Chapter 11: Under the Thousand Swords
"Captain!" shouted Ikkaku, twirling his weapon and running toward Zaraki, followed closely by Yumichika, "We saw the wolves, too. "
"They're going for Rikichi, Renji, and Kenta. I'll go for Renji. Ikkaku, you take Rikichi, and Yumichika take Kenta. Hold them no matter what, do you hear? They are not to leave this building, under their own power or otherwise, do you understand?"
"Right, Captain!" the two exclaimed together.
The three broke off in different directions, each heading for the soul reaper assigned to them. Ikkaku sped down the left-hand hallway and took the stairs down in one huge leap. He raced down the next hallway, suddenly hearing the howling of oncoming wolves. He was almost to Rikichi's room when four spirit wolves appeared in the hallway behind him, running at top speed and snarling with rage. They tore towards Ikkaku, their powerful haunches propelling them forward. Ikkaku's zanpakuto spun and struck, sending the first two wolves tumbling and yelping away. He leapt and spun, twirling his weapon around to strike the other two wolves with stunning blows. He ran to Rikichi's door and barely turned in time to fend off the renewed attacks of two of the wolves. He sent them tumbling away again, then pounded on Rikichi's door. The boy let Ikkaku in quickly and slammed the reinforced door shut just as two of the maddened wolves slammed against it.
"The door should hold now," Ikkaku told Rikichi, "but get behind me just in case it fails."
Rikichi nodded and took a fighting stance behind Ikkaku, his zanpakuto drawn. Outside the door, the crazed wolves continued to slam their heavy bodies against the door, snarling and howling with the effort.
"The door is probably heavy enough to keep them out," Ikkaku said to Rikichi, "but keep your guard up anyway…in case something unexpected happens.
Rikichi nodded wordlessly and held his zanpakuto ready. Even so, he found that he was barely able to react in time when four wolf bodies hit the door together and it broke away from the frame.
"Kassou, Hiwashi!" cried Rikichi, sending his eagle crashing into the wolves with sharp beak and angry talons slashing.
Ikkaku leapt forward, his weapon moving faster than the eye could follow, tearing and slashing at the wolves the eagle missed. The sheer ferocity of the attacks of the two soul reapers shredded the wolves' attacks and soon all of them lay dead on the blood-streaked floor.
"Come on!" yelled Ikkaku, "We gotta get to another room and lock ourselves in. Rikichi sheathed his zanpakuto and dashed after Ikkaku.
XXXXXXXXXX
Yumichika found himself faced with an even more troubling situation than his bald-headed colleague when he arrived at Kenta's room. As he opened the door, he called Kenta's name and was greeted with a fist being thrown at his face. It did not reach him, of course, but he was extremely put out at the attempt to injure his face (of all places!). The indignity of it infuriated him and he glared at Kenta…then noticed the red eyes and backed out of the room, yanking the door shut and locking the crazed soul reaper inside. Kenta slammed his body against the door again and again, trying to break it down. The door was extremely sturdy, but the soul reaper throwing himself against it was fairly beefy and Yumichika couldn't be sure the door would hold against the brutal assault.
Things took another turn for the worse when he heard growls and snarls rising up in the hallway.
"Oh, for goodness sake…what now!" he fussed, "It isn't enough that buff-boy is hurling himself at that side of the door, now these ugly brutes want to attack this side too!"
With a hard sigh of annoyance, he released his zanpakuto and slashed at the oncoming wolves, tearing pained cries from them. Unfortunately, the pain wasn't enough to stop the driven creatures from attacking again and again. He met them with slash after endless slash until he had reduced them to nearly unidentifiable lumps of torn and mangled flesh.
"Ugh!" he said, grimacing, "and I thought they were ugly before!"
He stood guard in the hallway, watching the door shake as Kenta threw himself at it repeatedly until he simply collapsed from exhaustion. At that point, Yumichika re-entered the room and set a kido field around him to hold him in place, then locked the door again and sat down to wait for the all-clear signal.
XXXXXXXXXX
Kenpachi Zaraki moved faster than he had ever moved in his entire life, and that was saying something. For one not relying on the flash step, he moved nearly as swiftly through the besieged outpost, taking out the wolves in sweeping strikes as he swept toward Renji Abarai's quarters. He sensed the wolves had reached the room…and that the defenders were caught up in a furious battle to protect the 6th division vice captain. But his men were dying. The wolves were not just strong, they were frenzied now. So bent on winning their brethren, they would fight until their bodies were torn to pieces rather than give up their prize. Madness.
The hallway was thick with wolves now and Zaraki had to slash furiously, simply to move ahead inch by infuriating inch. The wolves hardly responded now, the sheer weight of their numbers holding him back, keeping him from reaching the room. He was forced to practically crawl over twisting piles of them…and still the number swelled.
He turned the last corner and saw the now-unguarded door. He knew his men lay dead somewhere beneath the throng before him. He didn't really need to open the door. He already knew…but just to be certain, he rained blows down on the beasts and fought his way to the door. Forcing it open, he looked inside and confirmed…Renji Abarai was already gone.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Rikaku Zetsumei Seppun," Kisuke announced, holding up a small vial, "or Separation Death Kiss. It's one nasty little concoction. Not easy at all to make, you know…and even made right, it's still pretty unstable. You've gotta be pretty stupid or damned desperate to make it, let alone drink the stuff. But if the four of you survive its effects, it will ensure that you cannot complete the ritual."
"Kisuke," said Yoruichi warily, "First of all, how did you know how to make that…and second, how do you know it will work?"
"Well," said Kisuke, looking at Byakuya, "it was Byakuya that clued me in."
"When Yuudai confronted me in the archive," Byakuya explained, "he showed me a vision of what happened to his group in the Hueco Mundo desert. You see, when the histories of the trip were recorded in the texts, they were recorded based on de facto information…and that information was faulty. It said that there were four in the group. In the vision Yuudai showed me, there were six. As I observed the vision, two of the men slew two, drinking their blood and simultaneously draining their reiatsu. They fell into a deep sleep and emerged as ookami seirei. The other two were in the background. One approached the other and handed him a vial. He said to the other, Rikaku Zetsumei Seppun. They each drank it and I could sense their release. Then he and the intended sacrifice fought their way free. I did not know the content of the mixture in the vial…only the name they called it."
"I recognized the name from the texts that Tessai and I translated. I won't even go into the ingredients. I had to pull some serious strings just to get my hands on all of them. Mixed together, they make a compound that renders the subverted soul and the sacrifice incompatible. When that happens, the wolf spirit loses its hold on the subverted soul and that soul returns to its normal state…if the poisonous stuff in the compound isn't too much for it to handle. In short, all four of you will drink it. You'll be incompatible…and, theoretically, Renji and Kenta will go back to normal."
"Theoretically?" said Yoruichi uncertainly.
"Yes," Kisuke sighed, "Yoruichi, we were dealing with translation of ancient texts. It's an uncertain thing sometimes. You can't always be sure if you have the translation correct. And sometimes things can be interpreted in more than one way. I did my best to match the description I had…and I really believe that I have it right."
"You had better be very certain, Kisuke Urahara," Byakuya said solemnly, "You hold the fates of all of us in your hands."
"Ah…" sighed Kisuke, "but no pressure there, right? Byakuya, you're quite the ray of sunshine!"
"I would much prefer to live than die," he said stoically.
"Well, I'm as certain as it is possible for me to be, all things considered. And that, my friends, is going to have to be enough."
"So what do we do now?" asked Yoruichi.
"Distribution," said Kisuke, "Byakuya, you take the vials for you and Renji, and Yoruichi, you take the ones for Kenta and Rikichi."
"Wait," said Byakuya softly.
Kisuke and Yoruichi looked at him questioningly.
"Why does Yoruichi need to go? I am capable of delivering the vials to the affected parties," Byakuya explained.
"Yeah," said Kisuke, "I know, but it's all going to be about haste, Byakuya. This way, the stuff gets taken as soon as possible by all parties involved. Believe me, this is necessary."
"You seem very convinced of that. I am less than convinced," Byakuya said uncertainly, "but for lack of a better course of action, I must go along with this."
"Yeah…kicking and screaming, eh Byakuya?" quipped Kisuke.
Byakuya gazed back at him.
"No," he said finally, "with cautious optimism."
XXXXXXXXXX
I have to wonder how I ever got so desperate that this would seem like a good idea. I was just so afraid for Renji…and I was grasping at anything that could free him from the grip of these wolves. Now rescuing him from them is in the realm of the possible and I have to trust that I am doing the right thing. It's enough to drive me mad…thinking about the price if I am wrong. But there is no choice now…and I must trust Kisuke Urahara…something I wouldn't have thought possible.
It is nearly time for the full moon to rise and I feel its approach inside, a chill weight on my heart. I must return soon to that dead land, where the ookami seirei wait for me. I feel my connection to them…it pulses inside. I feel the steady call urging me to return. I know I must, because Renji's life depends on it…even though I know that if the compound fails, my lover will take me in his arms and drain me of life.
I stand waiting for Yoruichi. She is speaking to Kisuke about our plans. As I wait, the hollow cries rise up inside me, begging my return so strongly, so pleadingly it hurts to hear it. I can resist it…until Renji's call joins theirs. I don't know when I started hearing his voice in my mind. At first, I only heard the incomprehensible sounds of wolves, but now it is the voice of my lover, calling me back into the deadness of Hueco Mundo. My feet begin to move on their own.
I don't know when it happened, but a whiteness has formed deep in the core of my being. It started inside and it kept expanding until my body began to shine with the glowing white light. Lit like this, I cannot hide, but stand revealed…and as I begin the crossing into Hueco Mundo, I feel the wolves sense my coming and they stop in their tracks. All across the expanse of the base, they sit where they are. Their eyes lock on the brightness of the full moon and their howls shatter the calm.
I turn my eyes to the base and I know he is not there. Somehow Renji has left the base and they have led him away. I sense the path he followed and I turn away from the base to join him. The wolves are surrounding me now. They have left off their attack on the base to walk with me. The light of my body radiates around us, brighter than the rays of the sleeping sun.
I do not fear them. I already know they will not harm me. They are only the shifting mass escort that marks my path. The sounds they make now are filled with pleasure. They know the moment they are waiting for approaches more quickly with the shifting of the cold night-touched sand under my feet.
Yuudai Kuchiki has taken spirit form and he walks calmly at my side now…his voice low and compelling. He has waited for me for a thousand years, but the waiting has come to an end now. He and the others are drawn to the brightness around me, the light that pours out of my body now and dims the shine of the full moon.
We have reached the rise over the valley of blood now. The valley is swollen with a mass of furred companions. Their greeting calls break over me. They rise in urgency now that I have drawn close.
Finally, a familiar reiatsu reaches through all of them. He waits in the depths of a cave just a short distance from here. As I move slowly forward, a sea of wolves parts to make way for me. With shining eyes, they watch me approach my fate.
His eyes have turned in my direction now and he is smiling. I know this even though I have not yet entered the cave. Yuudai Kuchiki reaches out and I find my hand reaching back. He steps forward now, guiding me into the darkness.
The glow from my body is blinding now and it lights the cave as we enter. I see my lover standing ahead of me with his arms extended to welcome me. Unafraid, I close the distance and my head dips slightly. They do not see the vial or the sweet deadly liquid I have taken into my mouth. They only see that I have reached my destination, that I have embraced my fate and that I have taken my lover into open arms to welcome the death he offers me with one last kiss. The red eyes lock on mine. Warm arms wrap around me. His mouth meets mine and opens. A look of surprise crosses his features as he tastes the flow of liquid that passes between us. Then the red eyes flicker with realization. I see the red begin to fade…the brown eyes beginning to return. And though we stand surrounded by them, at least we stand together.
Suddenly, Yuudai Kuchiki's voice sounds in my ear.
"Damn you, Byakuya! What have you done?"
I feel a deep, seething pain. I remember this feeling from a dream I had. As in the dream, I lower my eyes from my lover's and watch as crimson swells, staining the whiteness, stealing my breath. His arms aren't just holding me now. They are keeping me from falling. But his arms can't stop the darkness that is taking hold. His eyes are pleading…his grip on me desperate. As Yuudai Kuchiki screams at him to drain me of my life, his only thought is to defend it. But that life is draining away. And he has no weapon to raise in our defense. My trembling hands slip beneath the reddened folds of my clothes and I pull Senbonzakura free. With what breath remains, I raise one final defense.
Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.
We are alone now.
He eases me to the ground and holds me in his arms. His eyes tell me that he knows what is coming. When life leaves me, the Senkei will fail…and the howling mass of wolves will descend on us and tear us apart. But we have this last moment. And he finds a way to smile through his tears.
"Take my sword," I gasp, "When the Senkei fails, take my sword and fight your way free."
He shakes his head, but I raise a bloodstained hand to his cheek.
"One of us has to survive," I tell him, "to tell our child about the other."
He knows what I am telling him. He understands. He takes my hand and brings it to his lips.
"I won't have to tell our child stories about you," he says softly, "because you are not going anywhere. Don't you feel it? They are coming, Byakuya. Detonate your Senkei now, while you can. I swear to you, the wolves won't reach us. I swear to you, they won't touch you. I swear to you, I will not fail. You have my word."
The power swells around me one last time. I release it with the last of my strength, then watch as he gently takes Senbonzakura from my extended hand. The ground shakes and rock falls all around us as the pink swords explode. I see him standing over me, my sword gripped in both hands…as I surrender to darkness.