One Last Run

OOC:: This story is being posted by me on behalf of a friend, LuccaMichael, whose intellectual property this work of fiction is. Also..Read and Review please!


Over the sound of classical music, the teakettle boiling, and the noise from the street floating in the windows, Uryuu Ishida couldn't figure out the odd chirping sound. A sound made by not by crickets, but some electronic device somewhere in the living room. He searched the flat surfaces first, then the television, the floor, and the bookshelves. Finally he found it, tucked down between sofa cushions when he sat down to put on his shoes to leave the house. Niki's phone. And the hospital had been trying to call. He sighed and walked through the house to Niki's bedroom, figuring his son had come in after he'd gone to bed...

When he opened the door, Niki was indeed there, tangled in the cotton sheets, his body curled protectively around Kara's...her nail marks still red down his back. They probably hadn't been asleep long, and Uryuu was pretty sure Niki hadn't expected to be called in to the trauma unit today. Reluctantly, he touched his son's damp shoulder, gently interrupting the dream that had him talking in his sleep. Dark eyelashes and black hair a sharp contrast to pale skin, and as they opened, the beautiful sapphire blue eyes sought out his father's. The one thing Uryuu HAD to admit...his son was incredibly beautiful...Strong, intelligent, more open than his father had been, with a wit sometimes more cutting than Ryuuken's...Like his father and grandfather, he had chosen medicine as his life....as well as the Quincy tradition. "It's the hosptial, Niki." He reluctantly handed his son the phone. "I can wait, and if you need to go in, we'll go together."

"Thanks, Dad." Niki nodded and redialed the phone, stretching out and trying to push the sleepiness out of himself. The one person in his life he believed in and trusted was his father. Uryuu would never interrupt his privacy unless something was important, nor would he interrupt Uryuu's. He talked momentarily to the nurse on the line and sat up, rubbing at his eyes. "I guess I do have to go. Do I have time for a shower?"

Uryuu nodded. "Yes. I'll call your grandfather, let him know I'm going to be late. I'll get something for those scratch marks, too. You really should play a little less rough, Niki. One of these days, she's going to really hurt you." He couldn't keep a stern face, though, grinning a little. Niki and Kara had been together for a little over a year, usually meeting at the house. It was kind of a relief that he'd found a woman and stayed with her, unlike his college days when he'd done more than a bit of experimenting. Though he had to admit, he'd liked Niki's boyfriend...and the man had been wild for the tall, beautiful young intern. Sometimes, he would believe that the truth in Niki's sex life lay in the middle, simply needing and wanting whoever needed and wanted him. "Got a clean uniform?"

Niki had gotten up and started for the bathroom, grabbing a robe. "I've got scrubs in the basket by my dresser, that'll work. Tell Ryuuken hello for me."

"Don't bait the man this early in the morning." Uryuu chuckled. Thinking of the boyfriend had reminded him of the whole thing with Ryuuken when he found out his grandson was probably bisexual. It was a wonder the normally controlled man hadn't gone into some sort of heart attack. Especially when Niki hadn't told him, but had purposely placed himself and his boyfriend in a situation where Ryuuken HAD to come across them necking by his car in the parking deck. Sublety was not in NIki's vocabulary when it came to his grandfather. He'd watched in horror one day when a teenage Niki had pulled ginrei kojyaku on his grandfather and challenged him during a verbal fight between him and Uryuu, a skill neither of them had known he had. He was as strong as he was beautiful. And lethal. Where Uryuu had doubts and questions, Niki had none. His penance for the souls he took were the lives he saved in the trauma center. And nothing mattered more in his life than the love and friendship he shared with his father.

He showered quickly, dressed, and all but ran to the door to put on his tennis shoes. Uryuu had made him some coffee and he grabbed his jacket, dropping a few drops of saline into each eye from a small bottle to wet his contacts. He'd broken down and gotten them after a patient high on drugs had kicked him in the face and dug his ruined glasses into his nose and eyes when he was an intern. As the walked out the door, Niki made sure he had his wallet and keys. "Let me guess, when you called the old man, he wasn't surprised. The Chief of Surgery and the Chief of Emergency Medicine had to be at work today because he decreed it."

"You've got a staff meeting at 10, and one of your docs is down because of a brawl that occured this morning, got stabbed with a pair of scissors that penetrated his liver. He's alright, but Ryuuken decided you needed to take up the slack yourself. Did you do something to anger your grandfather again?"

Niki pushed the black hair out of his eyes and shrugged as they walked, hugging his father. "Yeah, I decided to level with him. He's a cheap old bastard who refuses to keep up to date with our equipment and procedures in the trauma center, and the next time he badmouthed you to a subordinate in front of me, I was going to make him regret it. You're a good doctor, Dad. And a good man. He doesn't seem to get it. I get sick of hearing him run you and your talents down."

Sighing, Uryuu shook his head. "One day, Niki, you're going to say the wrong thing to him and he's going to kill you."

"He had his chance the one and only time he held me to the wall at the tip of a zeele schineder and threatened to shove it through my heart unless I learned to respect him. I calmly told him I couldn't truly respect that which did not earn respect and kicked him in the gut, then pulled the same arrow on him. And I wasn't going to TALK about what I would do to him. The only thing that saved him from being impaled was the fact his secretary knocked on the door."

Uryuu paled even more than usual. "How long ago was this?" He'd had no idea that Niki had done such a thing.

Thinking a moment, Niki shrugged. "Probably 15. Right before I started college. We really got into it over you and my wanting to go to an American medical school and his opinion of you and me and whatnot. I think we've evolved since then, Dad. He doesn't threaten my life and I don't prove I'm stronger than he is."

He couldn't even begin to comment. It was an incident in the past and best left there. "No wonder I'm getting grey hairs, Niki Ishida. You drive me to them."

Uryuu was 21 when Niki came to be with him. He'd had a brief affair two years before, a teenage kind of thing, with a girl he was at college with. It lasted a couple months and he hadn't been too surprised when she didn't return after semester break. She had talked about switching schools anyway. But the lawyer contacting Ryuuken two years later told him of a child from that relationship, a little boy. Ryuuken had gone through the proper channels, made certain the child was definitely Uryuu's...and brought him from America. For the next five years of Niki's life, he'd been Ryuuken's ward while Uryuu finished school, then he came home and did his internship in Karakura to be with his son. By then, the boy had a love hate relationship with Ryuuken and was glad to finally be with his father full time. And so they kind of grew up together, father and son. Niki had opened Uryuu's heart to the kind of unconditional love he'd missed as a child, taught him to laugh, and brought him a peace so profound he'd never thought it could be real. Of all of the youthful mistakes he had made, he would never ever regret the one that gave him Niki.

The sapphire blue eyes met Uryuu's and Niki grinned. "I heard that's what children are for, Uryuu Ishida. To make their parents old. Except of course for Ryuuken, he did it to himself."

Sometimes, he did want to hit the kid upside the head with a brick for being a serious brat. But they were at the hospital and went their separate ways from the door, Uryuu to his office, and Niki to the trauma center. His staff were completely loyal to their 24 year old department head, a position Niki swore Ryuuken gave him so he'd fail. Instead, his department was a model of efficiency, looked to by hospitals all over Japan for the latest methods not only in management, but in emergency medicine. And Niki wasn't the office bound manager, he worked the floor with his staff, treating patients right with them. This morning, though, he looked as exhausted as he felt and his second in command fell into step with him. Jin Matsuura put his hand on Niki's shoulder. "And what were we doing last night, Young Doctor Ishida?"

The grin on Niki's face was electric. "What do you think. Trying to sire my own Quincy heir. Spent most of the night making her scream, it's a wonder Dad didn't hear us."

Jin laughed. "The way you two get along, it's a wonder he didn't come watch. "

Nik slapped him once the office door closed. "Not funny, you cheeky boy. I'm here because Ryuuken has something up his ass. I THOUGHT I had a day to get some sleep. I've got a meeting at 10, then I'm on the floor all day. Wait, hold it...YOU'RE here. Oh, never mind, the old man's up to something."

"He's always up to something. Usually whatever he can do to damage you or Uryuu. I don' t know what he's got against either of you, unless he's jealous that you're...probably the most beautiful man on staff..." Jin chuckled and backed Niki against the door, grinning devilishly.

"Not today, sweetheart, I've already got the woman I'm having an affair on you with mad at me for having to work today and Ryuuken with a bug up his ass. I think even Dad thinks we've given it up. Where's last night's accident report? " He directed Jin to the desk, not that he wouldn't have loved what normally came after Jin would pin him somewhere, but he had a ton of things to accomplish. "The old man is going to want answers."

"The guy got the scissors off the medic when they transferred him into their rig and the guy didn't notice. He'd been docile on the trip in and our staff had no reason to suspect anything. During the transfer from their cot to our gurney, he pulled the scissors and stabbed the doc. Your dad's got some incredible staff, I swear, the fastest triage, treatment, and transfer to surgery happened and our guy only lost a quarter of his liver." Jin gave him the report. "You've got a couple hours till the meeting. You're laying down before you fall down, Niki. I love you, you know that, and I think a nap won't hurt. I'll run interference. As long as it's quiet down here, we'll go to this meeting together. Okay?"

He knew never to argue with Jin and let him guide him to the sofa and help him lay down. Uryuu had always liked Jin, probably more than he liked Kara. He'd been a little disappointed when Niki had told him they'd broken it off. He really did need to tell his Dad the truth. It would make things easier than desperate sex in the office between shifts and not being able to lead any sort of life outside work that included the other. Jin kissed him gently, sending shivers down his spine and he felt his hand rest on his chest, over the Quincy Cross Niki never took off. "I love you, my Quincy darling. I'll be back in a little while."

Jin left Niki sleep for a little over an hour, or until it got hectic in the department. Reluctantly, he woke his blue eyed doll and dragged him out to treat the patients from a bus vs. delivery van accident. It meant they blew the staff meeting, but twenty people banged up, brusied up and bleeding trumped a staff meeting any day. It was nearly 1:00 before the tide slowed and Niki happened to see Ryuuken over the head of a little girl whose scalp wound he was stitching while he told her a story about Kon, the walking, talking lion stuffie. The little girl was giggling now and he was finishing the last couple sutures when the older man walked over to look. "That certainly won't scar, Dr. Ishida. You do very good work."

The mother seemed grateful, and once he finished, Niki had the nurse dress the little one's wound and walked Ryuuken off the floor to his office. "Thank you, Dr. Ishida. My most sincere apologies for not attending your little party earlier. We were quite busy."

"I received your message, Niki. And the copy of your report. As usual, your department and your father's handled the crisis with due haste and professionalism." Ryuuken looked him over. "Partying too much lately, are we, Son? You look hung over."

"I'm fine. Just a little less sleep than I usually get. And I'm not your son. Thought we sorted THAT years ago. You should have my monthly census figures, my expenses and payroll, and the rest of the inane paperwork that keeps me busy. " Niki snapped, glaring at his grandfather. "What do you want, you're interrupting my shift for nonsense, or is there actually something I should know?"

"It doesn't look good when I demand your presence in a meeting and you don't arrive, Niki. It also doesn't look good when it takes three hours to reach you when something dire has happened in your department. Your father did tell me your phone was downstairs and you were...entertaining...Who is she this time, Niki? Same one, or do you audition trollops to be the mother of your son?" Ryuuken took a cigarette out of the silver cigarette case he carried, tapped it on the cover, then lit it with a silver lighter. Quincy all had a thing about silver, from the crosses around their wrists and necks to the energy of their bows and arrows. "It's never going to happen. It took a long time just to have your father. You were a complete mistake with a suitable fuck. Is that what you want, to repeat how you came into the world?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Seems to me like I had a pretty good life with a father who LOVED me and we managed in spite of you and your cynicism. My sex life is none of your business. I mean, if you want to watch occasionally, see who gets tied up, actually figure out what the hell I DO, sure you're welcome to it. And yes, I do want a child. I want a little boy who will grow up without the insanity you have caused Dad and I all our lives. A little boy with a grandfather who will love him no matter what his choices are."

Ryuuken smirked. "Or his father's choices? Ah, Niki, Niki, sometimes your youth is betraying you. It was hard enough for your father to raise you. How are you going to raise and train a son? Make him a Quincy even stronger than you are?"

"Like my father did." He snatched Ryuuken's cigarette case out of his hand and rummaged in his desk for a silver lighter. "Now, since it's not business but my personal life we're discussing, I'm going out in the ambulance bay and smoke a couple. If you want it back, you have to come with me."

"Keep it. I'm sure it'll turn up later. Usually on my desk when whatever fit of temper you're having is over. Take tomorrow off. Jin can handle the department one day without you. Next time you disappear or disobey me, I WILL punish you severely, Niki."

Niki thought about saying something totally disgusting to that, but he bit his tongue. Instead, he headed out of the office before Ryuuken and went outside in the ambulance bay and lit a cigarette, sliding the case into the inside pocket of his scrub pants, the cold silver feeling good against his skin before it warmed. All the old man had wanted was to yank his chain, and it wasn't even original this time. He didn't care that his father had owned up to what Niki had been doing when he'd misplaced his phone, he knew he'd done it innocently enough. Probably trying to appeal to the "You were young once, Ryuuken, remember how it was" part of his grandfather that Niki sincerely did not believe existed. And every time Ryuuken came to yank his chain about something, he always came with a full cigarette case and he always lit one in the office..then Niki always took the case and did just what he was doing now. Smoking in the ambulance bay to bleed off whatever tension Ryuuken had created. And eventually, the case would indeed find its way back to him. Usually when Niki took it back after shift and left it in the center of the desk. It was a stupid pattern. He rarely smoked, unless he was at a club, sometimes after sex, or when he was in a position where he was being yanked around by his grandfather. Uryuu always teased him that in some ways, he and Ryuuken were alike and would always drive each other nuts over little things.

Uryuu was probably right. Often he was the one in the middle of two immovable forces, the stubborn grandfather and the more stubborn son. Niki had his eyes closed and his head eased back against the brick wall when he felt a hand brush back his hair. One of two people would do that here. One was his father. The other , whose cologne he smelled now, was Jin. He whispered in Niki's ear, "Niki, baby, he's got you all wound up, hasn't he? What'd he want?"

He opened his eyes and looked to Jin, then lit another cigarette. "Just to be himself and let me know he was not pleased with me for not getting the phone for three hours and not showing at his damn meeting. Then of course, he's good at reminding me about my personal life and how he doesn't approve of the fact I want a child or how I'm going about that. His usual shit. I just don't have enough ammunition to put the old man in his place for that kind of crap. He's probably been messing with Dad, too." He offered the cigarette case to Jin. "May as well join me before we go back inside. These aren't too bad. "

Jin laughed and took the case, looking it over, appreciating the ornate engravings. "I swear, you two are insane."

"Most likely. The Ishida men are not the best adjusted people on Earth. We'd make someone rich in therapy. There's Ryuuken, who if I didn't know him I'd worry if he HAD a soul, let alone was human. Then there's Dad, who had no damn clue about being human till I came into his life. Then there's me, who if given the right reason and opportunity, would put a spirit arrow through the old man's cold black heart if it weren't for the fact that it would indeed do damage to my father. And it probably wouldn't be my grandfather he'd be grieving, it would be me because I would lose my humanity. I would end up like Ryuuken."

"Never, Niki. You could NEVER end up like him. You're too emotional, you love too much. You CARE. And like your father, you take pride in your Quincy life, but you both have deep compassion for those you touch. " Jin looked into those sapphire eyes that always made him melt, touched Niki's face gently. The beautiful young intern was now a stunning man who he wanted to protect even though he was well aware Niki was able to protect himself. "What Ryuuken is could never touch your heart."

"You love me too much. " Niki dropped his head and grinned, Jin could always find a little space to weasel in and break his tension.

"I don't love you enough, my Quincy angel. Finish that cigarette, then go wash your face and hands and we'll get back to work. We've still got a long way to go till shift change. Then I want to see you...keep you tonight. I miss you."

"Let's wait till after work, then decide, okay? I might not be much company by then." He stubbed out the cigarette and headed back for the doors. "And I should talk to my father too."

There wasn't time for a break for dinner, but Uryuu dropped by anyway with a couple boxed meals and some exotic tea he'd found in Urahara's shop. Niki basically ate on the fly, waiting on test results, consulting on patients...but at one point, he sat for a whole ten minutes. "Dad, I should tell you something. I'm not in love with Kara?" He just blurted out finally, taking a gulp of lukewarm tea after. "I'm just..trying to get her pregnant. I'm already in love with someone."

"Oh, really?" Uryuu's eyebrows arched delicately. "Who is it? And why haven't we talked about this before? Does Kara know what you're planning?"

"Yeah, she knows...and it's not that I don't care for her. I'm still sort of seeing Jin Matsuura. Sort of as in we've been keeping it under wraps because I didn't want her to be uncomfortable and I thought for awhile I could be happy with her. I'm not. I love him and I miss being with him. I can't lie about it anymore, I need to go back to him." Niki talked quickly, staring straight into his father's blue eyes, having to get it out quickly before his courage left him.

Uryuu looked thoughtful, then glanced to the door when Jin came in. "Sorry, Niki, we've got a trauma you've got to handle. You've got five minutes till they're here."

"Matsuura, do you love my son? " Uryuu asked him before he could leave.

"With all my heart, Dr. Ishida. He's my Quincy angel...and I've missed him. I would do anything to protect him." Jin looked surprised. "Why?"

"I'll tell you what I told you when you first met. Harm him and you will answer to me. It'll be nice to have you around again." Uryuu went back to his dinner and Niki got up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Dad, for understanding. I love you."

"I love you too, Brat. Are you coming home tonight? "

Jin nodded. "He'll be home, if you don't mind my being there."

Shrugging, Uryuu took a sip of tea before answering. "I didn't mind before."

Niki and Jin had come back to the house about midnight, Niki having worked over. Uryuu had seen them briefly in the hallway going to Niki's bedroom and mumbled a greeting before he went back and dropped off to sleep again. It was five now, and he was getting ready to go in to the hospital to do rounds, so he went in to make sure Jin was going to get to work. Jin was already awake, stroking Niki's hair back and trying to soothe him. Their eyes met and Uryuu nodded. Niki had frequent, vivid nightmares, he'd had them since childhood. Even Ryuuken couldn't explain them. Even at this age, sometimes he'd wake up and Niki would have come into his bed, needing the security of being near someone when they happened. They could have been from the cries of souls and hollow, though sometimes Uryuu had more sinister ideas about them. After all, for five years, Niki had been with Ryuuken. He didn't know all of what had happened over those years and knew he never would. He slipped into the room, leaned down and kissed Niki's temple. "I'm here, son. Everything is alright. I won't let anything harm you."

Niki looked at his father, seemed assured he was there and safe, and curled up, letting Jin soothe him back to sleep. Uryuu watched for a few minutes before he went to get ready to leave. Jin met him downstairs. "How bad was it? " Uryuu picked up his briefcase and started for the door.

Jin pushed back his hair and sighed. "He was screaming. Hitting me and screaming and spouting nonsense. I didn't understand a thing except him cussing out Ryuuken When he opened his eyes...he was terrified until he heard your voice. He's sound asleep now, Uryuu. He'll be fine. He'll probably spend the day out somewhere. You know how he is. Probably go find one of the Kurosaki kids and play hollow tag all over the city. It's promising to be a beautiful day."

Uryuu nodded. "That it is, but I'll still check up on him later. See you at the hospital."

It was, indeed, a beautiful day. Bright, sunny, warm, no Ryuuken, his father and Jin both at work, both back in his life. Niki decided a picnic lunch in the park from the food vendors and a nice, quiet lie about on a blanket watching the people go by, mp3 player blasting rock music from the earbuds around his neck were all in order. Looking more like all the students around them, in jeans and a rock t-shirt, he let the day go by quietly. Until that little prick at his conscience started. And the cries of a soul registered in his head. In an instant, the mp3 player was forgotten, Niki was up and running with ginrei kojyaku a solid form in his sanrei gloved hand. Employing hirenkyaku, he was at the location he'd felt in the blink of an eye, and this sucker was HUGE. In one shot, one of the most powerful he'd ever released, the hollow was gone and he waited with the spirit for a Shinigami to come to perform konso for it. That brought him in touch with one of the Kurosaki brats. Kosuke was today's contact. "Ah, Niki Ishida, how interesting to see you. What have you left for me?"

"Please kindly give the poor soul conso so it can be at peace and I can beat the crap out of you. You Shinigami types are too damned slow anymore. Had I waited on you, the poor little thing would have been devoured!" Niki was more than slightly condesending. Shinigami irritated him. Their insistance on the Ishida family not killing hollow out of a certain jurisdiction. Their slowness to respond. And the reliance more on brawn than brains. That really got Niki. He always thought that killing hollow had a bit of an intelligence factor to it. Plus this wasn't one of Ichigo's brighter kids. He waited respectfully for the soul burial to finish, then turned his back on Kosuke, his ornate Quincy garb changing back to jeans and a t-shirt as he started to walk away.

"Thought you intended to kick my ass, Ishida." Koskue fell into step with him. "You and that snobbish Quncy pride. What's wrong, am I beneath you? You get more and more like your grandfather every day, you know? Cold, distant, and controlling. Superior."

"You're dumber than your old man and could benefit from an education, some breeding, and a real job." Nik shrugged.

"Ryuuken let you out of your silver cage, eh? Not everyone has family that will hire them right out of college into a prestigous job. Bet he covers for you a lot."

"Doesn't have to. I'm good at what I do. Which I suggest you think about, Koskue. Being good at what you do. And much, much faster as to not be embarassed by being beaten to the punch by a Quincy."

Koskue didn't like being baited. He grabbed Niki and slammed him into a nearby wall, then went to punch him, grazing his knuckles instead on Ryuuken's cigarette case that Nik had tucked into the waistband of his jeans. That made him madder. It made him madder still when the Quincy didn't react, just pushed him away and started walking.

Like the whole cigarette case thing with Ryuuken, he and the Kurosaki boys had their own pattern. Hollow tag. Nik would piss them off and, neanderthal as they were, they'd have to show him up. So it would be an afternoon of Nik showing THEM up by arriving first at targets and annihilating them. He pulled out the cigarette case, got a cigarette, and lit it with the silver lighter. Maybe there was a streak of Ryuuken's madness running in his veins sometimes. There were things that even in the darkest moments he'd never reveal to Uryuu, if only to spare his father the pain. He LOVED his father. He TOLERATED Ryuuken. If Uryuu ever knew about the abuse he'd suffered, Nik knew it would kill him. So he'd had to become stronger, more intelligent, faster than the old man. And sometimes, just as hard. "Let's go, Kurosaki! Time is of the essence. Meet you at the next target!"

So the next few hours were spent running Koskue all over town, and not letting the kid have a single hollow. Then he went to Urahara's to browse and talk to Kisuke, one of the few Shinigami whose company he could stand, probably because the man WAS a bit prideful and accomplished. After, he went to the market, bought some groceries, which they were sorely in need of, he and Uryuu were eating too much junk lately, and went home to make some mackerel miso stew. While it cooked, he went back in the garden to smoke, Uryuu always had a fit if he did in the house. The one luxury they had allowed themselves once Niki had gone to work was a gardener who had turned the dreary back lot into a lush, relaxing landscape. It was an escape from the hospital, the day to day grind, the phones, Niki always turned off his phone when he was here. Laying down on a bench, he set his alarm on his watch for ten minutes and relaxed, leisurely smoking the cigarette and letting his mind clear. When the alarm went off, he put the cigarette butt in the can he kept under the bench and went back inside, checked on dinner, and actually laid a table with their best china and silver. He wanted to surprise his father after a long day at the hospital..and Jin if he'd come back again. Then he checked on the pudding he'd made and put in the refridgerator and some salad and fruit. Considering the box meals and rice balls and pot noodle they'd been eating, this was a feast. When Uryuu...and Jin...walked in the door together, he saw the smile cross his father's face, smelling his favorite dish and seeing the table. "And you look to have been busy, son. " He walked into the kitchen and hugged the boy.

Jin laughed. "So, which Kurosaki did you pull today?"

"The dumb one. Koskue. He's REALLY dumb. Ran his ass all over town." Niki grinned. "And I obviously did some shopping. Maybe we need to start thinking about getting a maid or something, Dad. I'd forgotten what real food tastes like. We eat too much out."

"Well, it smells wonderful. Thanks for thinking of it. "

"I've missed it too. And it should smell wonderful, I had a great teacher. I'll pay the electric bill tomorrow on my lunch break. And you got a letter confirming the date for your surgeon's convention. Is Ryuuken going?" Niki handed Uryuu the mail and checked on dinner. "We should eat in a few minutes. I've got a pot of tea ready. Your favorite, Dad. Go sit at the table and I'll warm some sake too."

"What do we owe this...domesticity to? " Jin came around and hugged Nik from behind, kissing under his ear. "Never took you to have a nesting instinct, Darling."

"You said that when I started making your shirts, too. Remember that? When I was still a novel presence in your life and you were shocked to know that All of us sew and cook and do household chores? You still wear those shirts to work, and they look better on you than those horrible European ones you were wearing when we started dating." Niki looked back toward him. "I see I'll have to do a bit more sewing, start dressing you again. Now move so I can get dinner on the table."

"My Niki, always in control. " Jin moved to the living room with Uryuu, who chuckled. Even after over a year apart, their domestic situation fell right back into place overnight. "Which is worse, Uryuu, his need to control, or his temper?"

Uryuu shook his head. "They're about the same. It's the singing in the shower that kills."

Jin looked slightly ill. "I forgot about that. And he only does it when he's happy."

Thinking about it, Uryuu realized he was right. And it had been a long time since he'd heard that horrible noise from Niki's shower. Come to think of it, when he was happy, the nightmares were less frequent too.

Admittedly, hirenkyaku was more reliable than hospital elevators. Which meant the doctors Ishida could be anywhere in the blink of an eye. As he'd gotten older, Ryuuken had used that particular Quincy trait more often. His patience with Niki was generally thin to begin with, but some days, the faster he could get to the grandson and assert his dominance over the boy, the better. Today, Niki had thrown a training session with the off duty staff on a new technique for removing impaled objects and new ballistics identification sheets from the police. It was fine, Niki was indeed a good doctor as well as a great manager. But that Niki was happy was the only reason he'd had to come down to pull the boy's chain. He'd heard, after courting another 4 months, Jin had moved in with Uryuu and Niki and they were having some more permanent form of domestic bliss. That news should have made him happy, after all, it meant Niki had given up the whole Quincy heir thing and settled down with a man. That Uryuu condoned it really made no difference one way or another. But now settled and ...happy... Niki might, just MIGHT slip out of Ryuuken's grasp and start asserting that amazing Quincy power of his. He couldn't afford that. He didn't want to have to drop his trump card yet. If he was going to break the boy down, he really wanted Uryuu to see it. Break the illusion that HE had the power in Niki's life.

So Ryuuken came down with paperwork. Tons of paperwork, things Niki had done and turned in ages ago. They needed redone, could you get them in by tomorrow? I know the quarterly reports are due...and you have staffing problems, problems Niki had no clue Ryuuken had caused personally. Yes, Niki I KNOW you're already working 12 hours at a stretch, but this MUST be done..and yes, you're short a doctor and two nurses....He tried to look sympathetic, concerned for his grandson's welfare and the welfare of the patients he was serving. But Niki was Quincy. And he had to manage with what he had. With Niki and Jin on opposing 12 hour shifts, they would see each other in passing. That would cause some stress in the happy relationship. It would stress Uryuu as well, which would be a bit of a nice side effect. Having Niki work 3am to 3pm would work nicely. Another pass of the cigarette case, Niki going out to the ambulance bay to smoke...trying to blow off anger and resentment. Of course, there was always the matter of reminding him of consequences if he didn't comply...The ones that went beyond his job.

The ones Ryuuken knew Niki would never voice to his father or anyone else.

So he adjusted to the schedule. To answering spirit calls in odd hours, sleeping in daylight, seeing Uryuu and Jin mainly at work. The department didn't suffer, it ran like clockwork. The director kept things on target AND healed the sick. Then went home to do it all again with a few hours sleep. Six days a week, 12 hours a day, more if necessary. He knew what Ryuuken was trying to do. And they fought constantly while the old man pushed Niki to his limits. Taking away support, even starting to challenge him to responding to souls' cries. And when Niki controlled the schedule rather than breaking down with it, his strength growing, Ryuuken threw in the trump card.

To destroy Niki, he would destroy Uryuu. Without Uryuu, Niki's resolve would crumble into dust and Ryuuken wouldn't have to lift another finger.

So he set a timetable. It would be too easy, using their talents he could make it look like a stroke had claimed Uryuu, and only Niki would be the wiser.

And after another heated arguement, Ryuuken had the cigarette case back. He tapped it on the desk, grinning. This would be too good.

But Ryuuken didn't expect resistance, in the form of a simple change of schedule that put Niki in the department on the night in question. He'd already called Uryuu, arranged to be at the house to discuss some departmental changes, and started to pack up the office. But he'd forgotten to cover his riatsu. Stupid mistake. One that Niki picked up on and went up to the office by hirenkyaku to find out about. Ryuuken was anything but stupid, and he must have been gathering spirit energy for some reason...When he opened the office door, the old man was standing there, with the cigarette case, grinning. " Didn't expect to see you here...but okay. One last exchange, this time for all the marbles. You win, you keep your father. I win, he dies and I have your soul, too. Any questions?"

He was sure the man had finally gone mad. But he remembered the abuse...the beatings, being assualted, mental cruelty. The years of abuse he and Uryuu had endured after. That he'd vowed to get to be stronger than the old man, faster, more deadly. Now he had to be. "You make your run, and I'll kill you. " Niki pulled his ginrei kojyaku out and loaded on a zeele schneider. Ryuuken set a timer for two minutes. When it went off, they went into hirenkyaku, both headed for the house and an unaware Uryuu and Jin. And when they got there, Niki barely dropped out of it before he'd turned to shoot, barely letting the arrow go before he felt the searing pain from Ryuuken's zeele schneider split through his head, his body coming to rest against the kitchen cabinets...Ryuuken lying on the living room floor. Nik's eyes fluttered open briefly when he heard Uryuu's voice and felt his touch. Then he decended into a sleep he didn't want to wake from.

But he did. After a week in a coma, he opened his eyes to see Uryuu sitting at his bedside, doing some embrordery. He always did needlework when he needed a distraction, a good surgeon was an expert with a needle. When he saw Niki's eyes open, he put it aside and got up, bending down to kiss his son's temple. "You're going to be fine. Surgery went well and once you're a little stronger, I'm taking you home. You bled pretty badly into your brain, but they had no trouble taking care of it...it was a clean shot"

"Ryuuken?" He managed to mumble, trying to reach out to his father.

Uryuu picked up the cigarette case from the bedside table and held it up for his son to see. "Trump card. He wanted to kill me, you saved me. You won. Thank God."

It was six weeks before Niki could go home. And once he did, he seemed peaceful. He hadn't once asked how Uryuu knew about Ryuuken's plans, and he'd busied himself with cooking and sewing, answering spirits calls and generally taking care of Jin and Uryuu while he waited for the okay to go back to work. His coordination came back, he was fast again, precise...deadly. And he was free. The nightmares were gone, the threats...everything. His laughter was musical, he didn't brood so much anymore. The Kurosaki boys didn't piss him off when he was out in the park. He no longer had anything to prove and everything to gain. It was more wonderful than he imagined. Jin even sent Uryuu and Niki on vacation before Niki started back and Uryuu began his new post as Director. Eight weeks in America, filled with amusement parks, museums, sightseeing, and nothing but each others' company. But it was over a movie in a hotel room on a rainy day that Niki finally looked at his father. "You must hate me, doing what I did to Ryuuken."

"No. Because that really wasn't my father. " Uryuu sighed and reached over to move Niki's hair out of his eyes. " And had I known what was going on, I would have ditched everything to steal you away from him."

"He tried to drown me once. Make it look like an accident. I fought him with all my strength, I was probably 4 at the time. He hated the fact I was so difficult. That even as a little kid, I knew how not to let him get to me. I challenged him. In spite of the beatings, a poisoning, an assault...he was decending into some madness I couldn't understand. He was going to take me with him. First he wanted to rip you apart. Then as I got older and stronger than he was, he wanted to destroy me. I was his key to making you pay for all the things you'd done that he didn't approve of. Then you became his key to my breakdown. I always feared that, if I turned on him like I did, I'd become him. I'd pay for the freedom with my humanity. But I didn't. We're safe and things are good and we'll go back to work soon..."

"And I've still got you." Uryuu hugged him.

On the way home from the airport, they stopped at the beach and just walked for a mile or so, comfortably quiet. Niki kept fingering the cigarette case he'd been keeping in his pocket all this time, not sure what to do about it. Suddenly, he flew into hirenkyaku and moved out over the water, taking the offending object and skipping it out as far as he possibly could into deep water before coming back to Uryuu. No more trump cards, no more control...just life as it happened. And they could both live with that.