Chapter 4: Vamped
When Byakuya began to surface again, he heard soft voices around him, and his body felt icy to the core. He should have been shivering, but somehow he managed the coldness without much reaction at all. What seemed to be affected most was his mind. He could hear voices all around, but he wasn't sure what was real. He couldn't tell if his eyes were really open and seeing or if he was dreaming. Everything he did register seemed dreamlike an hazy, and when he saw Renji appear before him, he knew that what he was seeing couldn't be real.
"His body is like ice," Renji said in an echoing, disembodied voice, "What the fuck is happening?"
"That hollow vamp must have touched him with her saliva…just a tad or he'd already be one of them," said Ryota.
"So what do we do? Kami, please tell me we can make him all right again!" exclaimed the redhead.
"It's okay," the Arrancar assured Renji, "He won't turn into one. But it's going to be a rough night. You'll have to manage him. I've got to stand guard. Just do your best to keep him calm and warm."
"Calm and warm, got it," said Renji.
"Oh…and he might…act kind of…erm…vampish. It's an effect of the saliva."
"So what do I do about that?"
Byakuya heard Ryota laugh softly, but couldn't hear his answer.
"You kinda have to if you don't want to have him go berserk."
"No way…"
"Your choice, shinigami. Good luck with that. I'll be on guard out here if you need me. Call me in if he has a seizure, becomes violent or goes into cardiac arrest."
"Augh…great," muttered the redhead, "Sure."
"Renji," said Ryota, "It will be difficult tonight, but he'll be okay."
"Right…thanks," said Renji, sounding less than convinced.
Byakuya heard the tent door swish closed and felt a warm presence settle down to sit next to him. He knew it was a dream, but having lost Renji, he wanted so much to look at the redhead again, to touch him, to tell him…
"R-renji?" he moaned deliriously, "Renji?"
"I'm here," said the redhead's soothing voice, "Ryota says you're gonna be fine, but you're pretty sick. Just try to rest, okay?"
"I will," Byakuya said, shivering, "B-but Renji, I…have to tell you."
"Shh, Captain. Try to sleep, okay. Don't get all worked up now."
He blinked to try to clear his vision and gazed dazedly up at Renji's concerned face. He managed to raise a shaking hand and touched the redhead's cheek to see if he felt real. He could have cried, finding that not only did he look real, he felt real too. And then, all he wanted to do was to bury himself in that realness. He dragged himself onto his knees, ignoring Renji's instant objections. He fell against the redhead's chest and found his senses filled with Renji's warm, masculine scent, and the touch of those rough hands.
"R-ren…" he whispered, "You're so w-warm."
His teeth were chattering and his body shook uncontrollably. And even though the tent was dark, a soft glow began to rise around them.
"Aw, hell," gasped the redhead, wrapping his arms around the noble, "G-glowing? What about…?"
He raised his voice, making Byakuya wince.
"Ryota, what about glowing?"
"Oh, that's just a side effect," answered the hollow, "It's harmless. It'll wear off. But watch out it's…erm, well, you'll see."
And suddenly, Renji's red-brown eyes met his and widened beautifully.
"C-captain?" Renji said, uncertainly, "Captain, your eyes are…?"
Byakuya tried to speak again, but when he opened his mouth, he only emitted a soft, sighing sound that made Renji groan uncomfortably and swallow hard.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, Captain," the redhead said pleadingly, "I can't tell if maybe you're going to kill me or…"
Byakuya shifted in his arms and settled deeper into his vice captain's embrace. He stared dazedly into the red-brown eyes that seemed unable to look away.
"Damn, Captain," Renji breathed, "You are really, really beautiful, and glowing, and you smell so good. I think you are killing me, you know?"
Byakuya took a breath and Renji fell silent, still staring into his eyes.
"I…don't feel so cold anymore," Byakuya said dazedly.
"G-good," Renji said in a shaky voice, "Glad to hear it."
"Renji?" Byakuya said, hanging onto the redhead's shoulders and leaning back slightly to look at the tattoos that he could see in the 'V' of Renji's top, "I want to…tell you something."
"Hmm?" Renji sighed helplessly, "What is it?"
"I liked the soup."
"Wh-what?"
"I actually loved…the soup."
"The…soup?" queried Renji, "Oh…the stuff Ryota made. Yeah, um, that was good."
"N-no, that was good, but, that's not…what I mean."
"What, Captain?" Renji said, narrowing his eyes "You're kinda not making sense here."
"At the…fourth division. The…soup."
Renji blinked and his eyes widened. A sweet smile rose on his lips as realization lit his face.
"Oh, the soup I made! Thanks, Captain, but…you already told me you liked it."
"N-no, I didn't tell you. It made me warm…all the way through. And I was glad when you came back. I…did miss you."
Renji couldn't stop a soft chuckle and a shake of his head. He looked down into the noble's sweet, earnest expression and his eyes softened.
"You are really out of it, ne? This is so…not you, Captain."
"N-no…no, Renji. This is…me. It's what I couldn't say before…when you were alive."
Renji's smile faded and his eyes softened even more with sympathy.
"Captain, I'm not dead. I'm right here. I'm okay. I'm fine. Ryota helped me hide and I was looking for you. I didn't know where you were, but I figured you went on with the regiment."
He felt tears in his eyes at the sincerity in Byakuya's next words.
"Kami, I wish this was real. I would tell you…so many things…so many things, Renji."
"Oh, you'd better stop, Captain. You're going to be embarrassed and pissed off if you keep on. Lie down. Try to sleep, okay?"
"I don't want to sleep," Byakuya said, resting a heedful of sinfully soft hair on the redhead's shoulder and making him catch his breath, "You might go away again."
"I won't go away. I promise."
Byakuya's eye fell to Renji's chest, where a pretty pattern of tattoos invited him to stare. His fingertips moved to trace them and Renji flinched and stared down at his hand.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly, "Why are you doing that?"
"I want to…remember them. For when I wake up and you are gone. I want to remember…exactly what they looked like."
"Captain," Renji said, taking the noble's face in his hands, "I told you. I didn't die. I'm still alive. And when you wake up from this…this spell or whatever that hollow vamp did, you are going to slice my ass to pieces with your petal blades. Now, please, stop that and try to sleep."
"N-no…I have to see them. Please let me see them?"
Byakuya kept his head on Renji's shoulder and pushed the redhead's hands away, then peeled back the front of his top. His still icy fingers sent sweet shivers down Renji's spine as they followed the path of the black markings where they danced down Renji's chest. The redhead's heart skipped and pounded fitfully as a cold finger brushed against his skin and he felt a strong reaction in his groin.
"Oh, oh hell, Captain. This is…it's too much, okay? You really have to stop," the redhead almost sobbed, "You're really getting to me!"
"Am I?" Byakuya asked, looking up at him through hazy eyes, "Am I…bothering you?"
"Ah…" breathed Renji, "N-not bothering, exactly."
He swallowed hard.
"It's just that you're so good looking and you smell great…and even though your hands are so cold, it feels, oh gods, it feels incredible when you touch me like that."
He took the noble's pale face in his hands again.
"And when you regain your senses, all you're going to think is that I took advantage of you. I can't do that, Captain. I can't take advantage of you while you're sick and out of it like this! Ask me again when you're coherent."
He shook his head solemnly.
"Like that would ever happen…"
"You say you won't take advantage of me?" said Byakuya, tilting his head and meeting Renji's eyes again, "Then…maybe I will take advantage of…you!"
The next thing Renji Abarai knew, he was lying on his back and his top was fully opened. He tried to twist free, but Byakuya's body was somehow straddling his and then Renji noticed the kido ropes that had wrapped around his wrists, ankles and waist. He gasped softly as he realized that, not only was he tied down, but Byakuya was on top of him and smiling down at him.
"You were worried about taking advantage of me?" said Byakuya, his words slurring slightly, "But now…you can't, so shut up."
"Captain, I…"
Byakuya's eyes took on a wounded look.
"You…don't like me that way?" he asked softly, wearing an expression so vulnerable, it had the redhead backpedaling furiously.
"N-no, Captain, you misunderstood me. I wasn't trying to stop you because I don't like you. I was trying to stop you, because you're only doing this because you got attacked by that hollow vamp. This isn't you."
"That's not true," the noble said, wide eyed, "Renji…it's just I was always afraid to say anything. I liked you, but I thought you wouldn't like me back. And it was my job to train you to be a captain, and if we started having sex it would contemp…comten…"
"C-complicate?" Renji supplied.
"Yes, complicate things. I mean, once you weren't my subordinate…but the council would be in fits…and you, I thought you liked Rukia. And then, I thought you were having sex with Ichigo."
Renji smiled and shook his head.
"Rukia and I are just friends, and Ichigo has been sleeping with Urahara almost since he got his shinigami powers."
"So…are you saying, you do like me?" asked Byakuya deliriously.
Renji sighed longingly and smiled up at him weakly.
"Yeah, I like you, Captain. You're fucking beautiful! How could I not like you?"
"I never tell you…things…like…like, I love tea the way you make it. I don't even drink it at home anymore, because it isn't yours. And…I, I actually I'm not mad so much at you, but I want you to pass the captain's test, so I get upset when you slack off, but I know you'll be a good captain."
"God, you're so cute, Captain," Renji sighed, "But you should really stop. I don't want you to do something you'll regret."
Byakuya's eyes suddenly lost the false red glow he had placed in them, and returned to their normal steel gray. Renji froze, held firmly in place by Byakuya's warm expression.
"I regret not telling you everything before. I regret hurting your feelings because I was afraid to show mine. I regret wasting time until time ran out. And I can't have you now."
Byakuya paused and brushed away a sudden tear.
"So…while we're here, I want to fix things. Maybe I can't do that in reality, but I can here. I am sorry, Renji. I am really, truly…sorry."
"I must be the one dreaming," Renji sighed, closing his eyes, "Byakuya fucking Kuchiki just apologized to me…"
He froze again as Byakuya's eyes softened and he lowered his upper body until he was leaning on his hands.
"Uh, Captain…" Renji whispered, "What are you…?"
The noble's lips captured his and Byakuya's eyes drifted closed, his face looking so lovely and serene that Renji couldn't help but kiss him back. And feeling Renji kissing him back made Byakuya sink deeper into his mouth, probing with an unexpectedly gentle, questing tongue. His eyes opened and looked deeply into Renji's.
"I want to have sex with you, Renji," he sighed, "Is that all right?"
Renji met the noble's dark, beautiful eyes with a tragically longing expression.
"I want to," he whispered as Byakuya kissed his cheek, then brushed a line of kisses along his throat, "I want to so bad it hurts…but I think…"
"Stop," said Byakuya quietly, "Do not attempt to think. Answer me with your heart. Do you want to have sex with me, Renji?"
Renji's mouth opened and trembled as he tried to answer, then closed his mouth again. Byakuya waited, that same sweet, deeply serious look on his face. Renji sighed and blinked several times.
"Yeah," he said, finally, "I want to have sex with you, Captain."
The noble's icy fingers touched his lips.
"Byakuya," he said, blinking almost sleepily, "Call me Byakuya."
"I want to have sex with you, Byakuya," Renji breathed dizzily.
The dark eyes held a sad, nostalgic shine as he moved the rest of the redhead's clothing out of the way and then slowly removed his own clothes. He smiled down at his still-bound vice captain and quietly released the kido ropes.
"Now, no one is taking advantage," the noble said calmly, "We are both here because we want to be."
He climbed back on top of the redhead, and gazed down at where their bodies laid against each other.
"Please don't kill me for this…" Renji whispered as Byakuya leaned forward onto his hands again and reclaimed his lips.
Byakuya felt the coldness leave his body and intense heat flooded every inch of him. He sucked Renji's tongue into his mouth and stroked it lazily with his, making Renji groan and push his hips upward, and making the noble's body tremble softly with anticipation.
Byakuya's mouth left his and followed a slow, deliberate trail down the tattooed length of his body, first pleasuring lightly with the pale, graceful fingers, then treating each black line with wet strokes of a hungry pink tongue. The redhead's cheeks and throat flushed pink as he stared disbelievingly down at his captain, as the noble honored every inch of flesh with touches, kisses and light strokes. He groaned again and arched his back, rubbing against Byakuya and wondering how he was going to last long enough for them to make love.
"Mmmm…Byakuya," he moaned breathlessly, "You're making me so hard, Byakuya!"
The noble's pretty mouth kissed its way down to his navel, where that pink tongue sank down inside and teased him into a sweating, aching frenzy. He slid his fingers into the noble's silken hair and gently pushed him down lower, where the noble. graced him with a very gentle kiss. Renji groaned again and reached down to press against the base of his arousal, to stave off climax. But it seemed to have been a useless endeavor as Byakuya gazed hungrily down at him, then ever so slowly descended on him, bringing their bodies together.
"Oh, gods," Renji gasped, "If you…ah…ah…you're going to make me…"
"C-captain," Renji moaned, "B-byakuya, you're fucking killing me! Gods…are you trying to make me insane?"
Byakuya smiled somewhat wickedly and laid his body on top of Renji's, assaulting his mouth more roughly. He moved his hips restlessly blushing furiously and beginning to glow again. The redhead tried one last time to stop what was happening.
"Byakuya," he said softly, looking up into the dark, lovely eyes again, "You are…sure about this? Have you…you know, done it with a guy before?"
His breath left him in a stunned gasp as the noble forced himself down onto Renji's length, making a sound of pain. Renji grabbed his hips and held them still as Byakuya panted heavily against his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" the redhead asked, "You shouldn't have done that. You should have let me prepare you before."
He lost his breath again as Byakuya began to move,, panting and writhing so beautifully, that Renji could not hold back anymore. He forgot restraint and barely managed to rein in his moans of pleasure. Byakuya lifted his body away and Renji bucked upward into the center of pleasure inside him. The lovely pale body shuddered sweetly, then Byakuya collapsed on top of him. Renji pushed upward one last time and, closing his eyes and nearly sobbing with delight, emptied himself into Byakuya's depths. They laid still, catching their breath and exchanging slow, sleepy kisses.
Renji watched as Byakuya drifted off to sleep in his arms, then pulled away gently and carefully cleaned their bodies. He found a fresh yukata for each of them, then dressed Byakuya, and then himself before moving over to sleep a short distance away.
As much as he wanted to believe that Byakuya had really known what he was doing, there was enough doubt in him to make him cautious. He spent much of the rest of the night, replaying their lovemaking in his head.
Some time later, Renji rose and slipped out of the tent. He relieved Ryota on watch and spent the last few hours of the rest period wondering what Byakuya would do when he woke up…
