My internal alarm clock had me awake as the sky was lightening towards dawn. This strange world of ours had two suns and more than one moon, and one of those moons had a ring around it. I pulled out that crystal memory recorder I'd bought in the Elven Market and activated it, panning it out over the sky and capturing the images in the crystal sphere. Some of this stuff would probably have to be seen to be believed. I didn't waste much time on it, but I did get some neat shots of that world's weird-looking moons and the fact that it had two suns peeking up over the horizon. It sure made for a pretty sunrise anyway.
I left it to record the sunrise while I busied about preparing the camp. I fetched water and built up the fire, then... it was me-time.
I started with the usual warm-ups and stretches, then went into my limbering exercises. Even though it sounded kinda wussy, those yoga poses really helped me keep flexible, a flexible fighter was a guy who was in complete control of his whole body and could get it to do whatever he wanted it to. That was my thought anyway, in all of my years of fighting, I'd only not been able to make my body do what I wanted it to once and that was during the fight with Ichigo Kurosaki. Truth to tell, I didn't dislike the morning routine either. I felt good when I went through it, better, and it let me sorta get my head on straight before I had ta face the day.
After warming up and stretching I always practiced with Zabimaru. The missy had a bit of a penchant for sleepin' in, so that was when I got in my morning practice time. If this were the Seireitei, I'd usually do this in my own quarters after I cleared out the bedding. Zabimaru's howl-form was different to work with, but I wasn't doing so badly with it, and it didn't require a full-training court to work with, though swinging him around indoors would probably not be a very good idea. I usually did my morning sword practice with him unshikaied.
I was past the combo reps and well into my sixth form when I sensed the reiatsu of Yoruichi returning from the Seireitei. By this time I was warmed enough to where my shirt was off as I ran through my sword movements. I didn't pause from my form, moving directly from Buddha's Warrior Attendant Sands The Floor, to Crane Spreads Wings, without breaking my concentration.
"What's the word?" I asked her as I moved into Tall Man On Horse.
Yoruichi didn't answer directly, she leaped lightly onto a nearby log and set down a scroll-case she had been carrying in her mouth and preened her fur a bit then watched me for a few long moments. I tried not to feel self-conscious about having someone watch me go through my morning routine. I mentally blocked her wide unblinking eyes out as I finished off the last movements of the sixth form and moved onto the seventh.
The forms were requiring more of my concentration than usual lately and not because the sword was different. Zabimaru had taken my training wheels off and now he wouldn't let me seal away my reiastu behind my binding marks anymore. He had me unlock up to the first three chakra and move through the forms, pushing and pulling at my reiatsu to get it flowing evenly throughout my body. It was a lot harder than it looked. That stuff tended to flare and pop and fizzle within me in startling ways. It pushed and pulled and tried to go its own way, like lava in a volcano, sometimes. It wanted out and didn't really seem to want to do as I asked of it.
The movements of the forms helped quite a bit actually. They were very familiar to me, seeing as I had done them just about every day for the last forty years or so. That familiarity, and Zabimaru there in my hands (even if he was shaped a bit differently from what I was used to), gave me a little extra confidence when taking on that pernicious reiatsu of mine. It was still inclined to push and flare up in unpredictable ways, but I was getting better at pulling it in and sending it singing along my meridians the way it was supposed to be. I could sort of sense that Zabimaru was trying to teach me to gain control of that reiatsu the same way I had control over my body, but it was slow going. By the end of the sixth form I was covered in a light sheen of sweat from playing a strange sort of "whack-a-mole" with my internal energy.
"You move your spiritual energy like a baby who's just started learning," Yoruichi noted. "But your reiatsu feels very different. I noticed it last night, but I thought that it was perhaps something that had happened to you when you turned mortal. Byakuya-kun told me that it had begun to change a bit even before you left... but that you were not discussing it with him."
Her tone sounded a bit disapproving.
"It's between me an' Zabimaru," I said shortly. "It's got nuthin' ta do with him."
"I think you are doing yourself and your captain a grave disservice by not requesting his assistance in this."
I looked over at her incredulously. What in this world or any other would possibly say that I'd go to Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, my main rival and the man I seriously wanted to lay the smack-down on, for help? Was she nuts? Did she not see that if I went running to him for help, he'd be able to learn how I fought and thus have an easier time defeating me when I eventually did turn at bay to challenge him? Duh.
"Ugh! You and your stupid male pride!" Yoruichi said scornfully.
"Zabimaru ain't got a problem with it," I said defensively.
"Zabimaru is as bad as you are I'm sure," Yoruichi said with a disdainful little sniff. "It's probably one reason why you two get along so well."
Before I could say anything to that she continued
"Your reiatsu has a far greater density to it than it did before. Renji... keeping secrets isn't like you, you're the most direct person I know. So why don't you trust us anymore?"
"It's not that I don't trust you," I said, flowing down to a sitting position to do cool down stretches. "The Captain and I have our differences when it comes to us as men, of course, but I like to think that I make him a good Lieutenant."
I tried to anyways. He expected a lot out of the person who would be his second in command, he didn't come right out and say it but the almost infamous turn-over rate that had characterized his long stint in office as Captain of Sixth attested to the long, long laundry list of attributes he expected of his prospective direct subordinate. Most guys were out of the office of his Vice-Captaincy in weeks if not days. I kinda wondered what he was doing keeping me there, unless it was pure sadism on his part. I'd defied him and turned my back on the Seireitei to save Rukia's life, I'd been expecting to be demoted but he didn't really say anything about it, though I'd heard that he'd had to let himself be convinced not to fire me.
"What does that have to do with why you didn't come to your friends when you got into trouble?" Yoruichi demanded.
"Well you know what a stickler for the rules the Captain is, he hasta be 'cuz he's Kuchiki, I jus' didn't wanna get you an' everyone else in hot water for sumthin' that happened ta me that I could take care of myself. I figured I'd do for myself until I could do anything more and then I'd drag you inta my mess if I didn't have any other choice. Besides that, I kinda got collared by the missy in there and then I was stuck for it. In my case, the only way out is through. I get her and her kid back to the Mortal Realm safe an' sound, I erase her memory so she doesn't remember what happened, no harm no foul... I get that proof an' maybe they'll listen ta me."
"Kisuke is worried that just killing the Shadow that made you mortal is not going to be enough. He's afraid that, because of the nature of the Spirit Being that turned you, the change may be a little more permanent than you're hoping for."
"Whacha mean, permanent?" I demanded suspiciously.
She couldn't mean, permanent, permanent, could she? There was just no-way! There was no way I was going to stay trapped inside this damn mortal shell to grow old and die like I was some kinda mortal! I was a Soul Reaper dammit!
"Well, you have to admit that the situation has never come up before, I mean the reverse has happened obviously but the closest we've ever come to a Soul Reaper becoming something other than a Soul Reaper is what happened with the Vizards."
"Vizards?" I questioned, not quite getting the reference.
"They showed up with a grudge against Aizen in the Winter War, remember? They helped fight the arrancars."
I thought about it and then vaguely recalled the group, they'd had Hollow masks. I'd never interacted with any of them personally, but I'd seen them across the battlefield, they hadn't seemed very happy to be there fighting alongside us. They certainly hadn't liked Old Man Yama, that was fer sure. I thought of them more as being ichigo's allies than mine, but i could see that Yoruichi would feel closer ties to them than me.
"So far as I or Kisuke can gather, there's never been a precedent for a Soul Reaper being turned true Mortal, but still retaining all of his powers."
"Great," I muttered. "Let's hear it for originality."
Then I perked up, having had a thought
"Hey, since I have all my powers, they're not gonna execute me right? I mean, it's giving my powers away that is the capitol offense but I can just show 'em Zabimaru and they'll be able to see for themselves that I'm not guilty."
"Instead, they'll probably hand you over to Captain Kurotsuchi and the Twelfth Division to... probe your unique situation," Yoruichi said, flicking her ears back.
I'd never actually felt the blood drain from my face before, but I swear I felt it turn cold in my veins.
"I'm... I'm... I'm not cool with that," I managed, actually feeling sick with dread by the thought.
"I didn't think you would be. But cheer up Renji... you've got mail!"
She flicked the scroll tube over at me and I caught it before it could hit me in the forehead. I uncapped the end and then pulled out the paper. There were several missives inside, most of which I recognized as bearing the watermark that Kuchiki used for his own correspondence. I broke the seal on the first of them.
To Lieutenant Renji Abarai of Sixth Squadron
It has come to my attention that you have been rather more thorough in the carrying out of my orders to investigate the matter of the disappearances in the Rukongai than you had originally anticipated, while I find your increased work ethic commendable lieutenant, let it not be done at the inconvenience of your Captain, who has had to find inadequate temporary replacements to fulfill your duties. In addition, the workspace on your desk has become overfilled with the paperwork that is your due piling up on top of itself.
"Aw c'mon Captain, didja have ta leave it all fer me?" I muttered.
He coulda' done some of it. Or ordered the Third Seat ta do it, he didn't have ta leave it there.
If the unstable piles become a hazard in the workplace I will further dock your pay... I have already retained your funds for the time you have spent on an unauthorized field excursion.
"He docked my pay? that's so not fair!" I howled in outrage.
I have received your reports however and will be presenting the (uncorroborated) evidence of a new threat to the Seireitei in the next Captains meeting where it will most likely be handed off to the proper squadron to investigate it. As to your claim, corroborated only by the renegade Yoruichi Shihouin, and by Kuukaku Shiba, head of House Shiba, of certain difficulties with regards to your person... I know you to be an honest man, if not entirely bright, but I am disappointed that you did not feel that the institute of the Soul Society was trustworthy enough to handle the matter adequately.
I didn't want to be Kuro-kooky's new laboratory experiment if that was what he was getting at. Of course I buggered off. What the heck did he think I was gonna do, stick around and let them stick me with needles and probes?
However, in light of circumstances beyond your control, or anyone's ability to anticipate, it seems that you will be forgiven your temporary defection. The field reports received by... courier... are testament enough to your acting in good faith and with the interests of your Squad and its Captain in mind.
"Really?" I said, startling in surprise and unable to believe my good luck. He was gonna let me off the hook that easy?
You will be expected to rewrite them upon your return, on Squad-authorized report paper and in legible handwriting this time.
The man just could not cut me a break. I was going to pretend that I wasn't smiling in relief.
Clearly it has been so long since you have actually written out a field report that you have forgotten a number of protocols that go along with writing the field report. Upon your return you shall reserve some time and we shall revisit the manual on Official Procedure. At length. I, of course, will be on hand to point out my errant Lieutenant's errors and to expound upon the necessary details.
In short, I was gonna hear it.
As to your request for further orders, it would prove most useful if you could see your way to gathering physical evidence to prove your claims of this Shadow threat, as uncorroborated hearsay, even from several sources, is inadequate at the present time. In addition, you voiced a concern in your letters to the younger Kuchiki that showed up no-where at all in any of the reports you sent to your Captain-
"Hey!" I yelped aloud in indignation. I had written those letters to Rukia, not to him, he shouldn't go around reading other peoples mail. It was rude.
While I can understand your reticence, as the concerns were merely speculation rather than fact, in view of recent events it would perhaps be better for you to also include your own conclusions in future reports. You shall place them in a separate report of your courtesy.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
In the search for objective accuracy in a field report it is important to isolate and erradicate bias so as the arrive at a report that is the distillation of careful reason rather than conjecture. It is easy to dismiss a soldier's reading of the field and situation as mere nerves or anxiety, one forgets after a while that soldier's trust their instincts and that those instincts themselves are often the result of unconscious intuitive leaps in logic, the reading and connecting of thousands of disparate clues, clues that the soldier themselves might not have been consciously aware of noticing.
I guess I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah, I guessed i could see where he was coming from with this.
It is well that you confided your concerns to my sister, and equally well that she thought enough of them to bring them to me.
That had to have been a fun and interesting meeting. I wondered what he made of all the sketches I'd sent back to her. Isana, of course, was featured no-where in any of the drawings, they were mostly of Gates, their node designs, and the strange creatures that I'd met and fought along the way. Djinn, Crusher, Carbuncle and Shivna-Vatu were there of course along with small sketches of many of the weirdlings I'd introduced to Zabimaru (with fatal results for them). There were three full-page, detailed sketches of Genbu, Firebird, and Old Woman of the Mountain respectively and a smaller one of Katschei the Deathless and his enormous castle full of... stuff. I knew how much Rukia liked artwork, and the sketching made it easier for me to write to her. After all, as they said a picture is worth a thousand words.
Do continue with your reading of the situation in the future. It may be that your concerns are nothing more than a reaction to the irregularity and sudden strangeness of your new situation... but it may also not be so. Let us hope it is the latter rather than the former. Yoruichi has agreed to bring any additional reports back to me as the situation allows. You shall return for a full debeifing once your evidence is gathered and you are released from your (slightly illegal, very much coerced) vow to the mortal to return her and her son to the mortal realm. Sixth Squadron is known for its honor and integrity, see that you remain a testament to that honor Lieutenant Abarai.
By my hand,
Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of Sixth Squad.
Well! That had been... rather more even-handed than I had been expecting from the Captain. Was he mellowing in his old age?
The next letter featured Rukia's elegant and flowing script on the outside. Very much fearing what I might find inside of it, I cautiously broke the seal and unrolled the scroll.
DIE! RENJI! DIIIIEEEE!
And it had little cartoon drawings of red-haired doggies, bearing a suspicious resemblance to me, being murdered in nasty ways, most often by little cartoon bunnies. It should have been cute but it was a little disturbing because of that The script was written in bold furious brushstrokes and took up most of the page.
Whoa. Somebody was upset. I hoped she didn't actually mean it because dying in this mortal body carried with it the possible consequence of that death putting me back into the wheel of death and rebirth.
I put away the scroll feeling sad about it.
:At least she bothered to write me at all,: I tried to console myself.
I couldn't help the glum feeling in my chest however. Feeling less than enthusiastic I broke the seal on the next scroll. The letter it contained was closer to a note, and hastily written, but it contained unmistakably the neat, precise, but somewhat cramped handwriting of Kira Izuru.
Renji, it said
I was surprised to receive a visit from Rukia Kuchiki and she was good enough to inform me of your... extended field mission, though she requested that Momo and I keep the details to ourselves until the Captain's meeting. If you need anything from me, let me know. I must make this short, but I wanted you to know that we're both really glad you're safe. Though good luck getting your girl Rukia to calm down, that woman is in quite a snit over the fact that you didn't come running to her and her Mortal friends when you got into a jam. Momo and I both understand why you didn't. From the little I've heard around there's a general aura of disbelief from anyone you could think of to ask that Renji Abarai would ever abandon anyone or defect to the other side, most people seem to be of the opinion that Kuchiki just has you out on a secret mission somewhere doing training or gathering information. The last thing that anyone knew, you had been asking around to various Captains and Lieutenants about something you were investigating, most people believe Kuchiki has you doing that and simply has chosen not to reveal his plans for you. Well, I hope you're well, and that you come back soon. You know how Momo worries. Good luck.
Kira Izuru.
I couldn't help smiling at the letter. It was good to have friends. I hadn't realized how alone and isolated I'd felt until I'd gotten the letters from them. I might be a solitary warrior when I fought, but I was very much a social creature. I was not accustomed to being completely by myself and never had been accustomed to it. I liked being surrounded by people, I liked having people near me to laugh and fight and interact with. I probably always would.
The next scroll I opened was in Momo's loopy, very feminine hand. The woman dotted most of her i's with hearts.
Renji,
Kira didn't have the guts to ask, but since I'm a girl, I went ahead and asked to read your letter to Rukia (I hope you don't mind). Your pictures are as good as ever and how come you never told her that you could draw? She seemed very surprised to learn about it... I showed her that picture in the frame you drew for me when I got lieutenant a few years back, the one with me sitting on top of that big mountain, and she said that she'd never seen you draw anything before.
Well, yeah. In Rukongai paper was an expensive comodity, and not something that a penniless kid would come across. When I was in the academy I discovered I had that sort of talent but I'd always been too busy with my schoolwork to waste much time on it. It was only after I'd graduated and started taking on missions that I'd really started to develop my talent. At first it had just been a way to pass time in between lulls in the missions, only later as I got better at it, did it start to become an end to itself.
Anyway, boy is she ever mad at you. I don't think its very fair of her, I mean, its not like she came running to you when she got into a scrape in the mortal world so I don't see why she should get her tail in a knot about you not coming to her with your own troubles. Add to that the fact that she spends more time with the subsitute than she does at home... oh, you probably don't know do you? I guess it's good news, well good for you anyway. Rukia and Ichigo broke up.
I stopped dead and stared at the line, unable to believe it. What? Really? Oh no, hope was blossoming in my chest again, this couldn't be good.
I re-read the line and then eagerly moved on. Count on Momo to give me the details I wanted to know.
Rukia and Ichigo broke up. I heard it was a mutual thing, though no-one is really talking about it much. Rukia seems embarrassed by it all. Apparently she's been on the outs with the Kuchiki Elders for a while now, and seeing the boy's family all eating around the dinner table together made her realize that that was what she was looking for in a family. I guess she must've realized that she was projecting her desire for a family onto him, since she spent so much time around him and his family. Oh, Rangiku may have let slip to me (accidentally-on-pirpose I'm sure) that the two of them tried kissing (Rukia and Ichigo, I mean).
Oh, great. I so would have been much happier not knowing that.
Ran said that Rukia asked if a kiss was supposed to feel weird the first time you did it and if it got better later on. Poor Ran had to explain to her about chemistry. Matsumoto gleefully told me about the follow-up question the next day about whether chemistry was something that could be implanted.
Let's hope not. Could anyone imagine all the troubles this one would cause?
So apparently by the fourth try they both gave it up as a botch job, which is a little strange I'll admit, I mean, no offense here but it's clear they have feelings for each other, it just looks like those feelings don't include any spark whatsoever.
I should be celebrating but I felt a little sad for her. I knew she'd had something of a crush on her very, very married Lieutenant at one point, maybe the lingering feelings of regret and self-disgust were overshadowing any ability of hers to have a relationship at all. It was understandable that the whole Kuchiki thing would have put a damper on any attempts to have a relationship, but forty years and never been kissed was a bit beyond pathetic. I wasn't complaining or anything, the news made me pretty happy, but at the same time...
Now they're back to being friends again, at least that's what I heard. Her tail is in quite a twist about you not coming to her for help after you disappeared, and I have to admit that I'm a little upset too. Being wary about the Seireitei possibly arresting you is one thing, but you could have come to us you know. Kira and I are your friends, we'd have helped you out. I understand why you didn't but at the same time I wish you'd trust us a little more. Well, we both miss you. Write back if you have time.
Love, Momo.
P.S. Don't worry if the letter you get from Rukia looks angry, she'd just worried about you, that's all.
I wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but the letters and the well-wishes sent with them did warm me up a little. Okay, a lot. I didn't feel so alone anymore, and I hadn't realized how important their friendship was to me until I found myself suddenly alone and trying to find a way to get back to the place that had sorta become home to me over the years.
"You look happy," Yoruichi noted, a slight teasing note in her voice. I immediately straightened my face. This was why I never played poker, anything I was thinking or feeling always seemed to make its way straight onto my face. A woman that was any less dense or more observant about matters of the heart than Rukia was would have picked up on my feelings immediately.
"The Boss says he wants that proof, so I guess there's no helping it," I said with what I hoped was a casual shrug. "We'll just have to track that Shadow back to wherever its hiding and get the job done."
"The letter from Rukia looks... emphatic," Yoruichi noted, purely as a way to rub it in I suppose.
"I wouldn't worry about that," I said with a shrug, trying not to show how hurt I actually was about it.
I knew her better than that, the maledictions and deathwishes she'd sent me was just her original reaction. Rukia had always had a tendency to lash out at me when I did something that pissed her off (as I so often had).
"She's just blowing off steam that's all. She's probably disappointed because she didn't get to come along."
"Hnh..." Yoruichi replied skeptically. "And your letter from Kira worries me a little."
"Hey!" I snapped, trying to snatch back the paper she had mysteriously managed to pull out right from under my nose. "You shouldn't go around reading other people's mail, it's rude!"
"Well I'm not a member of the Court Guard Squads anymore so I can't keep a finger on the pulse of the Seireitei myself, I have to rely on what I get out of Soifon and she's... well, they do pay her to be aloof an suspicious, but sometimes I think she takes it a little far. Doesn't it worry you that a significant faction of the people you work with seem to think you're a possible traitor?"
"Nah," I grunted in reply. "None of the people who matter to me believe it for a second so the doubtings of the nay-sayers don't mean anything. Besides, I'll come back with plenty of proof to clear my name."
"Still..." she said dubiously.
"I'll be honest with you about this though, the vote of confidence from Captain Kuchiki was entirely unexpected. Last time, when I stood up to him to try to get Rukia out of prison he wanted to fire me. It was the other Captain's who convinced him to let me stay on as Lieutenant. I wasn't expecting him to be so understanding, it seems kinda out of character for him."
Yoruichi smiled a little at that and nodded agreement.
"Rukia may have had something to do with it," she suggested.
I tried not to look skeptical about that particular assessment, since when had she ever had any influence over her brother? I didn't see it if she did. Byakuya Kuchiki did whatever he felt was best and that was the end of the matter.
"She might have went to her brother and put in a good word for you, after all, she has known you for a long time, off and on."
I restrained a snort at the comment, it sounded dubious to me.
"I doubt he'd listen if she did," I said. "For starters, she's younger than him. You've known him since he was a brat, you have to know that he does what he feels is best and ta hell with anyone else's input on the matter."
Yoruichi made a small noise of agreement and said
"Then it may just be that he listened to Shiba and to Ukitake for once, after all, being humbled by them having been right all along that one point might have made him more willing to set aside his pride for a moment and seek counsel. You know those two would have spoken well for you and counseled him to trust and have patience."
Maybe," I said, not really certain if I dared to believe it or not.
"And even if we don't manage to get hold of one of the Shadows for ourselves," I added, checking the device that i intended to use to get Kuchiki that proof if I couldn't manage to capture one of the little buggers. "We can still at least get some evidence another way."
Everyone can relax, Yoruichi has returned. And with letters form home too, looks like Byakuya's begun to mellow in his old age... ^_^ Thak you for all of the wonderful reveiws from the last chapter and look forward to the next few chapters springing us back into the action again. Wow, fifty chapters already! And this latest one put me over two hundred reveiws thanks so much everyone!