The Pact

Jyuushiro shot a brief glance at Renji, who was sitting wide eyed and slightly open mouthed at what the Empress elect of the Amazon had just told them concerning her unwillingness to let him go back to Soul Society. This could get tricky and dangerous, he thought to himself. For the most part the Amazon and Soul Society avoided conflict with one another, circling but never engaging much like a wolf and a mountain lion because the damage they could inflict on one another would be astronomical. The Amazon’s ability to soul shatter alone was worth being very cautious of angering them. The shattered soul of any individual was daunting as the pieces often spun off into madness at very least; other portions of shattered souls had been known to become hollows. Even worse were the ones who’d had spiritual power in life because those were usually brilliant, calculating, totally insane and extremely dangerous, to the point they had to be given over to much higher powers to deal with.



If the older shinigami captain’s thoughts were whirling it was nothing to the maelstrom going on inside of Renji’s head. Why was she defending and trying to protect him? No one else had in his entire existence. Why the hell did she care that much, he wondered. He was just . . . just him, not anything special. Sure as hell not special enough for an Empress to be to risking her entire kingdom for. Rukia hadn’t even looked back when she’d been adopted into the Kuchiki clan and he’d known her since the dawn of forever. So why would this person whom he barely knew inform Ukitake Taicho that she wasn’t going to let him go back because she thought they’d mistreated him? He ran both hands through his unbound hair, Amaterasu had burned his hair band so he couldn’t use it again, and wondered what other shocks she had in store.



Amaterasu sat watching the flicker of emotions cross Renji’s expressive face. Shock, confusion, doubt and chagrin ran in rapid succession. Along with those came more memories and glimpses of the past. Her eyes narrowed when thoughts of a very small brunette woman crossed his mind. The one who’d left him after being adopted into a noble family. The one he’d always tried to prove himself worthy of and who’d never given him a second glance as anything other than friend. The one who had broken his heart over and over again without realizing it or caring. Her hands twitched, wanting the other woman in the sights of her arrows or within arms reach. She’d happily throttle her with her bare hands, soul reaper or not. The little wretch had better hope to any and every god she had ever served that Amaterasu never got her hands on her because if she did there wouldn’t be enough left of her to bury.



The tension in the room was broken by one of the lower ranking officers knocking lightly at the door, almost as though they didn’t want to be heard.



“Come!”



The young woman who came in looked utterly and completely terrified, pale and shaking as she nervously wiped her palms against the uniform tunic.



Nyx looked at her steadily, waiting for a report, word, something. She finally lost her patience after a few moments of silence and sweating from the younger woman.



“Well?” she barked, causing the subordinate to nearly jump out of her skin.



“Ah, yes. Ah, Commander, ma’am, uh, we . . . that is to say . . . the guard set to . . . and your daughter was with the Quincy . . . and well . . .”



Nyx sighed and held up a hand. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. You somehow managed to lose my brat.”



“Ah, well, that is . . . uh, yes, ma’am.”



“How the hell do trained soldiers manage to lose a six year old girl?” Amaterasu demanded.



Nyx shot her a dubious look. “Have you met your niece?”



***



Uryuu blinked and used one hand to shade his eyes from the sudden glare of sunlight in the clearing. There seemed to be some kind of festival taking place. Shocking his sensibilities was the fact that many of the people were wandering around in various stages of undress. He tried looking politely away but it seemed that everywhere he glanced there were more unclothed people. One woman in particular was completely naked save for the large and heavy looking necklace she was wearing and a pair of leather lace up boots. Then there were the tattoos covering almost every inch of exposed skin. Frighteningly enough she was who Cyan immediately headed toward.



“Mor’gan, Mor’gan!” she said, bouncing and waving, dragging Uryuu’s stunned, mildly horrified and thoroughly embarrassed form in her wake.



The woman turned slightly and started making her way through the crowd to them. Uryuu noticed there was suddenly a path between them and the woman, some people had actually dived sideways to get out of her way. Interesting, he thought; he hadn’t seen a reaction like that since watching Kenpachi plow through a crowd. The woman immediately scooped Cyan up and set her on one shoulder before turning her head a little and calling “Bri! The hell child is here!”



She turned her head again and looked Uryuu over as though considering the finer merits of a good horse or hunting dog. Uryuu shoved his glasses up and tried not to fidget because he had a very bad feeling that showing weakness to this woman would be a mistake of epic proportions.



“Hmmm. Pretty baby. Smart, well bred, not much of a fighter though,” she said, studying him even more closely.



Uryuu did start to fidget then and get annoyed. “I’m hardly some slave on the block to have their merits and detriments listed for the crowd to hear, madam. I most certainly don’t appreciate being appraised as though I’m a piece of meat.” To his surprise the woman laughed.



“And he has a backbone too. I’ve not taken on slaves for ages I’ll have you know, boy. Unless they’re of the sexual variety,” she said, grinning while Uryuu turned roughly the shade of a cherry tomato. “He’s adorable, Cy, where’d you find him?”



“Him and his dad got kidnapped by Alexa cause they’re Quincy and there’s something Mama called a pact with them and the Amazon. What’s a pact mean, Mor’gan?”



“It basically means a promise or in this case I’d imagine a contract of sorts,” said another woman, coming up next to them and taking Cyan.



“Gramma!” Cyan squealed, hugging the woman hard.



“You aren’t supposed to come here alone, Cyan. You know that,” the woman said very seriously.



“Didn’t. Uryuu came with me.”



“Albeit reluctantly,” Uryuu mumbled.



“Cyan,” the woman said warningly.



“But Gramma, I wanted to see the fight and Mama said I could if someone went with me and since Uryuu was with me that meant I could come. I wanted Mama to come with me but she’s busy with Aunt Ama and they’re doing boring stuff like meeting with someone so they can take Renji, Ichigo and Sado back and I don’t want them to go back because Renji’s fun and so are the others but they don’t really belong there Mama says. I don’t like it there because Mama is always working and there’s only girls to play with and I like playing with boys better and there aren’t any boys there and it’s just weird and I’m bored.”



“Well, I guess that answers that, Bri,” the woman Cyan called Mor’gan said. “More or less.”



“Doubtlessly. Why don’t you take Cyan to the food tables while I have a talk with this young man for a few moments, Morrigan.”



“Sure. Come on, brat. We’ll go see how the kings are doing after we eat.”



“Cool!”



They started off with Cyan talking a mile a minute with her hand tucked firmly into the woman’s. It was definitely an odd sight to Uryuu.



“I think that perhaps proper introductions should be made first,” the woman said, turning to Uryuu. “My name is Brighd and as you’ve no doubt understood I’m Cyan’s grandmother.”



Uryuu nodded though he was somewhat dubious of that fact. This woman looked as though she wasn’t much older than Nyx. She smiled, no doubt reading the expression on his face.



“You, of all people, should know there are things in the world that most “normal” people do not see for the simple fact they do not wish to,” she said.



“That is true. My name is Ishida Uryuu,” he said, bowing to her.



“Japanese?”



“Yes.”



“Interesting. I thought your society was homogeneous.”



“It is. My father, friends and I seem to be somewhat of an anomaly there.”



“I see. Do you know where you are, Uryuu?”



“Honestly, I have no clue, madam.”



She smiled a little. “How much do you know about mythology?”