Finding Home

Warning this is yaoi which means boy x boy action, if you don’t like don’t read.



AN: People must have really liked that last chapter it even brought a new reviewer out of the woodwork not to mention 2 more ratings. I guess I write better when I’m falling down sick with a cold. Glad you are enjoying the story remyjames. LOL Darkephoenix that’s kinda funny. I think its an awesome name. I wanted a name that wasn’t too western but at same time not asian. Jennifer, you know I wont hurt him too bad seeing as I’ve already taken him as low as he can go emotionally. Renji to the rescue was my train of thinking ^.~ I suck at writing action so I do apologize in advance.



Finding Home



Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

While loving someone deeply gives you courage.

~ by Lao Tzu ~



Chapter Twelve



Renji glanced up the hill to see Izuru wandering off towards a wooded area. Renji began to make his way off the field when a hand grabbed his arm.



“Let him be. He probably needs time to himself. You don’t have to be a mother hen around him.” said Rukia, releasing Renji’s arm and walking over to Ichigo. Renji followed her with his eyes. Just how much about him and Izuru did she really know. The girl was just too insightful for her own good.



“The Hollows have been suspiciously quiet lately.” commented Ishida as he walked up beside Renji. “It’s the quiet before the storm.”



“Ya think something is brewing?” asked Renji his full attention now focused on the Quincy.



“Maybe, its hard to tell. Since Soul Society did that clean up in Hueco Mundo, no Arrancar or higher level Hollow has come into the Living World.” said Ishida as he took a sip from his bottle of water. Glancing around, the young Quincy seemed unsettled. There was a charge in the air that they all could sense but couldn’t precisely decipher.



“I’ve noticed a large decrease in the amount of souls in the area as well. They are either hiding or something is preying on them. Either way it unsettles me.” said Ishida tossing his empty bottle into the trashcan and leaving Renji to join the others. The park suddenly seemed to get silent. No birds chirped no children laughed. Perfect silence. Everyone stopped their conversations to glance around nervously. A roar sounded off in the distance.



“It’s a Hollow.” yelled Ichigo as he ran for his bag which contained his substitute shinigami medal. Rukia and Renji both shed their gigai and took off towards the sound. Orihime, Ishida, Chad, and Tatsuki followed closely behind.



“Tatsuki, please wait here.” asked Orihime



“But….” Tatsuki began.



“Please, just stay here.” With those words Orihime took off after her teammates. Renji pointed towards the small path when he sensed the faint trail of Izuru’s reiatsu.



“Izuru went that way!” exclaimed Renji and he doubled his efforts to reach the area from where the Hollow’s reiatsu was radiating. Renji gasped as he felt Wabisuke’s pulse of power. Izuru had released his zanpakuto. The situation must be dire indeed. Izuru almost never releases Wabisuke usually preferring to rely more on Kidou. Renji, Rukia and Ichigo came across Izuru’s gigai about half way down the path.



“He’s that way.” called Ichigo as he raced through the foliage that had been trampled by the massive Hollow, Renji and Rukia close behind. Upon entering the small clearing, the trio looked on in dismay as Izuru was crushed beneath the large foot of the Hollow. The blonde shinigami crying out before going silent. The creature was massive and Renji and Rukia gasped. Izuru hadn’t stood a chance taking on such a creature. That size of Hollow would take at least two, possibly three, shinigami to bring it down. That was when Rukia noticed Cyan huddled near Izuru, tears rolling down her plump cheeks.



“He was protecting that soul.” Rukia pointed out. Renji was beyond listening. That creature had dared attack Izuru and crush him like an unwanted toy. Time to play.



“Howl, Zabimaru.” roared Renji and the pulse of energy that was released as Zabimaru’s shape altered to reveal the long serrated edges of his blade. The release drew the attention of the Hollow. It released another roar.



“More…..shini…….gami.” it growled and stepped away from Izuru to turn towards the newcomers. Renji noticed that the mask of the Hollow was partially burned, probably from a Kidou spell. Izuru had always favored Kidou above swordsmanship. The Hollow also appeared to be dragging it’s long right arm slightly.



‘Looks like Wabisuke got a hit after all.’ grinned Renji to himself. The creature let loose roar and began to amble towards the three shinigami. Cyan took that moment to rush to Izuru’s side now that the attention of the monster was averted. He had saved her from the monster but he was in bad shape. He was unconscious. Blood bubbled from his mouth and he his breath came in a odd gurgling sounds. Tears began to fall even heavier. He was going to die and it was all her fault. Cyan looked upon the battle with sad eyes. Strange people were fighting the monster. Could they be friends of the kind man that had attempted to defend her.



“Ichigo!” yelled Orihime as one clawed hand slammed the teen into a tree.



“I’m fine, get over to Kira. He’s hurt bad.” yelled Ichigo before stabbing Zangetsu into the hand that pinned him. Orihime nodded and ran towards the fallen man.



“Shuno! Ayame! Soten Kisshun, I reject.” Two tiny fairies flew from Orihime’s hair pins.



“Oh this looks bad.” commented Ayame before taking her place beside the wounded man. Activating their powers, the two tiny creatures enveloped Izuru in a glowing light while Orihime directed their healing. Sweat beaded on Orihime’s forehead. Izuru’s injuries were extremely bad. If she had been even a few more moments later in healing him, he would have died. Orihime could heal anything from the point of death, but once death occurred there was nothing she could do. A fail safe the powers that be had given her more than likely to prevent her from becoming too powerful.



“Is he going to be alright?” whispered Cyan to the other girl. Orihime wished she could comfort the girl but remained silent, all of her attention focused on Izuru’s injuries. Mistakes were not an option at this point. The work required to heal his broken body requiring all of her attention.



The battle raged on behind them. Renji flung his weapon towards the Hollow, the serrated edges tearing through its hard flesh. The creature swung its uninjured arm towards Renji, forcing him to retract the blade and jump away. ‘The son of a bitch is strong.’ thought Renji as he took a step back. Ichigo attacked from above taking a slice of the hollow with Zangetsu. The Hollow avoided the attack and countered with an upward stroke of his claws . Ichigo barely avoided having his head sliced open.



“Its strong.” commented Ichigo to Renji when he landed a few feet away. Renji simply nodded. It was rare for such a strong Hollow to be found in the Living World. These types usually had weaker servants that brought souls to them to eat. That such a creature was in this world was baffling.



“The fucker is gonna pay for hurting Izuru.” growled Renji as he took an attack stance.



“What the hell is up with you and Kira?” asked Ichigo, noticing the killing intent that radiated not only from Renji but from Zabimaru as well. He had never seen Renji so worked up.



“Later.” said Renji. Propelling Zabimaru in again, this time with so much force the Hollow was forced to take a few steps back before he was able to gain his balance again. Roaring with anger it swiped clawed hands towards the two men. Both brought their weapons up to deflect the attack.



“Some No Mai, Tsukishiro” called Rukia. A huge white circle formed around the feet of the Hollow. It looked down at its appearance. The Hollow was slow moving and had no time to react before everything in the circle froze upward. The tall circular pillar seemed to extend all the way towards the heavens. Ichigo took that as his cue. Gathering all his reiatsu into his blade, Ichigo released it in a slash of power.



“Getsuga Tensho” yelled Ichigo, as a crescent shaped burst of energy shot forth from Zangetsu. The attack split the pillar of ice formed from Rukia’s ‘dance’. For a moment the ice stood there. Slowly the remaining pieces began to crumble until all that remained was a pile of ice. Ichigo and Renji were left panting. Though not an impossible fight for three capable shinigami. That Izuru had taken on the creature alone, shocked them. Both men looked over to where Orihime continued to work on their fallen comrade.



Renji was the first to reach them and falling to his knees next to Izuru. He could only watch in silence as Orihime slowly healed the wounded Izuru. Chad and Ishida ran up to the others, Izuru’s gigai tucked beneath one of Chad’s arms. The two humans had wisely kept their distance, realizing that this fight was not their’s to participate in. Better to keep a cautious eye than to be a distraction in battle.



“How is he?” asked Rukia.



“I’m almost finished.” ground out Orihime. This healing was beginning to take its toll on her. Her arms were beginning to shake and sweat was beaded on her forehead and upper lip. After a few more tense moments, the light faded and Orihime collapsed against Rukia.



Izuru moaned and began to stir. Renji pulled him tightly into his arms, not caring about the audience that was watching. Renji buried his face in Izuru’s neck and breathed in his scent. Izuru simply lifted his arms and clutched at Renji.



“What the fuck were you thinking?” Renji yelled as he pulled back. Panic and fear now turning to anger. Izuru was a smart shinigami and a fukutaicho. He should have been able to ascertain the level of the Hollow. What reason could he have had for taking on such a strong Hollow alone.



“The child?” asked Izuru, suddenly reminded of what had occurred.



“I’m here.” came a timid voice from nearby. Stepping out of the shadows was Cyan, her plump cheeks streaked with tears. “Thank you so much for helping me.” she said with a bow. Standing Izuru walked over to her. His body ached and all he wanted was to sleep but he needed to do this first.



“Would you like to go somewhere that you are safe?” asked Izuru as he knelt down beside the little soul.



“Where?” she asked looking up into his eyes. They were such gentle eyes that carried a hint of sadness. The girl nodded, any place was better than the fear that being here gave. If the kind man said it was a good place then she was alright with it.



“Its called Soul Society. Its where all souls go after they have finished living here.” answered Izuru, his slender hand grasping Wabisuke. It had been a very long time since he had last performed a Konso. Wabisuke thrummed with a gentle aura and the girl relaxed. Flipping the zanpakuto so that the base was facing the girl, the base began to glow with a soft light. Tapping the girl on the forehead with the glowing base, Izuru watched as her body shimmered and began to fade. The shimmering orb that remained flitted around Izuru once before ascending towards the heavens.



“A fine Konso.” remarked Rukia, before relinquishing her hold on Orihime as Chad lifted the weakened girl in his arms. Orihime relaxed in the embrace too tired to do anything but lay there limply.



“Thank you, Orihime.” said Izuru to the girl. She simply smiled and began to doze in Chad’s arms.



“I think I had better go check on Tatsuki and erase her memory.” said Rukia as she trotted out of the clearing and back towards the worried Tatsuki.



“Looks like this day of fun is over.” said Ichigo with a sigh. “Too bad too, I was hoping for a rematch against you.”



“Anytime, asshole.” Renji shot back at him. Izuru smiled. Both were completely exhausted but still had enough energy to spar verbally. Pulling himself into the gigai left by Chad, Izuru moaned as the aches that he was feeling in his natural body transferred over to the gigai. Leaning weakly against Renji as the exhaustion coupled with having his reiatsu suppressed took its hold on him. Renji pulled him close and lead him back to where Rukia, Uryu, and Tatsuki were cleaning up, Chad already having left with Orihime. Pulling on his gigai, Renji waved farewell to the others and led the exhausted Izuru home.



TBC



AN: As always I hope everyone enjoyed this installment of Finding Home. Feel free to comment on it I always like to see reviews. Until next time.