Lost (Byakuya Kuchiki)

Chapter 3

I kept glancing at Byakuya, trying to figure out why I felt I should know him before he and Rukia finally began stirring. I quickly averted my eyes, not willing to let him know I had been staring. I glanced at them through my hair to see them both watching me.

"How do you feel Nee-san?"

"A lot better." I stated honestly. "But, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" I couldn't keep quiet anymore. I had to know who they were.

"I-I've always called you that?" It came out as a stuttered question.

"Always? We've known each other for only a few days." She looked utterly shocked and the same emotion flashed over Byakuya's face.

"Everyone here seems to know my name. And people keep calling me Hime-sama. I don't know. I can't remember anything! I'm so confused!" My voice continued getting higher and more frantic as I continued talking. By the end there were hot tears streaming down my face.

I was suddenly wrapped in Rukia's gentle embrace. I laid my head on her shoulder and let the sobs run through me.

"What is wrong with me? Why can't I remember anything?" My voice kept breaking.

"What did they do to her Nii-sama?" Rukia questioned. My eyes widened as I pulled back to look at her.

"What are you talking about? They who?" She didn't answer for a while so I looked at Byakuya. He had a tight grip on the arms of his chair and his eyes closed, but other than that there was no hint at emotion.

Anger flashed through me and I hissed, "If you won't tell me, I'll find someone who will." Before I moved to stand up.

"No! Wait." Rukia sighed. "It's just, no one knows what happened while you were there. When we first felt your spiritual pressure, we were hoping you could tell us yourself, but..." She trailed off.

"But that's obviously not going to happen." I finished quietly. I pulled my knees to my chest and covered my face with my hands. It was getting hard to breath. My heart was beating unevenly.

I felt warm and comforting fingers gently attempting to tug my hands away from my face. After a moment I complied, but I turned my head away so I wasn't looking at him. Sadly my wrists were small enough for him to hold them in one hand and use the other to pull my face back to him.

"We'll help you through this if you let us." He said. Rukia nodded in agreement.

Without thinking I threw my arms around his neck and laid my head on his chest. His arms snaked around my waist.

"What am I going to do?" I asked.

"You can stay with us in the Kuchiki manor." Rukia said carefully, not leaving much room for argument. I pulled back to look at Byakuya.

"Of course." He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"When can I leave?" I asked.

"Unohana taichou and the rest of squad four did a very good job while healing you, so more than likely today." Rukia answered. "Would you like me to go get her?" I nodded.

While she was out of the room I looked at Byakuya and asked, "Did she say manor?"

"Indeed." After a moment I thought, so what? It's just a huge house.

Rukia walked into the room with the female captain trailing her. She had a sad smile on her lips and her eyes were blank.

"Ready to leave Hi- erm, Kyiomi?"