Note: I realize the way I set up Midoriko as the Prince's mother made some minor time-line issues. I apologize, I fail at math :( Please disregard until I'm able to go back and edit this problem in the future.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Unjust Ambrosia

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration, and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Sestran never got a reply, the process was faster than he'd predicted, but given the fact that his father only seemed to remain furious until the very end it was probably better that nothing was said. He floated down toward the ground, soaked with tears mixed and the fresh rain.

Kagome ran up next to him, Byakuya there through flash step a moment later, staring wide eyed and unsure of what to say. They hadn't been able to make out most of the argument, but they'd clearly seen him stab his own father and the transfer of energy that followed. It was obvious that he'd shed tears to the empathetic young woman.

"Nooo!" A woman's voice screamed from the edge of where the battle had taken place, an arrow pointing at Sestran as she shook violently. "You don't know what you've done! Sestran! How could you!"

Midoriko, Kagome recognized her immediately, the battle priestess that was apparently once the King's wife and Sestran's mother. The one she'd thought she'd rescued from her battles when they'd rid the world of the jewel of four souls. She saw the arrow fly harmlessly wide but the distraught woman drew another one from her very low quiver, though she was still shaking which made it impossible for her to shoot with any degree of accuracy.

"He was your father!" She continued to scream as she moved even closer. Byakuya put himself between the Prince, his wife, and the lunatic running at them with the bow. "We were going to fix everything! You really wanted power so much you murdered your own father!"

Kagome was a bit at a loss of what to say, she felt more than a little awkward even being here, somehow it seemed invasive that she was witnessing all of this.

"Stand down Captain Kuchiki." Sestran's voice was cool, calm, if a bit hard. His eyes still wildly flashing as his own inner storm was not nearly as controlled as his surface. Somehow his usual impossible charisma just didn't stand out here as it had in soul society, even as his voice darkened the longer he spoke. "You, how dare you...if you hadn't been a complete fool and turned him into such a empty shell of what he had been. You claim to have ever loved him, but you manipulated him into doing everything that he completely disbelieved in when he was himself. You have only yourself to blame for this, mother."

The final word came out as more like a curse, the sort of tone of voice you'd expect someone to have if they were speaking of something they held in complete hate or disrespect. He didn't flinch when she shot another arrow, though it did land closer this time. Only watched her as she broke down into tears once she realized it was her last of arrows. She shook her head negatively at his accusations. "No, you killed him, I never killed him. I didn't even want to attack you, I didn't because I loved you...but you, you are evil. You've always been evil, we should have killed you before you had a chance to breath."

"Shut up!" Kagome finally interrupted with a frustrated scream. "What the hell is the matter with you? He's your son? How dare you say something so wicked to him! I don't know exactly what is going on, but he's not evil. He..."

Kagome paused when she felt Sestran touch her shoulder, looking back at him as the scowl faded from her face. It was difficult to show her anger to him, he looked so forlorn behind that mask of his...

"It's all right Kagome." he said so softly she felt herself wanting to cry. Then Sestran looked to Byakuya, his voice hardening as he made commands. "Captain Kuchiki. Bind and take this woman to the Prison, we'll decide her fate once we've finished here. Kagome. I need you to come with me."

"I will bind her, but I will not leave Kagome alone." Byakuya stated immediately. With nothing more than a few words and a gesture the rods of light that had bound his latest victim slammed forcefully around Midoriko trapping her in place.

Sestran raised a brow at the unexpected 'no' from the Captain, apparently the girl's attitude had worn off on him more than he realized. He wasn't in the mood to argue, instead he pulled dirt up around the woman that had once been his mother, leaving just her head free so she could breath and gestured for them to follow him toward a building nearby. "Follow me. We must hurry."

He vanished and Kagome felt herself being lifted by Byakuya before they flickered into view a moment after him, frowning a bit to herself. They were outside what seemed to be an endless sort of mausoleum, and no where near the forest where they'd just been. The walls stretched out in the sky and either direction on the ground without no visable end.

"Wait wait." Kagome frowned at Byakuya's just neatly transfer her whenever Sestran asked him too, like she was a piece of luggage. That was something she had to resolve one of these days. "What's going on? Why are we even here? What happened? Why did you just kill your father? What do need us to do? Why the hell does Byakuya have wings?"

"Kagome...I realize that I ask much and express little but you have to understand waiting is very dangerous." Sestran stated without looking at her, opening the door with a small key he'd taken from a pocket. "You, are how I'm going to be able to fix the balance with members of your blood. Father allowing them to transverse worlds has started a process of breaking down the lines between them all."

Kagome blinked, and walked along because that at least sounded very bad, but she was very confused. "What does that mean?"

"There are invisible, spiritual walls if you will, that separate the worlds. Heaven, the mortal plane, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, Hell, and the various others as well as the dimensions of them all." Sestran explained as they moved. "These walls have set guidelines as to whom is allowed to transverse them. Though, the royal family has the ability to sway and rework the way in which they are written. The closest example I can give you would be something similar to exceptionally complex computer programs in your world."

"Okay..." Kagome said, getting the concept at least. The halls they were walking through had endless lines of glowing text on them, and all of it seemed to be moving, but only some of it could she recognize. She realized some of the letters were Japanese easily, but also picking out Chinese, Indian, Arabic, English and variations of all of them along with many more letters she didn't recognize a origin for at all. None of them made sense, they all seemed to be completely jumbled together like a kid had taken a bunch of them from every possible place and just tossed them there. But they always moved or ebbed away and changed, so she rarely got more than a glimpse before they vanished. Whatever this place was, it was far beyond the realm of supernatural she'd touched prior to this.

"My grandfather, ages before my birth, set in the rule that no priest or priestess would be able to either die or exist outside of Hueco Mundo. He was insane you see, for no soul is capable of ceasing to exist, only pieces of it are reworked and reborn elsewhere without the memories of prior lifetimes. In this way the energy of life is never lost, but neither does it grow stagnant." Sestran continued his explanation, they had moved into a slightly different area of the hall that had doors without the constantly moving confusing script of the rest of the place. "He allowed his personal problems to interfere with his judgment, his wife while on the mortal world was killed by a priest of the faith. The offender hadn't done it on purpose, his arrow had failed to shoot true in a battle and she'd fallen to friendly fire while she'd been on the mortal realm fighting demons. My grandfather decided that all priests and priestess' would pay for this one mans unwitting mistake and when he used his power to do so, he marred their existence on the world."

Kagome frowned a bit, as this entire story was hitting much more closer to home than she liked, remembering her short visit to the hellish Hueco Mundo. Yet, he'd just stated there was a place separate from it considered hell...

"So, he cursed them for having holy blood, even if they lived good lives." Byakuya pointed out more than asked, his own tone disapproving.

"Yes." Sestran nodded in sad agreement. "The binding words were that it would exist as such until a holy creature of purity could be found to prove they were worthy of reconsideration."

"There have been priests and priestess' sense then..." Kagome was confused. "Couldn't your father have used them?"

"After grandfather created the curse, he held power for another two hundred years before father was forced to take it away from him..." Sestran grew quiet a long moment as he considered the similarities, wondering if his own child would someday suffer the same fate of needing to slay his father. Then he shook his head to clear the disturbing thoughts and continued. "Priests and Priestess' had been being trapped for ages and he still wasn't even aware of it. He didn't become aware of it until long after mother died. The files on priestess' were augmented to make it look as if their powers going haywire made them cease to exist, as you recall from the reports."

Kagome was frowning steadily now.

"They were falsified...my grandfather didn't want people being aware of the truth, and until recently, only my father actually knew what that was. I had to access his information to figure out what the problem is." Sestran stated, opening one of the doors and gesturing them inside. It was much like the nearly infinite hallway they'd entered from. Without a chair or desk, just more of the writing, now in more complex forms than simple lines. There was a center circle in the room that was clear of it both ceiling and floor; a readily distinguishable feature. "It had been so long, and with the priestess' trapped within Hueco Mundo, fewer and fewer souls were reborn with their powers. They became less and less common until none remained."

"But, I'm here." Kagome frowned again. "That explanation doesn't actually explain anything. And Midoriko..."

"But Midoriko was the last priestess to enter the soul society upon death...her soul had been trapped for ages before the laws had been changed. It was why her soul came here once it was destroyed instead of going to Hueco Mundo, she died before that law had changed. I'm not actually certain why it was that you were reborn with priestly powers but then, you aren't an average girl in any respect." Sestran complimented, touching a few places on the wall, the jumble in those spots seeming to gain more light. "The best guess I have is that some aspects of the souls not a part of this war were reborn as a part of them or that your existence was a seperate creation to help restore the balance. Stand in the circle."

Kagome frowned a little but did as he asked her to do, blinking at the static change in the air as she did, she felt lighter, almost as if she would float away, though remained attached to the ground. She remembered when her soul had been taken apart to let Kikyo reincarnate in the feudal era, several balls of light instead of one had appeared at the witches strange spell..."Which means what?"

"You are the example that will resolve this issue from needing to exist. Only you would be skeptical of that prospect." Sestran commented to her as she offered a doubtful glance, tracing more lines into the wall, walking along it as he did. It was all a bit much for her to take in at once.

"But, your father...you couldn't have just explained to him that you could fix it?" Kagome frowned a bit, it was still difficult to know what Sestran was thinking.

"I'm afraid I tried but that wasn't possible." Sestran grew quiet at the reminder, he'd been doing his best not to dwell on it. "I couldn't change things without his power, and he refused to change them himself...I think he wanted to cease to exist as much as mother does. What sort of son would I be to allow him to disassemble everything he'd worked to protect simply because he'd gone mad. His soul deserved to start over..."

"But..." Kagome hesitated, she wasn't sure how to talk about it with him, it was such a horrible subject. He'd had to kill his own father to protect everything else? "This all just seems like it's more power than any one person should possess. It's..."

"Unfair." Sestran finished for her, not realizing that wasn't the word she was going to choose. Though by his tone, it wasn't something he even wanted. "I do not know why fate works this way, only that I must do what I can to restore the balance before the scales tip completely. For as long as you know me, I figure you'll often be hearing apologies."

"Apologies?" Kagome was wary as she made a question of the word, then light enveloped her as a pillar the size of the empty space on the floor. She didn't see him reach out, but she could feel Byakuya's reassuring grip around one of her wrists. She passed out with a vague thought that she'd have to punch Sestran much harder in the nose next time.

"What are you doing?" Byakuya's question was simple but there was immediately the feeling he would broke no argument, his hand still in the pillar of light holding onto Kagome, but unable to pull her from it's center. The illumination of his wings similar in color to it, flickering slightly whenever he moved and reflecting from the smooth surface of the walls, floor, and ceiling. His gray gaze had narrowed on Sestran dangerously. "Let Kagome go now...I don't care what it does to me, if you hurt her, you'll die."

Sestran canted his head at the threat, not surprised to find it from him in the circumstances, but more considerate of the captain and his new form for the first time. "I don't have control beyond this...powers beyond either of us are going to judge her and they'll do so at their leisure I imagine. You know, part of the reason I always liked you Byakuya, is that we are exceptionally similar, we are willing to do what is needed for the greater good."

"Do not compare me with your ignoble actions. If there is nothing you can do, you would do well to at least be pretending to try." Byakuya returned harshly, using his offhand to touch the hilt of his blade...but before Sestran could reply, the pillar of light extended and covered the sixth squad captain as well as the priestess, making the Prince's eyes widen.

"Well." He spoke to no one, but there wasn't anyone to hear him speaking to himself. His expression curious as he watched the pillar of light. "That was unexpected..."

End Chapter

Sestran's so sneaky! Byakuya was getting ready to scatter! He's a really really angry Byakuya! So, more explained I hope...and more questions I'm sure. I think I'll leave you with this cliffy for a little while. I have to work out a few exact details of what happens next chapter. (I'm done with the general idea but gotta ponder exactly how to do it).

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Teldra - yes, sadly I don't have the inspiration to do that too often. I have had a lot of creativity sprout all at once lately though!

KaneRyuMoon - Well, someone has to die they have to die? And the rest of the questions sort of have to wait ;)

Sugar0o - Lots of awesome review :) yes, Byakuya was all for murdering Keshizu for his hurting Kagome. As for Kaede, we'll see :). Sestran being forced to kill his fater was sad, but also for development, he considers it his job to restore balance irregardless of who he's forced to hurt along the way. Even if he'd personally rather not. :( And the royal family isn't quite like miko's so the former king's soul will be reborn without memory of it's past life.