This fic would not have been possible if it wasn't for my beta EternalDream, who is made of pure awesomeness!
Standard Disclaimers Apply
The Ties That Binds
Chapter 11
"No."
Renji sighed at the youngest captain Soul Society had ever seen. "With all due respect, Hitsugaya-taichou, you don't have the authority to decide whether or not Hinamori gets involved."
"And it's yours?" Toushiro countered, and before he could say anything else, Shinji coughed.
"When you've both finished deciding what my fukotaichou can or can't do, perhaps you both would like to ask her what she wants."
"It's alright, Shiro-kun. I want to help," Momo said with a smile as she touched his hands for encouragement. "It's fine."
Kakei did his best not to look at the lone female in the room. He'd seen her from time to time. Had heard stories about her mastery of kidou. There was something about the way she moved, almost as if she was surrounded with an aura of vulnerability that made him stare. He only looked away when he felt his uncle—or rather, his future uncle to be more precise—give him a glare that was colder than Hyorinmaru. The last time he remembered seeing her, she was being escorted to the Shrine of Penitence, not to be executed, but to be held until Soul Society received full information. When the attack first occurred, and they thought it was Aizen, her loyalty was questioned, and the only thing that had stopped Uncle Toushiro from retaliating was his Aunt Karin's pregnancy. He gave a curious look at the man with the "69" tattoo. He had never formally met the man, but wherever Hinamori-fukotaichou was, the man was not that far behind.
When Momo finally got her best friend to relent, she opened the book Aizen gave her for everyone to see.
"That's the book that Aizen gave you," Renji commented, a slight question in his voice.
She nodded her head. She took out the pieces from the disc that they'd found before.
"As you can see, the disc is not complete, but we can already tell that this image is a butterfly. We only have a part of it, but it's enough for us to learn some things," she explained as she lightly traced her hands on the red line that formed one of the wings. "If we read this incantation..." Her voice was soft now as she chanted. Her other hand hovered over the page, and her eyes closed in concentration. "'Wings of Psyche, release the light from the cocoon you have created.'"
Everyone watched in fascination as the black mark over the words disappeared, only for it to appear again.
"If I read that incantation along with this," Momo continued, pointing pointed to another part of the wings, "watch what happens. 'Wings of Psyche, release the light from the cocoon you have created and lead me to the path of the Morning Star.'"
The black mark disappeared, and everyone looked at the page as they read a passage regarding a kidou that could bind two souls together for a short period of time, allowing the caster to inflict pain or death if applied correctly.
Momo turned to another page. "However, if I use this incantation here..." She pointed at the kidou on the legs of the butterfly. "'Bind the darkness of the night Quetzalcoatl and destroy the light with your hands.'"
Another passage with a black mark disappeared, along with the words.
"Wow," Kakei breathed, completely impressed with her skills. "How did you figure out that there's a connection between the book and the disc?"
She closed the book and held her hand out to Kakei. He tried not to gulp or shiver as a chill tingled down his spine from Toushiro's icy glare as Momo lightly guided his hands over the pattern.
"You can't see it, but you can feel it, correct?"
"A butterfly!"
She nodded and handed the book to Renji, who traced the pattern as well.
"How could Aizen have gotten hold of this book?" Ichigo asked as he traced the pattern with his own hands before returning the book to Momo. "Did he say why he gave you this?"
She shook her head. "I don't know how he got this book." She was silent for a moment, debating if she should state her suspicions, but there was no reason for her to protect her former taichou's character anymore by not acknowledging his manipulations. She had no misgivings about his character, and she certainly didn't want to feel any more loyalty to the man who'd tried to murder herself and everybody she loved. "If I had to guess, I think he was testing me to see if I could unlock the kidou. To see if I would figure it out quickly."
"But why?" Renji questioned. "I mean, yeah, sure, we get to find out about all these other kidou that exist thanks to this book, but without knowing how to cast them, they're totally useless."
Momo looked at Shinji, who nodded his head in confirmation.
"There's a book in A-aizen's personal library," she explained. If anybody noticed her hesitation with saying his last name, they gave no indication. She was grateful for that. "I saw it once. It was a book of fables, and it had a red butterfly on the cover. When I first saw it, I was drawn to it immediately. There was something underneath the words...I could see it shimmering, but I never investigated the matter because I was too respectful of Aizen's things at the time to do so. That book was very similar to the book that he ended up giving me, only, instead of passages being blatantly blacked out, there were words on top of them."
"You believe this book will give us what we need to fight the kidou of the soul poison?" Toshirou asked, his face grave and giving no other indication of how he was feeling.
"I am assuming so, yes. He wouldn't have called it his 'favorite book' if it had only contained fables. That's not how he was. You remember…there always had to be something deeper, like a puzzle."
"But why couldn't he just give you the other book straight out?"
Momo just gave Kakei a small smile, and he wondered how it was possible for one's eyes to look so sad even if they had a smile on their face. "I don't think he ever really trusted me. He just wanted to test me to see if I can unlock the kidou in the book that he gave me. I'm sure if I had been successful, he would have found an even more sinister purpose for me, so I guess it's a good thing I failed..."
"But what happened to the other book?"
"I don't know." Momo replied, shrugging delicately. "Since his defect, all of his belongings have been sequestered by the council. I don't know what they did with them."
"Maybe we can ask Byakuya-taichou to get the council's approval to search through Aizen's old things," Renji said, thinking out loud. "Whatever hasn't been destroyed, anyway. Do you think you could do the same thing with the other book if we find it? This whole chanting the spells to see what lies beneath part?"
"I could, though it's risky. If I say the wrong incantation, we may lose whole passages completely, or we may set in motion an unstoppable, destructive kidou. But," she sighed heavily, "as it stands, without the whole disc, it's the best chance we've got."
"Would the whole disc really be able to tell us how it can destroy a soul?"
"There is that possibility, too. The way their kidou is designed, it can only be used by someone who knows the correct incantations. For outsiders, like us…we can only guess. From what I've seen with this half of the disc, the kidou they have devised is limitless in what it can do if properly harnessed."
Renji nodded his head in understanding. Finding the other book seemed to be their best option in this case. "I will go and see Byakuya-taichou. Hopefully, he can help us with the council and the book. The sooner we can get our hands on that other one, the better off we will be."
-0-0-0-0-
The information Mamoru gave them was even more significant than he'd first thought, and Ichigo could not believe that he would have imparted such vital information so casually. It hadn't sound like a slip of the tongue, either, so he tried to think of possibly scenarios as to why he'd have given him and his son such huge hints.
He looked at Yuzu and Karin, who were busy preparing lunch for everyone. After their disastrous and failed trip to do some grocery shopping, Tatsuki and Ishida were tasked with getting what they needed for the week. Which was how the Quincy had been tracked via Foursquare as he'd recounted Ayame's appearance.
To know that his sister would die… Despite that Mamoru had claimed that he was saving his sister's soul, Ichigo felt that he should've been there to protect her. Where the hell was he at? Sipping tea with some Tibetan monks? At a Shaolin monastery reading passages from the the Zhuangzi and The Art of War in his spare time? In some remote village in the Western Ghats? He was beginning to understand the anger his son had towards his future counterpart.
"Well, at least you and Sora got something useful out of your little excursion yesterday."
Ichigo whirled around. His father was walking towards him at a leisure pace.
"Do you really believe what Mamoru said?"
"I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for Hinamori-fukotaichou's brilliant sleuthing skills," Isshin replied. "Had she said there was nothing to gain from the disc we got, then no, I probably wouldn't believe him." He gave his son a once-over. "Did you fight Mamoru yesterday?"
"No," he shook his head. "Just Sora. I didn't want to butt in unless it was necessary. And thankfully, it hadn't been."
"Would it have been necessary if the fight had gone on longer?"
Ichigo didn't speak at first, considering the answer, but eventually he nodded his head, remembering the first time he'd lost to Renji and to Byakuya. "I don't know how much training's Sora's done, but it wouldn't be near enough if he decided to take Mamoru on again. He was already having difficulty fighting Mamoru, and that bastard was holding back the entire time."
Isshin paused in concern. "You're sure he was holding back?"
"Yes, absolutely." He had enough battle experience that he knew blatant defensive and offensive tactics like the back of his hand. It was easy to figure out when somebody wasn't seriously fighting. "For the most part, he was just dodging Sora. He didn't seem interested in fighting."
"Everyone, lunch is ready!" Yuzu called out, interrupting the conversation.
Isshin tried to give his son a surprise, swift kick to the back of the head, which Ichigo avoided by grabbing his father's arms and throwing him over his shoulders in reflex.
"Seriously?" Ichigo cried out, scowling. How long had it been since his father tried these shenanigans on him? He refused to let the warmth of familiarity in his heart show on his face.
Isshin on the other hand stayed on the floor, enthusiastically commending Ichigo for his defensive fighting prowess, and was ignored by everyone who stepped over him to get something to eat outside.
-0-0-0-0-
After the group finished eating, Yuzu volunteered to clean up and was surprised when Karin stayed behind. The twins assured Orihime that they were fine, and that she should take Sora up for his nap. She'd smiled her sweet, grateful smile at both of them and took her baby into a private room.
Yuzu glanced briefly at her twin, who looked as if she was debating if she should say something. The blonde didn't have to wait too long before her younger twin broke the silence.
"So." She said no more, almost as if she was waiting for her twin to reply.
Yuzu smiled knowingly at Karin as she gathered the dirty paper plates and threw them in the garbage bag next to the picnic table. "Yes, Karin?" she patiently answered.
"Sora-chan said that—" Karin stopped from calling Mamoru an obscene name. "—that, um, man came to save you yesterday."
"Mamoru..." Yuzu whispered softly, not looking at her sister. She busied herself by picking up more paper plates to throw away.
Karin frowned. When Yuzu told her and Orihime what had happened, there was something about the way her twin said described the events that had irked her.
"Yes. That guy." That vile, murderous cretin. "What do you think of him?"
"I don't know," she said slowly. "I mean, I know what he'll do to me... that he'll..."
"Kill you?" Karin finished for her, and Yuzu just nodded.
"I know that. I'm not blind or deaf to it. But…there's something about him, Karin. I can't explain it." She shrugged helplessly, at a loss for words. "When I looked at him, I didn't feel afraid like I should be, knowing what he'll do to me. There was something about the way that he looked at me when he was healing my leg… So. I don't know."
Karin did her best not to give into the urge to leap from behind the table to shake her sister and remind her that Mamoru was their enemy. An enemy that was family to a bunch of vicious killers.
"You actually like him, don't you?" Karin said, knowing her question was already answered but unable to believe that Yuzu could feel something for someone she barely knew—someone that they knew full well they could never trust.
"I don't know!" Yuzu repeated urgently. It was the truth. She didn't know how to explain it, there was just something about the way that he looked at her. She didn't understand what she felt; she just knew it wasn't fear, and it wasn't bad.
"Yuzu—snap out of it! This isn't one of your shojou mangas! His brothers tried to kidnap Hime-nee, remember? That girl tried to kill her. They're trying to hurt Sora, for goodness sake. They invaded Soul Society in the future and murdered a bunch of innocent people with some twisted soul-killing poison. Quit thinking that this is like one of your tragic love dramas that will have a happy ending despite the obstacles, because it isn't!"
"I'm not!" Yuzu responded hotly, slamming her hands down on the table. She rarely got this angry, but enough was enough. She glared at her twin. "I know who he is. I know what his family has done. I know what he did to me in the future." She resumed cleaning up her side of the table, just to give her hands something to do because she wasn't sure what she might do if they were left unoccupied. "You asked me what I felt. I was just being honest."
"Then quit acting like you've gone off to dreamland every time his name is mentioned!"
"I'm not!" Yuzu repeated, tension clear in her voice, and Karin just scowled.
"Yes, you are! They way you were talking about him last night was just freaky! I mean seriously, Yuzu! What do you expect will happen? That he's going to jump to our side, and then you'll both fall madly in love with each other?"
"I'm not expecting anything from him!" she snapped back. She was so angry; she could feel tears beginning to pool in her eyes. "I told you, I don't know what I think, or what I feel about him. You asked me a question, and I answered it! I've never lied to you, Karin. I've always thought that I can tell you anything, and you wouldn't judge me. Looks like I was seriously mistaken!" Clearly agitated, she brushed away the tears that had started to fall before storming away from her twin, disappointment clear in her aura.
Karin just froze on the spot and wiped her own tears away as she felt guilty for hurting her twin sister.
"Your words were completely unwise."
Karin glared at the white haired Shinigami that was calmly making his way towards her.
"You were eavesdropping on our conversation?"
"No." Toushiro replied. "We all heard you."
At the realization that their conversation had not been private at all, Karin turned even redder, and she took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Yuzu is being irrational," she defended herself, "over a man she just met, and a over a man she knows will kill her, and whose brothers are also trying to kill us. I'm just worried about her!" She lowered her voice. "She can be very naïve at times…I don't want to see her get hurt or killed. I couldn't handle that."
"Then you need to show your concern through other means," Toushiro replied sagely, understanding Karin's situation.
With a snort, she crossed her arms over her chest. "And you would know all about this because..." She regretted the words as soon as she said them when the young captain looked at her pointedly, a shadow crossing over his face.
"I know full well how it feels to see the person you care about so much that it hurts, the person you've grown up with all your life, devote their heart to someone who is completely undeserving of their loyalty and their affections."
"I...I'm sorry." Karin said, ashamed. She uncrossed her arms. "I should never have said anything."
Toushiro sighed and shrugged, shaking his head. "I know exactly how you feel, but forcing on her what you think she should do or feel will only isolate her from you."
"What should I do, then?" Karin asked desperately. Her eyes remained locked on the young man's face. He looked lost in his own haunted thoughts. It took him a few moments to find the right words to say.
"You can only be there for her. You and your family can physically keep her safe and make sure that her fate changes from the one that Kakei has seen. What you cannot stop is how she feels. It will hurt you, and it will frustrate you that she does not see this man the same way that you do, but it is how she feels."
Karin tried not to tear her hair out of frustration. "But she knows he's one of them! I don't understand how she could be confused about what she feels for him!"
"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing of..."
Karin locked eyes with him. She was familiar with the quote—Blaise Pascal. "They teach human English Literature in Soul Society?"
"No," he said, a slight smile ghosting his lips. "Jyuushiro-taichou mentioned that to me when Hinamori..." Toshirou stopped and took a deep breath. "The point is, we can't stop them from feeling what they are feeling. But if you continue to push on her what you think she should feel, she may stop trusting that she can tell you anything." Karin stayed silent, and Toshirou gazed out the window. "Go to your sister. Apologize. Let her speak her mind about what her heart really feels, and make no comments or judgments. Just let her speak."
"I will," she replied quietly. "I just need to cool down first."
The young captain nodded his head in acceptance and made his way back inside Urahara's compound.
"Toshirou-kun," Karin called, just as his foot stepped over the threshold. "Thank you."
Toshirou stopped, turned, waved his hand in acknowledgment, and then walked inside.
Karin sighed, feeling drained after all of that, and plopped down on the table bench. Right. She needed a game plan. Step one? Calm down. Step two? Find Yuzu. Step three? Apologize for her behavior. Step four…? Beg Yuzu for forgiveness until she gave in.
End Chapter
The Dessa: Hope I'm still keeping you interested! Next post will be the interlude.
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