Disclaimer-I own nothing.
No Escape
Chapter 25
Detective Kira was waiting for Ichigo at the hospital. As Ichigo came through the doors, Kira stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
Ichigo barely resisted hitting the man just to make himself feel better.
He shoved his way past the detective and went straight to the emergency room desk. "I don't have time to deal with you right now. I need to check on Rukia."
"They're still working on her. You have a while before they'll let you see her."
"They'll let me see her now!" Ichigo snapped, knowing he sounded threatening to the young woman behind the desk. If he had to scare a few people to get in to see Rukia, then that's what he'd do.
"She's only been here a few minutes. Let them do their job."
"If she's only been here a few minutes, how did you get here so fast?"
Kira's face went blank. "I was already here visiting someone."
The woman behind the desk spoke with a harried looking man in scrubs and pointed to Ichigo. He walked over and asked, "Are you with Rukia Kuchiki?"
"Yes! Is she okay?" Dear God, please let her be okay!
"We've stopped the seizures, but it will be a while until the lab can figure out what she ingested. Do you have any idea what was in the tea?"
"No."
"How long ago did she drink it?"
Ichigo looked at the clock on the wall. "I don't know exactly. About two hours ago."
The man nodded and wrote something on a chart.
"When can I see her?" asked Ichigo.
"As soon as she's stable. She's not out of the woods yet, so if you think of anything that might help us, please don't wait to let us know."
The man walked off, and suddenly, Ichigo wasn't sure he could stay standing. His legs were weak and shaking, and he thought he might throw up.
Rukia wasn't safe yet. Ichigo would have given anything to take her place right now. This helplessness was killing him.
Detective Kira shoved a chair under Ichigo and eased him into it. "Are you sure you didn't get any of that stuff into you?"
"I'm sure."
"Did you bring it with you?"
"The paramedic took it with her in the ambulance."
"Hold on. I need to take a look at it. I'll be right back."
Ichigo sat there in a plastic chair with his head in his hands, trying not to throw up. Rukia had been poisoned. He'd been right there and he hadn't seen the danger. He'd handed her the cup himself and smiled at her while she drank it down.
He didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive himself for that. He should have known something was wrong. His instincts should have been better.
Kira came back a couple of minutes later with a paper cup of water. "Drink this."
Ichigo eyed the cup. "You think that's going to make me feel better?"
"If you feel like I think you feel, you'll try anything."
He was right, but Ichigo wasn't going to ask him how he knew. He didn't need to know anything about Detective Kira other than how good he was at his job. Based on where Rukia was right now, the answer was not fucking good enough.
Ichigo slugged the water back, but it didn't help him feel better. He still wanted to physically fight his way back to Rukia's side if that's what it took. Her being in danger again hurled him back to that night when he was willing to kill to keep her safe. He didn't know what it was about her that triggered his caveman instincts, but they were rampaging through him, growling at him to take Rukia and hide her away where no one could ever get to her again.
"The best thing you can do for her now is to let the doctors work."
"I want to be with her!"
"I understand how you feel, but you'd just get in the way. They'll come get you if she takes a turn for the worse."
Ichigo grit his teeth in frustration. Why the hell did he have to say that? "How do you know?" demanded Ichigo.
Kira stared at him for a moment as if studying him. Whatever he saw seemed to satisfy him. "Experience," he said. "Let me buy you a cup of coffee in the cafeteria and we can talk."
"I don't want any fucking coffee!"
Several heads turned toward Ichigo. One of them was a small boy with wide, frightened eyes. He stared at Ichigo while he clung to his mother's arm.
Ichigo felt like a total shit for scaring the kid. "Fine. Coffee." He told the nurse at the desk where he'd be, gave her his cell number, and followed Kira down a long hall.
The man knew exactly where they were going without even needing to read the signs, which made Ichigo wonder just how much time he'd been spending here lately.
Not that he really cared.
"I'm sorry I jumped to the conclusion that you were guilty. I shouldn't have done that."
"I really don't give a shit about that anymore. I'm too worried about Rukia to care how much of a prick you are."
Kira nodded. "Fair enough."
"Daddy!" came a high-pitched, excited voice from behind them.
Ichigo turned and saw a little girl, maybe four years old, running toward Kira. He bent down, scooped her up, and kissed the top of her head. "Hiya, pumpkin. Aren't you supposed to be with Aunt Haruka?"
"I saw you go by Mommy's room. You should come back and sit with her. She likes it when you hold her hand."
"I will really soon, but I have to work now."
The little girl pouted and looked up at her father with giant hazel eyes. "You always gotta work."
Ichigo said, "Go ahead. I can get my own coffee."
"No. We need to talk. There's been a development in the case. Just give me a minute."
Kira carried his daughter into one of the rooms, and Ichigo followed him. He stood in the doorway and watched as Kira handed his girl to a woman sitting beside another woman's bed. "You be good for Aunt Haruka," he told her. "I'll meet you at home for dinner."
"Pizza?" asked the little girl.
"If you're good."
Kira kissed his daughter, then went to the bed and did the same to the woman lying there. She couldn't have been thirty yet, but she was dying. Ichigo was no doctor, but it was impossible to mistake. She was bone thin, and her skin had an ugly yellow cast to it. She had dark hollows under her eyes and they barely fluttered when Kira smoothed patchy wisps of hair back over her balding head. His wedding ring flashed in the bright fluorescent lighting, and Ichigo realized that this had to be his wife.
"Love you, sweetheart. Be back soon," he whispered, but Ichigo heard it. His heart ached for the man, but like with Rukia, he was helpless to do a damn thing to make it better.
Kira shut the door behind him as he left his wife's room. Nothing in his face showed he was suffering. If Ichigo hadn't seen what the man was going through for himself, he never would have believed it.
"You should go spend time with your family," said Ichigo.
"I've got to do my job. The bill collectors don't care that my wife is sick."
"I'm so sorry."
"Forget it," said Kira. "And I mean that. This is none of your business, and I expect you to respect that."
"Sure," he said, though he knew it was a lie. That was not the kind of thing a man forgot easily.
They went to the cafeteria and got coffee. Whatever pain Kira was suffering, he somehow managed to push it aside long enough to do his job. "Where did Rukia get the tea?"
"At school. She said one of her students gave it to her."
"Today?"
"Yes."
"We got that warrant to search Yammy's motel room this morning. There were bits of plant matter in there."
"Plant matter?"
"I assumed it was pot, but after seeing the tea, I think it's a pretty safe bet those plant bits are what he used to poison Rukia."
That fucking BASTARD! Ichigo was going to kill him. He was going to force-feed him a gallon of that tea and see how he liked it!
Kira kept talking while the seething rage swelled inside Ichigo, taking over.
"I'll have a sample sent to a lab, but the results could take weeks," said Kira.
"You can't wait that long to charge him with the murders."
"We won't have to. The poison wasn't the only thing we found in his room. Kiyone Kotsubaki's body was on his bed."
"The woman who went missing?" Another victim. Another innocent woman dead. "How?"
"She was stabbed twenty-seven times."
The paper cup in Ichigo's hand collapsed in his grip and coffee sloshed onto the table.
Yammy really needed to die, and Ichigo was more than ready to be the one to make that happen.
Kira nodded. "She hadn't been dead long. Yammy must have been holding her all this time. We're not sure where."
Ichigo did not allow himself to think about the horror Kiyone must have faced since she was abducted two months ago. He was already teetering on the edge of going hunting for Yammy right now. His rifle was in his trunk. All he had to do was find the man and it would all be over.
If it weren't for his need to be near Rukia, his need to know she was going to make it, he'd already be gone. "Why keep her so long and risk getting caught?"
"To kill her in the right order would be my guess."
"That means he skipped Momo, killed Kiyone, and moved on to Rukia."
Kira shook his head. "Momo wasn't around, so maybe he decided to move on without her. Either that, or he already got to her and we haven't found the body yet."
"No. Momo's fine. She called us this weekend and told us not to worry." Ichigo's tone was clipped and cold with denial. Momo and her little girl were safe. He refused to believe anything else.
Kira's mouth flattened like he didn't quite buy it. "If you talk to her again, tell her to stay put until we've caught Yammy."
"How long will it take?"
"I wish I knew. You could pack up and leave town if it would make you feel safer."
Ichigo snorted derisively. "I'm not going to feel safe until he's back behind bars." Or dead. Dead would be better.
The harried-looking young man in scrubs came into the cafeteria and scanned the room. Ichigo's heart gave a hard thump of anxiety as he rose to his feet.
The man saw him and headed in his direction. Ichigo met him halfway.
"Rukia's stable now," said the man. "You can see her in a few minutes once they get her settled in a room."
"Is she awake?"
"Not yet. It may take a while."
"But she'll be fine, right?"
"We can't know for sure if there will be any lasting effects from the poison until after she's conscious."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" demanded Ichigo.
Kira put a restraining hand on his arm. "One step at a time, Ichigo. She's going to live. Count your blessings."
Ichigo jerked away from the detective and gave the intern a hard stare. "Tell me what that means!"
"It means that we don't know. I'm sorry. Toxins are difficult to treat when we don't know what they are. We treated her symptoms, and she seems to be recovering."
"Seems to be?"
"We'll just have to wait and see."
The man's vague answers were threatening Ichigo's tenuous control. He wanted to lash out and pound the answers out of this guy, even though he knew it wouldn't help.
Kira stepped between them before Ichigo could do anything he'd regret. "Take us to her. He needs to see for himself she's okay."
The man in scrubs looked nervously from Kira to Ichigo, hesitation in his eyes. "I don't think-"
"MOVE!" Ichigo exploded.
The intern jumped in fright, apparently catching on to to how close he was to seeing violence up close and personal. He held his hands up placatingly. "Yes, of course! Uh, right this way."
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Rukia felt like she'd spent the night tumbling inside a dryer. Her skin was hot and parched, her stomach was spinning almost as much as her head, and every muscle in her body ached. Even her eyelids.
It took her a minute to convince them to work, but finally, she cracked an eye open. Ichigo was the first thing she saw, though he was a bit fuzzy around the edges. He was sitting beside her, watching her with bloodshot eyes. When he saw her move, he jumped out of his chair and hovered over her.
"Hey, beautiful. How are you feeling?"
Her throat was raw, and when she spoke, only a hoarse whisper came out. "Like crap."
Ichigo smiled a little. "Sure beats the alternative."
"Feeling good?"
"No. Feeling nothing. You scared ten years off my life."
Rukia frowned in confusion and looked around. She wasn't at home. She was in a hospital.
Slowly, bits and pieces of memories came back to her, though they were vague and fuzzy, as if she'd seen everything through a heavy fog. "What happened?"
"I'll fill you in in a minute. Do you hurt anywhere?"
Her vision cleared enough that she could make out his face better. He looked horrible-like he'd been through the wringer himself. "Ichigo, what happened?"
He looked at the wall behind her. "You ate something bad."
Rukia remembered the pain. That was not food poisoning. She'd had that before, and as horrible as it was, this was much worse. "You're lying. Why are you lying to me?"
"I don't want to scare you."
"Then tell me what's going on. You're freaking me out."
He pulled in a deep breath and let it out. "The tea you brought home was poisoned."
Poisoned? Rukia's mind struggled to make sense of that and couldn't. "That can't be true! None of my students would do anything to hurt me. There seven-year olds!"
"Did one of the students actually give you the tea?"
"Rurichiyo Kasumioji."
"I need to tell Kira." He stood up as if preparing to leave.
"Ichigo, wait! Don't leave me! I don't understand what's going on. I need you!"
Ichigo halted midstride, turned around, and came back to her bed. Some of the tension had left his body, but there was still a feral light in his amber eyes that worried her.
He stroked her cheek, and his cool hand felt good against her hot skin. "I'm just going to get you a doctor and make a quick phone call. I'll be right back in two minutes, okay?"
Rukia nodded and closed her eyes. She was so tired, even though the clock in the room said it was barely five. When she opened them again, an hour had passed and Ichigo was gone.
Renji sat beside her, holding her hand, looking so worried it broke her heart.
"Hi," she said.
Renji's head jerked up. "Hi, yourself."
"Where's Ichigo?"
Renji frowned. "He asked me to come sit with you for a little while. He ran home to get you some clothes and to check on Kon. They should be back any minute. Why, is my company not good enough for you?" His tone was joking, but his eyes were flinty like steel.
Rukia lokked away. "Don't be silly. Of course it is."
And just like that, his cold look reverted to one of deep concern. She briefly wondered if she'd only imagined such a cruel look on his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Honestly, not so good, but I'll live."
Renji's eyes filled with tears, and he gripped her hand so hard it hurt. "I'm so sorry, Rukia. You shouldn't have to suffer like this."
She gave him a weak smile and tried to loosen his grip. "I'm just tired."
"Try to sleep, then. You'll feel better if you sleep."
For some reason, Renji's tone was making Rukia feel uneasy. She wished Ichigo would come back sooner than later. She didn't know why she was getting these mixed signals from her old friend, but she was too weary to think about it in depth. She decided to try and stay awake until Ichigo was back. She just hoped she could.
AN
For any of you that might have wondered, Izuru's wife and her sister are OC's. Believe it or not, I'm running out of Bleach characters to bend to my will. Oh well. Review please!