Chapter 2: Return of the Star Knights
(By request for Henka-chan! Enjoy. Love, Spunky)
Tetsuya smiled up at Mikomi as his red-haired daughter exited the Kuchiki family archive and started across the gardens towards him, carrying several large books in her arms.
"You know, you don't have to sit here and entertain me," he chuckled, patting his rounded belly gently, "Your new siblings and I are doing fine. I will read to them. You should go and…"
"And play with those ridiculous boys?" Mikomi sighed, "Daddy Tetsuya, I told you, I don't want to. I promise I'll do my training later. I just really want to read with you right now. You said we could read about the soul king's Tenba no Kishu (Pegasus Riders). Is it true that you and Arashi could be king's riders someday?"
"W-well, yes," Tetsuya affirmed, "Arashi and I must continue training here, but we have been qualified to train for the entry trials. As soon as we pass all of the entrance tests, we will be invited to compete for a post either in the Kishu or Tenba no Kishu."
"How do you get your mount to sprout wings, though?" the girl asked, "Arashi doesn't have wings yet, ne?"
"No," Tetsuya agreed, "he doesn't. The training is difficult, and if a mount is going to fledge, it usually happens during the trials, once a rider has qualified."
"So, you won't know until you are invited to the trials in the royal realm, if you and Arashi will be Kishu or Tenba no Kishu?"
"We will not know until then," Tetsuya said, nodding, "Either one is a great honor, but I do hope that Arashi is able to fledge. Fledglings are rare, though, so it's hard to say."
Tetsuya took one of the books from his daughter and opened to a picture of a rider aboard a paint horse with proudly raised wings.
"That looks a lot like Byakuya-sama's Ikazuchi, except that one has wings," Mikomi observed.
"Mmhmm," Tetsuya agreed, gazing appreciatively at the picture, "This is Saito Hiromi and his mount, Raiko. It is said that he served the soul king for a thousand years, and only fell when the quincies killed the king and destroyed the palace. Even as he died, his power exploded across the skies, electrocuting all but the strongest of Ywach's invading forces."
"That's good that he was so strong," Mikomi said, touching the horse's proud face gently with a fingertip, "but it's sad that they are gone."
"Yes," Tetsuya agreed, "but the good news is that many of the riders survived the quincy war, and they have returned to the palace."
Mikomi leaned closer to Tetsuya, resting her head against his arm.
"Daddy, don't you think it's sad? I mean, I know we're not supposed to talk about it. But, there is no king anymore, really, right? It's just the quincy king's body."
"That is true," Tetsuya said softly, hugging her, "but there will be a new king someday. There is a prophecy that was made that said the palace would hold no life for a hundred years, but that a light would rise out of the dead quincy king's heart, and that light would illuminate the new king."
"But, what does that mean?" Mikomi asked, frowning, "I don't understand."
"I think that what it means is that we have to wait a little while. You must grow up and become strong. And the way to the future will show itself to you in its own time. You must prepare for that time."
"Do you think there will be another war, like the quincy war that was before I was born?"
"War is a possibility, but it is not a given. Still, being strong and prepared is the best thing. That is why you must train every day. It is why Byakuya-sama, Ichigo-sama, Renji, Ren-sama and I all train every day. We want to be prepared to play what role we might in the future that is promised."
"I'm kind of glad it's far away," Mikomi said, closing her eyes, "I've never seen a war, and I don't want to."
"None of us do," Tetsuya assured her, "And the best tool we have for avoiding conflict is to be strong and to try to build bridges with other societies to keep the peace. There will still be conflict sometimes, but we will be ready and not taken by surprise, as we were in the last war with the quincies."
The two looked up as a squeal sounded and Arashi dashed out of the bushes, followed by a flash stepping Niko.
"Found ya!" Niko laughed, racing after the stallion and tagging him on the rump, "And you were even in a waterform!"
"Good job, Niko," Ren laughed, emerging from within the trees alongside Kishio and the two sets of Abarai twins, "Looks like Arashi is it now!"
Niko looked over in Mikomi's direction, blushing slightly.
"Hey Mikomi, you sure you don't want to play?" he asked shyly, "It's fun, and you're good at hiding."
"It's because I have so much practice hiding from Kisho and Niko when they always try to bug me," Mikomi whispered under her breath.
"Maybe just one or two rounds?" Tetsuya suggested.
"Daddy Tetsuya…" the girl complained softly.
"He did ask you nicely."
"Yeah," Mikomi sighed, "all right."
She turned to her waiting cousins and siblings and smiled.
"Okay, but only a couple of rounds."
She glanced back at Tetsuya, rolling her eyes.
"Then, we all have training to do."
"Okay!" the others shouted excitedly.
Ren shot Tetsuya a look of gratitude.
Thanks, he mouthed.
Tetsuya chuckled and nodded, watching as Arashi turned his back and closed his eyes, while Ren and the children headed for their new hiding spots. They only managed a few steps, when Arashi stiffened and his ears perked. A moment later, the others stopped moving and looked around in confusion.
"What is that?" Mikomi whispered, shivering and moving closer to her cousins, "It sounds like…singing."
The group stared in dismay as fog seemed to billow up, out of nowhere, surrounding them and leaving them unable to see.
"We're being attacked!" Ren shouted, trying to summon his weapon.
A twinge of shock went through him as he realized.
This song and the fog are blocking my connection to…
Panic flooded the young man's mind as he began to feel a creeping numbness that entered through his tingling fingers and toes, running slowly through him until he was fully in its grip.
What the hell? What is this? What's happening? Damn it, the house alarms are not even ringing! We're gonna…!
The kids…oh my kami…
Ren's mind descended into chaos as the singing voice echoed and the fog held him frozen.
Whoever this is, he realized as darkness closed in around him, could kill us all and we couldn't do a thing!
XXXXXXXXXX
Ren wasn't sure how much later it was, when he began to feel the cold fog leave his immobilized body, and he woke to find himself lying in the bed he shared with Byakuya and Ichigo, and his two worried spouses at his bedside, gazing down at him and wearing worried expressions. He swallowed hard and found his throat was dry and his head pounded. He tried to sit up, but was pushed gently back down.
"You mustn't try to get up yet," Byakuya warned him, "You are still recovering, Ren."
A chill went through Ren's insides as he spotted Kisuke behind Byakuya and Ichigo.
"Wh-what happened to me? To us? Are the kids and Tetsuya all right?"
His face paled and his heart raced faster as he read the looks on their faces, making the feeling of weakness return.
"Kisho? Niko?" he managed shakily.
"Ren," Kisuke said with forced calm.
"No!" Ren shouted, sitting up and pushing Byakuya's hands away as his husband tried to push him down again, "Don't you tell me they're...d…d…they can't be…!"
"We do not know the fate of our children," Byakuya said in a low, choked voice, "All of the children are missing from the estate, Ren."
"Missing?" Ren gasped, "What the fuck? How? How did they do this? Who the hell took our kids?"
"They did more than take the kids," Ichigo said in a rough, barely controlled voice, "The bastards stole the baby from Tetsuya's body."
"What?"
Ren looked down at his own slender abdomen, then up at Kisuke.
"I don't think they realized you were pregnant," he said solemnly, "The power that struck you shocked your body badly, Ren."
"No…"
"By the time we arrived, you were clinically dead and so was Tetsuya. Orihime was able to revive the two of you, but Tetsuya is still unconscious and in danger of dying. We brought you back, but…your baby's reiatsu had already dissipated."
"NO!" shouted Ren, "NO, FUCKING NO!"
"The attack seemed confined to the gardens," Kisuke went on, "No one in the buildings seemed aware that anything had happened. It was only discovered when the attendants entered the gardens to prepare lunch. They alerted the house guards immediately, but the damage was already done. You and Tetsuya were down and the children were nowhere to be found."
"I sent a group of house guards to try to track the children," Byakuya explained, "but they were not able to find a trail."
"What about Arashi?" Ren asked anxiously, "I know he could…"
"When Tetsuya was attacked," Kisuke answered, "and he started to die, Arashi was pulled back into his body to help keep him alive. Arashi can't help us until he emerges from Tetsuya's body."
"Byakuya and I are going out to look," Ichigo said reassuringly, "We just needed to make sure you were gonna be all right."
"I'm fine!" Ren insisted, escaping his husband's grasp and climbing out of bed, "I'm going with you!"
"You are still recovering," Byakuya objected, "Ren, you must…"
"They're my kids too! I had them!" Ren shouted angrily, "I'm not lying here doing nothing, while they're out there and someone's got them!"
Tears leaked onto his face and his hands clenched into fists.
"We're wasting time! We need to find them!"
"We will," Byakuya said soothingly, moving closer and wrapping strong arms around him, "We will find them."
"We should go now," Ichigo added.
Kisuke looked ready to argue, but he read Ren's determined expression and gave a sigh of acceptance.
"You take it easy and let Byakuya and Ichigo do any fighting," the shopkeeper warned him, "You're not exactly working on all thrusters, kid."
"I got it," Ren said tersely, "Let's go."
"I'm going to go and help out with Tetsuya," Kisuke said, heading for the door alongside them, "Renji's an absolute mess. His whole world just came crashing down."
Ren burst out the door, then felt Byakuya take his hand.
"Ikazuchi is going to carry us," he explained, watching as the paint stallion approached and Byakuya helped Ren onto his back.
Ichigo climbed on behind him and Byakuya circled the area, sensing carefully.
"Are you getting anything?" Ichigo asked, wrapping his arms around Ren's waist, "any kind of direction?"
Byakuya searched intently for several minutes, before turning back to them, shaking his head in frustration.
"There are no signs," he admitted.
"Nothing?" Ichigo demanded, "There's gotta be…!"
"Listen carefully," Byakuya said, looking up at the two, "There is only one enemy who could do something like this and disappear so completely."
Ichigo's eyes widened.
"Quincies?" he inquired.
"Quincies," Byakuya answered with certainty, "That they have dared to target our family…"
He broke off as a hell butterfly appeared and floated over to hover in front of him.
Byakuya Kyouraku Soutaichou's deep voice intoned, we've gotten word in Central 46 and Squad One Headquarters that your family was not the only one attacked. All of the five great clans and a number of the very powerful other clans have had their grounds invaded and their heirs and other powerful children snatched. Several family members were killed and no sign was left behind as to who did this or where they went. Because of these facts, we believe the enemy or enemies to be quincy. I need you to ask Ichigo to make contact with the Ishida family to see if we can figure out who we are dealing with here.
"Oh my god," Ichigo whispered, his face going pale, "This is bad."
"Ichigo, why don't you and Ren go to Karakura Town and try to make contact with your friend, Ishida Uryu? I will remain here to look for further clues and to send along any information that becomes available."
"Got it!" Ichigo said, nodding as he drew his zanpakutou and opened a senkaimon, Ikazuchi charged through and the doorway closed behind them, leaving Byakuya looking silently after them.
"Be careful," he whispered, before turning and heading back into the manor.
XXXXXXXXXX
Renji sat silently at Tetsuya's side, his hand shaking where it held his unconscious husband's. He looked down at Tetsuya's calm sleeping face, fighting tears as he watched Orihime continue to flood Tetsuya's injured body with healing power. He barely noticed as Kisuke entered the room and moved to join him.
"What the heck?" he muttered in a shaky voice, "How could someone just do this? Just waltz in here and knock them out and take the kids? How could they…?"
Tears flooded his eyes as he looked down at Tetsuya's now slim abdomen.
"Do we even know that the baby is alive?" he asked, his voice a pained sob, "How do we know? And Mikomi and the twins? How do we know?"
"I think that if the point was to kill everyone, they wouldn't have taken the kids with them," Kisuke concluded, "And judging by their ruthlessness, they wouldn't have taken the baby with them if the baby wasn't alive. There's no sign from Tetsuya's body that the reiatsu dissipated, as it did in Ren's case. That means the baby was born alive."
"Bastards!" Renji hissed, fuming, "Took Mikomi and the twins. Tetsuya and I didn't even get to see our baby! They're monsters!"
"This is even bigger than just you guys and Byakuya," Kisuke said unhappily, "We got a message from Soutaichou, telling us that all of the great clans and a bunch of the other most powerful clans were attacked and their kids taken too. I think you can see that, considering that the attacks happened while the lead members of the family were meeting to discuss the recent murmurs of threats. It's clear to me that the threats were probably meant to force the meeting, to get the ranking members of the houses out, while the enemies commenced an orchestrated attack against all of the targeted families at once."
"But how could they do something like that?" Renji asked, looking at the shopkeeper in dismay, "They would have to have known the schedule for the meeting, and have a ton of information about the schedules of each of the families."
"This was a well choreographed attack," Kisuke concluded, "and it required inside information. That suggests that the perpetrators either had someone here, doing their dirty work, or they have a way of observing us on a level that even beats what they did before the most recent war. I really hope we're not dealing with something like that!"
"Right," Renji agreed, shaking his head, "Kisuke, tell me honestly. Do you think they'll ask for a ransom for the kids or do you think they're going to do something we don't even want to think about."
"I'm not sure," Kisuke confessed, "I'm a guy who plans for everything, but I'm telling you, there are a lot of possibilities when it comes to what they could be up to. We have to wait to see what their next step is. If it's a ransom, we should be hearing from them soon."
Renji looked down at Tetsuya, a troubled look on his face.
"Damn, at this point, I don't even know what to hope for. But I do know one thing. It's the quincies were talking about, so it's not a simple answer. They go for the jugular and they don't give up. This is going to get really, really ugly."
"Well," Kisuke replied, picking up Tetsuya's wrist and taking the unconscious man's pulse, "then we're just going to have to be ready to play on their level."
"And how do we do that?" the redhead asked.
"I'm ah, working on that," Kisuke answered, "I'll have to let you know when I do."