Chapter Six: Hand Over Fist*

"Damn you, Ichigo," Rukia said, her face dark. "I should kill you myself."

"You worry too much, Rukia," he said, smiling. "From what I've seen, you're no more a pirate than I am. You're hiding something, sure, but…"

"You have no idea what you've stumbled into, do you?" she interrupted.

"Sure I do," he said, with a soft laugh. "You're running a black market scheme – undercutting your own suppliers."

"Is that all he thinks this is?" she wondered, incredulously.

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked him, playing along.

"If you're asking if I'm going to report you," he said, "you needn't worry. I'm not interested in petty criminals, and neither is the Navy."

Several more people passed by the alley. She had to get him out of here, where he might be recognized.

"Ichigo," she said, quickly. "Some of the people in this town despise the Royal Navy enough to kill. You need to hide, until we can get you safely out of here and back to your ship."

"If you say so," he replied.

"I own a small house on the edge of town. It's at the end of Harbor Street - it has a yellow wood frame with a blue door. Last house." She pointed down the road back towards the cliffs. "Wait for me there and don't let anyone see you. We'll be done unloading in about an hour."

"Alright," he said. "But I think you're getting yourself worried about nothing. I've dealt with these kind of people before."

"Not these kind of people, Ichigo," she thought, her heart still pounding.

"I'll be there as soon as I can get away," she said. "Promise me you'll go straight there."

"I promise," he said. "And don't worry. I'll be fine."

*********************************

An hour later, she opened the door to the small house and threw her rucksack onto the floor, having made her excuses to Renji about being tired after the long day. He had been disappointed, but since she often did not join the crew for drinks in town, he did not seem terribly surprised.

"Nice place you have here," said Ichigo, and, in spite of herself, Rukia nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. He was sitting at the small table in the kitchen, drinking rum. The smell of something cooking hung tantalizingly in the air. "Hope you don't mind – I helped myself." He poured a second glass and handed it to her. "You look like you could use a drink," he said, with his usual charming smile.

"Thanks," she replied, checking to be sure the blinds were drawn, and then joining him at the table. She emptied the glass, barely taking the time to breathe, and set it on the table.

"How did you find this place, Ichigo?" she asked, after taking a deep breath.

"It wasn't easy," he replied, with a grin. "We followed the Warrior. The cove seemed like the logical hiding place for your ship, but when we arrived, you were nowhere to be seen. Given your ability to make your ship 'vanish', I thought I'd do a make a more careful survey of the area. I found a cave in the side of the cliff, and a passage that led to the town."

"He shouldn't have been able to enter," she thought. "The gate is closed to all those who…"

"When I first found the cave, I must have missed the entrance to the tunnel the first time. But when I ran my hands over the stone, I saw it," he added, refilling her cup.

She bit the side of her tongue so hard, it hurt. "He opened the gate," she thought. "But he has no idea how he did it."

"I made us something to eat," he said, grinning again.

"You…what?" she asked, surprised. "I didn't know there was any food in the pantry."

"There wasn't much," he said, "but I caught a few fish and found a few greens in the garden out back." She looked horrified. "Don't worry," he added, "I made sure nobody saw me."

Ten minutes later, they were eating a surprisingly delicious meal. Rukia was now on her fifth glass of rum, Ichigo making sure that her glass never stayed empty for long. The anxiety of having him here began to fade, and the warm fog of the alcohol dulled her senses.

He cleared the dishes from the table and, on his way back, put his arms on her shoulders, massaging them firmly with his strong hands. "You're still tense, Rukia," he said.

"Are you trying to seduce me again, Kurosaki?" she asked, her eyes closed as she relaxed into her chair.

"Are you complaining?" he asked.

What was it about this man that left her with such little self-control, she wondered. He had lied to her, manipulated her, and threatened the safety of her ship. And yet, here she was, again, allowing herself to fall back into his arms.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she wondered, vaguely, as his hands moved from her shoulders to her hair, and he leaned down to kiss her neck. His touch was electric, and she moaned, in spite of herself. "Damn, you, Ichigo" she thought, with a sigh. "I'm going to regret this – I know it."

She stood up and pushed the chair out from between them. The edge of his mouth curled up in a lopsided smirk until it was eclipsed by her lips meeting his. She felt herself shiver, involuntarily, as she explored his mouth and inhaled the musky scent of him.

"I hate strong women," he said, as he pulled off her shirt and proceeded to kiss his way down to her navel. "They're so much work."

"And I hate men who think they're God's gift to women," she laughed, pushing his shirt off his shoulders and running her hands across his strong back. "They need so much coddling."

He laughed and said, "You're doing a pretty good job…although there's this one spot that you've missed right here…" He pointed to the indentation next to his shoulder and she obliged, kissing it. "And there's another one, right here…" She kissed that one as well. "Oh, and this one…"

This time, she pushed him back against the wall and they proceeded to work their way through the door to the tiny bedroom. "You talk too much," she laughed, pushing him onto the bed and laughing.

"Like I said about strong women…," he began, but she cut him off by kissing him again, and she heard him sigh and felt his body respond to hers.

"Shut up," she said, with a grin, "and make love to me."

****************************************

"You're wondering why you're lying next to me, aren't you?" he said, stroking her hair gently.

"I think I've really lost my mind," she said, with a sigh. "We need to get you out of here before sunrise, or…"

"Or what, Rukia?" he asked. She pulled away from him and sat up in the bed, staring down at him.

"You have no intention of leaving in the morning, do you?" she asked, tersely.

"No," he replied. "I don't."

"You were lying all along, weren't you? About this place being a haven for black marketers, about the Navy not being interested?"

"I don't know what you mean," he answered, non-chalantly.

"You know exactly what I mean, Captain Kurosaki," she said, her nose turning up indignantly. "You lied to me, and you had the nerve to seduce me again, in spite of it."

Ichigo said nothing, but grinned at her. She slapped him, hard, across the face. He did not flinch.

"You really have no idea what you've done, do you?" she said, angrily.

"No," he replied. "But I know that you haven't been honest with me, Rukia."

"I have sworn to keep the secret at the cost of my life, Ichigo," she said. "And you've given me few reasons to trust you, especially where the risk is so high."

"You're right," he said, his expression now serious. "I lied to you. I told you what you wanted to hear. But did you really believe that I could be so easily fooled? Do you take me for such an imbecile, Rukia?"

"I…," she hesitated, trying to find the words to answer, but she could not. He was right, and she knew it. She had known he was far too intelligent to overlook the truth when it was staring him right in the face, and yet she had believed him anyhow. She had wanted to believe him. She had wanted this to be simple, although she wasn't sure why. He was just a man, after all, albeit a very attractive one.

"Tell me the truth, Rukia. Tell me how your ship could sail through solid rock. Tell me why my hand opened the passage to this place. Tell me who, or what you are. Or, maybe I should say, who or what I am."

She studied his face and was surprised with what she saw there. Gone was the practiced expression of devil-may-care confidence, replaced by something else. "Can I trust him with my life? With our lives?" she wondered silently. "Or is this just an act?"

"What do you know of your family, Ichigo?" she asked. "I need to know."

He raised an eyebrow then, seeing that she was quite serious, he replied, "My father told me little about his family – only that my great-grandfather originally came from Ireland, and that his kin were seafaring people. He said I inherited my love of the ocean from them."

"Have you…have you ever seen or experienced something unusual? Unexplainable?"

"You mean other than what I've seen from you and your ship?" he laughed. "Only twice before – when my father gave me my sword, and when I opened the entrance through the rock."

"Give me your hand," she said.

"Why?" he asked, curious, as she took his hand in hers.

"I need to know something about you, Ichigo," she replied. "I need to feel it."

She grasped his hand firmly in both of hers and closed her eyes. He watched, with fascination, as her hands began to glow with a whitish-blue light. He felt a sudden warmth run through his palms and spread up to his shoulders and into his chest.

He saw a beautiful, dark-haired woman, whom he recognized as his mother. In her arms, she held a baby, not more than a few days old. Over her shoulder, he saw his father's face, gazing down at the child with an enormous grin.

"He's beautiful, isn't he, Isshin?" said Masaki, stroking the child's ample cheeks and smiling."

"Yes," replied Isshin, beaming.

"He's strong, this child," Masaki said, her hand resting gently on the baby's forehead now. "I can feel it."

"When he is old enough, we will tell him about his people," said Isshin, smiling and putting his hand on his wife's shoulder. "I will train him to know of his power."

The scene faded as Rukia released Ichigo's hand.

"What was that?" he asked, startled.

"A memory," she replied. "One you were too young to recall on your own, Ichigo."

"They never told me anything about my ancestors," Ichigo said. "My mother was killed when I was only a child. My father never said a word about this to me."

"You are one of us, Ichigo," said Rukia, softly. "I feel it in your soul."

"Who are you?" he asked, again. "I know that you doubt me, that you don't trust me…"

"We are Druids, Ichigo, or at least, that is what we have always been called by others," Rukia said, interrupting, afraid that she'd lose her nerve. She prayed that she was right to trust him.

"Druids? You mean the Celts? The ancient pagan race that practiced human sacrifice and believed in the reincarnation of the soul?" he asked, taken aback.

"You are more informed that I expected," she said, surprised. "But the stories of human sacrifice are false – lies fabricated by the Romans and the Europeans to justify what was done to our people."

"What was done?" he repeated.

"Our people were systematically exterminated, Ichigo," said Rukia, sadly. "Killed by the Romans and the Europeans who feared them and their…unusual abilities."

"Abilities?" he asked. "You mean, like that little trick you did with your sword?"

"It is no trick," she replied. "Our people have certain gifts – the ability to manipulate matter is one of the most common."

"Then you did move your ship out of that storm," he said, astonished.

"Yes," she replied. "Although there are few of us who have the ability to move an object that large."

"Did you move the ship past the cliff, then?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "But the rocks that mask the entry to Thyilea – that is the name of this settlement – respond only to the touch of another Druid. That is why I suspected that you are one of us, as well."

Ichigo said nothing, but shook his head in disbelief.

"Our people have long been persecuted for their differences," Rukia continued. "Many were captured and killed, or tried as witches and executed. Over the centuries, we have learned to assimilate into European society by suppressing our abilities. But there are those of us who rejected that fate, and chose to live apart from the rest of humanity."

"This place, Thyilea, it's a colony of Druids?"

"Yes," Rukia replied. "Over three-hundred years ago, a group of my people sought to find a place to settle, where they would not be hunted, and where they could live their lives as they wished to live. They came here, to this island, and over the centuries, their numbers have grown.

"Because they feared exposure, the colonists did not trade with neighboring settlements. They cut their ties to Europe. There was some food available to them on this island, and they learned to grow their own crops here, but it has been difficult to sustain such a large group of people without imports. That is why, nearly a hundred years ago, my family began to deliver food and supplies from Europe and the United States to supplement what the colonists could grow," Rukia finished.

"And what of the reports of the Warrior attacking other ships and stealing their cargo?" Ichigo asked, warily.

"I am not proud of what we have done," Rukia replied. "But we have resorted to piracy only when unable to provide food of our own to the colonists, and we have never harmed a soul."

"But you have still stolen from others," Ichigo said.

"Yes," Rukia replied, with a sigh. "But we have compensated them secretly afterwards – my brother has seen to that."

Ichigo said nothing but lay on the bed, thinking about what she had told him. Rukia lightly stepped out of the bed and walked over to her rucksack. She opened it up and withdrew a long object, wrapped in muslin. Then, she walked back to the bedroom and handed it to Ichigo.

"This is yours, Ichigo," she said, as he unwrapped it.

He looked at her with surprise. "You trust me enough to return this to me?" he asked, after a moment.

"That sword is yours," she replied. "It calls you master, and no one else may wield it."

"It calls me…," he laughed. "It's just a sword. It has some sentimental value, of course, but in the end, it's only just a…"

"It is far more than just a sword, Ichigo," she said, interrupting him. "That weapon was one of several that were forged by our people a millennia ago, and which are said to channel great power to the wielder. Your great-grandfather must have been a powerful man."

"So what happens now?" Ichigo asked, after a moment. He still wasn't sure how much, if any of her story, he believed.

"You must return to your ship, forget what you have seen here," Rukia answered, and he could hear the plea in her voice.

"I can't just leave…" he began.

"You must leave," she replied, emphatically. "Even if you are one of us, my people will not take kindly to the presence of a British naval officer in their safe-haven. They must not know that you have found this place."

"But it's my sworn duty as an officer to report you for acts of piracy," he said.

"I truly hope that you do not," she replied. "Although I've always known that I may hang for what I've done, I am not so keen to die yet. But, whatever you decide, please do not breathe a word of what you have seen here, or you, too, will mark yourself for death."

"You mean that if I report you to the authorities, you would die rather than reveal the truth behind your actions?" he asked her, as the meaning of her words began to sink in.

"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "I will freely admit to my crimes, Captain. But I will never betray my people nor, I trust, will you."

He said nothing, but looked torn.

"I offer you my life in exchange for the lives of my people," said Rukia. "As long as you keep what you have seen here a secret, I will turn myself in if you ask me to."

Ichigo felt a chill run down his spine at her words. "You would do that?" he asked, incredulous. "Face the gallows if I ask it, in return for my silence?"

"Yes," she replied. "I swear it."

He thought for a moment, then said, "I will not speak of this place to anyone. I am not a dishonorable man. But I still do not know what I will do about the Warrior or its captain. I cannot swear I will keep the secret of your piracy."

"I won't ask more of you than that right now," she replied, "but I hope that someday you will come to understand that there are some crimes which are necessary, to serve the greater good."

****************************************

They left Thyilea before sunrise, Ichigo finally agreeing to leave before he was discovered. They headed up through the foothills outside the town and reached the mountains by first light. Looking back down at the town, Ichigo could understand why nobody had ever stumbled upon it – the mountains were quite rough, with only sparse vegetation and little to offer an explorer. The town was, in effect, completely surrounded and shrouded from the outside.

As they reached what appeared to be a pass through the mountains, Ichigo saw an enormous pile of boulders and rocks that blocked their passage – as if a rockslide had deposited an insurmountable barrier on the trail, and they could go no further. Undaunted, however, Rukia approached the barrier and put her hands on one of the largest boulders. Ichigo saw her hands glow white-blue against the rock. It was difficult not to be awed when the rock vanished into thin air, revealing the trail beyond.

They arrived outside the main port of La Prière in the early evening, as the sun was just beginning to set. "I will leave you here, Ichigo," said Rukia, as they stood on the mountaintop, overlooking the foothills that led to the port city. "The way down is well-marked. Good-bye, Ichigo. Safe travels." She turned and began to walk back up the trail.

For the first time since he had met her, Ichigo felt suddenly uncomfortable. "Wait!" he shouted to her. She turned around and looked at him. "I…," he began, awkwardly. What did he want to say? "Idiot," he told himself, as he sat there, speechless. "I…I just wanted to thank you, for escorting me here." It was hardly what he wanted to say, he realized, but he could think of no other words.

"You're welcome," she replied, with a smile. And then she was gone, into the shadows of twilight, and he was alone.

"What have I gotten myself into?" he wondered, as he began to make his way down the mountain. The lights of the city twinkled below, and he struggled to decide what he would say to Hisagi when he returned to the Vincent.

He walked for several minutes, deep in thought, when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and felt the tip of a blade in the small of his back. "Rukia," he said, with a smile, "if this is your idea of a joke, then…"

"It's no joke, Captain."

Ichigo turned his head to see a flock of red hair and tattoos. "Renji," Ichigo said, casually, "what a pleasure." He reached for his sword, but a second set of hands grabbed him hard, by the arms, and tied them behind his back. Renji pulled Ichigo's sword from his belt, and threw it over the cliff beyond.

"Leaving so soon, are ye?" said the second man, who Ichigo did not recognize. His eyes were wild, hungry for a fight, and his bald head reflected the light from the rising moon.

"Come on, Ikkaku," said Renji, giving Ichigo a shove back in the direction he had come. "Let's get this one back. Kenpachi will be happy to find a place to put him up for the night, until we can take him before the Assembly."

"Hasn't been an execution in Thyilea in nearly a century," laughed Ikkaku. "Maybe Kenpachi will let me help out."

Ichigo looked around for a suitable opportunity to make his escape. As they reached a hairpin turn, he fell to the ground and rolled towards the edge of the trail, rubbing the ropes that bound his wrists against one of the sharp rocks.

"Not so quick, Navy brat," said Renji, who now stood over Ichigo with his sword pointed at Ichigo's throat.

From behind Renji, Ichigo saw a figure move, faster than he had ever seen a person move, hitting Renji over the head with the hilt of a sword. For a split second, the moon illuminated the face of Ichigo's rescuer, and he saw a pair of violet eyes.

"No!" he shouted, fearing for her safety.

"Get out of here, Ichigo," she said, pushing him, hard, so that he rolled perilously close to the edge of the trail.

"You said it yourself," he yelled back at her. "They'll kill you."

She bent down and untied his hands but, as she did so, Ikkaku hit her over the head with a rock. She fell to the ground, unconscious. Ikkaku laughed and stood looking down at Ichigo, who was trying to free himself from the ropes. Ichigo rolled away from the other man, as his bonds finally fell away, only to find himself falling over the side of the trail and down a steep embankment.

The last thing Ichigo saw before he lost consciousness was Ikkaku's face, silhouetted by the rising moon.

Author's Note: So, finally a few answers about Rukia and company, and a little lemon, too. Sorry for the cliffie (well, not really, I love cliffies), and this one, for once, is really about someone falling off a cliff, lol! Don't worry, you know I'll update soon. ;-) Until then, calm seas! -Lex

*Hand Over Fist: To climb steadily upwards, from the motion of a sailor climbing shrouds on a sailing ship (originally "hand over hand").