Impertinent little brat

Chapter 11: Senka is...

The water splattered across the table when the cup hit it but neither Rukia nor her companion paid it any heed. Both of their attentions were instantly elsewhere when they felt a sudden and familiar flare of reiatsu vibrate through Seireitei. As suddenly as it had come it was gone and in its absence Rukia felt strangely cold.

"It would seem that my cousin is back from whatever wayward mission he was sent on." Akihiko commented lightly. Though he sounded calm Rukia didn't miss the slight frown on his brow.

Was he suspecting the same thing as she?

"So it would seem, Akihiko-sama." She replied evenly.

Was he too suspecting that there was something very wrong and menacing about that? Or was he worried that not everything was going according to some unknown plan?

"If you will excuse me, Akihiko-sama." She politely excused herself and stood up. "I should return to my division to see if my captain has gained any new information from my brother."

For once Rukia didn't bother to wait for his reply. Running as quickly as she could she tried to remember from where she had felt the burst of reiatsu and tried to fight down the worry gnawing in her gut that she was somehow too late. For what she didn't know, and she dreaded to find out.

"But… you kissed him Yoruichi-sama!" Soifon stuttered, her face turning red but whether from anger or embarrassment Yoruichi didn't know. Still she looked kinda funny like that and it made the cat grin. My, my, one could think the girl to be jealous.

"Ah, so it was you who were eavesdropping, Soifon."

Again the younger woman blushed, her mouth opening to dispute the accusation before closing quickly when she realised that she had just more or less admitted to it with her outburst.

"I… was just making certain that… he wasn't trying anything with you, Yoruichi-sama. A boy that age cannot be trusted." Soifon muttered, her lips turned down in a petulant manner.

Yoruichi laughed loudly. "Bya-bo? He would never do such an undignified thing. You know that, Soifo…"

She quickly interrupted herself and both she and her companion stilled suddenly. Quickly both of the women's heads turned towards the direction of the reiatsu burst. Then it was gone.

"Was that…?" She heard Soifon say, even without looking Yoruichi knew that the other woman was frowning.

"Bya-bo." She confirmed and shunpoed. Without looking she knew that Soifon was following. Suddenly she was afraid. Something was horribly wrong.

"Which damn way was it?" Ichigo growled.

"How the hell should I know?" Renji hollered back furiously as both he and Ichigo ran through the streets. Damn, damn, damn, he cussed inwardly. He knew that reiatsu so damn well, he had worked next to it and the man wielding it for too long not to recognise it on the spot. He lived with the damn brat! So how the hell was it that he couldn't find it now?

The obvious answer was; Because it was no longer being wielded.

And that answer scared Renji more than he was willing to admit. Suddenly it had been there, like a flaming beacon and then the next moment it had not. The abruptness with which it was cut off scared the redhead shitless.

"He was just fumblin' with it. The brat…" he muttered aloud, trying to convince himself it was true. "Fumblin' an' got backlashed, is all. Prolly just knocked himself out."

Kami-sama, let it be true, he thought. It was not Renji's way to ask Kami-sama for anything, he wasn't even sure he believed in anything such as Kami-sama, but the words came unbidden to him. Almost like a prayer.

"What did you say?" Ichigo yelled back to him.

"Nothing!" Renji yelled back.

"So hurry up then, slowpoke!"

"Shut up, moron! Just try to find the cap'n!" Renji snapped even as he did so himself. Desperately reaching and searching for any trace of the reiatsu that had abruptly disappeared. Nothing. He could feel nothing. Not so much as a damn trace…

"Renji!"

The redhead almost barked back a cuss before he realised that it wasn't Ichigo's voice calling his name.

"Ichigo!"

Looking up he saw Rukia running along with them, above them on the roof.

"Come on! This way!"

Renji leaped upon the roof to run by his friend's side. The next moment Ichigo was there too.

"Rukia! You know where to go?" Ichigo asked.

"I think so." She bit out. Her eyes were fixed ahead of her, not so much as glancing at either of them. Whatever hope that may have still been residing in Renji at that point was snuffed out; Rukia's businesslike and tense appearance said more than words. She felt it too. Something was fucking wrong.

"Damn it." He cussed, shaking his head furiously. "Which way, Rukia?"

"Over there." She pointed. Then she went white in the face, as if all blood just drained from it.

"What it is?" He barked. A thousand different answers flickering through his mind, none of which making him calmer.

"There… there's someone else there too."

Growling Renj sprinted as fast as he could in the directing she had pointed out. He heard Ichigo cuss behind him before the other man ran past him, his shunpo easily outdoing his own.

He saw Ichigo descending between the houses ahead, followed by the familiar flare of his friend's reiatsu and then the rising of another which he didn't recognise. The enemy.

Growling again he drew Zabimaru and heard Rukia draw her own zanpakutou as they both made themselves ready to fight.

Suddenly there was an explosion and both he and Rukia had to dive to the side to avoid the debris that rained down at them. By the time they reached the site of the explosion the dust lay thick in the air.

"Ichigo!" Rukia hollered when they jumped down into the midst of it. "Are you alright?"

"Rukia! Renji!" Their friend's voice answered from the cloud of dust and they both struggled towards his voice. "Over here! Hurry the hell up!"

"Ichigo, are you…?" Renji heard Rukia begin but then her voice trailed off and he nearly toppled over her when she abruptly stopped in her tracks.

"Rukia…!" he exclaimed. "Why are ya…?"

And then he saw why she had stopped.

Ichigo was kneeling in a puddle of debris and dust and blood; he was huddled over an unmoving figure that lay on the ground. He looked up when he noticed them, and the look in his eyes was like a sledgehammer. Renji's breath hitched in his throat and his gaze trailed over the boy on the ground.

White and red. So damn white. The red screamed at him.

"Nii-sama…"

Byakuya.

"Don't just stand there, you idiots!" Another voice sharply cut through the numbing blanket of shock and Renji just managed to turn his head to see Soifon land next to them. An angry scowl was etched on her face and she glared at them. "Get him to the fourth!"

"Soifon-taichou…!" Rukia gasped.

"Now! I will hunt down the perpetrator and bring him in." the short woman snapped in anger before she was gone again.

"Why weren't you with him, Renji?" Rukia finally lamented, her face red from both anger and sadness as she turned to her friend.

Renji stammered for a response but he couldn't find any words. Somehow all words seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere in the back of his throat, stubbornly clinging there and refusing to get out. He found himself shaking his head wildly, waving his hands in front of himself as if trying to bat the words that were being thrown at him away.

"I told you to guard him."

"Rukia…" finally something came out of his mouth, but the moment it did he realised that he had no clue of how to continue. Again he was left to shaking his head.

A silence fell between them. It was a silence he didn't recognise, one that had never before passed between them, and he felt lost.

Rukia turned away from him to look out the window of the room where they were waiting to hear word from the captain of the fourth division. When they had brought Byakuya in the elder woman had instantly but calmly diverted her full attention to the Kuchiki lord. It was serious. Not that he needed to be told that. At first sight he had been convinced that his captain was dead; the small body had been so white and had been so heavy in his arms when they had hurried towards the hospital. Dead weight.

Somehow he wasn't dead. Yet.

And now all they could do was to wait.

Heaving a sigh Renji crumbled into the couch and buried his face in his hands. Fuck. It was all his fault. Byakuya… damn it.

Kami-sama, don't let him die. Renji didn't care if he didn't believe in gods or not. If there was any chance that there were any kind of being in any damned or holy dimension out there that could keep his cap'n alive he'd pray to it. Pray and grovel 'til his damned knees were worn down to stubs.

He heard the door opening and he wearily lifted his head to see who was coming.

Ukitake-taichou's face was nearly as white as his hair when he rushed inside the room, his chest heaving as if he'd been running. Behind him both of his ever present shadows that seemed to have been less that usually present lately stumbled inside too.

"Captain, you shouldn't be running!" Kiyone exclaimed.

"It's not good for your health!" Sentarou chimed in loudly. Ukitake ignored them.

"Rukia," he hurried to his division member. "Byakuya. How is he?"

"Ukitake-taichou." Rukia turned. Her face had gone from red to white, though Renji through her eyes looked rimmed still with red. Still she stood straight and seemed to at least try to appear strong. "He's… I don't know…"

"Kuchiki-taichou? Something happened to…" Kiyone asked worriedly. Almost frantically. "What's happened?"

"Hey, now. I'm sure he's alright," Sentarou said quickly, awkwardly patting her shoulder as if trying to comfort her. "He's fine."

What the hell was up with those two? Renji idly wondered but didn't give it more than a passing thought since his mind was busy elsewhere.

"Kiyone-san, Sentarou-san, can I ask you to leave us? I need to speak to Rukia and Abarai-san alone." Ukitake said, not turning to look their way. The two self-appointed shadows of his nodded once, glancing at each other warily before exiting the room.

A second later Renji moved to do the same.

"Abarai-fukutaichou." The captain's voice stopped him in his tracks and he hesitantly looked back. "I'm sorry. This is my fault."

"What?" Rukia asked. "Ukitake-taicou, what do you mean?"

The captain looked surprised at first, then understanding dawned on his face and he stated softly: "Abarai didn't… tell you."

"Tell me what? Renji? Tell me what?" the girl asked quickly, but Renji lowered his head. The words still refused to come.

"That Byakuya-kun was not with Renji today; It is my fault that he was not." Ukitake-taichou answered instead. His voice was very soft when he spoke and Renji felt a surge of anger when he realised that the gentle older man was blaming himself. It was not Ukitake's fault, it was his. He was the one who was supposed to protect the br… the cap'n. "I sent Yoruichi-san to him last night. I didn't think of…"

"It's not your fault Ukitake-taichou." The redhead looked up fiercely. "It's mine. I was supposed to protect him, and I wasn't there! An' now he's… he might die… 'cause of me!"

The silence that followed his outburst was compact. Both his friend's and the captain's eyes were locked on him in shock. Angrily Renji began pacing the floor.

"I should¨ve… I was supposed to protect him, dammit!" he exclaimed furiously.

Dammit!

He didn't stop until he felt someone grabbing his arm, and he turned to find Rukia gazing up at him.

"Renji…" She said and shook her head. Then suddenly her arms were wrapped around him. "It's not your fault… it's not…"

"They used Senka." Unohana-taichou said calmly as they stood by the bedside of the unconscious boy.

Renji felt like slamming his fist through the wall.

Those damned bastards…. They used one of his favourite moves against him! Renji wasn't sure why that particular detail enraged him so much but it did. It was just… it was as if they had made him cut down himself!

"Fuck." He muttered.

"Please don't use such words here, Abarai-fukutaichou. This is a hospital." Unohana said and smiled sweetly. Renji jerked at that smile, it always sent a warning tingle down his spine and made him want to run for the hills.

"Sorry." He blurted out quickly.

"It's quite alright, Abarai-fukutaichou. Stressing situations cause unheeded words."

"Senka cuts off the Soul Chain and the Soul Sleep…" Rukia said. Her voice was strangled, as if she had to force the words to come out. "My brother will never be a shinigami again."

Renji's breath hitched. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. To him Byakuya had always been the foremost shinigami. The one he wanted, needed, and was going to beat. That he would no longer be a shinigami… that he'd have all power stripped from him… it was a fate worse than death. His cap'n couldn't…

"Ordinarily it would be so. Fortunately the Senka was performed sloppily." Unohana-taichou agreed and nodded.

"So what the hell…" Renji caught himself before he got hit by that sweet smile again. "Eh… what does that mean, Unohana-taichou?"

"He's responding well to the treatment. I believe that given time his body will mend the damage itself. I cannot promise that it won't affect him. It may be that his reiatsu will be significantly lowered, but he will live."

Renji gulped. Glancing sideways at Rukia he saw that she was wearing an expression that probably mimicked his own. They both knew that the cap'n wouldn't accept that. Byakuya Kuchiki would refuse to be lowered like that. He was power and strength. It was what he relied on. He'd rather die than have that taken away.

And suddenly Renji was afraid. Much more than when he'd thought his cap'n was dead, and he realised that he was no longer afraid of what someone else may do to his captain, but what he may do himself if it turned out that his reiatsu would be permanently crippled.

What was Byakuya Kuchiki without his power?

Sensing their need for space Unohana-taichou silently slipped out of the room and left the two friends with their charge.

Renji fisted his hands. Again he wanted to slam them through the wall but he controlled himself and glared down at the prone form on the bed.

He was so… white. Black lashes touched white cheekbones and made him seem even paler. And so small. He was so damn frail looking all of a sudden. The narrow chest moving up and down but only faintly. The only sign of any life left in him. What would this child be without the power that defined him?

For a long time they stood there side by side trying to figure out the answer to that question in silence. Until Rukia finally broke the silence.

"Where's Ichigo?"

TBC

Btw: Senka – is the technique that Byakuya used against Ichigo when Renji and he went to fetch Rukia. Just in case someone was wondering.