Chapter 2: Boundaries
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Renji asked, tilting his head and watching as Rukia extended her hands over Tetsuya's unconscious form, "It doesn't look or feel like he's waking up, you know."
"I know that, you fool!" Rukia snapped, her hands shaking with effort, "I'm doing the best I can. I was trained as a warrior, not a healer. Most shinigamis aren't able to do both with equal ability, although…Tetsuya was trained by Nii-sama, and even though he's a healer, he can fight too."
"Too bad he can't do either, now that he's unconscious and half dead," Renji sighed, looking around the dark cave they had found to conceal themselves inside, "It's freezing in here and having gotten the shit kicked out of us, neither one of us still has any provisions. Can you hurry that up? Much longer and we'll be spending the night here!"
"Do you wanna come over here and try to heal him, dummy?" the young woman snapped, "Except you know with your kido ability, you'd probably blow him and yourself up."
"HEY!" Renji shouted.
"You want to keep it down, baka?" Rukia scolded him, "We are still in dangerous territory. There are quincies roaming around all over the place, and if they find us before we find the encampment, then we are all dead."
"Yeah," Renji answered, scowling, "I know that."
He looked around the cave again and shook his head.
"I think I'd better keep watch on the entrance. We camouflaged it pretty well, but still…"
"You're right,"Rukia agreed, "I'll keep trying to heal Tetsuya enough to wake him, and you can keep watch."
Her eyes followed as Renji headed to the front of the little cave, then she sighed and looked back down at Tetsuya's drawn face. One slender hand curved around his soft cheek and Rukia smiled down at him sadly.
"Thank you for watching out for everyone," she whispered, continuing to radiate healing reiatsu, "And especially, thank you for going to Nii-sama to help him. I'm so sorry that you were hurt, Tetsuya-san. I'm doing my very best to help you. Please try to come back to us?"
She touched her fingertips to the jagged wound in his chest, where the quincy king's sword had impaled him.
"I wonder how you even survived this."
Her breath caught and she made a sound of surprise as Tetsuya's quivered and moaned in distress.
"Oh…!"
"It's okay," Rukia reassured him, capturing his cold hand and warming it with hers, "You're going to be all right now."
"I sh-should be d-dead," the young man whispered shakily.
His eyelids twitched, then slowly opened and two wide sapphire eyes opened and blinked, struggling to focus on her.
"R-rukia-ch-chan?"
"I'm here, Tetsuya-san," Rukia assured him, "Renji and I are both here. We found you in the ruins, near where Nii-sama was fighting."
Tetsuya shivered and his jaw clenched.
"Byakuya-s-sama!" he gasped anxiously, trying to sit up.
Rukia held him down, objecting instantly as he moved.
"Stay still, please! You're barely alive, Tetsuya-san. You've been badly injured, and neither Renji nor I are skilled enough to heal your injuries properly."
"But…Byakuya-sama," Tetsuya insisted.
"We couldn't find him," Rukia said sadly, "We think that he was taken by the enemy…but, we believe that he was taken alive."
Tetsuya calmed slightly at the words.
"Cousin," Rukia went on, "we need to know what you saw. Did you see who took Nii-sama?"
"Th-they attacked me from behind as I tried to heal Byakuya-sama," Tetsuya recalled, "I did not see them, but I glimpsed two men…a blonde man and one whose reiatsu matched the one that was spread all over the Seireitei in the attacks."
Rukia's violet eyes widened.
"You think it was the quincy king?"
"I think that most likely," Tetsuya affirmed, "I did not sense them at all as they approached and they attacked without warning, from behind. I should have been killed. I…don't know why I am still alive."
Rukia gave him a gentle smile and squeezed his hand.
"Well, we are very grateful that you survived. Now, we need to get to the encampment, so that we can get all of us properly healed, then, we need to find Nii-sama!"
Tetsuya nodded.
"It's not far," he explained, "I will guide you there, as soon as I am recovered enough to walk."
"I'm afraid it's not moving very quickly," the young woman sighed, "Renji and I just aren't really good healers like you."
"Oh, Rukia-chan," Tetsuya said encouragingly, "you are doing well. It's just that my wound was severe."
He went quiet for a moment, frowning as a smooth male voice echoed in his mind.
"I apologize for my king's cruelty," someone said softly, touching Tetsuya's tormented face for a moment, "We do not usually treat our healers in such a fashion, and it should not matter if you are a quincy or a shinigami. We should remember our honor, whether in victory or in defeat. Rest now. I will make sure that Byakuya does not die. That should please you, healer."
"Tetsuya-san," Rukia said, her voice breaking into his reverie and making him blink and shake his head to clear it, "are you all right?"
"I…I don't know," Tetsuya admitted, his voice shaking slightly, "I was just thinking and maybe I…remembered something."
"What did you remember?" Rukia asked, leaning towards him, "Was it about Nii-sama?"
"W-well, yes…and no," Tetsuya said uncertainly, "I just…recalled a man's voice speaking to me. He…seemed to be telling me that I wasn't going to die, and that he would make sure that Byakuya-sama didn't die either. I recall that he said that it wasn't right for me to have been treated the way I was. I think…I think I was healed by a quincy!"
"A quincy?" Rukia repeated wonderingly, "Why would a quincy have healed you? Weren't they here to kill us?"
"They were," Tetsuya affirmed, "And the one who impaled me, did so coldly, with every intent to kill. I should have been dead before I hit the ground. I suppose Arashi's return to my body preserved me so that I wasn't immediately killed…but what happened after, and whether this quincy who saved me from death was involved in Byakuya-sama's abduction, I'm afraid I just don't know."
He looked down at the jagged healing wound on his chest and shook his head.
"But…I am going to find out."
"Hey!" Renji's voice hissed suddenly from the front of the little cave, "Rukia, get over here!"
"What is it? What's wrong?" Rukia called out softly.
"We've got trouble," Renji said worriedly as Rukia moved to join him at the cave's entrance, "There's a quincy nearby."
XXXXXXXXXX
A soft sound of discomfort traveled across the king's suite within the Silbern palace, making Haschwald turn away from the open balcony doors to look at the pale, mostly naked shinigami who laid, recovering, in Ywach's bed. The man shouldn't have been moving at all, let alone waking. The quincy second in command gazed in wonder as Byakuya's hazy, dark grey eyes opened and blinked, then squinted, trying to focus. He moved to the noble's bedside and sat down.
"It's better if you hold still," he advised the waking prisoner, "You are not going to be able to break these restraints. I know you are strong for a shinigami, but we are prepared for that."
Byakuya managed to muster a scathing look, but gave the quincy no reply.
"You must be hungry after such serious injury, and the several hours on intravenous fluids," Haschwald added, "Your stomach may be weak from the damage that As Nodt did to you with your bankai, so I would advise you eat slowly."
He picked up the tray of soft, bland foods and tea that had been left and set them in the restrained noble's lap, then he loosened the top restraints enough to allow him to eat. Byakuya looked quietly at the tray for a moment, then dumped it onto the floor.
"I understand your anger," Haschwald acknowledged calmly, "but acting out in that way will only make your healer have to put you back on intravenous fluids. Like it or no, you do not have the option of starving yourself. The only option you have is to accept your circumstances and decide whether you want to be cooperative and earn a better situation for yourself, or if you would rather suffer even more than your king is likely to make you suffer when he returns. Either way, you are, as of the moment of your defeat and capture, the property of his majesty, King Ywach."
The quincy barely managed to move in time to evade as Byakuya suddenly spat at him.
"Unexpected, coming from someone like you," Haschwald commented, seeming to show no anger at the attack, "but your options, at this point are severely limited, so I suppose it makes sense. Luckily for you, we are under orders not to harm you in any way. Your king, however, will punish you if you attempt such displays with him."
Haschwald read the seething reply in the noble's proud eyes.
That murderous tyrant is not my king!
"You do not respect his majesty," the quincy observed, "but that is because you have not experienced his level of power and ruthlessness yet. Upon his return, you will certainly learn to be more obedient."
He glanced at the door as an attendant arrived and began to clean up the mess on the floor.
"Ah, Andreas, thank you. Will you bring another food tray?"
Haschwald gave Byakuya a look of warning as the attendant finished the cleanup and left the room again.
"I strongly encourage you to reconsider eating," he advised the glaring noble, sitting down again at Byakuya's bedside, "As much as I know that there is no escaping obedience, I don't enjoy seeing anyone suffer…not even shingamis."
He read the little hint of dark curiosity that rose in the noble's dark, brooding eyes.
"You are curious?" Haschwald mused, "Well, that makes sense, as you have little knowledge of quincies, I suppose."
Byakuya's eyes lost a measure of their vehemence and his body relaxed very slightly.
"You are interested in learning more? Of course you are, because you still haven't accepted that you are going to be remaining here and you want to gather as much information as you can, for when you return home. I suppose I should apologize for being frank, but…you are never going to go back to the Seireitei. In fact, the Seireitei is going to be completely annihilated in the war. So…it does no damage at all for me to tell you what you want to know. I will answer any questions that you have. Please, feel free to ask me anything, Byakuya."
To his surprise, the noble drew a slow breath, then broke his stubborn silence.
"Why do you follow him?"
Haschwald looked back at the noble silently.
"Were you given a choice, or did he make that decision for you as well?"
The quincy nodded approvingly.
"I do not know if you were talking about the quincies, as a whole, or if you were asking about me personally, but I will answer both. The quincies follow his majesty because he is the strongest of us, and it is our destiny to serve him."
"Blind obedience?" Byakuya breathed softly, "Or just sheer dominance?"
"You felt the heaviness of his reiatsu," Haschwald reasoned, "You saw how easily he evaded the powerful senses of your healer and struck him down. You saw his ruthlessness."
"Did you let Tetsuya die?" Byakuya asked suddenly, making the quincy blink in surprise.
"Did I let him die?" Haschwald repeated, "No, I honored your request to leave enough life in him that he might be found and healed. I cannot tell you if he is still alive, but I did not allow him to die where he fell."
"Thank you," Byakuya said softly.
"Do not dare to hope that it means he will go on living," the quincy warned him, "Remember that the world you know is going to end. Ywach will sweep it away and build his new kingdom."
"And what kind of place will that be?" Byakuya inquired, "Has he told you that?"
Haschwald nodded.
"He has said that he will make an end of our enemies, that he will cleanse the world of their wickedness and create a new world. He has said that each of us will play a role in those goals."
"Hmm."
"You asked me why I follow his majesty," Haschwald went on, "and I will tell you. I was an abused child, living with my wicked uncle, who only kept me so that he could take advantage of my body and my innate ability to raise the power of the ones around me. I was weak and had no power to change my fate. But one day, his majesty found me, and he told me that my life, and my power wasn't meaningless. He told me that I am the other part of him…and indeed, while he wears the mask of the king by day, he places it upon me at night so that he can rest and absorb the souls that have died under his dominion."
Haschwald paused at the soft sound of surprise and shock that escaped the restrained noble.
"What is it, Byakuya? Is something wrong?" he asked.
Byakuya's expression darkened, but he held in the thought that chilled his insides.
If, indeed, this quincy is the other part of the king…and Ywach needs both his soul and this man's to maintain some kind of balance, why, then, does he keep me here, naming me as his consort?
What does this mean?
"You look distressed," the quincy second in command noted, watching as the attendant returned to the room and set down a fresh tray of food on the nightstand.
Haschwald thanked the youth, who bowed then left, then he picked up the cup of hot tea on the tray and offered it to the noble.
"Perhaps some tea to soothe your nerves?"
Byakuya gazed at him in silence for several long moments, then he extended a hand to accept the tea. He breathed in the steam coming out of the cup.
I was trained to sense poisons and other drugs, and this tea does not appear to have been laced with anything.
He took a sip and found the blend to be among the finest he had tasted.
"Is that any better?" Haschwald asked.
This man is difficult to read. He remains so calm, no matter what happens. I wouldn't call his behavior cruel and I wouldn't call it kind either. He seems completely subservient to Ywach's will and he seems to think that it is only a matter of time before I will be reduced to acting in the same, subservient manner.
"Byakuya?"
"I don't know why you waste your concern on me," the noble answered, "Am I not merely an enemy to you?"
Haschwald studied him briefly and sighed.
"You are an enemy," he agreed, "but you have been deemed useful by our leader. It is a great honor, especially for an enemy. You should embrace your role and do your very best to please our king."
"You are truly so deep under his spell," Byakuya pondered, "that you seem to have lost all sense of being an individual, and having your own will. I find that unnerving."
Haschwald surprised him with the faintest of smiles.
"Byakuya," he said solemnly, "don't we all wish to know what we were made to be? What we were meant to do? Is that not the deepest desire of all who live?"
"Perhaps, but…"
"I was a lost soul," the quincy commander went on, "and no one was going to save me. This is true of all of the ones he chose to build his kingdom. Everyone who lives, everyone who dies…everyone, Byakuya…we all have a place in his majesty's great vision. For the shinigamis, it is to be the final repayment for their attempt at the genocide of the quincy people. For the rest of us, it is the honor of being a part of the machine that brings the shinigami world down and razes the ground it rested on. It is the delight of living to see the new world that rises out of the ashes to grow and flourish, free of the wicked ones who wanted all of us dead."
Byakuya gave Haschwald a look of consternation.
"Is there some reason that you speak of me as though I had ceased to be your enemy and had instead been taken in as one of your own?" he asked sternly, "I am a shinigami, still. That has not changed."
Haschwald looked directly into the noble leader's widened eyes as he answered.
"Do you not feel it?" he asked softly, "The change in your reiatsu, in the way that it feels and the way that it flows? Do you not understand that you are no longer theirs to command? Look now at your reflection, Byakuya. Do you feel it?"
The noble exhaled a shaky breath and closed his eyes, reaching out with his senses. Immediately, he felt the shattered link with his zanpakuto's spirit.
Although I still control my shikai that is based solely on my own ability, I have lost the powers that grew along with my bond with Senbonzakura. I feel his turmoil and pain leaking through, but…he has a new master.
Sen…I am…sorry.
"You are in pain from the loss of your zanpakuto spirit," Haschwald acknowledged, reading his expression, "Maybe it will comfort you to know that you do not need the additional power of that spirit anymore."
Byakuya's breath caught and he locked eyes with Haschwald again.
"What do you mean?"
"Look deep within your soul, Byakuya," the quincy advised him, "Behold! The crest of the royal consort that has been inscribed upon it!"
If Kuchiki Byakuya had thought that As Nodt's power had been terrifying, he lost all sense of that being the case as he felt the king's marking on his soul.
The crest of the consort?
I am a…a quincy now?