as ants in his eyes. Heck, even she was afraid of him a bit, and Gin seemed to know. He kept on reassuring her that his powers had disappeared, and that she could ask Urahara about it if she wanted to.
When she had heard that, she had immediately demanded that Gin tell her what in all the seven hells he meant by that and about Urahara's involvement in all this. After beating around the bush for heaven knows how long and tons of curses later, she had actually managed to get a decent explanation. After Aizen had been miraculously defeated by Hitsugaya, Gin had abandoned fighting Matsumoto and was about to go to the Human world when Urahara had caught up with him. Gin had assured the twelfth division captain that he wouldn't cause anymore trouble and just be loitering around the Human world, and after some long hours of persuasion, metal clashing against metal and a slight bout of cursing -courtesy of Urahara who was pissed he had even made a mistake that big- they had actually managed to come up with a deal of sorts. Urahara would allow Gin to go to the real world if Gin was willing to wear one of Urahara's special reiatsu restraining gigai to turn himself into a pure blooded human. Gin had consented, and Urahara had allowed Gin to pass through the Senkaimon undetected by the Science faculty group.
Matsumoto had been satisfied with his answer only after she had called Urahara and confirmed it with him. Though the confirming part had been hard, with him denying every single thing she said and cracking jokes left and right, she had threatened to tell Yamamoto sou-taichou about a certain incident last summer. After that, getting information out of him had been a breeze, albeit the slight mutters she had heard. Whether or not they had been curses directed at her, she hadn't been able to listen over the static in the crackling connection that she and Urahara had spoke through. She hadn't been a tattle tale on the both of them to anyone yet, and she wasn't planning to. Some things after all, were better left in the dark. And having Urahara in Soul Society made the place much more interesting; what with all the parties and pranks he managed to pull off.
Getting back on the topic at hand, since there wasn't a captain in the tenth, all the paperwork duty fell to the vice-captain, which was unfortunately her. Another reason why she should have appreciated and respected Hitsugaya more. It definitely took guts and patience to tackle that never-ending mountain of monstrosity every day without fail and falter. She had almost been buried under the backlog when she had first started doing it. Somehow, throughout the passage of time, she had managed to overcome it and settled down into an agreeable routine. She had celebrated that moment with bottles of sake while singing along with an equally drunk Kyouraku and Urahara, resulting in a major migraine the next day.
Slapping her face lightly at that, she turned back to the mound of paper, determined to at least get some work done. She didn't need Yamamoto breathing down her throat over overdue paperwork.
Picking up the pen by the side of her table, she had been about to begin tackling the report on the entrance of spirits into Soul Society when the phone on the top left-hand corner of her desk let out a piercing screech. It rang and rang, the sound resonating throughout her apartment. Picking it up, she muttered a hasty hello. "Matsumoto-san," Shihou's clear alto reached Matsumoto's ears.
"What is it, Shihou-kun?" Matsumoto said.
"Have you seen Toushirou?" There was a concerned tone in Shihou's voice now, and it didn't take a genius to know what she was worried about.
"I only saw him at school, when he came to deliver his paperwork to Gi- Eisetsu-sensei. After that, I think he went back to the student body office. When or whether he had left the school, I have no idea," Matsumoto answered, reprimanding herself silently for almost calling Gin by his real name. Here in the Human world, Gin didn't want anyone else except people from Soul society to call him by his real name. It was more likely a counter measure to make sure that Soul Society couldn't trace him.
"I see," Shihou said, sounding slightly downhearted at that.
"What's wrong with Toushirou?" Matsumoto asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible.
"It's nothing. He's just not home yet, that's all. It's not like him to come home late." Matsumoto swore she could hear a hint of exasperation in her voice, but let it slide. Shihou was more likely worried.
"It is quite late," Matsumoto replied, looking at the clock on the wall which hands pointed to seven thirty. Looking at the darkening sky, anyone could definitely tell that it was close to night, and school ended at mid-afternoon. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone? Like a friend's house maybe? The book store?"
"Not without telling us," Shihou stated firmly. "He knows haha-ue's moods enough to know that she'd worry her head off."
"Then the only possibility would be..." Matsumoto's voice trailed off at that. There was a possible chance, no matter how far-fetched, that a Hollow had attacked Toushirou, and he wasn't well trained enough yet to face a Hollow, nor did he have anything that would help him change into a Shinigami at will yet. Matsumoto berated herself in her mind for not giving Toushirou some Soul Candy just incase. She should have been able to know that there was a possibility that something like that would happen, and she had been dumb enough to ignore that point. Suddenly, she noticed that Shihou had gone quiet as well.
"Not that that could happen," Matsumoto hastily amended. "After all, he's a master at kendo, judo and karate right? Then there shouldn't be any problem for him to fend himself against any kidnappers. I- I don't mean that it will happen or anything, it's just a suggestion and there's no way it could-"
"I'll call you back if I find Toushirou. Good night," Shihou said tersely, putting down the receiver before Matsumoto could say anything else.
Listening dazedly to the beeping sound over the phone, Matsumoto hoped that she hadn't made Shihou mad.
Shihou placed the phone back down onto the receiver, not bothering to wait for Matsumoto to reply. It had been a bit rude of her to put the phone down like that; Matsumoto would most likely think that she was angry with the older woman. She would definitely have to apologize to her later, but right now she had other things to worry about. It definitely wasn't like Toushirou to be out this late, not without telling them where he was going. The possibility of Toushirou being kidnapped was a high one, but it had never happened before, and just as Matsumoto had said he was a master in martial arts. Knowing him, Toushirou would never be swindled into following a stranger that seemed shady.
Tokyo was an urban area, and barely had any deep gullies where he could have drowned, fallen into or been attacked by a wild animal. There was also the possibility he had been involved in a car accident, but the hospital would have called by now or the news would have said something about it. She had seen the evening news and there was no mention of an unidentified student being knocked down by a car, lorry, train or van. Another would be that he had actually forgotten to tell them he had something on tonight. She shook her head at that thought; Toushirou wasn't dumb enough to forget something as trivial as that. So what options were there left? Practically none in normal circumstances. But Tokyo was a small place, and the possibility of Toushirou meeting him was high, not to mention she hadn't told him about Natsume at all. She had known for a long time that Natsume was going to get a bail, but had hoped that the council would reconsider. She had only known that he had came out of the gallows just this morning, and had wanted to tell the family tonight (she hadn't told them earlier, just incase. She didn't want them to worry for nothing).
But now that Toushirou was missing, she had the sneaking suspicion that Natsume had something to do with this.
She had managed to tell Hecate and Hiro about Natsume's release when they had returned home, but Ryuujin and Soraya had gone to see an old college friend that was staying at Akasuke for the next few days and wouldn't be back until late at night, according to the note she found when she came back from the university. The twins had taken the news considerably well, with Hecate swearing a bit under her breath. She wasn't sure whether she should tell her parents about Natsume, but they had a right to know. After all, it was their son that they had raised for a good fifteen years before he got caught. However, it wasn't needed to tell them that their eldest son was out of jail and their second son was missing. Definitely not a good combination of news.
Suddenly the door swung open, and Hecate who had gone around asking people they knew whether that had seen Toushirou or not was bending over her knees and out of breath from running hard. Hiro was behind her doing the same, clutching the doorway for support as he tried to get the air to enter his lungs. She ushered them in, but Hecate declined and managed to pant out a bit of what they had found out.
"Jun-baba...saw...Toushirou...going with...some stranger...this afternoon," Hecate said between breathes.
"Really?" Hiroshima Junpei -or Jun-baba as they liked to call her- was the elderly owner of the Kikuneko cafe where she and Toushirou worked at part-time during the school holidays. She was a kind old lady, and would normally give them a few treats to bring back for the family whenever there were leftovers.
"Yes," Hiro said, as soon as he had regained his composure, keeping a serious expression on his face as he told them what he had Hecate had learned. "Jun-baba saw them when she was sweeping the front steps at the Kikuneko. She had seen Toushirou sometime around five in the afternoon, and had been about to call him when she had seen the person beside him. She had managed to get a glimpse of the man when he had turned to look at Toushirou. He had brown hair, a darker hue than mine but lighter than Hecate's. He was wearing a black jacket and biker trousers with a few chains hanging from them. She wasn't sure, but she swore that the man's eyes were at least the same color as yours, Shi-nee."
From the look of Hiro's eyes, she already knew who the description met. Kami must really be in a bad mood to let Toushirou and Natsume meet. "Which direction were they heading towards?"
"Eastwards, away from the house," Hecate replied this time. "I don't know about you, but Natsu-nii heading in that direction doesn't bode well. I don't know why, but I feel it in my bones."
Shihou quickly ran through a list of places that Natsume would go to in that direction in her mind. There was the Yaesu-guchi, where Natsume could push Toushirou onto the tracks. That possibility was ruled out quickly; there was no report of anything of that sort yet, and there were definitely too many people there. Someone would have noticed if Natsume had pushed the younger boy to his doom. Not to mention it just wasn't his style. He liked to torture his victims a bit before he would pity them and take their lives -killing them slowly, make the fear rise in their hearts and strip them of the hope of being rescued. He had committed two murders with the same method, both in a quiet and secluded area where there would no witnesses and enough resources to clean any evidence. Somewhere where there were a lot of supplies.
Then it hit her, like the pool in her head that had been rippling had gone still, and everything in it had reflected back clearly, understandably.
"I know where they are," Shihou said quickly, rushing over to the coat stand and shrugging on her coat. "Are you two coming?"
"Of course we are," Hiro said, bending over to retie his shoelace. "He's our brother as well, after all?"
"Not brothers?" Shihou quirked an eyebrow at that. Hiro just looked at her with the same serious expression as he said" No criminal is a brother of mine." Shihou heard Hecate sigh at that, but the younger twin didn't say anything.
"Hecate," Shihou turned to look at the girl.
"Yes?"
"Prepare your glocks and bring them with you."
"Now?"
"Yes. We'll wait for you."
"What about Tou-nii?"
Shihou's face hardened slightly at that. "He'll be able to last until we come."
"If you say so," Hecate shrugged the worried expression still on her face as she quickly took of her shoes and rushed up the stairs. Hiro turned to look at Shihou. "Why'd you ask her to do that?"
"Because we're going to need it."
Toushirou ran quickly behind a stack of wooden crates, dodging another hale of bullets as it rained down upon him. Neglecting the thundering sound the bullets were creating, he crawled through the hole in the wall behind him which he had spotted when he'd first chosen to dodge the oncoming attack at this spot. Cursing the weather slightly as the autumn cold stung his hands; he managed to make it out of the room. Running down the passageway, he could hear Natsume kick the door open and immediately ducked around the corner and pulled open the closest door. Closing it as softly as he could, he turned to look at the room for any possible escape routes. Spotting a hidden door behind another wall of boxes, he opened it to find another passage that forked into two more passages at the end, shaping into a T. Quickly closing the door behind him, minding the sound he created, he ran down the corridor and turned into the left passage, praying that it led to an exit.
Gods, he was so dumb. He should have known following Natsume was a bad idea.
When they had bumped into each other at the pedestrian cross, he should have run as fast as he could and go back home. But no, he just had to stand there like a dazed idiot and let the older boy drag him back to the side he had came from and let the man manipulate him into coming. When Toushirou had actually broken out of his daze, Natsume had only grinned coldly at him. Even the memory of it made shivers rush up and down his spine. Bending down to his height, Natsume had whispered in his ears, "Be quiet and don't run. Just follow me and I won't do anything to you." Looking back at that memory, Toushirou remembered the many times before when he was young, Natsume had whispered to him in the same ear with the same eerie tone whenever Toushirou had been disturbing the older man. The sheer malice that had been apparent in Natsume's voice this time had rooted him to the ground, and he could only comply silently.
When they had been walking through Aoyama he had wanted to blend into the crowd and disappear, but when they reached the busier part of town Natsume had held onto his arm tightly and painfully, making Toushirou wince at the pain. Knowing from the experience of trying to break through Natsume's grip when he had been younger and reluctant to give up playing and go home, Toushirou knew that it'd be futile to even try wriggling his wrist in any attempt to escape. At that moment as he looked upwards at Natsume's impassive face, he couldn't have wished more that he had actually gained a few inches more when he had gone through puberty so to make the evident difference in height between him and his older brother a little bit less distinct.
Soon, Natsume had dragged him eastwards. They had been near Yaesu-guchi, the sounds of the train running pass at lightning speed made him uncomfortable. He knew Natsume well enough to know that it wasn't his style to kill someone by pushing them off onto the tracks, but it still didn't ease his mind at all. After all, he had no idea how much Natsume had changed; in fact, he had no idea that he had known Natsume from the beginning, not even when he was a kid. Suddenly, they had made a sharp turn into another road, and had gone down an abandoned road. At that moment it hit him, and Toushirou knew where they were going. When the shape of the abandoned warehouse had materialized, he could have gone on a major panic breakdown. This was where Natsume had murdered his accomplice and boss. Someway or another, Toushirou had managed to stop his rising unease to show on his face.
Toushirou had tried yanking his hand away then and there, but Natsume had only tightened his grip and continued dragging him towards their destination. Only when they had been inside the building did Natsume let go of his hand. Flexing his hand slightly to let the blood return, Toushirou turned to face Natsume, who had walked over to the opposite end of the wide room. It looked a lot like a loading dock; the warehouse was used to store goods for a company and was amazingly close to Yaesu-Guchi. It was so close that you could hear the train rushing on the tracks from outside.
"Let me ask you something Toushirou," Natsume said with the same cold grin, stressing the boy's name more than he liked. "Why did you turn me in?"
Toushirou didn't need to think more before answering truthfully, "It was the right thing to do."
"I thought you'd say that," Natsume's grin became wider at that, and Toushirou tensed. If it hadn't been for the sound of the click of the gun being cocked, Toushirou wouldn't have known to move. His eyes widened in shock as the bullet whizzed pass him, missing him by a hair's breath and embedding itself inside into the wall behind him. If he had been standing there, he realized, he could have been buried six feet under. Neglecting the rising terror and the voice in his head that was screaming at him to run, Toushirou turned back to face Natsume. The smoking muzzle of the gun was pointed straight at him, yet the grin on Natsume's face was still present, as wide and cold as ever.
Somewhere in his head something clicked, and he felt like he was reliving a nightmare. The 'vision'(if you could call it that) he had had two months ago. He had seen something similar on an also familiar face. He couldn't help but remember the conversation he had had with Eisetsu after Matsumoto had left the room.
"Eisetsu, there's more." Toushirou tightened the grip on his hand as he looked at the older man solemnly. "You...had a very different expression than now."
"You saw?" Eisetsu's brow rose slightly. Something told Toushirou he was not very pleased with the fact that he knew.
"Yes," Toushirou said firmly. He wouldn't lie, especially to Eisetsu. The man could detect any farce no matter how complicated, intricate or well planned.
"What did it remind you of, Tou-kun?"
Toushirou hesitated a bit before answering, "Death. It was so cold, as if you took pleasure in killing that person, yet you weren't. It was as if you did it willingly, yet cried on the inside. It was eerie. It was..."
Crazy. Psychotic. And as much as he hated to admit, scary. Suddenly he could feel a slight pressure on his head as Eisetsu ruffled his hair.
"Forget about it. It's in the past. It's one I'd rather keep buried for eternity. It's not that I don't regret it to some extent, the guy was a good kiddo, and his death caused her a lot of grief, whether by my hand or not. I think when I met you; I could forgive myself a little bit more. You and Matsumoto's 'friend' are very alike in many ways, but I knew that one's past, and seeing you happy...that helped my conscious a big deal."
"Hn," Toushirou grunted, readjusting his hair to its former spiky self. "Thanks for the compliment."
"Aww, you spoiled the mood," Eisetsu smiled as he said that.
"Where's your head flown off to, otouto?"
Toushirou snapped out of his thoughts at that, and quickly turned his head to the right. The bullet grazed his cheek as it flew past him. Diverting his attention back to Eisetsu, he knew he couldn't slip up again. It would mean his neck if he did so. Looking at Natsume's face, he knew that the older man was dead serious, and wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
The game of cat-and-mouse had begun then. Toushirou hadn't been injured critically yet, getting out of the rain of bullets with a few scratches and bruises. Toushirou was beginning to wonder how many full magazines the man had to load the handgun with.
Toushirou ran down the corridor faster. Natsume had found the door and would catch up soon, and it was definitely more dangerous in an open corridor than anywhere else. Soon he spotted a door at the end, and quickly pushed it open, closing it back again. This time he didn't silence the sound; he was out at a loading bay on the other side of where they had entered. Facing him was a wide, open door and a road that lead through a housing area aligned with a stream. Toushirou pushed back memories at that. The bodies of the two people Natsume had killed had been dumped there.
Moving quickly, Toushirou was half-way pass the room when another shot rang through the air. This time it was so fast that he was unable to dodge, not in this wide, exposed area. A searing pain spread through the lower thigh of his right leg, and Toushirou was brought to his knees, literally. Clutching the rapidly bleeding wound and cursing his foolishness at not noting his surroundings, he turned to look upwards at the upper deck where the controls were. Natsume was standing there, gun still pointed at him. A satisfied smirk formed on his lips.
"Caught you," Natsume said, moving his hand so that the muzzle would point straight at his head. "Luckily for me too; there were only two more bullets left after that last hail. Be proud of yourself. You managed to elude me for much longer than the two before. But alas, such pleasures must end."
Toushirou gritted his teeth. If he didn't come out with something quick, he was doomed. Gods, he needed to move. If there was only one bullet left, then if Natsume missed, he would live. If he could get up and run that would be an extra bonus. After all, sitting here like a sitting duck wasn't going to help. Natsume could still come down and strangle him. He needed to concentrate on dodging first, and then he would try running.
"Goodbye, little brother," Natsume said, his finger pressing the trigger a little closer.
A shot rang through the air, clear and pristine in the cold autumn air. Yet, Toushirou was surprised to find that the bullet that he had been waiting for didn't come.
He could hear Natsume swear as his gun clattered down on the deck and slipped off the edge down onto the floor below. The older boy no longer paid any heed to him, and was looking beyond him, at the person that had fired the bullet that had disarmed him. Toushirou turned around to face the open door.
The muzzle of Hecate's glock was still smoking a bit when she moved to keep it away. Hiro ran up to him and looked at his wound, clicking his tongue slightly at the sight of the blood pouring out of the leg wound and kneeled down to inspect it. Shihou only stood at the end of the room, looking straight at Natsume with her most serious glare.
"Well, Tenshi-chi," Natsume said, smirking slightly. "You've grown. And I don't just mean physically."
Shihou's eyes narrowed at that. "Don't call me that, bastard. But then, you haven't changed at all the past seven years- still the same cynical, psychopathic nut head."
"I'm hurt," Natsume clutched his heart in mock sadness. "You say such cold things, now and then. You've gotten less cute too."
"Why thank you for the compliment."
"Wasn't planning on it being one," The grin was still there on his face, Toushirou noted. Something wasn't right, and by the way Shihou's shoulders tensed, she knew it too.
"You know, you shouldn't underestimate me," Natsume suddenly said. Suddenly, Toushirou caught sight of Natsume's hand inching closer to his jacket. At that moment, Toushirou realized something.
The consistency of the bullet fires was to closely knit to be the job of just one handgun. He was just about to warn Shihou when Natsume pulled a Beretta from behind his jacket and aimed at Shihou's head, his finger closing onto the trigger.
A shot rang through the air again for the second time, but this time it was a different person that had fired the shot.
Natsume hissed in pain and clutched onto his bleeding hand, his gun sliding off the deck like the first one. The glock in Shihou's hand was smoking slightly, but other than that, the person holding it was unscathed.
"You shouldn't underestimate me as well, dear brother," Shihou said, not taking her eyes off of Natsume. "Don't think that I didn't at least carry one on me for incase."
"And to think I thought I was the smartest in the family," Natsume snorted at that, but the glower on his face didn't disappear.
"You were, until you got twisted enough to become too overconfident."
Natsume harrumphed at that and looked away, eying Shihou out of the corner of his eye. "Looks like you win this round, Tenshi-chi."
"I told you," Shihou sighed, putting away the gun. "Don't call me by that name."
They stared at each other for a while, neither one of them taking their eyes of the other before Shihou turned away.
Toushirou looked at this foreplay silently. There was something about it that made it seem so repetitive. Maybe the same thing happened when Shihou had found Natsume and told him that it was the end of the line, but he hadn't been there to know whether that was true or not.
Hiro poked him lightly. "Nii-san, your wound isn't too critical. It didn't hit any vitals or tear any muscles, so you should have no problem with moving like you use to. I've stopped the bleeding, but I don't have enough equipment to take out the bullet, so you'll have to wait for the ambulance and have the doctor do it."
Toushirou nodded his thanks to Hiro, who got up and walked towards Hecate who was on the phone calling the police and ambulance. Then he turned around to face Shihou, who had walked towards him and was now kneeling beside him.
"You ok?" Shihou asked. Toushirou nodded again at that. The older let out a sigh of relief.
"You should have told us earlier," Toushirou stated, his brow furrowing into a frown.
Shihou just shrugged. "Didn't want you all to worry too much, that's all."
Toushirou grunted in response. Shihou was right to an extent; Soraya would have worried so much that she wouldn't allow any of them to step out of the house. But still, she could have warned him a little earlier. He wouldn't be stuck in such a mess in the first place if she had done so. But, his heart reasoned, she had come and rescued him, even though his pride was a little hurt by that, so there wasn't any problem with that.
"Toushirou," Shihou suddenly said, her head tilting to one side quizzically. "Where are the groceries I asked you to buy?"
And as the sirens howled, signaling the arrival of the ambulance and police, Toushirou could feel a vein pop at his temple.
"I was almost killed and you're asking about groceries?"
Shihou smiled at that. "Just kidding, Toushirou, just kidding."
Wow, this chapter is definintely long. I hope it satisfies those that have waited a long time for this to be updated. Review and tell me what you think. Until the next chapter, I bid you farewell.