Chapter 9: Breathe

"Captain Unohana is ready for you now," Isane said, smiling.

Renji helped Byakuya to his feet. The noble stood, then leaned against Renji, blinking and holding on to his arm.

"You okay?" Renji asked looking concerned.

"I'm fine," Byakuya said, breathing slowly, "I just got up too suddenly. I felt dizzy for a moment."

"Has this been happening frequently?" Isane asked, stepping closer and looking into his eyes.

"In the last few days," Byakuya admitted, "perhaps I am not eating enough."

"Bya," Renji said, looking confused, "believe me you are eating enough. I never saw anyone eat like that…except…Yoruichi once.

"Perhaps it is what you are eating," the young woman suggested.

"I am following Captain Unohana's guidelines to the letter," said Byakuya.

"Hmm…" said Isane, "we'll see what Captain Unohana has to say. Come this way."

Renji slipped an arm around Byakuya and the two followed the healer down the hallway to a cool, darkened room. Renji shivered slightly.

"You warm enough," he asked Byakuya, "It's kind of cold in here."

Byakuya blinked.

"It's perfectly fine. Are you feverish or something, Renji?" he asked, moving forward into the room.

"Oh, that's quite normal," Unohana said, her eyes twinkling, "Pregnant…partners often run a bit warmer than their non-pregnant counterparts. Now, if you'll lie down, we can begin."

Byakuya climbed on to the examination table and watched curiously as Captain Unohana moved his clothing out of the way to expose his swollen abdomen. She spread a warm gel thickly onto the exposed area, then picked up a strange looking device.

"This is how we'll look at your baby. You may remember when we did this with Yoruichi, so you could see Takeshi and Chisaki," she said, bringing the device close to Byakuya's abdomen.

Renji and Byakuya nodded silently and watched as Unohana rolled the device over the gel covered flesh.

"Look at the viewing screen. You'll see the first baby."

Byakuya and Renji gasped softly as they spotted the dark outline of one baby.

"Here is the head," Unohana said, moving the device, "and here you can see the hands. You said you would like to know the genders?"

Byakuya nodded.

"This is a girl…and she looks perfect."

She moved the device over to the other side of Byakuya's abdomen. They watched, holding hands as the second baby came into view.

"This is a girl also," Unohana said softly, "And she looks perfectly formed as well. Here is her head…hands, and look closely, you will see her heart beating. Now listen…you can hear it, too."

Byakuya's eyes widened and he caught his breath as a rushing sound rose up from the fetal monitor. He looked up to find that Renji was having a similar reaction. Renji squeezed his hand, grinning.

"See…nothing to worry about. They look beautiful!" he exclaimed softly.

"Yes, your twins are well formed and they look perfectly healthy."

She let them watch a while longer…smiling as Renji sat next to Byakuya, their faces close together as they watched and listened to each strong heartbeat again. Then she removed the device and cleaned away the gel. Byakuya set his clothing back in place and Renji helped him to sit up on the edge of the examination table. Captain Unohana stepped forward and studied him appraisingly for a moment.

"I need to draw some more blood and do another reiatsu check. I know I told you it wouldn't be necessary for another week, but your reiatsu reading was low last time, so we need to watch that a bit more closely. I will contact you if there is any concern."

"But why would there be problems with his reiatsu?" Renji asked, frowning.

"Oh, I'm sure it will be fine," she said reassuringly, but this is putting an unusual strain on Byakuya's body, so we want to be sure there are no adverse effects."

Renji cringed as she drew the blood.

"Really, Renji," Byakuya said, shaking his head, "it isn't that bad. Considering what we've faced on the battlefield, this is quite tame."

"Ugh," Renji said, turning his head away, "It's still kind of…ugh. I hate needles."

"Hmm…" Byakuya observed calmly, "I imagine it's a good thing I was given the magical hug and you weren't."

"You can say that again!" Renji said, grimacing.

"All finished," Unohana said, smiling and placing a band aid on the tiny wound, "Now, I want you to go home and make sure you have a nice full meal. The morning sickness has eased, hasn't it?"

Byakuya nodded.

"I still feel nausea, but I don't vomit so often. I have been feeling quite dizzy at times, however."

"Yes, well, that may be related to the reiatsu problem I mentioned. I will rush the results of your blood and reiatsu tests and I will contact you if I see anything we need to address. But everything appears to be fine, so go home, eat, and relax."

"Um…Captain, before we go," Renji said, looking a bit nervous, "I…uh…wanted to ask if you know what's going on with the…others who were affected."

"Well," she said, blinking slowly, "Hotaru and Rikichi are thrilled, of course. She realized what must have happened, but she said that when he hugged people, she didn't actually tell them he had a magical hug. She just said that he had the warmest, best hug ever. The others are somewhat suspicious, of course, but do not worry. The head captain is eager to protect Hajime from too much scrutiny, so though he was rather aggravated at first, he quickly acted to keep things quiet. It is now being attributed to strange reiatsu fluctuations that occurred around the time of the memorial…so be at ease. And I have put some controls in place to prevent other oddities until Hajime is a bit older. He is a fascinating child…very connected to all living things. You are lucky to have such a child."

"Yeah," Renji agreed, "but sometimes the kid's a little scary, you know?"

Unohana laughed warmly.

"I understand. Now, you need to take Byakuya home. He looks starving!"

"I am hungry," the noble confirmed, looking up at Renji.

"What else is new?" Renji asked, laughing softly, "Come on, we can stop and have lunch on the way back."

"We had lunch."

"A snack then. How about that?"

"Sounds good," Byakuya said, yawning, "and then I need a nap."

Renji rolled his eyes.

"Now he's acting even more like Yoruichi!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Chisaki stood silently on the guard tower overlooking the barrier that protected the shinigami base. She stared out across the spinning sands at the fortress that stood in the distance. She couldn't see it during the day, but she felt the soft pulse at her throat that told her the pendant was still reacting to something.

"It could just be that his body is there somewhere…" she whispered to herself, "but even if that's all it is, I need to know. I need to know if Dad could have been wrong…if somehow, he could still be alive!"

Being on duty in the guard tower, she could not leave her post, but the night would come to cover her passage out into the desert…and then she would do as she had done several times already. She would fly across the night darkened sands in hawk form and search around the base.

She watched the fortress closely for the rest of the afternoon, then returned to the main building to meet Rikichi and Takeo for dinner. She wanted to say something, to trust them, but she had tried to carefully suggest it to Takeo and he had been quick to start questioning her. He didn't think it could be true…and Chisaki couldn't risk being called depressed or overwhelmed with grief and being sent home. She had to stay in Hueco Mundo. She had to know if Takeshi could somehow still be alive. And even if he wasn't, she had to find his body and bring him home.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kenshin left the bathing room and walked slowly back to his quarters. It had been a long day and he was eager to get some rest. There was a restlessness in his father that had begun to worry him. Sosuke Aizen seemed very intent and focused now on his training. The training had become extremely rigorous and although he shared his father's desire for revenge, there was something that had begun to feel wrong about it. Kenshin felt an uncertainty in himself…a disquiet that seemed to sharpen when he looked at Byakuya's picture or when he felt the pendant that he wore start to pulse against his throat. He had asked his father about it and they had tried several times to remove it…but it seemed to resist all of their attempts. Kenshin sighed and slipped quietly into his room. He turned off the light and climbed into bed.

A few minutes later, the door opened and his father came in. They went through the same ritual that they had every night since his awakening. His father hugged him warmly and wished him pleasant dreams, then sent him off to sleep with Kyoka Suigetsu's power wrapped around him. At first the whole ritual had been comforting…something to cling to in an unfamiliar world. But lately, it had begun to feel different. Instead of comfort, his father's touch made his heart quicken. Instead of feeling comforted by Kyoka Suigetsu's touch, he felt almost strangled by it. But he knew better than to question his father about it. He had been watching Aizen carefully and he knew not to ask questions. For the moment, he did the only thing he could do. He hugged his father warmly and surrendered to the dreams that followed. But some part of him resisted. In the depths of his heart, some part of him suspected that the dreams were a lie.

XXXXXXXXXX

Byakuya left the bushes at the edge of the darkened meadow and made his way slowly back to the lake. He sat near the water's edge, enjoying the berries he had picked and gazing up at the full moon. He felt a soft stirring in his abdomen and rested a hand on it, rubbing the area warmly. He was rewarded with a resultant kick that brought a smile to his face.

"I don't know if that means you like the berries," he murmured softly, "or if it means you don't. But the berries are all we have out here, so they'll have to do."

He paused, staring up at the moon and the blanket of bright stars overhead.

"I loved to come out here with Chisaki and Takeshi when they were little. We sat in this same place and I told them so many stories…stories about the stars, the moon, the planets…myths and legends of the living world. But their favorite stories were the ones from the Kuchiki family archive. And there are an endless supply of those."

He leaned back, letting the moon bathe his face in its white light.

"One is the story of Daichi Kuchiki, a young man who had strong powers, but a tendency to become lost. And each time Daichi became lost, he found himself on amazing adventures…but when he returned, no one believed a word he said. One of these times, Daichi was in his boat and a terrible storm swept him away. His boat crashed on an island and he woke on the shore with a terrible headache. He walked around the island and he found berries and coconuts to eat and fresh water to drink…but he was lonely without other people there. He explored the island carefully and found a cave. As he went into the cave, he felt a strange shift in the reiatsu around him and all at once, he thought himself to be at home. It looked like his home. All of the buildings were exactly as he remembered them. All of the people knew his name…and of course when he told them how he had crashed his boat and been on the island, and then found the cave that led home, they laughed at him and said he was crazy. It was just like home…but something inside him told him that it was a lie. He backed away and tried to leave the cave, but a fierce monster rose up out of the illusion he had seen through and tried to eat him! It was a huge dragon out of the old stories, a beautiful blue one with huge wings and sharp teeth and talons…and large scales. For hours they struggled against each other, each trying to kill the other. But slowly, Daichi came to a realization. He realized that he could use the dragon to find his way home. He managed to use his kido to snare the beast and he used his powers of persuasion to convince the beast that they did not have to be enemies. After much growling and snarling, the dragon seemed to realize that Daichi did not wish to fight. It agreed to take him back home if he would release it afterward. Daichi agreed and he rode the beautiful blue dragon home. But even as it landed and set him down…and as the others gathered around to welcome him home. Even as he touched the beast and told them his story, the others looked at each other and stared at him. They could not see his dragon. Poor Daichi watched as the dragon flew away, but when he got home, he found that the dragon had left a gift. It was a very special gift. It was a scale from its back. And any time Daichi rubbed the scale, the dragon would come to him wherever he was and make sure that he found his way home."

Byakuya winced as the babies kicked enthusiastically.

"Ah, no…no more stories. Renji will worry if we don't return soon."

He climbed slowly to his feet, swaying as a wave of dizziness passed over him. He tried to ignore it and breathed slowly in and out. The feeling seemed to ease, but as he made his way back to the top of the waterfall and started back down the forest trail, the feeling returned and he felt a tightening in his abdomen. He stopped, breathing slowly again and rubbing his abdomen lightly. He dropped to his knees on the side of the trail as a dull throbbing began beneath his hands.

"Not now…" he whispered, "It's too soon for that."

He panted softly, trying to decide whether to attempt rising again. He felt Renji's reiatsu nearby and reached out toward it.

"Renji," he gasped softly.

Strangely, there was no sense of connection. He remembered that Captain Unohana said that his powers could be affected. He hadn't realized the link could be affected. He knew he was close to home. He forced himself to his feet, trying to ignore the weakness that passed over him and the dull pain that continued to plague him. With agonizingly slow steps, he followed the trail to the gate and made his way into the garden.

A sharp pain gripped him and an agonized cry broke from his lips. Renji's reiatsu was coming closer. He dropped to his hands and knees, panting to manage the throbbing pain that continued in his abdomen.

He felt a sudden surge of power burst through him and light flashed around him, sending a shock wave through the garden. A shower of pink cherry blossoms was falling all around him.

"What…is happening?" he gasped, "Renji?"

"Byakuya?"

Renji was running across the garden, taking hold of him.

"Something is wrong…" he hissed, "Renji…"

Then he was gathered into strong arms and carried out of the garden, out the entry gates and toward the Fourth Division at flash step speed.

But he was losing awareness. He was sinking into the blaze of bright light all around him.

"Renji?" he whispered.

He could barely hear the echoing voices around him.

"I don't know what happened. He seemed okay all day. Then he came back from walking and just collapsed."

"Bring him this way. We've sent for the captain."

Pain shot through him and he tried to cry out, but he could no longer move.

Renji…I can't breathe…