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No Escape

Chapter 13

Rukia checked her cell phone messages after the last kid left for the day. Thirty seconds later, after listening to Ichigo's message, she felt numb with shock.

Hanataro was dead. Ichigo was a suspect.

Grief for Hanataro welled up inside her, but she couldn't deal with that now. Not when Ichigo was in trouble. She had to hold herself together long enough to do what needed to be done.

Then she could grieve for poor, sweet Hanataro.

Rukia pulled in a shuddering breath and tried to concentrate on what to do. Her mind whirled at a million miles an hour, and nothing good came of it.

How could the police be so stupid? How could they ever think a man like Ichigo would hurt innocent people?

There was only one person she knew who might be able to help Ichigo.

Her hands were shaking when she dialed Renji's number. He was the only defense lawyer she knew, and she didn't know where else to turn.

"Rukia!" he greeted her exuberantly, just like he used to before this whole mess started. She could hear the smile in his voice, and it helped calm her nerves a bit to know he was still safe and sound. "How are you?"

Rukia skipped the pleasantries. "Ichigo's being held by the police for questioning. They think he had something to do with the murders. Can you put your male ego aside for five minutes and help him?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for so long Rukia thought she might have lost the call. "Renji? Are you there? This is serious!"

"Yes. Just thinking how best to handle this. I'll go to him and see what I can do." His voice was emotionlessly even.

"You think he did it, don't you?" accused Rukia, unable to believe Renji could turn on Ichgo like that. What the hell was wrong with the world?

"No. I still don't think any of those deaths were murders, and that's exactly what I'll tell the police when I get there. It may not do any good, but I'll try."

"It gets worse, Renji." Rukia clutched the phone, fighting off the crushing weight of grief. She could barely bring herself to think about it, much less say it, and when she did, her voice trembled. "Hanataro is dead. He was murdered... strangled to death... it looked like a suicide... but I know it wasn't!"

Again, silence filled the line.

"Renji?"

All warmth was gone from his voice. "I'll meet you at the station, Rukia."

"You're going to be able to fix this, right?" she asked pleadingly.

"Let's just see what evidence they have against him and go from there."

Rukia hung up the phone and rushed out of the school, stopping only long enough to let the office know she was leaving for a personal emergency. The cold March wind beat against her face as she raced to her car, helping to clear her head.

She had to keep it together for Ichigo. And check on Momo. She was next on the list after Hanataro.

His shy smile filled her mind and tears welled in her eyes. She tried to shove the grief away again, but it broke through her resolve. Hot tears cooled on her face as she unlocked her car and slid inside. She wiped at her tears and dried her hands on her pants, trying to pull herself together.

She could do this. She had to do this! She could hold it together long enough to get Ichigo out of this mess. After all, it was her fault he was in it at all. He'd never have come here if she hadn't left that message. She'd only meant to warn him, not get him into this kind of trouble!

When she started her car, it sounded odd, but she didn't have time to worry about it now. It ran, and that was all that mattered.

Rukia had just merged onto the highway when her phone rang. She fumbled to answer it, hoping it was Ichigo or Renji with some good news. "Hello?"

"Hey, Rukia," said Kon. "Ichigo was supposed to meet me at home to work on the security system, but he's not here. And he's not answering his cell. Know where he is?"

Rukia didn't want Kon to know about any of this mess, especially not now that Ichigo was a suspect. "Sorry. I can't help you."

"Are you okay? You don't sound good."

A catch jerked her voice. "I'm fine."

She gripped the wheel hard, hoping Kon hadn't heard the lie in her tone. Just as he started to speak again, the steering wheel locked up and Rukia couldn't move it. The car's dashboard lights winked out and in front of her, the highway was clogged with stopping cars. Brake lights loomed ahead of her as traffic slowed for construction.

She dropped the phone as she eased off the accelerator and pressed the brake.

Nothing happened. Her car barreled down the highway toward all the stopped cars, and she couldn't slow down or steer clear of any of them.

All she could do was brace herself as her car slammed into the back of another with a sickening crunch of metal and breaking glass.

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Renji tried not to panic. His hands trembled as he drove to the police station, searching to find some sense of calm.

They'd found Hanataro too early. It was supposed to have taken days for anyone to find his body. Maybe weeks. Renji had been hiding in Hanataro's house while he packed and heard him make the call telling his boss he was leaving town.

How had this happened? Who would have gone looking for him?

Even worse was the fact that if Ichigo was being held for questioning for Hanataro's death, then there was a chance the police suspected that Hanataro hadn't committed suicide. His death could be listed as homicide instead of suicide. Renji couldn't let that happen. It would mess up everything. It would put the police on alert and make everyone more cautious.

It was hard enough waiting his turn without all the delays this would undoubtedly cause. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep going, not when Aizen kept haunting him night after night.

Renji was going to have to step things up and move things faster, even if it meant being less gentle with his brothers and sisters. The important thing was helping them escape their pain, even if doing so hurt a little.

He turned into the parking lot outside the police station and parked his car. He wasn't sure what he was going to find when he went inside, and that bothered him more than a little. He was queasy, shaking-not at all as cool and collected as he needed to appear when facing the police.

Too bad Rukia hadn't been earlier on his list. Things would be a lot simpler if she hadn't started nosing around. Then again, if she hadn't suspected something, she never would have asked Ichigo to come here, making the task of freeing him much easier.

Renji had always worried about how he was going to gain access to Ichigo with him overseas so much of the time. He kept hoping that Ichigo would be killed in the line of duty, but he hadn't, and now that he was here, Renji was sure that God or fate or whoever controlled the universe was on his side, because there was no way it was just dumb luck that he'd chosen to leave the military when he did.

Of course, if Ichigo hadn't come back, Renji would have found another way to help him. He'd spent months learning about poisons. Which ones left a signature behind for a medical examiner to find and which ones didn't. He loved the long-distance lethality they offered. Some of them were even supposed to feel good.

That appealed to Renji. He didn't like hurting his siblings, but sometimes it was necessary. Like with Hanataro.

Renji's stomach twisted at the memory of Hanataro's bulging eyes and tongue.

At least he was free now. He'd escaped his pain. Four more and it would finally be Renji's turn to escape, as well. No more nightmares.

That thought lightened his step and calmed his shaking hands as he entered the police station. Because he was a public defender, the police knew him and allowed him access to Ichigo with hardly any trouble. He entered the interrogation room and shut the door behind him.

Ichigo looked tired but unhurt, other than a small cut. The thug Renji had hired hadn't done his job and slowed Ichigo down enough to give Renji a shot at subduing him.

Maybe Ichigo was going to be even harder to deal with than Renji thought.

He studied the man sitting at the table, thinking of which way would be best to help him. If it weren't for the fact that Renji would certainly be caught, it would be an easy thing to paralyze him with the spray Renji kept in his briefcase and shove one of the poison capsules he'd made down Ichigo's throat. By the time the paralytic wore off, Ichigo would already be gone.

But it wasn't Ichigo's turn. He'd lived with Aizen for only a heartbeat of time compared to the others. It wasn't fair that he would get to go first. Momo was next. Then Kiyone. They'd both earned their place in line.

Ichigo looked up in surprise. "Renji? What are you doing here?"

"Rukia called me and told me the police were holding you for questioning," said Renji. "Have you been charged with anything yet?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure that won't last much longer if Kira has anything to say about it."

"Do you know if they have any evidence against you?" asked Renji.

"Kira said something about finding my fingerprints in Hanataro's house."

Renji tried to hide his surprise that the police had even bothered to check for fingerprints. Hanataro's death should have been more convincing than that. What had he missed? He needed to find out before he went to help Momo.

"Maybe they were just bluffing, thinking they'd get a confession out of you."

Ichigo shoved his fingers through his tousled orange hair in frustration. "I don't know what else it would be. I've never been in his place, so my fingerprints can't be there."

Even though Renji knew the answer, he was playing a role and needed to ask the right questions to be convincing. "Did you kill him?" he asked, feigning sincerity. Using that word-kill-nearly made him choke with rage and disgust. It was such an ugly word for the gift Renji had given Hanataro.

"Hell, no!" shouted Ichigo.

Renji held up his hands. "Okay, I believe you. Our job now is to convince the police. Do you have an alibi?"

"I was with Rukia."

Of course he was. Rukia still hadn't gotten over her crush on Ichigo and likely never would. It was a shame that she couldn't learn to use the time she had left in her miserable life to be with a man who really loved her. But that was okay. Renji would free her from that unrequited love, too, soon enough.

The door opened and Kira entered. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, or if he had, it was in the same clothes he was wearing now. Renji wondered if his wife's illness had taken a turn for the worse, though he knew better than to ask the man about her. Kira didn't like answering questions about his personal life.

He set a short stack of folders on the table and said to Ichigo, "I need to know where you were on the following dates- January 11, 17, 30, February 6, 19, and March 3."

Those were the dates Renji had freed each of the others. Somehow, the police had made the connection, and Renji was pretty sure it was Ichigo's or Rukia's fault.

Now that the police knew the deaths were connected, they were going to investigate them. Renji's time was running out.

He struggled to remain calm and tried to channel his panic into what would appear as anger. "What is this about?" he asked Kira.

"Murder. We're looking into the deaths of six people that might have been tied to Hanataro."

Murder? The word made Renji's mouth twist in disgust. What he'd done hadn't been murder, and he wanted to scream at Kira until he took back the ugly insult. If only Renji could explain what they'd been through-if only Kira could know for himself what it was like to suffer the way Aizen's children had-he wouldn't ever use such a disgusting word to describe the sacrifice Renji had made to save them.

Ichigo picked up the files and leafed through them. He didn't look surprised at what he saw, which meant he'd seen it before. That lack of surprise also made him look guilty.

Renji's mind scrambled to find a way to make the most of this turn of events. If Ichigo was charged with the murders and put behind bars, then he'd be difficult to access when it was his turn. And Renji didn't need Ichigo to take the blame. He already had someone else in mind for that on the off chance that he needed to remove any suspicion that would fall on him.

Renji didn't mind going to jail for helping his sibblings, but what he did mind was the possibility he'd be put on suicide watch, unable to escape the memory of what Aizen had done to him-what he still did to him in his dreams every night. He'd be stuck in this world, suffering indefinitely with no means of escape.

He'd always known that getting caught was a possibility, so, to protect himself from that ever happening, he'd found another man to take the blame. Months ago. He'd brought Kon to Rukia's attention, knowing she'd never be able to turn him away. Once Kon was part of her life, so was Yammy-a man with a history of violence.

And if a grudge against Rukia for keeping his son away from him wasn't enough proof of motive, there was one as of yet undiscovered fact about Yammy that would be.

Yammy would go back to jail, and Renji would be free to take care of whoever was left.

It was a solid plan, but something had gone wrong. Something had caused Kira to suspect Hanataro hadn't committed suicide. What was it?

He leafed through the files as Ichigo finished with them, pretending that he'd never seen the images of death before. Thankfully, the paralytic he used metabolized quickly and was hard to trace even if one knew what to look for. So far, no one had, and there was no mention of it in the tox screen. "These are all suicides. You can't charge Ichigo with a suicide."

"We're working on getting the deaths reclassified," said Kira.

"Why?" asked Renji.

"Because of the timeline. The deaths happened in order of when these people came to live at a certain foster home. That's not a coincidence."

Renji's body stiffened with shock. He hadn't expected anyone to see that pattern, though maybe he should have. All he'd been thinking was that it made sense to free the ones who'd suffered the longest first.

Now he was going to have to change how he did things. Momo was supposed to be next, but maybe Rukia or Kiyone was a better choice. He would have preferred to get Ichigo out of the way to make it easier to get to Rukia, but he was probably going to have trouble with Ichigo. The man was too strong not to put up a fight. And he was well trained. Ichigo had to remain last on his list because the chances of making his death look accidental were slim. It would have to be a surprise attack. Nothing else would work.

A bullet in Ichigo's head, followed by another in his own. That was what he needed to do. They'd die together as brothers so neither would have to go alone. And if he just so happened to add another shot in another more sensitive area beforehand for having Rukia's affections, then so be it.

"That can't be right," said Renji. "I was the first one to go live with Aizen, and I'm still alive."

Kira's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Then maybe you should tell me where you were on those dates, too."

"I was traveling some of them." And he had proof. He'd paid well for it, hiring a man who looked like him to fly in his place and use his credit cards so there were nice, solid records.

"Traveling where?"

Renji looked at the list of dates again as if he hadn't committed them to memory. "I was in Mexico on vacation for three of those weeks."

"Can you prove it?"

"Absolutely. Call the airlines for their passenger records if you don't believe me."

"I want your flight information on my desk today."

"Fine. Whatever. If your done throwing out baseless suspicion, give me a few minutes with my client," ordered Renji in his professional tone.

Kira glared at both of them. "I'll be back in ten. While I'm gone, have your "client" explain to you how his fingerprints were all over the papers on Hanataro's desk."

Once the detective was gone, Renji turned to Ichigo. "Can you explain that?"

"Either he's lying to try to get me to confess to something I didn't do, or those were the papers I helped Hanataro pick up off the restaurant floor. Rukia helped, too, so her prints are likely there, as well."

No way was Renji going to let Rukia spend even one hour in jail. "Okay. I'm sure there were witnesses there who can verify that's what happened if it comes to that."

Ichigo gave him a hard, glittering stare. "If you went to Aizen's first, why aren't you dead?"

"Assuming there is someone killing these people, perhaps they got the wrong date for me. Aizen adopted me days before you came. Maybe that's the date he's using for me."

"It's possible."

Renji waved off Ichigo's suspicion with a negligent flip of his hand. "Listen, Kira will know soon enough that I wasn't around and he'll clear my name. I suggest you focus on your problem. Do you remember where you were on those days?"

Ichigo nodded. "Oh, yeah. I remember. Trouble is, it's classified, so I can't say."

"Is there anyone who can?"

Ichigo let out a deep sigh as if even trying was futile. "Maybe. I can give you the number of Colonel Urahara. He might be able to help."

"And if not?"

He met Renji's gaze, and for a moment, Renji wanted to free Ichigo right now. The poor man was suffering so much. He probably didn't even realize why.

Ichigo said, "If Urahara can't help, then I'm completely fucked, 'cause I won't give out classified information."

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