A/N: This story is independent of Sakura Petals and Thin Mints. I do not own Bleach or these characters, but the story and the things I put them through are indeed mine. This will be posted in chapters, as soon as I can finish them with my workload. I love you! Reviews= 3

The moon rose to find Kuchiki Byakuya awake in bed, staring at the ceiling as he had been for hours. Sleep seemed miles away as his skin crawled. His mind was a swirling mass, memories and responsibilities combating for his attention. His body itched to move, but Kuchiki stubbornly refused to toss and turn.

Finally, the uncomfortable aching of his own body forced the noble to get up and move. He paced restlessly across his room. Finding no relief in the confined space, he threw his doors open and stalked out into the gardens. Once outside, the noble halted suddenly and looked up at the moon hanging heavily in the sky.

Something faintly tickled the edge of his mind, like a half-forgotten song. The blank face of the moon held no answers to his questions. Once again, his body urged for action and the noble began walking through his garden, too quickly to be called a stroll. His unbridled hair fanned out behind him along with the loose ends of his light grey silk robe as he strode along the pathways. A bitter wind blew across the gardens, making the leaves tremble.

The infinitely familiar flowers and carefully placed shrubs held no peace for the captain. Normally, he could stare into the koi pond for hours, but tonight he passed by without even a glance. His muscles cried for movement, his mind calling for peace. It felt as if something was nipping at his heels, forcing him onward. Again, there was a faint brush on the outskirts of his awareness, as if he was missing something.

After his third round of the gardens, the noble gave up and returned to his room. Quickly shedding his yukata in favor of a standard shihakusho, the noble slipped on his shoes. He hesitated as he reached for his captain's haori. Thinking better of it, he grabbed a dark purple cloak instead. A burst of reiatsu carried him across the lawn and over the outer wall.

The noble stopped at the gate leading out of Seireitei. He stood silently, impatiently, until the Third Squad guards realized he was there. Rousing themselves from their half-dreams, they opened the gate without hesitation. The shinigami had barely started pushing the doors open when the captain slipped between them and disappeared in a swirl of purple. The guards stared after him for a moment, wondering why he was in such a hurry and why his reiatsu was so disturbed. Without comment, they shrugged it off and closed the gates again.

Outside, Kuchiki basked in the feeling of the ground pounding beneath his feet. It felt as if the earth had a heartbeat, each step keeping time. He did not care were he was going; he had no destination in mind. He let his feet lead him, his mind calming with every pulse, every footfall.

Eventually, the sense of urgency was gone. Byakuya slowed, his breath coming in slow puffs. Looking around him, the noble found himself deep within an anonymous forest, every tree like an identical soldier keeping watch. The captain found his sense of direction had deserted him. He searched his mind and his surroundings for any sort of distinguishing marker, any sort of direction.

The moonlight filtered through the trees, tracing everything with an edge of silver sharp enough to cut. The wind blew, shaking branches and making the shadows dance. All around the foliage was unbroken, a discernable path nowhere to be found.

Kuchiki was shocked to feel his battle-tried nerves already taut with adrenaline.

The noble stopped walking and slowed his breathing, listening carefully. All was silent, except the pounding of his own heart and the groaning protests of the swaying trees.

Now that the undeniable force that had propelled him into action was gone, the noble felt oddly empty. That same feeling brushed his mind again, more persistently. It was different from feeling another shinigami's reiatsu. It felt...somehow colder. As if he was supposed to be feeling something, but was missing it completely.

Byakuya let his breath out slowly until his lungs were entirely empty. He consciously pushed all distractions out of his mind, suppressing the sound of his blood pounding through his ears. As his body began to cry out for oxygen, as his diaphragm began to protest its inactivity, he heard it.

There.

From the silence came the sound of a river faintly flowing in the distance. As he turned toward the sound, there was again that feeling of missing something and a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. The captain spun towards the movement, but it was already gone. On his guard, Kuchiki followed it. His hand came to rest on his hip, grasping for a weapon that was not there.

He cursed himself for forgetting Senbonzakura.

There was a tugging in his mind and another crimson flash. The moonlight reflected off the color, giving it an ethereal glow of its own. Without hesitating, Kuchiki leapt toward the movement, a kido spell already on his lips. He crashed through the trees, finding nothing more than silently swaying foliage.

He looked around himself, searching for some indication of where someone might be hiding. As his heartbeat slowed, Kuchiki began questioning his sanity. The air around him was void of any trace of reiatsu, the ground empty of any marking features.

Kuchiki sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the night air close in around him. He had to have been seeing things. Again, the wind picked up, brushing like ice against the bare skin of his face. It carried on it the feeling of needing to be somewhere. Byakuya began to shake his head, but stopped suddenly when the wind quieted over the sound of a twig breaking. His eyes shot open, searching wildly around. He spotted a splash of red and walked determinately towards where it disappeared.

It occurred to him that it might be his own curiosity that was leading him into a trap. He had no idea what was behind the next tree, or even what he was following. Doubt in his judgment began to creep from the shadows in his mind, but his pride stopped it short. He had chosen to take this unknown path after an unknown goal, and he would see it through. The feeling of absence continued to plague him, and he would have his curiosity sated, if only to return to a peaceful sleep.

Another glimpse, another direction. Kuchiki threw all doubts to the side and followed it resolutely.

There, between two trees, close to the ground, a splash of color like a pool of blood.

Near by, through the leaves, a hint of that crimson like a tropical bird.

Far off, glows of scarlet like the western sky.

The noble proceeded cautiously through the undergrowth, hiding behind the trees and trying to make as little noise as possible. Whenever he thought he might have been seeing things, there was another tantalizing glimpse of red. For reasons unbeknownst to the captain, he felt drawn to that shade, that one spot of color in the moon-bleached night.

For what seemed like ages, Kuchiki followed the flashes of red. Every sighting sent chills through the captain. The wind blew and a nearby branch groaned in protest, making the captain jump. The noble's nerves were taut with excitement, every movement in the night possibly belonging to the phantom he was following. Like some sort of humorless game, Kuchiki chased the faint glimpses of crimson through the forest.

There it was again, so tantalizingly close. Kuchiki reached out for it as he stumbled suddenly into the open. The sight that met him chilled him to the bone.

A river cut through the clearing like a silver vein, the faint gurgle he had heard before grown into a roar. A dark figure perched on a mossy rock at the bank. The wind blew and dark crimson hair rustled openly in the breeze. His back was bare, dark tribal tattoos standing out in contrast across his wide, muscular shoulders.

"Abarai Renji?" Byakuya said in shock. The man on the rock did not move. Slowly, the noble approached his vice-captain, quietly repeating his name, waiting for some sign of acknowledgement. As he got closer, he could see the goose flesh and minute shivering racking the other shinigami's body.

Kuchiki picked his way carefully over the mossy rocks to face his statuesque vice-captain. Renji's eyes were vacant, unfocused. His breath came in visible and irregular puffs.

"Abarai..." the noble whispered and placed a hand on the other man's knee, trying to gain his attention.

Slowly, the vice-captain's glassy eyes peeled themselves away from whatever they had been gazing at to focus on the captain. His jaw worked for a moment as he tried to speak.

"Eyes..." Abarai started, his own eyes drooping. "...like ashes..." Abarai's vacant eyes fell shut and he wobbled.

"Abarai, what is going on?" Kuchiki demanded.

Instead of answering, the vice-captain slumped forward and against his captain. Byakuya instinctively wrapped his arms around the larger man to catch him and took a step back.

The noble gasped and almost let the unconscious man slip to the ground. In bracing himself, he had stepped into the river, its icy waters biting at his foot and ankle. He gritted his teeth and maneuvered Abarai farther onto the bank, carefully laying him down on the grass.

The merciless wind found the water on his leg, making his muscles ache.

The noble looked over the prone body of his fukutaicho, searching for wounds. Finding only the shivering of his body, the captain unclasped his cloak and draped it across Renji's wide, tattooed chest.

Kuchiki sat down hard on the bank next to Abarai.

What was his vice-captain doing so far out of the Court of Pure Souls? Why was he so unresponsive? What did he mean by eyes like ashes? His mind swirled with questions. Was Abarai the phantom he had been chasing? Was he the one to give the noble that sense of urgency?

More importantly, why was there a gaping emptiness where Renji's fiery reiatsu should have been?

The noble turned to look to Abarai for answers. His shivers had subsided, his breath coming more regularly. The captain watched his blank, sleeping face for a long time. Without thinking about it, he reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair back from the sleeping man's forehead.

The contact burned his fingertips.

Kuchiki pressed a palm against the tattooed forehead. The soft skin felt feverish. The noble had to get Abarai to the fourth division. He stood and began to maneuver Renji's prone body carefully into his arms.

After a moment of struggling, Kuchiki stood, one arm supporting Abarai's back, the other hooked under the bend in his knees. The vice-captain's arms were crossed across his chest, under the thick purple fabric of the noble's cloak, but his bare back was freezing against Kuchiki's forearm.

The noble glanced around, realizing that he was still lost. He began flash stepping, following the river downstream. If this were the river he was thinking it was, then it would lead him all the way back to Seireitei.

He ran, not paying attention to much else besides the cold body in his arms. Abarai began mumbling, his face flushing. The noble searched him for signs of injury, for an explanation of the absence of reiatsu, and came up with nothing. Maybe Unohana-taicho would be able to explain what was afflicting his vice-captain.

As the trees began to thin, Kuchiki could see the wall around Seireitei. The sight made him run faster. As he cleared the tree line, he altered course, heading for the nearest gate.

"Open the gates!" He ordered when he could see the Third Squad members outside. For a moment, they simply stared at him, surprised. Those three words held none of the calm, cold captain's voice they were all used to. They held the full weight of concern bordering on panic. A split second after the phrase sunk in, they began hurriedly pushing the gate open. Byakuya did not slow or wait for the gates to be completely open before he went through them. He blurred between the half-open doors and was gone. The Third Squad members registered three things: the speed of the captain, a flash of red, and the large, unconscious body in his arms.

Byakuya burst into the quiet Fourth Division offices. He hurried through the waiting area, carried Renji directly to the back, and laid him on one of the awaiting cots, far away from the sleeping shinigami there for various maladies. A night nurse appeared, flustered, in the doorway, the question already on her lips, when the noble turned to her.

"Get Unohana-taicho." His voice was calm, but his eyes were wild. His reiatsu flared, forcing the girl to lean against the doorframe to remain standing. She nodded silently and stumbled down the hallway to Unohana's private room.

The noble sat down on the bed next to Renji's sleeping form. The chill in his ankle had spread, his entire leg aching. He felt drained of energy. He pressed his palms against his eyes, cradling his aching head.

"You found him."

Kuchiki looked up at the sound of Unohana's voice. She stood in the doorway, a tired look in her eyes but a soft smile on her face.

"'Found him?'" He asked. "You knew he was gone?" It was getting hard to focus on anything. The room blurred in front of him.

"He'll be mad that you found out this way," she said softly as she entered the room. Slowly, she sank onto the bed next to the noble. "No other choice really..."

"Unohana-taicho, please explain yourself."

"Abarai Renji is a sleepwalker. Has been since he was a boy."

The noble stared wide-eyed at his vice-captain's sleeping figure. How had he not known about that? After all these years in the same division, even on real world missions together, Kuchiki had no idea.

Unohana smiled knowingly. "He hides it well, doesn't he?"

Kuchiki shook his head in disbelief. "How could I not know? How could he not tell me?"

"He was afraid that you would demote him if you found out."

The noble turned to face the other captain. Only after many years of practice could Unohana see the worry and disbelief in the slightly listless look he gave her.

"As long as it didn't interfere with his work..." The noble started, but trailed off uselessly as he remembered all the times Abarai had fallen asleep in the office. "It does, doesn't it?"

"Indeed. Recently it has been getting worse. We have had to take special precautions. I have a person from the Fourth Division assigned to follow him and bring him back. However, he always seems to be able to evade them."

Kuchiki thought of the time he spent following that red phantom and nodded.

"He got some sort of charm from Urahara that binds his reiatsu and prevents him from hurting himself or others."

The noble simply nodded. "Is it normal for him to wander so far?"

"Where did you find him?" Unohana's voice was wary.

"I found him a fair distance down the river. I happened upon him following an odd sense I was getting. It was keeping me from sleeping. He was perched on a rock, staring into the river when I found him, shirtless and freezing."

"He does seem to be attracted to bodies of water. We normally find him near the river. We once found him in your koi pond."

"You found him in my koi pond, and you didn't think it necessary to inform me? Not only as his superior officer, but as the owner of said pond I should have been told about the incident."

"It was his express wish that you never know."

Kuchiki looked at her for a moment before dropping his head into his hands.

"You must be tired, after chasing him around all night. Would you like me to prepare you a bed here or would you rather go back home?"

"I did not know what I was chasing." Kuchiki answered suddenly. He squared his shoulders and looked blankly at the far wall. "All I knew was that I was missing something, something important, like an appointment or something of the sort. Whether I stay here or go home, this feeling will still keep me from sleeping. Do you have anything to help?"

Unohana looked sagely at the noble for a moment, her smile faint and knowing.

"I think I can help." She stood and walked over to Abarai's sleeping body. Carefully, without rousing him, she lifted one of his arms out from under the thick infirmary blanket. Slowly, she pulled a dark string of beads off his wrist. As it slipped over his hand, the room filled suddenly with the warmth of Abarai's reiatsu.

Kuchiki inhaled sharply, taking in the scent of earth and water.

"I believe that this is what you where missing." Unohana smiled warmly as she dropped his hand cautiously back onto his bare chest. "It's not uncommon for captains to subconsciously track the reiatsu of their underlings."

The noble stood as if to leave. Unohana was right; the uneasy feeling that had been nagging in the pit of his stomach was gone. Fatigue weighed heavily on his shoulders.

"However, I have never seen anyone able to track someone down by the absence of their reiatsu. You two must be close."

Byakuya looked at the sleeping man. Renji's hair fanned out over the pillow in seemingly endless waves. His lips were slightly parted, the shine of drool gathering dangerously at the corner of his mouth. The furrow between his eyebrows was missing. He looked at ease, not the worried, fitful sleep he normally caught at the office.

"I would not say 'close'." He turned to leave. Pausing in the doorway, he continued. "We shall keep this particular incident between us. Thank you for watching out for him, Unohana-taicho, but from now on, I will look after my own."