Oblivion
By Spunky0ne
XXXXXXXXXX
With the rise of the quincy king, Soul Society has collapsed and the three worlds are in chaos, the noble lords hunted to near extinction. But in the darkest corner of the Rukongai, a fading blossom survives. A stranger arrives in Inuzuri, seeking the once powerful head of the Kuchiki clan. But even he has no idea just how far Byakuya has fallen.
XXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 1: The Jewel
Echoing footsteps sounded in the stone corridor, bringing awake the thinly dressed prisoners in the lines of cells on either side. The guards looked up briefly as the well dressed proprietor of the facility strode past, his eyes focused on the cell at the very end. He ignored all else as he approached, slowing only as he reached it. His hand slid into his pocket and produced a cold metal key that he slid into the heavy lock. The clanking sound made a shiver go through the man within. He made his body still and his breaths silent, but the man entering his cell knew already that he was awake. He moved to the prisoner's head and broke the strong kido that had lashed the man's hands to the rail at the top of the poor cot he laid on.
"You have a customer," the proprietor said tersely, yanking the slighter man to his feet and sinking his fingers into the prisoner's tumbled, raven colored hair, then pulling his head back roughly, "You are to show him a good time, give him anything he wants. Do you understand?"
The dark haired man quivered, his breath misting in the icy air of the frigid environs. The man holding him tightened his grip on the prisoner's hair painfully.
"I will kill them if you fail to please this man," he hissed warningly.
Images flashed in the prisoner's hazy mind of a violet-eyed girl and a dark-haired, sapphire-eyed man. His stomach quailing at the thought of what his captor might do to the two, he nodded silently in assent.
"Good, you understand. Come with me."
The proprietor's hand wrapped around his wrist and the man guided him out of the cell. As the two proceeded slowly back to the entrance to the upper part of the building, the prisoner found no relief in the fact that the air grew warmer, bringing life back into his frozen limbs. And although the rich smell of cooking food made his stomach rumble wantingly, he felt too nauseous to consider touching it. His apprehension only grew as they entered a much warmer part of the building and the proprietor led him into a bedroom and stripped away his thin, filthy yukata.
"First, we'll get the stink off you."
He heard water running and sighed in relief at the warm brush of steam that touched his face. He moved more willingly in under the hot spray, tears rising in his blind eyes at how much of a blessing it was to be warm and washed clean. And even the proprietor's rough hands felt good as they caressed every inch of his pale, bruised flesh. It was so comforting that he didn't resist at all when he felt his master's eye take on a hungry gleam and the man's touches became more invasive.
The proprietor pushed the captive male back hard against the wall, pressing his powerful body against the slighter man's and plunging heatedly into his mouth. The slight coppery taste as he drew the prisoner's blood only made him harder where he rubbed against his captive's soft nether region. Large fingers began an insistent invasion and the prisoner groaned at the painful flickers it caused as his body was hastily prepared. He couldn't hold back a groan of agony as he was brutally taken with his back pressed hard against the wall and his legs shaking so hard they could barely hold him on his feet.
But he knew the price of resistance and bore the pain as quietly as he could.
"Hard to believe you were a prince, ne?" the proprietor panted into the soft shell of an ear, "You're nothing now, aren't you? Poor thing. The king'll kill you if he learns you're alive, so you can't use your powers and you can't yell for help. But don't worry, I'll keep you safe here. You do what I tell you and you and your sister and cousin will all stay alive. You want to live, ne? You keep bringing in good money like you are and I'll take care of you."
Again the faces of the violet-eyed girl and blue-eyed man flashed in the prisoner's weary mind. He knew they were his family, his only remaining family and that he had been trying to protect them. But everything from before, even their names, even his own, had disappeared a long time before. All he knew now was to obey or they would die. He flinched as his master's fingers clenched, and his body seized. Scathing heat erupted inside the prisoner's aching form, leaving him feeling weak and empty as the proprietor's mouth plundered his again and the man remained pressed against him.
"I'd keep you to myself if you weren't so valuable as a whore. But royalty sells on the black market, my love, and you being a noble prince makes it more than worth the risk. You be good today. This customer is paying a lot for your time. You show him a good time and I will give you a room up here in the main house. You earn a good tip and your sister and cousin can move up here too."
He knew it was a lie. The proprietor was well aware that if the peacekeeping forces that came through the town got wind of a surviving noble, none of them would live to see the light of the next day. But even the lie brought some warmth and life back into his weakened body and he met his master's lips with a gentle, grateful kiss for just that small ray of hope. The man paused, a shaft of unexpected emotion passing through him. His hands moved more slowly as he bathed the prisoner from head to foot, taking special care to rid the lengths of his lovely hair of knots and tangles. With each passing moment, his captive grew more beautiful under his hands until finally, he could stand it no more. He plundered the slighter man's body more indulgently, even coaxing him into returning the amorous caresses. The two writhed hotly against each other, moaning into each other's mouths as they joined their bodies in a mutual exchange of comfort for obedience. It was a display that would have been unthinkable for the noble, but given the injuries he had suffered and the long imprisonment, he no longer knew to be reviled by such behavior. Instead, he rested his head against his captor's shoulder, tasting the flecks of warm water on the man's skin until the proprietor sighed and nudged him out of the shower. The noble caught his breath softly, an unbidden, heartbroken sob escaping him. To his surprise, the sound was met with a look of some amount of sympathy.
"I know you don't like strangers touching you, but this is what pays the bills. It's the way it is down here. You know that."
The noble nodded in acceptance, cooperating quietly as his body was dried and the proprietor dressed him in a lovely red yukata, decorated with a display of black roses. He followed his master out of the master's bedroom and down a long hallway to another bedroom that was tastefully decorated and prepared for the noble's meeting with his client.
"There's food for you. Have something to eat so you don't faint while he's with you. He's kind of quiet, doesn't seem the type to be brutal and I warned him you're not to be damaged."
The noble accepted his words without any reaction, sitting down on the bed and slowly savoring the first meal he had been given in nearly a week. He wasn't sure if it was that the food was well made of that he had just ached for it for so long that it seemed pleasant to him just by being warm. He ate every bite and didn't hesitate at swallowing the glass of wine that awaited him, even knowing it was drugged.
He was fairly certain that having his awareness dulled for the encounter with his client would be a good thing, so he accepted as easily as if such a thing was to be expected. The wine warmed his throat and his full stomach, sending away his earlier jitters and leaving him calm as he knelt in the middle of the bed waiting. He wasn't sure at what point the proprietor laid a kiss on his lips and left him and the door opened again to admit a hooded man who approached the bed slowly and seemed to examine him carefully from just beside it. Unable to speak, the noble waited, a slight shiver going through him as he wondered if it could be a king's man. They sometimes tried to infiltrate the brothels, looking for remnants of the former noble houses to kill. But the proprietor had, several times already, shown his ability to think ahead and respond appropriately.
But this man did not seem to be a king's man.
He wondered then if it could just be someone who couldn't believe that anyone of any significant purity of noble lineage could have survived the purging after the rise of the quincy king. The noble didn't know how he had survived, or if he was really a survivor at all. His only clue was in infrequent momentary visions, that might have been memories of an earlier time or might have been imaginings based on the stories the proprietor told his clients. In his world, nothing was certain but the regularity with which he was brought to the room in which he now knelt and served the lascivious needs of anyone willing to pay his master's exorbitant price.
The noble felt a chill run down his spine as the bed moved and he felt the close presence of the man his captor said was coming. The scent of the man touched his senses and immediately the noble envisioned a calm male with friendly, dark brown eyes and glasses. A second image invaded and overtook the first, a vision of a more devilishly beautiful version of the same man, without glasses and with more malevolent eyes. He knew the man was not to be trifled with and remained silent as a warm hand touched his cheek.
"You can't see me?"
The noble shook his head briefly.
"And you are unable to speak?"
The noble nodded.
The voice, too, conjured strange images...a lonely hilltop...a feeling of fear, and that same voice.
"Kill her, Gin."
He felt a sharp pain in his chest and wondered if the man had been a king's man after all, if he had drawn a weapon, and knowing that he couldn't protect himself, had run him through. He managed a gasping breath and felt firm hands take hold of his shoulders. The man's face came close to his.
"Don't make a sound. I know that although you can't speak, you can scream. He left you that way on purpose. But don't make a sound. Just listen."
It was strange, on the one hand, hearing the odd words, and on the other, feeling the man's hands begin to caress and explore him. The man's lips teased his graceful throat and nipped at his earlobe.
"You may be confused at the feelings I conjure in you. I was once a friend, and then was your enemy. But, given the treachery of the quincy king, I consider us to be allies, if only for the short term. I am going to get you out of here."
"No," the noble mouthed breathlessly, "S-sister...Cousin."
The man smiled into the gentle curve of the noble's throat.
"I will rescue them as well. Now that I know you are indeed who I was looking for, I will go back to my friends and we will make our plans. I would take you now, but your master is too suspicious. He watches closely. I wonder...is he jealous?"
"Who?" the noble mouthed, sucking in a surprised breath as the man brought him down on his back and began to plunder every lovely inch of white breast and soft belly with his lips and tongue. He delighted each inch with such amorous brushings that left the noble panting softly and, unbelievably, aroused.
I never become aroused.
Not for anyone.
I thought that I couldn't.
But there was no denying the thrilling tickles the man's touches set off in his belly and in that place so many invaded, but none could bring pleasure.
"Who?" he mouthed again.
The man's mouth came down hard on his, his kisses deep and passionate as he laid on top of the noble and used his wetted fingers to prepare him.
"You wouldn't know my name right now if I told you," the man whispered, rubbing against him roughly. I would wager you don't know your own."
The noble shook his head in reply, reeling as he was dragged back onto his knees and pushed down between his client's widespread thighs. He didn't hesitate, but latched on at once, offering the man an onslaught of kisses and suction that stole his breath away. The man rolled the noble onto his belly and entered him somewhat roughly from behind. He rested his chin on the noble's shoulder, managing a few more words as they moved together.
"I always wondered what you would be like...b-but then, you are hardly yourself."
The words caused a deep reaction in his chest and the noble turned his head away in shame.
"Don't worry, you will know yourself again soon."
The words brought back the unsettled feeling from before, but he couldn't hold onto his concern as the man's heavy thrusts touched off shivers of intensifying pleasure and made the noble moan soundlessly and thrash beneath him. His long dormant member throbbed almost painfully and pleasure on an uncharted level gripped him firmly and left him collapsed and breathing hard, his release spilling out beneath them as the other man's filled him inside.
"Don't take this personally, Byakuya," the man panted into the noble's ear, sending fresh shivers down his spine as the name seemed to bring back waves of long lost memories.
Or are they really my memories?
Byakuya?
"I wouldn't have touched you without your permission, but he is watching and if I give any sign of who I am, he will move you."
Byakuya felt a small pinprick in his arm and flinched.
"It is a tracker," the man informed him, "in case you are taken from here. It is also a way for you to call me if there is trouble. Tap on it in groups of three and I will come to you. You will hear from me as soon as our plans are made. Do you understand?"
"Who?" Byakuya mouthed again, insistently.
"It is better that you don't know, in case he becomes suspicious. Right now, the less you know the better. You must be patient and cooperate with Master Toru until I return."
Byakuya nodded into the crook of the man's arm as the man's other hand slid down over the noble's bottom to tease the area he had plundered. Carefully shielding his movements from where he sensed the surveillance device, he first examined Byakuya carefully, then infused his body with healing and strengthening reiatsu.
"You won't have any powers. It is extremely important, as you know, that you do not radiate any of your reiatsu or Ywach will sense you. He is aware that you may still be alive and he has a price on your head."
He could feel that the man was smirking.
"It was almost enough to make me turn you in to him, myself. But I despise that man. There was no need for the raping of Soul Society, other than that he wanted to make everyone suffer. You are lucky to have been in the Rukongai. Those caught in the Seireitei suffered horrors beyond imagination. Now, warring factions pose everywhere. They keep the fighting constant, and Ywach has his endless supply of souls to sustain him. Unforgivable..."
He put the last touches on the healing infusion, then rested calmly against Byakuya's sweat misted back, still joined with him and letting his breath tickle the noble's soft cheek.
"I am glad you are alive."
He offered a final admonition to the noble to share nothing of what he had been told and gently disengaged from his body. With a regretful sigh, he exited the bed and was met at the door by the proprietor, who stepped into the room to briefly examine the exhausted man in the bed, then returned to his waiting client.
"He was lovely," the man said appreciatively, "Has he any other commitments for the next few days. I have business here and would like to see him again."
"He has two regulars, but one is out of town. The other hasn't paid his bill, so he won't be visiting until the amount is cleared. You may have him on hold if you are willing to put money down."
"Of course."
The man removed a stack of folded bills and handed them to Toru, glancing back into the room.
"There is a bit extra to see that you fatten him up a bit. He is very thin. He was bruised in a few places. I healed what I found, but you should fine anyone who does damage to him, a fine specimen like that. Very obviously noble stock. You must be cautious. One look at him and the king's men would know."
"That is why he is only up here when there is a client. Believe me, I know all about the king's men and their tactics. I will keep him well and you may call for him whenever you want him."
"Thank you."
The man slipped out of the brothel and disappeared swiftly, taking the fastest route out of the town, then withdrawing a small communicator from within his cloak. He pressed several buttons, then watched as a dark doorway opened in front of him. Looking over his shoulder to make sure he was not observed, he melted into the blackness, passing through the darkness into a much deeper void, where a bubble of life hung suspended. He passed into the bubble and relaxed slightly, knowing that he was beyond the king's sight now.
"Well?" queried a male voice.
The man turned and encountered two more men, one tall and red haired, marked all over with bold, black tattoos and the other a grey-eyed man with unruly, pale blonde hair and a striped hat.
"The brothel owner has them, although I do not think he has any idea it's Byakuya. If he knew, he would be too afraid to keep him."
"Why didn't you get them out?" the redhead demanded, "If it's them...!"
"Easy Renji," the grey-eyed man cajoled his excitable friend, "We can't just go in there, willy-nilly and grab them. We have to do this quietly, so that no one suspects anything. Don't worry, we'll get them out."
"But Kisuke..."
"We have to be patient," Kisuke insisted, "Sousuke wouldn't have left Byakuya there if he thought there was immediate danger."
"Yeah, I know. But...a brothel? You know what's happening to them there."
"Yeah. But we can't afford to get reckless. Just let me and Aizen make a plan and you will have your friends and your boyfriend back soon."
"Tetsuya already went through hell, being kept in the noble's prison before. I don't want to think about how they're..."
"Then don't think about it," Aizen said solemnly, "Whatever you have to do so that we don't make a foolish move, do it. There is no other way to win back Ichigo and control of the three worlds from Ywach."
"I know," Renji sighed, "It's crazy, though, depending on a guy who once tried to kill the soul king, himself. Don't think that this means I trust you. You've stabbed us in the back already."
"Yes," Aizen admitted readily, "And you are wise to be wary. But I will, no doubt, be a better choice than that man to maintain the necessary balances."
"Why don't I find that very comforting?" Renji complained.
Aizen gave the redhead a charismatic smirk.
"Because you have learned to be properly cautious."