Chapter 9: Unreal
Gin's palm touched Byakuya's forehead lightly and the noble's mind went into a spiral, making him feel like he was falling. He began to drift, and as he did, he thought he could still feel Renji's seed, deep inside his body, causing the nature of his being to shift and making it possible for him to carry a child. It wasn't a change of gender, merely the opening of a spirit chamber, a place where the collected seed and reiatsu would bind and form their child's body. Birth did not require the pushing out that human birth did. The baby's body would form first as a spirit cluster, one that could pass through the body and emerge. Then, after emergence, the cluster would solidify and fully materialize. It was an old magical art practiced by the ancient noble clans…and none had used it more recently, because few knew about it. The information was never written down. So dangerous was the knowledge, that it was passed on by word of mouth from clan leader to clan leader. Some of the other clan's leaders had long ago chosen to forgo its use, arguing that it was improper, but the Kuchiki clan, being keepers of the greatest store of knowledge in the three worlds was not going to allow such a thing to be forgotten. Ginrei had carefully imparted the knowledge to Byakuya and years later, when he realized that he was falling in love with Renji, it gave him hope that they could convince the Kuchiki elders to accept their union…but before he had gone that route, he had had to be sure Renji felt the same. As Byakuya's mind spun in circles, the memory returned in full color…
He sat quietly at his desk, filling out reports and requisitions, making schedules and approving transfers of men and supplies. As he worked, he felt Renji's eyes touch him. It was a familiar feeling now…those visual touches. The physical ones felt different as well. But despite the beauty in those touches, Byakuya could not seem to act on them. Only having taken those steps with Hisana…and their relationship having been exceedingly gentle in nature, he was unnerved by the strength of passion building between Renji and himself. He knew, of course, how to proceed physically. Despite never having been with a man before, such a thing was clear enough. But he wasn't certain if he dared to loose the aggressive energy housed within his fukutaichou. He didn't fear Renji's power…but the heavy, unyielding passion in those lovely red-brown eyes. He didn't fear physical injury, of course, but only an intense, all encompassing surge of emotion in his heart. Having loved before and having watched his lover die…he was unsure if he could take the final steps and make himself vulnerable to love again.
He had no idea that the decision was about to be taken out of his hands…
Abarai Renji stole another glance at his beautiful hard working taichou and felt a purr of contentment in his chest. His heart raced wildly beneath his skin as he sat, looking busy and composed, but hiding the raging beast that longed to fly across the room, drag down the Squad Six taichou and devour every bit of that glowing, white skin. It was nearly impossible to contain that part of himself now. He wondered for how long he had thought of Byakuya as the bane of his existence, the bastard who stole Rukia from him, the one who irritated him by always demanding more of him and endlessly chasing him to be better than he was. Yes, he had hated Byakuya for a very long time. But then…it had taken him a while to see it…
Because beneath everything that made him hate the man was something that made him love Byakuya. He adopted Rukia to protect her for Hisana…and even though he initially supported her execution and even fought Renji to see it carried out, he had in the end, saved Rukia himself. He pursued Renji endlessly about footwork, kido and paperwork because when he looked at Abarai Renji, he saw a taichou that no one else knew of yet. Yes, it annoyed and frustrated Renji to no end…but he loved every minute of it…
And ever since Aizen's betrayal, Renji had answered Byakuya's barrage of intent with answering determination. If Byakuya wanted ten minutes of hard training, he gave an hour. He didn't just avoid embarrassing his taichou with mistakes, he made Byakuya proud of his dedication. And he handled his job of training the squad members so well that the sixth division was the jewel of the Gotei 13.
And while he and Byakuya dedicated themselves to their division and to Renji's advancement, something else happened as well. It began simply. Furtive glances at each other as they worked…small, incidental touches as Renji delivered his taichou's tea or as Byakuya placed a hand on him to correct his grip or posture. And beneath the respectful replies Renji gave him, there was a growl of promise…a warning that the beast within Renji was hungry and wanted more than just a surface encounter. There was answering hunger in the calm gray eyes that returned his glances, the body that strained against his in their training and the lips that delivered everything with that air of calm sarcasm and, Renji found, a surprising hidden warmth.
But Byakuya held himself firmly in check and it was beginning to make his more aggressive counterpart wonder if he would ever do anything more than look from a distance. And Renji's patience was running thin. Not that he once considered sating his passions elsewhere. Focused on Byakuya as he was, Renji forgot anything else existed. And he would have been shocked and pleased to learn that Byakuya returned that sentiment one hundred percent. But, the redhead decided, enough was enough. And innocent in his teasing or not, Renji was about to unleash himself on his unsuspecting taichou.
There was a particular moment he waited for…a split second when Byakuya's hand moved to renew the ink on his brush and his eyes flicked away, allowing Renji a single flash step to fire himself across the room. One moment Byakuya was sitting on his chair, replenishing his ink and the next he was taken down, the chair left behind him, untouched, and papers flying in all directions. Renji broke their fall, rolling them along the floor, stopping them short of the far wall and simultaneously laying claim to the pretty and frowning mouth he had been admiring all day. Byakuya was stunned to suddenly find himself lying on his back, pinned by Renji's body, with no idea how his fukutaichou had managed to put him there so quickly. He tried to respond with flaring eyes and resistant hands, but meeting with Renji's feral orbs, he was left breathless and his hands refused to push, but would only cling as his mouth was rudely invaded and his tongue quickly subjugated.
Byakuya very quickly decided he liked being both tackled and devoured like this. But such a thing as that where others could walk in was inexcusable. After several minutes, and before Renji could do much more undressing of them than dragging his shihakushou off one pale shoulder, Byakuya met Renji's eyes fiercely and his fukutaichou paused. He used the moment to disentangle himself and to rise onto unsteady legs. Renji watched, still on hands and knees on the floor.
"Taichou…" he growled softly.
Byakuya inhaled sharply at the husky sound of it.
"You will cease mauling me in a public place where anyone could walk in. You should know better."
Renji's lips curled into a grin.
"Are you saying it is all right to maul you in private?" he hissed softly.
His eyes locked on Renji, he reached up and unfastened the kenseiken, letting the restrained strands loose to fall onto his face.
Renji licked his lips.
Byakuya moved on to the ginpaku kazahana no uzuginu, a delicate hand unwinding it from around a very vulnerable looking throat. The taichou's haori left his shoulders and was laid neatly over the back of his chair. Then, he slowly removed each fingerless glove, leaving him in a simple shihakushou. He yielded Renji a fleeting smile and saw a hard shiver move through the red-haired man's strong body.
Again, the noble was surprised at just how fast he was taken off his feet and gathered against his fukutaichou's heaving chest. The office disappeared and he found himself in his taichou's quarters and being brought down roughly onto the bed on his back. Renji wasted no time with words, but took his lips again, with a passion that made them throb softly, even as the redhead moved on to attack the tender skin of his throat. Calloused hands wrapped firmly around his wrists and held them down on either side of his head and Renji's heated body held his tightly against the bed. Byakuya felt his fukutaichou's growing length through the stiff material of their shihakushous and imagined how much hotter that Renji's flesh would feel pressed against his. He ached to remove their clothes, to feel that searing heat, and caught his breath as Renji's teeth took hold of the tie at his waist. The redhead's body reared back, pulling the tie free, then Renji's hands released his wrists and opened his shihakushou, sending that red, biting mouth on a crawling descent down his body. Byakuya used a freed hand to pull the hair tie from Renji's hair and watched, rapt as the silken lengths of red fire swept down and trickled lazily onto their flushed skin. As the redhead continued his assault on his taichou's chest, tormenting a pink nipple with slow licks and heavy suction, the noble's fingers slipped into his hair, curling and clenching as pleasant twinges made him gasp and thrust upward. A hot tongue found his navel and Byakuya was nearly unable to breathe. He released the redhead's name in a sharp hiss and Renji responded by tearing the rest of their clothes away and letting them fall away onto the bed and floor. Still breathless, Byakuya could not raise an objection to the mess.
That devilish mouth moved down from his navel, kissing and licking down the way lined with soft, black hairs, into the 'v' beneath and down to tease the noble's length with seething breath and a long, heavy lick as Byakuya moaned his name. The red-brown eyes flashed with passion and he moved down even further, finding his taichou's virgin entrance, teasing it and threatening invasion. The sound that escaped Byakuya made him stop for a moment and sent a shiver of desire rocketing through them both.
Despite his unleashed ardor, Renji slowed to prepare his taichou's body carefully. He was taken by surprise as his formerly seemingly passive sexual partner overturned him and parted his slender, white thighs, straddling his body and bringing their lengths into sudden, intense contact. Renji's hands wrapped around Byakuya's slim, writhing hips, moving with them as the noble held himself on hands and knees, thrusting hard against him, the steely gray eyes flashing and the sweet, pink mouth opening into heavier moans that sent lovely shocks through his fukutaichou's trapped form. Renji arched his back, thrusting upward and turning. There was a moment of shock as the two tumbled off of the bed and onto the floor, then the redhead threw himself onto Byakuya's back as he turned, held him down and pulled the hair away from his neck, biting down on throat and shoulder. He slid a hand down the strong, white back, holding Byakuya still and preparing him as the noble fought the body above his, hissing an order for his fukutaichou to stop teasing him and threatening painful outcomes if the order was not obeyed immediately. Laughing softly, Renji laid his chest against the captured noble's back, licked the pale skin of his throat and nipped an ear. He pushed into the noble's body slowly, despite Byakuya's objections, paused to nuzzle a soft cheek and to whisper his affection. His taichou's lips curved upward and the gray eyes that sought his softened. He held himself still as long as he dared, both of them breathing heavily and enjoying the first mutual sensation of being fully joined.
He laced his fingers into Byakuya's and began thrusting, starting slowly, but abandoning gentleness as the body beneath his moved restlessly and the noble's hips rose to meet each thrust eagerly. Byakuya's fingers curled and hard, gasping moans escaped his lips. Renji shifted, increasing the speed and depths of his thrusts, striking the center of pleasure inside the noble and making him moan louder and clench harder. He tore a hand free and wrapped it around Byakuya's length, stroking it heavily and taking him over a precipice. The noble gave an uncharacteristically passionate cry that echoed all of the way down to Renji's core as he followed his taichou on a blindingly beautiful fall into completion. Heat seared Byakuya inside and the noble's hot seed pulsed out onto Renji's hand and their abandoned clothes. They remained there on the floor for some time after, their bodies still joined and Renji's cheek resting warmly against his.
"Taichou…" Renji whispered, his heart still pounding from the exertion, "Taichou…you are so beautiful…so hot inside. I don't want to move. I want to live and breathe with you…my Taichou…m-my…Byakuya."
"Who said you could call me by that name?" the noble said, the amusement plain in his voice.
"My apologies Taichou…" Renji said, grinning against his cheek.
"You may call me Byakuya…but only when we are alone."
"Hai, Byakuya…"
They crawled back into bed and fell asleep in each other's arms, their bodies aching wonderfully from the intensity of their lovemaking. Byakuya woke burrowed deeply in his fukutaichou's arms, the small scratches and bruises healed and Renji's heat still warming him inside.
"Aishiteru yo, Renji," he whispered to his sleeping lover.
"Aishiteru yo…Byakuya," Renji whispered back, surprising him.
"Renji…"
"Hai…"
"You will clean up the papers you threw about…"
"Of course, Taichou," Renji chuckled, starting to pull free.
Byakuya's arms tightened, stopping him. The redhead looked at him questioningly.
"Who said I was finished with you yet?" Byakuya said, narrowing his eyes aggressively.
Renji's lips curled into a smile and he turned back and fell on the noble's waiting body again.
"Byakuya?" Aizen's voice said softly, cutting into the noble's memory and sending it spiraling away.
A shiver went through his body as he remembered his long captivity at the hands of the leader of the hollows. He opened his eyes and found himself in the infirmary.
That's right…I was with Renji. I lost consciousness upon returning to Sousuke's bedroom…
"Byakuya…Gin has given us wonderful news…"
He isn't going to think we were together! He'll think it's his…and if you follow up by playing the part…"
"Carrying on as though I've been fouled and can never return to you?" Byakuya added, nodding.
"You'll have to really act the part, or he'll see through it…"
"But if I convince him that I cannot leave him any longer, he may let up enough that we can escape!"
"It's happening," Byakuya whispered, "It's really going to happen…"
"Yes," Aizen said, wrapping his arm around the noble's shoulders, "Bya, we are going to have a child. Gin says that the spiritual chamber formed shortly after we made love. That is likely why you lost consciousness…and as we speak, my reiatsu is binding itself to yours and forming the reiatsu cluster that will become our son or daughter…"
"You'll have to really act the part, or he'll see through it…"
"Byakuya?"
I think he's stunned beyond words, Sousuke," said Gin, grinning.
Byakuya stared straight ahead, a dazed expression on his pale features and tears rising in his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, Byakuya saw Kyoka Suigetsu at Aizen's hip. In a lightning fast move, he tore it from the sheath and as Aizen's eyes widened in surprise, the noble brought the other's blade up and in a swift, deadly arc towards his own throat. Aizen's hand caught the blade, stopping it just shy of it's destination. Their eyes met for one awful moment, then Aizen's power fired through him and Byakuya collapsed into his captor's arms.
"Hmmm…" said Gin, "Hope you have an idea about how to keep him from killing himself and your progeny. I don't think you thought of that when you were cooking up this oddball plan."
"You let me worry about that," Aizen said, lifting Byakuya into his arms, "That was just a knee-jerk response for this one. When he wakes again, he will begin to process. I think I will be successful in convincing him not to take his own life."
"If you say so…" Gin said, looking unconvinced, "I say you're going to have quite a fight on your hands."
"Yes," agreed Aizen, studying the unconscious noble's face, "I believe you may be right."
