Chapter 31: The Hands That Shall Release You
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Rest easy within your bonds. Know in your heart that although the unworthy one taunts and torments you, you are no longer without hope. I have lain within those bonds, and seeing you there has made me feel the chains cut my skin and deadly fury take my heart. Every prayer whispered with your bleeding lips and every tear that falls will be answered with the raising of my renewed blade. You gave the power back into my hands…and these are the hands that shall release you…
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I think that deep down, some part of me knew that, even having escaped him…I would not be free until I returned to this place. I know that I have gotten stronger, because even here in these chains, facedown, beaten and bleeding, my heart does not give in. There is no fear left in me, nor desperation, nor hopelessness. Because I have learned…no matter what he visits upon my wounded flesh, this man can no longer reach me.
Haru flinched reflexively as the heavy whip was drawn across the unhealed, bruised and battered skin of his back. He heard a soft laugh from somewhere behind him, and a moment later, the beating began.
And he understood the message…
There will be a long line of days like these, of pain and torments inflicted in retaliation for my escape. As though the losses I suffered along the way were nothing, the tears I cried were meaningless. And to him, those things ring true.
But I know better now…
No matter how many times the whip falls upon my flesh and no matter how his words assault me, my heart is no longer his prisoner. He will not be able to make me bend and my defiance will force him to kill me. His own hand will end my servitude and my pain, and I will be freed. And I will take death's hand proudly, knowing I did not belong to him…I never yielded…and I never lost hope. In this way, I will honor the ones who sacrificed themselves for me that day. I will see your face again, my Akira…
After a few carefully placed strikes, the gag was removed from his mouth, and Tsuyoshi's fingers stroked the painful places on his back. As the pain struck, Haru let his mind disappear into a deep well of defensive abyss.
"What? No angry words? No sounds of pain? No arguments?" chuckled Haru's captor, "Does this mean that you have given in, my love? You are sorry for leaving me, ne? You regret the lives you were responsible for ending that day and you resolve not to leave me again? Say the words then and I will end your punishment."
I do not fear you.
"No," Haru said calmly, "I will never give in to you and I will never fear you. You will be forced to kill me and I will be free of you. You will never break my will again, Tsuyoshi. And if there is any justice, your own cruelty will undo you."
There was an angry hiss and the whip snapped across his back again. After the first few stings, he hardly felt it anymore. He gave a shuddering sigh as the whip rose and fell and blood leaked out of his body, dribbling lazily down onto the bed. And when he didn't respond, the whip struck him harder, and Tsuyoshi's voice assaulted his ears.
"You are nothing, NOTHING! Do you hear me? You are the muddy puddle I step in, then have to clean off my shoes! You are weak and powerless, and no matter what insolent words you say, you are mine to do with as I please! And I will not kill you, and I will not let you die! You will be here, chained to this putrid bed, bleeding and rotting until you call me MASTER! I will make you say those words, Haru! I will drag them out of you!"
The wicked words stopped and the whip dropped to the floor as Tsuyoshi climbed onto the bed and laid down on his back, entering him roughly, then stroking his wounds and whispering threats and insults into his ear.
"You try to ignore me, but that is me you feel inside you. It is my seed that fills you. You will give me the heirs you promised me. I will drag them out of your useless body and you will never even see their faces. I will cover your eyes and mouth so that you cannot see or speak to them and I will stop your ears so that you cannot hear their cries. And when they ask me what happened to their 'mother,' I will tell them how you were a liar and a whore and you abandoned them. This is the price for your defiance. This is your life for as long as I say it is! You are my slave, Haru! You are nothing…just a useless…slutty…fucking…whore…"
Haru felt the other man's body quiver and then stinging pain as Tsuyoshi's seething release filled him. But even as the pain forced tears from his eyes, he held back words and sounds of pain. Tsuyoshi slid down beside him and remained there, running his fingers along the bleeding wounds and watching Haru cry silently.
"How long will you go on like this?" he asked, sounding weary, "All you have to do is to apologize for leaving me, call me your master…and all of this horrid pain will end. You do want this pain to end, don't you, Haru?"
He pulled back the dark, tangled mess of blood-tainted hair and kissed a pale, wounded shoulder.
"I will call the healers in immediately and end your pain. I will let you rest in our bed and have the servants make you strong again. I will not hurt you ever again, as long as you submit to me. Don't you see? There is a way out of this that doesn't involve you being in pain or dying, Haru. You don't…want to die, really, ne?"
A tear glazed brown eye opened and fixed on him.
"I would rather die than submit to you," he said in a choked voice, "And I will die proudly…resisting you even to my last breath. You will never make me say those words…never!"
Horridly strong hands took hold of his, shattering the bones inside them as they yanked them hard enough to break the kido. Tsuyoshi turned Haru roughly onto his back and trapped his body against the bed. He glared into his captive's widened eyes as Haru's screams of pain filled the air around them.
"Not staying quiet anymore, ne?" Tsuyoshi snarled, squeezing his broken hands again.
"Bastard!" Haru screamed, "You won't win! I'm not giving in! You may hurt me…make me scream with pain…even kill me, but you can't make me obey you anymore! You're a filthy, stinking, moronic beast and no matter what you do to me, you will die like one in the end!"
The enraged clan leader's hands loosed his and began striking at his head. Haru lifted his arms and carefully maneuvering them to avoid moving his broken hands, he covered his face and upper body from Tsuyoshi's unleashed fury.
"How dare you, you insignificant little bitch! You say you want to die, then fine! Die! I'm tired of you. You aren't worth the trouble of breaking! Die, Haru! Go from this hell to the one that disloyal dogs are sent to! I am finished with you!"
He reached down to his hip and removed a wicked looking dagger with a sharp, tapered edge. He raised it high over Haru's body and stared down into the other man's defiant brown eyes.
"This is what happens to stupid, faithless beasts who disobey their master!" he yelled, bringing the weapon down.
Tsuyoshi froze as the hand holding the dagger was caught and held tightly in one that was more slender and several shades paler. He looked up into the icy gaze of the Kuchiki clan leader and screamed in fury.
"How did you get in here? How did you get past my security? How are you even still alive? I thought he killed you!"
Byakuya said nothing, but glared down into Tsuyoshi's eyes and calmly snapped the dagger's blade with his bare hand. Tsuyoshi stared, wide-eyed at the blood that sprang up on the noble's skin.
"Get off of him," Byakuya said in a deadly voice, "This ends now."
"And who is going to end it?" Tsuyoshi fumed, climbing off of Haru, "I don't guess it will be you! You're as weak and pathetic as he is! And anyway, my security team will be here in moments. Enjoy your last moments of life, because you are about to die, Kuchiki Byakuya!"
"Byakuya!" gasped Haru, gazing up at him with desperate eyes, "Byakuya, you shouldn't have come here! Get out of here!"
"Oh," said Tsuyoshi, drawing his zanpakutou, "It is much too late for that! Do you hear those footsteps? All I have to do is wait for them to come and take you down! I don't even have to raise a hand to you myself!"
"Scatter, Senbonzakura," Byakuya said softly.
"Byakuya," Haru sobbed softly, "Byakuya don't…"
The noble looked calmly into his eyes as Tsuyoshi pointed his blade at them and began his release.
"It's going to be all right," Byakuya breathed, "We are not alone."
"Look Haru," said Tsuyoshi, his voice dripping with viciousness, "Another life is about to be lost because of you. You are about to be swept away, Kuchiki Byakuya…Who will save you now?"
The doors to the tower room crashed open and guard forces charged into the room. Haru cried out in terror, cringing as Byakuya helped him to his feet and pushed the counselor back behind him, protectively. Tsuyoshi's attack bore down on them, seething with fire and killing rage. Byakuya stood stock still with a dead calm expression as Tsuyoshi's lips curled into a hateful smile.
The smile faded suddenly as a long, serrated blade extended in front of Byakuya, stopping Tsuyoshi's attack and leaving Byakuya and Haru untouched.
"What is this?" Tsuyoshi hissed, his eyes flashing, "It doesn't matter! He won't be able to stop all of them! Kill them! Kill all three of them!"
Flash steps sounded all around the room and the guards slid to a stop, watching in disbelief as one by one, the elders of the Kuchiki noble council appeared and surrounded Byakuya, Renji, Haru and Tsuyoshi. Byakuya turned Haru over to the nearest of the elders, and the counselor caught his breath in surprise as a gentle arm wrapped around his waist, while the elder's other hand raised his blue zanpakutou. He looked up into the blue-eyed shinigami's surprisingly youthful features and met the other man's smile with a look of deep gratitiude.
"Thank you," he said breathlessly, "Thank you for coming for me…all of you."
The elder nodded briefly, his eyes never leaving the others around the room.
"You gave us back our clan leader," he said, tightening his arm around the counselor, "We owe you for that."
"What the…GET THEM!" screamed Tsuyoshi, and call for reinforcements!"
Kido lamps lit over the heads of each elder and the eight began a soft chant that raised a protective cage around Byakuya, Renji and Tsuyoshi. Seven of the elders charged the incoming fighters, while the elder with Haru, dropped to his knees, coaxing the counselor down with him. His hands curved around Haru's and infused them with healing power. Haru's body sagged wearily and his eyes filled with relief.
"Oh…oh, thank you," he sighed, "Thank you…"
"Tetsuya," said the elder, "My name is Tetsuya. I am Byakuya's cousin."
"Thank you Tetsuya-san," Haru said, more calmly, a soft blush rising on his face as Tetsuya's hands gently trailed up the length of one arm and moved on to heal the bruised and bleeding skin of his back. As the blue-eyed noble worked, Haru turned his head to watch the battle going on inside the reiatsu cage next to them.
"You are welcome, Haru-san," Tetsuya replied, his eyes glowing softly with power as he continued with the healing.
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"Two against one," Tsuyoshi said condescendingly as Byakuya raised his sword in warning, "What's wrong? Can't you do this on your own? You need your mongrel fukutaichou to hold your hand?"
"I will meet you one on one," Byakuya said quietly, "Renji will only provide defensive power as I have sacrificed my own to manage the power to destroy you."
"Haha! Your spirit centers are damaged, I know!" laughed Tsuyoshi, "You can't mount a ban kai, can you? And without ban kai, you cannot defeat me, even with your Rukon dog providing defense!"
"You are not worthy of my ban kai!" Byakuya said calmly, "I will kill you with my bare blade."
Tsuyoshi descended into mad laughter, his body shifting to full power and taking on a soft, red glow.
"Come on then," he growled softly, "Come and take me down, then, Princess. I will de-fang your dog and make you my bitch, ne?"
"You know, Taichou," Renji said conversationally, "I used to think that all nobles were pretty and good mannered, like you. Now I know there are some disgusting, foul creeps even among the clan leaders."
"Shut up, you mongrel!" shouted Tsuyoshi, sending a kido blast at him, then flash stepping and blocking as Byakuya moved into his senka.
"You think I don't know your signature move, Byakuya?" Tsuyoshi said, sarcastically, sending another long volley of kido, then flash stepping again.
He caught his breath in dismay and pain rose on the flesh of an arm and blood began to leak from the appendage.
"I will bleed you slowly if I must," the noble told the rival clan leader, "But you will never again hold anyone prisoner. I will take Haru from you and make him a ward of my clan. You will not lay your foul hands on him again!"
Blue kido fire erupted from the rival clan leader's hands and closed in on Byakuya. Mad laughter rose out of Tsuyoshi as the kido blast struck Byakuya squarely, sending him crashing to the floor. Tsuyoshi flash stepped in, swinging his blade, then barely turned in time to block Byakuya's blade as the copy he had left behind disappeared, and he attacked in a flurry of slashes.
"A pretty move, Princess," Tsuyoshi laughed, "but as you see, it didn't work. You are not going to take me down without ban kai."
He flash stepped clear and raised his blade.
"Ban kai," he said, looking into Byakuya's eyes, "Sever all bonds, Kurokatsu!"
He felt a shiver at how calmly the noble faced down the threat of his power, and was even more unsettled as Byakuya quietly described the power of his opponent's blade.
"Kurokatsu," the noble said, meeting Tsuyoshi's eyes, "the dark divide. Your blade employs an attack that disrupts the bonds between a shinigami and his blade, limiting their capacity to work as one. And when used defensively, it disrupts and breaks apart the cohesion of the attack, limiting the damage you take, so that it is at manageable levels. You are known to use a combination of this and Kido to completely steal the opponent's means of attack and defense and leave him to nothing but basic kido and swordsmanship. So…in truth, the odds have not changed. I am using neither shikai nor ban kai to attack you."
"Yes," agreed Tsuyoshi, "But I can attack him and disrupt your defenses!"
He fired an attack at Renji, and as the skeletal snake curled around him, the dark power of Tsuyoshi's blade struck it, blowing the snake apart into its component pieces. Renji flash stepped free and evaded a volley of kido.
"I'll take you down and then…"
"Have you forgotten me?" asked Byakuya, slashing at him and scoring a slice across his partially turned body.
Tsuyoshi flash stepped clear, chuckling.
"A good hit," he sneered, "but your defenses have weakened, Byakuya. You had best take me down before I land another hit or they will collapse completely."
Renji raised his zanpakutou and the pieces of Zabimaru slowly began to put themselves back together. Tsuyoshi raised his reiatsu and turned towards Renji.
"Damn!" hissed the redhead, willing the snake to rise more quickly.
Tsuyoshi's blade rose and another attack erupted, starting on a path towards Renji, but shifting at the last moment and turning towards Byakuya.
"Taichou!" Renji cried, sending the skeletal snake flying across the chamber, "Look out!"
The dark power struck the noble with a glancing blow. Tsuyoshi laughed as Byakuya tumbled away.
"Baka!" he said, haughtily, "You may not have much power to lose, but my attack can still damage you if it strikes you! You might as well give up. You are beaten and you know it. You should have stood back and let your council fight for you, Princess Byakuya! You are nothing! You are weak and can't stand up to anyone!"
He held his sword ready and advanced on the noble, where he struggled to rise off of one knee and regain his feet. Byakuya lifted his proud and bloodied face, meeting Tsuyoshi's eyes as the rival clan leader slashed at him. Then, he fired himself from the kneeling position into an elaborate spinning flash step, striking twice in quick succession, then landing next to Renji and watching Tsuyoshi collapse in an explosion of blood.
"Beautiful, Taichou," Renji said, smiling and sheathing his blade, "Though I wish you would have let me use my royal powers…"
"Inappropriate," Byakuya said curtly, "You needn't show off for the likes of him. He fell easily enough to normal levels of power. And in any case, he was mine to kill. I only needed ordinary defenses to replace my own for the battle. Thank you for your assistance, Renji."
They started towards the edge of the reiatsu cage, where Tetsuya knelt alongside a recovering Haru. The reiatsu cage shattered and fell away as they walked towards the two. As they approached, Haru's eyes narrowed, then widened in distress. His newly healed hands grabbed the sword out of a surprised Tetsuya's sheath and he launched himself across the room and slammed into Tsuyoshi as the wounded clan leader dragged himself to his feet and took aim on Byakuya's unprotected back. Tsuyoshi loosed a scream of pain and fell to his knees, dragging Haru down with him. His hands wrapped around Haru's throat and squeezed as the blood poured out of him. Tetsuya fired a sharp blast of carefully aimed kido power, throwing the dying clan leader back and making his hands release Haru. Byakuya's blue-eyed cousin flash stepped to the counselor's side and caught him as he started to collapse.
"Are you all right?" he asked quickly, glancing at where Haru had left his blade planted deep in Tsuyoshi's chest.
Haru swallowed hard and nodded briefly, his body shivering as he watched his former spouse collapse and go still.
The Kuchiki elders stood back near the bodies of the guards they had dispatched and held the way open for the rest. Renji smiled in relief.
"The others are protecting our path out of here," he said, following Byakuya's gaze to where Tsuyoshi laid dead on the floor, "Rukia, Ichigo and Torio are guarding and Kisuke and Yoruichi are keeping any troublemakers distracted."
"Very well," said the noble, "Then we should go."
Tetsuya rose and walked to Tsuyoshi's fallen form, then extracted his zanpakutou from the dead man's body. He heard a soft sniff and found that Haru had followed. He cleaned his sword and slipped it back into its sheath, then stood alongside the counselor, who stared down at his former spouse with still-troubled eyes.
"Come, Haru-san," Tetsuya said quietly, "It doesn't do to dwell on the past, ne? It is time to really leave him behind. You are free now."
Haru sighed softly as Byakuya and Renji joined them.
"I just wonder why," Haru whispered, "What did I do that made him hate me that much?"
Byakuya gave him a gentle smile.
"You became strong enough to fight back," he said softly, "He found that he couldn't overpower you anymore and it made him crazy."
He paused, gazing down at Tsuyoshi, then continued.
"A very wise friend said to me…that the sign of the return of emotional strength is the ability to stand firm against all of the attacks, to not let the words and the pain reach that deep inner place where your core self resides. He could break your body, but he could no longer break your heart. The loss of control enraged him."
"Byakuya-sama," said Head Councilor Nori from the doorway, "Come. We will see you all safely home."
"No," Byakuya said softly, "I am still a patient at…"
"Not anymore, Buakuya," said Haru, smiling, "Go home. Go home and be with your family."
"You should at least have an escort to see you back to the center," Byakuya insisted.
"I will see Haru-san safely returned," offered Tetsuya.
Haru's smiled widened.
"You see, Byakuya? I am taken care of. Go now. You have worked hard for this day."
Byakuya met his eyes warmly, then stepped forward and embraced him for a moment, smiling peacefully as the other man's arms closed around him.
"Arigato, Haru. Let me know if you ever need anything."
"The same goes for you, Byakuya," Haru responded, nodding, "My door is always open."
Byakuya and Renji stood watching as Tetsuya and Haru crossed the room and disappeared out the door, then Renji turned to the noble and wrapped him tightly in his arms, brushing the blood from his face and offering him a slow, deep kiss. Byakuya closed his eyes, kissing Renji, then released him and stepped back.
"So," the redhead said, reaching out a hand, "Are you coming home with me? I got word that the main wing of the manor is ready for us."
Byakuya smiled and nodded, then accepted Renji's offered hand and turned towards the door.