Byakuya Kuchiki was not a man accustomed to the sort of nonsense he currently faced. In the history of the illustrious Kuchiki Family, the Head of the House (regnant) had only been captured twice, and on both occasions had seen the person foolish enough to make the attempt disposed of properly... and permanently. That he had allowed his own capture at all was an ignominy that severely wounded his pride, but what else could he do? Hisana was there before him and determined to brave the fire for a youngling in need of her protection, in good conscience how could he have acted otherwise? She did not remember him, the crossing of the River Lethe between lifetimes had taken all of her previous memories, both joy and shame alike, but his feelings had remained unchanged. it did not matter to him that she knew him not, she was his wife and always would be.
:And now about that Renji...: he thought to himself, slightly irritated.
It would seem that his young lieutenant's recent adventures AWOL had given him too large a penchant for thinking for himself at a great inconvenience to his commanding officer.
:'On the winning side' indeed. I shall see that he does all of his own back-log and the work of the First Seat as well. Such impudence!:
Byakuya was not impressed with his naive young officer's sad and transparent attempts at maneuvering himself to an advantageous position to act as a double agent. He was rather proud of the boy for trying it, after all, Byakuya himself knew how very very easy it was to underestimate the young fighter, but he could not for a moment believe that Aizen could possibly be fooled by such nonsense.
:He will have put safeguards on Abarai to keep him from acting in a manner counter to Aizen's own interests,: Byakuya surmised to himself.
He had nothing else better to do than to strategize right then any way.
The two Shadow guards within his rooms abruptly stiffened, and the door to his bare chamber opened to reveal the former trusted Captain of Fifth Squad, Sousuke Aizen. Byakuya recalled how he himself had once trusted and respected this man as one of the better of his fellow Captain's, his manners had been impeccable and his conversation not at all dull.
"Good afternoon Lord Kuchiki," Aizen said, exactly as though they were meeting outside of the Great Council Chambers after one of the Captain's Meetings. His tne was pleasant and conversational, but this man was the enemy and therefore, undeserving of the least of Lord Kuchiki's consideration. He simply stared back at the man in cool silence.
"Ah, I see you have made yourself quite comfortable," Aizen said, for all appearances willing to ignore the rude silence and the wealth of contempt that it conveyed.
"That is well. I had a small late lunch with your enchanting late wife-"
Byakuya twitched involuntarily in protective fury. he did not do anything so inelegant as ball his fists, but the single narrowing of his impassive gaze into one of eagle-like sharpness was all that was necessary to convey the threat. if Aizen had harmed her in any way, he would not be around for very much longer to enjoy the fruits of his work.
"I have graciously done you an favor, comrade to comrade, seeing as we are old colleagues," Aizen continued, acting not the least concerned for his captive abrupt attention.
"The former Lady Kuchiki, it seems has been remiss in the placement of her memories, but such sad things do happen, lifetime to lifetime I am told. But no need to worry, you will find on your next meeting that her memories of her proper life and station have all be restored."
Byakuya frowned. Clearly he should have been elated to have his wife back properly, but the one responsible for such restoration was his enemy, and clearly one with his own game to play.
"Perhaps it will be a trifle confusing at first to have two sets of memories, but since there appears to be no real rival for her affections in her current incarnation i foresee no real difficulties in wooing the young woman back to your side..."
Aizen paused theatrically.
"Well, but I suppose there is him..."
Byakuya continued to stare impassively back to his gloating warden, waiting for the axe to fall.
"Your young Lieutenant has been on quite the journey with her in her current incarnation. Traveling together, eating together, no doubt he was there to keep her warm and safe. At night. Alone."
Aizen seemed to be enjoying his insinuations. Byakuya Kuchiki knew better however. His lieutenant might be stupid at times, but he wasn't quite that stupid. In addition to that, Renji's loyalty was clad stronger than steel. His heart belonged to Byakuya's young adopted sister end of story. The young warrior had already faced battles that were all but guaranteed to spell his own demise for her sake and Kuchiki had the measure of him, once Renji's heart and mind were united on a point there was nothing that would turn him aside from it. That Aizen could insinuate until the Spirit King came down from his throne, but Byakuya knew better. If Renji had decided that he was going to play traitor it was because he thought it was a way to help Rukia in the end.
:It did get him taken with us all to where Aizen has built his new nest, so I suppose as strategies go it is not a total loss,: Byakuya thought consideringly.
Byakuya would have had to have been possessed of both idiocy and blind optimism before he would have entertained the notion that his dense, somewhat foolish (though invariably good-hearted and loyal) young Lieutenant could actually fool a man like Sousuke Aizen into believing that he'd switched sides all of a sudden. Since hte Head of Clan Kuchiki and Captain of Sixth squad possessed neither, he could only surmise that Aizen had a reason for letting the boy run about without a proper leash and collar on.
"I hope that you are not awaiting my gratitude for your actions," Byakuya replied coolly, since it was clear that his nominal captor was awaiting a response and the Captain of Sixth was interested in keeping the conversation going for the sake of trying to discern what the trickster's plans might be.
"Perhaps, but it seemed to me such a waste to do otherwise. Your Lady and your Lieutenant seems to have been getting along so swimmingly. After all they have been through together it would be surprising if there had not developed a bond between them, and she does look strikingly like his own unrequited love."
As if Byakuya wasn't agonizingly aware of the resemblance. Nearly every day for fifty years it had stabbed him through the heart, having to look at his precious wife's face on the a person who had been all but a stranger to him.
"Your point?" Byakuya said with unruffled calm.
"Abarai might be more interested in defeating you for a prize he has a hope of winning."
With that with a final small smile that was probably supposed to convey the idea that there was something that Aizen knew that Byakuya Kuchiki didn't, he exited the cell and Kuchiki was left alone with his thoughts.
Unlike the scattered, whirling petals of Senbonzakura, Byakuya Kuchiki was possessed of a neat and orderly mind one that could take a look at every facet of a complicated situation, weigh and analyze it minutely and then draw the conclusions. He did not rush headlong into situations... that was one reason why he kept his young and impulsive Lieutenant about. Renji could rush into a fight with all of the elegance of the proverbial bull in the china shop, but when the situation called for finesse and strategy, the Captain stepped up.
He set aside his emotions on the matter, which were more than ready to simmer with suspicion at the mere insinuation that his own subordinate would dare come close to his wife. The situation with Renji and Rukia was complicated on more than one level, in that matter there was some justification to Renji feeling that his Captain was the interloper, intruding on what had been a personal relationship between them (though how personal it had actually been Rukia had never said, and Byakuya had never asked). Renji involving himself with Byakuya's wife was another matter entirely. When this particular situation had been resolved the two of them were going to have a long and in-depth discussion of certain details that his young Lieutenant had (apparently purposely) left out of his feild reports.
:Aizen came here specifically for the purpose of insinuating that there is an improper relationship between Lieutenant Abarai and my wife. He is well aware that when I allow my emotions to enter the arena, I weaken myself as a fighter. Against a man like Abarai my intellect and superior training are what allow me to triumph. It is a given already that Renji and I will fight one another, the conditions of Renji's loyalty to Aizen stipulate that the two of us will duel. So, Aizen is merely trying to manipulate me psychologically.:
That told him that Aizen likely wanted him dead and out of the way, but why bother restoring Hisana's memories? It was not like he had anything to gain by doing so. Or if he did have something to gain by doing so, Byakuya could not fathom what it was... and that worried him.
Aizen's master plan at Hueco Mundo was an utter failure thanks to Hisana's intervention (with apparently Renji's and Yoruichi's assistance) perhaps he desired revenge against her. But it seemed far more likely that Aizen would devise a use for her seeing as he had her son hostage. Byakuya forced himself to ignore the simmer of rage that bubbled up at the mere idea of anyone, especially his enemy coercing his wife in any form. It was more than an assault on his pride.
:Even Abarai is aware that, on the level of emotional ties and attachments, Aizen is a master manipulator.:
The last conversation that Sixth's Captain had shared with his Lieutenant had brought that home well enough. Renji might not be politically savvy, but when it came to interpersonal relationships he was possessed of an animal instinct.
:I would be more foolish than I often claim my young subordinate is if I fell into the trap so easily.:
He was no fool. So, being that he was not a fool, a wise man would try to discern what the manipulator was trying to manipulate him into.
:It was a very clear and obvious attempt to create jealousy on my part toward Abarai, perhaps with the intention of making me irrational enough to kill the boy instead of merely almost killing him as I had done the last time we crossed swords.:
That would suggest that it was Abarai that Aizen wanted dead but that made no sense, if the Captain had wanted him dead, disposing of him would have posed no great challenge.
:I will have to assume that it was merely an attept to what is that Human World phrase that Rukia uses? Ah yes... "psych me out" I believe is the term.:
Aizen had already taken full advantage of the rift between the Captain and the Lieutenant of Sixth Squad during the debacle with Rukia. He would assume by Renji's words (and his sudden switch in loyalty) that the rift between them still existed. None of this explained Aizen's decision to restore Hisana's memories however.
:I like this not... and I worry about leaving my impulsive and dense young Lieutenant running about without supervision.:
Hisana/ Isana found it more than just a little disorienting being in possession of two different sets of memories from two different lives. if she hadn't gotten sort of accustomed to seeing ten impossible things before breakfast in her time down the rabbit hole over the last few weeks, she would definitely have been having a much more difficult time of it. As it stood, she found that she now had an explanation for some of the strange and inexplicable feelings that had lingered on in her current life. She could certainly see why none of the young men she'd met in either High School or College, or the ones that her friends had tried to fix her up with, had appealed to her in the least. It was like comparing something to something else.
:I've been married!: she thought to herself for the hundredth time since she'd woken up.
She felt a stir of elation at the idea. In her life in the mortal world she had spent her entire adult life going it alone, with no-one to cling to, no-one to rely on, no-one to tell her it was going to be okay. She had dreamed of having a husband! Someone strong, and steady, who would love her and care for her and help her raise her son. Someone who really valued her for the person she was and someone she could love and care for in return. Her previous memories (which were beginning to feel more natural as time went on) told her that their marriage had been one of mutual love, trust and affection, and that though there was a consciousness of their vastly differing stations it had mattered not a whit in thier feelings for each other.
When their eyes had met just briefly across the battlefield she had felt such a strange and overwhelming feeling overtake her. It was like in that instant she knew him, deep down beyond the level of thought, and even heart, she knew his soul. She'd never before believed in the term soulmate, but it truly had felt like something in her had resonated with him, like there was a strange thread that tied thier hearts that had suddenly tightened and thrummed, letting her see all of the contents of his in exchange for all of the contents of hers. It was like all of the missing bits in her heart had come trickling back into place, and she hadn't known they were missing until she felt suddenly whole again.
:I know I've definitely never felt anything like this in this lifetime,: Hisana thought, just a little sadly.
Over the course of their time together Isana had naturally developed feelings for her tall, red-haired protector. Really, how could she not have? Sure he was a little rough around the edges but he was handsome in his own way, strong and brave and dedicated to keeping her safe. He'd helped her out when she needed it most and never asked anything of his own in return. He'd even gone as far as showing her the way to becoming strong herself, Renji was kind as well, it was a rough sort of kindness but she could sense its underlying care and concern. On the mental checklist of "husband material" that she was sure every woman possessed in their minds, Renji had earned top marks for the most part.
:But we just didn't fit,: she thought with a small sadness tinged with regret.
She'd tried herself to force the connection a little bit, reasoning that since he was already so in love with someone else, that since it was unrequited it wouldn't be that hard for her to turn his affections her way... but Renji had remained obdurate. Once his heart and mind were made up that was it, that was all she wrote. She could admire (and covet for herself ) his unwavering devotion, but it had frustrated her a bit from time to time. And looking back on it now she could see for herself that her efforts had only been half-hearted, partly because she was more preoccupied with her quest to rescue her son, but also because her heart really hadn't been in it. Renji had been kind to her, and good to her, at a point in her life when she hadn't known much of either in a very long time. She was lonely, but when he had been there she wasn't lonely anymore (frequently terrified for her life, but not lonely). However, now it was abundantly clear to her that kindness was not love, at least not love as she had known it so it was for the best that Renji had been singularly resistant to her attempts to gain his attention.
:I wonder if Byakuya-sama is still single,: Hisana wondered to herself, a little bemused that her thoughts automatically still called him Byakuya-sama.
:Hisana huh?: she thought, her train of thought abruptly derailed.
After a moment of reflection on her alternate name she found that she liked it quite as much as she liked her usual name. It was only the difference of a letter and he hadn't liked having a name that began with a vowel because there had been people that had annoyingly mispronounced it countless times by daring out the I sound from the 'i' in 'pit' to the 'ee' in 'weed' calling her 'eeesana' and she really hated that. The 'h' in front of it would automatically shorten the vowel sound.
:I might just keep it,: she thought to herself. :Just for the sake of keeping name pronunciation simple.: That and she rather liked the sound of it, she could see it growing on her.
:Of course, it probably wouldn't even matter to Renji.:
Hisana had been very conscious of the fact that he had never once called her by her given name, or even by her last name. He usually just called her 'Missy' or Mortal if he was trying to remind her of the difference between them.
She shook her head to clear it and tried to refocus her attention on what she had been doing. Rukia was sitting nearby, working out how the communication devices were activated. Orihime was still working on the mirror.
"Hey guys, come look at this," she called over to the two of them.
She and Rukia both curiously went over to see what Orihime had found.
The two screens she had selected out showed the large room with the familiar shape of the World Gate that they had passed through to enter that Realm and another room with a smaller gate. The other room showed a large room that looked exactly like an old-style gladiatorial ring with a sunken fighting area filled with sand and ringed with seats. A large balcony-like area faced with an enormous throne jutted out over the sands and the rim of the sunken area was edged in glowing sigils of intricate spell-work. Hiana recognized than as belonging to containment spells.
The young woman had the mirror spin back to the last time that the room had been used and the image showed the miserly old Katschei ordering his magical servants to lead out two great magical construct-beasts, chimera-like in form, to the ring and set them at each other so that he could gauge their effectiveness. The battle was like a melee between giants, the chimera sometimes even changed forms. When the battle was over one of the construct-beasts lay dead on the sands and the other beast, either high on its victory or instinctively attacking the next form of life nearby, started rampaging about trying to break out of the containment area. The beast was powerful and specially constructed to be resistant to most forms of magic, so the containment spells on the ring were shrugged off. After a great deal of effort, the katschei managed to subdue the beast and sent it flying into the smaller gate back at that end.
:That gate looks different from most of them,: she thought to herself.
Most gates were arches of ordinary stone with a dial-array for setting the gate to the coordinates of other worlds already et in it. This gate had no location array and was made of stark, black stone, bound by black iron and settled with a great many chains and locks that practically bristled with containment magic.
"The mirror says that this world gate only leads to one place," Orihime reported. "A pocket dimension of the Katschei's own devising that is a stark, useless void designed to absorb magic and spiritual power alike. It's where he puts the experiments that he deems too dangerous to remain in his Realm, and yet too powerful to dismantle."
"Hmmm," Hisana murmured, looking at the Gate consideringly.
The beginnings of a plan began to form in her mind.
After a great deal of searching, and by that point Renji found that he genuinely was growing hungry, he at last found himself in a place that looked like what he might be looking for. It was a long hall-like room, dimly lit giving it more the feeling of a giant walk-in closet. Lining the walls on each side of the room were identical, and identically creepy-looking, statue-like manikins. Instead of all being identical statues with the exact features of the person who would inhabit them, like the gigais created by Urahara, they were all androgynous wax-like figures, without any discerning facial features, as nondescript as melted wax doll figures.
:Creepy,: Renji thought with a shudder, looking down the long line of melted-wax doll figures with thier blurry faces and stuck-together limbs.
:this must be what the Katschei used for his new body when he was done with his old one at the end of a lifetime,: Renji thought to himself, looking around him and trying to shake off the feeling of collywobbles.
After all, he was Katschei the Deathless, but he wasn't immortal in the same way that the Reapers of the Court of Pure Souls were. He knew that Head-Captain Yamamoto was centuries (some even hinted millenia!) old. A soul that produced powerful enough reiatsu to take up a post as a Death God would live until accident, illness or injury killed it enough to shuffle it off into its next incarnation. Katschei had bound his soul up into the power of a heartstone and anchored it into this Realm, so that when the "body" he inhabited aged through its natural life-cycle, he could simply vacate it and move on to the next. Renji wonder absently as he sniffed around for the Heartstone he knew had to be hiding in there somewhere, if the term Deathless was entirely accurate.
:After all, he sort of dies over and over again, he just stays out of the Wheel of Rebirth.:
Renji continued searching through the long rows of creepy blank melted-wax featured bodies for a whiff of Aizen's spiritual presence and at long last, came upon it! Trying not to be too obvious about it Renji zeroed in on it like a hound detecting its quarry.
:And there you are!: He thought, trying hard to hide his smile of triumph.
Hidden in among all of the other bodies, buried deep in the chest-cavity of one of the many many non-descript corpses, was the heartstone that Aizen had made for himself. It was larger than Renji's, about the size of a robins egg and it glowed with power, pulsing slightly to the rhythm of Aizen's non-existant heartbeat.
:I guess it's like Kira says, the best place to hide a book is in a library. Well, now I know where it is, I just need to know what I should do with it.:
It was a stroke of luck really that Renji had had his own heartstone. Because of that, he knew that the possessor of a heartstone would be able to magically know when his heartstone had left his possession. If he hadn't known that then he would most likely have picked up the stone for safekeeping and Aizen would have known about it and the game would have been up. No, now Renji knew enough to merely locate the stone and leave it be for the time being.
:I sure wish I was in touch with Captain right now,: Renji thought, caught completely at loose ends.
He had a lot of the pieces, but putting them together into a strategy was something that Captain Kuchiki was just simply better at than he was.
:Tch! Just look at me,: he thought a little ruefully. :I spend a few weeks away from home and turn into a sentimental moron!:
Next thing he knew he'd be writing poetry and be the guy at the party shouting "group hugs." Then his mind tried to supply the image of what would happen if he ever tried any such thing in Sixth Division… and it broke.
:Well, we have enough advantages to give Captain something to work with, we'll just have to take it from here I guess.:
It was strange the faith he had in his Captain's ability to get them all home safe.
:But that might not be too surprising I guess, if nothing else I know he'll get the ladies out of here… Orihime's an innocent civilian caught up in Seireitei maters against her will, that guarantees her protection, Rukia is his sister and Hisana is his wife. I'm the only expendable one here and if I have to use up my life getting them out safe, then I'll consider it well spent… but…:
He hefted Zabimaru and considered all they had been through together to gain greater strength.
:I'm not just planning on rolling over and presenting my neck either.:
Yay! New chapter! This is the last of what I've got pre-written, I know how the story ends (sort of) but as usual, its mustering up the enthusiasm to put in the effort to get there. Your reveiws help a lot! Happy new year by the way, I had thought about posting up the first chapter or two of a fic I deemed suitable enough, the problem is that I can't decide which one. Maybe you guys can help? Here are the options...
Would you rather read a steamy, heavily lemoned (but still in-character) crack-pairing with Renji, or would you rather have a sweet, slightly humorous (for me anyway) fluffy love-pairing with Renji and Rukia in which nothing works out the way anyone predicts?
I'm nervous about posting a lemon, it seems so racy and out of character for me plus I don't know if it'll be well received since I went out of my way to find the most unusual pairing I could think of to put him in. But on the other hand the Renkia is never quite to my satisfaction either, it just feels like its missing something.
Or maybe that's just my writers' perfectionism coming out again. Help? Please?