Supernova
By Willow Athena
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach…but Rien is definitely mine
Author's Note: A supernova: It is both creation and destruction in one. Life and death. Beauty and chaos. In the very moment of destruction, it gives birth to new life, ripples through time and journeys across space…But that's just my take on it.
This chapter is dedicated to Twilight's Blade for being the cool person I hoped they would be.
I just want to alert people that the middle part of the chapter is not from Rien's POV, but I think I make it clear in the story; and the long sentences in italics are thoughts, but I think that is also pretty clear in the story. I think that's it for now – LOL!
Chapter 5 – Sticks and Stones, but no broken bones
Rien's Point of View (POV)
It had started with words and insults at first, but after two days of me saying, 'I don't know', 'I can't remember' and, 'I'm not trying to kill anyone', it quickly escalated to mental warfare where he would threaten to have Ishida, Renji, or Ichigo killed – not that I believed a word he said. It was a week of isolation and interrogation before the beatings started. Mayuri, as I would come to call him to his face, would get Nemu to attack me with her fists.
Byakuya had ring-side seats to my first beating.
I was in the middle of what looked like a sparing ring used for training of some sort. It was empty except for Nemu and I. The ring was surrounded by many seats for spectators, but no one was present. Mayuri stood with the newly arrived Byakuya at the top of the stairs of one isle.
"Captain-Commander would like to know if you have made any progress with the ryoka girl." Byakuya disinterestedly asked, still sounding like a symphony.
Even with his back turned to me, as he spoke to Mayuri, he took my breath away. His jet black hair fell like silk on his strong shoulders, and rested on his immaculate white…as I was contemplating that thought, Mayuri's irritating voice broke through it. When contrasted with the musical quality of Byakuya's voice, Mayuri sounded like a bad song played backwards to scare young children.
"Not yet, but don't worry Kuchiki taichou, we are starting a fool-proof method of interrogation today." It made me a little worried to see Mayuri's eyes gleam in that way. Mayuri gestured toward the ring, and Byakuya turned to look at it, not really looking at me at all. My heart sunk when he would not look at me, but I should not have let myself hope for anything different.
"Commence Nemu." Mayuri barked at the petite girl.
I could not take my eyes away from Byakuya, I wanted to will him to look at me, but then…
Nemu kicked me and I flew back hitting the plastered wall of the sparing ring. I felt the breath I'd been holding in forcibly escape my lungs. As I landed, with bits of plaster from the wall scattering around me, I coughed and beads of red hot liquid stained my hands. As I looked at my bloodstained hands, it hit me – PAIN!
I had never experienced this sensation before, and it forced me to cry out loudly. As I heard the cry echo in the empty room and the sensation intensify, I looked towards Byakuya for comfort, but he was no longer standing there. I was all alone. Was this my punishment?
The interrogations and beatings intensified over the next three weeks, to the point where, they were more beatings with a sprinkle of interrogation rather than anything else.
They started with fists and progressed to bludgeoning type weapons, to zanpakutos for the last two days.
I had learnt to endure the pain and not cry out so childishly when hit in the stomach, or stabbed in the leg. I had been in isolation for so long; my body ached in places I didn't know could ache. Byakuya hadn't come again. I was alone with Mayuri and Nemu.
I secretly wished for the pain, it was the only reminder that the numbness I now felt hid a life beneath it. If I was beaten badly enough, Isane or Unohana taichou would come to heal me.
Unohana was incredibly skilled and kind-hearted, but she spoke little. I enjoyed watching her serenity as she healed my cut tendon, torn muscles and bruises. Isane was very talkative, which I loved. She would even speak aloud to herself when she thought I was unconscious. But best of all, she would talk to me, and tell me news about Renji and the others' struggles to come and see me. I had felt less alone since the first day she came to heal me. She kept me sane, that's why I welcomed the pain – after it I knew I would see her and feel cared for once more.
"I'm surprised, they never break any bones." Isane mused as she healed my twisted ankle. She had been on hand everyday this week.
"Nemu is very careful not to break them, or Mayuri has threatened to break her." I offered as the now familiar taste of blood pooled in my mouth. I spat it into the basin where Isane had been removing and throwing yesterday's bandages away.
"I see," Isane said with distaste.
She picked up my bruised hand and held it to her forehead. It started to instantly feel better and soon the ache all over my body began to dissipate. "What are you doing?" I asked fascinated.
"I'm using my Ki to heal your wounds. You've been bleeding internally – that's why you feel so bad," she explained.
"What's Ki?" And how could it feel this good?
"Ki is like energy generated within the body and its used throughout the body for various things like healing, and sometimes fighting. You don't seem to have any reiatsu or ki, so I'm giving you some of my ki." I looked quizzically at her as she explained this completely foreign concept to me. I couldn't understand why everyone expected me to have this reiatsu, or whatever, and why it was so important. "I need to touch your body to transfer the ki from my body to yours so your body can heal itself."
"But don't you need it?" I probed, concerned that she may be endangering herself.
"I do, but I'm only giving you a little. I'll get tired in a while, but its nothing a good night's rest won't cure." She smiled her warm, assuring smile at me.
I wished this ki could heal the heartache I felt. My body felt better, but my heart still ached. It ached for him. I wished he would come see me, come save me from this hell he had banished me to. But, why should he even care, I was nothing but a spec of dust that had been caught in his eye – an insignificant irritation, easily dealt with and forgotten about before even forming a memory of it.
I was nothing to him.
The thought seared in my chest like no wound I had received, and Isane was agush with worry. "My heart aches!" I sobbed uncontrollably on her shoulder. "Take it out! There's something wrong with it!" I cried openly now.
"There's nothing wrong with your heart." She tried to assure me. "Your body's been so broken for so long, that you haven't had time to think about anything else in a while. It will hurt less…in time." She held me and comforted me.
"You call out his name everytime your unconscious, you know." Oh no! Mayuri must know now too. I had tried to keep my feelings for Byakuya a secret from him – it wasn't something he needed to know, even I couldn't fully explain the intensity of what I felt for him.
Although my body felt better, as Isane left, I was in more pain tonight than I had ever been. Pain that he could heal in one look – if he ever took the time to look at a snowflake before it melted into nothingness on his skin.
Nemu had been banished from interrogating me as Mayuri thought she was taking it too easily on me, so for the last two days he had been trying various ways to kill me, in order to force me to use my "secret power" which he knew I had.
Isane now stayed close at hand for all his experiments, and I watched as she would silently sob in the corner while Mayuri would try to bake or poison me, and then call her to save me from the brink of death, because I hadn't used my 'power' to stop him.
Today, he was going to drown me. He had surmised by now, how much I hated the cold, so he filled the small glass tank with ice-cold water that was just this side of becoming ice.
(NOT Rien's POV)
Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia could no longer stand to remain in the Kuchiki manor – all their attempts at pleading with Byakuya to do something to help Rien had failed, had fallen on deaf ears. Byakuya's constant echoing silence on the matter said more than any refusal he could have given. Now, the sight of him even annoyed his loving and protective sister.
Ichigo and Ishida spent most of their time training with Renji, and plotting how to save Rien, or even just get in to see her. Ishida in particular, looked sick with worry, and had barely eaten in the past three weeks that Rien had been held captive. They were all concentrating on getting stronger so that they could get Rien out at all costs. Although they had spent little time with Rien, they all had to admit that she was special in some way – that was probably the reason she was still being held captive. Even though she had no reiatsu or power to speak of, she was undoubtedly special.
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"Rukia, why do you always look so distracted?" Ukitake taichou inquired of his subordinate.
"I'm sorry, Ukitake taichou, I will concentrate harder." Rukia promised him.
"That's not why I was asking." He warmly smiled as he sheathed his zanpakuto and went inside, with Rukia following close behind – he had obviously decided that training was over for today.
Ukitake put a pot of tea on in his office. Although there would be many other people to do these things, when he was not ill, Ukitake took it upon himself to do all he could. He gestured for Rukia to sit down and poured her and then himself cups of peach tea. "Do you like it?" Ukitake asked after Rukia had taken a sip. "I made the blend myself. I think I'll try to make strawberry tea next, what do you think?" He joyfully smiled at her.
"Mmh," She nodded and took another thoughtful sip.
"See! That's what I'm talking about. You're never really here, never carefree or happy anymore. I know everyone is stressed about trying to stop Aizen from getting into heaven, but I have a feeling it has nothing to do with that. Recently, you always look as though there's a storm cloud hanging over your head." Ukitake rambled to Rukia in his deep, wise voice. Rukia began to internally panic. Ukitake could see that she was not going to give in so easily.
Then he did something he knew others found hard to resist. He didn't often do it, he knew the effect it had on others, and he secretly felt like it was almost cheating a little.
He radiated warmth, caring and concern, and gently put his hand on Rukia's head to calm her with his touch. "It will be ok, just tell me what it is," he said in his most smooth, deep tone.
Staring into his warm, chocolate eyes, she could conceal it no longer.
"It's Rien…" Rukia confessed all her traitorous fears to her taichou.
"Now I'm really sorry I was too sick to attend that meeting." Ukitake sympathised with Rukia after hearing her story.
"If we could just see her, see that she was ok." Rukia words flowed freely now as she paced her taichou's office and told him all she knew.
Ukitake thought about it for a while, a gentle crease forming on his brow. His face filled with concern over someone he did not know. Although Rukia had not commented on her brother's role in the story, Ukitake knew Byakuya well, having trained both Byakuya and Kaien (Byakuya's deceased best friend) when they were younger. He also began to pace the room with Rukia, to show solidarity for her complex situation, knowing full well how Byakuya would have handled Rukia's concerns.
"Perhaps if I went to see her…" Ukitake began, but was startled by Rukia's head slamming into his chest, and her arms encircling his waist.
"Taichou!" She cried into his haori. Her small frame shook against his tall lankness. He hated seeing anyone cry, especially his subordinates, who he considered to be family.
"Rien must be a very special person – to command such fervent loyalty from so many," Ukitake noted. Perhaps she is dangerous, he thought, but dismissed the illogicality of it. If having people care about your safety was considered a sign of danger, then he should be the last one pointing fingers.
"I'll clear your schedule for today." Rukia offered as she let go of her captain, now feeling a little embarrassed that she had acted in such an un-noble way – what would Nii-sama say!
"Oh!...You want me to go now?" Ukitake was not prepared for Rukia's urgency.
He leisurely strolled to his destination in order to give himself time to think things through. Ukitake knew Rien had been imprisoned due to Aizen's recent victory, somehow misdirecting them and stealing the real King's Key from under locked guard, but Aizen still had to find the location of the lock, and then somehow open a portal to use the key. There was still time for them to come up with a plan. He understood that Soul Society was trying to be extra strict with security issues, especially in Seireitei, but he could not guess their reason to suspect that this lone girl could be a security threat – although she had appeared, without warning or memory, in one of the most restricted parts of Seireitei.
Ukitake formulated a plan on his way to the Research Bureau, only to find Byakuya in the Bureau's waiting room.
"Nemu will be back shortly," Byakuya apathetically said, not looking up.
"No need to wait, I know the way." Ukitake assured him.
Normally, Byakuya did not break protocol, but he had been waiting for Nemu for a while now, and he had other, more important, things to take care of. Byakuya gracefully stood up and followed his former sensei.
Rien's POV
"Mayuri-sama, there's someone…"
"Not now Nemu!" He dismissively said to her. I hated the way he spoke to her, like she was an inanimate object.
"Nemu, take Rien up to the opening." Mayuri ordered, with a sadistic joy filling his voice and face. His features contorted to mirror the monster in my own personal hell, and I knew my fairytale-turned-tragedy would be particularly harrowing for me today.
As we got to the top of the tank, I just defiantly stood there. I mean, I wasn't willingly going to jump into the tank of almost frozen water. The water was so cold it gave off a halo of frost that made me shiver in Nemu's short outfit, and I hadn't even gone in yet. Mayuri stood on the other side of the glass at the bottom of the tank and mouthed something incomprehensible, then pressed the tank's intercom button on, and though muted a little by the water, we both clearly heard his command now, and Nemu bruised the soft skin of my hand as she shoved me into the tank of freezing water, dotted with newly formed little icicles.
My 5ft4 frame shook in the cold water as every part of my body became hypersensitive and my skin felt as though thousands of acupuncture needles stabbed me synchronously. I wanted to scream, but I betrayed nothing in my expression as I saw Byakuya and a man with long white hair emerge behind Mayuri. At first I thought I may have been hallucinating, but Mayuri also looked startled.
"Kuchiki taichou, Ukitake taichou…what a surprise!" He sternly and accusingly looked at Nemu.
Ha! At least he forgot the intercom was on.I would at least be able to savour some of this conversation. I had almost forgotten what Byakuya's voice sounded like, though I knew he used it infrequently, I hoped today would be an exception. As I stood at the bottom of the tank, I fought the pain, as the freezing water stung my eyes, I refused to waste one moment of being in his presence – I would memorise his every feature.
"I'm here on behalf of the Captain-Commander, to assess the progress of the investigation." Byakuya coldly stated, unable to make his voice sound like anything but music to me. I was surprised by the clarity of his voice as it rippled through the water and touched my skin.
"There hasn't been much progress – she's stubborn, pig-headedly so! No matter how many times I threaten to, or actually try to kill her, she never uses her powers – I'm beginning to wonder if she even has any."
Mayuri was finally getting the right idea.
I waved at them warmly, not that Byakuya would dishonour his eyes by gazing upon me. No one waved back, but I could see an unmistakable warmth in the white haired man…Ukitake's face.
"May I propose a solution to that?" Ukitake's deep voice was intriguing and compelling. But, why was he trying to hep Mayuri? The captains are all on the same side, I suppose – against me!
"Perhaps after weeks of interrogation, we should allow her to see those people she feels closest to. Maybe after so much pain, she will confide in a softer touch, and tell them about her powers," Ukitake's tone was even and commanding. It would have been a good plan, and would have probably worked, if I had any powers to tell them about.
"We would be able to record the whole thing, wouldn't we Kurotsuchi taichou?" Ukitake casually added. I welcomed the plan if I would get to see my friends once more.
I was so close to Byakuya, just glass and water separating us. I placed my bruised left hand on the glass in front of him as I stood at the bottom of the small tank, that was still larger than my glass cell. He ignored the gesture, but I knew he could see my hand against the glass.
"It seems your lover is still taken with you Kuchiki taichou," Mayuri teased him. Even I could feel the danger rising in the room.
"Hmph," he coldly sniffed. My heart sank, but I should not have allowed myself to expect anything different. I was nothing to him.
"Maybe if you ask her nicely, she'll tell us about her powers," Mayuri teased and baited him some more.
"May I see your progress report and data on the 'subject'?" Byakuya redirected and ignored the tempting bait Mayuri dangled. But, at this intimate distance, I saw his jaw tighten as he exerted control over himself.
Mayuri, Byakuya, and Nemu turned and went a short distance to computer where they looked at whatever Mayuri had collected on me.
For a while now, my body had been rebelling against me for air, but I had been concentrating hard to control it as Byakuya watched. As he turned away from me, most of my remaining air leapt out of me. I knew I would lose consciousness soon.
As I was about to remove my hand in defeat, the other captain, Ukitake, put his hand against mine. I felt a red-hot jolt as his touch stung me through the glass. I looked at him confused, but he smiled and also turned to survey the report. I searched my hand for the damage, but there was none.
That's when I realised it! My body was no longer fighting me for air. I could breathe easily, as though the water were air itself. I shook my head. This was bad!
If Mayuri thought even for a moment, that he had made progress, he would never let me leave. Even if all he found was that I was an aquatic water breathing creature, he would dissect me for his archives, which he loved so much.
I began to flail around and released some of the now limitless air in my lungs. Ukitake and Mayuri came to the tank. Byakuya disappeared in a flash, as usual. Ukitake's head was slightly cocked as he watched me, confused.
"Maybe today will be the day we see some of her powers," Mayuri said with little hope.
Ukitake understood. He could not hold his smile of recognition in. I could see his warm, beautiful smile in my peripheral vision as I pretended to flail and then fall unconscious. Ukitake had to quickly cover his smile with his slender, beautiful fingers, and pretend to be in a state of deep contemplation. Though the look on the surface seemed serious, his eyes danced.
My eyes, as thin as slits, as I floated 'unconsciously' in the tank, waiting for Nemu to fish me out. I dearly wanted to touch that warm smile, to hold it in my hands, to thank him for a wasted, but immensely appreciated effort.
"I don't understand!" Mayuri threw up his arms in frustration. "I've tried to bake her, poison her – and that's just this week, I don't know why she won't use any of her powers to stop me." Mayuri, irritation flaring now, mused idly to Ukitake.
I saw Ukitake's look turn to cold steel as he turned and silently left.
Author's Note:
I hope you liked the chapter, its my favourite so far.
I also just wanted to thank Soralake for all the encouragement and support, I really appreciate it, and I hope this is enough of a fix to get you to the next chapter.