The Pact

Oh, the bitches were going to pay and pay dearly for this, Ryuuken thought. Not only had they stripped him completely, they’d sealed his powers and chained him down to the floor on his knees in this filthy outhouse of a cell. He’d been groped and pawed by more women in five minutes than he ever had in his entire life. The whole incident had left him feeling unclean at best.



He knew who’d brought him here accused of not honoring the pact. He’d honored it, damn it. It was a one shot deal and she knew it just as well as he did. Bitch wasn’t getting away with it. He’d strangle her with his bare hands if he had to but she wasn’t getting away with it.



The door to the little cell opened.



“Well, think of the devil and she appears,” he said, looking at her as though she was something that needed to be scraped off of the bottom of his shoes.



“Charming as ever I see, Ryuuken,” she said, leaning in the doorway.



“Pray tell me why I’m here. Accused as a traitor for not honoring the pact no less. You have what you wanted as per the stipulations of the contract. I have no more obligations to you or your people, Desaria.”



She tilted her head to study him for a moment. “Perhaps not. But you do have obligations to your son.”



“My son is none of your business,” he ground out.



“Oh, but he is. As head of the Quincy line it was your responsibility to tell him about the pact. Since you didn’t, well, that’s the reason you’re in the position you are currently.”



“You jest. I’m accused of treason for not telling Uryuu about this nonsense?” he asked, sounding incredulous.



She moved away from the door and walked around him several times before kneeling behind him, putting her chin on his shoulder.



“It isn’t nonsense, Ryu. We take it very seriously, in fact. As you well know. Don’t worry. I know your Uryuu is stubborn. He couldn’t help but be since he’s yours. But I’m sure he and my daughter will be getting very well acquainted soon,” she purred into his ear.



“Damn it, Des, do you know how sick that is?”



“Not that daughter, silly man. The one he was always supposed to be with.”



“She’s eight years older than he is. He’s barely twenty.”



“That hardly matters, does it, Ryu? Men have to be educated in the ways of women. That’s why the Quincy were always paired with those who were a bit older, to learn. Uryuu strikes me as someone who likes to learn. And my daughter has a certain . . . weakness for men with dark hair and blue eyes. I think they’ll come together naturally without any prodding. He looks like you, you know. Hardly surprising. After all, I know for a fact that you tend to produce beautiful children.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Pleasant dreams, dear. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said before getting up and walking to the door. She turned back and looked him over. “You know, you’ve aged very well. I might convince the high council to just let me keep you as a pet, Ryuuken.”



“I don’t think you’d find me a very good pet, Des.”



“Perhaps not. But I do know a few things that you are good at,” she said, closing the door behind her.



***



“If we know where they are why can’t we just go and get them back?” Orihime asked, looking around at everyone in Urahara’s shop.



“It isn’t that simple, Orihime,” Rukia said. “Their inter-dimensional gates only operate one way. They can only be opened from the inside and have to be closed from the inside. That’s how they’ve kept themselves isolated from the rest of the world for so long. Plus, we have no jurisdiction over them. They’re law unto themselves.”



“Still,” Urahara said thoughtfully. “They did take a shinigami against his will. That would mean that the soul society can get involved in this if only for Renji’s sake and possibly Ichigo’s since he’s a substitute soul reaper. Could probably pull Sado out on the grounds that he shouldn’t have been taken in the first place. But as far as Uryuu is concerned . . . I don’t know. The pact the Quincy made with them makes things difficult. If I had a copy of the actual contract I might be able to come up with something. Since I don’t and the likelihood of me getting my hands on one is minimal . . .”



“We can’t just leave Uryuu there! Who knows what’s happening to him!” Orihime squealed.



***

At that particular moment Uryuu was wishing he could slide under the table and disappear. Nyx had led them into a small dining room with food already set out for them. The meal was neither small nor grand but it was good and he’d been starving. Therein lay the vast majority of the problem. Everyone else had been hungry too. Sado was eating like he knew what a fork was used for but the other two were a different matter all together. They’d been shoveling food into their faces so fast he was stunned that neither one of them had managed to choke yet.



He finally had enough and kicked Ichigo under the table.



“Ow! What the hell was that for, Uryuu?”



“Could you please try to eat like you weren’t raised by wolves?”



Renji snorted with laughter and Ichigo gave him a withering glare. “I don’t see you doing much better, Renji.”



“Hah! I didn’t stuff a whole dinner roll in my mouth at once either,” Renji shot back.



The bickering across the table began in earnest then. Nyx turned to look at Sado, who was sitting on her right hand side.



“Are they always like this?” she asked.



He chewed thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing and answering her. “No. Usually they’re worse.”



“Dear gods.”



The quarreling was brought to a screeching halt by a little voice saying “Mama?”



Everyone watched as a girl around five years old padded into the room wearing purple footie pajamas and carrying a stuffed dog. None of them would have been staring quite so hard if the little girl hadn’t had straight black hair to the middle of her back and eyes the color of sapphires. She wandered over to Nyx and promptly planted herself in her lap.



“You should be in bed,” Nyx said.



“I had bad dreams, Mama,” the little girl said, shivering a little and burying her face into her mother’s shoulder. “I tried not to be scared.”



“That’s okay, sweetie. It’s all right to be scared sometimes.”



“You’re not scared.”



“Of course I’m scared. I’m scared of lots of things.”



“What?” the little girl asked, looking doubtful.



“Well, I’m kind of scared of snakes. I’m scared of water because I can’t swim very well. I’m scared if one of the gates closes too fast I’ll get squished.”



The little girl giggled. “What else?”



“I’m scared of your aunt Ama’s singing.”



The little girl giggled harder. “Everybody’s scared of that, Mama.”



“For good reason. Come on, let’s get you back to bed,” Nyx said, standing up. “If you gentlemen will excuse me for a few minutes.”