Eyes Like Mine
By Spunky0ne
An Urahara/Ichigo and Byakuya/Renji/Tetsuya story.
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Dedicated to 'Jodi' who loves Urahara/Ichigo!
(For other stories of mine that feature this pairing, see Mirror Flower, Water Moon, Withering Vine and White Tower! And yes, updates are coming! I am working hard to get a few done this weekend. Enjoy this whilst you wait for those!)
Warning: This is a yaoi and mpreg story. If you don't like, don't read.
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Chapter 1: Fruitless Vine
"Where is he?!" Ichigo cried, bursting into the heavily damaged gardens at Kuchiki Manor.
"This way!" a battered Rukia said, hastily grabbing her friend's hand and guiding him to the central gardens, which had been converted into a makeshift triage center.
"Oh my god..." Ichigo breathed, spotting a noticeably pregnant Kuchiki Tetsuya, leaning over a man's collapsed form and infusing him with a pale blue reiatsu,
"Kisuke..."
He rushed to where Byakuya and Renji knelt on either side of their pregnant spouse, watching as Tetsuya and the clan healer worked desperately to save the shopkeeper's life.
"What happened?" Ichigo asked, ignoring his own hurts and focusing his attention on his gravely wounded mentor.
"The quincies that were left after you defeated Juha Bach attacked the manor," Tetsuya explained in a shaken voice.
"One of them captured Tetsuya," Byakuya went on, "and he threatened to kill him unless the rest of us surrendered."
"Kisuke came outta nowhere," Renji panted, wiping a stream of blood away from his face, "He got Tetsuya away from the bastard and yelled for him to run."
"The quincy cast a shower of poisoned quills at me," Tetsuya went on, his voice trembling and tears filling his blue eyes, "and Urahara-san threw himself between us! And now, we can't stop the poison from the quills. I can slow it, but I cannot stop it!"
"What?" Ichigo managed dazedly, "Kisuke is...?"
"He is dying," Byakuya said solemnly, glancing down at the fallen shinigami, "Tetsuya can only infuse him three times a day."
"A-at that r-rate," Kisuke panted, shocking Ichigo as his glazed eyes opened and met the Shiba heir's, "I have...'bout three months, g-give or take a few d-days."
"He is as stable as we can make him now, Byakuya-sama," the healer said quietly, "We should take him to the shelter."
"Arashi," Tetsuya intoned softly, watching as the injured stallion limped towards them.
Tetsuya stumbled to his feet, placing a hand on his slightly rounded abdomen and swallowing hard against the swell of dizziness.
"There, now," Byakuya said in a gentle voice, wrapping a bracing arm around his exhausted and teary cousin, "You have pushed yourself hard enough, Tetsuya."
The clan leader met Renji's eyes.
"Renji, will you make sure that Urahara Kisuke is made comfortable and well guarded? I am going to take Tetsuya to wash up and get something to eat."
"Sure," Renji said, nodding and meeting their spouse's damp eyes, "Hey, it's gonna be okay, all right?"
"B-but it's my fault that he..."
"It wasn't your fault," Byakuya insisted, lifting Tetsuya off his feet and turning away from the scene of destruction behind them, "We were all fighting to survive. Kisuke saw you in trouble, and he acted to protect you of his own free will."
"He's right," Renji agreed, "You didn't do anything wrong."
"B-but, you know he only took that risk...only sacrificed himself...b-because of the baby!" Tetsuya half sobbed, "He took the poison on himself because he knew that the baby couldn't have survived it! If I hadn't..."
"Shh," Byakuya said, kissing the younger noble to quiet him, "Don't think on that, Tetsuya. Just try to remain calm. The stress is not good for our child."
"I know," Tetsuya said softly, "I am just...so sorry! I shouldn't have left the barrier. But that quincy..."
"You kept him from striking Renji and me from behind," Byakuya remembered.
"I couldn't just watch you and Renji die!"
"We understand," Renji said soothingly, turning as the clan healer and Ichigo finished loading the barely conscious shopkeeper onto a small cart pulled by Tetsuya's stallion, "Go on, now. Let Byakuya take care of you. I'll stay with Kisuke and the healer until it's time for the next infusion."
"Me too," added Ichigo, moving with Renji to follow the cart, "He's gonna be okay, Tetsuya. Take care of yourself and your baby now."
Tetsuya nodded wordlessly and buried his face in Byakuya's shoulder as the clan leader carried him into the one still standing portion of the manor.
Ichigo fell in at Renji's side, the two guarding the cart as Arashi pulled it slowly in the direction of the family shelter.
"Tetsuya's pretty torn up," the Shiba heir mused, "It must've been hell here."
"Yeah," Renji said, looking down at Kisuke's dirty and discomfited face, "When they sensed that Bach was dead, they went crazy. It's like they went into berserker mode or something. They were killing anyone they could find."
Renji's lips stiffened for a moment before he could continue.
"Orihime was hit with some weird attack that knocked her out and they can't wake her up. Chad was injured, protecting her and me, Rukia and Byakuya took damage holding them off the shelter, where the women, children and injured men from the family were being protected. That's when we nearly got blindsided and Tetsuya had to come out of the protected area to defend us. Everything just went haywire, then. We were all just desperate to survive. And Kisuke saw that Tetsuya and the baby were threatened."
The redhead swallowed hard, then continued.
"He's the reason we were able to reawaken Tetsuya's breeder ability. He was helping us every step of the way through the pregnancy. I think Kisuke was as excited about the baby as the three of us were."
"Damn..." Ichigo sighed, shaking his head, "I should have killed the son of a bitch, Bach, faster!"
"We all did what we could, baka," Renji scolded him, half-heartedly, "Sometimes shit just happens, you know?"
"But it's not right," Ichigo sighed, shaking his head, "Of all the people I know, he did the most to get us through the quincy war. He counteracted the bankai-stealing medallions and helped the Arrancars fight back against the quincies. And he's the reason Uryu's still alive...that he was able to escape Bach's influence. We would've lost a good friend...many good friends, if not for him!"
"I know," Renji agreed, "And that's why we're not giving up. Tetsuya's gonna infuse him with his power. He can hold off the poison for a few months. And by then, Orihime will be awake and able to help him. Although, I don't really know about her waking up, though," Renji said, looking away for a moment, "She's in really bad shape, Ichigo."
Ichigo let out a strained breath and closed his eyes against the words.
"I'm not gonna think about that," he resolved, "Orihime's gonna wake up and she'll heal him."
Renji sighed and watched sadly as Ichigo moved forward to Kisuke's side. Kisuke stirred sluggishly and looked up at the Shiba heir, admiring his bright ginger hair and the markings of battle that still marked his skin.
"You did good," he managed softly, making Ichigo's head turn, "You made things right again."
"Yeah, well, I had a lot of help. I couldn't have done it without you, you know?"
"I don't know about that..."
"Well, I do," Ichigo stated firmly, "You saved me when Byakuya almost killed me. You helped me to develop my shinigami powers and trained me and my friends to battle Aizen, the bounts and the quincies. I wouldn't still be alive if not for you."
"Heh," chuckled the shopkeeper, "But you're leaving out some things...like how I experimented with hollowfication and how I used Rukia to hide the hougyoku."
"Don't worry about all of that," Ichigo chided him, "It's water under the bridge. It's not important anymore. There are more important things to think about...like not giving up. The times I've been close to dying, it was my will to live that brought me through. You have to keep trying to live."
"Yeah, I get that," Kisuke said, chuckling again as Arashi slowed and stopped at the entrance to a set of caves that were serving as the Kuchiki family's shelter.
Ichigo and Renji moved forward, helping the healer and an attendant to lift the injured shopkeeper from the small cart. Kisuke gasped as he was moved, pain flashing across his features as he was carried into the shelter and laid in bed.
"Ichigo!" cried a feminine voice.
"Orihime!" Ichigo called back, grinning as the human girl limped to Kisuke's side and fell to her knees.
"Inoue-san!" a younger healer exclaimed, "You've just awakened! You cannot be about when you were so recently healed."
"I have to help him!" the girl exclaimed, summoning her power and watching as a golden oval-shaped shield formed over Kisuke's body.
"It's not gonna work," Kisuke whispered in a gravely voice.
"What?" Ichigo mused, "What are you talking about. It's gonna be fine."
"You don't understand," the shopkeeper went on, looking unsurprised as a look of distress overtook Orihime's pretty face, and the oval shield began to crack and break apart, "Y-you remember when you fought Ulquiorra, Ichigo?"
"Yeah, why?"
Orihime's eyes widened.
"I couldn't heal you!" she exclaimed, "I wasn't what saved you that time."
"The reiatsu he wielded was too strong, too disruptive," Kisuke concluded, "These quincies, even the ones left that attacked here were wicked-strong. Their reiatsu is resistant to Orihime's power."
He sighed and closed his eyes as the human girl's power faded and Orihime dissolved into tears.
"She can't heal me, Ichigo. No one can. It's over. J-just a matter of time."
Ichigo started to object, but was stopped by the looks in the clan healers' eyes.
"You see, they get it," Kisuke said weakly, "You need to get it too, Ichigo. You need to just make peace with it."
Ichigo turned to the others in the room.
"Are you done with him for now?"
"Hai, Shiba-sama," the elder healer said, nodding, "We will bring Tetsuya-san later to infuse him."
Renji wrapped an arm around Orihime and led her out of the room. The healers exchanged unhappy glances and followed, leaving Ichigo alone with his mentor.
"What are you gonna do?" Kisuke rasped softly, "Stay here to the end?"
"I'm always there for my friends," Ichigo said, sitting down at his side, "Just tell me what you need and I'll get it for you...anything."
"Can you let me say I'm sorry?" Kisuke asked, closing his eyes.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Ichigo replied firmly, "All the bad stuff's in the past. Let's leave it there, okay?"
"Okay."
Ichigo sat down next to the bed and brought a cup of water to the shopkeeper's lips, watching quietly as Kisuke took several sips.
"You know, it's funny," the shopkeeper commented, looking down at his hands, "how even when every part of you knows that the end is coming, you still go on doing the same things...waking up, eating, drinking, talking, all that...and then going to sleep again. It's strange how normal I feel."
"Except for the pain," Ichigo whispered, his eyes tragically sad.
"Except for that," Kisuke agreed.
"You need a pain block?" the younger man asked.
"Naw, I'm okay."
"You don't have to tough it out. You should be comfortable."
"I'm fine, really," Kisuke insisted, "Besides, having pain makes me feel like I'm still fighting to stay alive. And even though I know in my head, there's not going to be a way out, I want there to be one."
"Yeah," Ichigo said more softly.
He thought quietly for a while, as Kisuke took a few bites of food from the tray that had been left for him.
"Kisuke?"
"Hmmm?"
"What's the one thing that would make you fight the hardest?"
The shopkeeper observed him quietly as he sipped again at his water.
"I dunno," Kisuke answered, "I'd have to think about it. I have lots of things to live for."
But there's only one thing you chose to die for...
Ichigo watched silently as Kisuke's gray eyes closed, and he drifted into a restless sleep. He slipped a hand into the shopkeeper's and spoke very softly to soothe him into a deeper sleep. Before long, he was blinking and yawning, himself. Loathe to leave his friend's side, the Shiba heir simply let his face rest on his arms on the edge of the bed. In moments, he was asleep.
Ichigo felt something soft touch his face and opened his eyes to find a red soul ribbon fluttering near him. He sat up, stretched and gazed at it, following its path with his eyes and feeling familiarity at its touch.
"Kisuke?" he whispered, taking off in a flash step and following the pretty red strand.
The air went dark around him, and for a time, he couldn't see anything but that red ribbon, moving softly and guiding him along. He continued in his path until the air around him brightened again, and he flash stepped down into a windswept, rainy world, filled with powerful, creative reiatsu.
"This seems like a place I'd find you," Ichigo said softly, looking around at the mountains of reiatsu and a scattering of things that looked like works in progress. One project seemed to include several bulbous beakers filled with colorful fluid. Another area displayed a complicated looking machine that buzzed and whirred busily. Oddly colored and shaped plants grew in one area and a field of silver, ringing bells grew in another.
"Ichigo?" said a sleepy voice.
The younger man sensed the direction and followed the voice to where Kisuke knelt at the side of a clear, blue lake, looking into the water. Ichigo made a sound of surprise as he spotted images on the water's surface.
The scene was beautiful, both for its content and for its simplicity. Kisuke stood, uninjured and smiling, his arms around Ichigo and rubbing his rounded belly gently.
"Are you happy?" the image of him asked the shopkeeper.
"I can't imagine being happier," the image of Kisuke answered, meeting Ichigo's image for a long, deep kiss, "You're beautiful. I've never seen anything more beautiful, not in all my years."
Ichigo sat up suddenly, his heart pounding and his eyes rounded. He blinked and turned his head to look at Kisuke.
"Sumimasen," Tetsuya's soft voice said from the doorway, distracting him, "My apologies for disturbing you, Ichigo-san, but I am here to infuse Urahara-san with my reiatsu to slow the poison."
"Right," Ichigo said, starting to rise, "I'll just..."
"You don't have to leave," the noble said, laying a staying hand on the Shiba heir's shoulder, "In fact, I sense a peacefulness in him that seems to center on you. Please, stay."
"Y-yeah, okay," Ichigo stammered, sitting back down and watching as Tetsuya moved to Kisuke's other side and sat down in a chair beside the bed.
Tetsuya extended his hands, laying them gently on Kisuke's forehead and chest, then he sent a slow flow of glowing blue reiatsu seeping into the other man's body. For a time, all was still in the room, except for the movement of that reiatsu as it joined with Kisuke's and made a look of relief rise on his sleeping face. Kisuke smiled without opening his eyes, and one shaky hand rose and came to rest on Tetsuya's rounded belly.
"You eatin' enough and gettin' your rest?" Kisuke mumbled dazedly.
"I am doing just fine," Tetsuya assured him, caressing his face for a moment and soothing him towards sleep again, "The baby and I are both fine, thanks to you."
"G-good," whispered the shopkeeper, his voice fading, "Then...everything's...okay."
Tetsuya's eyes closed and his expression became tormented as Kisuke drifted off to sleep again.
"It's okay," Ichigo said softly, startling the other young man into looking up at him.
"How can you say that?" Tetsuya asked brokenly, "He made a terrible sacrifice, and it burdens my heart to know what I've cost him."
"Hey," Ichigo said, taking Tetsuya's warm, soft hand and caressing it lightly, "You know what your baby means to him, ne? It's like he's been living a little bit through you and this baby for a while now."
"I've known for some time that he wanted a family of his own."
"Well, he has Tessai and Jinta and Ururu," said Ichigo.
"You know what I mean," Tetsuya said, meeting Ichigo's eyes squarely, "You saw it too, didn't you? While you were sleeping at his side?"
"Wh-what?" Ichigo mused, his eyes widening.
"You know that he always wished that he could make that family with you, Ichigo."
"W-with me? How do you...?"
"The process of preparing my body for this endeavor brought me close to his soul," Tetsuya explained, "and while connected with him, I saw an image of him on the water."
"It was me!" Ichigo said breathlessly, "All this time...he's been in love with me!"
"All of this time," Tetsuya went on, "Urahara-san has been helping us to have our baby, inside, he has been reassuring himself it was possible for you, too. I think that, given a successful birth on my part, he would have considered the process safe enough that he might finally have told you what was in his heart...and confessed his love to you!"
Kisuke is in love with me?
He dreams of marrying me and...?
He wanted us to make a child together?
Ichigo's eyes closed and a large tear escaped and rolled down his face.
I'm sorry.
How could I be so stupid that I couldn't see?