Healer and the White Samurai
By Spunky0ne
(A gentle May/December romance…yaoi, mpreg, Juushiro/Tetsuya, Byakuya/Toshiro, Ichigo/Uryu, Renji/Rukia)
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Chapter 1: Last Thoughts
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So…this is what it's like to finally die.
I don't feel any pain anymore. That's good. I think Shunsui would compare it to the blessed numbness after a bottle of the best sake in existence. My friend, I hope you find that bottle and pour a glass for me when you do.
As for me, I'm at peace with my body finally breaking down into spirit particles…spreading out across Soul Society and becoming one with it. That doesn't sound so terrible. I'm afraid of not being aware anymore, not able to see and hear and feel anything. But I leave, knowing that I'll still be an important part of it all. Particles that were a part of me will be in the sky with the clouds that Shunsui and I laid under and looked up into. They will be in the air that my loved ones will still breathe, when they sigh and remember me. They will be in the fires of new romance and life. And they will be in the still waters I rested alongside. Yes, I will still be here, and the ones who loved me will feel my presence. We all are born of this essence, these spirit particles, and that is where we go when we die.
"Ukitake-sama," a youthful male voice said, seeping into the dying 13th division taichou's thoughts, "Ukitake-sama, what has happened to you?"
Juushiro's eyes moved sluggishly and slowly opened and tried to focus.
"It will be all right, Ukitake-sama. The ones attending you were knocked out in the destruction of the last battle."
"H-heal them," Juushiro managed in a thick, broken voice, "It's f-fine. I knew I w-was going to die when I…"
It was then that he sensed the glow that was radiating warmly around his body. He blinked and registered that the glow wasn't just around him, but was also encompassing the slender form of the one who bent over him.
Who is this?
Is he a member of Squad Four? His reiatsu is strong, like a fighter's, but his healing touch is…it's unbelievable!
Who…?
"I healed the others and had them taken to safety already. And you are not going to die, Ukitake-sama," the young man promised, washing Juushiro's face gently with a cool, wet washcloth. "I admit that you were dying when I found you, but…well…I'm not sure what happened.
I know this power.
Way back when I was three and I was so sick and dying that my parents gave my soul to Mimhagi-sama, I heard them speak of there still being hope. While I was recovering and they thought I couldn't hear, my mother told my father of a legendary healer, one whose soul is said to be returned endlessly to the soul well to be reborn whenever he dies. And each time his soul is reborn, this healer's power connects with one lost soul, one hopeless and dying person whom he can save and give his heart to.
Am I just dreaming?
"I have cleaned most of the sludge away," the young healer's voice told him, "but I need to take you somewhere safe."
Juushiro started to object, but went silent again as cool, soft fingertips touched his lips.
"Gomen nasai," the young man apologized, "There are still quincies about, and with their leader fallen, some are attacking recklessly. Please, I have stabilized you. My stallion is here, and I will hold on to you, so that you will not fall. Arashi has a gentle gait. Please come, Ukitake-sama."
Juushiro was surprised that he was able with the healer's help to climb onto shaky legs. The black horse in front of them was tall, but at the sight of the injured taichou, he carefully lowered himself onto his knees and waited quietly as his master helped him on.
"Arashi," Juushiro whispered dazedly, "Aren't you…? Isn't your master…?"
"I am Arashi's master," the healer informed him, "I am Kuchiki Tetsuya."
Even badly weakened, Juushiro couldn't stop the genuine smile that came to his lips.
"Takao's boy, Tetsuya!" he exclaimed softly, "I remember your mother and father."
"Please, Ukitake-sama," Tetsuya pleaded, "We can talk when we reach the encampment. Orihime-chan arrived there just recently with my cousin, Rukia-chan. I am sure that…"
"I have had my lungs given to the god, Mimhagi-sama in exchange for letting me live this long," Juushiro explained, "I am sorry, Tetsuya. You are wasting your time."
Or is he?
Was I just dreaming or did my mother really say that story was true?
"Don't speak that way, Ukitake-sama," Tetsuya said firmly, "I've stabilized your reiatsu and you are not dying now. Are you saying that you are in a gradual decline?"
"N-no!" Juushiro insisted, earning another worried rebuke from his determined companion, "I felt my lungs declining as soon as the god left my body. He was consuming them as I laid dying."
"If that's so," Tetsuya said, skeptically, "then how are you still talking to me? I know your lungs have always been troubled."
"Because when I was a child and I was dying of a lung affliction, they were given to…"
"To Mimhagi-sama," Tetsuya remembered, "Yes, you told me."
He set the injured taichou in kido restraints, so that he wouldn't fall, then mounted in front of him.
"You are not going to fall," Tetsuya assured him, "but if it feels better for you to hold on, then wrap your arms around me."
Arashi stepped forward slowly and Juushiro's arms instinctively wrapped around Tetsuya's slim waist. He rested his head wearily on the young man's shoulder, breathing in the pleasant scent of him and closing his eyes.
"The Seireitei is a mess," Juushiro sighed, "I know Shunsui said it's just buildings, and that they can be replaced, but there is so much damage…"
"Well, I am sure that after we take care of the damage to our people, we will rebuild," Tetsuya posited, looking around as Arashi carefully picked his way through the piles of debris.
"Did you say there was an encampment?" Juushiro mumbled sleepily, "Is this where you relocated your relatives?"
"It is," Tetsuya confirmed, "We were able to evacuate swiftly, as we had practiced. The clans that were prepared as we were fared well, but I have heard that a few clans remained to defend their homes, and that some were completely annihilated."
"Kami," Juushiro whispered sadly, holding onto Tetsuya a little more tightly, "I am glad for the ones who survived, but…so much loss."
"Word has come that Central 46 was invaded and that the sages and judges were slaughtered, save the ones who remained with their families and evacuated. But the loss amounts to nearly two thirds of the council."
Juushiro encountered a moment of sheer breathlessness at the news and he felt suddenly that Tetsuya was looking back over a slender shoulder at him, bringing their faces suddenly close together. His eyes opened and met Tetsuya's large blue ones quietly.
"Sumimasen," the young man said more softly, "We should focus on your healing. News of the war will be around for us to consider later."
Tetsuya nodded in the direction of a very slight shimmer in the air ahead of them.
"There is the barrier. We will be through in a moment and Orihime-chan can have a look at you. My field healing is adequate, but hers is..."
"I'd say your is better than adequate," Juushiro chuckled, "You know, I shouldn't even still be alive. I know I felt my lungs being eaten away."
"Oh, that can't be true," Tetsuya chided him, "You look so much better. How would that be, if your lungs had been eaten away? I am not doubting your story, but I can feel it. You are going to be fine, Ukitake-sama."
"Well, I can't argue without confirming what you say is true," Juushiro laughed, his body resonating with a soft, odd vibration that tickled his senses pleasantly, "It does look like you were able to stabilize me. I will be very interested in what your family healers have to say about it. I assure you…"
"You must have been mistaken," Tetsuya assured him, bringing the stallion to a stop in front of the entrance to a large cave, "That is the only explanation for how easily I healed you. I am a good healer, but to do what you are suggesting would take more power than I have, for certain."
"Ah, you're probably right," Juushiro sighed, shaking his head in capitulation.
His eyes brightened as Rukia flash stepped into their path, with Orihime at her side. Both looked on in amazement as Tetsuya helped Juushiro down off Arashi's back.
"Ukitake taichou!" shouted an approaching Kuchiki family attendant, "Please sir, let us bring a litter to carry you in."
"No, no," the white-haired man chuckled good naturedly, leaving shocked looks on the faces of all but Tetsuya, "I am feeling much better after Tetsuya-san's healing. I actually feel better than I have in months! There is no burning in my chest anymore at all, and no coughing all of the way here."
The aged lead healer of the Kuchiki clan appeared behind the others and moved forward, his expression mirroring that of the others around him.
"Ukitake taichou," he said incredulously, "word had arrived that you had suffered a debilitating condition, and you were not expected to return. But you look oddly well, and I don't think I've felt your reiatsu to be this strong."
"You can thank Kuchiki Tetsuya for that," Juushiro explained, earning more shocked looks from the others and a doubtful frown from Tetsuya, himself.
"It wasn't any particular technique," Tetsuya assured them, "I only used my stronger reiatsu to infuse his body and stabilize him. It was basic field healing. Perhaps…perhaps he just wasn't as hurt as everyone thought he was."
"But I haven't coughed once since I woke with Tetsuya leaning over me," Juushiro said wonderingly, "And what was that strange glow around our bodies?"
"A glow?" Tetsuya mused, "W-well, I guess there was a glow. I was just so focused on you, I don't know if I really saw it or not."
"And I was half out of it," Juushiro said ruefully, "I suppose I could have been imagining it, but…how do we explain that I am not only alive, but I seem to be growing stronger by the minute?"
"I will tell you what it is," the old healer said with certainty, earning the others' curious gazes, "It's a miracle!"
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Shunsui strode silently alongside the returning taichous as they exited the tenchurren and gathered together in the spot near the twelfth division, where they had been launched. Their faces reflected surprise at the lack of movement in the area, and the group broke into a flurry of heated exclamations.
"Where is everyone?" Kurosuchi Mayuri demanded, "I left a group with the express purpose of making sure that Aizen Sousuke did not leave his chair! I'll kill those idiots with my bare hands if he gets away!"
"Eh," Shunsui sighed, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck as he surveyed a group of dead bodies, huddled on the ground, "I think someone already did that for you. These look like what's left of your group…and the reiatsu is definitely Ywach's."
"Over here!" called a youthful male voice that Byakuya and Tosiro immediately recognized as Ishida Uryu, one of Ichigo's human friends, "I've got Ichigo…and Aizen!"
The taichous flash stepped to the place where the injured quincy held an unconscious Ichigo against him, with Aizen's unconscious and heavily bound body nearby.
"Stay back from him!" Kurotsuchi roared, "He's an enemy!"
"H-he's not an enemy," Ichigo panted, blinking dizzily, "Uryu helped me k-kill Ywach. I would've died without him. H-he's a friend."
The other taichous looked to the captain commander for his order.
"Let Ishida Uryu go," Shunsui ordered them.
Mayuri gave him a skeptical look.
"I doubt Central 46 will take well to that," he commented angrily, earning a look of disdain from the quincy youth.
"Well, since there aren't enough of the sages or judges left to give any decision," Shunsui reasoned, "we are legally under martial law. Until a new group of councilors is chosen, I am in command."
He turned a friendly eye on the wary quincy youth and smiled.
"Why don't you let Kotetsu Isane take care of Ichigo. He's a little beat up, but he doesn't lookas bad as he should after fighting a god."
"It took all four of us," Ichigo said shakily, "Uryu, Renji, Aizen and me."
"Where is Renji?" Byakuya asked quickly, looking around.
"We couldn't find him," Ichigo confessed, "B-byakuya, I'm sorry. We really tried."
"It is obvious that you were badly injured, guarding Aizen and not up to the task," Byakuya chided him, though his voice sounded oddly less stern than usual, "Leave it to me and let Isane heal you."
"Thanks," Ichigo panted, resting his head on Uryu's shoulder as the healing team ran forward to assist them, "Thanks, Byakuya."
Byakuya started to step past the two young men, then paused as Toshiro's tired voice sounded behind him.
"I'll help you, Kuchiki," he offered.
"Don't be ridiculous. You are barely on your feet," Byakuya said dismissively.
"He's right, Taichou," Rangiku concurred, "You do look a little worn out."
"Shut up and go look for our group," Toshiro snapped, earning a pouting look from his annoyed fukutaichou, "I'm going with Byakuya to look for his fukutaichou. You go and get an accounting of whoever we have that's left alive…now!"
"All right, all right, frosty," the red-haired woman huffed, moving away, "Man, we just pretty much died together and what do I get the moment we get back…?"
Toshiro let out an impatient breath.
"What a pain," he complained softly, noting the odd look of worry in Byakuya's dark eyes, "Come on. We should work quickly. It will be getting dark soon."
Shunsui watched as Byakuya and Toshiro left, then glanced back at the remains of his group.
"We need to start searching too," he ordered in a low, serious voice, "I see Ywach's corpse over there and I will take care of it. It's too powerful to remain here, so Squad Zero has ordered it returned to the royal realm for…proper disposal."
"I wonder what that means," Uryu whispered, still holding Ichigo against him.
Ichigo gave him a weary, torn look.
"Maybe you don't want to know," he sighed, "I'm sure they'll make sure he can't come back."
"I thought we made sure of that," Uryu objected, giving the shinigami substitute a look of amusement.
"Well, he did come back from last time, right?" Ichigo reminded him, "You know, that whole Kaiser thing you told me about way too late for it to do us any good."
"Hey! I said I didn't know it was going to turn out the way it did. Nobody knew what exactly was going to happen."
"I know," Ichigo snickered, "I was teasing you."
Uryu rolled his eyes and sighed softly.
"Well, at least if you're making jokes, you're probably not dying."
"He's going to be fine," Isane assured them, looking up from where she knelt on his other side, "His reiatsu is just very depleted. His injuries actually are surprisingly minor."
"I had a lot of help," Ichigo said, looking up at Uryu, who huffed out a dismissive breath and looked away.
"None of the rest of us had the power to kill him," he said solemnly.
"Yeah?" Ichigo declared stubbornly, "well, I wouldn't have gotten a shot at him at all if it wasn't for your arrow. What was in that, anyway? What stopped him like that for that moment?"
Uryu took a steadying breath, his mind going back into the past and a shiver going through his slim body.
"Silver," he answered softly, "taken from my dead mother's heart. It was what he used to kill her and the others through the Auswhalen."
Ichigo's golden brown eyes softened and warmed at his friend's confession.
"I'm glad that something like that, something he wouldn't have considered at all was the key to killing him. You avenged your mother."
"So did you," Ichigo said, leaning more deeply into Uryu's shoulder as Isane continued his healing.
Uryu looked down at his friend with a lost expression.
"So…now what?" he whispered sadly, "What do we do?"
Ichigo smiled and captured his hand, squeezing gently.
"We go home."