A/N: Hey all, this is the new chapter! Sorry it's been a while, I had my Japanese exams, and I hope they went ok! Also I've been writing other fics and even put my new FMA one down to finish this chapter! I've been reading recently that some person called 'pffffft' has been leaving good Byaruki authors bad reviews calling Byaruki 'incest.' I think it's a childish thing to do and it upset me that such good writers as evenstar lady and Oh My Kira have been getting these silly reviews! Anyway another thing that's hacked me off, and it happened today 5/2/11 is that I logged into my Neopets account, yes I still play it despite being nearly 20, to find that some f***er had hacked into my account and stolen everything I had, paintbrushes, money, the lot. So I want to take the time to say, that if you play neopets, earn money the hard way like me, instead of hacking (not that I am accusing anyone) cos it really pisses people off, like me, who lost over 1mil in items and money! Anyway enough of a rant, enjoy, not sure when I will update next as I now have to get back all my stuff and write my other fics!
I do not own Bleach.
WARNINGS: Violence, language, lemons (but if you're read this far, not much point in warning now) lime, hurt comfort etc. IT'S NOT INCEST!
Chapter Ten
Remember Me
Six months had passed since Byakuya and Rukia had married, and every day, the two of them enjoyed coming home to one another's presence. Every morning, when they had time, Byakuya would always walk her to her barracks and would give her a quick and tiny kiss before they were caught and say goodbye to her until later that night. When they were running late, usually from an early morning love session, he would kiss her thoroughly at the gates to their manor before saying goodbye there and going their separate ways for the day. And in the evening, when they weren't too tired, they would make love and fall sleep in each other's arms.
Byakuya would hate the daytime when they were not together and often gave into his addiction by taking her to lunch or going home early just to be with her. She was all to happy when she received a hell butterfly arranging a rendezvous with him, it made days that were full of paperwork, bearable. Of course it was their secret, her friends and subordinates just figured that they had become better siblings to each other, and none knew about their marriage. The pair couldn't even wear their wedding rings for fear of being caught.
However, for six months they had managed to keep it a secret, loving each day after the next and enjoying their marriage to the fullest.
"Happy six months," Rukia turned to Byakuya, giving his hand a tight squeeze as they walked over the bridge that led them over the Koi pond.
"Happy six months," he agreed, also turning to her and putting his hands either side of her, resting them on the bridge and trapping her. She looked up at him before kissing him lightly and running her hands through his dark hair.
"It's been the best six months of my life," she continued, breaking away and taking one of his hands within hers.
"And mine," he said, "It's perfect."
"How about," she suggested sexily, "You finish feeding the Koi and I'll get ready in the bedroom."
"That sounds nice," Byakuya agreed, wanting to whisk her away already, "Could you wear the red one this time?"
"Ok," Rukia said with a laugh, knowing which lacy nightgown he wanted to rip off her, "I'll be waiting."
"I'll be quick," he promised as he watched her flash step into the house before taking a scoop of feed from the mix and throwing it out to the Koi, watching as the scrabbled to get the floating pieces of food. Even though he could get the servants to feed them, it was one chore he enjoyed doing. It relaxed him and since the Koi had cost a fair bit to buy and even design the pond, he wanted to make sure they got the right amount of food. He threw the last bit in the pond before putting the feed back into the small shed and flash stepping to worship his wife.
xxxxxxx
Rukia flash stepped into the bedroom, turning to the wardrobe and pulling out the nightgown Byakuya had requested and throwing it on the bed. However as she did so, a pair of arms grabbed her roughly and yanked her back into a hard body.
"Byaku…" she screamed at the top of her voice but it was muffled as a rag was tied around her head quickly, covering her mouth and stopping her cry for help. She squirmed and kicked against her attacker, using all her reiatsu and managing to escape. However she ran directly into the person she never wanted to see again, his cruel smile sending fearful shivers down her spine. Before she could even blink, the man had used Kido against her, binding her securely, and since his power was far stronger than hers, she was powerless.
She was grabbed back into a pair of arms, the gruff figure manhandling her as she still struggled against him.
"You know what this is, don't you?" the condescending voice came as he lifted the object right in front of her eyes.
Rukia managed a nod, unable to talk because of the gag and barely able to move because of the Kido. Her heart was pumping fast and sweat was beginning to form at her temple and she stood, terrified for hr life. She willed Byakuya to hurry up and save her, and she prayed he had heard her loud cry for help.
"Good," the man continued, "So if you so much as whimper or try to escape, I'll wipe your memories clean of your whole relationship with your brother…"
Rukia's eyes widened as she stopped struggling, almost pleading with him to not wipe her memories. How did he even know about their relationship? What did they want with her? She shook her head slowly, admitting defeat.
"Good, little Rukia-chan," he continued, "Then you'll come with us without a fuss."
Rukia looked up now, fear coursing through her at an even greater pace now, being restrained by strangers is one thing but being kidnapped by the same people is quite another. However before she could even begin to struggle once more, she was being pushed roughly to another man before she was hastily pushed back through the bedroom door and into the hallway. She managed to look around seeing the main maid had rushed to the room due to the noise. Her eyes widened as she tried to struggle, however she was gripped tighter, causing her to wince in pain before being thrown out of one of the back doors and sucked through a temporary Senkaimon and taken away from her home.
xxxxxxx
Byakuya suddenly hastened his speed back to the manor, it had been faint but he had felt it, the slight fluctuation in Rukia's reiatsu, and even that tiny movement was enough to set off alarm bells in his head. He hurried through the rest of the gardens before flash stepping into the house, rushing down the corridors until he found their bedroom.
"Rukia?" he called out, turning on the lights and scanning the room before hurrying to the en-suite bathroom and turning the rest of the lights on. Upon seeing the room empty, he suddenly felt sick to the stomach with worry, even though, when this had happened before she was had been in the living room. This time it felt different however…something wasn't quite right, "Rukia! Where are you?"
Desperation saturated his voice now as he took another look around the bedroom before stepping into the hallway, calling her name repeatedly as his heart pounded and his legs quavered slightly.
"Master Kuchiki," the aged maid managed to say, her voice quiet.
Byakuya whipped around, noticing the maid crouched on the floor in shock. His eyes widened as he couched down next to her, "What happened here? Where is Rukia?"
"Y-Your sister…" she wheezed, coughing to clear her throat, "She's…gone…some men…they…"
"What men?" he pressed quickly, his eyes scanning her face for information, "What men? What did they look like? Where did they go?"
"They took her," she answered, "Through a portal…there were some men…in black and one…with short hair, skinny…like a snake, yes, his demeanour was that of a snake…he gave me the chills…"
xxxxxxx
Captain Ukitake snapped his eyes open, sitting up and looking towards the door that was now being banged on loudly. He rubbed his eyes as he dragged his frail body out of bed before he put on his blue dressing gown over his night robes and tied the ties in a knot to keep it closed. He sighed as he went to the door, his illness had been particularly cruel to him this season, and even though he desperately needed to sleep just to stop coughing, he knew better than to ignore the door, someone knocking this hard and late at night must need something urgent.
"Ok, ok," he croaked before clearing his throat and opening the door, "What can I do for…."
"Ukitake! Rukia's gone missing…" Byakuya said, standing in the doorway, his voice slightly more worried than his normal stoic voice, and this was enough to alarm Jūshirō.
"What?" Jūshirō managed to reply in confusion, letting Byakuya in as he yawned.
"My sister has gone missing," Byakuya repeated as he stood within Jūshirō's room.
"What do you mean by 'missing,' as in missing from her bedroom or missing from your estate?" he asked as he turned on the main light and shuffled into the kitchen to put the kettle on.
"As in, missing from the whole soul society," he revealed, now moving to stand by the kitchen doorway.
"Missing…from the whole of the soul society…Rukia…?" Jūshirō said slowly as he grabbed some mugs, slowly trying to suppress a laugh, there's no way in hell that a skilled soul reaper like Rukia could get snatched so suddenly.
"Yes," Byakuya replied, becoming more desperate and frustrated by the minute.
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand you," Jūshirō continued, turning to him now, "You came here to tell me that a strong soul reaper like Rukia was taken out of thin air, without anybody in the whole soul society feeling the presence of any foreign intruder?"
"Yes," he said, becoming more anxious, "One of my maids said that she saw several men go through a temporary Senkaimon within my house, dragging Rukia with them, she described one of the men as 'snake-like,' having short hair and eyes that barely opened…"
"Sounds like Gin Ichimaru," Jūshirō mused, putting teabags into the mugs, "You aren't seriously suggesting that Ichimaru set up a temporary Senkaimon in your house and took her without anyone knowing…are you?"
"From my maid's description, yes, I believe that Ichimaru has taken her back to Aizen," he confirmed his suspicions, not caring how ridiculous he was sounding.
"What would Aizen want with Rukia, of all people?" he asked, disbelieving, "If he wanted her, he could have snatched her while she was in Hueco Mundo saving that Inoue girl."
"I don't know," he concluded, "But I believe she was taken, I can't trace her reiatsu anywhere and my maids and guards have searched the whole estate to find her missing."
"Her reiatsu?" Jūshirō repeated, "Her spiritual power has just vanished?"
"Yes," Byakuya answered, "I plan to go to Hueco Mundo and retrieve her..."
"What?" Jūshirō nearly yelled, cutting off Byakuya from anything else he was going to say as he turned to face him now, "I understand the desperation of the situation if Rukia has indeed gone missing, but you don't even know if she is in Hueco Mundo, only Captain Kurotsuchi can track reiatsu accurately, especially on an area so large as the whole of the soul society…"
"I know she was taken by Aizen," Byakuya pressed, becoming more and more frustrated, "I will take my leave, inform the Captain-Commander of my absence due to my sister's disappearance."
Jūshirō protested as Byakuya turned on his heels and left, showing a passion that he had not shown for many, many years. Jūshirō turned back to the tea as Byakuya's reiatsu slowly disappeared, growing fainter and fainter until he could no longer feel it. He poured tea for himself before putting the spare one back in his cupboard. He closed his eyes for a minute concentrating on Byakuya's reiatsu before confirming to himself that he could no longer feel it. He turned his attention to Rukia's reiatsu, and even though he exerted all his physical and spiritual strength to track it down, he found he could not pin point it anywhere within the Seireitei, and unless she was running around the slums in the early hours of the morning, then she was indeed, missing.
xxxxxxx
When Rukia regained consciousness, she came face to face with the stone floor. She groaned, her head felt like it had been split into two and the need to vomit was overbearing. She placed her hands either side of her head lifting herself up but falling back down, as her arms were too weak to support herself. Her mouth felt dry and the sheer amount of adrenalin coursing through her made her want to pass out.
"I see you're awake, little Rukia-chan," Gin said, his voice patronising as he stood in front of her cell.
"W-Where am I?" she groaned a response as she struggled to sit up again.
"In a reiatsu containing cell," Gin revealed, walking up and down the length of the room, watching her struggle just to sit up, "There's no getting outta here! We even had to knock you our for all the noise you were making on the way here."
"Why?" she asked, now getting up and crawling to the wall to sit against it, using it for support, she could barely move for all the suppressant of her reiatsu, "Why did you kidnap me? What could you possibly want with me?"
"Your brother of course," he smirked stopping in front of her now.
"Bya…Nii-sama?" she questioned, her heart thumping even harder at the mention of his name.
"I'm sure you're well aware of Captain Kuchiki's power," he continued, watching as Rukia looked up at him, "Even when challenged alone he is exceptionally powerful, but along with the rest of the soul society to fight against, it would be impossible, we're just evening out the odds."
"You're planning on using me to lure him out to fight," she cried, a drop of sweat running down her temple from the energy she was exerting.
"That's the idea, little Rukia," he replied with his smirk, "Ending him will be no problem if he knows we're planning on killing you."
Rukia's heart nearly skipped a beat, and she nearly vomited there and then however she paid attention to the voice of reason, "M-My brother hasn't even looked at me the whole time I have lived in that house, what makes you think he'll come and save me? He was even prepared for my execution when I became a traitor to the soul society."
"I see," Gin said, his grin suddenly becoming wider, his face now even creepier, "Then who's baby are you carrying, I wonder…"
"What?" Rukia shouted, her whole body freezing and her soul feeling completely detached from her body now, "Baby…?"
"Of course, Rukia…" he continued, "How could you fail to notice the tiny reiatsu you've been harbouring alongside your own? If it's not your own dear brother's then whose is it? Abarai's? Kurosaki's? A random soul reaper's?"
"Baby…?" she repeated, unable to breath suddenly, happiness washing over her despite the situation, she and Byakuya were to become parents, and she even had a part of him with her, even now.
"Well, I aint here to judge," he concluded, walking towards the door, "As long as you're brother turns up, that's all that matters." Rukia looked down once more, looking at her stomach, unbelieving that she could be carrying their child, "Oh and Rukia?" he said before leaving, "You better hope he comes to save you, you wouldn't want anything to happen to the baby, would you?"
He smirked as he waved a goodbye, leaving her to herself once more. She watched him leave; however she soon passed out due to the crushing of her reiatsu.
xxxxxxx
Jūshirō rushed towards the twelfth division, flash stepping all the way from his own division. He felt unbelievably tired, not only had Byakuya's visit initially woken him up, but also the worry that he could be correct had stopped him from sleeping. Unable to sleep, he had taken the maximum amount of medication that captain Unohana had prescribed per twenty-four hours and headed out to the twelfth division first thing that morning.
He walked through the barracks, and stopped as Nemu greeted him at the main door of the research centre.
"Captain Ukitake," she greeted with a small bow, her voice quiet, as usual, "Do you have an appointment with my captain?"
"No," he replied hastily, walking past her to reach the door, "But I have an urgent matter I need to him address."
"He would rather not be disturbed," she pointed out, trotting beside him just to keep up, "He is currently in the middle of research."
"It'll only take a few minutes," he continued, opening the door and heading down a well-lit corridor with separate doors that seemed to line the walls, "It's a very pressing matter. Where is he?"
Nemu sighed, she would get it in the neck later, but he seemed adamant that he would see her captain, "This way."
Jūshirō thanked her as she took him down several corridors that jerked this way and that before taking him through a large door. He walked into the room, hearing the door close behind him as Nemu shut it before she led him to Mayuri, who seemed to be playing around with several vials of brightly coloured liquid.
"Captain," Nemu addressed him as she stood beside his desk, "Captain Ukitake is here to see you."
"Tell him I'm busy," he instantly replied, not even bothering to look up at her.
"It's urgent," Jūshirō interjected now, moving to stand near him.
"What's in it for me?" Mayuri sighed, looking up at him now and putting down some purple concoction.
"What did you want in return?" he asked, slightly worried that Mayuri would try to experiment on him again.
"Well, I did want to run some experiments on your illness, I…" he started.
"Forget it," Jūshirō replied quickly, like hell he was letting Mayuri run all sorts of kooky tests and experiments on him, "I'll just tell the head captain of the situation and your unwillingness to help me…"
"Fine, fine," he scowled, getting up, the last thing he wanted was to be dragged into a long captain's meeting, especially when he was stuck in an interesting experiment, "What do you want?"
"Thank you," Jūshirō said with a smile, "I need you to track down Rukia Kuchiki's reiatsu."
"Fine, ugh, is that all?" Mayuri asked, disgusted that he didn't get to run another interesting experiment. Jūshirō nodded, prompting him to walk over to his colossal super-computer and bring up the database of all the soul reapers.
"Kuchiki, Rukia," he repeated as he typed her name into the search engine. They waited for a few minutes as several soul reapers with either the name Rukia or Kuchiki came up. He clicked on her name, bringing up her profile before clicking on the 'Locate' button.
"What now?" Jūshirō asked as he watched the computer display the 'loading' sign for a ridiculously long time.
"Just wait, it's searching both the soul society and the living world for Kuchiki's reiatsu," he replied.
Jūshirō nodded, watching as in horror as her status came up: Soul Society: Not Found Living World: Not Found, Current Location: Unknown.
"Seems miss Kuchiki is nowhere to be found," Mayuri concluded, leaving the profile open for Jūshirō to read before moving back to his desk to continue his experiment.
"He was telling the truth," Jūshirō managed to say, reading and re-reading the information on the screen, "She has vanished." He quickly closed her profile before going back to the list of soul reapers the search engine had found. He double clicked on Byakuya's profile, clicking the 'Locate' button. Soul Society: Not Found, Living World: Found, Current Location: Karakura Town. Jūshirō stood up, walking away from the computer and rushing out of the twelfth division as Nemu trotted behind him wishing him a good day. He flash stepped to the first division, pounding on Yamamoto's door and waiting for him to reply.
xxxxxxx
"It has come to my attention," the captain-commander started, looking around at the captains who had assembled on such short notice for the meeting, "That Miss Kuchiki has disappeared." Apart from Jūshirō and Mayuri who were already aware, the rest of the captains looked at him confused.
"Excuse me captain Yamamoto," Hitsugaya asked, "But what do you mean by missing?"
"As I said, captain Hitsugaya, she is missing," he continued, "Captain Ukitake was visited in the early hours of this morning by captain Kuchiki, whom, I believe you'll find is not present at this meeting. Upon telling captain Ukitake of Miss Kuchiki's disappearance, he went to pursue her. The test conducted this morning at the twelfth division by captain Ukitake has confirmed that Miss Kuchiki's reiatsu has neither been found in the soul society or the living world, captain Kuchiki's reiatsu has however, been traced in the living world."
"Where could she be?" Unohana asked, worried for the young girl's safety.
"Captain Kuchiki suggested that she has been taken to Hueco Mundo, by Gin Ichimaru," Jūshirō replied across the room, "He said that his maid saw a 'snake-like' man drag her through a temporary Senkaimon within their house."
"Sounds like Ichimaru," Soi Fon agreed.
"But what would Aizen want with Miss Kuchiki?" Hitsugaya asked.
"To lure captain Kuchiki to Hueco Mundo," Yamamoto concluded, his voice cutting above all of the whispers and speculations that the other captains were making.
"What good would that do?" Kyōraku suddenly interjected, scratching is chin as he thought.
"Pick us off, one by one," Zaraki suggested, "Lure us there, take us out, and take over the soul society, man what a strategy. Oh Kami I can't wait to be lured there, in fact I want to go now…I could use a good fight."
"Captain Zaraki has a point," Yamamoto agreed, "It could be a new strategy, and I advise that you take extra precaution around the Seireitei, I will also warn all soul reapers. I also advise you warn relatives and loved ones of this, as they are likely to be taken also if they are luring out captains."
"What are we going to do about Miss Kuchiki?" Unohana asked, "We can't just leave her in Hueco Mundo while they lure captain Kuchiki to fight. They could harm her or worse."
"By rushing off to save her, captain Kuchiki knows he has gotten into this regardless of help," Yamamoto replied, "We are not obliged to enter dangerous territory and put lives at risk to save one soul reaper."
"But soul reapers went to save the Inoue girl, despite her not even being another soul reaper and you did not condemn their actions," she argued.
"As I recall I did not give them my blessings to save her, neither did I stop them out rightly from saving her," he retorted, "I believe these are the same set of circumstances, and even though I will not issue a demand to save Miss Kuchiki, I will also not stop those who wish to help Captain Kuchiki in the mission of saving her. As long as there is sufficient strength here to keep the soul society safe, then you are free to do as you please. Meeting adjourned."
A/N: Please Review!
Ok, so who is going to help Byakuya, find out next time, also, Rukia, pregnant! Yay! However I've got something in store for her and it's not too pretty, yes, mean writer! Thanks for reading...*sobs neopet's account...sobs* Um, may not update for a while, need to update everything else! So see you soon!
じゃまたね！