Continued From: Righting A Wrong
As Tsukiro walked away from Kita to go look for light. Kita stopped walking. She looked at Tsukiro and sighed.
"Why did I let you talk me into this? We made a huge mistake, Tsukiro."
Tsukiro stopped and turned around to look at Kita. “I know this seems risky, but I couldn't let you stay in that cell and risk having the Central 46 execute you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I let you die if it happened.”
Kita shook her head. "I don't matter here. Its you. You risk everything. Your job. Your love life. Your future. Tsukiro if they find out you were the one that did this. Its over for you. It will be death or banishment."
Tsukiro walked up to Kita and gently took her head in his hands. He looked into her eyes sincerely. “Yes, you do matter. All of my friends matter. And even if I do lose my job, even if I can’t go back to the Shihoin palace, that doesn't mean it’s the end for me. I may bounce back one day. You never know.” He smiled sadly. “And Kaori is strong. She'll know my actions were for a good reason. She would do the same for me, just as Yoruichi did so for Kisuke. So long as there’s life in my body, it will never be over for me.”
Kita took his hands from her face shaking her head. "I can't let you do this." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I love you. And I won't let you throw away your life like that." Kita turned and walked back toward the doors that led them inside. "I am turning myself in. I am telling them this was all my idea and you had no control over it."
Tsukiro was frozen in his tracks for a brief moment at Kita’s first words. When he blinked, she was already walking out the doors. “Wh-what?! Kita! Wait! Come back! Don't do this!” Tsukiro ran after her, his mind racing.
“Did she really mean that?”
Kita shook her head as she stepped out into the stagnant air that fell around them. "I am going back." Two more steps and she turned looking at him. "I don't want you to come with me. Stay here and if it seems as if the the deal I make with them will up hold I will tell them where to find you."
Again, he stopped in his tracks. “Kita… You know it won’t. You’re all they want. They’ll tell you no and take you anyway. They’ll see me as a traitor! They’ll know I’ll do it again, and I would! They’ll kill you! You know how ruthless and merciless the 46 and Yamamoto are!”
Kita shook her head as she turned from him looking to the ground. "It doesn't matter. If no one comes for you. Run. Run as far as you can. Go to the human realm. Stay with Kisuke. They won't kill me. They're too afraid of what the Gods will do. Just like Aizen. They’re afraid of me."
“Kita, please. I’m begging you not to do this,” he took a few steps forward.
She looked to Tsukiro once more with a weak smile and stepped up to him. Her hand softly resting to his cheek. Her lips trembled as she tried to hold back her falling tears in a failed attempt.
"Go see her. Tell her why. Tell her everything so if you do have to run she will understand." She let her hand slide from his cheek as she turned once more and started walking back to the front gates.
"You will always be in my heart Tsukiro, and no matter how many times I die. I will never forget you."
Tsukiro clenched his fists, grinding his teeth together. He bowed his head down. “Then you promise me that if they refuse your deal, you run too. And they had better swear not to execute you. If you don’t… if I don’t see you tonight in my dreams…” Tsukiro looked at her with fire in his eyes. “Then I’m coming to look for you. I don’t care what happens to me. If you really love me, then promise me you won’t let anyone, not Aizen, Ulquiorra or the Soul Society do whatever they want with your life.”
Kita stopped before she reached the gates. "I can't make any promises like that. I am but a tool for the Gods. Just as I am for Aizen." She turned and smiled at him. "I do love you and I promise you will always see me in your dreams, I promise I will not let the Soul Society kill me. Other than that I can not promise any more."
His head bowed again and he sat down on the steps with a defeated sigh. “I knew you’d say something like that… I always get the stubborn ones…” He punched the wooden steps half heartedly. “Then go before I change my mind and come with you anyway.”
Kita titled her head and looked at him. "Tsukiro, please don't follow me. Promise me. Please."
Tsukiro said nothing. He only nodded slowly. He didn't even watch as she walked toward the gates.
"I'm afraid that isn't how this is going to work," a low baritone voice called out.
In a blur of pink, Captain Kyoraku dropped from his perch on the wall. He tilted back his wide-brimmed hat to look at them both directly. "As much as I like happy endings, I do have orders for the both of you, pretty Seraph." He paused. "I'm afraid you left evidence behind, kid. I have to take you in as well."
"Evidence?! What the hell do you mean evidence?! I left nothing!" Tsukiro shot to his feet and moved over to Kita's side as Kita turned and quickly saw the face of the familiar voice as Kyoraku appeared before them.
"Woah, woah," Shunsui took a step back and held his hands up in a wide, placating manner. "I don't want to have to fight ya. I'm a peace-lovin' guy, you know. Just following orders."
Tsukiro clenched his hands into fists. "What exactly is this evidence?"
Kita looked to Tsukiro gently touching his arm. "Calm down."
The captain sighed. "You dropped a photo, a photo of your family, and unfortunately, I recognized the collar around your neck."
"Impossible! I never carry such precious items with me! All of my family photographs are in my home!"
"That’s right. I’ve never seen him carry anything like that, Captain. And he had no control over this. It was all me." Kita stepped forward toward Kyoraku. "How did you find us anyway?"
"Finding you was simple enough. The photo had its own kind of clues if you knew where to look." He tilted his head at them. "Juushiro decided to take you under his wing, which meant he might get in trouble. So I kept an eye out, too. Then, you connect the dots, mainly the Stealth Force and Yoruichi-san. Finally, you let the archives fill in the blanks."
Clicking his tongue, the captain turned to the still mansion around him. "Still, we nobles keep everything about our heritage, don't we, whether it's in use or a ruin in the shadows of the old district. I haven't been in here since I was young and looking for hideouts away from the lessons of etiquette and governing. Those were the times, though the trees are even more massive now.
Shunsui sighed, getting back to business. "Even if you didn't leave the photo, someone else did and you're here with the seraph at your ancestor's house. You look pretty guilty from the eyes of Central." He lowered his head, shaking it. "Not to mention, this is a bad time for this kind of thing to happen, what with Juushiro captured on top of everything else. The bigwigs are just looking to burn someone up as an example and prove that they won't be conquered by Sousuke's power."
"But he had no control over what happen. I was the one that pulled him into the cell. You can't take him back!" Kita told him stepping closer to him. "Captain please. If you do you know what will happen to him. This is my fault. Not his. It’s me you want."
Shunsui sighed again. "I'm sorry, Kita-chan, but that's not going to fly. He didn't shout out when you pulled him in, and even the fact that you could pull him in can be used against him and you. I don't see a way out of this. Yama's not in a forgiving mood, either, unfortunately."
“Well maybe if the old bat would shut his mouth and listen instead of assuming, he would know that Kita never actually killed Hitsugaya and that Aizen can’t use her powers. They have no reason to punish her! She can’t kill! But that old man would rather kill off anything he deems a threat rather than assessing how much of a threat she actually is!”
Shunsui lowered his hat over his eyes. "There are rules that restrict even old Yama, and Central is one of those." He glanced around and then flipped his hat off. "Listen, Yama believes that the kid captain is alive. He got a rude awakening from someone and those kind of things stick. I'm not sure Kita will be sentenced considering those stakes." He shook his head again.
"But unless you can give a reason for your photo to be at the scene of Kita's escape, you kid are exactly what the old men of Central want right now, a scapegoat. You disobeyed orders directly from them and the longer it takes me to catch you, the less chance Yama has to say something in your favor, not to mention that Central will search your history, including the fact that you were close to the Yoruichi-san, which isn't a good thing in their eyes."
Tsukiro shook with rage. He knew Central 46 was twisted and arrogant, but this was ludicrous. Even more so, Yoruichi was being thrown in his face. She hadn't done anything wrong. She was only protecting Kisuke and Tessai from being unjustly imprisoned due to Sosuke Aizen’s tricks. And now they were pegging him for a traitor when he was only doing the same as her: protecting her friends.
Kita shook her head. “I can't let him go down for this. His whole life will be ruined. I pulled him into the cell. This is my fault.” She looked to Kyoraku and was about to speak, but what she was about to say was a lie. She had never lied a day in her life and a horrible feeling washed over her as she casted her eyes down. “He couldn't call out. I had control over him. I used him to break out. You can’t take him back because he will be punished for my indiscretions.” She looked quickly back up at Kyoraku. “He is innocent in all of this!”
Tsukiro cast Kita a side glance of disbelief. And to his surprise, he stayed quiet. Why was she doing this? He grit his teeth together once more. All they had been doing since they got to the mansion was pull the blame back and forth between each other. They both wanted to take the fall for each other.
Captain Kyoraku released yet another long sigh, wishing he had Juushiro at his side to help with this, and scratched his head. "Damn it all, I don't want either of you to go down for this," he groaned and sat on a boulder, setting his hand under his chin. "Let me think a moment."
Kita walked toward Kyoraku. “There is nothing to think about, Captain. I am the guilty one here. Tsukiro had nothing to do with this. Please, take me and leave Tsukiro here. If you can’t tell Yamamoto you did not find Tsukiro I will and then I will tell him what happen. Please.” Kita kneeled down in front of Kyoraku and looking into his eyes. “This is my fault.”
"Even if Kita is as good and generous as that," a wicked sing-song voice called out from the shadows, "there's no guarantee that the kid will live long enough to enjoy his bought freedom."
Tsukiro whipped around to look for the cold, calculating voice, but he saw nothing. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”
Kita quickly stood from in front of Kyoraku her hands starting to shake. “Gin!” Her voice was shaking as she looked the way of his voice. “It was you that did this! Why?!”
Captain Kyoraku stood up. One moment, he was there, the next, two blades collided. "Care to explain the meaning of that, Ichimaru?" He growled as the silver-haired reaper revealed.
"Scary~" Gin called out, still appearing unperturbed, even though one of his arms was bleeding. "It really is more difficult to stay hidden when you don't have chaos on your side." He pushed back against the eight division captain with their locked blades then broke away, silver cloak swirling around him. "It's simple really. Aizen-san wants this boy out of his way and away from Kita. This is the best solution to that." He grinned over at them. "Unless he really is seeking to die at the hand of the man who killed his beloved family members."
“So you did plant the photo?! Damn you both to hell!” Kita yelled at Gin keeping her eyes on the silver haired fox.
Tsukiro gave Gin a sneer that could only be described as wicked. “So he’s still frustrated with me? Good. He should be. And you can tell him the day I give up on Kita will be the day of my last dying breath. And believe me, it takes a hell of a lot to off me. He can take those words and eat them. No way in hell am I going to just roll over for Aizen.”
A momentary frown appeared on Gin's face at Kita's fury before it shifted back to his crooked smile. "Let me put it this way. If you're caught and removed from Soul Society, Aizen will stop obsessing over you when you're not up in his face." He shrugged. "Of course that part is up to you, as it is with Urahara. He's the reason he nearly died last fight. If he had kept his head down-"
Captain Kyoraku disappeared again, appearing behind Gin. "Most people aren't like you." He swung his blade.
Gin swiftly caught the blade again. "I take that as a compliment." He broke away and slashed at the captain, who dodged easily. "Showing defiance only gets Aizen-san angry and looking for a way to break you, but you fools never learn. I just thought I would warn ya."
Shunsui sidestepped and swung back. "It's not going to work with Juushiro, no matter how long you have him. He's made of sterner stuff than Sousuke's evil."
"Which makes him the icing on the cake, don't ya think?" Gin leapt backward and then lunged in.
Kyoraku stopped the blade with the side of his own quietly, eyes flinty.
Gin chuckled. "If I keep this up, I am going to start leaking energy out and attracting attention." He sidestepped and then jumped onto the wall.
Captain Kyoraku stepped in front of Kita and Tsukiro.
"Chase me if you want, but I'd be thinking about the boy's future." He lifted the hood of his cloak over his face and delivered his last threat. "The only way he's going to live long enough to actually get to any kind of commitment is if he chooses his priorities, and if Aizen's on them, he needs to think again." He laughed softly. "Aizen-san won't be killed," he sneered, "not by any of you." He vanished over the other side.
Kita sighed and dropped her head in defeat. “Why? If they had never found me…” She spoke quietly as a tear trickled down her cheek, she looked to Tsukiro. There was no way he could be left here now. He would have to be taken back with her. She only hoped he stayed quiet and let her take the fall for this. She reached out and took Tsukiro’s hand in her’s.
“Let’s finish this.” She told him as she stepped toward the gate once more.
Tsukiro smiled warmly grasping her hand gently but firmly in his and nodded as he followed beside her.
Shunsui sighed, sheathing his blade and joining them. "Let's go. I'll make sure you aren't handled too roughly, if I can."
To Be Continued: Coming Soon...
