Chapter 2: Unexpected Arrival
(Happy Father's Day to Bya, Ren and all of the dads out there! Girls, make your dads feel special today! I did…)
Byakuya winced as a soft jolt of pain flashed through his midsection. His reiatsu flared fitfully, making him catch his breath softly and put a hand to his head to quell the dizziness that went along with it. He looked down from the shaded area where he had knelt to rest as Renji, Hajime and all of the children except Akiko and Akane had gone down to the brook to cool their feet in the water and gather wild berries to eat with their lunch. Akiko slept soundly on the blanket they had laid down, and Akane contented herself picking flowers and sprinkling them on her sleeping sister. Akane paused as Byakuya placed a hand on his abdomen and groaned softly, breathing through the rising pain.
"Oh…oh this is very bad timing, little one," he sighed, "You couldn't wait until we at least reached the castle, ne?"
"Daddy Bya sick?" Akane asked, crawling to his side.
"N-no, Akane. I am not sick," he told the toddler, "I am going to have a baby…sooner than expected, it seems."
Akane's eyes widened and she scrambled closer and placed a hand on Byakuya's swollen abdomen. A strong kick under her palm made her giggle as Byakuya groaned again and sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Who's misbehaving up here?" Renji asked cheerfully, flash stepping into view and dropping down on the blanket, "I could feel the reiatsu flares from all the way over there."
He smiled at Akane.
"Is he causing trouble again, Akane?" he asked.
"No," the toddler said, shaking her red curls, "Daddy Bya having a baby!"
Renji chuckled, then took a closer look at his oddly quiet life partner and caught his breath in surprise.
"Can't stay out of trouble for a second, can you?" he asked, smiling and moving closer.
"Well, at least I wasn't abducted, threatened or arrested," said the noble, panting softly as another pain flared inside him.
"Is everything all right?" asked the elder Hajime from behind Renji.
"Oh yeah," said Renji, "Everything's fine…but, uh, I think we should plan on staying here for a while. It seems my lovely spouse has decided that this would be a good place to nest and have his litter."
"How dare you!" snapped Byakuya, "I am not a cat. And this is just one! And I have no control over where I am when labor strikes. You know that, Abarai!"
"Hey," said Renji, laughing, "Cool your jets. I was just kidding. And calm that reiatsu. It's warm enough here without you heating things up even more!"
"I think I'll go down to the brook and wet a washcloth for his face," offered the elder Hajime.
"What's happening?" asked Takeshi, with Chisaki peeking around from behind him.
"It seems that you are about to gain a new brother or sister," said elder Hajime, smiling.
"It's time for the baby to be born?" asked Younger Hajime, flash stepping to Byakuya's side, "I know what to do. Captain Unohana had me practice so that I could help!"
"Well, then get over here," said Renji, "because it looks like this is going to happen now!"
"Oh," panted Byakuya, "I don't know. It could be a while."
"I don't think so," Renji said, wrapping an arm around him, "Your reiatsu is sparking all over the place."
"That…may be," Byakuya said, "but it can take several hours for things to transition from this to delivery."
"Well, I guess you'd know better than me, ne?" Renji chuckled, "Okay guys, let's get ready for this. Takeshi and Takeo, you are on 'pretty little red-haired girl' detail. Watch Akiko and Akane and make sure they don't go off slaying hollows while we're busy here. Chisaki, use those wings to fly a message to the king to tell him we'll be delayed. I'll assist little godling, here and grandpa?"
"That still sounds so odd…" commented elder Hajime, "Just call me Hajime."
"What?" said young Hajime, looking up and grinning.
"Very funny," said Renji, smacking the boy lightly on the arm, "Do your job, kid. And don't drop the baby when it pops out, ne?"
"Abarai!" objected Byakuya.
"Sorry," laughed Renji, "couldn't help it."
"Well, do try."
"Ah, right. Hajime…elder Hajime, you make sure nothing disturbs the peace while our baby makes his…"
"Or her," said Byakuya.
"…or her entrance," finished Renji.
Young Hajime raised a translucent shield around Byakuya, Renji and himself as Chisaki shifted to hawk form and shot through the sky towards the castle. Takeo sat down with Akane bouncing on his lap and babbling excitedly, and Takeshi held a sleepy and blinking Akiko and encouraged her to watch.
"This is how we get a little brother or sister," he told the girl.
"I want 'nuther sister!" announced Akiko.
"No," said Akane, "I want 'nuther brother!"
"I'm with Akane," said Takeshi, jokingly, "Any more girls in this house and we might as well be the Shihoin clan."
"Bite your tongue," said Takeo, "Some of those girls could wallop you, little wolf!"
"Hey, your wolf may be bigger, but I'll take you on any day!"
"Yeah, and you'd lose, especially now that I have ban kai."
"Hey, kids, knock it off," Renji said, throwing a handful of stray flowers, "We're trying to have a baby here…"
"Sorry," said Takeo, "but anyway, I like little girls. You might not get to wrestle with them, but then…hey, you got beat in a wrestling match with Chisaki."
"Ooh!" Takeo said, his reiatsu flaring.
He forcibly held his voice down.
"That was one time! Once! And you cheated and helped her!"
"I was coaching," said Takeo, shrugging, "She still pinned you."
"Shut up."
"Shut up," repeated Akane, smacking Takeo on the leg.
"Hey, you should be glad I put him in his place, squirt. He insulted you girls."
Akane's eyes flared.
"I don't like salt!" she yelled.
"Okay, shoot!" Takeshi said, grabbing her and placing a hand over her mouth, "Don't yell. You'll get us into trouble."
He gasped softly and drew his hand back, shaking it and looking surprised.
"She bit me!"
"Akane," Byakuya panted, "Daddy Ren and I told you, no biting!"
Akane's eyes widened and clouded up. She sniffed several times, then dissolved into tears. Akiko looked at her sister appraisingly, then began to cry as well.
"Great," sighed Takeshi, reaching over to pick up his non-biting sibling, while Takeo comforted Akane.
"Are we under control now?" asked Renji, his reiatsu flaring softly in annoyance, "Do we need Grandpa to…"
"Hajime."
"…elder Hajime, then, to whip out his ban kai and turn you all into smoking piles of dust?"
"I beg your pardon," said the elder Hajime, primly, "The death song is the most elegant and beautiful death a shinigami, hollow or human can experience. It does not 'reduce victims to a pile of smoking embers.' That would be your Zabimaru, if I remember correctly."
"All right, all right…" said Renji, turning back to Byakuya, "You kids just quiet down and let poor Bya breathe!"
"I am breathing just fine," Byakuya said placidly, "and actually, their bantering makes me feel more 'normal.' It helps keep my mind off of the pain."
"Look, I'm glad you feel that way," Renji said, frowning, "but don't go and invite those kids to misbehave, okay? They're enough of a handful, without you encouraging them."
"That's the Abarai blood in them, ne?" said Byakuya, earning a scowl from the redhead.
"That's not nice, you!" Renji snapped, "And it's fine you blaming me for their antics, when you were just as misbehaving as a kid!"
"The difference is…that I grew up!"
"HEY!" Renji yelled.
"Daddy Ren?" said young Hajime.
Renji ignored the boy.
"Don't go into that whole 'Peter Pan' psychological crap-fest, okay?"
"Daddy Ren?"
"I grew up, too! And I took care of other kids while I grew up! I didn't live in a pretty house with a bunch of slaves wiping my ass for me!"
"I never allowed slaves to attend to my personal hygiene."
"Fine! But stop saying I never grew up! It's damned irritating!"
"That's potty mouth, Daddy Ren," young Hajime corrected him.
"Yeah? Cover your ears, kid."
"Renji…" said Byakuya disarming the redhead's fury with a fleeting smile.
"What? Oh…oh don't give me those eyes, Bya! You are in the middle of having a baby. That is really unfair!"
"I wasn't making eyes at you," Byakuya said, squeezing his hand and bringing it to his lips, "Hajime was trying to tell you that the baby is coming."
"Wha-? Now?" Renji said, turning his head to look.
"Yes," young Hajime said, placing his hands on Byakuya's abdomen and letting his eyes glow golden.
Renji abandoned the argument and let his hands rest on Byakuya's belly near Hajime's. The two lowered their eyes and focused as Byakuya's abdomen took on a deep, lovely white glow that brightened steadily. Akane and Akiko ceased their crying and leaned forward, watching intently. The elder Hajime's eyes softened beautifully.
"Now, watch closely, Hajime," Renji said, smiling over his shoulder at the king's fiancée, "because next time, it will be you doing this…"
Hajime didn't answer, but his blue eyes darkened sweetly and he watched in fascination as Byakuya panted softly and watched the light around his abdomen brighten.
"We didn't get to see this with the girls," the noble said softly.
"I remember," Renji said, squeezing his hand, "You were a mess…and we almost lost you and Akiko."
Byakuya smiled.
"I wasn't going to leave you, Renji. I will never leave you. You know that."
Renji nodded.
"Where you go, I go…and where I go, you go. No one leaves."
"No one leaves," Byakuya repeated as Renji leaned over to kiss him.
"Here it comes," announced young Hajime, letting his golden reiatsu wrap around the cluster of reiatsu that flared softly and slowly began to emerge from Byakuya's abdomen.
Chisaki swooped down, returning from her mission to the palace, and she took shinigami form next to Takeshi.
"You're just in time," Takeshi told his twin.
All eyes watched as the reiatsu cluster rose out of Byakuya and settled into Renji's waiting hands. Young Hajime leaned over the cluster, encircling it with his power as it pulsed gently and gradually resolved into the shape of a tiny baby boy with wide, dark eyes and a lovely shock of wild red hair. He squirmed in Renji's hands, squawking and starting to cry, then finding his fingers and sucking on them to soothe himself.
"Oh," sighed Chisaki, "He is so cute!"
She turned to her twin, grinning.
"I guess that's kind of what you looked like before you grew up, lost your cuteness, and became annoying…"
"Shut up," Takeshi muttered, grinning, "He and I are going to have so much fun tormenting you and those evil girl twins! There are more of us now."
"Ah…" said Byakuya, shifting uncomfortably, "I think I…Hajime, would you mind checking again. It's strange, but I still feel something moving."
"That could just be your insides returning to normal," commented Renji, "And anyway, I thought we agreed seven was enough."
Young Hajime turned back to examine his father's abdomen, then smiled widely and let his power flow into the area a second time.
"I think we have a change of plans," he said, his intonation a perfect rendition of Byakuya's.
Renji caught his breath sharply.
"Y-you mean, there's another in there?"
Hajime laughed and raised his power, watching as Byakuya's abdomen glowed white and a second reiatsu began to emerge.
"What is it with us and twins?" Renji said, grinning.
"I imagine you just get overzealous with the fertilization," Byakuya suggested, panting through a jolt of pain and watching as Renji handed their newborn son to the elder Hajime and turned back to assist with the next birth.
Hajime carried the baby to where Byakuya had laid down his pack and withdrew a small blanket, which he wrapped around the infant. He returned to the others and stood in the cool shade, breathing in the sweet scents of flowers, grass, fresh water and baby. The baby in his arms cooed and reached up to touch his lips. He kissed the tiny digits softly and smiled almost dreamily, thinking.
Soon…
He watched in silence as the second reiatsu settled into Renji's hands and the smile on the redhead's face somehow grew. Takeo and Chisaki laughed softly and Takeshi pretended to scowl as the second baby was revealed to be an even more petite little girl who looked like a tiny, female copy of Byakuya…except for her gentle red-brown eyes. She didn't cry at all, but simply looked up into Renji's pleased expression and grabbed his offered finger.
"Oh," said Byakuya wearily, "Just born and already beginning to wrap you around her delicate little finger, ne?"
Renji leaned over and silenced his soul bonded with a slow, sweet kiss.
"Well, if she is, then it's your fault. You've had me wrapped around your finger for ages. I can't resist either one of you…"
"And that sentiment is returned in full," Byakuya whispered, closing his eyes and sighing in relief.
"Hajime," Renji said to their son, "Is that all of them?"
"Yes, that is the last baby," Hajime announced, sitting back and looking nearly as tired as Byakuya.
Renji laughed and patted him on the back.
"Well done," he said softly, "I don't know that Captain Unohana could have done better. Now, go and lie down. She said that you would need to rest afterwards."
Hajime nodded and crawled away to where Akiko and Akane were settling down and beginning to drift off. The elder Hajime turned his head in the direction of the palace.
"The Royal Guard is approaching," he said quietly, "They will carry us the rest of the way to the palace."
"Good," sighed Byakuya, "I think we've had enough exertion for one day…"