Chapter 2: Heart Connection

Tetsuya stiffened under Grimmjow's hands as Arashi closed in on Kuchiki Manor, and the stark, blackened ruins of the main building appeared. The front gates had been shattered, and the cobbled entry cracked and broken. The wooden walkway was a tumble of still smoldering timbers, and the living areas and kitchen were no longer recognizable. Tears came to Tetsuya's eyes and began to escape onto his face as they reached the razed gardens, to find the carefully tended flowers and shrubs torn and trampled, and the lovely sakura trees uprooted and mostly burned. Dead koi littered the destroyed ponds and the scents of brimstone and ash hung in the air.

"Shit..." Grimmjow breathed, "What a mess."

"Kuchiki gardens was one of the most beautiful places in our world," Tetsuya said softly, "Every tree, every flower and bush, every cobblestone and every blade of grass is set in place whenever a new leader is chosen. Lord Byakuya first made these gardens over in the way he chose, when he came of age to officially accept leadership from his grandfather, who had designed the gardens before him. To have witnessed both its beginning and now its end is..."

"Don't look at it like that," Grimmjow said, in a suddenly more aggressive tone, "Byakuya's being healed, right? So, he can restore the gardens when he comes back here."

Tetsuya looked ready to argue, but noted Grimmjow's hard expression and cleared his throat gently, wiping the tears from his eyes. He took a steadying breath and gazed back at the Sexta Espada quietly.

"That's better," Grimmjow growled, "You want to survive, then you have to have the right thinking. You let yourself think too much about the pain and..."

He broke off suddenly, remembering...

"M-master Nnoitora?" whispered a shaky male voice.

Grimmjow tightened the binding around the badly wounded Fraccion's wounds.

"Nnoitora's dead," Grimmjow told him.

"Th-that shingami...that barbarian?"

"Yeah," Grimmjow acknowledged softly, "He killed him. You'll be all right, though."

The injured hollow looked down at his healing body, then up at Grimmjow again.

"Why?" he asked "Why are you healing me? M-master Nnoitora tried to kill you. I am his...was...his fraccion. Do you not want to kill me?"

"Naw," Grimmjow said in a low voice, "I lost my fraccion and you lost your leader. I think maybe you and me should stick together...ne, Tesla?"

Tears ran freely down the forlorn fraccion's pale cheeks, but he stiffened his lips and nodded.

"I am...yours to command, from now on," he half-sobbed, "Thank you for healing me, Master Grimmjow."

But even as the days and weeks had passed, the weight of loss had grown on the younger man, gnawing away at him, until his mind became frayed, and his body began to decline. Grimmjow forcibly stopped his mind from replaying the end.

"You gave up," he whispered, "You just couldn't take it...couldn't accept it, even though I tried to be there for you..."

"Grimmjow, are you all right?" Tetsuya asked, squeezing the Espada's hand gently.

For a moment, Tetsuya's face was written over in the image of the mourning Tesla's. Grimmjow blinked, forcing down the hard, biting emotions that it caused inside him.

"I'm fine," he said tersely, "Where's the archive? Is it even still here?"

Tetsuya nodded and indicated a set of ruins to their left. Grimmjow slid down off Arashi's back, then offered a hand to Tetsuya, who froze for a moment, before quietly accepting.

"What's wrong," Grimmjow asked, smirking, "Still think all hollows are out to eat you?"

"It is odd how our preconceptions can overcome even what evidence we see, close up," the shinigami observed, "I don't want to fear you."

"You don't have to," chuckled, "Even if I did want to hurt you, you're powerful."

Tetsuya looked at him questioningly.

"What? You think I'm not smart enough to figure that out?" the Espada asked, shaking his head, "You're Captain Byakuya Kuchiki's head of security and personal bodyguard. You would have to be powerful, right?"

"I am...usually," Tetsuya admitted, "Just less so, when in this state."

A momentary flash of discomfort registered on Tetsuya's face, nudging Grimmjow into motion.

"This way, you said?" he asked brusquely.

"Yes," Tetsuya said, approaching the mass of burned debris.

He reached out a hand, breathing a soft command that made the air in front of him shimmer, and a door appear.

"Huh, well that's something you don't see every day," the blue-haired Espada commented, following as Tetsuya led him through the doorway.

They passed through a long hallway, then it opened up slightly, revealing several rooms to the left and right, then a great, golden door at the back of the archive.

"Where does that go?" Grimmjow asked.

"Our leader, alone, is allowed to use that door to enter the Royal Realm," Tetsuya explained, "It repels all but royal family and him."

"Huh, cool privilege."

"Yes."

Tetsuya turned into the first room on the left, which contained walls full of books, and several locked cabinets and boxes. He headed across the room, and they entered a small alcove that contained a reading desk, a bed, a small showering room and stocked kitchen area.

"I must eat to restore myself," Tetsuya said, "You are welcome to join me for food and tea, if you like. Then, I will show you where to find the materials related to your search. You did say you were interested in pursuing hollow lore related to a hollow king?"

"Yeah," said Grimmjow, "There's supposed to be something about another holocaust a thousand years ago, that was kinda like this one. Only difference was, Hueco Mundo was led, at the time, by a king. There's a reference to some prophecy about another great massacre, and the return of the hollow king to bring things into balance. That's what Kisuke needs to find."

"He means to raise the hollow king?" Tetsuya asked, paling at the thought, "But then, if we work in cooperation with the hollows, we will all have more strength with which to resist Ywach and his Sternritters."

Enough about that," Grimmjow said gruffly, "You look like you're about to pass out. Let's get some food and tea into you. Where's the food? I'll make us something. You make the tea."

"Erm...you know how to cook...for a shinigami?" Tetsuya asked uncertainly.

"Oh, don't worry," Grimmjow said, smirking at him, "I will leave out the roasted shinigami eyeballs, hearts and livers."

"Good heavens, I hope so," Tetsuya said, looking slightly ill.

"Will you shut up? I was teasing you," Grimmjow said reprovingly, "I know things are pretty damned serious right now, but you have to keep a little bit of your sense of humor, or you're gonna die a lot sooner."

"What? You will tire of me and use me for the stew?" Tetsuya asked, a bit saucily.

"Oh, I have better uses for a pretty thing like you," Grimmjow chuckled, "Go, make the tea. I'll just make some rice and vegetables. That do for you?"

"Yes, that will be fine," Tetsuya assured him, turning towards the tea making apparatus. He worked at making the tea, stealing small glances at the Espada as he worked.

I've never really interacted with a hollow in this way. It's very different than I would have expected...but Grimmjow is powerful. I can feel the strength in him.

In minutes, the tea was hot, and Tetsuya sat down at the table, placing one cup in front of himself, and one where Grimmjow was to sit. Grimmjow finished the cooking a short time later, and brought two plates of food to the table. He dropped into his chair and dove into the food hungrily, forgetting, for a moment, the somewhat shy and reserved shinigami in his presence. He felt Tetsuya watching, and flashed the younger man a toothy grin.

"How is it?"

He watched as Tetsuya tried the meal, and nodded in approval.

"It is perfect," he said, appreciatively, "I cannot seem to get enough of it."

"That's the kid in your belly, probably stealing the nutrients."

"To some extent," Tetsuya agreed, "But just as the body needs to be fed, so does the reiatsu."

"Oh, and how does that happen?" Grimmjow asked casually.

"W-we have...had...a bonding ritual," Tetsuya explained, blushing, "But, I suppose I will have to keep the forces in balance myself, from now on."

"I could help, if you tell me how," Grimmjow offered.

Tetsuya's blush deepened and he looked away shyly.

"It is...sort of personal," he confessed, "But do not worry. I will be fine."

"Eh, suit yourself," Grimmjow said, off-handedly, turning his attention fully to the food in front of him.

He laughed softly at how eagerly the younger man attacked his food, while still making an attempt to use proper manners.

"Hey, don't feel like you have to hold back on my account," he said, smirking, "You're not exactly in 'polite company,' when you are with me. Go ahead and let loose."

"Um, thank you," the noble answered in a flustered tone, "This child does seem very insistent on being fed constantly. I was trapped for an entire night, and unable to eat or drink. It seems to have impacted me strongly."

Grimmjow turned his attention back to his food and made quick work of it, then asked for Tetsuya's opinion about where he should start his search.

"Take your time eating," he told the noble, "I'll start looking and you can join me when you are finished."

He left the alcove and began his search, as Tetsuya remained at the table, eating heartily and stealing glances at the tall, blue-haired Espada.

He is so different from anyone I know. He would be an enemy, and in fact, was one during the conflict with Aizen. But, right now, I think we are both very aware of how we need to cooperate to survive.

He reached down and rubbed his belly, smiling down at it as he continued to eat. But, oddly, even eating didn't seem to give him the usual, calmer, more settled feeling. Instead, a deeper, more discomfiting kind of hunger gnawed at him, making him feel weak and somewhat light-headed. He took a last sip of tea and walked over to the bed, thinking to just lie down for a short time. But, even as he dropped off, he felt his body shivering a though in fever, and heavier dizziness stole over him.

"Hey, you all right?" Grimmjow's voice asked, cutting into his reverie, "You look even worse than you did before you ate. What's going on?"

"It...seems that my reiatsu has lost some stability, due to the stress on my systems," Tetsuya explained.

"So, what do we do for that?"

"Eh, usually, Shiro and I would use a bonding ritual to bring my systems and the child's into balance again."

"Well, then I should try to do that, ne? To balance things? How do you do it?"

"Ah..." Tetsuya said, hesitantly, blushing more brightly, "Y-you and I have not..."

He trailed off, his face going nearly white, and his body going limp, where he laid on the bed.

"Hey! Don't you do that, now. Wake up, okay?" Grimmjow said, an edge of urgency and unusual concern in his voice, "You have to tell me what to do to balance your reiatsu!"

He felt panic inside as he studied Tetsuya closely, just to make sure he was still breathing, then he left the shinigami on the bed and sought the books on the shelves for information.

"Come on...I need something on male pregnancy," he muttered, searching the shelves in the room he was in, then moving to the next room and conducting a quick search there. He found what he thought might be a useful text in the third room and used his sonido to quickly return to Tetsuya's side.

The noble was deeply unconscious, showing no response to Grimmjow's voice or touch. The blue-haired Espada scanned the pages of the book he had found and studied the ritual briefly.

"The bonded, having completed the initiating ritual and impregnated the subject, then places his palms on the bared belly, focusing on the area and feeling the forces within, then using his own reiatsu to stabilize the bearer and balance his reiatsu with that of the child. Only one having completed the initiating ritual may stabilize the bearer. If the mate is unable to continue the balancing, due to disability, abandonment or death, another must first complete the initiating ritual, then attend to the balancing. Damn...initiating ritual...initiating ritual. Where the fuck are you?"

He found the section and read swiftly, freezing as it struck him what he had to do.

"What the hell? No way!" he hissed, glancing down at the unconscious shinigami, "There's no damned way I'm gonna..."

But a shiver went through him at the decline of Tetsuya's reiatsu, and the grey cast that had begun to creep onto his lovely skin.

"Aw, damn it all to hell!" he snapped, biting at his lips and struggling with the idea, then caving in completely as he realized what was going to happen to the ailing shinigami and the child if he did nothing.

With shaking hands, he reached down and bared Tetsuya's body. Then, he swallowed hard and opened his own clothing.

"Please don't fucking kill me for this, but it seems that it's the only way I can balance your reiatsu, or you're gonna die. Sorry."

He lifted himself over the unconscious noble, scenting him and feeling himself harden, just thinking about what he was going to do. He carefully prepared the younger man, then laid down gently on top of him, entering him slowly and watching him closely for any sign of him waking.

The sweet sakura smell of him and the softness and heat around Grimmjow made his mind go blank for a moment. It was all too easy then to begin moving. He would have closed his eyes, but he was terrified of seeing that other pale face he remembered.

Tetsuya is different than Tesla. Although, he does seem to have loved this Shiro very much, he is accepting of his death in a way that Tesla could not accept his master's death. No, Tetsuya is a survivor. And we are not lovers. I have to look that in the face and remember it.

But his mind wavered as Tetsuya seemed to regain enough sense to move with him, and his hands wrapped around Grimmjow's thrusting body. He moaned in distress and panted against the Espada's shoulder, hanging on tightly and shivering as it seemed to reach him, what was happening.

He seemed about to speak, but was stopped as Grimmjow loosed a deep exclamation of pleasure and loosed his release into the younger man. Blue light flared sweetly around the two, and Grimmjow froze as Tetsuya's eyes opened and found his.

He was stunned as the expected fear and shock turned quickly into calm acceptance. Tetsuya broke eye contact and buried his face in Grimmjow's shoulder as his own body seized in response to the Espada, and warmth spilled out between the two. They fell quiet, then, for several moments, then Grimmjow lifted himself off of the noble and placed his hands on Tetsuya's rounded belly, letting his reiatsu leak out and enter the area. He focused on the swirl of untamed reiatsu inside Tetsuya, and slowly, carefully, brought it under his control.

"There," he said, finally breaking the silence between them, "You all right now?"

"Y-yes," Tetsuya managed in a weak, trembling voice, "But Grimmjow, do you know what you have done?"

"Yeah, I just saved your life," the Espada chuckled, "Sorry about what I had to do. I did do that right, ne? But it was that or watch you die."

"You didn't read everything, did you?" Tetsuya asked softly.

"What? Well, I didn't have time. You were dying, you know, so I had to do it...erm...do something fast. Why? Did I do something wrong? Would you rather be dead?"

"Well," Tetsuya said softly, "You might end up desiring that, perhaps."

"What? How's that?"

"Erm...by completing the initiating ritual so that we could bond, you added your essence to the child's reiatsu. Grimmjow, now you are this child's father too!"