Impurrfect

By Spunky0ne

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(Okay, my friends, I will not be adding any more new ones after this until I finish a lot of other stories. But the new Shihoin brother to Yoruichi is so adorable, I took the liberty of aging him to marriage age and pairing him with an unwitting Tetsuya. Once these two fall into each other's orbit, Byakuya and Ichigo will be caught between trying to protect the two and exploring their own emerging feelings for each other. Both Ichigo/Byakuya and Yuushiro/Tetsuya pairings will feature prominently. I hope to make this a lovely romance for both couples, with a balance of humor, drama and some angst as our lovely couples fall in love. I hope you enjoy the new pairing. Roaring back from the flu and already digging into new chapters! Thanks again to everyone who sent along their healing prayers and good wishes. The flu is on the way out and although I can't talk yet because I lost my voice, I am able to write! Love you all. Enjoy the chapter. Cheers, Spunky)

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In the wake of the war with the quincies, the clan leaders and heirs are required to participate in a ritual of procreation. Byakuya and Ichigo hesitantly accept their duty, while eighteen-year-old Shihoin Yuushiro takes a drastic action that lands him in a chamber with lovely half-blood, Kuchiki Tetsuya by mistake. What will happen when the full moon activates the enchantment? Only time will tell! Ichigo/Byakuya and Yuushiro/Tetsuya main pairings, yaoi, mpreg.

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Chapter 1: Duty

Tetsuya's dark, sapphire eyes watched quietly as Byakuya's attendant slowly removed the clan leader's hair decorations, sliding the expensive pieces out of the satin strands, then slid the white haori off of his shoulders and hung it carefully to the side of where they stood in the dressing area. His gaze reverent and slightly saddened, he pulled the fingerless glove from each pale hand, then removed and set aside each piece of the heir's shihakushou. The attendant paused for a moment, his hand trembling slightly as he picked up the plain white yukata. Byakuya's smoky eyes caught his for a moment and the clan leader gave him a bracing look.

"It is all right, Torio," he assured the young man, "Please continue."

"I understand his reticence," Tetsuya confessed softly, "I feel the same. I cannot imagine that we have reached a time like this, watashi no itoko, where such methods are needed to ensure our survival."

Byakuya sighed and his eyes nearly closed for a moment.

"I think we all have our reservations, but even so, we also understand that our bodies, minds and hearts belong to the soul king. He gives us a place of honor among souls and we must honor him with our obedience. How may we do that if we allow our kind to die out? And how can we maintain the power gifted to us if we do not continue? None of us desire this, but all are aware of the necessity."

"But won't it be awkward, sir?" Torio asked in a trembling voice, "If not before or during, then afterwards?"

"We will all take the elixir before engaging in the ritual," Byakuya explained, "so we will be partially sedated and not terribly distressed. We don't know who our partners will be, but it will be documented. And at least we will not be forced to marry, only to provide at least one heir for each of our clans."

"But Byakuya-sama, there are more males than females in the upper ranks," Torio noted anxiously.

Byakuya glanced briefly at Tetsuya.

"The male couples will receive a second elixir created to mimic the natural male breeder ability like that which Tetsuya has. They will then form a reiatsu chamber and be able to carry a child's reiatsu in their bodies."

"It is not an unpleasant thing to carry a child," Tetsuya said soothingly, his eyes clouding with memory, "For a breeder male, the symptoms are not so pronounced as a female's. And our abdomens do not have to become overly large, because the child remains in reiatsu form until it has emerged from the body."

He paused for a moment, absently touching his slim belly with one hand.

"And the bonding between the parents and child is...warm...and beautiful."

"Tetsuya?" Byakuya whispered, noting the tear that had leaked from his cousin's eye.

The younger Kuchiki quickly turned away.

"Please excuse me, Byakuya-sama. I will meet you at the front gates when you are ready," he said, flash stepping away before Byakuya could answer.

Torio looked sadly in the direction he had gone.

"I am sorry, Byakuya-sama. I didn't mean to upset him. I..."

"I know," Byakuya assured the younger man, "It isn't your fault. There are wounds Tetsuya carries upon his heart that take a long time to heal."

"It's ridiculous that he was excluded from the ritual," Torio mused, "I know he is not of pure blood, but he is half noble and very powerful! Surely if you..."

"I would not have wanted Tetsuya involved in this. While it is true that he is powerful and he is a model of noble conduct, Tetsuya was damaged inside when he lost his first child. It would be dangerous for him. That is why I did not question the decision of the Noble's General Council to exclude him, as well as the other half-bloods from the ritual."

"Ah, I suppose you are right," the attendant said, fastening the tie at Byakuya's waist, "but it is sad because it's hurting him."

"I understand, however, Tetsuya does not need something like this. What our cousin needs is to find love again. This is not love, it is our duty and a show of our humility and obedience."

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"Yuushiro-sama!" called a young, dark haired male Shihoin youth, looking around as he entered the leader's bedroom.

He shifted to the form of a large, silvery Russian Gray feline and flashed about the room, peeking under the bed, behind the curtains, and in each dark corner before returning to the center of the room and shifting back to shinigami form.

"Yuushiro-sama, you're going to get me into trouble! Please, master, you know that you have to go any minute. I must dress you now. Yuushiro-sama!"

He paused and made a sound of surprise as a feminine laugh seeped in through the door and Yoruichi appeared suddenly in the doorway.

"Yoruichi-sama!" the attendant squeaked, nearly reverting to cat form.

"Take it easy, little one," she chuckled, patting the boy on the head, "I'll find the little rascal for you. Hmmm, not in the closet, huh?"

"No, Yoruichi-sama."

"Or behind the curtains or under the bed?"

"No. I've looked everywhere and I can't find him! I'm going to be in trouble if he isn't on time!"

"I told you to stop worrying," Yoruichi laughed, tilting her head slightly and indicating a large statue on a high shelf that seemed to have grown a fluffy tail around it's base, "Come on out, Yuushiro-chan. You're not fooling anyone, hiding up there so poorly."

"R-rowlrrrr, aw, Nee-san, can't you pretend you didn't see me?" the youth complained.

"Come down here and stop acting like a child," his elder sister chided him, "You are an adult now and you need to start acting like one."

"Well," Yuushiro huffed, poking a whiskered face out from behind the statue, "You're not being arranged to lose your virginity with someone!"

"No," the Shihoin princess laughed, "One of the benefits of being somewhat of an outcast. But it's fine. I'm not the motherly kind."

"Oh go ahead and laugh," the prince turned fishing cat complained, leaping gracefully down from the shelf and turning his large golden eyes on her irascibly, "but I could end up being a mother if...!"

"You won't," Yoruichi assured him with a grin, "The only way that happens is if you are chosen to be paired with a Shiba or a Kuchiki, who rank higher than we do and have an abundance of male candidates, but not female. I am sure they will take your age into consideration and choose a young, gentle girl to be with you. You will be fine, Yuushiro-chan!"

She knelt and curled an arm around the little wildcat's neck, digging gently into the coarse, olive grey fur with her fingers and coaxing a rumbling purr from deep in Yuushiro's feline throat.

"There now, that's it. Just be calm. You know, you aren't the only virgin who is going to this gathering tonight."

"Please don't go telling anyone!" Yuushiro pleaded, his eyes rounding and a strange blush managing to touch even his feline face, "Nee-san!"

"Like they wouldn't know," Yoruichi muttered softly under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh, never mind. Come along!" she urged him, watching as he took on his shinigami form and his attendant dashed back to his side to hastily dress him in the required white yukata.

As he stood, contemplating his slender body in the mirror, he frowned thoughtfully.

"Who else is a virgin who is going tonight?" he asked.

Yoruichi gave him a knowing smirk.

"None that you need to know about, Otouto," she scolded him teasingly, "Now, let's go before they send someone to look for you!"

"I could hide from them," the youth said in an uncharacteristically surly voice, "The one I can't hide from is you."

"Come on!" Yoruichi laughed, shooing him out the door.

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Byakuya and Tetsuya paused as they reached the council guard post at the base of the council hall steps.

"Only the chosen and their attendants are allowed beyond this point, sirs," the guard said respectfully.

"Tetsuya is attending me," Byakuya said, nodding in his cousin's direction.

"Very well," the guard replied, "Up the steps and down the hall to your right, sirs."

Tetsuya followed Byakuya silently up the steps and down the right hand corridor, then past another guard to a large gathering room where hundreds of yukata clad noble males and females anxiously waited. The room was nearly full by the time the doors were closed, and the grand councilor of the Noble's General Council called the meeting to order.

"My brothers and sisters," he said warmly, "I know we are all grateful to have survived the holocaust wrought by the quincies, and all of us here have already proven ourselves loyal servants of the king. But the new incarnation our lord Reio has a great need that we must yet fulfill. Many were lost in the battles...many young and old, male and female, of every clan. Because of this, the number of us who stand ready to defend our king has fallen to a critical level. The only way to provide his majesty with strong defenders to prevent a repeat of this war's tragedies, is to bring about more young to swell our numbers. We of the grand council are very aware of the task that we lay on your shoulders, and many of us still young enough to bring forth life, stand among you, ready to do as we ask you to do. This is not a course taken easily, but it is a desperate necessity. All of you have been carefully chosen. Your strength, your powers and your fine quality will build a legacy for the future. We of the grand council wish all of you fruitfulness, happiness and a bright future with the offspring you will bless us with. Now, if you will give your attention to Councilor Fumio, he will direct you to your meeting chambers."

The grey haired grand councilor sat down and a slightly younger councilor with greying black hair took his place in front of the chosen.

"Greetings," Fumio said solemnly, "All of you were given a silver band we placed on your wrist, imprinted with a coded number that was matched with another and assigned to a meeting room. You only need look at the charts being projected to locate your number and room. The rooms have been made comfortable and supplied with food, drink and other comforts you may find useful. In precisely thirty minutes, all attendants will be recalled to the entry and the chambers will be sealed. Skylights will allow the light of the full moon into each chamber and that will release the power of the enchantment. Once within your chamber, swallow the elixir left for you...or if you are a man paired with another man, drink the two elixirs, then wait for the moon to reach the proper position. You should feel no anxiety and when the morning comes, you should have only dull memories of the night. But you will begin serving his majesty in the most precious way...by bringing new life to his clans. May you all be blessed in your efforts."

With no further ceremony, the meeting chamber's doors opened again and the ones within the room filed out into the corridors, following the numbered doors to their chambers.

"Are you all right, Byakuya-sama?" Tetsuya asked, glancing up at his cousin's stoic expression.

"I am fine," Byakuya assured him, "It is perhaps not how I intended to have a child and heir, but I am all right with it. We all must do something to protect our clan's numbers."

"Unless we are unworthy somehow," Tetsuya whispered.

"Pardon?"

"N-nothing," Tetsuya said quickly, "There, Byakuya-sama, your room."

The two proceeded to the door and Byakuya punched his code into the panel beside it. The door clicked and opened readily to his touch, revealing to him that someone else had already entered the room and stood, facing away and looking up through the skylight. The Kuchiki heir's breath caught at the sight of the young man's ginger hair and his all too familiar slender body.

"Ichigo," he breathed in a stunned tone.

The young man turned and gave Byakuya a less than surprised look.

"Byakuya."

"I suppose the choice makes some kind of sense," Byakuya concluded, holding Ichigo's anxious gaze steadily, "However, I find it surprising that you would go along with this."

"Oh?" Ichigo said, smiling very slightly, "Why is that? Do you think I don't know how badly the king needs his protectors?"

"Of course not," Byakuya assured him, his heart catching at the intensity of the younger man's golden brown eyes, "It is just that you are young and of high spirits. I have not known you to be the kind to simply do what duty requires."

"Well," Ichigo chuckled, warming slightly, "No one knows better than me right now the price of not being there for his majesty. His last incarnation was lost because we couldn't be there in time to help him."

"But the new incarnation of the king has stabilized our worlds and you have ended the threat. They might have considered your debts paid," Byakuya suggested.

"Come on, now," Ichigo laughed good-naturedly, "You don't think for a minute that those stuffy old farts are going to let me off without making an heir as soon as possible."

"I thought they might have given you a choice."

Ichigo's eyes struck him light a bolt of lightning and his words weakened the Kuchiki heir's legs beneath him.

"I did have a choice," he confessed, "And I chose you."

Byakuya's dark grey eyes gazed into Ichigo's with deep curiosity.

"You chose me?" he repeated, only half believing the words.

"Yeah," Ichigo said, blushing, "Out of everyone, you were the one I knew best, the person I felt the most comfortable doing something like this with. I trust you, and trust is important when a person loses his virginity."

"B-but, wouldn't you prefer to be with a female? She would carry both children. You needn't take such a thing on yourself." Byakuya reminded him, "This way, we both must carry a..."

"Are you saying you're unhappy I chose you?" Ichigo asked, smirking.

"No," Byakuya answered, a light flush invading his fine features, "I don't find the prospect of being with you for our first time objectionable. I just thought that..."

Ichigo's sudden frown stopped him mid-sentence.

"Our first time?" he queried, "You mean my first time, right?"

"No," Byakuya corrected him with an almost shy intonation, "And I am not implying that it will ever happen again. I mean that I am also virginal."

Ichigo's jaw dropped and his eyes blinked in confusion while he struggled for words.

"But...you were married, weren't you?" he asked finally, "To Hisana?"

"Yes," Byakuya confirmed, "Hisana was...a lovely young woman, and my best friend. We did love each other and she agreed to marry me in order to rescue me from an arranged marriage. A marriage to me meant that I could ease her path in life and be close to her. But her health was always a concern, so unbeknownst to the family elders, we never consummated the marriage. I feared impregnating her because it would have shortened her life even more. I am also a virgin, Ichigo."

"Oh kami," Ichigo chuckled, blushing more brightly, "I thought that being with someone who was a friend and a little...wiser would make things easier."

"Do you regret your decision?" Byakuya asked, his expression perfectly serious, "Because you can still change your mind."

"No way," the Shiba heir said, picking up the first elixir and swallowing it, "I stand by my decision. If I have to do this, I want it to be with a friend...a person I trust...someone who is loyal to me."

"I almost killed you," Byakuya whispered, drinking his first elixir.

"I almost killed you," Ichigo said, smiling and picking up the second elixir, "And ever since then, I've known that there isn't anyone whose friendship, whose faith, whose loyalty means so much to me."

Byakuya looked back at him silently as the two swallowed the second elixir.

"I'm glad you feel the same," he whispered, watching as the door behind Byakuya closed and clicked into place.

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"What are you doing, lurking about?" a deep, mocking voice asked, "Were you hoping that I would sneak you into my chamber instead of the person chosen for me?"

Tetsuya frowned up into his taller cousin's black eyes.

"I was attending Byakuya-sama," he said shortly, "Not that it is any business of yours. I am his personal bodyguard, after all."

"I am aware," his cousin said, moving closer and trapping Tetsuya up against the wall, "There is nothing about you that escapes me...ever."

"Leave me alone, Orochi!" Tetsuya hissed, trying to flash step, then freezing as his cousin's hand wrapped around his upper arm, stopping him, "What are you doing?"

"Don't you want to get in on tonight's festivities?" Orochi said smoothly, "I can hide you in my room and we can be together after I impregnate whoever else they give me."

"Let go of me! You're repulsive!" Tetsuya snapped, tearing away and flash stepping down the hallway.

Fearing that his cousin would follow, he ducked into a room that appeared to have been left vacant and invoked his power, causing his slender body to take on the translucent look of water, then moving into a dark corner to further conceal himself.

Back near Orochi's door, Yuushiro paused and scratched his head, looking from one room to the next in confusion. He looked into the room where the tall, dark haired and stern-eyed man waited, then swallowed hard and backed away.

"I thought Nee-san said they wouldn't give me a man!" he mused, shivering, "And he looks mean! No way am I..."

He looked around, then flash stepped away, failing to notice the room that had actually been noted on his band. His heart in his throat, he ducked into a room with an open door and closed it behind him.

"Hey, this should be my room," a male voice said from outside the door.

"Oh no!" Yuushiro exclaimed, ducking into the shadows and unexpectedly pressing up against Tetsuya's hidden form, "Huh?"

"Shh, please don't say anything!" Tetsuya pleaded, "My cousin was trying to annoy me and I came in here to escape him. I am sorry. I will leave in a..."

"It's all right. There's an extra room here, sirs," said another voice outside the door.

The two young men waited breathlessly until the voices faded.

"I think they've gone," Tetsuya said finally, shedding his waterform and meeting Yuushiro's golden eyes.

Yuushiro froze, a blush roaring over his youthful features as his widened eyes took in the sight of Tetsuya's slender body, bright sapphire eyes and shoulder length, wavy black hair. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he fought to think of something to say. Finding nothing, he nervously backed away.

"Ah...ah, it's all right, ah. I think I'm very thirsty."

He turned towards the table and grabbed one of the small cups, swallowing the pleasant liquid in that, then a second.

"But...that is the...!" Tetsuya tried to warn him.

"Oh!" Yuushiro gulped, looking like a deer caught in a car's headlights.

"I have to go," Tetsuya exclaimed, "before..."

He flash stepped to the door and turned the handle, only to feel it refuse to budge under his fingers. Sucking in a surprised breath, he focused on a waterform that he had placed in his horse's stall back at Kuchiki Manor to use for escape in emergencies, only to find his power somehow blocked.

"My waterform!" he breathed in a shocked tone, "I can't move to it!"

"The ritual has begun," Yuushiro whispered, going pale, "Our powers won't work...and we're stuck in here!"

Tetsuya watched with widened eyes as the Shihoin youth reverted to cat form and zipped around the room, looking desperately for any escape. After several minutes, he noticed the moon moving into position above the opened skylight.

"Oh no!"

"It's all right," Tetsuya assured him, "I didn't drink the elixir. I won't touch you."

"B-but I already feel strange," Yuushiro whispered, his eyes going hazy and fixing eerily on Tetsuya's, "What can we do?"

"I will...I will just..."

Tetsuya froze as the Shihoin youth's eyes seemed to light from within and a dizziness passed through both of them.

"What is happening?" Tetsuya wondered aloud, backing away from the prince, "I didn't drink the elixir, but..."

Yuushiro's handsome golden eyes stared into Tetsuya's and Tetsuya's legs weakened beneath him.

"Oh!" Yuushiro realized suddenly, as a bright golden glow rose around the two of them, "This isn't the elixir, is it? You and I are...resonating!"