Title: Just a Name
Fandom: Bleach.
Rating: T.
Length: 8.8k!
Content notes: Only warning is fairly graphic depictions of medieval violence, unless you count mention of a filler character as  a warning. XD
Author notes: Written for Challenge #3, 'Anywhere But Here', as well as the square 'Homesickness' for my hc_bingo card. I fully admit to Game of Thrones giving me the inspiration for this.
Summary: It's been four years since the war started, since he was drafted from his home to serve as a soldier. He's good at it, there's no denying that, but that doesn't mean he enjoys it. All he really wants is for it all to end, and to go home. - Medieval AU, no pairings, with Ichigo, Ishida, and Grimmjow.


The blade scrapes over my armor, coming dangerously close to severing one of the ties holding it together. I ignore it, reaching out and grabbing hold of the enemy soldier, dragging him closer and slamming my head into his. I'm wearing a helmet, and he's not, so the contest is kind of one-sided. He staggers back, and I take the opportunity of his dizziness to drive my sword through his throat. He collapses, and I look up for the next fight. It comes at me, yelling and with a mace, and I step forward to meet it.

My lungs burn with exertion, the hilt of my sword is slippery with blood, and a gash over my upper left arm is making it increasingly difficult to raise the blade, but I press on. The adrenaline faded a long time ago, leaving only a tired determination in its place, and I hate how familiar this feels. How much blood, how much death, before this is finally over?

The mace smashes into my side, past my guard, and knocks me to the ground. The armor blunts a good bit of the impact, so I don't instantly die, but I can feel the sharp pain in my side that tells me something is likely broken. I kick out at the soldier's legs, catching one and knocking it out from under him. He falls towards me with wide eyes, and I bring my sword up to catch him on the point, aiming low, beneath the chest plate he's wearing. He chokes as the sword sinks into his gut, and I grit my teeth at the fresh splatter of blood across my armor.

I throw him to the side, pulling my blade free, and roll over, rising to my knees as he clutches at his wound. I shove the sword down, with my weight behind it, into his head. The crack of bone and the sight of the death makes me sick, but I choke back the nausea. It's disturbingly easy.

I look up, finally registering the relative lack of noise. The core of the army is ahead of me, though I'm certainly not alone back here, and mostly stationary. It takes a few moments more to figure out the noise still here as cheering, and when I do my head drops a few inches in relief. They must be retreating. Thank god.

I drag myself to my feet, holding my sword by my side, and can see and vaguely hear the commanders - those few lucky bastards still on horses - calling to hold where we are. I swallow, tasting blood in my mouth, and head for the bulk of the army. I ignore the pain with the ease of practice, coming up behind the mass of other people that's slowly reforming into actual ranks. I step into a line of other soldiers just as battered and bloody as I am, though most are not as well armored. I can't see what's happening, not past the others, so I fix my eyes on the back of the helm of the soldier in front of me, waiting for an order to either follow the likely fleeing enemy, or head back to our camp.

Eventually, the latter comes, and I'm not the only soldier to heave a sigh of relief as we turn. The trudge back feels much longer than it is, and stepping into the circles of tents and fires is like bliss. I make my way to my tent, one of the best luxuries of being the son of a lord, and brush the flap aside as I enter.

"You look like shit," Uryuu says bluntly, as I pull off my helmet.

"Yes, thank you," I grumble out, "I know that."

He's an archer, so his part in the battle is a lot cleaner, and generally a lot safer. If our archers end up under attack, we fucked up somewhere along the line. He's also a distant cousin of mine, more or less adopted into my family when his nearly died out. We share the tent, and the two accompanying servants that my dad sent with us when we were drafted into our King's army. Between fighting, or getting punished because we didn't, my dad just chose to make us as safe as possible.

"Help me out of this?" I ask wearily, and he stands from his lounging spot on one of the two bedrolls.

"Yeah, sure." Getting out of armor alone is significantly easier than putting it on alone, but it's also harder as you get more exhausted. Those ties and buckles are there specifically to make sure the pieces of metal don't come off, undoing them when you can barely walk straight is a hell of a task. I bend to lay my sword and helmet on the ground beside my bedroll, giving a soft groan of pain as I straighten back up. Everything aches, as usual, and my armor feels about twice as heavy as it actually is. That's saying something, considering that including the padding, and my sword, it's somewhere around eighty pounds of gear.

Uryuu's fingers set to work on the ties of my armor, and I bow my head and stand still as he works. "Where are Hanatarou and Rikichi?" I ask. They'll be the ones to clean my armor, though my sword I maintain myself, and usually they're the ones helping me out of it as well.

"Grabbing food," he answers easily, and I give a soft moan of want. "Yeah, I thought you'd appreciate that." He gets the plates off my left arm, tugging my glove off, and sighs. "You'll need a medic for this," he says, probably referring to the gash on my upper arm. I can feel that the cloth around it, the tunic that's the lowest layer I'm wearing, is wet, and I nod. "How did it happen?" he asks, as he sets the plate down and circles me to work on my right arm.

"Don't know," I answer. "Just sort of looked down and it was there." That should probably concern me more than it does, but shit happens on a battlefield. Sometimes, the wounds you get don't make any sense, sometimes you find bruises in weird places. Well, usually you find bruises in weird places, it's the random cuts that are a little rarer.

"You're getting careless," Uryuu says with a hint of reproach, ignoring the blood that's getting on his hands.

"I am not," I grumble, letting my eyes close and my head fall forward. "You've just got a terrible idea of what battle is, Uryuu. You get to shoot at things all the way across fields, I have to hit them up close."

"I guess you should have become an archer then, hm?" he says, in a smugly superior tone. I make a noise of disagreement, but can't muster the energy to really argue with him. Not that arguing with Uryuu is ever really productive, to be fair. I smother a yawn, and he drags the armor off my left arm. He reaches for the two ties and the single buckle to the right side of my chest piece, and since there's only those three, gets it off fairly quickly. He pulls it off me and along my left arm, giving a small grunt of exertion as he drops it into the pile of my other arm. "How do you even move in all this?" he asks, not for the first time.

"Practice," I answer simply. The ties to the thin layer of padding under my armor, to keep the metal edges from biting into my skin, are much easier to undo, and it only takes a minute or two for Uryuu to add that to the pile.

"I'll go grab a medic," he says, exiting the tent without giving me the time to answer.

I cross the tent in a few strides, sinking down to sit on my bedroll. Despite the urge to just lay down and pass the hell out, I reach down to strip out of the last few pieces of armor. The large plates over the front of my thighs, and the boots with metal laid into them. Small protection, but most people aren't swinging for my lower legs. The boots come off easily, and with the gloves off my fingers it's much easier to deal with the ties of the plates on my thighs.

Uryuu gets back first, a young woman in the white - though mostly bloody - apron of a medic trailing after him, a tray full of medical supplies in her hands. "Remove this, please," she requests, tapping my arm to get her point across, and I reach down to undo my belt and the empty scabbard. I drop it to the side and hook my fingers under the bottom of the tunic, pulling it up and off of me. I hold back a pained gasp at the stretch of my injured side, wincing, but don't let it slow me down. The medic glances down at my side, but goes for my arm first. It's not a very deep gash, I can tell by looking, but it is long. It's just barely on the side of my arm, almost on the underside of it, and it's rather jagged. It looks a bit like I got caught by someone's knife.

Huh.

"This is going to sting," she warns me, a flask in her hand, and I set my jaw in anticipation. Sting my ass, it burns, and I give a low groan of pain as she pours the alcohol over the wound. She wipes the blood off it and immediately reaches for a roll of bandages, winding them around the injury. "Get someone to change this every day, until it closes," she instructs me, tying it off. She takes another glance down at my side, then gathers her tray and stands. "If you can, take it easy on your side. There's nothing I can do about it, but ribs normally heal just fine on their own." She leaves, and I look up at Uryuu as he stands over me.

"And what happened to your side?" he asks sharply, arms crossed.

"I got hit with a mace," I answer, and he scoffs.

"Idiots with swords, all of you." He turns and sits down beside me, long limbs stretching out beside mine. He's thinner than I am, much less heavily muscled, and also with fewer scars. The life of an archer, I suppose. He sits beside me for a few long moments, before quietly speaking. "You'd better make it back with me. I'm going home when this is over, and you damn well better be there."

I look over at him, giving him a crooked twist of my lips that's probably something like a smile. Also, probably kind of scary considering I'm pretty sure I've got blood on my face, at least some of which is mine from a rather nasty split lip I'd gotten early in the fight. "I'll be there," I promise. "Like you could get rid of me that easily."

He snorts, nudging my shoulder with his. "True. You have always had more brawn than brain. You'd have to find someone who could make it past that thick skull of yours first."

"God, don't even joke," I grumble, shaking my head. We fall silent for a long while, until finally I raise my head. "I'm so done with all of this, you know? I wasn't supposed to be on a battlefield, not for years more. Neither of us were."

"Neither of us?" Uryuu says, and sighs. "I wasn't ever supposed to. I'm not an heir to anything big, not like you, I was never going to be required to fight."

"Your dad's got a pretty decent holding, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but not like the Kurosaki family. I might not even get it, you know he doesn't like me."

True, Uryuu's dad is kind of a bastard. But Uryuu is pretty much his only surviving relative, and I can't imagine that Ryuuken would be enough of a dick to leave the Ishida lands to a stranger.

"Well you're always welcome to stay with us," I offer, and he snorts.

"Yes, I know. I recall your dad's enthusiasm over having a 'second son' to dote on."

My throat tightens at the thought of my dad, and then of my sisters, and finally of our home. I let my eyes close, taking just a few moments to picture the stone walls of my room, to picture the grin of my dad - idiot that he is - and the smiles of my younger sisters. What will they look like now? This war has gone on too long, over four years, and I know that what I come back to them as won't be anything like the brother, and son, that left them. Too much death, and so much of it by my hands. Uryuu looks more or less the same, though he's more muscle than he's ever been before, but I've gained at least a dozen new scars to every one of his.

"We'll make it, Ichigo," Uryuu says softly, and I open my eyes. I can see the same thoughts in his eyes, the same exhaustion, but he offers me a thin smile as he shoves at my shoulder. "Go on, you idiot, sleep. I'll wake you up when the food gets here."

There's never any sense in arguing with Uryuu.

----------------------------------------------------

I shift, taking a glance around at the other people in the room. This is a room full of lords, and knights, and neither Uryuu nor I are either of those things. I might be dressed in close to the same armor as them, but I am very out of place here. I'm really not sure why we're even here, other than that we'd gotten summoned by our commander, Lord Kuchiki, by name. That's not something you ignore, not if you have any intention of living. I can only guess that we're here because we do count as the sons of lords, even if we don't hold any actual titles ourselves, though this is the first time either of us has been pulled into a meeting.

Kuchiki is in the middle of discussing something with a few of the other lords, too quietly for Uryuu or I to hear from our position against one of the walls of the tent, and I share a glance with my cousin. I quirk an eyebrow at him, in question, but he only gives me a tiny shrug. He'd been the one to grab me from our tent, practically throwing me into my armor as I blearily tried to blink my way out of sleep. He'd had just about enough time to snap at me that we'd been called to a meeting, but after that it was more a mad dash between other soldiers.

Well, at least Uryuu doesn't know anything more than I do. That's not exactly wonderful, but it makes me feel a little bit less like the clueless idiot he's always accusing me of being.

We stand there for at least another half an hour minutes, as the lords lean over the large map spread out across the table, set up in the center of the tent. Some of the conversation we can hear, but most of it is snippets of information that don't make any sense without the context of the conversation. It isn't anything that applies to us anyway, not really. In the scheme of things, we're just normal soldiers, and we'll get our orders from whatever lord or knight we end up under the command of.

Why are we here? Or was summoning us a mistake that one of the squires, or aids, made?

Eventually, they reach some kind of a conclusion, straightening up from the table, and Kuchiki looks up. His eyes lock onto mine with unerring precision, and I fight the urge to swallow in sudden nerves.

"Kurosaki," he calls, crooking his fingers in a beckoning gesture, "come here."

I tighten my grip on the helmet I'm holding under my arm, stepping forward and through the crowd of other people. Every single one of them with a title that I don't have. "Sir?" I say in a questioning tone, coming to a stop on the opposite side of the table.

"Kurosaki, you'll be leading an escort team back to the capitol." His voice is smooth, cold, and his eyes stay fixed on mine. "Your kinsman will accompany you, as well as five other knights, and you'll be setting out immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I answer, though my mind whirls. I'm not a knight, surely he remembers that? Putting me in charge of normal soldiers is one thing, but knights are a whole different beast. Apart from my standing as an heir, I don't have any real power. "May I ask a question, sir?" He nods, and I force myself to relax a little bit. He's just a man, not some great powered being, no matter what might be in front of, or after, his name. "Why me, sir? I'm not a knight."

"I'm aware. Your commanders informed me that you've distinguished yourself on the battlefield, that's good enough. You'll be escorting an extremely dangerous prisoner that we took in yesterday's battle, Grimmjow Jaegerjacques, and the chance of an ambush is high. I require experienced combatants, as well as skilled ones, and a team of knights - as well as your status as heir - will be less likely to be killed if an ambush is successful." His eyes narrow, and I didn't think it was possible for him to get any straighter, but he does. "I expect you to successfully deliver the prisoner to the capitol, Kurosaki, but the likelihood you will succeed is admittedly small. If you are ambushed, and expect to be defeated, kill him. A wagon of supplies has been packed for you, and the others chosen for your team, as well as the prisoner, are waiting by the cells. Get going, Kurosaki."

I bow my head, raising my right hand to my heart. "Yes, sir."

I get it now. We're sacrificial lambs, we're expected to fail, so Kuchiki has also made us valuable lambs. We probably won't be killed, we're each worth a decent amount of ransom money, so we'll have more of a chance of killing the prisoner. Normal soldiers would be picked off from the trees by archers, we'll at least get a bit of warning. I head out, Uryuu coming to my side as we brush out of the tent.

"I heard that name right, didn't I?" he asks, as I turn towards the back of the camp, where the makeshift wooden cages for the prisoners are.

I grit my teeth, dodging around a trio of running soldiers. "Yeah, unfortunately."

Grimmjow Jaegerjacques. Yeah, I've heard of him. He's one of the big names that circles the campfires, the names that every soldier is afraid they'll come up against. He's a knight, not a lord, but it's probably more accurate to call him a mercenary. I've seen him on battlefields a few times, but I've never run into him and for that, I'm beyond grateful. He's brutal, he's vicious, and he's a hell of a figurehead for the other side. I honestly don't think I could beat him in a fight, not from what I've seen, and heard. I know enough not to put stock in fireside gossip, but most rumors are at least grounded in truth, and the rumors of 'Sir Jaegerjacques' are pretty universal. Mostly, that he's fucking terrifying.

"Do you have everything you need?" I ask Uryuu.

"Bow, arrows, and armor," he answers. "Everything else is optional." His armor is lighter than mine, leather and chain mail instead of plates of steel, made more for movement, less so for protection. He grabs my arm, turning me to look at him. "We need to tell Hanatarou and Rikichi where we're going," he says sharply, and releases me, half-turning away. "I'll meet you at the cages, won't be long!" He takes off running, and after a moment of hesitation I decide not to follow him. He can move faster than me, and he probably has more of an idea where our two aides are, anyway.

I resume the trek back to the cages, looking for the distinctive, lashed together, wooden beams. They're pretty easy to find, and I head towards them. There's only five of them, and they're not that big, with two or three prisoners a piece. The group I'm supposed to lead is equally easy to find. The wagon is packed nearly to the brim, five knights in full armor - though three are holding their helmets, just like me - standing beside it. The man beside them, hands shackled together but still leaning against one corner of the wagon like he hasn't got a care in the world, is very obviously our prisoner. He's got bright blue hair, streaked through with dirt, and is dressed in decently nice clothes, though they're smudged with dirt and, in a couple places, blood. Whether that's his, or someone else's, it's hard to say.

He notices me first, piercing blue eyes fixing onto me, and he gives me a wide grin, verging on psychotic. I only hold his gaze for a moment before looking away, to the knights, just in time for them to notice me. They don't straighten up, and I take in a deep breath. Oh yeah, one heir ordering around a bunch of knights years older than him. This will be fun.

I come up to them, and though I know their names and faces, I don't know any of them personally. Knights don't usually associate with anyone who isn't also a knight. There's also not anyone here who's particularly impressive. Lower leveled knights, most of which don't have much except a family name and an added 'sir'. That makes things a little easier.

I glance briefly around, and notice a distinct lack of horses, with the exception of the one hooked up to our wagon. Oh, that makes things even better. Even the lowest ranked knights are accustomed to riding horses everywhere, and I'd bet that having their horses confiscated for the war effort, being forced to walk like the rest of us, is going to make them all a pain to deal with. Especially since it's just us, with no aides or squires coming along.

I stop, taking a brief glance at their faces. "We've got one more person joining us," I say, loudly enough to carry to all of them, "he shouldn't be long. Is everyone ready to leave?" I get nods, though no verbal answers, and answer back with a nod of my own. "Good. The moment he arrives, we're heading out."

I turn away from them, heading towards our prisoner and ignoring the irritated grumblings behind me. My lack of a title aside, Kuchiki put me in command of this mission. So unless they want to go complain to him about it - and something tells me our commander wouldn't appreciate that - there's nothing they can do about the assignment. I stop a few feet away from Jaegerjacques, glancing over him. He's four or five inches taller than me, thicker too, and even out of armor there's no mistaking that he's beyond dangerous. We'll have to be very careful around him, and if we do get ambushed we'll have to move fast to have any chance of killing him.

"Are you hurt?" I ask, eying the spots of blood soaked into his clothing. An injured prisoner isn't the worst thing that could happen, it would make dealing with him a lot easier, but it would also make his transportation more complicated. He lifts one shoulder in a shrug, stretching his hands backwards and clearly ignoring the rattle of his shackles.

"Just scratches." His voice is deep, carefree, and he gives me a grin. "Don't worry, I promise I can last longer on the road than any of your knights."

I glance at them, unable to help the slight deepening of my furrowed brow. Unfortunately, he's probably right. Unused to walking in armor as they are, they'll probably need quite a few more rests than Jaegerjacques, Uryuu, or me. That will slow us down, considerably.

When I look back he's studying me, blue eyes raking over my frame and my armor, lingering briefly on my sheathed sword. "You're not a knight," he states, gaze rising to meet mine.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, and he laughs.

"You armor's good quality, but it's plain, worn, and battered. What you're wearing was made to be useful, not to show off. Knights that can afford a sword of the quality you're wearing don't tend to end up in the thick of a battle, so it's not a case of the paint wearing off. None of those peacocks would ever let their armor look like yours does, their squires would eat the back of their gauntlets first." His eyes flick to my sword, and his grin widens a little. "Unless you looted that sword, and I don't think you did, you either bought it, or were given it for fucking amazing feats. I haven't heard of you, so you didn't earn it, and if you were a knight rich enough to afford it, I'd know your name. You're not a knight." His grin turns wicked, arms rising to cross behind his head, against the wagon. "You're too young to be a lord and not be famous, and they'd never put a squire or a normal soldier in charge of a bunch of knights, he'd get eaten alive. So you're from a rich family, and got drafted in when the war started. You haven't got any titles, or those bastards over there would have shown you the slightest bit of respect, but you're damn good at this if Lord Kuchiki put you in charge of them. You've got to have quite the name behind you, since those fuckers didn't straight up laugh you off, so you're what... an heir?"

I watch him for a couple of seconds, my jaw clenched tight, before forcing it to loosen. Alright, so add 'scarily perceptive' onto the list of reasons to be wary of Jaegerjacques. "I don't think I've ever come across someone that the fireside rumors didn't blow out of proportion," I say aloud, instead of answering, and he laughs. His canines are sharp, making him look almost like some kind of hybrid carnivore, and I can see why the normal soldiers fear him like they do.

"Yeah, thought so. What name's behind you, brat?"

I glance to the side, searching for Uryuu's shape, and look back when I don't find it. "What does it matter?" I ask. "A name isn't who I am." That's been a point of contention for me, really. By all rights I should be among the lords, and the knights, but I find their company to be pretty much intolerable. They've got no idea what battle is like on the ground, when you're down in the blood and the death. At least the soldiers, even if they're wary of me being around them, are real.

He watches me, blue eyes bright with interest. "Alright then... I'll take a guess at who you are." His gaze flicks to the side, to the knights, and then returns to me. "You don't like them," he states, and then laughs. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say you think most knights are a useless bunch of bastards. You're not that wrong."

"Speaking as a knight?" I cut in, and he grins.

"Yeah. You're what, nineteen or so? You should have been a squire a long time ago, you should be close to being a knight by now, so thinking knights are useless isn't something you picked up in this war, it's something you've thought for a long time. You know fireside gossip, so you sit and talk with the normal soldiers, or at least listen to them. That makes you pretty damn unique as an heir to a rich family, so I'd bet most of the regular people around here know your name, even if the knights don't." He tilts his head to one side, gaze slipping over me one more time. "You came over here to ask if I was injured, so you're more honorable than most of those bastards. More importantly, you've got the common sense to make sure your prisoner won't collapse on the road. How am I doing so far?"

"Is that it?" I ask, loosening my grip on my helmet enough to reach for it and slip it onto my head. The metal is cold against my scalp, but that's something I learned to ignore a long time ago. "Anyone here could tell you that much, Jaegerjacques." I let my left hand fall to the sheath of my sword, resting easily there, and turn my head to take a second look for Uryuu.

"Well," Jaegerjacques says with a laugh, "it's a long walk to the capitol, brat. I'm sure we'll have more time to get to know one another on the road, lots of empty space out there, after all."

I spot Uryuu, jogging towards us, and raise my right hand to wave him over. I take a brief glance at our prisoner, making sure he hasn't moved from his spot leaning against the wagon. No, I guess it would be stupid to try anything here. He'll wait until we're on the road, wait for the moment our guards drop even the slightest bit, to make his move. It bites to admit that considering my company, and our lack of horses, if he manages to get any distance from us it's entirely probable we'll never catch him. In that case, I suppose I'll have to tie him to our wagon, or a few of the knights. Though giving him any kind of connection to them is probably asking for trouble. Right, the cart it is.

Uryuu comes to a stop a short distance away, and I watch Jaegerjacques' gaze study him just as thoroughly as he'd studied me. So, he doesn't discriminate based on looks. Give the knight a point. "Uryuu," I say, looking back at him. "Mind doing me a favor?" He gives me a slightly weird look, but shrugs.

"Name it."

I meet Jaegerjacques' eyes, trusting him to understand the sincerity behind my command. "If at any time you think that Sir Jaegerjacques is about to run, put an arrow in him."

Uryuu gives me a smile that's thin and sharp, his eyes narrowing a touch. "Gladly."

Jaegerjacques laughs, louder than he has before, and gives both of us a wide grin. "Oh, this is going to be a fun trip. Looking forward to it, brat."

-------------------------------------------------

What wakes me is a low snarl, like something from a wolf or a bear, and I blink awake. I don't feel particularly in danger, but something does feel... off.

I close my eyes, listening, and can just barely hear the low murmur of conversation. That should not be something that's happening. Everyone is asleep with the exception of the two knights I left to share a watch, and one should be patrolling a perimeter while the other watches Jaegerjacques. If there's conversation, either the one is talking to our prisoner - and Jaegerjacques is a dangerous person to hold a conversation with - or the patrolling guard came back in. Another thing that shouldn't have happened.

I flick my eyes open, glancing around our small camp, and have to hold back a snarl of my own. The patrolling knight is here, but he's also the one talking to Jaegerjacques. The other knight is asleep, back leaned up against the wagon. Oh, I'm going to murder both of these idiots. Especially because the stupid knight is towering over Jaegerjacques - tied to one corner of our full wagon, as usual - in what looks like some retarded attempt to threaten him. Our prisoner's hands are about three inches from the hilt of the knight's sword, and there's a baiting challenge glinting in his blue eyes.

I reach out, tapping the shoulder of Uryuu - asleep in front of me - and he starts awake almost immediately. "Keep him covered," I hiss, starting to get to my feet. Sleeping in full armor sucks - metal is not a forgiving thing to lay on, and it's definitely not helping my broken ribs any - but there was no way in hell I was letting myself, or any of these soft knights, open ourselves to attack in the middle of the night. I see Uryuu reach for his bow, sliding to one knee, as I approach the pair. I keep myself at an angle, behind the knight's back and out of sight of Jaegerjacques, and my anger grows as my idiot companion remains completely oblivious to me.

I grab his shoulder, dragging him back even as he sucks in a startled breath, and away from Jaegerjacques hands. I step in between the two of them, making sure we're out of Uryuu's line of fire before I turn my back to our prisoner. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demand, looking up into the brown eyes of the taller knight. I don't bother quieting my voice, and I see one of the knights still asleep startle into awareness.

"Get out of my way, boy," he nearly growls at me, and I shove him back as he tries to move past me.

"You're supposed to be on a patrol around our camp," I say sharply, standing a little more firmly in his way. I trust Uryuu to shoot Jaegerjacques if he makes any moves, but I don't trust this dick. I didn't before, and I really don't now.

"You're not a knight," he spits, and I cut him off before he can say more.

"And you're disgracing the name," I snap, raising my voice. "Not only did you endanger everyone here by abandoning your post, by leaving this entire camp open to anyone who wanted to walk in on us, but you were begging to get your weapon stolen. His hands were about three inches away from your sword, and it would have been easy for him to take it from you. Return to your patrol, knight, you're taking over every watch after this one for this fuck up."

He glares down at me, but I hold my ground with the ease of practice. 'Knight' is just a name, and he's just a man. I've killed dozens, if not over a hundred, one man will never scare me. It doesn't matter what he's wearing or what his name is, he'll bleed just as easily as any other human. His left hand curls around the sheath of his sword, and I let mine do the same. If he really wants to fight me here, over this, so be it.

After a few moments he backs down, releasing his sheath, and takes a step back. He glares, spits on the ground in front of me, and turns on his heel to head back out into the woods. I straighten up, taking in a breath and holding back a wince at the complaint of my ribs. I have no idea if I would have won, but I trust in my own ability to fight. I haven't survived this long based on chance, I'm damn good at killing. I turn my gaze to the opposite side of the wagon, to the blond knight still asleep against the wood, and clench my teeth. I stalk towards him, forming a fist with my metal inlaid glove and slamming it into the wood above his head. He jumps, startling awake with a curse, groping for his weapon. I put my hands on my hips, waiting for him to gather some semblance of consciousness.

He does, staring up at me with wide eyes that are already tinged with guilt. "Do you have a reason?" I ask, quietly.

"I," he stammers, "I was just so tired."

Bastard.

"Everyone here is tired. That's what life in a war is. Everyone is doing the same amount of work, you don't get any kind of special right to sleep." I clench my jaw, closing my eyes for a moment and resisting the urge to sneer down at the knight. I knew that the knights wouldn't be able to handle what I can, they're used to their horses and having squires wait on them hand and foot. A hard march in the dead of night, when you've already been fighting all day, is something none of them have ever had to suffer through.

This whole thing is only confirming my idea that one good soldier, armed with the same quality weapon and armor as a knight, could outlast one any day of the week. I might have grown up handling a sword, learning how to fight, but the experience of this war has hardened me in a way life as a squire never could have.

"Go," I manage, "sleep. I'll take the rest of your watch."

He moves quickly, and I rub my hand over my forehead as he curls into his abandoned bedroll without so much as a word. At least he was guilty, at least he knew that he'd messed up. That's enough for now, I can make sure they get punished somehow when we eventually get to the capitol. I honestly don't know what lighter punishment for a knight is. Fucking up, like either of them did tonight, would get a normal soldier publicly whipped. Somehow, I don't think that you can do that to a knight. At least, I can't do that to a knight.

I circle the wagon, ignoring the eyes of the knights that are now awake, back around to Jaegerjacques. He's not quite grinning, but he certainly looks pleased with himself. I take a seat opposite him, back against a tree roughly six feet away. The rope tying him to the wagon is fairly short, so he definitely can't reach me from there with anything but his legs. A kick I can catch or block without any kind of problem, I'm sure of that.

He sinks down to the ground, crossing his legs. "Should I thank you for defending me, brat?" he asks mockingly, and I shrug. My side aches, and I shift to try and relieve the pain.

"Only if you want to. I didn't do it to protect you." My voice is quiet, enough to not reach any of the other knights, and he matches my volume.

"I know." He picks at the cloth of his pants, tilting his head back to look up through the treetops at the stars. "You turned your back on me," he says after a while, lowering his gaze back to meet mine.

"True," I admit, glancing over to where Uryuu is. His bow is lowered, but he waits for my nod to set it down and resettle himself inside his bedroll. "I was careful."

"Yeah," he says with a grin, "I noticed the arrow trained on my chest. Only reason I didn't go for your sword."

"I know. Why didn't you take his sword? You were close enough before I woke up."

He snorts, but offers me a slightly wider curl of his lips. "Maybe I like it here."

I take a brief look over at the other knights, either asleep or trying to be, watching each of the lumps of cloth for a moment as they shift. "Yeah right. You're a prisoner, and no one likes marches, even slow ones like this."

"It's better than the battlefield," he says quietly, and I look back at him. "There's food, water..."

"And you don't have to wash blood off your face every night," I finish. His blue eyes are unreadable, until he gives a slow grin. It doesn't have the joy, the excitement, that I've come to associate with his looks, and his eyes stay dark.

"Yeah, there's that." His grin fades, and he shrugs. "Long way to the capitol, brat, a lot could happen. Until then, why not consider it a break?" So, Jaegerjacques knows the chances too. He must know that the likelihood of us actually making it to the capitol with him is small, he must know even better than we do how important he is to our enemies, and how likely it is they'll try and rescue him. I wonder if he knows that we have standing orders to kill him, rather then let him get retaken. "Where are you from?" Jaegerjacques asks, after a few moments.

"You mean what family am I part of?" I counter, and his grin returns with a small shrug. I lean my head back against the tree, closing my eyes for a moment to picture the map that I've spent hours looking at over the last week or so. "The route we're taking down to the capitol will take us within a few miles of my family's lands. There, think that through." It's probably more than enough for him, if he knows his geography. If he knows the knights as well as he seems to think he does, then he'll know the area and know what heirs are knights and which aren't, and narrow it down from there.

"Going to make me work for it, huh?" He gives a quiet laugh. "There's at least a dozen different ways we could take down, depending on how obvious you want to be. That's a lot of possibilities, I guess it'll take me some time." He settles back against the wagon, closing his eyes after giving me a sharp grin.

I'm not totally positive if he falls asleep or not, but I keep my attention more or less on him. My gaze wanders a little bit, between the sleeping forms of my companions, the dark ring of trees past the light of the fire, and the horse tethered to one side of our small clearing, but I'm here to watch Jaegerjacques, so mostly that's what I do. My mind wanders more, revisiting plans, routes, and, eventually, my home.

My gut tightens, and I resist the desire to close my eyes. I'll admit it only to Uryuu and myself, but I miss my home. I miss it with a passion I didn't really think I was capable of, that burns with every moment of my existence, regardless of how preoccupied my mind is. Somewhere in my chest is this yawning hole that craves the sounds of daily life at my family's castle, that yearns to walk back into the hall of my home and see my sisters' eyes light up in joy. Even Karin, as stubborn as she is - and so very convinced that she doesn't want anything to do with the slightest thing female related - I'm sure will be glad to see me. She might not cry, as I'm sure Yuzu will, but she'll be just as happy.

To sleep in a real bed again, to eat something that isn't dried, or wasn't caught that morning and hastily thrown over a campfire. To do anything that isn't march, or kill, or bleed.

I hold back a sigh, trying not to think about all the aches and pains spread over me. My arm is mostly healed, one more scar to add to all the others, though my side still hurts. There's nothing I can do about it, and at least all I'm doing is walking. If I were fighting, I'm sure it would be worse. Everything else is minor, aches and bruises that are either from the last battle, a week ago, or from sleeping in this armor.

I know it's a dumb idea, it's a terrible idea, but it's hard to resist the thought of detouring from our mission to stop by home. Even briefly, even if it's just for a minute, it would be a dream come true. But we can't, and I know that. I'll just have to wait until this war is over, and I can go home, where I belong, without the fear of being hunted down as a deserter. I have to wait, no matter how hard it is, or how much it hurts to think about. I can only pray that this war ends decently quickly.

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Surprisingly, we make it to the capitol. The brown-eyed knight, Shusuke, and I nearly come to blows at least a dozen more times - mostly because he's an incompetent asshole - but we do make it. Jaegerjacques figures out who I am, eventually, as I knew he would. Once the options for our routes slimmed down, as it got more defined based on where I took us, the choices narrowed down significantly. He also figured out that Uryuu is related to me, and eventually what family he's heir to as well.

We talk quite a bit, and Jaegerjacques and I come to a sort of strange understanding. We're on opposite sides of a war, and we can't quite be friends with that threat looming in the background, but we probably come as close as any two people can, considering. He hasn't got a family, he's just a soldier who did well enough to get named a knight, and my attitude towards our knight companions is much the same as his. It also makes me think that he probably could have taken at least one or two of us by himself, even without his armor, and we're probably lucky he decided to just relax and let us do what we wanted.

Unfortunately, when we reach the capitol gates, we get greeted by drawn swords, and at least a dozen bowmen, the moment we step inside.

I take a single step back, not reaching for my sword despite how instinct says that I should. Granted we've been out of contact for roughly three months - it's a long walk, and the knights, and wagon, made it slower than it should have been - avoiding any kind of settlement that could pass on our whereabouts, but I was pretty sure that knights were universally recognizable. Also, Jaegerjacques is pretty much unmistakeable.

"No weapons," I snap to the knights, and Uryuu, as several of them reach for their swords. I don't think stepping into the capitol and getting swarmed by guards counts as an ambush, and I'd rather not kill Jaegerjacques unless I'm certain that these guards are unfriendly. Last I checked the capitol was under our control and was firmly set to stay that way.

After a few minutes someone in the armor of a knight - a particularly wealthy knight, if the inlaid metals on his chest piece are anything to go by - approaches us, shouldering past one of the sword-wielding guards.

"State your purpose," he demands, and I move forward to stand at the front of our group.

"Lord Kuchiki sent us, escorting Sir Grimmjow Jaegerjacques to the capitol as a war prisoner."

His lip curls, arms crossing over his chest. "War's over," he states bluntly, and I blink in surprise. "The Kuchiki didn't end up on the winning side." Oh, that's... that's not good. I fight the urge to take a step back, glancing briefly at the semicircle of archers and swordsmen surrounding us.

From behind me, I hear Jaegerjacques burst out laughing. I don't turn, not fully comfortable with showing my back to any of these people. "How long ago?" I ask. In the end, what does it matter what happened? Our side lost, that's the important part. I hope to god my family is still standing, and that Hanatarou and Rikichi are still alive.

"About a month," the knight answers. He looks over at one of the swordsmen, nodding his head forwards. "Release Sir Jaegerjacques." The guard heads forward, and the knight looks at me and then past me, likely at my men. "You will surrender your weapons," he calls, "resistance will not be tolerated."

I reach for my sword, slowly, and under the watchful eyes of the knight, removing the sheath and sword from my belt and slipping to one knee to set it on the ground. I add my knife, attached to my right calf, to it, and then straighten up and step back. I take a quick glance behind me, making sure that the rest of my companions are behaving. There's really no point in fighting.

Not only do they have us surrounded, though our armor would probably do a decent job of deflecting most of the arrows with only some damage, but the war is over and done with. There's no point in fighting for a cause that's dead, and I don't know about the knights, but I was drafted in to begin with. My family happened to be on the Kuchiki side of territory, so we were automatically included in the war. It's hard to feel any real sense of belonging in a war you don't really have a part in.

There's the swish of a sword, the clatter of chain, and a few moments later Jaegerjacques comes striding past me. He's got a wide grin on his face, the guard following just behind him. He's still got the shackles around his wrists, but the ends of the chains hang from them, severed in the middle. The best anyone can do without either a blacksmith or a locksmith, those shackles weren't really meant to ever come off, and I wasn't given the key to them.

"You are the leader of this group?" the knight asks me, and I nod. "What family?"

"Kurosaki," I answer, and Jaegerjacques snorts.

"Fuck, you might as well let him go." The knight looks over at the man I called my prisoner, one eyebrow arched, and Jaegerjacques shrugs, stretching first one arm then the other over his shoulder. "The rest of them are knights, but this kid and the black-haired archer aren't, they're just soldiers. Kuchiki didn't want to risk anyone important on an escort, so they're a bunch of lower level knights and two soldiers good enough to make up for those fucker's incompetence." Not really the truth, but I bite my tongue. Jaegerjacques gives me a wicked grin, and a small nod. "Those two aren't the kind to go looking to join up with rebels, you can have my word on that."

The knight looks skeptical, but Jaegerjacques ignores him, turning and shoving through the ring of guards.

"Damn! I could use a bath, and a decent fucking meal. Hey, you," he beckons one of the guards, "show me to a blacksmith that will take this shit off my wrists, will you?"

The knight from the capitol watches Jaegerjacques for a moment, then appraises me and my group. "Arrest the knights," he orders eventually, and the guards start forwards. "The two of you are free to return home, wherever that may be."

I bow my head, kneeling to collect my sword and knife, and hook them back onto myself. "Thank you," I offer, and glance at the wagon. "May we collect our gear?" He nods, and I step to the side of the wagon as Uryuu approaches me, bow once again slung over his back. The only actual things in it that are ours are the bedrolls, but I snag a bundle of dried jerky as well. Shusuke gives me a nasty glare as he's pulled past us, but I ignore it.

Pros and cons of being a knight, bastard.

I nod to Uryuu, and we backtrack through the capitol gates, back out into the small town surrounding the walls. We don't get far, mutually silent by some kind of agreement, before a shout calls to us.

"Hey, Kurosaki!"

I turn, looking back along the road, and have to smother a smirk at the sight of the blue-haired bastard. He trots up to us as I share a long suffering glance with Uryuu, grinning. "Yes, Jaegerjacques?" I ask, looking up at him.

He offers me a hand. "Have a good life, brat. Whatever you choose to do with it."

I take it, for the first time, as something like equals. "Thanks, you too. If you're ever in the area, you're welcome by." Jaegerjacques turns to Uryuu, and my distant cousin gives a small scoff.

"Absolutely not. My reluctance to shoot you does not equate to us being friends," he says snippily, turning on his heel and sweeping down the road. I give a small laugh, and Jaegerjacques gives a larger one.

"Good luck," he says, once the laughter stops. I let my lips curl in a tiny smile, nodding, and turn to follow Uryuu. I feel lighter than I have in a long time, far too long.

Home. I'm going home.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!