The Long Way Home

Part Six

Ichigo remained silent as he walked in the middle of 4 of Squad 6’s men. 

Byakuya had showered and dressed quickly and had left without saying so much as another word to him.   So he had been allowed to use the bathroom himself.

He had no idea where they were taking him so he just followed quietly, wishing he knew exactly what the hell was going.

Damn him!  I could have ended this by just opening my mouth and telling them who I am! I want to fight!  I want to swing my blade at whoever has done this to us both!  I want them dead!

“And what do we have here?”

Ichigo hadn’t really been paying attention, but as the rounded a corner and out of a courtyard, there now stood a Captain he recognised.

“Captain Zuraki, sir! Ichigo hid a smirk; despite trying not to show it, each one of his guards felt uncomfortable around this powerful man.  “This is the prisoner, Jiro Kuchki.  We are taking him to Squad 13s barracks to place him under house arrest.”

Kenpachi leaned slightly to his right, to get a good look at the prisoner.  Then he laughed.  “This is the man Byakuya was caught in bed with?”  He continued laughing for some time, much to the bewilderment of everyone there.  “I didn’t realise fucking Byakuya was a crime these days, although that wouldn’t surprise me.”  He pushed past the two lead guards and grabbed hold of Ichigo by the shoulder. “I would have thought fucking Kuchki was punishment enough!” He started laughing again at his own joke.

“Hey!”
 
“Quiet, Jiro Kuchki.”  Kenpachi pulled him out of the group of men.  “He's coming with me.  I'll make sure he goes nowhere.”

“Ah, sir, we have our orders...”

Kenpachi turned and glared at the man who had spoken.  “I’m giving you new ones.  He comes with me.  If anyone has an issue with my ability to secure...”  He paused and hauled Ichigo up by his clothes, his feet off the ground so he could look him in the eye.  “What crime did you commit, boy?”

“I don’t know, sir!”

Kenpachi turned and smiled at the guards, causing all of them to take a step back.  “Like I said, he's coming with me.”  Dropping Ichigo, but keeping hold of his clothing, Kenpachi dragged him along behind him.
Ichigo looked to the guards and not one of them moved to help.

“I thought as much.  Tell Ukitake he knows where he can find me.”

Ichigo yelled, hoping to shame the guards in to helping him but they simply watched as Kenpachi dragged him off and out of view.  “You can’t do this!  Let me go!”

“Keep Quiet, boy!” Kenpachi pushed open a door that Ichigo suspected were squad 11's barracks.  He was practically thrown through a door Kenpachi after being dragged through into the heart of the building.  He stumbled into the far wall and immediately turned.

Kenpachi had his back to him as he shut the door.  Ichigo looked for a way to get out and before he could even move, Kenpachi had locked the door and was moving over to the window, locking the shutters.  That done he turned to Ichigo and stared for a moment.  “I'm not sure what Byakuya saw in you, unless you have hidden talents in the bedroom?”  Kenpachi started to come towards him.  Ichigo had nowhere else he could go.  This Captain of the 11th squad had him cornered.

Ichigo stood up straighter, trying to ready himself for whatever this might be. “What do you want?”

Kenpachi smirked and soon he was standing in Ichigo's personal space.  He leaned down and sniffed.  “What do I want?”  He leaned further forward and sniffed at him again.  Then he turned his face back to Ichigo.  “What did Byakuya want?  Maybe I want some of that.” He placed his hands against the wall, one on each side of Ichigo's head.  “You going to give it to me?”

Ichigo opened his mouth to reply but was instead cut short when Kenpachi burst in to a fit of laughter.  Stepping back, he gave Ichigo some room,, but it took a moment or two for the laughter to die down.  He looked up at Ichigo and shook his head sadly.  “Don’t look so affronted, Ichigo.  I was messing with you.  You can hardly blame me now, can you?  You left yourself wide open.”

Ichigo stared at Kenpachi, puzzled.  “Hey! That so wasn’t funny, Kenpachi!  How did you know it was me?”

Captain Zuraki sat down on a chair behind a large plain wooden desk, and Ichigo took a moment to look around him.  “Hey, is this your office?”  He saw two fairly large filing cabinets.  “You do paper work?”

“Hey!  Yes, I do paper work.  Why do you think I long for a fight to the death.”  Kenpachi indicated to Ichigo to sit down.  “You wanted to know how I knew it was you?  I’ll be honest, if I just looked with my eyes, I wouldn’t have pegged it was you.”  Now he smiled and Ichigo could see that madness that was so indicative of Kenpachi Zuraki.  “I know your spiritual pressure.  Others can sense the power, and others can tell who it is within a certain range.  You know? But you?  I’ve tasted you in battle.  You don’t forget a fine wine once you’ve tasted it.”  He put his elbows on the table and placed his head in his hands.  “You don’t forget, even if it is watered down.  How are you managing that?”

Ichigo kept quiet.

“Alright then.  Is it true you and Byakuya were fucking when Ukitake came to arrest him?”

“What?”  Ichigo knew he was turning bright red and there was nothing he could do about it.  “Just…just shut up, alright!”

Kenpachi shrugged.  “Hey, it doesn’t matter to me who has sex with who.  I know for a fact he didn’t kill you either, because you are sitting here in front of me.  I’m guessing there is more going on than there seems.  Or you wouldn’t be sitting there looking like some cheap knock-off Kuchki.”  He sighed.  “Ichigo. We have fought with the aim to kill each other.  You should know me as well as I know you.  What is going on?”

Ichigo looked at the man and remembered the fight.  Brutal.  But honest.  Byakuya had said to trust no one, but if there was anyone within the Seireitei that he would choose to trust, it was this man.  He reached up to his neck and pulled back the cloth to show the charm around his neck.

Kenpachi laughed.  “Damn, but that’s clever. Simple, but clever.  So, what’s this all about, Ichigo?  I heard you died in the World of the Living.  If you ever find out who by the way, I’d gladly kill them for you.  Such a cowardly act.  Still,”  he said with a grin.  “At least I know were I can find my new sparing partner.”

“Long story short.  Someone shot me, and it looks like it was either ordered or someone came from here to do it.  Orihime is in hospital, in a coma.  I’ve just died and Byakuya has been arrested for it.  But why arrest Byakuya?  He had nothing to do with it.  I know him as well as I know you and he didn’t have me killed.  Here or there.”

Kenpachi smirked.  “Well, I think you know Byakuya a little better than I do.”

He felt his cheeks start to burn again, but he looked Kenpachi in the eye.  “You’re right.  I do.  And he didn’t do this.  But someone did.”

“So who has it out for Byakuya then?”

“What?”

“You heard, who has it in for Byakuya?”

Ichigo snarled.  “Damn them!  You’re right!”  He stood up, suddenly full of anger and with it the realisation of what was actually going on.  He rounded on Kenpachi.  “This was never about me.  Not really.  They wanted to take Byakuya down.  Me and Orihime…My family, we’re just collateral damage.  Someone wants Byakuya out of the way.”  He sat down in the chair again with a thump.  All the rage and anger spent in a moment.

“So, what do you want to do about it?  They have Byakuya.  He’s sitting in a cell.  If this is to make it look like he attacked you, then they will have planted evidence, which is probably why they pulled him in.  But whoever did this is puzzled why you haven’t passed on.”  Kenpachi shrugged.  “I’m going to guess you were already here, hiding behind that stone?”

Ichigo nodded, despite not liking the way he had said he had been hiding.

“So.  Someone who knows both of you, figured that Byakuya had a motive to kill you.  What they didn’t realise is that the pair of you have been sleeping with each other for who knows how long.  They thought Byakuya hated you, so you were the easiest person to take out of the picture.”  He leaned back in his chair.  “Evidence came to light that Byakuya was at Orihime’s the night before she was found unconscious.  Also that he was in the area when you were shot.  The Stealth Force have been looking in to it since the Seireitei was told you had been attacked.”

“Byakuya didn’t attack me, Kenpachi. He didn’t.”

“I know that, you moron.  Someone is framing him.  You see, with that evidence they were able to search his home and they found something else.”

Ichigo sighed.  “This doesn’t sound good.  What is it, what did they find?”

“A blade.  A knife.”  He leaned forward again.  “A very special, rare knife.  It’s made of Sekkiseki stone.  A stab in the heart and a spirit doesn’t just die.  It destroys it.  Like a arrow from a Quincy bow.  You are taken out of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.  I’m going to guess he gave you that charm around your neck, huh?”

“Kenpachi,” Ichigo said warningly.  “He didn’t do this.”

“I already told you, I know that.  But why are you sitting here?  Why not go to old man Yamamoto and tell him you’re fine?”

“Byakuya said not to.”

“What, and you do everything he says?”  Kenpachi smiled and Ichigo resisted the urge to lean back from it.  “Didn’t peg you for having that kind of a personality to be honest.  Do you like dressing up for him to?”

“You can be a bit of an asshole, you know that?”

“Yes.”

Ichigo scratched as his head.  “Ok, best I can figure out is Byakuya knows I’m fine, so he can afford to wait this out.  Worse case scenario I tell the Head Captain.  But someone has done this, and as long as Ichigo Kurosaki is missing, whoever it is won’t be able to rest.   Thing is, were do we even start?”

“I have no idea, but I plan to be close by to you, Ichigo.”

Ichigo gulped.  “What on earth for?”
Kenpachi grinned and this time Ichigo did lean a little bit back out of his way.

“I want to be there when the fighting starts!”

Ichigo was about to reply to that when there was a knock on the door.