Chapter 4: Hollow
(Thanks so much to Yamalover for requesting this update. Enjoy the chapter. If you love Renji in distress, there ain't no distress like what's getting dished out here. This is going to be intense!)
"Hurry, Arashi!" Tetsuya pleaded as the stallion stretched out in a hard gallop, racing through the precipice world, "I have a very bad feeling about this!"
This is because of your nightmares, isn't it? Arashi queried, Master, it will be all right. We will be there for him.
"Thank you, Arashi," Tetsuya said, wincing as his body complained at being too roughly used after just giving birth.
Are you all right?
"I'll be fine," he assured his mount, "I just need to get to him!"
But we must be careful not to be swept up in whatever he is involved in.
"I will be careful. But Arashi, after what I saw..."
Have courage, Master. We will be there for him.
They went quiet, then, focusing their energy on closing the distance between the precipice world and Urahara's shop. They spotted the exit and slowed, passing through at a more careful speed, then dropping down lightly into the training grounds beneath the shop. Kisuke looked up at the light that preceded his arrival.
"Tetsuya-san," he greeted the noble anxiously, "Is Byakuya-san on his way here, then?"
"He had to check in with Rikichi at the sixth division," Tetsuya reported, "But he will be here shortly."
"Ah...good," the shopkeeper sighed, looking back at the senkaimon, "Can't be soon enough, though, if you ask me. This whole thing stinks. I didn't really want to send Ichigo and Renji on ahead, but I figured two taichou levels who were prepared for trouble, you know...?"
"I understand," said Tetsuya, "But open the senkaimon to where they are, and I will go and make sure they are all right."
"Oh, no way, Tetsuya-san!" Kisuke objected, "Even if not for the fact that you're not a member of the Gotei 13, Byakuya-san would kill me if I let you go charging in recklessly."
"I wouldn't be...!"
The two were interrupted by a soft swell of light around the senkaimon. The shape of a person appeared in the doorway, where the young man hesitated, then collapsed onto the sandy floor of the training grounds, in front of them.
"Ichigo!" Kisuke exclaimed, flash stepping forward and catching the young man up in his arms.
"Ngh! K-kisuke!" The ginger-haired youth managed, grabbing the front of the shopkeeper's shirt and panting painfully.
"You're okay now," Kisuke reassured him, trying not to react to the sight of the deep slashes on the young man's torso and arm, "I have you."
He brushed a dribble of blood away from his eyes, then began an infusion of healing reiatsu.
"Ichigo, what happened? Where is Renji?"
"R-renji!" Ichigo gasped, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, "That thing got him! It...it grabbed him and...!"
Kisuke looked up sharply as a flash step sounded, followed by the sound of hoofbeats on sand. He spotted Tetsuya, racing for the still-open senkaimon, his eyes blazing and his face flushed with determination.
"Tetsuya-san! Don't go!" Kisuke cried, "You'll only...!"
"S-stop him!" Ichigo objected, "Kisuke, it's too powerful!"
"Damn it!" panted the shopkeeper, "Reckless kid! But, he has Arashi with him. That's something. Still, Byakuya-san is not going to be pleased.
"Kisuke...hah...it w-was a trap."
"What? I know. That's why you guys went there. You mean, you agree the hollows were...?"
"No...no, it was a trap to c-catch...Ren.."
Kisuke swore softly as the combination of shock and loss of blood made Ichigo lose consciousness.
"It's okay," he whispered, "You're gonna be okay. And Tetsuya and Arashi will hold their own until... until Byakuya-san gets to them."
He paused as Ichigo shifted and moaned deliriously.
"H-hollow...he...he's...a...ah...!"
"It's gonna be okay," Kisuke repeated as he continued the healing, "I'm gonna take care of you. And Byakuya-san will be here, any time now to help them. You just rest and heal."
The training grounds went quiet and strangely peaceful, considering the hard pounding of the shopkeeper's heart. His eyes sought the senkaimon several times, nervously, as he waited for the arrival of the sixth division taichou. When Byakuya finally appeared, flanked by a full fighting detail, he sighed in relief and quickly reset the senkaimon to send them to Tetsuya and Renji's location.
"What happened?" the noble asked stridently, noting Ichigo's condition, "Urahara Kisuke, where is Renji?"
He looked around the training room, spotting hoofprints on the ground, then looking back at the shopkeeper.
"Where is Tetsuya? You did not send him on alone...!"
"No," Kisuke said, shaking his head, "When he saw Ichigo come through and heard that something had Renji, he took off before I could stop him. He took Arashi with him. But Byakuya-san...whatever this is...it's bad. You need to get to them quickly. I set the coordinates for you. Go on!"
Byakuya turned to the group of fighters and motioned towards the doorway.
"Stay close to me and be prepared for battle. We don't know what we will find when we arrive."
"Be careful, Byakuya-san," Kisuke said softly, watching the group disappear through the doorway.
XXXXXXXXXX
Arashi flash stepped out of the senkaimon, and Tetsuya and the stallion found themselves in the back of a large warehouse. Darkness had fallen, and the lights around the building were on, casting their shadows about as Tetsuya dismounted and the two scanned the reiatsu in the area cautiously.
They are inside, Arashi's voice whispered in Tetsuya's mind, There is a powerful hollow with him.
Tetsuya nodded and drew his sword, moving on soundless feet and sticking to the shadows as he approached the warehouse door. He reached the entrance and risked a look inside. To his surprise, he saw no one. He crept in the doorway, using the boxes and load lifters as cover, while Arashi waited anxiously at the entrance. Tetsuya heard a footstep and turned, bringing his sword up to protect him, but paused as he saw Renji's familiar outline.
"Renji," he whispered, lowering his weapon and moving forward, "Renji, thank kami!"
He whirled, bringing his sword up again as another footstep sounded, and an exotically beautiful, golden-eyed hollow came into view.
"Stay back!" Tetsuya warned him, "I am taking Renji with me. I won't attack if you don't interfere with us."
A chill went through him at the rumbling laugh that shook the tall, handsome hollow, and he turned just in time to meet Renji's clawed hand as it connected with his midsection and sank in deeply. His shocked eyes rounded and found Renji's, and he loosed a scream of terror at the fact that they had gone golden, like the hollows.
"R-renji!" he gasped, his legs shaking beneath him.
"He is special to you?" the hollow queried, wrapping an arm around Tetsuya's bleeding torso and holding him on his feet.
"W-we are...m-married!"
"Well," purred the hollow in an oddly casual tone, "I would say that he is about to become a widower...shinigami!"
Renji stepped forward, coming fully into the light, and Tetsuya gave another horrified scream.
"Renji!"
His husband's possessed eyes looked back at him with unbearable coldness as the hollow holding Tetsuya impaled him from the back, then found himself staring as the injured shinigami's body exploded into a large splash of water that crashed onto the floor, and the young man appeared a short distance away, holding one arm wrapped around his bleeding abdomen and holding his sword in the other.
"Bankai," he panted, "K-koori no bakuha, Re-kuhime!"
The golden-eyed hollow frowned and shocked Tetsuya again, by easily fending off his attack and sending a huge cero at him. An equine scream sounded, as Arashi flash stepped in between the two, blasting the hollow with ice blades, then urging Tetsuya to mount.
He is too powerful! Master...!
"I cannot leave Renji!" Tetsuya cried, attacking the hollow again.
He noticed too late that the redhead had disappeared from the hollow's side and turned just in time to fend off another slash attack.
"What happened?" he cried, "Renji, what did he do to you? You have to fight his power, Renji! You know you would never want to hurt me!"
"Foolish, foolish shinigami," the golden-eyed hollow said, sending another cero in his direction as Renji did the same.
Tetsuya and Arashi howled in pain as the two attacks struck, one after the other, too quickly to allow them to use an escape form. Shinigami and stallion were thrown off of their feet and crashed to the ground. Barely conscious, Tetsuya watched with shattered eyes as Renji stepped over his fallen body and reached for the beautiful hollow's extended hand.
"Come now," said the hollow, "before others arrive. I will explain everything when we get to the palace."
"Renji!" Tetsuya sobbed, "Renji, don't go, please!"
The hollow gazed back at Tetsuya, looking surprised.
"Are you still alive, shinigami?" it asked silkenly, "I am sorry. I should have been merciful and slain you more quickly. But no matter."
Fire lanced from his fingertips, catching the nearest boxes on fire.
"You will not suffer much longer. Farewell."
"N-no!" Tetsuya moaned, dragging himself after them as they opened a garganta and passed through into the underground cavern that led to Hueco Mundo, "Renji!"
The doorway closed before he could reach it, leaving Tetsuya and his writhing steed on the floor of the burning warehouse.
"Arashi!" Tetsuya cried, crawling to the stallion's side.
He laid his hands on the horse and focused on the escape waterforms he had set outside the building, then gasped in dismay as he realized that they were gone.
"No!"
He looped an arm around the injured stallion, speaking to him softly and urging him to drag himself along in the direction of the entry they had used. He tried not to look as the fire grew around them, and they began to cough and choke on the thick smoke. Tetsuya felt Arashi go still, and his eyes burned so that he couldn't see anymore. Unable to rouse Arashi and lost in the heat and smoke, he lowered himself to the floor beside the stallion, curling his fingers into the horse's silken mane and crying softly. Darkness began to take hold of him, and with his last breath, he managed a final, desperate spell.
"Koori no shima."
Slowly, the bodies of the stallion and the shinigami froze from within, the ice swelling into a thick, protective layer around them. Tetsuya's riled thoughts calmed, and he sank into a gentle abyss, relieved of knowledge of what was happening, and reassured by the close presence of Arashi. He left off thinking and accepted the embrace of silence, the relief of not thinking and the blessing of escaping, if only for a moment, the sting of pain.
XXXXXXXXXX
Byakuya felt a jolt go through his body as he emerged from the senkaimon and found himself facing the warehouse they had been traveling to, only to find that Tetsuya and Renji were nowhere in view, and the building was in flames. Instantly, he drew his weapon and released a heavy swell of petals, which he directed at the building. With deadly precision, he blasted the burning structure into a harmless hail of small splinters, then flash stepped forward, honing in on a speck of life that somehow remained in what had been the interior of the building.
"Tetsuya!" he exclaimed, dropping to his knees beside the two ice encased forms.
At his touch, the ice melted, revealing Tetsuya and Arashi's injured forms.
"Cousin!" he whispered, leaning over Tetsuya and touching his face gently.
The group's healers dashed forward and quickly began to heal the fallen shinigami and stallion, while Byakuya tried desperately to rouse them. Others from the group immediately set about recording and detailing any and all information about the site. Still others searched the rubble, looking for any sign of the missing shinigamis.
"Will they be all right?" Byakuya asked the healers.
"Yes, Kuchiki taichou," the female healer said bracingly, "Arashi is in fair condition and should recover quickly. Tetsuya-san received a serious injury to his abdomen, but he should recover after proper healing and rest. But...sir?"
"Yes?" Byakuya queried, an odd feeling of foreboding passing through him.
"There is something strange about Tetsuya-san's injury."
"And that is?"
"Well," said the healer, "The injury was not a sword wound, but a claw that impaled him."
"I see."
"Sir...the reiatsu around the claw...it was Abarai Renji's!"
"What?" Byakuya asked, shaking his head, "That is not possible. Are you sure?"
"It is hard to be perfectly sure," the young woman admitted, "Some of the signs were confused in the destruction. Some of his reiatsu may have simply ended up there. Or perhaps, Abarai fukutaichou attempted to heal the wound. It is difficult to tell under these conditions."
"Then, you will continue to examine the situation until you can make a better determination."
"Sir!" called Rikichi, flash stepping to Byakuya's side.
Byakuya noted his harried expression and nodded quickly.
"What did you find?"
"We took traces on the building and grounds," Rikichi reported, his voice trembling, "W-we confirmed the earlier reported casualties that you knew about and a few more."
Byakuya paused for a moment, steeling himself.
"Go on."
"We found traces of Kurosaki Ichigo's blood and we found large amounts of..."
The young man broke off, biting at his lips and fighting tears.
"Rikichi, what is it?" Byakuya demanded, "What did you find?"
"The...the blood was Abarai fukutaichou's, sir," the youth went on, shakenly, "A-and...the team's conclusion is that, given the amount of blood and traces of a diminished zanpakutou...that he...Abarai fukutaichou...d-died here!"
Byakuya's eyes closed against the words, and his mind spun as he tried to contend with the information.
"You are sure?" he asked with forced calm.
"Sir, you know that if there was any hope, that I would...I..."
"I know, Rikichi," Byakuya said, nodding briefly, "Now leave us."
"Yes, sir."
Byakuya knelt silently at Tetsuya's side, wishing that he, too, could be blessed with unconsciousness, so that he wouldn't have to feel what was welling up inside him.
What happened to you, Renji?
How could this be happening?
And why don't I feel like it's possible for you to really be gone?
"Sir," said the lady healer, "Tetsuya-san and Arashi are ready to transport."
"Very well," Byakuya said numbly, "Let's go home."
But I will be back.
I will make sure.
If there is any chance at all that you are alive, we will find you, Renji!
XXXXXXXXXX
"There now, that is more comfortable, isn't it?" said the handsome, golden-haired and golden-eyed hollow as he tied a clean yukata in place on Renji's freshly washed body. The redhead stood quietly in front of the mirror, looking at his reflection and feeling a sense of being very lost. His fingertips traced around the large hole in the center of his chest and his eyes meandered over the reflection of the golden markings that zig-zagged all over his tall, muscular body. He tried to think of something to say, but couldn't find the words.
"Your hollow form is lovely, ne?" the other hollow said, admiring him for a moment, "I told you that it would be. You are very beautiful, my love. I think we shall be quite content, ruling these lands together."
"Ruling...?"
"I told you. I am Prince Yutaka, crown prince of Hueco Mundo. I am about to be made king, and because of that, it was necessary for me to find you and bring you back here."
"I don't undertand," Renji said, shaking his head, "Wasn't I a shinigami? I remember being one...I think..."
"Your hollow form was repressed, to hide you until I assumed the throne," Yutaka explained, "You see, a king's consort, before the king's crowning, has many enemies, many jealous opponents, who would kill him. So, we do not reveal our consort until the crowning. When you were born, a seal was placed on your body so that your hollow form would be hidden, and you would appear to be a shinigami."
"But...I was really a hollow?"
"You were both, actually," the prince said, kissing his cheek, "The consort is always from your family, the Abarai family. It was a hollow family, but was decimated by the shinigamis. But...a few escaped. They sealed their hollow forms and mated with shinigamis to make the consort easier to hide. You are part shnigami, part hollow...as you have always been. Only that seal held you back from being aware, and using your hollow powers."
"I didn't become a hollow when you killed me?"
"I didn't kill you," the prince laughed, "Even having spilled most of your blood, you are a hollow, so you did not die. I loosed the seal and you regenerated."
"R-regenerated?"
"Yes. But you have been through enough today. Lie down, Abarai Renji. I will help you fall asleep. And tomorrow, we will be married and claim our throne!"