"Well, it's time for me to go scouting." Ichigo said cheerfully. They were both standing outside, near the edge of the rock formation. Byakuya looked at him, wishing he could come. But he was still not recovered, and he was beginning to wonder if something in this place was hindering his recovery. It was taking longer than expected. "I'll see if I can figure out what's causing those rifts you mentioned. You said there's more than one?"
"Yes. The largest one is where we've set our base camp, to prevent demons from entering it." He said. Ichigo nodded then clucked his tongue.
"Well, I'll avoid that one. I'm sure they wouldn't know what to make of me if I just waltzed right in!" He said and Byakuya nodded. That could end tragically for both sides. However…
"Ichigo, please help any shinigami you can." He said, knowing it was a lot to ask. The shinigami might attack the hybrid on sight. "Please." He didn't like begging, but Renji and Rukia and all his Division would be in danger. Who knew how many had already fallen? Ichigo grinned then, his eyes flashing with hot anticipation.
"You don't need to beg, Byakuya. I was planning on that anyway. I hate my mother's people." Ichigo unsheathed his sword and admired the edge for a moment. "Zakanata does too. He'll enjoy feasting on their blood. Don't worry about your Division, they'll have a little guardian angel today. Just make sure you stay inside, I'm going to be pissing a lot of people off." Byakuya took a deep breath and nodded. There was nothing he really wanted to do outside the cave in any case. "Later, Byakuya!" Ichigo jumped off the ledge and Byakuya watched as black bat wings appeared, spreading to catch the hot air off the sand. The demon boy soared into the sky, and he watched until he was gone before retreating to the cave.
Master? Byakuya looked down at his sword. It will be a great strain on us, but Zakanata has consented. If you wish, we can watch what happens through Ichigo's eyes. Byakuya blinked at that, but wasn't too surprised. If zanpakuto were willing to cooperate, that was quite possible, but the energy drain on himself and Senbonzakura would be severe.
"Can you only do that when something is happening?" He sensed the spirits conferring and a silent confirmation. "Good. We shouldn't waste our strength."
Yes Master. Byakuya lay back on the stone and closed his eyes, trying to rest.
It would be some time before Ichigo encountered anything.
"Heh." Byakuya heard the boy's voice, but it sounded strange and distorted through Ichigo's ears. "Isn't this a great big stinking hofor turd?" The boy spat on the sand and Byakuya wished he could tell him not to be so vulgar. But Ichigo had no idea he had an audience.
Byakuya had a bad feeling that the boy was right. Renji and Rukia were fighting for their lives against a demon that looked disturbingly human. She was a tall female with long, bright red hair, almost the same shade as Renji's. Her eyes were green flecked with gold, and instead of armor she had bony growths that shielded her shoulders and vital organs. She fought with a sword, but it was no zanpakuto. Instead, it seemed to have been fashioned of demon bone. It clashed with Renji's shikai, raising sparks.
"Howl, Zabimaru!" Renji's ban kai flowed at the woman and Byakuya felt a moment of hope. But she grabbed Zabimaru's fanged mouth and somehow stood, holding it back by simple force. Her laughter bounced off the sands.
"Way of Destruction 73: Twin Lotus Blue Fire, Crash Down!" Byakuya's heart was in his throat as he heard Rukia use that kido. It was one of her strongest. And it might have been effective, but the demon laughed and yanked Zabimaru to the side. It should have been impossible for her to move something so large and strong that way, but she did and Zabimaru shrieked as the energy hit her.
"Damn it Rukia! My ban kai – erk!" He was down then, with the demon woman's hand on his throat.
"Ah ah ah. One step closer and I tear this out." She said sweetly as Rukia took a step, and placed a hand over Renji's heart. "I'm sure it would taste good, strong and brave just like the owner. Brave little shinigami, but why are you here? Why have you left behind Soul Society for our welcoming sands?"
"Why are you coming into Soul Society and killing people, bitch?" Renji gasped out as her nails bit into his skin. The demon woman sniffed the air appreciatively, enjoying the scent of his blood. Byakuya tried to urge Ichigo to act, but the demon boy was just quietly creeping closer. What was he planning to do?
"We are? Someone is being naughty. I'll have to tell my mother, when I bring her a little prize. A woman is not much good to us… they die so easily in the bearing… but I think she would like you. If I leave your little friend, will you cooperate, shinigami?"
"Renji, no!" Byakuya was afraid Rukia was going to attack at any moment. But Renji ignored her, meeting the green gold gaze of the demon without fear.
"I'll go – " Then Ichigo moved. Renji stopped speaking as the woman opened her mouth in a silent scream and blood splattered against his chest. "What?" Byakuya watched as Ichigo put his cheek against the woman's cheek and she moaned in agony. His hand was in her chest, clenched around her heart.
"Hello Hikana. Remember the last time we met? I remember. I remember what you did to me." Ichigo said softly, his voice a deadly whisper that made Byakuya's heart go cold. "It's a shame I can't do the same to you, but it's not my style. Call this a little payback. Your mother is going to be so unhappy with you."
"Kill… you… you… half… breed… freak… AH!" She managed to scream as Ichigo ripped the heart from her chest and she fell onto Renji, who threw her off violently. Ichigo laughed and bit into the heart. Byakuya could taste the blood and the essence trapped within the organ, and reeled at the feeling of demon power flooding Ichigo's system. He was taking in part of his victim's power with the flesh.
"Why so shocked, shinigami?" Ichigo asked and Byakuya turned his attention outwards, seeing that Renji and Rukia were both readying their weapons against him. "This is exactly what she would have done to you, after she finished raping and torturing you into insanity. Believe me, I know." Ichigo finished the heart and drew his sword, stepping over to the corpse. The green gold eyes were still glaring defiantly. "Now, let's make her next resurrection take a long time, shall we?" Byakuya felt slightly sick as the hybrid proceeded to mutilate the corpse, cutting it into dozens of pieces and deliberately poking out her eyes. But at least there was a purpose behind it.
"Resurrection? She'll be back?" Rukia looked pale and sounded shocked at the viciousness. Ichigo nodded.
"Her kind always comes back. But it's going to take her at least five years to recover from this one." He flicked the blood off his sword and turned to leave.
"Wait! Who are you? Why did you do this?" Renji shouted and Ichigo paused, looking back with laughter in his eyes.
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. And as for why, Byakuya asked me to. You can thank him later." Renji was running at Ichigo then, his shikai leading but the demon boy flash stepped away and vanished into the sands. Byakuya felt his and Ichigo's zanpakuto's releasing the connection and gladly returned to his own body.
He was glad to see Rukia and Renji were still alive.
The next moment Byakuya spent sharing Ichigo's eyes was very, very short.
"These guys don't need any help." Ichigo summed up Zaraki and his men very well. Zaraki was laughing like a madman as he tore through the ranks of demons and engaged a powerful one. It wasn't as strong as the woman Renji and Rukia had been facing. "And there's no one as strong as that bitch here. Moving on…" And the connection ended.
"Huh." Ichigo was examining a very small rip. Byakuya could feel Zakanata's desperate desire for the demon boy to pass through it, so he could finally complete his last vow. But it was too small and the zanpakuto fell back in defeat and pained resignation. "If I didn't know better I'd say this is natural. But if that's the case, then the whole banishment thing must be failing. How could that be?" Byakuya's heart clenched, hard, at the thought. If the banishment failed completely the land of demons would return to what it once was, part of Soul Society. And everything inside would come with it. "No, it can't be natural. Someone must have found a new way to break through. I wonder how, and who?" The boy looked around and Byakuya could tell he was extending his senses, looking for anything amiss. "This isn't telling me – eh?" There was a scream and a laugh. "Another?" Ichigo sighed and unsheathed his sword, flash stepping over the sand.
Byakuya didn't recognize the man on his back, desperately fending off the strikes of the demon above him. This demon also looked almost human, but from Ichigo's less than impressed snort, he was less powerful than Hikana. He had dark blue skin and red eyes that widened in terror as he set his eyes on Ichigo.
"You! I was just – we were – they're invading our land! We were fighting for our freedom! Yes!" Byakuya blinked at this very un-demonic behavior. Ichigo's snort turned into a huffed out laugh as the stunned shinigami looked over his shoulder to see what was terrifying the monster in front of him. "Mercy, oh dreadful one?"
"You're kidding me, right?" Ichigo pointed his sword at the creature, which fell to his knees with a whimper. "…Ah fuck. You really are an expert groveller, shoko. Go back to your daddy and tell him that if he knows what's causing these rips and doesn't tell me, we'll be having words. And leave the shinigami alone. You were just amusing yourself and we both know it."
"Yes Ichigo! Yes!" The demon abased himself several times before scuttling away on all fours. Byakuya had to grant that Ichigo was right, he was truly an expert groveller. Ichigo sheathed his sword and turned to the shinigami.
"Are you strong enough to – ah. No." The man had fainted and Byakuya frowned to himself at the injuries. They were extensive. "If I leave you here, the qwii birds will eat you. Damn." Ichigo seemed torn for a moment before picking the shinigami up and heaving him over one shoulder. "Hopefully there won't be a fight." Now Byakuya understood. Ichigo would have to deliver the man to the main camp, and he wasn't keen on that at all.
For good reason. Shinigami were running to fight as soon as they saw him, but Ichigo just dropped the man onto the sand and ran away. The shinigami following were briefly distracted by their comrade, and Ichigo managed to get away with only a bit of scorched hair. Byakuya still cringed inwardly as the kido thundered over the boy's head.
Perhaps he should include a description of the boy in his next report. Then maybe he would be a bit safer.
Byakuya was standing on the ledge, waiting for Ichigo to return, when the hell butterfly arrived.
Kuchiki Taichou, please report to your Division as soon as you are recovered. We are sorely pressed. Reports are already coming in about your human-shinigami hybrid, and you will be pleased to know that several powerful soul reapers would not be with us if he had not intervened. We have searched through the records and found several ancient accounts of such creatures. From what we can determine, temperament can vary from full demonic to entirely shinigami, or something in between. Also according to those records, they have vast power. Please be cautious. Byakuya nodded, unsurprised. They really hadn't told him anything he didn't know. The Division, however, worried him greatly. He test fired a kido and found his strength was still far too low. Even if Ichigo brought him to the Division immediately, he would have to rest.
You want to stay. Senbonzakura observed and Byakuya nodded.
"He is very lonely, and he looks like a boy, although I know he is not." Ichigo hadn't given him his age, and Byakuya doubted the demon boy even knew it. But he'd said Isshin had arrived here approximately a thousand years ago, and it had taken three hundred years for him to be conceived. So even if those numbers were greatly off, Ichigo was certainly not a child. "He deserves better than this." Byakuya could tell that Ichigo's heart was that of a shinigami. The boy tried to hide it, but he lived to protect.
"He deserves a fist through the heart." A voice above him hissed and Byakuya blocked a blow to his face. His eyes widened as he saw the group of four demons. They had been on the rock above him! But how had he not sensed them? "Shouldn't have played with that kido, pretty. Didn't you know we could sense it?"
"Scatter Senbonzakura." He said calmly and the demon shrieked in pain as petals sliced into his horny hide. A more human demon launched an attack and then the battle was on. He could feel Ichigo's furious reiatsu, drawing ever closer. He only needed to delay them long enough for the hybrid to arrive. It was humiliating to need protection, but all of these four were moderately powerful. Even so, he managed to kill one before they overmastered him.
But then it was too late. He was pinned against the cliff face, a clawed hand around his throat, so tight that he could scarcely breathe. Black spots were flashing in front of his eyes when one of the other demons tapped that one on the shoulder.
"Don't kill him, or we'll have nothing to bargain with." He advised. The demon grunted and eased his hold just enough for Byakuya to take a breath. "But don't get cute, shinigami, or he'll tear out your heart and eat it in front of that hybrid you've been fucking."
"We… have not been…" He managed to say then growled to himself as the demons laughed.
"No? What a waste. And he even has the right sized dick for you." One of them said with a coarse chuckle. Byakuya's eyes narrowed as a bit of blood trickled over his face, and he made an oath to himself to destroy them all.
"Let him go!" Ichigo's voice roared and one of the demons was knocked clean off the cliff by his enraged attack. Byakuya gasped as the demon holding him suddenly dragged him in front of him. The claws dug painfully into his throat and he felt blood seep down his skin.
"Calm down, half breed, or we'll cut your little toy's neck." The talkative one said and Byakuya saw Ichigo hesitate. The demon he'd knocked off was flying back up, swearing some blood curdling threats. "And Bakiko here will eat his heart. He won't be coming back after that."
"You idiots! Shinigami don't come back from anything. Be careful!" Ichigo snapped as Byakuya swallowed, tilting his head back to try to relieve the pressure on his throat. "What do you want?"
"We thought about just stealing your shinigami, but we knew they're rather fragile. Never come back?" The demon shook his head in mock sadness. "But we've never tasted your strange flesh. Give us your body for a night and we'll leave your little shinigami in peace."
"No." Byakuya croaked, reaching up and gripping the wrist of the demon. He completely ignored the feeble pressure, not taking his gaze off Ichigo. Byakuya could see the molten anger in those golden eyes, and the powerless frustration.
"Very well. Let him go." Ichigo growled and Byakuya felt ill. The boy would really do this?
"You c-can't – agh!" The second demon poked him in the side, which was about the same as being stabbed by a dagger. Byakuya saw Ichigo's knuckles whiten on his sword's hilt as the hybrid struggled to remain calm.
"He can and he will. Give us that funny little oath of yours, half breed. Then drop that sword and strip." The second demon said with a chuckle and Ichigo dropped his head for a moment. When he raised it again his eyes were empty and distant.
"I swear on my father's name, I will give you the use of my body for one night, to do with as you will, short of death, if you leave that shinigami in my cave alone and unharmed." Ichigo said emotionlessly. Then the zanpakuto dropped onto the ledge and the hybrid began to strip away his armor.
"Agreed and accepted." The second demon started towards Ichigo as the first began to drag him to the cave. "And put that shinigami to sleep. He'll try to interfere."
"Right." The monster holding him grunted and Byakuya blinked as a sudden wave of dizziness assaulted him. Just as he went under, he heard Ichigo scream and the sound rent his heart.
Then there was nothing.
Byakuya looked around, wondering where he was.
He quickly identified it as an inner world, but it was like nothing he had ever seen. White dunes of sand stretched out in every direction. The sky was a beautiful blue, dotted with white clouds. Great spires of white stone reached up to the heavens and he suddenly realized that this was identical to the desert of the demons, but white instead of red.
"Ichigo's inner world." He said to himself. What else could it be? Inner worlds could vary greatly from person to person, but most people had experience with various places and environments. Ichigo knew only sand. "But why am I here?" He walked over the dunes, puzzled. Normally only true resonates could connect with each other this way.
That thought was completely derailed as he heard a voice sobbing, and a second voice trying to comfort. He ran towards the voices, slipping and sending granules of sand flying as he ran. Then he skidded to halt on top of one of the dunes, looking down at two zanpakuto.
Senbonzakura was there in his full samurai glory, but he was trying to be kind and comfort the sobbing man beside him. Byakuya stared and saw that saying Zakanata was in a poor state was a severe understatement. The zanpakuto had taken the form of a brown haired, bearded man, of medium build. Once he had worn armor almost as glorious as Senbonzakura's but now it was in tatters. Beneath the shattered remains, there were bandages oozing blood. It looked like the zanpakuto had been tortured, and the wounds were fresh. His heart lurched as he thought of Ichigo and what he was going through. Was the damage he took reflected on his zanpakuto?
"I have failed him… I always fail him… it keeps happening again and again! One little mistake, boys have to make mistakes, but then this happens! Why Senbonzakura? My Isshin, I can't protect your son…" The zanpakuto shook with the force of his sobs and Byakuya could feel his spirit breaking. "Ichigo… Ichigo…"
"It is not your fault. You are doing the best you can for him." Senbonzakura reassured the zanpakuto, gently patting his shoulders.
"No, it's your fault!" Zakanata shoved Senbonzakura away and was suddenly standing in front of Byakuya. Furious brown eyes met shocked grey as a fist tangled in his scarf. "Why did you have to use that kido? You can't make mistakes here! They're always waiting and watching! Looking for the littlest thing to pounce!" Byakuya couldn't think of what to say as guilt hit him. Zakanata was right. It was his fault Ichigo was degrading himself right now. But then Senbonzakura was there, gripping Zakanata's wrist.
"Stop it. You said it yourself, boys have to make mistakes." He said and Zakanata's grip slackened. The zanpakuto stepped back as another sob wracked his body and he fell to his knees.
"I'm such a failure… Isshin… Ichigo…" Senbonzakura went back to trying to keep the other zanpakuto from breaking, and Byakuya could only watch.
His touch and comfort would not be welcome to Zakanata right now.
Byakuya woke up as the demons left, releasing their sleeping charm. So he got to see Ichigo crawl through the entrance of the cave.
"Ichigo." He whispered, unable to believe the boy was alive. He'd never imagined anyone could live through such injuries. His flesh had been mutilated and gouged, his legs were both badly broken, one eye was missing… Byakuya had to stop. If he kept cataloguing the boy's injuries he would throw up, and that would help no one. Only his face was mostly recognizable. Everything else was a ruin. He went to the boy and knelt beside him, activating a healing kido.
"That feels nice." Ichigo said, his voice hoarse and rasping. Byakuya swallowed as he saw the speed with which the injuries were healing. Even as he watched, the legs were straightening themselves and reforming. How many times had they done this to him?
"Here, drink this." He offered the boy one of his flasks. Ichigo might not need water to live, but it would probably help with his throat. The hybrid took a sip and sighed.
"Could get used to that." He said softly, then blinked his remaining eye as Byakuya began another healing kido. "Don't… keep doing that. I'll be fine." Byakuya looked down into his face, then away. The eye was reforming, but it was a nauseating sight at the moment, a strange ball the size of a grape that was expanding slowly to fill the empty space.
"I am sorry. This was my fault." Byakuya said softly, looking into that battered face. Ichigo smiled, sweetly and sadly.
"We all make mistakes." He said, echoing Senbonzakura. "I'll be fine. Hardly the first time someone has made me submit…" Ichigo sighed, closing his eye for a moment.
"Zakanata is very upset." Byakuya offered, glancing at the black zanpakuto. He didn't know if Ichigo could do anything to help him, but thought the hybrid might want to know. Ichigo blinked and turned his head to look at the blade. The demons had thrown it into the cave, along with his armor.
"Awww… bring it here, please?" Ichigo asked weakly and Byakuya complied, bringing him the sword. Ichigo curled around it, cuddling the hilt to his cheek. "Don't be sad Zakanata. It's not your fault we do dumb things. I love you, I need you, I want you. You've been my only friend." Ichigo sniffed and a tear rolled down his cheek. "Father would be proud of you. You've looked out for me for so long…"
That has helped. He is still weeping, but it a better sort of crying. Senbonzakura said quietly and Byakuya nodded. He will be fine for now.
"It's going to take a few more hours for me to recover enough to hunt." Ichigo said, still cuddling his zanpakuto. "Can you tell me a story Byakuya? Something about flowers?" Byakuya swallowed and nodded.
"I will describe my garden, as it looks in the summer." He closed his eyes and tried to picture it, then tried to bring that picture to life with words. And he made a silent vow to himself. He would get Ichigo back to Soul Society, and protect him there.
Just like the hybrid had protected him here.