Chapter 3: Noble Savage
"You can have my room for now," Ichigo said, setting a tray of food in Tetsuya's lap, "I'll just sleep down on the couch."
"Oh, you do not have to do that!" Tetsuya objected, "I don't want to trouble you."
"You're not," Ichigo assured him, "I fall asleep in front of the TV a lot anyway."
"T-TV?" Tetsuya queried uncertainly.
"Oh, you've never seen one?"
"No," the noble answered, "Never."
"Well, I'll show that to you tomorrow, when my sisters are off at school and we'll be alone here. That way, there won't be so much to surprise you."
Tetsuya looked down at the meal in front of him and the chopsticks that had been set beside his plate. He bit at his lip gently, remembering having seen the guards eating with such sticks, but not wanting to look stupid trying to manage them. Instead, he tried the tea, and winced as it burned its way down his throat.
"Careful," said Ichigo, "that's hot."
"S-sorry!" Tetsuya exclaimed, "Where I came from, it was always rather cold."
He looked down at the food longingly, but couldn't bear the thought of Ichigo laughing at him for not being able to figure out something so simple.
"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked in a friendly voice, "I know you've gotta be hungry. Go ahead. Try something."
"I..." Tetsuya stammered, his eyes tearing, "I am not so hungry after all. I don't feel so well."
"But Kisuke said that you are gonna have a baby," Ichigo objected, still using that same quiet, friendly tone, "If you're going to have a baby, then you should make sure that you eat right, ne?"
"I..." Tetsuya whispered, a tear leaking onto his face, "Th-they never gave us th-those. They worried that we might sharpen them and use them as weapons."
Ichigo froze, following his gaze down to the chopsticks.
"Hey," he said bracingly, "It's okay. I'll show you how."
He picked up the chopsticks and showed the youth how to hold them. Then, he handed them to Tetsuya to practice with and left to find another pair. He returned to the room, to find the noble managing small bites of food with less than perfect accuracy, but more than ample effort.
"You are hungry," Ichigo said approvingly, "And you're doing well with those, really."
"Th-thank you, Ichigo," Tetsuya said through a mouthful of food.
He stopped himself, remembering that he had heard somewhere it was rude to speak and eat at the same time.
"S-sorry!"
"Stop apologizing, okay?" Ichigo chuckled, "I know that you were a prisoner...seems like from when you were very young. Did you remember anything else?"
"Mmmmmm," Tetsuya mumbled, swallowing a large bite of rice, then attacking the vegetables on his plate, "There was a garden. I learned to grow tea leaves."
"That's good," Ichigo aid encouragingly, "We could grow some here, if you like...or other things. We have a vegetable and herb garden out back."
"I think I would like that. I like freshly grown things. They smell good, unlike the rotted things they gave us to eat. I used to steal some things from the garden when the guards looked away. I was beaten a few times for stealing. I know it was wrong, but they were just so beautiful and they smelled so good, I couldn't help it!"
"I'm sorry you had it so rough. You seem like a really nice person, Tetsuya."
He thought for a moment.
"Do you remember any names of people where you were?"
"J-just Naoki," Tetsuya said, tearing up again, "H-he is the baby's...w-was the baby's father."
"I'm sorry," Ichigo said, slipping an arm around his shoulders.
"Ichigo, there was something that Naoki used to do...to keep the baby's reiatsu and mine in balance. But...Naoki died. And...I don't know what I can do if a problem arises with the baby's reiatsu."
Ichigo thought for a moment, then smiled.
"Could you tell me what he did? Maybe I could try to help."
"He would sit behind me and put his arms around me," Tetsuya said softly, blinking away more tears as he remembered, "And he would let his reiatsu flow, just a little bit into my stomach, where the baby is growing. We had our powers held back, but Naoki came from a family of healers, so was able to use some healing abilities without much reiatsu flow."
"Well, if you want, when you're done eating, we can try that. I don't know how good I'll be at it, but I'll sure give it a try."
"Thank you, Ichigo. It should help to ease the sick feeling I have inside."
Ichigo smiled warmly as the other boy quieted and savored the meal he had been given.
"You look like you're really enjoying that," he observed, "I'm not the best cook in the world, so seeing you eat so eagerly makes me feel pretty good."
"It tastes wonderful, Ichigo," Tetsuya said around a mouthful of teriyaki chicken, "I thought that the vegetables and rice were good, but I have only ever smelled cooked meat. I haven't eaten it before...and it is amazing!"
"Well, you can have seconds if you're still hungry when you finish that. Food's all you can eat here, okay?"
"Oh, you shouldn't tell me that," Tetsuya laughed, "I have never had enough to eat, ever, so I won't know when to stop!"
"Heh, you stop when you feel full. I've got plenty of food."
Tetsuya's eyes softened sadly and he put down his chopsticks for a moment. Ichigo gazed at him curiously.
"Is something wrong?"
"No," Tetsuya assured him, "It is just that I have never been 'full,' and I don't even know what it is to not feel hungry. What I feel now is very warm inside, but I don't know if I am full exactly."
"Well," Ichigo said, "There's starving, which is what you were when I found you, there's hungry, which is when you've eaten some, but your stomach still growls and wants more. There's not hungry, where your stomach stops growling and you could stop, but you maybe saved a little room for dessert."
"Dessert?" Tetsuya asked blankly.
"Yeah, sweets we eat at the end of a meal."
"S-sweet..."
"Like the tea I just made that has sugar in it."
"Oh," said Tetsuya, "I thought it tasted different...in a very good way, but nothing we were given was sweet before. It usually tasted like nothing or something rotten. And the water wasn't ever clear like this."
"Sounds like you had it really rough," Ichigo said sympathetically, "But I'm gonna take care of you now. I'll make sure you have all of the food you need, fresh water and plenty of sweets too!"
He was taken aback as tears filled Tetsuya's eyes and leaked onto his face again.
"Hey, don't do that, now. You'll ruin your appetite. You need to eat to regain your strength and to nourish your baby."
"I am sorry. But the only person who was ever kind to me the way you are was Naoki...and..."
"And you must really miss him."
Tetsuya nodded.
"He was w-with me when we tried to escape together. We were worried that the baby would be sensed, and there was a guard...Ma...Mak...Makoto, who wasn't really one of them. He was a spy for Bya..."
Tetsuya stopped suddenly.
I shouldn't tell them too much. I do not know who I can trust here. If they know where I came from, then they could send me back there!
But Ichigo really seems kind. Orihime-chan too and Urahara-san.
Tetsuya's eyes widened.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked, "Did you remember something important?"
"Ichigo, the man in the striped hat...Urahara-san...? Is he Urahara Kisuke?"
"Yeah, you didn't hear me call him Kisuke when we were there?"
Tetsuya smiled helplessly and reached up to scratch the back of his neck.
"Erm...I was mostly confused, then unconscious. I wasn't aware."
"But you have heard his name before."
"I have," Tetsuya admitted, "In fact, Makoto, who helped Naoki and me in our escape attempt, said that we should go through the senkaimon he gave us a device to open, and we should go to Urahara Kisuke in the living world."
Ichigo's face brightened.
"Well then, that means you got to the right person. We'll have to tell him when we are able to go back."
"Why can't we go back to him now?" Tetsuya asked, frowning.
"Well, the twelfth division monitors the precipice world that you passed through, coming here. Kisuke told me that just before you arrived and I saw you fall out of it, there was a major disturbance...explosions. Did you have something to do with that?"
"Not me," Tetsuya said, lowering his eyes, "It was a horrid man, Orochi-sama."
His eyes darkened and he corrected himself.
"Orochi. He was hateful and cruel. He was supposed to be a spy like Makoto, but instead, he hurt and even killed many of us prisoners. He set the fire that engulfed Naoki and caused the explosions. An explosion threw me into the senkaimon, then I hid when Orochi followed me inside and stalked me. He left before the big loud monster came, then I just forced my way through the only exit I could find before that beastly thing reached me. What was that thing, anyway?"
"Oh," Ichigo groaned, rolling his eyes, "That's the cleaner."
"The cleaner?" Tetsuya mused, "You mean, someone put that there?"
"Well," Ichigo said, scratching his head, "no one told me where it actually came from, but I do know that because the precipice world operates on variances in time and space that the shinigamis use the cleaner to cleanse the corridors every seven days. Strangely, whenever I go to Soul Society, the damned thing always seems to choose that day to be in the corridor! Pain in the ass..."
"That thing is terrifying!" Tetsuya said, shaking his head.
"Well, it was probably developed by the twelfth division. They're the scientific squad, after all."
"I understand that the divisions are military designations," Tetsuya sighed, looking confused, "But I never understood who they were. I thought for a while that they were just more like the guards who tormented us."
"I don't think so," Ichigo said, shaking his head, "The Gotei 13, or 13 divisions are protectors of Soul Society, and they guide souls from the living world into Soul Society when they die here. They also fight hollows. Have you seen hollows before?"
"Yes," Tetsuya said, shivering, "Sometimes they attacked the prison. And the guards threatened that if we tried to run away, the hollows would chase and eat us. We were terrified already of the guards. Most would not venture even into the courtyard. I went there to work in the gardens, because it felt good to be touched by the sun, even though the light was painful to my eyes and skin. And one time, I was let out to assist in fixing a broken water line at night, and I saw the moon."
"You've...only seen the moon once?" Ichigo asked soberly, "Tetsuya, that's really sad. But, now that you are here, you can just pull the curtains open, day or night and see the sun and moon whenever you want to."
He reached past Tetsuya and opened the curtain, then watched as Tetsuya took in the sight of the lovely, full moon and his sapphire eyes rounded sweetly.
"Ichigo..." he whispered, "It's so big! And it wasn't round before exactly, but round with pointy ends!"
"That's a crescent moon. This one is a full moon. The part of the moon we see changes throughout the month, so we see more or less of it."
"That's enchanting," whispered Tetsuya, moving closer to Ichigo to get a better look.
Ichigo blinked in surprise as a gentle, familiar scent touched his senses.
Sweet...like flowers. Reminds me of Byakuya...
"Say uh, Kisuke told me that only certain male souls in Soul Society can become pregnant. And since you are, that means you are noble and from a bloodline called the Breeders, who helped save the noble clans by bearing children along with the remaining noble women after a conflict with the quincies a long time ago."
"I don't know about any of that," Tetsuya said sadly, "I only know that I was called an abomination because my blood was impure. I have noble blood, but also commoner. That is a horrible sin."
"Oh, I don't know about that," chuckled Ichigo, "After all, Kuchiki Byakuya leads the Kuchiki clan and he was allowed at one time to marry a commoner."
What? Tetsuya thought, freezing, But Byakuya-sama is just a teen like me! H-he was married? To a commoner? I don't understand! Something is very wrong here...
"Tetsuya, are you okay? You went kinda pale there for a second. Was it something I said?"
"Eh...um...no, not at all," Tetsuya said, swallowing hard and setting his empty tray aside, "I...I was just finished eating and felt...unsettled."
"You want me to stabilize the baby's reiatsu for you?"
"Could you? I think that would be helpful."
"Okay," said Ichigo, moving around him and sliding in behind him.
Tetsuya shivered slightly, but opened his yukata, baring himself down to his hips, but leaving his private area covered. He flinched as Ichigo's warm hands touched his belly, and he found himself blushing. His heart raced dizzyingly at the human boy's touch and he wasn't sure that he could make himself speak.
"You said to focus here?" Ichigo asked, blushing at the intimate touching, but biting gently at his lips and trying to ignore the awkwardness.
"Yes. You can feel the shape of the reiatsu cluster with your reiatsu and curl yours around it...just gently. That helps it to balance again with mine. I cannot balance it because my reiatsu is affected by the other reiatsu being there, so it seems to forget what 'a normal state' is sometimes. That is why the need for balancing."
Tetsuya felt the soft throb of Ichigo's reiatsu touch his, and sighed instantly in relief.
"That feels much better already!" he exclaimed softly, leaning back against Ichigo and closing his eyes.
Tetsuya blushed more brightly as Ichigo's soft cheek brushed against his and the comforting warmth in his belly increased. And his hands being so close to sensitive places caused a reaction in his slender body that left him blushing even more.
Oh...I hope he doesn't notice. Or if he notices, that he doesn't say anything. I would tell him that I can't help it, but...
But whatever Ichigo might have seen or sensed, he kept his face calm and smiling, and his hands rubbed Tetsuya's bare belly gently, warming the shinigami youth to the core. Tetsuya felt an odd sensation that seemed to start in his belly, where Ichigo's hands rested, then swept over the rest of him, leaving him light-headed and wanting very strongly to turn his head just slightly and touch his lips to Ichigo's.
But this is not Naoki. He hasn't said that he is interested in me. And I barely know him, though I know he is a kind person.
But even if he couldn't kiss the other boy, he certainly could enjoy the feeling of closeness with him that the balancing ritual caused. Tetsuya smiled to himself as, out of the corner of one eye, he registered the Ichigo, too, was blushing and there was a soft tremor in his hands. It made him feel almost bold enough to kiss the other boy. But even as he started to turn his head, the door to Ichigo's room flew open and a young girl burst into the room.
Instantly, Tetsuya broke away and scrambled behind Ichigo, peeking over a shoulder as the brown haired girl skidded to a stop, staring with widened eyes.
"Onii-chan!" she exclaimed, "Who is that?"
"Get outta here, will you?" Ichigo said in an annoyed tone, "You're supposed to knock before barging into my room. What do you want, anyway?"
The change in Ichigo's tone was so sudden that Tetsuya startled and skittered away from him, falling off the edge of the bed and crashing to the floor at the girl's feet. He scrambled onto his hands and knees and backed away from her, staring at her with eyes as wide as hers, but spooked instead of just curious. The girl smiled at him and ignored her brother's stern words completely.
"Are you okay?" she asked, "You didn't hurt yourself, did you? You didn't bump your head when you fell?"
"Um...no," Tetsuya assured her, "I am sorry. I was just surprised by you. Who are you?"
"I'm Yuzu," the little girl announced, "I'm Ichi's little sister."
"You have...a sister?" Tetsuya said, glancing back at Ichigo, then settling onto his knees and carefully retying the tie at his waist, "I am Tetsuya."
"He's a friend of mine," Ichigo said, more calmly, "Now, scram."
"Did Ichi scare you when he yelled at me?" Yuzu asked, "Don't worry, he's always cranky like that when I come into his room. But he doesn't seem to mind that you're here. He even let you in his bed and rubbed your tummy. Do you have a tummy ache?"
Tetsuya smiled warmly.
"Not anymore. Ichigo very kindly helped me and now I feel much better, thank you, Yuzu-chan."
Yuzu giggled sweetly and whispered in his ear.
"I'll be right back and I will bring you some warm fudge cake for dessert!"
"V-very well," he said, watching raptly as she skipped back out the door.
"You don't seem like you've been around too many girls," Ichigo observed, "You reacted pretty strongly to Orihime at first too."
"I only saw one or two girls and very few women in the prison," Tetsuya explained, "And the girls I did see were very frightened and didn't ever smile."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But you can spend all the time you want to with Yuzu and my other sister, Karin, if you like. Just...you shouldn't tell them where you're from. Kisuke said that there might be people from the twelfth division or the stealth force trying to find you."
Fear returned suddenly to Tetsuya's eyes, but when he looked into Ichigo's he felt suddenly calmer.
"Don't worry," Ichigo said, offering him a hand and helping him back into bed, "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, Tetsuya. No one's going to do anything to you while I'm around!"
"That is a great relief," Tetsuya sighed, leaning against Ichigo and closing his eyes.
Ichigo looked at him with a bit of surprise in his eyes, then smiled gently and wrapped an arm around him, holding him quietly until he fell asleep. He looked up as Yuzu knocked softly and entered more quietly, holding a plate with a large piece of chocolate cake on it.
"Awww," she said, smiling sadly, "He fell asleep before he could eat his cake."
"That's okay. Just leave it there on my desk. And Yuzu."
"Huh?" the girl said, looking back at him with widened eyes.
"Thanks for making him feel more at home. He's been through a rough time. Just keep being nice to him and don't be surprised if he doesn't understand some things. He's not form around here and is having to learn a lot of stuff. So, just kinda help him out."
"I will, Ichi!" Yuzu said, smiling widely.
He watched her scamper out of the room again, then chuckled to himself and settled down beside Tetsuya. He looked out at the large, full moon, remembering Tetsuya's strong reaction and feeling a throb of sadness inside.
You've had a really hard time, I can tell. But I'll make you a promise, Tetsuya. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you or your baby.
I'm going to protect you both!