38Ichigo placed the unconscious Rukia on the couch, making sure she was comfortable before turning to his brother. With some effort Ichigo managed to drag the albino down to the basement, leaving him on a small mattress in the corner. All the while, Shiro's broken neck emitted soft popping snaps as the vertebrate mended themselves. Checking to make sure the mini fridge was well-stocked, he returned back upstairs to find Rukia was gone from her place on the couch.
'…must've gone home. I hope she's well enough to make it.' Worry washed over him as he realized how close his friend had come to possibly being killed. 'If I had arrived a second later...'
With a sigh he looked down at the injury on his left arm he had received from Shiro. The skin underneath the bite marks was purple and filled with fluid, making the skin swell in a grotesque manner. Sighing again, he headed to the small room at the end of the hall. The room was mostly empty and dimly lit. Next to a dresser, a sword hung on the wall. The small chain on the hilt jingled slightly as he removed the blade from the mounted sheath. He headed to the bathroom and sighed while turning on the faucet and placing his injured arm under the flow of warm water. He hated this, but it had to be done.
Bringing the blade up to the injury, he slid it sideways carefully, wincing as the cold metal reopened the bite wound. Blood mixed with a dark purple liquid streamed down his arm before being carried down the drain. With a frown, Ichigo noticed the skin had once again healed itself, trapping more purple liquid inside and still causing it to bulge. Without a second thought he once again cut into his arm, washing away everything. He repeated the process until no violet substance remained.
From the numerous cuts made to his arm, all but one had healed and vanished as if nothing ever happened. The last cut he had made had been deeper than the rest, and was still bleeding somewhat. Grabbing some gauze from the medicine cabinet, he wrapped his arm while walking back to the living room.
Ichigo picked up the TV remote and flipped through the channels, eventually settling on watching the news.
• x x X * X x x •
Shiro's eyes snapped open to the dull, gray ceiling of the basement. Confusion instantly filled his foggy mind. 'What am I doing here? Wasn't I-' his thought was cut off as he remembered what happened. He tried to sit up but the pain in his neck stopped him. So he waited a couple minutes until he could move. Taking a few 'juice' pouches from the mini fridge, he headed upstairs and joined his brother on the couch.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
It was Shiro who broke the silence. "…How badly did I lose it?"
Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. "It wasn't pretty. But Rukia's okay."
His brother visibly relaxed. He rubbed his still sore neck and gave a light laugh. "You've gotten a lot better at doing that effectively."
Ichigo laughed a little bit too. "Practice makes perfect."
It was then that Shiro noticed the bandage on Ichigo's arm. Shiro tensed, knowing all too well what that meant. "Ichigo..."
"It's fine Shiro. I just—" his sentence was cut short as his brother tackled him, pinning Ichigo to the couch by his shoulders.
"You idiot! You promised!"
Ichigo was caught off guard by the worry and sorrow in the albino's eyes. "Shiro..."
"You promised me last time! You said it yourself, that if I ever bit you again, you would wait until someone was there with you before doing that!"
Pushing his brother off of him and sitting back up again, Ichigo smiled. Though his brother was a handful (and downright dangerous at times) he was glad Shiro cared about him and felt a small pang of guilt for breaking his promise. "Okay, I 100% promise that I will never do that again." But even as he said it, the words 'practice makes perfect' echoed through his mind. He sighed, looking at his brother. Shiro was staring much too intently at the TV; his eyes held buried pain and fear.
"What happened anyway, Shiro? Didn't the District Leader feed you?"
Shiro paused for a time. "Yes, but only when I arrived. Afterwards, well..." He abruptly stood and walked over to the desk in the corner, returning with the piece of paper with the foreign writing on it.
Ichigo stared at the letter for a few seconds, forcing his stubborn mind to translate the foreign language that it was written in. "Ichigo Kurosaki..." he read slowly and quietly, "It... has come to our attention... Gah! Shiro! You know I can't read this! Why do they even have to use that stupid 'ancient language' anyway? Just tell me what it says."
Without pausing, Shiro answered. "The Leader wants to speak with you. Something big is about to happen, and everyone want more people on their side. Stupid Yoruichi tried to enlist me into her court since I keep refusing to join a clan. I kinda stormed out and spent the last two days wandering around just trying to think."
A brief silence ensued, punctuated by Ichigo's cell phone buzzing. "Uh oh..." he said upon reading the text. "All that will have to wait. I have an urgent Council meeting to report to. And I'm pretty sure I know what it is about..."
Shiro's eyes widened. "When?"
"Right now." He stood silently, exiting the living room.
Shiro watched silently as Ichigo returned. This time carrying a black sword. Shiro wanted to say something, but realized there was nothing to say. So, he sat in silence for several seconds after his brother left before heading to his own room. He opened his closet and reached for a small box in the corner. The box itself was no bigger than his palm. He removed the lid carefully, revealing a small shard of white metal. Picking it up carefully, he winced as the still-sharpened edges bit into his fingers. He sighed as he looked at it, marveling at how the light danced beautifully off of it. After a few minutes he put it away in the corner of his closet. 'Please Ichigo... be safe.'
• x x X * X x x •
Ichigo stood in the center of one of the meeting rooms of the Council. It was an immense, cylindrical room with small alcoves set in the wall where the council members sat. The room was lit such that a person standing in the middle would not be able to make out the faces of the council members. To further the secrecy, the members in the alcove only referred to each other by the names of their swords. Ichigo found all of this utterly ridiculous as he was friends with a lot of the members and could recognize them by their voices. But rules were rules and though Ichigo himself was an honorary council member, he was not quite treated as such.
As people entered the small alcoves through doors in the backs, the room was slowly filled with the din of murmuring and shuffling about. Ichigo closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint the sounds of specific people. Instead, a different sound arose. One that sent a shiver down his spine. In the round room surrounded by people, the combined sound of their beating hearts created an amplified rhythm. Usually Ichigo refrained from focusing on this, choosing instead to push the sound to the back of his mind where it wouldn't bother him. But this room offered too good of a scenario: the people were too well spaced, acoustics too perfect, for him to ignore it. There was no way for him not to relax and let his acute hearing pick up the sound.
The sharp sound of a cane tapping ahead of him snapped Ichigo's attention forward, causing the sound of beating hearts to fade away. In the only lit alcove, Head Councilman Yamamoto sat, watching Ichigo intensely and speaking in an authoritative tone. "Are all designated council members present?" The question was met with various comments from unseen people sitting in dark alcoves.
Ichigo was certain that he heard Renji and possibly Toshiro.
Yamamoto continued, "Very well. I shall commence this meeting. Wielder of Zangetsu, Son of Isshin Kurosaki, Honorary council member, and Half-blood Vampire, Ichigo Kurosaki..."
'So much for secrecy...' Ichigo thought, but he held his tongue.
"Place your sword on the ground in front of you."
He silently obeyed, laying down the blade then taking three steps back from it.
"Thank you. Now, straight to the point. You remember the oath you took in order to became a member of this Council, correct?"
"Yes. I pledged to commit my life to the protection of mortal humans and fellow Council members against the threat of any and all supernatural powers."
"By taking such an oath, you entered a binding contract to accept our laws and customs, and respect our authority and judgment." He paused."You also agreed to take on full responsibility for the actions of your brother, Yoshiro Kurosaki, did you not?"
"I did, sir. And I have abided by the-" Ichigo spoke quietly and quickly
"Silence!" Yamamoto raised his voice slightly, Ichigo grudgingly obeyed. "A report has been filed that your brother, with malicious intent, attacked and harmed a defenseless civilian. His actions have deviated from the acceptable law. What do you have to say about this, Ichigo Kurosaki?"
Ichigo had guessed that Shiro's behavior was the reason for this meeting, but he still felt his his jaw set with anger at the Head Councilman. Another question arose in his mind. "Who reported this?"
Yamamoto was silent, then started to speak. "That information is not of relevance to the current—"
"I did," a voice interrupted from an alcove to Ichigo's left. The voice was smooth and aloof sounding, a mixture that instantly didn't sit right with Ichigo.
In the silence that followed, Ichigo noticed the person's heartbeat: slow, quiet, collected. Ichigo knew that, whoever was there, they were a powerful elite hunter. Ichigo wasn't sure why, but this person set him on edge. He noticed just in time that he had released his fangs in defense and quickly retracted them before asking, "Who are you?"
"Senbonzakura."
Ichigo turned his attention back to Yamamoto. "The girl is Rukia Kuchiki, sixteen years old, a classmate of mine. I invited her over to my house to work on a school project. Had I known my brother was home and starving, I would have met with Rukia elsewhere. She slipped and received a slight concussion and while helping her up, my brother went into a minor blood frenzy. She merely scratched her hand on a corner of a desk."
The Captain was silent for some time, eyes closed in thought. "You arrived late, it seems."
Anger welled up inside the teen. "I arrived in time to save her and subdue Shiro before he did any lasting damage."
"But damage was still done. Your brother poses a powerful threat to those around him. If you cannot handle taking care—"
"Shiro is not a threat!" Ichigo snapped, his voice echoing in the cylindrical room. He was pushing his temper, his anger exciting his thirst as the sound of everyones' hearts once again reached his ears.
"What happened to your arm?" Senbonzakura's voice asked from one of the shadowed alcoves.
"Nothing of relevance or concern." Ichigo stated, wanting to get out before he did something that he would later regret.
Yamamoto broke the tense silence. "Very well. I shall let your behavior and the actions of your brother, Yoshiro Kurosaki, off with a warning. Just remember your pledged duty to the council. You must keep your brother in check. If he breaks the rules set by the council, we have no choice but to eliminate him. Do you understand?"
Ichigo responded with a quiet "Yes sir".
"These rules also apply to you. You may be recognized as a Council member, but you are still a half-blood and therefore a potential threat. Do not forget that. You are dismissed."
Without another word, Ichigo grabbed his sword and left immediately.
Second chapter up, huzzah! Not much I have to say about this chapter. Sorry it wasn't very action-packed. Next chapter will have more happening.
Special thanks to amulet1412 for beta-reading and editing.
Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo
Thank you for reading! Comments, critiques, and questions are always appreciated.