Chapter 9: Cornered
(My apologies for any errors. I will fix when I get home from work. Just wanted to post soon for a friend. :) Enjoy!)
Orochi waited until darkness had fallen, then slipped in through the broken fencing and turned in the direction of the main building of Kuchiki Manor. His ears still rang with the worrisome news of Tetsuya's retrun to Kuchiki Manor. He had been poised all day to make his escape, but Byakuya had made no move to come for him. By late afternoon, he was nearly frantic, but then had come the news from his spy at the manor.
He was injured somehow. He has no memory of who he is, where he has been, or how and why he returned.
"And that makes sense," the Kuchiki cousin muttered to himself, "After all, knowing I would come after him, he wouldn't have just waltzed into Kuchiki Manor. He would have been more secretive. Well, before he can remember enough to be a threat, I am going to silence this little annoyance!"
He was careful as he reached the gardens, to avoid the eyes of the guards. He skulked around, waiting as an attendant entered Byakuya's bedroom, bearing a tray of food.
"He's being careful," mused Orochi, "But he is about to find out that careful isn't good enough…"
He remained hidden in the shadows until the servant left the room, then watched quietly until another came to pick up the food tray. When all was quiet, he slipped onto the walkway and entered Byakuya's room on silent feet. He moved slowly towards the bed, his lips curling into a cruel smile as he recognized Tetsuya and found him to be asleep. He slipped a wicked looking dagger out of his clothes and stepped towards the bed, listening to make sure no one would hear. The man in the bed stirred and Orochi hastily shoved the dagger back into its sheath. Tetsuya's blue eyes opened and found his in the darkness. For a moment, neither said anything. Then Orochi cleared his throat softly.
"My apologies, Tetsuya. I didn't mean to wake you."
Tetsuya sat up and rubbed his eyes, then turned on a light and looked more closely at Orochi. His brow furrowed in confusion.
"It's…all right," Orochi said, smiling warmly at him, "I know that you don't remember me. I am your cousin, Orochi. I heard that you had come back, and I wanted very much to see you for myself. Our fathers were brothers, so you and I spent quite a lot of time around each other.
"Ah," said Tetsuya, giving him a tentative smile in return, "I don't know quite what to say. You do look familiar, but…"
He shook his head gently.
"But things are still very fuzzy. I would like to know more, though."
"Would you?" asked Orochi, "I would be happy to take you to the home you grew up in. I know it's somewhat late, but you must be anxious to remember."
"I am," Tetsuya affirmed, "However, Lord Byakuya has told me to remain here until he returns."
"Ah, do you know where he has gone?" Orochi asked quietly, his green eyes glittering softly.
"N-no, I am sorry," admitted his blue-eyed cousin, "He didn't say where he was going. He only said that it was something important. I overheard something about a hollow attack, and I heard the name of a place…but I cannot remember what it was. My apologies."
"Oh, no worries," Orochi assured him, "Perhaps another time, then. Farewell, Tetsuya. Welcome home."
"Arigato, Orochi," Tetsuya said, yawning and closing his eyes.
Orochi hesitated for a moment, his hand on the dagger.
But I still need to find those two boys. Once I do, I can come back for you, Cousin.
He left the room and slipped away into the blackness.
XXXXXXXXXX
Kisho opened his eyes and paused for a moment, brushing his feline lips against the cool, colored beads that rested gently on the other youth's cheek as he slept. Rikichi gave a small, sleepy sigh and began to snore softly again. Watching the other boy carefully, Kisho slowly changed to shinigami form, smiling at how good it felt to press up against Rikichi's warm back, and to breathe in his soft, almost flowery scent. He tried not to move, but felt a warning twinge in his loins and let out a quiet breath. His heart skipped and pounded as Rikichi moved in his sleep, turning his head slightly and stopping with the soft, pale shell of an ear gently touching Kisho's lips. Kisho's arm seemed to move of its own accord, curling lightly around Rikichi's slender waist. Rikichi shifted again and Kisho felt his fingertips brush against a soft, white thigh. His heart skipped painfully and the ache in his loins intensified.
He saw Rikichi's eye blink, and froze, making his body completely limp, as though he still slept.
Rikichi felt something touching his thigh and looked down to find Kisho's arm wrapped around his waist and his hand resting lazily on his thigh. He stiffened for a moment, turning his head, but found that the other youth appeared to be asleep.
Perhaps sometimes he changes while he sleeps, and isn't aware of it, Rikichi reasoned.
Not wanting to embarrass his new friend, Rikichi decided that the best thing to do was to pretend he hadn't awakened and noticed. He relaxed his body in the other boy's arms and closed his eyes again, intending to let the situation go.
But he realized two unnerving facts very suddenly. The first was that his movement, when he had first awakened had caused Kisho's hand to move slightly, bringing it close to Rikichi's partially exposed genitalia. The second was that a twinge of arousal had risen up inside him, and his body was quickly responding. He sat up suddenly, startling Kisho awake, then staggered to his feet and stood by the bed, all of a sudden realizing he didn't have a plan for what to do next. Kisho stared up at him, blushing furiously.
"I am…so sorry, Rikichi!" he said quickly, "Sometimes I change if I have a strange dream or something. I…I hope I didn't offend you."
"N-no," said Rikichi, shaking his head and swallowing hard, "I understand. I was just…startled is all. It's no problem."
Kisho smiled at him gratefully.
"Good," he said amiably, "I like being around you, Rikichi. I wouldn't want to make you dislike me."
He glanced away for a moment, then looked back at Rikichi.
"I have to confess. I don't have that many friends," he admitted softly.
Rikichi's gentle brown eyes softened in sympathy.
"Really?" he said, looking back at the other youth, "Why?"
Kisho gave a soft, disarming chuckle and motioned for Rikichi to sit down next to him. Rikichi hesitated for a moment, then sat down and looked at Kisho questioningly.
"Well," said the golden-eyed boy, running his fingers through his sleep-mussed hair, "First, there's the fact that I am from a noble clan. That comes with a little bit of baggage. Because right away, people make judgments about me. Some of them might be true, but a lot of them aren't. Like thinking that we look down on others who don't come from noble families. The ones from our clan really don't…which brings me to reason number two. The Shihoin clan is a little bit looked down on by some other clans. Part of it is that we are rather lax in our ways, and part of it is that we are shapeshifters. A lot of people don't like shapeshifters. They automatically think we're up to something, even when we're not. And the last part of it, is another reason why I don't have so many friends. Our clan is usually led by a female. It's odd to have a male with strong family abilities like mine. The female members of the family don't like me because of that, and the male family members think it mean's I'm too feminine."
"You don't seem that way to me," said Rikichi, "And even if you were, you don't choose those things. You don't choose your family, your powers or where your power level places you in the family. And those things shouldn't decide how people treat you. You are funny, kind, and I can tell you're the kind of friend a person can really trust. That's why when those hollows showed up yesterday, I was really glad that you were there. I was scared, especially when that one hollow spoke to me. But knowing that you were there, I felt like things would be all right."
"They will be," Kisho promised, "I won't let anyone hurt you, Rikichi."
He smiled and handed the brown-eyed youth one of the apples he had collected.
"Here, eat something, you didn't have anything to eat yesterday. I at least had those pancakes we made, and an apple."
He couldn't look away as Rikichi accepted the apple from his hand and bit into the fruit gently.
"So…what do we do now?" he asked between bites.
"We should go to Karakura Town," suggested Kisho, removing the barrier he had placed the night before to protect them, "Urahara Kisuke and my aunt should be able to keep us safe from any hollows."
Rikichi nodded.
"I can have Kisuke contact my taichou and tell him we are safe."
"Come on, then," Kisho said, turning towards the bedroom door, "Let's get out of here before the hollows find us again."
They started out off the building, but paused at the door as lightning flashed brightly across the dark, cloudy sky and thunder cracked loudly. As they watched, rain began to come down, slowly at first, then growing into a torrential downpour.
"Ah," said Kisho, "Erm…I think maybe we should plan on staying a little longer, ne? Unless you like getting wet…"
Rikichi laughed good-naturedly.
"It will just give us time to explore the prison here before we go," he said, shrugging.
"Sounds good to me," said Kisho, nodding, "But I hope you like apples and water because that's all we've got."
"Well, we could look around for a pantry. They have to have kept some canned foods. Maybe we can find something else."
"You bring a can opener?" asked Kisho, "I think the ones here will be old and rusty."
"But you forget," smiled Rikichi, "I grew up in an orphanage in the Rukongai. There's plenty of 'old and rusty' there, so it doesn't bother me as long as it means I won't go hungry, ne?"
Kisho laughed.
"Okay, now I feel like a spoiled brat…" he mused as he followed Rikichi to the kitchen.
The two quickly scavenged through the cupboards and an old, previously plundered pantry they found.
"Looks like someone else had the same idea we did, at some point," said Rikichi.
"That's too bad," said Kisho, shaking his head, "But I guess we could look inside the prison itself. They had to have a kitchen somewhere in there."
Rikichi started to reply, but froze and looked around quickly as he sensed the presence of hollows. Kisho shifted to cat form and nudged Rikichi towards a dark corner.
Footsteps and odd, guttural noises sounded outside the building. Rikichi climbed onto the leopard's sleek back and Kisho silently carried him out the back exit. A loud screech broke through the air as the leopard slipped out into the rain and contemplated which way to go.
"We'll never make it past them," Kisho said with certainty, "We have to hide somewhere and conceal our reiatsu."
He slinked along the side of a dilapidated outbuilding, then found a broken door that led into the old prison.
"This place is huge," Kisho observed, "There are plenty of place to hide in here."
Rikichi climbed off his back and followed as Kisho led him into the cellblock. They had only gone a few steps in when the boys froze, hearing a male voice outside.
"I don't care if you have lost the scent. You are to kill those boys. That was our agreement! Now, keep looking for them! They won't have gone far since we sensed them. I doubt they have left. Get in there and find them!"
Kisho pulled a stunned Rikichi into an alcove, placing a restrictive hand over his open mouth, as one of the hollows suddenly stepped into the cellblock. They waited until the creature had passed, then started back towards the entrance. They had almost reached it when footsteps sounded both in front of them and behind them.
"Get on!" hissed the leopard.
"But the storm!"
"It's better than being caught by them here and now!" Kisho insisted, "Trust me!"
"I do, but…"
"Then, get on!"
Rikichi flew onto the leopard's back and Kisho dashed out of the shadows and towards the cloaked and hooded shinigami that had been speaking. The man raised his hands as Kisho flash stepped at him.
"Hado #33 Soukatsui!" cried Rikichi, launching a blast of blue fire from his hands.
The shinigami fired his own spell while flash stepping away, scoring a glancing blow that threw Kisho to the cold, stone floor as Rikichi leapt off and raised his hands again.
"You are going to die, boy!" the man snarled, closing in on a stunned Kisho, and gathering his power, "Let's see you two escape now! Bakudo # 4, Hainawa!"
Golden kido ropes snaked around Kisho and tightened, holding the struggling leopard in place. The shinigami drew his sword.
"Ye lord, mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man. Truth and temperance upon this sinless wall of dreams, unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws…Hado #33, Soukatsui!" howled Rikichi.
A stronger blue light emerged from the youth's palms, sending the man flash stepping away from the fallen Kisho. Rikichi flash stepped to his friend and positioned himself in front of Kisho as the hollows they had heard before stepped into the room. The shinigami held his sword ready and gazed at Rikichi questioningly.
"Go ahead," said the man, "Loose another useless spell. You probably aren't him, but to be sure, I have to kill all five. Your three missing friends are all dead. I had them slaughtered, and you will die too."
"Why?" Rikichi asked, his voice shaking, "Why did you kill them? Did you kill Tadao too? Why are you doing this?"
As the man began to answer, Rikichi lowered his head slightly and began a very soft incantation.
I don't know if I can do it. Lower officers aren't supposed to, but…we'll die if I don't! This has to work…
"Ye lord, mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man…"
"You want answers?" the man said in a falsely gentle voice, "It matters little. You will die anyway, so you may as well know why."
"On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus…"
"The answer is…power. Clan power."
"In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens…"
"One of you four is the heir…his son…"
"Hado #63 Soren Soukatsui!" screamed Rikichi.
The old prison shook madly and began to come down around them as twin blasts of kido flared from Rikichi's extended hands. The shock wave destroyed the bonds holding Kisho and Rikichi leaped onto his back.
"Get us out of here!" cried Rikichi.
Kisho ran for the entrance, but slid to a stop as a kido blast hit the ceiling above them, and debris rained down on them. Rikichi fell, sent to the ground by a sharp blow to the head. Kisho shifted to shinigami form and dragged the youth into his arms as The man and the two hollows closed in.
"It looks like we've found the heir," the man said calmly, "Thank you for making it so easy for us to kill him!"
Kisho's eyes widened as the man's sword rose over them, and began to fall towards them in slow motion.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura…" said Byakuya's voice from outside the collapsed doorway.
Kisho threw himself down on top of the unconscious Rikichi as the debris behind them shattered and broke apart. He had a momentary glimpse of sharp flashes of kido fire, then he sank to the floor, holding Rikichi tightly in his arms.