It seemed chaos would plague Seiretei for a long time to come. The Central 46 had been assassinated. Three prominent captains had turned out to be traitors and fled to the elusive Hueco Mundo, leaving nothing but shambles and disarray in their wake. The Sougyoku had been destroyed and the Hougyoku, an artifact of insane power, had been claimed by the traitors. A vice-captain struggled between life and death, with fate more uncertain than ever. And now, a second vice-captain had gone missing.

No-one had seen Kira Izuru in more than ten days. The blonde vice-captain seemed to have vanished into thin air, with no trace or clue as to where he might have gone. The third division had been in an uproar ever since. Several other divisions had been searching high and low, with seemingly no success.

Until…

 

“Rukongai…?”

Hisagi narrowed his eyes as he scanned the rest of the report. “District 69?” he muttered, his brows knitting together in a deep frown. “Kira, why would you…?”

The report was inconsistent to say the least. According to it, several members of the 9^th division had seen someone resembling to the missing vice-captain in the 69^th district of Rukongai. Hisagi sighed, making the small candle set on the desk before him flicker and cast strange shadows on the wall. Word of this would surely reach the other divisions soon enough – and if they acted brashly, there was a high risk that they would lose Kira again.

There was no time to waste. He had to act on his own before it would be too late.

 

As he sped towards his goal, his long, gray cloak billowing behind him, Hisagi let his thoughts wander. District 69. A small, but decadent place, with crumbling shacks and dishearten denizens who hid their misery underneath fake smiles. It was a strange coincidence that Kira had chosen to take shelter in the very place that Hisagi had come to loathe throughout the years. The numbers etched in his skin were a vivid reminder of this place. He had grown up here. He had sworn never to set foot here again.

But that was then. Now, he had too important a task at hand to consider his own wants. He had to find a comrade. He had to sway him. He had to show him that there was more to living than being someone else’s complacent marionette. And for the sake of his fellow Shinigami – his friend – he prayed to whatever deity would be kind enough to listen that he would succeed.

 

Hisagi came to a sudden stop and pulled back the hood of his cloak. Sure enough, the place hadn’t changed much from the way he recalled it to be. If anything, the buildings looked slightly more derelict, and the stench of decay in the air had grown slightly thicker. As always at such a late hour at night, there was no soul in sight.

There was, however, a faint trace of spiritual energy, which Hisagi immediately recognized as being Kira’s. Strange enough, the trail lead off to the dark forests surrounding the district, and Hisagi followed it, letting out just a hint of his own reiatsu to let the other know that he was coming. Kira’s reiatsu vanished right away. Hisagi let out a small sigh, turned around and headed off into the woods.

 

After more than an hour of wandering around, the searched had turned up nothing. Hisagi leaned his back against a tree trunk, wincing as he felt a few splinters cut through the thick fabric of his cloak, and rubbed his temples as he pondered what to do next. Kira was around here, somewhere; that, at least, was unquestionable. Still, the vice-captain of the third division was quite an elusive prey. He’d find him though. He had to. If anything--

“What are you doing here?”

The small, but determined voice made Hisagi snap out of his thoughts and instinctively reach for his zanpaku-to before recognizing the all-too-familiar silhouette that had seemingly appeared out of thin air.

The man standing before him looked nothing like the vice-captain he had come to know. In a matter of days, Kira had changed nearly beyond recognition. His long, blonde hair fell in greasy locks about his face, his eyes were wide open and had a dangerous glint to them and his entire frame seemed to tremble. Still, his voice was steady as he spoke next, “What do you want from me, Shuuhei?”

Hisagi swallowed, feeling his throat go suddenly dry. He hardly ever felt at loss, but this time everything depended on what he would say next. The slim vice-captain seemed quite easy to overpower, but even so, this was a dangerous game. If he restrained Kira and brought him back to Soul Society as he was now, there was no telling how it would affect his already shattered mind. Deciding against this option, Hisagi straightened up. “I was… worried about you,” he said finally.

It felt strange to state one’s feelings so bluntly, but it seemed to do the trick. Kira’s shoulders slumped slightly. “Why?” His voice shook slightly.

“Because…” Hisagi’s voice trailed off. What could he have said? “Because I didn’t want you to hurt yourself just because your puppet master decided to drop the strings.”

Hisagi felt a strong urge to slap his forehead even before the last word left his mouth. Kira took a step back as though stricken by a blow and raised his hands to his face, his fingers trembling violently.

“I… he’s… gone!” he stammered. “Gone… Why? After everything… after everything I’ve done for him… I did everything! Everything! And still… why? Why?” The last word came out as a strangled cry as Kira dropped to his knees, his face buried in his hands, his shoulders shaking. “Why…?” he repeated more softly, his voice strained.

“Kira…”

I shouldn’t have said it. Fuck. Fuck. He’d done it despite himself. And now, he had a broken, sobbing wreck of a man to bring back from the precipices of madness. How he’d do that was a prominent mystery.

Unless…

No. That would never—

Yes it would. It had to.

Slowly, cautiously, Hisagi approached the sobbing vice-captain. It felt weird, and for a second he wondered whether he, too, had lost all traces of sanity. Kira seemed oblivious to his approach, still crying, still lost. Hisagi dropped to his knees next to him and put his hands around his shoulders, pulling him into a light embrace. “Ssh… It’s all right. It’s going to be all right.”

“How? How could it ever be all right, with – with him gone?”

“He’s not everything in this world.”

 

Kira looked up, tears hanging from his long lashes, his expression utterly confused. “He’s… not?”

Hisagi ran his fingers through Kira’s matted hair and leaned in closer. “No. He’s definitely - not.”

And then, before either men realized it, they were kissing – timidly at first, both drinking in the new sensations, then wildly, passionately, shaky hands rummaging over the rough material of their robes and then underneath, ravaging, caressing, until nothing made sense any more…

 

…It was much later.

“You don’t have to worry about him any more. I’ll protect you.”

Kira nuzzled in closer, feeling the warmth of the other’s body, enjoying it. “From him?”

Hisagi wrapped his arms around his newfound lover’s chest, pulling him into a close embrace, feeling his body shiver in response.

“From anyone.”