Night Under a New Star
By Spunky0ne
(A New Year's oneshot for my good friend, Shima-taicho31, who is always sweet, upbeat, and a source of motivation. You said you were wishing for certain babies, so...)
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Shima Aderia's pretty tanned face wore a concerned frown as she leaned over her brother's very pregnant spouse, uncovering his rounded belly and touching gently as she sensed the maturity of the growing reiatsus inside him. She gave Tetsuya an encouraging smile and he managed a weak one in reply, but both sensed that things were not proceeding as planned.
"I don't think they will wait through the night, angelito," Aderia said, patting his hand, "I know that you'll be disappointed, with my brother not being back from his mission and you going into labor so soon."
"W-well, maybe he will get here in time," Tetsuya reasoned, his burning eyes blinking.
"You are right, pan dulce, I am sure," she said, not believing a word of it, "Just relax as much as you can and don't try to get up. The longer we delay this, the better. I am just glad that your cousin and friends are here for the New Year's Eve celebration. At least, they will be here to greet your little ones when they are born."
"Where is Byakuya-sama?" Tetsuya asked softly.
"I am here," Byakuya said, stepping in from where he had waited outside the doorway, "I was just waiting until Aderia was finished looking you over."
He sat down at Tetsuya's bedside and took his cousin's pale, sweaty hand in his.
"How are you feeling?" Byakuya asked.
"A little afraid," Tetsuya confessed, "I didn't get this far when I was having Naoki's baby before. I don't know what to expect."
"I am sure that you and the babies will come through just fine," Byakuya assured him, brushing a cool, wet cloth over his cousin's face, then offering him bits of chipped ice, "They are probably just coming early because you are having multiples."
"I was only having one before," Tetsuya said, looking down at his swollen belly with a worried expression.
"Don't be afraid," Aderia said kindly, patting his face and moving the pillows around him to make him more comfortable, "You and your babies are doing fine. You will be fine."
Tetsuya smiled back at her and nodded, but his hand shook where it held onto Byakuya's.
"How are you doing, watashi no itoko?" Tetsuya asked, trying to find something to distract himself, "Do you know yet the gender of your and Renji's baby?"
Byakuya glanced down at the little bump on his own abdomen and patted it with his free hand.
"We are going to let it be a surprise," Byakuya explained, "but when I was examined, our healers assured me that the baby is in perfect health."
"That is good," Tetsuya said, panting and closing his eyes as a pain passed through his belly.
Aderia rubbed the area gently, exchanging concerned looks with Byakuya as she infused Tetsuya's body with calming reiatsu.
"Breathe slowly," Byakuya instructed him, rubbing his back as Aderia continued the stabilizing infusion, "You must remain calm and focused."
"L-like when you trained me to release my bankai," Tetsuya whispered, smiling at the memory.
"Exactly," his cousin agreed, squeezing his hand.
The three looked up expectantly as Renji entered the room, carrying a tray with several glasses of amber liquid.
"Have you heard from Kuri-kuri?" Tetsuya asked anxiously.
Renji gave him a sympathetic look.
"No, sorry, there's been no word. I just...it was getting near midnight and I brought these in so that we could toast at midnight."
He grinned at the look of disapproval Byakuya gave him.
"These are sparkling cider," he chuckled, "Don't kill me with your eyes there, beautiful."
"I can hardly think about celebrating when the babies may be coming and Kuri's still not here. Tell me honestly, did something happen? Are you just not telling me because you are worried I am too weak to hear it?"
"No one is hiding anything from you, angelito," Aderia chided him, "We know you are very strong, even though you look as delicate as the flowers in your cousin's gardens. Mi hermano will be home as soon as he can. He will be here to see his children born."
Tetsuya looked past where Renji stood near the door, and spotted several snowflakes drifting down from the sky outside.
"The storm," he said anxiously, "The storms that was forecast for tonight is arriving. I hope he has the good sense to take cover from the weather and wait until morning to try to..."
Tetsuya left off and gasped in distress, his hand clenching Byakuya's tightly.
"Ah!"
"It's okay. It's okay," Aderia assured him as Tetsuya panted more softly through the pains, "This is just the beginning. It will take some time for the area above the spirit chamber to lose cohesion so that the reiatsu's can pass through. You should rest while you can."
She looked up at Renji.
"Will you bring Mamà? she requested, "Our angelito likes her voice. Maybe she can sing a little to help him relax."
"I'll bring her," Renji agreed, exiting the room.
"You are doing very well," Aderia assured Tetsuya as Byakuya fed him more soothing ice chips, "Just keep thinking about how lovely your babies are going to be."
"I am sure we will see some blue eyes," Byakuya guessed.
"And some turquoise, like my Kuri's," Tetsuya added, blinking sleepily.
"And they will surely have long, wild hair," Aderia said, smiling warmly.
Byakuya stood and offered his chair to Magdelina as she entered the room and moved to Tetsuya's side.
"Thank you," she said, sitting down and taking Tetsuya's hand, "I have news for you."
Tetsuya's eyes widened.
"Kuri is safe," the elder Shima reported, "His group encountered heavy snow and has had to take shelter in some caves a few miles away. He will come in the morning."
"Oh, I hope the babies can wait until then!" Tetsuya exclaimed, "But it's good to know he's all right."
"That is a relief," Byakuya agreed.
"Now, try to sleep, angelito," Magdelina urged Tetsuya, running her fingers through the ends of his hair and singing softly in Spanish.
Her voice seemed to seep down into Tetsuya's riled heart, soothing him quickly into a deep, comforting sleep. The others remained around him, watching over him carefully as the hours ticked by. Each time he started to wake, Magdelina's sweet voice ensnared him again, soothing and calming as time counted down to almost midnight.
Tetsuya came awake suddenly, making a sound of pain and grabbing at Magdelina's hand. The elder Shima tried a soft lullaby, but Tetsuya panted harder and Aderia shook her head meaningfully.
"It is time, Mamà," she announced, "The babies are coming."
"N-not without K-kuri!" Tetsuya panted harshly, gripping Magdelina's hand, "He should be here!"
Tetsuya gasped as a stronger pain radiated through his belly.
"Wh-where is Kuri?"
"He is safe. He is coming in the morning," Madelina promised, "Be calm now. The babies are about to make their entrance."
Tears of frustration leaked onto Tetsuya's face, but he brushed them away and focused on his now glowing belly. As Aderia's hands started to reach for the first child's reiatsu, a thump and a rustle sounded outside the doorway, then a hulking bundle of thick layers stumbled through and into the room, stopping just short of the bed.
"Dios mìo, what is that?" Magdelina mused.
Tetsuya's eyes rounded.
"K-kuri!" he cried, stretching out his arms and tearing at the layers to unwrap him as he staggered to a chair at Tetsuya's bedside and sat down, "I thought that you were trapped for the night and would have to dig out in the morning! How did you get here?"
"Did you think I would not be here to welcome our children?" he said reprovingly, "I left my men safe in the caves and came home to you."
"Through that storm?" Aderia said disapprovingly, "You could have been swept away! What were you thinking, you fool?"
Kurushimi stripped off the last of the heavy wrappings and leaned over to give Tetsuya a long, passionate kiss.
"Ah, your lips are so cold!" Tetsuya exclaimed, "I'm surprised you're not frozen through. Aderia-chan is right. You are crazy, coming through a storm like that!"
"Well," Kuri chuckled, "I did make camp with the others, but something in my heart told me that my stubborn flower wouldn't wait for morning to deliver our babies. So, I braved the storm to be here."
"And I think you got here just in time," Aderia confirmed, "The area above the chamber has lost cohesion. I can deliver the babies now!"
"Oh my, who will be first, my little ones?" Kuri said excitedly, his cold hand taking Tetsuya's.
Tetsuya took panting breaths as Aderia's hands coaxed out the first child's glowing reiatsu. She set the shimmering blob in Tetsuya's arms as he and Kuri looked on, smiling as the tiny little brown body took shape and large blue eyes looked up at them curiously through a shock of wild brown hair.
"Your first is a feisty little girl!" Aderia exclaimed, "Congratulations!"
Tetsuya watched closely as the girl's body resolved and her sweet, delicate features came into focus.
"Oh, this one is going to break many hearts, ne Tetsu-hana?" Kuri said proudly, "We should call her Katsuko perhaps?"
Tetsuya nodded, his voice frozen with happiness.
"Pretty and packs a punch," Renji said, grinning widely, "My kinda girl."
"Well, hold on. Here comes another one," Aderia announced, moving her hands back to Tetsuya's glowing abdomen and slowly drawing out the next child's reiatsu.
She captured the reiatsu and set it carefully in Kuri's arms. All eyes watched as another brown skinned body formed, this one with thick black hair and turquoise eyes. As his strong features formed, he gave a loud cry. Magelina's eyes shone.
"Kuri, he favors your father, my Aseshi!" she exclaimed, "Except for the black hair, he is the same!"
You are right!" Kuri agreed, smiling down at his son, then looking back where Aderia was bringing out a third child's reiatsu, "Goodness, how many more are there, hermana? We are going to have a full house!"
"Bring'em on!" Renji laughed, "We need some good ass kickers...erm, some good fighters."
"They will certainly be that," Byakuya noted, "Their reiatsus are very strong."
"What shall we call him?" Tetsuya asked Kuri.
"Hmm, I think maybe Tama, ne? He looks like a treasure."
"I think so too!" Tetsuya exclaimed happily.
Aderia laid the third reiatsu gently in Magdelina's arms and the group watched as a slightly paler, sturdy looking body formed, bearing bright aquamarine eyes and smooth brown hair.
"Another strong boy!" Magdelina announced.
"Oh, this one won't wait!" Aderia yelped as the next reiatsu emerged suddenly and she barely caught it, "What an impetuous one! Wait, that is two at once!"
She handed the two off to Byakuya and Renji, who accepted them and watched as their pretty, fine and fair features formed and both blinked up at them through deep grey eyes.
"A pair of lovely princesses!" Kuri mused, blinking as he looked around at all of the babies, "But is that all of them?"
"I hope so," Renji snickered, "We're running out of arms to catch them!"
"But there's one more!" Aderia called out, coaxing out a reiatsu that seemed smaller and paler than the rest.
She hid the worried look that came onto her face as the baby resolved into a very tiny, pale skinned lad with sapphire eyes and wavy hair like Tetsuya's. The baby boy whimpered and clung to Aderia as she examined him closely and provided a quick reiatsu boost.
"This one was a little crowded, but he'll be fine," she assured them, "We will just need to feed him a lot to catch him up."
"Is that all of them?" Renji asked, "We're out of places to put them!"
"That is all of them," Aderia affirmed, "and the last is lucky, having been born on the stroke of midnight. He is the first newborn of the new year!"
Attendants streamed into the room and wrapped the newborns in blankets, placing them in bassinets as the adults in the room shared a toast with the cider Renji had brought.
"We still have four children to name," Tetsuya said, shaking his head, "We have Katsuko and Tama. What about the second boy?"
"I'm not sure," Kuri said, "What do you think, Mamà?"
"I like the name Mitsu," Magdelina offered, "and it does suit him."
Kuri and Tetsuya exchanged approving glances and nodded.
"Mitsu he is," Kuri agreed.
"What about those two?" Renji laughed.
"They look like they are conspiring together," Byakuya noted.
"Kameko?" Tetsuya suggested, indicating one of the grey-eyed girls.
"And Kameyo," Kuri added, indicating the other.
"That leaves the littlest one," Aderia said, smiling down at the tiniest, palest baby.
"There was a good friend of my father," Tetsuya told the others, "a man who was so close, that they were like brothers. He was a kind person, whom everyone loved, and when he died, he was greatly mourned."
He met Byakuya's surprised eyes.
"I would like to call him Soujun, after my father's cousin and closest friend," Tetsuya announced.
"He does favor Soujun," Magdelina remembered, her eyes twinkling with something between happiness and regret.
"Thank you, Tetsuya," Byakuya said gratefully, "I am honored."
"Another round!" Renji said, pouring out more sparkling cider, "To a new year and lots more babies!"
"Oh my goodness, you don't think six children are enough?" Tetsuya asked, blinking and shaking his head.
"I would have a million babies with you, my Tetsu-hana!" Kuri laughed, "We will rest tonight and begin making more in the morning, ne?"
"Kuri!" Aderia scolded him.
Kurushimi raised his glass for a final toast.
"To my lovely family," he said proudly, "that has added six more to bring us pride and honor. And to my beautiful Tetsu-hana, the light of my life, the one who made the deepest dreams of my heart come true!"