Chapter 17
Rangiku left her friend in Retsu’s capable hands and made her way to the room in which Ichigo was still confined. The only illumination in the spacious room was provided by her small candle, but it was more than enough for her sharp eyes to see every detail of the gorgeous man so enticingly bound to the bed. “Get the hell over it, idiot,” she whispered angrily to herself. Ran shook off the disturbing desires that plagued her whenever she was in the presence of this man and observed his unconscious form. He was breathing heavily; muscles tightly coiled and face twitching as though he was in the middle of a nightmare. She watched his obvious distress and felt pity climb its way into her heart. She wanted to hate him for what he did to her dearest friend, but she knew that was completely impossible. Ichigo had done some terrible things tonight but she knew that he was still a good person. When someone is given nothing but pain and heartache in their life, they will eventually reach a breaking point…now make that someone a demon and the potential for disaster increases astronomically. Tonight, Ichigo was dealt a crippling blow. He could have chosen a different way in which to deal with his pain, but Ran understood why he turned to the drugs. There are just some things in life that are best forgotten…and for Ichigo, tonight’s events definitely qualified. As Ran’s mind drifted to her own painful past, she didn’t notice the subtle movements of the man chained to the plush bed.
“What the hell?” Came Ichigo’s groggy voice. His words served to snap Ran out of her melancholy meanderings and she watched as he began to struggle against the manacles that held his strong arms stretched above his head and his feet were nearly immobilized. Ichigo was so preoccupied with his current predicament that he didn’t immediately notice Ran’s presence. She watched him fight furiously against the unforgiving metal and blood began to run down his forearms. The sheet that had been covering his nude body slipped dangerously low on his hips and Ran figured she should make her presence known before his accidentally provocative actions drove her insane.
“Ichigo,” she said softly, “Stop struggling so hard. Those chains are fortified and there’s no way you’re getting loose until we let you go.” Angry eyes rose to meet hers and stayed trained unerringly on her face as she finished speaking. Ran was disappointed to see that they weren’t the warm, amber eyes she found to be so beautiful…these were the cold, merciless eyes of a killer.
“So I guess I have you to thank for these chains and this pounding fuckin’ headache?” Ran looked away guiltily and nodded, “I’m sorry Ichi, I didn’t want to but I had no choice…you were really hurting her.”
“Che,” he scoffed, “Yeah right. You coulda just left me the hell alone to finish what I started with that little slut.” The outraged blonde gave him a swift right hook to the jaw, “Don’t talk about her like that,” she said between gritted teeth. When Ichigo turned his face back to her, he looked her dead in the eyes and slowly licked the blood from the corner of his lips. When he saw her lips part and eyes darken with desire, a sensual smile appeared on his face, “Wanna taste?” He asked playfully. Ran swallowed hard and licked her own dry lips. “I-Ichigo,” she stuttered, “You’ve got to stop doing this.”
“Stop doing what?” He asked innocently while flexing the hard muscles of his arms and torso. Matsumoto Rangiku had many fine qualities; unfortunately, self-restraint was not one of them. Ichigo smirked as the buxom blonde quickly straddled his belly. Her lips hovered above his for a moment before her pink tongue darted out to taste the blood at the corner of his grinning lips. Her eyes closed of their own accord as the taste of him washed over her. When her eyes opened again, onyx had replaced the lovely blue. Just as she was about to devour his lips, a disapproving voice called out, “Rangiku! What do you think you’re doing?”
Ran’s shocked gaze flew to the doorway and Ichigo rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration. Mutterings of ‘fuckin’ cock blocker’ could be heard as Unohana Retsu walked into the room and shut the door softly behind her. “Welcome to the party, Doc,” Ichigo drawled insolently.
“Get off of him now, Rangiku,” Retsu said with hard eyes. Ran reluctantly climbed off of the fiery-haired creature and backed slowly away from temptation. “He belongs to your best friend…who happens to be lying in her room in pain from what this boy has done to her. Do you really want to lose her over a tryst with him?”
Ichigo looked contemplative for a moment, “Ya know, if I wasn’t locked up right now I could put that little bitch out of her misery for ya-after I’m done torturing her, of course. Now, why dontcha come over here and I’ll show ya how much of a boy I am…that is, if you’re not too scared,” he sneered. One second Retsu was standing near the door and the next; she was the one straddling Ichigo. Her claws were digging painfully into his throat and her black eyes were staring down at him malevolently, “There are more frightening things in this world than you, boy,” she hissed.
Ichigo’s eyes narrowed but the smirk never left his face. “Well, well, well…it seems like I’m surrounded by scary women…and I find that very fuckin hot.” Retsu regained her composure in the face of his challenging glare and released the hold she had on him. Ran licked her lips and walked unconsciously toward Ichigo as blood dripped down his neck. “Rangiku! Get control of yourself right now or get out,” Retsu growled.
Rangiku wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valor, “Sorry, Retsu, I’m gonna go check on Rukia.”
“Che…coward,” Whispered Ichigo. Once Rangiku left the room, Retsu turned back to the demonic male lying chained on the bed, “She’s gone so you can drop the sex-starved act.” Ichigo just grinned at her in response. “Have you no remorse for what you’ve done to Rukia?”
Ichigo’s eyes hardened instantly and his smile disappeared. His voice deepened with the rage that still coursed through his veins, “Remorse? You expect me to feel bad about what I did to that deceitful…” Ichigo didn’t finish but instead gritted his teeth in anger and leveled a serious stare at Retsu, “Do you have any idea what she did to me? Do you know what she said to my little sisters? The disgusting words she used to describe the brother they loved?” As his voice broke, Ichigo looked quickly away, not wanting the pain he felt to be noticed by the older woman. “She didn’t get a fraction of the pain she deserved,” he said as he pulled harshly against the chains, “As soon as I’m free, that bitch is going to pay for what she did,” he declared grimly.
Unohana Retsu was a very perceptive woman and she saw the deep hurt that he was trying desperately to conceal. Even in his demon form, this young man’s pain was a palpable thing and she could not help but feel it. “Ichigo, I’m well aware of what she did to you and it was…horrible. She told me about every hateful word she said but you can’t use that as an excuse to lose yourself.” She saw him pause in his struggle, “You’re a good man in spite of what you’ve done. I understand why you turned to the drugs and that because of them, you’re not yourself. Rukia is very, very sorry for what she’s done and she feels terrible for causing you such pain…”
“She’s sorry?” Ichigo interrupted softly, “She’s fucking sorry? Do you honestly think I care? That miserable bitch can rot in HELL!” Ichigo screamed in rage and renewed his efforts to break free of his chains. “I’ll kill her! I’ll rip her fucking heart out and shove it down her throat just like she did to me!”
Retsu watched Ichigo’s anger build and she was very worried that he would break the chains. She jumped on top of his writhing body and laid her hand against his thrashing head. She poured her demon magic, kidou, into him in an attempt to put him into a deep sleep. She had done this for Rukia once before when she was an out of control newborn and it worked then-she could only hope it worked for this powerful child. “Shhh,” she spoke soothingly to the distraught boy, “Calm yourself, Ichigo. It’s going to be alright…shhhh.”
Ichigo’s furious movements lessened as Retsu’s kidou began taking effect. When he opened his eyes, the tortured expression in them shot straight into Retsu’s heart. “Your hands are soft…like my mother’s were. Did you know I had a mother?” Ichigo asked quietly, his struggles ceasing entirely.
Retsu kept pouring kidou into the boy but now she ran her hands soothingly through his silky hair, “Everyone has a mother, Ichigo.”
Ichigo kept talking as though Retsu never spoke, “My mother was the most beautiful woman in the whole world and she loved me more than anyone ever has.” Ichigo’s black and yellow eyes were glazed over as though he was in a dream, “She would pick me up and hold me close and tell me how much she loved me.” A small smile appeared on his beautiful mouth, “Whenever my dad and sisters weren’t around, she would whisper to me that I was her favorite but I couldn’t tell anyone and she’d cuddle me and tickle me until we were both laughing so hard…and then, one day, she was just gone.” Retsu watched the pain and confusion cloud his features once more as his painful past intruded upon his solace, “I tried to stop them but I couldn’t…” He looked up at Retsu with those glazed eyes like he was trying to make her understand, “He was hurting her and I tried to get him off of her but he wouldn’t stop. She was crying and screaming and telling me to run away but I couldn’t. I hit him as hard as I could but he just laughed and threw me to the ground. I was knocked out and when I woke up…my kaa-chan was gone. They were both gone and I was alone…” His voice broke and he looked away from Retsu’s pitying gaze, “I hated those men…I hated any man who could hurt a woman like that and when I grew up, I was so proud that I wasn’t like that…but now, I am. Now I’m the monster who hurts women.” He looked at Retsu once more and if she ever thought a demon couldn’t feel shame, she was wrong. She had never seen anyone more ashamed than Ichigo was right now. “I loved her, you know…and I-I hurt her…she was begging me and I didn’t stop.” His lids drifted shut as the kidou pervaded his mind and the last thing Retsu heard was a whispered, “Rukia.”
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Retsu sat heavily in the chair next to Rukia’s bed and watched the sleeping young woman. Rangiku was reclining on the nearby chaise, “Sooo…ummm…” She began shakily.
“Just don’t, Ran” Retsu said tiredly, “Forget it ever happened and so will I.” Ran nodded and gulped but didn’t say another word.
Rukia’s eyes opened and she smirked slightly when she saw her two friends hovering nearby. “You’d think I died or something the way you two are moping around.” Retsu smiled at her, “How are you feeling, dear?”
“I’m fine…your healing kidou has always been phenomenal-Not a bit of pain.” Rukia sat up with her back against the headboard and looked down at her entwined fingers, “So, did you check on Ichigo like I asked?” Retsu nodded slightly, “I did.”
“How is he?” The young demon asked quietly.
“Not good, Rukia…He was still under the influence of the Eros when I went in and he…well, he became very agitated when I mentioned you. I was afraid he was going to break free so I forced him into a deep sleep. He won’t wake up for several hours and by then-hopefully all of the drugs will be out of his system.”
Rukia closed her eyes and sighed, “I can’t believe I did this to him…he’s never going to forgive me.”
“I don’t know about that, Rukia…you can’t just turn off your feelings just because someone hurts you so I’m sure he still loves you. Where there is love…there must be forgiveness.” Retsu noticed the determined glint in Rukia’s sapphire eyes, “So what are you going to do?” she asked.
“I’m going to do the only thing I can…I’m going to tell him that I’m a demon-just like he is-and then I’m going to do everything in my power to prove to him that I’m sorry.”
“Rangiku,” Rukia barked, “I need you to go to Karakura and collect Ichigo’s sisters, Karin and Yuzu, and bring them to their new apartment.”
“But I thought since you…well, since you told them that…” Ran stuttered.
“Well, you thought wrong! I can’t make up for what I’ve done if they stay in Karakura. I have to face what I’ve done and as soon as Ichigo wakes up…I’ll face him too.”
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“Abarai Renji,” The cold, stoic voice of Kuchiki Byakuya rang out, “You had the utter temerity to strike my daughter and then you attacked her consort for defending her. Is this true?”
Renji was chained to the moist wall of the Kuchiki dungeon as he had been for the past few days. He had been given nothing to eat or drink and was simply left to contemplate what his soudaishou would do to him. When the man finally entered his dank cell, Renji felt ice cold fear shoot down his spine. “Answer me, Renji…did you do the things you stand accused of?”
“H-hai, Kuchiki-soudaishou-When I saw her defending that brat, I sort of lost it. I immediately regretted it and I know I deserved the beating her boy to- errr, her consort gave me.” The red-haired man hung his head in shame.
“You did indeed deserve a beating but tell me, how was a human able to inflict so much damage on my second in command?” Byakuya asked with real interest.
Renji looked away from his master, “He is no human, Kuchiki-sama…I’ve never seen a demon with eyes like his, but I don’t know what else he could be. He was insanely strong and he definitely had the viciousness of our kind.” Byakuya turned his back to the pitiful creature on the wall as he thought about this news. “Renji,” Said man jumped as if he’d been slapped, “You are hereby stripped of your position as fukutaicho and you are no longer a member of the Kuchiki clan. When you leave here today, I wish to never see your weak, cowardly face again and if I do, I will do you the courtesy of removing your head from your neck.” Byakuya leveled a cold stare on the broken man, “Do I make myself clear?”
“Hai, Kuchiki-sama,” Renji replied quietly.
“Excellent. Kensei…come in here please.” Renji’s heart dropped at the mention of that name. Kensei was a large, dangerous man…and he hated Renji. “Could you please show Renji what happens when a member of my clan shames himself by striking a woman and then being defeated in battle…without killing him?”
The blood-thirsty grin on the man’s face was answer enough. Byakuya left Renji in the capable hands of his most talented interrogator and walked out of the dungeon. As he made his way up the stone steps, he could hear the shrill screams of his former fukutaicho. Serves him right for hitting MY daughter, Bya Bya thought to himself. Even though the punishment was harsh, he knew he was doing Renji a kindness by not telling Hisana about this…she would’ve really tortured the man…in fact, the word man could no longer apply if you didn’t have genitalia. Byakuya shuddered at that thought and renewed his vow to never make his wife very angry.