Chapter 7: King's Samurai
"Do you really think that two members of the king's Kishu would gladly leave their beloved son in a horrible place like Inuzuri? I hate to disillusion you, but leaving you there was the last thing that we wanted. We left you there…because it was the only way that you were going to survive."
Renji felt an immediate urge to reject the words and to spit some kind of objection back at the man in front of him.
That's just crazy.
Send a baby to a hellhole like Inuzuri, leave him to become a homeless mongrel, crawling on his belly and stealing just so he wouldn't starve? Leave him to feel alone and unprotected, watching as that hard life swallowed up almost every friend he did have?
That's insane!
He ached to shout the words back at Katsuro.
It seems so obvious.
I can't believe anyone could do that to someone who was their own flesh and blood, someone who they cared about, someone who they treasured.
"I know what you must be thinking."
"Do you?" Renji asked bitterly, "Do you know what it's like to be told, over and over, day in and day out, that you are nothing but a homeless little mutt? That your life isn't worth shit? That no one cares if you live or die? Do you know what it's like to have to choose between hanging onto your dignity or sucking some guy off in an alley just to have enough to get through the winter?"
"Sadly, I do know," Katsuro said softly, his cinnamon eyes filling with guilt.
"Right," Renji growled, looking away, "Like you'd know something like that."
"I do know," Katsuro repeated, forcing calm into his voice, "I know because I watched the son I treasured have to do all of those things. And while he suffered, I lived in a beautiful palace. I had food, clean water and a place to lie down in comfort every night. I sat at the side of the most powerful person in all of our worlds and I did nothing to ease your pain or make your life easier. Why?"
Renji's teeth clenched and he had to work hard to hold back as Katsuro moved closer and locked eyes with him.
"Because I am a servant of the king," he answered himself, "I'm not the first person you've heard something like this from, am I?"
Renji took a steadying breath.
"No. You know you're not. Taichou has said those same words before. In fact, he pretty much lives by them."
"And why do you think he does that?" asked the samurai.
"He does it because he's the leader of the greatest noble clan," Renji answered, "He's confessed that it's not easy and he is tempted to take the easier path sometimes, but…"
The younger Abarai paused, his frown deepening as he recalled Byakuya standing in the gardens of his beautiful home, trying to explain to his skeptical fukutaichou how he could devote himself to a king who pretty much no one was allowed to see and who sat there in the heavens in comfort while all of his people struggled down in the worlds beneath him.
I trust my king.
"I trust my king," Katsuro breathed softly, reading Renji's thoughts, "though, for me, it is not so blind a trust as Byakuya must have. I had my king right there, reassuring me that what I was doing was the only thing that could protect you and keep you alive."
"That's crazy and you know it."
"I know it sounds that way."
"Of course it does," Renji said in a low, angry voice, "because we're not servants of the king. We're just Rukongai mutts, commoners…"
"You were never that," Katsuro interrupted.
Renji stared at him in stunned silence.
"You may not have been aware," the elder Abarai went on, "but even when you didn't know it, you were always the heir to the King's Samurai…and a servant who was obeying the will of his king, even when he didn't know enough yet to trust it."
"That's…"
"Reiou said to me that there would come a time to reveal your true nature to you."
"My true nature?"
"You are not a normal shinigami," Katsuro said matter-of-factly, "As a son of the king's samurai, you have the potential inside you to exceed the boundaries of shinigami power. You must have felt that. You probably mistook the voice of your inner potential for your own will."
"I…?" Renji mused, thinking back.
All the time I was struggling in Inuzuri, I heard a voice inside me, telling me to fight, to become stronger, to survive. And when Rukia was taken into the Kuchiki family, my pride told me to fight to become stronger, to show that I was worthy.
Every minute that I was beaten down and told I was nothing, I heard that voice, telling me to fight that notion, because it was bullshit!
And it was.
I am…
"You are a young transcendent, Renji," Katsuro said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder, "You always were. The potential waited for the right time, and now that time has come. So, I will explain to you the history of the King's Samurai and why we all played the roles we did. When you have heard, I will ask you to decide who you will choose to be."
Renji hesitated for a moment, thinking, then he nodded for the other man to continue.
"Has Byakuya ever told you the story of Kuchiki Kazuki?"
Renji looked back at him blankly.
"Kazuki?" he repeated, "No."
"Kuchiki Kazuki was a young prodigy who was born into the Kuchiki family thousands of years ago. He ascended swiftly through the ranks, and he was the youngest shinigami ever taken into the king's elite guard. He was made a unit taichou and was on a mission for the king, when his group was attacked by spirit demons, a foul resident of the royal realm, and he was nearly killed. Kazuki laid on the trail where he had fallen amidst the bodies of his men. He was on his last breaths, when a wild looking, red-haired man that he recognized as the King's Samurai, approached him and knelt at his side, trying to heal his wounds. Kazuki told the samurai that he was beyond healing and that he was going to die, but the samurai touched his face and a light rose around them as the samurai shared his life force with the fallen taichou. The samurai saved Kazuki's life, and Kazuki returned to the king and explained what had happened. He was stunned beyond words when the king told him that sharing his life force with him had cost the samurai his immortality."
"The King's Samurai is immortal?" Renji asked, his eyes widening.
"He was immortal," Katsuro corrected him, "He so loved Kazuki at first sight of him, that he gave up living forever, so that he could save the life of his beloved. The king was moved by this and Kazuki was reduced to tears at the samurai's feet. He begged to know why and the samurai raised him and answered him with a kiss. It was then that the samurai, whose given name was Akabuke, was given a surname to be passed on to the children that he and Kazuki would make together."
"Wait, what?" Renji yelped, staring in fascination, "You mean…?"
Katsuro smiled.
"Transcendents, even young ones, are beyond the constraints of gender," he explained, "Through exchanges of their powerful reiatsu, they can cause a spirit chamber to form in their partner, male or female, and the two can bear young. This is why Kazuki was able to bear children for Akabuke, it is why my husband, Tama, could bear you for me, and…it is why Kuchiki Tetsuya will be able to bear your child."
"WHAT?" Renji gasped, "T-tetsuya? I mean, I know he's supposed to be…b-but…having kids?"
"Tetsuya is a young transcendent," Katsuro continued, "If you accept him as your shield mate and wish to mate with him, he will have your child. And if you reject him, I will bond with him, and he will have mine."
"Th-this is nuts," Renji panted, wiping the sweat from his face, "This is insane. It's just…"
"I know it's a lot to take in, and I'm not doing the best job of passing on the information to you, but…it's all true, Renji. I understand how you feel. I was still relatively young when Akabuke and Kazuki died and I became King's Samurai."
Renji's widened eyes rounded.
"But, you said Akabuke was like thousands of years old!" he objected, "That would make you…"
"Yes," Katsuro agreed, nodding, "we're quite old by shinigami standards."
"That's a fucking understatement," the shocked fukutaichou mused.
"But, as transcendents, living in the royal realm, we enjoy those long lifespans. You and Tetsuya will too, once you come to serve the king."
"You mean, that dead body up in the royal realm? We're gonna serve that?" Renji spat angrily.
"No," Katsuro said quietly, "Renji, I am going to confide in you that the King's Samurai is the protector of the soul king through all things, even death."
"Even…death?" Renji breathed, staring.
He watched in surprise and dismay as Katsuro's hand plunged into his own chest and slid out again, holding in it a small crystalline prism that reflected colorful light.
"The King's Samurai holds within his body the King's Prism. If anything ever happens to the king, then his samurai will follow the guidance of the prism to bring about the reincarnation of the king."
"The…what the hell are you saying?" Renji gasped, "You're gonna reincarnate Reiou? You can do that?"
"You are not to tell anyone," Katsuro said sternly, "The only ones who can know are you, me and our shield mates. Not even Squad Zero knows. It is kept completely secret because of the danger to all of us if anyone learned of it. I'm going to tell you now that sending you to Inuzuri and also sending me to you now was all part of visions that Reiou had that warned him of his coming death and a danger to the samurai line that was meant to revive him."
"You can really do that?" Renji repeated, staring incredulously at the lovely prism in the samurai's hand.
"I can. But, to do that, I need to take a new shield mate and husband."
"Huh? You have to…? Is that why you were gonna marry Tetsuya? He was gonna help you reincarnate the king?"
Katsuro frowned.
"In that respect, the king told me that if you refused to accept your appointment to the Kishu now, then I would marry Tetsuya and he would help me reincarnate the king."
"And what happens if I accept?" the younger Abarai asked, "Who do you marry then?"
"A face was shown, but I cannot reveal that until I have your answer. Let's just say that it's covered. And like I said, you can choose whether or not you want to join the Kishu. You will be King's Samurai after me, either way, but Tetsuya's path will be altered by your decision, as will the one shown to me."
Renji gave his father a troubled look.
"So, their futures will hang on what I decide…but no pressure or anything, right?" he mused, shaking his head.
"There really isn't any pressure," Katsuro assured him, "Your fate is what you choose, except that whether you choose to be in the Kishu or not, you are still my son, and the next King's Samurai."
"You do know that's a fucking load to take it, right?" Renji said anxiously, "I mean, how do I know if I'll be able to make Tetsuya happy? Maybe he'll hate me."
"Tama hated me at first."
"Huh?" Renji said, giving him a surprised look.
"You know, being sent to the Rukongai to grow up may have been extremely hard for you, but it did give you some freedom to choose your path, Renji. As King's Samurai, I took the mate chosen for me by the king. He and I had no say, but we were servants of the king, so we did our best to make each other happy. I suppose that Tama and I learned to love each other…and when you were born, we realized that the love we had was as real as if we had chosen each other."
Renji studied the tormented look that had come into his father's cinnamon eyes, and his own hard gaze softened.
"Tama took it really hard when Reiou told us that we had to send you into hiding in the low Rukongai, but there was a plan to kill the samurai line, and if you had been killed, then Reiou would have no chance of revival…because Tama and I would have died trying in vain to save you. As it is, Tama died protecting the king…and I…am left to raise the new king."
Renji studied him for a moment, then gave him a sad smile.
"You do know that story is completely crazy, right?" he chuckled, "There's no way that a savvy, street-smart kid would buy something like that…but…"
Katsuro met his eyes hopefully.
"But the other part of me, the part that grew up with Rukia and then served with Byakuya taichou…that part of me doesn't think it's so crazy."
Katsuro smiled wearily back at him.
"Placing you in the Rukongai did place you with Rukia, who was fated to be adopted by Byakuya. All of that was fate that you didn't see at the time."
"Man, that messes with my head," Renji sighed, "It makes me wonder how much choice we really have."
"That's why Reiou feels it best not to burden us with too much knowledge of what things are fate. We need to come to decisions that we feel are our own. That way, even what is fate is also our own choice, right?"
"Yeah, I guess when you put it that way, it is," Renji agreed, "So, I guess that it must have been hard for you and Tama to be told that you had to dump me in the Rukongai."
"It wasn't just hard, it was crushing," Katsuro said sadly, "There was nothing that Tama and I wanted more than to raise you in the palace. But, had we been allowed to make that choice, we all would be dead, and the king would have no way to be reborn. We gave up spending your childhood with you, but we protected something bigger than ourselves by doing so."
"Yeah," Renji sighed regretfully, "I guess I can't argue with that."
"So, I've convinced you not to despise me?" Katsuro asked, smirking.
"I don't know about that," Renji teased, "You and that hare brained Yakkaigoto are troublemakers. You've both pretty much been a pain in the ass…but I have to admit, I always did wish that I had a family. Taichou treats me like family, but you know, it's different being connected to someone by blood, having a history like he does, traditions and things like that. We tried to do something like that in the Rukongai, making little groups that acted like families, but we still all wanted the kind we thought we'd never have unless we somehow lived to grow up and get married. Now…with you and with Tetsuya? It looks like I'm getting what I dreamed of having. I have a father. We have a history I never knew about. And when Tetsuya and I are bonded and married, we'll have kids too."
Katsuro gave his son a warm smile.
"That's the spirit."
His dark eyes softened.
"Tama would have been so proud of you."
"I wish I could have met him."
"Well, when we go back to the royal realm, I can show you plenty of pictures and I have a thousand stories about us. I'll tell you every one. I promise."
Renji grinned.
"I am looking forward to that."
He sighed and glanced in the direction Byakuya and Tetsuya had gone.
"I guess I should go and kiss up to Tetsuya a little. I mean, I pretty much told him, Hey, you're cute and all, but I'm not interested. He's probably going to be a little testy with me now."
"Oh, I don't know," Katsuro chuckled, "He is a very gentle soul. He's suffered a lot, just like you have. I think he'll forgive you readily enough. Just…never miss a chance to tell him what he means to you. I never held back telling that to Tama…and now, it's the only comfort I really have."
Renji surprised his father with an encouraging smile.
"Well, you don't have Tama, but Reiou did say that you would be taking a new partner, right? The one who will help you revive the king? So, I've made my choice. Now you can tell me who my new step-parent will be."
Katsuro found himself smiling again.
"Ah yes," he chuckled, "because you've chosen to bond with Tetsuya, I will be marrying Kuchiki Byakuya."
Renji's jaw dropped onto the floor and his eyes rounded.
"WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?"