Bleach: Secret Santa
By Spunky0ne
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A series of short stories about Bleach boys giving secret gifts to the ones they love!
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Chapter 1: Kenpachi/Byakuya - The Simple Things
"Sir," Torio said quietly, extending his hand in the direction of the Kuchiki clan leader, "A gift just arrived for you."
"Oh?" Byakuya mused, blinking in surprise, "A gift, you say?"
"Yes sir."
Byakuya reached out and accepted the small, plainly wrapped package and studied it as his attendant bowed, then disappeared back into the manor.
"That's odd..." he mused, looking more closely and noting that the package wasn't wrapped in paper, but in a piece of very soft and light leather.
There was no note attached to the box inside.
Ah, the noble realized, This must be for the secret santa exchange among the upper officers. Interesting.
He opened the box and frowned at the small wooden whistle inside.
"Hmmm."
"Sir, it is time to dress for the Gotei 13's winter ball," Torio informed him.
"Oh, of course," Byakuya said absently.
He started to hand the package and its contents to his attendant, then looked more closely at the little whistle.
"Sir, is everything all right?"
"Yes, yes of course," the clan leader assured the young man, "I was merely distracted."
He followed Torio back to the house and moved into the dressing area, where he stood silently as his attendant undressed him, then dressed him again in a lovely formal kimono. He lifted the whistle out of the box and found a small piece of paper with a typed message.
Use in case of emergency. Help will come.
The noble let out a soft, amused breath and started to set the whistle down, then paused and tilted his head slightly, his eyes growing curious. What had looked very plain to him only moments before began to resonate more intensely as he realized there were markings carved into the wood. Along the top and bottom was a design that reminded him of climbing ivy, while each side of the whistle had a tiny scene. On one side, he found a tiny sakura tree with a kneeling figure beneath it, looking upward, as though into the sky.
"Is that...me?" he whispered.
"It looks like you," Torio answered, making Byakuya blink in surprise and stare.
That isn't an imprint. Someone carved that into the wood. This person is talented at carving. Whoever it is used a very small tool to make something so intricate.
He turned the whistle and studied the other side, where he found a very different scene. On this side, a black wolf was depicted. Byakuya's breath left him for a moment as he noted the stiffened posture, the large, dangerous looking fangs and raised hackles of the beast. It was beautiful in a chilling way and enchanted him so thoroughly he didn't realize that Torio had finished dressing him and was standing behind him, waiting silently.
"Oh, my apologies," he said, shaking his head as his senses returned to him.
He started to set the whistle down, but Torio's voice stopped him.
"Why don't you let me put that on a silk cord?" he offered amiably, "The colors go nicely with your kimono."
"And it would be the proper gesture, considering the person who sent it will be at the ball."
Byakuya handed him the whistle, then started to turn out of the dressing area. As he moved, the package that the whistle had come in caught his eye again and he picked up the box, ribbon and leather wrapping. He walked back to his bed and sat down on the edge, taking sips of tea and noting what he had missed before.
"These things are handmade," he mused softly, letting his fingertips caress the soft leather.
The box, he found, was made of strong swamp grasses that had been braided while wet, then shaped into the box before being carefully dried. The ribbon was, in fact, very thin rope.
This person expended exceptional effort in making this.
"Interesting..."
He looked up as Torio entered the room.
"Here you go, sir," Torio said, slipping the silken cord around his neck and fastening the whistle in place.
Byakuya turned to look in the mirror and found himself almost smiling at the way the whistle looked so simple, yet resonated with quality. He couldn't take his mind off of the small treasure and his curiosity about who had given it to him as he left the manor and proceeded to the first division gathering hall.
The hall had been made over with holiday decorations and lovely golden and white lights. Pleasant, savory scents from the overly laden buffet table beckoned him and spirited classical music had the early arrivers dancing. Byakuya started across the room, then paused as a rough, grating voice reached him.
"Hey Byakuya, you look nice. Come and take a load off," Kenpachi invited him.
"In a minute," the noble said, looking around.
Who could have sent this?
Rukia is not experienced in woodworking. Renji does carve bits of wood, but his projects are usually rather simple. Ukitake Juushiro is ill a lot, so may have picked up a skill like this, but...it doesn't seem like something he would...
"You going to stand there all day or sit down?" Kenpachi asked, breaking into his thoughts.
Byakuya ignored him and walked quietly around the edges of the room, pausing to acquire a cup of spiced plum tea. He sipped at it silently, watching the couples dancing and officers talking, laughing and eating voraciously.
None of the vizards seem likely, nor Shiba Ichigo. Both Kyoraku Shunsui and Matsumoto fukutaicho drink too much to have hands steady enough to make something like this.
"Did you lose something?" Kenpachi's voice asked, interrupting his thoughts again.
"I am looking for someone."
"Why don't you tell me who you're looking for and maybe I can help you find'em," the eleventh division taicho offered.
"Thank you, but..."
"Is that your secret santa gift?" the bigger man interrupted, reaching out to capture the whistle in his large, rough hand.
Byakuya froze for a moment at the intrusion, but hesitated in reacting as Kenpachi's green eyes studied the piece closely.
"That's cute," he commented.
Byakuya let out a soft, dismissive breath.
"It isn't just cute," he said reprovingly, "Someone with some genuine talent went to a great deal of trouble to craft this so finely. Everything, the gift, the box and the wrapping, was handmade, by someone with a lot of experience. Look at the detail in the carvings. Despite them being so small, there is an astounding amount of fine detail."
"Does the thing actually work?" Kenpachi chuckled.
"Erm, well, actually, I didn't try it."
"Why not?"
Byakuya paused, considering.
"It is meant to be for show," he postulated, not mentioning the written message that had noted it was for emergencies.
"Oh?" the bigger man inquired, taking the whistle in his fingertips and blowing it before the startled noble could react, "Huh...guess it's all just art. No real use, ne? Did you hear anything?"
Byakuya frowned.
"I didn't hear anything, but I did feel something."
"R-right. Well, good luck finding your secret santa," Kenpachi said, picking up a cup of tea and starting back towards his table.
A blush on his cheeks, Byakuya moved away quickly, ducking into a more private room.
It doesn't make a sound, he noted, but it emitted reiatsu. It felt familiar. If that brute, Kenpachi hadn't been so close to me, I might have been able to recognize it. I wonder if I should try it again...
He looked around the small conference room briefly, then captured the whistle in his fingertips. Taking a small breath, he blew into the device gently and examined the tiny flare of reiatsu it emitted.
Darn it if that blasted Kenpachi isn't still too close! All I can sense is his reiatsu! He needs to learn some control.
He closed his eyes and tried blowing the whistle again, concentrating deeply, but still only sensing Kenpachi. And when he opened his eyes, he found himself looking at the eleventh division taicho.
"What are you doing here?" he blurted out before he could think.
"Came to enjoy the party, just like you," Kenpachi said, grinning, "You want to dance?"
"I told you, I'm trying to find someone," the Kuchiki heir snapped, "Why do you keep insisting on following me around?"
"Why do you keep calling me?" the other man asked, smirking.
Byakuya stared at him in confusion, then looked down at the whistle that was still captured between his fine fingertips.
Is that why I could only sense him?
He was purposely staying close to me so I wouldn't know!
"You made this?" Byakuya asked curiously.
"Yeah, I made it," Kenpachi confessed, "A guy's got a lot of time to kill when he lives in the lower Rukon. I couldn't spend all of my time killing things if I wanted to live and grow stronger. I used swamp grass to make a house and some useful things and worked wood with small knives to pass time. I learned to use reiatsu to burn the wood a little, but usually I screw it up and destroy whatever I'm working on. In fact, that whistle is the first piece I made where the burning for color actually worked right. I killed things and learned to soften the skins to make clothes, and I did make another whistle like that...for Yachiru."
Byakuya couldn't quite hold back a smile.
"In case she gets in trouble?" he mused.
"Yeah. I wouldn't like her to get killed."
Byakuya started to answer, then hesitated as another thought occurred to him. Kenpachi's widening smile completely disarmed him.
"After feeling you nearly die at the hands of that quincy, I decided that I don't really want you to die either," the bigger man confessed.
"I've grown stronger," Byakuya said shortly, "I don't need you to look after me. Besides, the only thing that's threatened my life since the end of the war is you! You are constantly picking fights with me!"
"You're damned beautiful with a sword in your hand and that killer look on your face," Kenpachi said, bringing a darkening flush to the noble's fine skin, "I like getting you riled."
"I hadn't missed that," Byakuya noted, his reiatsu flickering dangerously.
"Usually, I feel like starting fights with you, but I thought maybe tonight we could do another kind of damage to each other," the bigger man said, moving forward a step and trapping the stunned Kuchiki heir up against the wall.
Byakuya felt an odd, dizzy sensation pass through him at the other man's closeness.
Then, he noticed the complete lack of the unclean, heavy odor he usually associated with Kenpachi. Instead, he not only smelled clean, but almost earthy. And as he moved even closer, the blush on Byakuya's skin deepened even more and he became nearly breathless.
"You gonna say something?" Kenpachi asked teasingly.
Byakuya opened his mouth to give a scathing reply, but instead found his opened orofice instantly captured and savagely invaded. He stiffened in shock at first, and pressed his hands against the bigger man's chest in reaction. But his mind went nearly blank at just how wonderful those rough lips felt, rubbing hard against his softer ones, how his mouth tasted sweet from the plum tea, but also had its own deeply masculine flavor. His breath seethed like white fire as he left the noble's mouth and attacked the fine skin of his earlobe. His fingers sank into the fine, silken strands of the noble's hair, pulling his head back to give access to his vulnerable throat. This, Kenpachi assaulted warmly with kisses, then nipped playfully as he loosened their clothing with his other hand.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Byakuya whispered, closing his eyes, "Are you insane? Anyone could walk in!"
"Naw," the bigger man laughed, "My reiatsu won't let'em open the door."
"There's no way I'm letting you...!"
"Shut up. I saw your eyes when I kissed you. Don't lie to me and say you're not interested."
"Kenpachi..."
"Fine. Tell me I'm wrong then. Tell me you didn't like me kissing you. Lie all you want, but I know what I saw. I also know how you have to act when we walk out of this room, but before we do, I think we should do something truthful."
Byakuya found himself silenced again as Kenpachi's mouth enslaved his, plunging in deeply, his tongue savagely tasting. And whatever objection he might have had melted as Kenpachi's hand worked at his clothing. Finally, he could stand it no longer. His hands joined the bigger mans, baring both of them to the skin, then Kenpachi pressed up against him, making Byakuya go breathless again as he felt how big the other man was when he was aroused.
He is an absolute monster!
But somehow that monster didn't seem so beastly as he thought about those large, rough hands working skin into leather and carving the tiny pictures carefully into wood. He looked into the other man's blazing green eyes and imagined how placid they would have looked while he was focused on his creation.
And all of a sudden, he felt like something of a work of art being crafted under Kenpachi's strong hands.
He returned the other man's hard, passionate kisses, yielding slowly to the fingers that slid down his body and commenced a purposeful invasion. Deep throbs of arousal tickled his insides as they continued to kiss, and Byakuya's hand slid down over Kenpachi's broad, hairy chest and soft belly, following the finer hairs to his nether region. The growl he emitted at Byakuya's touch left the noble weak in the knees and he felt even weaker as the preparation ended and Kenpachi's hand slid over the curve of his bottom, capturing a slender leg and lifting it to wrap around his waist. He joined their bodies slowly, pausing to let his brightly flushed partner adjust to his size before moving.
When he did move, it felt as though the whole room shifted. Byakuya sucked in a sharp breath and closed his eyes.
"Don't do that. I like your eyes. They say things to me that you never would."
He couldn't give an answer, but answered instead with a groan of acceptance. His hips moved with the other man's, causing lovely ripples of pleasure in both of them and raising their reiatsu until the lights in the room flickered. Neither tried to speak again, but poured everything into a primal and beautiful exchange of hard, quaking thrusts that brought them quickly to the ends of their wits. Byakuya felt the other man's body shudder warningly and felt melting heat explode all through his insides. He devoured the howl of pleasure before it could escape the other man, and held on to him tightly as his own release began.
For a moment, everything disappeared, and when Byakuya's senses returned, he found himself lying in a heap on top his clothes, still held firmly in Kenpachi's possessive arms.
"Don't try dying like that again," the bigger man warned him, "That whistle is so I can be there if you need me."
Byakuya couldn't help but notice that the other man hadn't worded it like an insult, but more like a genuine promise.
"I told you, I've grown stronger."
"Well, even strong people sometimes lose to someone stronger."
Byakuya considered his words carefully, then nodded briefly.
"Kenpachi, I want you to make another one of these."
"Huh?" the other man huffed, looking surprised, "Why?"
"So that I can be there for you as well."