Chapter 3: Broken Things

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A breeze came in through the open window, into Urahara Kisuke's bedroom, where it tickled the soft cheek of the delightfully naked young man the shopkeeper held securely in his arms, and bringing him awake. One pretty blue eye opened and rotated to look back over his shoulder to see Kisuke's contented sleeping face. He closed the eye again and breathed in deeply, enjoying the gentle scents of their recent lovemaking.

I didn't actually come to Karakura Town with the intent of spending the night with him. There is something I need to tell him. But being that it was such a life changing thing, my heart started to beat too fast and I was so dizzy and anxious, he began to comfort me instead, and we ended up like this.

Byakuya-sama will probably already know I came back here with Kisuke last night. He'll know I didn't come back. Security-wise, it's no problem, since Arashi stayed in the Seireitei to watch over things, but…Byakuya-sama will not approve of what I'm sure he'll think is 'that ridiculous man' taking advantage of his younger and more naïve cousin. And if his reaction to that is bad, then what about when he hears…

"Good morning, beautiful," Kisuke mumbled into Tetsuya's ear, instantly bringing a blush to the pale skin of his earlobe and throat.

He darkened the flush with a tickling kiss on the back of the younger man's neck, then he moved the hand that rested in Tetsuya's awakening nether region.

"Oh!" Tetsuya gasped, "W-wait! I never got the chance last night to tell you…"

"First things first, my flighty little heartthrob," Kisuke purred, opening narrowed grey eyes and smirking as kept his roving hand moving and his hungry lips sought his flustered lover's, "You're probably gonna go running back to the Seireitei as soon as we're done talking, so I'm going to make sure we have some fun first. How's that?"

"We had a great deal of fun all night, if I remember correctly," Tetsuya laughed, squirming under the shopkeeper's caressing hands, "And I do have to go back. Byakuya-sama doesn't know we are intimate!"

"You don't think he felt the three worlds shaking last night when we broke the privacy barrier?" Kisuke teased.

"Stop!" Tetsuya managed through a fit of giggles, "I think you set that thing up to break. You've wanted all along for the world to know."

"What? That's I've been ravishing the most beautiful shinigami that ever…"

"That you've been bedding Byakuya-sama's favorite cousin behind his back for months!" Tetsuya scolded him playfully.

Kisuke's lips quirked.

"Wasn't it you who decided not to tell Byakuya?" he asked pointedly.

"It's more like I was afraid to tell him, not that I didn't want to," Tetsuya lamented, "But I have to tell him now."

"Uh-uh, that's gonna have to wait," Kisuke snickered, flipping the younger man onto his belly, and laying down firmly against his back.

"Kisuke!" Tetsuya complained.

"In a minute, honey," the shopkeeper laughed, silencing Tetsuya's protests with the erotic movements of his invading fingers and teasing more sensuous sounds from his lover's parted lips, "Ah, that's more like it."

"Y-you don't need to do that," Tetsuya panted impatiently, "I'm wet enough already from before."

"I know. I just like watching you react to the stimulation," Kisuke answered, licking the back of Tetsuya's neck, then biting down as he withdrew his fingers and positioned himself for entry, "I love you, Tetsuya."

Tetsuya tried to return the sentiment, but lost his breath as Kisuke's body joined suddenly with his. His sapphire eyes closed and he raised his hip, grinding hard with every heavy, shaking thrust of his equally entranced partner. Kisuke's fingers found his, and they clenched at the bedding as their bodies writhed heatedly together.

No one has ever made me feel like this, Tetusya's reeling mind registered, Even when Naoki loved me, we were prisoners, and we had to be very quiet when we were intimate. And our bodies couldn't warm each other's like this, because we had no beds, only field grass for bedding, and we were never given food, because they wanted us to be weak. When Orochi used me sexually, there was physical warmth, but his heart was so cold, and his hands and words so abusive, I couldn't feel the warmth at all. There is nothing but warmth here, nothing but deep, enthralling love and the passionate grip of honest emotion.

He realized suddenly that happy tears were rolling down his face and he buried his face in his pillow to hide them. He felt Kisuke's body tense, and his own body quivered warningly, then Kisuke gasped and groaned Tetsuya's name, loosing himself into the younger man and sending him into an equally powerful release, then collapsing onto his back and panting in recovery.

"N-now," he managed, biting more gently at Tetsuya's bare shoulder, "you wanted to tell me something, beautiful?"

Tetsuya disentangled his body from the shopkeeper's and sat up, carefully rubbing the moisture from his face, then taking a steadying breath.

"I did," he confessed softly, "I hope that…"

Tetsuya paused and raised his eyes to meet his lover's.

"I hope that despite this being a surprise, it will make you happy. I am happy about it, although neither one of us may be when Byakuya-sama hears of it, but…after we were together a few days ago, I realized that the protection charm I was wearing had broken."

Tetsuya's eyes registered surprise at the beautiful expression that rose on his lover's handsome face.

"You mean…"

"You are going to be a father," Tetsuya announced, taking Kisuke's hands in his.

"Is that right?" Kisuke mused, his smile widening.

Tetsuya's eyes narrowed slightly.

"What?"

"You don't look completely surprised," the younger man answered, "You didn't…"

"No," Kisuke assured him, "No, Tetsuya. You know I'd never do something like that. I didn't break the protection charm or do anything to weaken it. I was looking at you that way because I have to tell you…you're going to be a father too."

Tetsuya's blue eyes rounded and his jaw dropped in astonishment as Kisuke laughed and hugged him.

"From…just that one time?" the younger man managed shakily.

"Yeah, it only takes once, you know," Kisuke chuckled, taking Tetsuya's hand and bringing it to his slim, muscular belly, "Feel it? The chamber has already formed."

Tetsuya smiled helplessly as he sensed the spirit chamber in his proud mate's body, then he drew Kisuke's warm hand down to feel the reiatsu of his own spirit chamber.

"This is going to be one for the books," Kisuke said appreciatively, "and the good news is, Byakuya probably won't kill me right away, because I'm carrying too."

"He will, quick enough, once we deliver," Tetsuya sighed anxiously.

"Yeah," Kisuke giggled, "we'd best be ready to grab the kids and run."

XXXXXXXXXX

Yuzu sat down at the breakfast table, digging enthusiastically into her meal. But she was quick to notice the unusual sight of Ichigo picking at his food and frowning.

"Is something wrong, Ichi-nii?" she asked, "You're not really eating."

"Yeah," Karin agreed, "usually, you're into seconds by now."

"Sorry," Ichigo sighed, "I guess I'm just not very hungry this morning. The food's good, though."

"Thanks," Yuzu said cheerfully, turning her attention back to her own food.

"What're you doing today?" Karin asked, "Looking at college stuff?"

"Maybe," the ginger-haired youth answered in a non-committal tone, I was thinking of finding something I could do online, so I can work at the same time."

"But, you don't really need to do that," Karin mused, looking at him skeptically, "Dad said you didn't have to."

"Yeah, well, what else am I gonna do with my extra time?"

He sighed more heavily and stood, carrying his dishes to the sink and setting them down.

"I'm done. I think I'll go over to Kisuke's and see what trouble he's up to. I need to talk to him about a few things anyway."

"Okay, see you for dinner?" Yuzu asked hopefully.

"Sure. I'll be back for dinner."

He left the house and headed down the quiet street, working his way slowly to the park as his breakfast seemed to turn uncomfortably in his stomach. As he reached the nearby park, waves of nausea assaulted his senses, and he finally had to duck into a cluster of bushes to empty his stomach.

"What the hell?" he panted, rubbing his stomach.

He was sure that throwing up should have made him feel better, but even though the nausea was gone, waves of dizziness began to pass over him. He staggered on, heading for Kisuke's shop, but barely made it through the front doors before he was overcome. He managed a few quick words to Tessai, then darkness closed in around him. He felt what he was sure was a hard impact with the floor, then everything went comfortingly dark and quiet. He woke, hour later, to find himself lying in one of the shopkeeper's guest beds, with a yukata clad and sleepy looking Tetsuya at his side.

"H-hey, Tetsuya," he greeted the young man, "What're you doing here in Karakura Town?"

"Healing you, it seems," Tetsuya said in a low, concerned voice, "You scared everyone when you passed out like that."

"Sorry," Ichigo apologized, "I don't know what happened. I haven't been eating or sleeping very well. I think everything that happened in Soul Society is catching up with me."

"That is not all that is happening," Tetsuya informed him, keeping his voice hushed, "Ichigo…"

He paused as the door opened and Kisuke entered the room, also dressed in his night clothes and carrying a tray filled with snacks.

"Anyone hungry?" he asked, "Myself, I feel like I could eat a horse!"

He winked at Tetsuya.

"Don't tell Arashi I said that," he chuckled.

"I was just speaking to Ichigo about his condition," Tetsuya explained to the shopkeeper, "I was about to tell him, when you walked in."

"Go on," Kisuke urged him, his voice taking on a more serious sound, "I'm interested in hearing what he has to say about what we found."

"You found something?" Ichigo asked, giving Kisuke a mystified look.

"You could say that," the shopkeeper replied, "and it would be an understatement."

"You look surprised by whatever it is," Ichigo noted, "Is it really bad."

Kisuke and Tetsuya exchanged cryptic glances.

"Maybe, maybe not," Kisuke answered.

"Ichigo," Tetsuya addressed him, taking the shinigami substitute's hand in his, "what we found is that…you are somehow with child."

"What?" Ichigo gasped, giving Tetsuya a bewildered look, "I'm what?"

"You've probably been having some symptoms of this," Kisuke went on, "The dizziness and fainting, we saw."

"I did throw up in the park," Ichigo admitted, "on the way here. I was coming to talk to you about what could be wrong. But, guys, I'm a human man! I can't get pregnant!"

"You're right about the first part," Kisuke agreed with him, "but there's a story about your past that you need to hear…and maybe Tetsuya's the one who should tell you."

"Tetsuya knows something about me? But…"

"I know something about your condition," Tetsuya explained, "I know, because I am a shinigami man, who can get pregnant."

"In fact," Kisuke added, "Tetsuya and I just learned that we are both having babies."

"What?" Ichigo objected, looking even more stymied, "No way! No one ever told me that shinigami guys could have babies! Isn't that something that you think I oughta know? Why didn't anyone ever tell me?"

"Well," Tetsuya sighed, "not all shinigami males have this ability. You see, there is a certain type of noble male, who is known as a breeder male."

"A breeder male?" Ichigo repeated breathlessly, "But, I'm…"

He stopped and met Kisuke's eyes with a terrified expression.

Kisuke was the one who helped my parents conceal their identities and start over. He stopped the encroachment of the hollow's poison in Mom's body by balancing her body with my father's. That's how my father lost his powers and became human for awhile. But he was still a shinigami and Mom was a quincy. Kisuke knows all of this…and I guess he told Tetsuya. That part, I'm okay with. I trust Tetsuya to be discreet, but…

"You are half shinigami," Kisuke continued, "and you are half human/quincy. The half of you that's shingami, also appears to be a carrier of the gene that transmits the ability to both impregnate other males and be impregnated by them."

"Oh my god. I can't believe what I'm hearing," Ichigo managed.

"The story of the breeder males begins after the first quincy war," Tetsuya recounted, "In the fighting, both sides suffered enormous losses, with the noble families taking the hardest hit. Noble females and children were specifically targeted, and as a result, it put the noble houses in danger of completely dying out. A researcher of the time was able to manipulate a special gene in the makeup of a group of noble males, so that those men were able to mate with other men and either father or carry young in a spirit chamber in their bodies. In effect, the breeder males saved the noble houses."

"Unfortunately," Kisuke added, "their gratitude for this was short-lived. Women in the noble houses began to feel threatened by the continued presence of the breeder males, who were popular among the noble houses at the time. They accused the males of being unnatural, and when it was discovered that the gene could be passed on in male young, a particularly nasty group of people opposed to the continued existence of the breeder males began hunting them and putting them in hidden prisons."

"Like the one that Tetsuya was in?" Ichigo asked, paling.

"Exactly," Kisuke affirmed, "The breeder males were hunted and almost went extinct. And when any young males showed signs of carrying the gene, they disappeared too."

"My parents were actually arrested for the crime of my father marrying outside nobility. Back then, that was considered a serious crime. No one knew that I carried the breeder male gene until I became pregnant with the baby of my cellmate in Itamigiri. When the pregnancy was discovered, I was condemned to death. If Byakuya-sama had not arrived when he did, I would have been killed. As it was, my husband, Naoki, was killed in the raid, and I lost my child, shortly after."

"I'm sorry," Ichigo said sadly, looking down at his own slim belly.

"The breeder males have nearly died out," Kisuke went on, "and the ones born now tend to keep a low profile. But, there are families in which the gene lives on silently, showing up now and then in certain male nobles…of which you are one."

"Does this mean that Dad is…?"

"Your dad can't impregnate Ryuuken, because Ryuuken is all quincy/human male," Kisuke informed him, "But you are half shinigami, half noble shinigami, and it seems that you have the breeder male gene. But…you're also human. This puts us in a weird position. Ichigo, you can't carry this child in the living world."

"Well, duh," Ichigo huffed, "People would freak out. I'd be some kinda circus act or something to them."

"You're not understanding," the shopkeeper said more worriedly, "Ichigo, you can't carry this baby, here in the living world. You're going to need to give your human body to Kon and go to Soul Society to have the baby."

"You know that Byakuya-sama feels beholden to you," Tetsuya assured him, "I am positive that my cousin will do all he can to help you. You can come and stay at Kuchiki Manor."

"I can't," Ichigo whispered, "I can't go there!"

I know there's a Central 46 law that shinigamis can't have babies with criminals who are locked in the prison there. The ones locked up in the Maggot's Nest near the second division are allowed to do what they want within their lockup, but the ones in Central 46's prison are violent criminals, murderers, rapists, people guilty of high treason. They aren't allowed conjugal visits, and they aren't allowed to make babies. Even if it weren't for that, there's what I learned about Sousuke in the king's vision! Central 46 wanted him erased. The hogyoku is dying, and they can't wait to kill him! If they learn that I'm…

"Ichigo, I don't understand," Kisuke said, breaking his thoughts apart and bringing him back to awareness, "Why can't you go to Soul Society? That's the obvious place to go, where you and this baby can get the best possible care. You have friends there waiting to help you, and you're Soul Society's hero. What's the problem?"

"The problem isn't me," Ichigo managed shakily, "The problem is the baby's father."

Tetsuya sucked in a surprised breath and Kisuke's eyes darkened warningly.

"Who is the baby's father, Ichigo?" the shopkeeper asked.

"The baby's father is Aizen Sousuke."