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.
Byakuya walked into the study and saw to his relief that the Head Captain wasn’t there. He hoped that he wouldn’t be getting himself involved in this as he was the biggest threat to discovering the real identity of Ichigo. As he made his way across the room with his armed guard, he still believed that keeping Ichigo a secret was their best chance of confusing and perhaps bringing out this secret enemy.
Captains Ukitake and Kyoraku sat at the desk, but stood as Byakuya was brought in. On the table in front of them lay a blade.
“Please, Byakuya, have a seat.”
Ukitake was being pleasant, and Kyoraku had actually removed his hat. Byakuya sat down.
“This is ridiculous.”
“You know what, you’re probably right, Kuchki. But this is a serious crime that’s been committed.”
Byakuya was well schooled in keeping his emotions in check, so neither of them had a clue about what he really felt. “I believe you mean a serious crime has been committed in the World of the Living.”
Ukitake shook his head. “That is not becoming of you, Byakuya. Ichigo Kurosaki saved many lives, including that of your sister. He is a power-full young man. It is unbecoming of us not to be concerned about his fate.”
“And how has that anything to do with me?”
Kyoraku pushed the blade that lay on the table towards him. “Do you recognise this?”
Byakuya didn’t, but he spared it a quick glance and recognised at least what it was made of. So, they were lying in wait for Ichigo, but could not find him. And hope to blame me for a death that has not happened.
“A knife. Not even a very good one.”
He brought his gaze up from the knife and looked at the two Captains. “Made of Sekkiseki stone, so hard to carve, but deadly to anyone stabbed with it.”
“We found this in your home, Byakuya.”
Byakuya felt his anger grow. “You intruded upon my family? You searched my property? How dare you presume to do such a thing?”
“A man is dead, Byakuya!”
“A man who I do not care for has died? Why should this disturb me? I did not kill him!”
“Byakuya,” Ukitake shook his head. “This behaviour is despicable!”
Byakuya pushed his chair back as if to stand. One of the guards was suddenly by his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “This treatment of me is despicable!” Byakuya turned and looked up at the guard in disgust. He turned to Ukitake and Kyoraku, eyes blazing, his voice cold and flat. “This paltry evidence is not enough to make me a killer.
“No. You’re right Byakuya. But then there’s this.” Kyoraku reached in to a folder that sat on the table. “This is a witness statement from Zennosuki, who was doing routine a routine patrol in Karakura town in the hours before Ichigo was shot. He witnessed your personal Senkiamon open not three streets away from Orihime Inoue's home and a man matching your description was seen exiting it.”
Byakuya could not deny this as he had no idea where Orihime lived. The timing sounded off though, as it had only taken him a few minutes to reach Ichigo's home.
“That does not make me a killer.”
“Again, you’re right.. But we discovered a bunch of Akuma flowers in a vase in her home. A plant that apparently only grows within the gardens of the Kuchki residence.”
Kyoraku pulled the statement back towards him. “It takes 5 days to brew the antidote.” He looked up at Byakuya, who saw the anger in his eyes now. “A nice girl, if I recall.”
A knock on the door and one of the guards answered it. Byakuya remained silent.
“Captains’ he is here.”
Byakuya didn’t need to turn to see who it was, but he was surprised.
“Why is he here?”
“Lord Byakuya, my apologies. I was asked to attend to you. As my duty is to both our House and the rule of the land, I came straight away to be of assistance.”
A small wiry man stood there and he bowed to Byakuya before turning and bowing to the other Captains. “I am only here to ensure the truth is told. I know that this shall free my Lord from his wrongful imprisonment.”
“Thank you for coming, Akhiro Kuchki. As you say, this is about the truth. Please, be seated.”
Akhiro bowed once more. “I am content to stand, sirs.”
Ukitake nodded. “Very well. Do you recognise this blade, Akhiro?” He pushed it closer to the older man.
“May I touch it?” Akhiro asked.
“Yes, of course.”
Byakuya watched as Akhiro lifted the blade and examined it carefully. “I recognise it sirs.”
“Well, will you tell us about it?”
Akhiro nodded. “It is an antique. A gift to an ancestor of our House. It has been placed on display at various times, by the whim of past Heads of our family. I believe it has not been exhibited in a very long time and was in storage.”
“I did not know of this.” Byakuya replied, looking at Akhiro. “But still. My honour would not allow me to kill in such a way. I fight openly, with my sword in hand.” He turned to Ukitake and Kyoraku, his mind racing as to the implications of what this could mean. “You should know this. I would kill Ichigo with my sword.”
“Well, you tried that before Byakuya, didn’t you? Didn’t work that time. I’m not saying you knifed him now; you’re right. That doesn’t seem like you.”
“My Master would not do such a thing, sirs.” Akhiro stated, “The honour of our family would not permit this.”
The door knocked again, and a guard answered it like before. This time, however, he approached the table and leaned in to whisper something to Kyoraku. The Captain leaned over to Ukitake and whispered something, before Ukitake nodded. “Yes, allow him to accompany him in.”
The guard walked back and opened the door, and to Byakuya’s dismay, saw Ichigo and Kenpachi Zuraki standing there. Kenpachi was behind Ichigo and gave him a little push in to the room. “Sorry, but this was something I wanted to see for my self.”
“I heard you had taken him under your wing, Zuraki.” Kyoraku raised an eyebrow and allowed a smirk to cross his face. “That was quite noble of you.”
Kenpachi pushed Ichigo further into the room, before dragging a chair over from the wall to sit to one side of Byakuya. “You know me,” he smirked. “I’ve always enjoyed being there for the kill.”
Ichigo stood to one side, his head bowed, staring at the floor as if afraid to raise his head. Byakuya was surprised that no one here could see it was Ichigo. He had no way to know now what was going to happen. A situation he did not enjoy.
“Welcome, Jiro Kuchki. I…” Ukitake smiled, trying to show some compassion to the young man. “I understand this has been an uncomfortable position you have found yourself in, but answer truthfully and all will go well.”
“Jiro Kuchki?”
All eyes in the room turned to Akhiro, who immediately sensed that he had said something far too interesting.
“My apologies sirs, for speaking out of turn.” He bowed to the Captains. “I should perhaps go and leave you to your investigation.”
“Wait.” Said Kyoraku. “You know something about this young man?”
Byakuya watched in despair as Ichigo raised his head and looked right at him.
“Well,” said Akhiro, who looked at Byakuya. The 6th Squad Captain turned his gaze from him and stared past the other two Captains in front of him, refusing to be drawn in. “It is just that I know of no one called Jiro Kuchki and I am the record keeper for our family.” Akhiro appeared torn that he had even said as much as he had.
“But…” Ukitake looked from Byakuya to Ichigo. “You were in bed together, you told Lieutenant Matsomoto he was your cousin!” He turned angrily to Byakuya. “What is this, Captain Kuchki?”
Byakuya opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Zuraki’s sudden outburst of laughter. “I’m sorry. I should have told you before, but I wanted to see his face for myself.” He stood up and took Ichigo by the arm and dragged him closer to the table. “Go on boy, tell them who you really are.”
He grinned at Byakuya and right there and then Byakuya wanted nothing more than to pull out his sword and kill him.
Ichigo lifted his face up and Byakuya saw the confusion there.
“I…”
Kenpachi sat on the edge of the desk and looked from Akhiro to Byakuya with a grin on his face. “He’s nothing more than a prostitute from the Rukon district!” Everyone in the room turned to Kenpachi, who was laughing heartily to himself now.
“What is this nonsense?” Ukitake looked more upset than anything; Kyoraku said nothing but stared at Ichigo. “Captain Kuchki, explain this!”
“Oh, he doesn’t have to explain anything. I can tell you right here and now myself.” He grabbed Ichigo by the arm. “Jiro Kuchki is none other than Ruko Harada. And I know he’s a prostitute because I’ve paid for his services more than once myself!” He reached out and put his hand under Ichigo’s chin, forcing him to raise his head. “Tell them boy.” He let go of his hand.
Ichigo stood there and looked at them all. He opened his mouth to speak and shut it again quickly. He struggled to think of an answer as Kenpachi had said nothing of this on the way over. But it made sense. In a tortuous way. He felt himself blush and wished a Hollow would just kill him right here and now. But he took a deep breath, nodded his head and tried again. “Yes. It’s true. I live in the Rukon district.” He looked at Kenpachi who frowned at him. He bent his head down again, to try and make the rest of what he had to say a little less painful. “I have been paid and… and… bedded Captain Kenpachi in the past. But,” And here he looked at Byakuya and prayed that he would understand the need for these lies. “That was the first time I had been with Captain Byakuya Kuchki, I swear.”
Ukitake turned on Byakuya. “You brought a prostitute into the Seireitei? How is that honourable, Kuchki?”
Akhiro also turned to Byakuya. “I would have assisted in finding you a suitable new wife, Lord. You had but to ask!"
“I do not wish a new wife, Akhiro! I have told you this.” Byakuya turned to look at Ichigo, understanding now filling his heart with both love and rage. Yet now was not the time. “He would have left with none the wiser for his actions, apart from this. I paid for his time. I was intending to make use of it.” He looked now to Ukitake. “I told you what I did in my bed was of no concern to you, Captain Ukitake.”
“Indeed you did, Kuchki. Indeed you did.”
“Lieutenants’, take Lord Byakuya back to his cell. We are done with him for now.” No one missed the lack of the title, Captain. Kyoraku turned to Kenpachi. “I am assuming you never brought this young man into the Seireitei?”
“Nah. We just fucked there. I got my money’s worth and left.”
“Delicate as always, Kenpachi.”
Ukitake scowled at him, but the Squad 11 Captain just grinned.
“Nice to see that honour isn’t exactly everything to you, Kuchki, huh?”
Kenpachi looked at Ichigo who quickly lowered his head in keeping with the character he was playing. Kenpachi turned and smirked at the 6th Squad Captain “Pity you can’t play with him any more. What with being locked up in the cells and all. I might even have a go with him myself tonight.”
Byakuya abruptly got to his feet. “I will gladly show you the meaning of my honour on the field of battle, Zuraki!”
Kenpachi just shrugged.
“Guards. Take this boy and escort him from the Seireitei immediately.”
Kenpachi stood up off the desk. “That’s ok. I’ll do that.” He grabbed Ichigo by the scruff of the neck and pulled him towards the door. He turned at the door to look at Byakuya. “I know exactly where he lives. I’ll take him there myself.”
Byakuya made as if to go after him, but was restrained once more by a hand on his shoulder. Ukitake and Kyoraku stood up. “Take him back to his cell.” Kyoraku turned and noticed Akhiro. “You don’t look so good, Akhiro. Sit yourself down. Get your breath back.”
The old man did as he was told, but as Byakuya was led from the room, he called to his Master. “How could you bring such shame upon us, Byakuya? How?” A tear ran down his face.
Byakuya didn’t trust himself to speak and was led away in silence.