Chapter 22
His captain was asleep and for once, the sleep seemed to be peaceful. Whatever nightmare or dream he was having wasn't as bad as the ones that had come before them. Renji sighed as he watched his captain sleep. Lilium, a child, a dead child now had been with him through part of his captivity. He felt a small smile tug at his lips knowing now that his captain hadn't been alone for the entire duration of his imprisonment. But that smile faded when the fact that the child is now dead, hit him like a ton of bricks. There was a child in the Hueco Mundo. A child had been captured and perhaps even tortured and, Renji cut off the train of thoughts before he had to run out of the room screaming again. He had known of the raids on the Rukongai. He remembered one that he had fought against. The screaming villagers, the howling Hollows, the crying and sobbing and mass panic as thousands of tired and dirty feet ran for safety. The yells for help, for once they were grabbed, they struggled, crying, screaming out to the shinigami tasukete!!! sAVE ME!! SAVE ME!! But so many of them, he could not save. A soft breath came from the former Kuchiki heir, snapping Renji out of his musing as he watched, holding his breath, and praying for not another disastrous repeat of before. Instead, the noble head turned to the side, one strand of hair tumbling over his face and brushing against the elegant nose. Renji smiled as he gingerly traced his finger over the defined cheekbone and brushed the hair away.
"Sweet dreams Taicho."
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"Sweet dreams Nii-sama." On the third night when he had drifted out of consciousness, she had whispered that into his ear. He had kept track of the days since he had met her because she was scrawling them with the blood on the floor into tally marks on the wall. Three, there were three small lines on the gruesome grey walls. They had not come for either of them today so they had just sat, well he had just sat, watching her, wishing he could answer back to all the babble that she was laughing to herself about.
"Sweet dreams, Taicho," the red head whispered to him. Taicho…Taicho…when had he been a captain? He must had done something because she woke up, her concerned eyes meeting his as those small hands approached his face again.
"Nii-sama said something." She whispered. "Nii-sama actually said something Nii-sama."
"Go…back…to sleep…Lili," he forced the remains of his energy is grinding out, ignoring the shoot pain in his jaw or the raspy horror that was once his smooth, noble voice.
"NII-SAMA CAN TALK!!" She gave him a bear hug nearly ripping a scream from his throat at the pain. But the pain dulled and soon, all he was aware of, was her small, soft warmth lying on his broken chest.
"Nii-sama can talk. Lili doesn't feel so annoying anymore because Nii-sama can talk. I can talk to Nii-sama and Nii-sama understands. Nii-sama is just hurt too much to talk back to Lili but," the sentence was interrupted by a large yawn. She curled up further onto him, her small warmth radiating into him causing him a soft sigh as she fell asleep.
"Sweet dreams Nii-sama." She was gone the next day.
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There was yelling outside causing Renji to jerk up out of his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he stood up just in time to preserve some dignity in his disheveled state as Hanataro slammed the door open and fell face first inside. Renji rushed to his side, picking the panting boy up and making sure he hadn't smashed his brains onto the floor.
"Are you okay?" Hanataro could only pant as a response and grip Renji's hamaka in a death grip.
"Hanataro are you okay?" the grip on his hamaka turned into a tug and Hanataro dragged the shaken 6th division captain outside, gently closing the door behind them. Renji was about to shake the boy to his senses when he heard the barest breath of a whisper.
"What?" The whisper came again and once more, Renji could not hear it.
"Hanataro, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!" The boy's head shot up nearly whacking him in the face and the usually soft spoken boy shouted.
"THEY ARE GOING TO PUT HIM ON TRIAL IN THREE DAYS!!"
Him…trial…three days registered and the red head felt the floor give way from underneath him. They were going to put Byakuya on trial…IN THREE DAYS?!
"ARE THEY MAD?!" He was shaking Hanataro and the boy was simply crying and being shaken. "DO THEY HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE HAS BEEN THROUGH?!"
"R-en-ji-san! Pl-ease-sto-p-yo-u-a-re-m-ak-ing-me-wan-t-to-BLEH!" Hanataro heaved and Renji immediately let him go. Both of them regained their breath, the red head opening the door a crack to make sure they hadn't woken up Byakuya before turning back to the heaving healer.
"I'm sorry Hanataro. I just…"
"It's okay Renji-san. I'll live." Hanataro smiled picking himself up and brushing himself off a little before turning to fully face the rumpled captain. "I don't know all that's going on either. I just picked that up when I passed Unohana-Taicho and Isane-Fukutaicho talking in the hall. They are going to be heading down here soon no doubt."
"How long," Renji ground out.
"I think they were planning on coming in first thing tomorrow to break this to you."
"Thanks Hanataro and sorry for the," Renji gestured to the shaking motion and Hanataro laughed.
"It's fine. Please, please be careful Renji-san."
"I will."
"I don't know what Kuchiki-sama was doing or what had really happened, but I just want you to know that I'm behind both of you."
The red head gave the boy a soft smile and ruffled his hair. "Thanks Hanataro." The boy turned to leave when Renji remembered something and called out.
"Hanataro."
"Yeah?"
"Do you have time to run me a favor?"
"Sure Renji-san."
"Can you go to Rukia and…," brown eyes started at the floor and then glanced back to the room. "Can you ask Rukia if there is anyway she would be able to come in and see him? Before the trial date?"
"Of course Renji-san." The boy turned his back and ran off once more. Renji once again reentered the room. A trial, his trial in just three days. He started that the sleeping figure, eyebrows furrowing when he saw the hints of distress marring the glowing skin.
"It'll be alright. I'm not letting you go again. I will stay with you forever."
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They had come for him the next day but what they found was him and her curled up together and asleep. They threw her across the room before dragging him up and proceeding on with their daily routine. He didn't make a sound. More or less, he couldn't make a sound. But that day, she did something he never guessed from her.
"LEAVE NII-SAMA ALONE!!" She slammed her small body against the burly hollow, successfully knocking the surprised being off his feet before the other one turned and grabber her up by her hair, dangling her while laughing.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!!" The stood up howling, kicking aside the "toys" they were planning on using and grabbing the child by the legs. She screamed at the dual pulling up and down, clawing trying to get out of their grip. He could do nothing but watch, his body unable to move from the crumpled position on the ground as finally, the hollows tired of playing tug of war and the large one threw her to the ground and proceeded to stomp on her. She didn't make a sound.
"You think you're all that great. You think a little bitch like you could take on us. You're nothing but a lump of wasted goody two shoes soul that we grabbed. You should have been happy that Aizen-sama allowed you to play with anyone at all."
At the sound of Aizen's name, his eyes widened. This child had seen that monster. This child…knew who he was. She still didn't say a word, didn't make a sound. All she did was grip her fists tighter and grind herself into place on the floor.
"Hey, you can't kill her like that. That's too boring." The smaller of the two snorted. The larger of the two panted, lifting the limp figure up and throwing it over his spiked shoulder.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"We'll come back for him later." They turned to leave the room. All he could do was stare helplessly at the limp rag. Let her be alive. Let her still be alive. She stirred on the shoulder, picking up the small head to look at him, red meeting the blanking grey.
"I'm not scared." She mouthed to him. "I'm not scared." He wanted to grab her. He wanted to reach for her, to take her, to kill both creatures that were walking out the door. He could do nothing. All he could do was watch and scream in silence as the door slammed shut.