Chapter 4: Beautiful Monster
Tetsuya felt a feathery touch of warm lips on the side of his neck and a smile rose on his face. He kept his eyes closed as he breathed slowly, enjoying the slow play of those lips along his throat, then brushing the length of a delicate collarbone. And while those treasuring lips worked, Ichigo's strong hands opened his yukata and slid along Tetsuya's porcelain flesh, the fingers slowing to tease the dark-haired man's raised pink nubs, teasing him sweetly, until he could hold himself back no longer. Tetsuya's eyes opened and met Ichigo's, earning a melting smile from the handsome Shiba heir as he returned to Tetsuya's hungry mouth for a bout of deep, wet kisses.
"Good morning, beautiful," Ichigo greeted him, curving a warm palm around his cheek as the two kissed again, "It felt so good to sleep next to you last night."
Tetsuya blushed.
"I mean, it would have been amazing to have done something besides just sleep, but even just sleeping next to you all night without doing anything is pure heaven. I love you."
"I love you too," Tetsuya answered, heat flaring on his cheeks as Ichigo continued to kiss and caress him, "Ichigo, you've been so patient with me."
"I wanna do this right," the ginger-haired man whispered, tracing Tetsuya's comely face, then lacing their fingers together, "I've never been with anyone and I want our first time together to be really special."
"Any time with you is special," Tetsuya whispered back, his delicate hands holding his boyfriend's face gently, "It's your birthday today, ne?"
"Yeah," Ichigo answered, his own blush darkening.
"Then, you shall have this gift to celebrate," Tetsuya offered, "If you want to, we can…"
Tetsuya paused, the flush on his face darkening and his throat tightening so that he couldn't continue.
Ichigo's smile brightened beautifully.
"You sure?" he asked, "I mean, I know that you had a really bad experience in the noble's prison when you were younger. Tetsuya, I don't want to hurt you. Do you think that it's really okay for us to make love?"
"I haven't been with anyone since I was freed, but then, I have never felt this close to anyone, either," Tetsuya reasoned, "We have been together for several months, so we aren't rushing."
Ichigo arched an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly.
"But, how do you feel about me being inside you?" he asked cautiously, "You think you'll be scared, or that it could hurt? I mean, I'lltry not to hurt you, but I don't exactly know what I'm doing here. I've never, you know, done this before."
Tetsuya bit at his lips, his insides tickling with mingled anxiety and deep desire. He swallowed and met Ichigo's golden brown eyes.
"I know how to avoid it being painful," he said, closing his eyes against the embarrassment of talking so openly about something so intimate, "I brought lubricant and…and I have a protection charm."
"That's right," Ichigo mused, nuzzling his cheek, "I sometimes forget you are a breeder male."
He paused, thinking for a moment, then he gave Tetsuya another melting smile.
"You know, someday I wanna marry you, Tetsuya, and I wanna have kids with you."
"Ichigo!" Tetsuya whispered, blinking against the sudden burning in his eyes.
"Yeah, I never thought I'd feel that way about anyone. I remember how we used to laugh together about that when we were just best friends. I didn't think that anyone would ever make me want those things. But you're different. I never feel pressured or scared of the future when I'm with you. I can only think of how beautiful it will be, sharing it with you."
"I think about it too," Tetsuya replied, snuggling closer to him, "I never thought I'd want to be with someone again or that I would look forward to trying to have children after losing my first child, but you have helped me to put the past behind me. I will never forget Naoki or our child, but you have shown me that my future doesn't have to be empty of those things that we wanted. You and I will build the happy family that Naoki and I dreamed of. In that way, we can honor ourselves and his memory both."
"We will," Ichigo promised, "We'll start here…now."
Tetsuya took a deeper breath, relaxing his body beneath Ichigo's. He reached into the nightstand drawer and removed a small bottle he had placed there the night before. He offered the bottle to Ichigo, whose blush returned as he accepted it. Ichigo bathed his fingers in the fluid, then leaned over and began kissing Tetsuya again as he slid his hand down to begin a slow, thorough preparation.
"I don't mean to embarrass you, but is there anything you need to know?" Tetsuya asked.
"Eh," Ichigo said, his blush darkening, "My dad told me stuff about sex in general, and when you and I started dating seriously, I asked Kisuke about it. He told me what I needed to know."
Tetsuya nodded and relaxed again, returning Ichigo's increasingly amorous kisses as the ginger-haired man's fingers probed and caressed him relentlessly. He waited until he felt a questioning touch on his thigh, then he spread his legs, smiling as Ichigo lifted his muscular body and postioned himself at the dark-haired noble's entrance.
"This doesn't change the fact that you're my best friend," Ichigo whispered as he slowly joined their bodies, "You're always going to be my best friend and the love of my life, Tetsuya."
"And you will be mine," Tetsuya whispered back, his voice catching as Ichigo's hips moved, then he began a flurry of slow, deep thrusts. Tetsuya's back arched and he met his lover's movements eagerly, his slender hands clenching at Ichigo's strong shoulders as the two men writhed erotically together.
"Oh my god, it feels even better than I thought it would!" Ichigo panted, "It feels so good, Tetsuya!"
Tetsuya tried to answer, but could only moan and thrash beneath his ginger-haired lover as the deep penetration and teasing caresses brought him to the brink. A last barrage of heated thrusts carried the two over the edge and pleasure raked their joined bodies as they climaxed together. They collapsed on the bed, panting hard and exchanging slower kisses as they recovered. Ichigo slid his fingers along Tetsuya's sweaty cheek, grinning widely.
"That was…amazing. I knew loving you was the right thing. I just hope Byakuya isn't going to be too mad when he finds out we're having sex. He's pretty protective of you."
"He knows that you are my best friend," Tetsuya assured his handsome mate, "and I have been open with him that things were changing between us."
"Oh? And what did he say?" Ichigo asked, smirking knowingly, "He's gonna kill me if I fuck this up?"
"That," Tetsuya chuckled, "and…that there is no one he knows who he would trust more with my heart."
Ichigo stared at Tetsuya in surprise.
"Byakuya said that?" he said wonderingly.
"Yes…and then he reassured me that he would kill you with his bare hands if you disappointed him about that."
"Yeah," Ichigo laughed nervously, "that sounds like Byakuya."
XXXXXXXXXX
Byakuya glared at Kisuke, his grey eyes blazing with fury as the shopkeeper's words echoed in his head.
"The baby is inside me, you say?" he repeated, his lips curling, "This means that you…?"
"It means that when the hollow attacked you, it primed your body for its mating ritual," Kisuke explained hastily, "I got the reiatsu out and my bankai kept you from fully transforming, but apparently, none of that stopped the priming of your body. Your body was prepared for mating, and when the urge came on…"
"I don't think I can hear this," Byakuya said, waving him off, "I cannot believe, first, that this is happening, and secondly, that you let this happen!"
"You think I let you hollowfy and attack me?" the shopkeeper snapped, "That's what it was. I knew you were affected and I didn't want to hurt you. I did try to stop you, but the hollow transformation made you unnaturally strong and it affected my ability to resist you!"
"Your ability to resist me? How?!" Byakuya demanded, "Exactly how were you affected?"
"I…there was a hypnotic sound…a, uh, buzzing of your wings and a sort of purring, clicking noise that affected me…us! You latched onto my throat and I couldn't pull away or you would've torn it out. Byakuya, neither one of us was in any position to stop this. Really!"
"Is that so?" the Kuchiki leader hissed softly, his reiatsu glowing a fierce, dangerous pink and bright petals beginning to form around him, "I think you are wrong about that. You see, you could have stopped all of this if you had obeyed the damned law and killed me!"
"I know that!" Kisuke shouted in an uncharacteristic loss of control, "Yeah, I could've stopped it all by killing you! You wanna hate me for not being able to cut down the one I've been more than halfway in love with for…pretty fucking much forever? GO AHEAD!"
Byakuya went silent for a moment, staring at the shopkeeper in dismay.
"You…?" he began.
His voice failed him and he continued to stare at the shopkeeper incredulously.
"Kisuke Urahara, that is just not possible," he whispered almost dazedly, "You and that, that demon cat tortured me when I was a child! You could not get enough of tormenting me."
"Y-yeah, I uh, that was shitty, I agree," Kisuke stammered, a little flush rising on his face, "I just thought you were cute when you were mad. I guess I was also frustrated because you were the heir and I was just a commoner who had wormed his way into being raised by Yoruichi's family. I knew I would never be good enough for someone like you, so yeah, I picked on you because of that. I'm sorry."
"I think you should be more sorry for allowing me to become a…a…I do not even really know what I am anymore!"
Kisuke took a steadying breath.
"You're a vizard," he said firmly, "There's nothing illegal about keeping a vizard alive."
"None of the vizard captains and vice captains are engaged in forced mating rituals brought on by hollow incursion," Byakuya snapped.
"No, no, they're not," Kisuke agreed, recovering some of his composure as he sensed Byakuya was beginning to calm, "This is a new area of exploration in the biology of vizards, but we can handle this, Byakuya."
"We can handle it, you say?" Byakuya said scathingly, "You mean that we will continue mating periodically and conducting infusions until…until what? You know as well as I do that this…this child could be anything from a vizard to a transformative hollow! How are we supposed to deal with that? Do you think that I can do this? You think that I can carry a child to term, have this baby and…if it is a…?"
Kisuke gave him a look of silent torment.
"You have not really thought this through, have you?"
Kisuke placed his hands over his face and rubbed vigorously for a moment.
"I've been doing crisis control," he sighed, "It hasn't left much time for anything else."
"I suppose your actions so far make more sense put in the light of your confession to me," Byakuya said solemnly, "But if you mean what you say about having been more than halfway in love with me for all of this time, then you know better than to fail me now."
Kisuke stared at the Kuchiki leader speechlessly, earning a look of reproach from the piqued noble.
"I will make this simple for you," Byakuya went on, "What we thought or what we wanted is in the past now. Our choices about killing me or not killing me ended when you decided that you could not kill me. We have to let go of the past if we are going to deal with what is happening right here and right now."
"That's pretty sensible, especially for a guy who just found out that he's a vizard, that he's been engaging in a mating ritual with a guy he dislikes and that he's pregnant now by that guy with what could just be a real powerful Kuchiki heir or could be a damned scary hollow. Does that about cover it?" Kisuke sighed.
"I believe so," Byakuya said more quietly, "except that I do not dislike you."
Kisuke found a little stupid, hopeful grin on his face.
"You don't," he chuckled skeptically.
"I dislike your shadiness and the lengths to which you and the demon cat went to annoy me when I was a child. I do not understand how your behavior equates with being more than halfway in love with me for all of this time, but I was raised differently from you. I was a noble heir and you received your moral training from a person who does not know a thing about morality. Neither you nor I can change how we were raised, but we can make better choices now. And now that you are father to what could turn out to be the Kuchiki heir, you had better be ready to make far better decisions than you have in the past, especially when it comes to our child and to me."
"You, uh, say that almost like you think that I could someday have a chance of you…"
"Someday, maybe," Byakuya said, earning a look of surprise from the usually astute shopkeeper, "We shall see what happens."
Kisuke's jaw hit the floor and he found himself unable to think of anything to say in response. Byakuya gave him a look of reproach.
"Enough of that. What are we going to do next?" the noble asked icily, "My insides are aching, I feel hungry and I am beginning to be aroused by you."
Kisuke let out a heated breath.
"There's nothing for us to do. I think if it's like things have been up to now, nature will just, as they say, take its course."
"And this is all right with you?" Byakuya asked blithely, "You do not mind me roughly handling you?"
Kisuke frowned.
"You haven't been rough, really."
"You are lying," Byakuya said, glowering at him, "I did not fail to notice the bruises under your yukata."
"Oh," Kisuke said, pulling his clothing more tightly around him, "Sorry. I can't really heal them myself and I didn't want anyone, you know, knowing."
"Understandably," Byakuya reasoned, "Then, before I lose my mind and begin mauling you, let me see to those."
"Wh-what?" Kisuke asked, blinking.
"I am going to heal you," Byakuya insisted, "There is no danger in me doing so, is there?"
"Ah, no, I don't think so, but…"
"Then, I will heal you. Remove your yukata."
"Aw, come on. I just made a pretty big confession to you. I'm not immune to embarrassment and I can't help that I'm already kinda hard for you."
"You want me to leave you in pain because you are embarrassed that you confessed you have feelings for me?"
"You don't think I deserve a little pain?" Kisuke said, smirking.
"Of course you do," Byakuya said matter-of-factly, but I was not raised to give people exactly what they deserve. I was raised to be somewhat compassionate towards others."
"Even lawbreakers?" Kisuke snickered.
"You are not breaking the law at the moment."
"Yeah, not right now, but we're going to cross a line pretty soon here if I read your reiatsu right, so…"
Kisuke let his yukata slide down, revealing his deeply bruised chest, shoulders and back. He felt a warm flicker in his chest at Byakuya's warmer expression and the gentleness in his hands as they moved over his damaged flesh, slowly easing the pain and making the bruises disappear.
"Uh, you know you're really getting to me, don't you?" Kisuke whispered, closing his eyes against the delicious feeling.
His insides clenched and tickled as Byakuya's chin came to rest on the back of his shoulder and the noble's bare front pressed up against him. A shudder of mingled arousal and fright passed through him as the sound of fluttering wings and an erotic, feral whine that sounded close to his ear.
Sharp fangs found his throat as the hollowfied noble began to feed.
I wonder how long this will go on, the shopkeeper wondered, before the baby's reiatsu is matured and he kills me for real.
I can almost thinking of dying in his arms as a beautiful thing.
