Chapter 10: Rapture
He's quiet, Tetsuya mused, relaxing with his back pressed into Orochi's muscular chest, surrounded by his darker cousin's attractive scent, He's been this way ever since we emerged from that cave under the water. I wonder what he's thinking. He must know that this is impossible. Even if we accept our fate and we want to be married, his father will disown him. I can't let that happen. But I know it even without confirmation. I feel our child growing inside me. What can we do? If we return and Orochi claims his child, he will be dishonored and if we return and say nothing, I will marry Yukihana Hiro under false pretenses. Once the pregnancy is discovered, they will know it is not his and that I lied. I will be imprisoned and Orochi will be found out and dishonored anyway.
I should just disappear.
But...he thought, studying the dark grey sky and frozen surroundings, with the clan in hiding and our world in chaos, we should focus on that, for now and leave the rest for later.
"You look unwell, Tetsuya," Orochi commented, scattering his cousin's brooding thoughts, "Are you all right?"
"I don't think so," the younger noble admitted, bringing Arashi to a halt and sliding wearily down off the stallion's back.
He scanned the area around them, peering closely at the few faded plants dying under the heavy frost that seemed to cover everything.
"What are you looking for?" Orochi asked.
"Wild mint leaves," Tetsuya answered, "to soothe the discomfort."
His black-eyed cousin smiled.
"You are nauseous again?" he asked knowingly.
Tetsuya turned and shot him a furious look.
"I don't know how you can make light of this!" he snapped angrily, "You know what this means!"
"Of course I know," Orochi replied, smiling slyly, "You are with child, Tetsuya. You are having our child."
Tetsuya paled at the words and let out an unsteady breath, leaning against a dark, leafless tree and closing his eyes against the reality. Reading his level of distress, Orochi dismounted and moved closer, slipping an arm around his waist and brushing a warm cheek against his.
"Is it really such a horrible thing?" he asked quietly, his breath misting, "You said that you loved our first child, Tetsuya..."
"I did!" Tetsuya insisted, turning his head and finding their lips suddenly close together, "You were a cruel person, but our child was innocent. I never believed that you were born with that cruelty in you. You learned that, Orochi. Our child was a chance to know what you could have been if you hadn't been tainted with hatred and bigotry!"
"Does this feel like hatred to you, Tetsuya?" Orochi whispered, bringing his lips to warm his cousin's chilled ones, "I was cruel to you before, yes, but we found our own balance, even in those dark times."
"Please stop."
"Why?" Orochi inquired, his black-centered eyes burning down into Tetsuya's, leaving him with weakened knees and a feeling of growing arousal, "Because you can't help reacting to me?"
"I could if you would just let me go!" Tetsuya pleaded, "You know we can't be together! Why are you not taking all of this more seriously? We are going to have to face the elders, unless you plan for me to disappear and never marry Hiro."
"Well, you can hardly marry that man while carrying my child," Orochi said, smirking, "As kind and generous a man as he is, I don't think he would go that far as to claim the child as his own."
"So, what can I do?" Tetsuya asked breathlessly, the feeling of sickness increasing until his head swam, "Do you want me to leave? To hide? What about Byakuya-sama? What of my duty to him?"
"You don't even know he survived," Orochi reminded him, "If he did, then I suppose you have a difficult choice to make, but if he did not, it may not matter what my father thinks. After all, if Byakuya dies without an heir, then I am next in line for leadership, and knowing that you are having my child, the elders would demand we wed to legitimize my heir. My father might be able to still disown me, but as leader, he would not be able to take everything from me. It would change things very much in our favor."
"Don't speak of such things!" Tetsuya half-sobbed, "Byakuya-sama is alive! He must be. He will come back, Orochi. And when he does, you and I will both face the consequences of our actions!"
He sucked in an unsteady breath and dropped to his knees, retching, as the nausea overwhelmed him. Orochi watched silently, kneeling beside him and gently infusing his belly with calming reiatsu. Gradually, the sickness passed and Tetsuya leaned sleepily against his cousin, his eyes tearing again as Orochi's words returned to him.
"You don't even know he survived,"
A shiver went through his slender body and he felt Orochi's arms tighten around him, then warm breath on his cheek and throat.
"Orochi, please..."
"You need a cure for your melancholy," his cousin purred in his ear.
Tetsuya blushed.
"Stop it! We need to keep moving, Orochi!"
"Nonsense," Orochi chided him, shaking his head, "As much as we need to find the evacuation site, you also need rest. We will just rest for a little while."
"As long as it is just rest," Tetsuya replied hotly, his blush deepening.
Orochi chuckled and raised a reiatsu chamber to hide them, then the two rested their backs against a large, gnarled oak and he offered his younger cousin another infusion. By the time he was finished, Tetsuya was sleeping deeply, leaned against his shoulder, his expression troubled, even as he rested. Orochi nuzzled into the wavy lengths of his hair, breathing in his sweet scent and nipping gently at his throat. And it wasn't long before his nether region began to tease him and Tetsuya's beauty only seemed to cause more painful flares of arousal. He sucked indulgently on a patch of soft, blushing flesh, his loins throbbing at the things he wanted to do to his lovely cousin's body.
Before he quite realized what he was doing, he had carefully maneuvered Tetsuya down onto his belly. He slid his hand gently along each slender arm, securing his wrists to an exposed tree root, then pulling the tie from his waist and fashioning a soft blindfold. He loosened his cousin's clothing, then employed glowing kido ropes to spread his thighs wide. Tetsuya sighed in his sleep and breathed Orochi's name with mingled fear and longing, making his elder cousin's nether region heat in response.
He laid along Tetsuya's back, rubbing slowly against his soft bottom and licking the satin flesh of his throat as Tetsuya gave a fluttering moan and mindlessly moved with him. He tried to turn, but found himself frustrated as his sluggish mind began to wake and realize his situation.
Tetsuya's eyes opened, but only registered darkness under the blindfold. He started to object, but was met with a fury of hard, penetrating kisses that left him too breathless for words. Orochi's hand slid underneath his loosened clothing, seeking his reactive nether region and teased him until Tetsuya thought his mind might disappear into the powerful, erotic sensations. Hard, insistent fingers invaded and prepared him slowly, while Orochi nipped and sucked playfully at the back of his neck. Tetsuya writhed within his bonds, at first, fighting them, then using them to brace himself as Orochi began to unleash his dangerous affections.
What has he done to me?
What has he done that I can't resist him, even if I try? We shouldn't be doing this. None of this should be happening! But my body won't obey me. Even without the bonds, I would he helpless in his arms. I love feeling his strength, surrendering to him, letting him have his way with me completely. It feels like force, but in reality, I want this as much as he does. I ache all over to be joined with him.
Why?
We began in such a dark place...and still, darkness surrounds us. But somehow, in his arms, I feel safe. Even as our world falls apart around us, I feel his strength and I know we will survive.
I love him.
Kami save me, I love Orochi...
He gasped as Orochi's fingers found his most sensitive place and stroked insistently. Fireworks seemed to flash blindingly before his covered eyes and he blushed at the loud, wanton sounds he was making. Orochi growled and pressed hard against his bottom, rubbing and thrusting as his fingers continued to prepare Tetsuya. He slid down to position himself and bit hard at his cousin's pale shoulder as he entered Tetsuya, then fell still for a moment, panting softly and clenching him tightly.
"You belong only to me," he hissed into Tetsuya's flushed ear, "You have since that first time. You understand now, don't you?"
A tear leaked onto Tetsuya's pale face.
"Don't despair," Orochi whispered, licking his earlobe and making his blush deepen sweetly, "I may be a wicked man, but I won't let harm come to you, Tetsuya. I'm at home in the shadows and I will destroy anything that comes near you. My lips will devour you but you will know only the blinding pleasure of our love!"
Tetsuya reeled in shock at the words.
He said...!
Orochi moved suddenly, dragging an aroused groan from deep within Tetsuya's heaving chest. He pressed against Tetsuya's strong back, thrusting hard and fast, biting at his cousin's earlobe, throat and shoulder and adding his own erotic utterings to the sounds Tetsuya was making. Heat flashed all over the younger Kuchiki's yielded body and he shuddered warningly as he neared climax. Orochi coiled fiercely around Tetsuya's writhing form, his black eyes hazed with lust and his own body shivering as they surrendered together to climax with a ringing mutual cry.
The bonds on Tetsuya shattered suddenly and he turned and met his elder cousin for a rage of finishing kisses, before collapsing in his arms, panting harshly and too exhausted to even regret his own impulsive actions.
"You said, our love."
"Why are you surprised?" Orochi asked, running his fingers through Tetsuya's wavy hair and nibbling sleepily on his lips, "It would be hard to deny, now that our love grows inside you. I suppose that I should prepare to lose everything."
"Orochi!"
"But then, I won't really be losing everything if I still have you and our child, ne?"
A helpless smile crawled slowly across Tetsuya's face, prompting another bout of penetrating kisses that left both men flushed all over and beginning to harden again.
"Rest now," Orochi chided him, coaxing Tetsuya's head onto his shoulder.
Tetsuya finally found himself able to relax completely. He fell into a deep, restorative sleep that lasted for hours, before he came awake again suddenly and shattered the reiatsu cage to gain distance before surrendering to a powerful bout of returning nausea. He sighed in relief as Orochi's arm wrapped around him, supporting him gently as his cousin infused his body with calming reiatsu. They returned to the tree and slept for several more hours before waking and climbing onto Arashi to continue their search for the Kuchiki compound.
"It feels closer," Tetsuya commented, looking between Arashi's perked ears and off into the distance, but I still cannot pass through to the waterform I placed there. I don't understand this, Orochi. What did the quincies do? How did they make this happen?"
"I don't know," his cousin confessed, resting his chin on Tetsuya's shoulder, "but we should expect that, at some point, there will be enemies to deal with. Tell this beast of yours to mind where he's going."
Tell that lecherous beast to mind his own step, Arashi whispered dryly into Tetsuya's mind.
Behave yourself, Arashi, Tetsuya thought back, Orochi is the father of my child. You'd do best to get along with him.
I don't trust him.
Neither do I...but I do love him.
Master...
Don't worry, Arashi. I know who that man is...and what he is. I understand exactly the decision I have made.
I hope so.
Tetsuya's mind quieted and he focused on the dark land around them, the unfamiliar clusters of trees that vaguely mirrored the land that had been stolen away.
"If I couldn't feel that the family was still alive, I would be terrified," he mused aloud, "I've never seen anything that could devastate the Seireitei and the Gotei 13 to such an extreme."
"Neither have I," Orochi agreed, "I imagine that, about now, our kin are wondering if they will ever emerge again from wherever they have been sent. We may be in darkness, but we are at least able to address an enemy if we find one."
"I am sensing life signs in the area ahead of us," Tetsuya warned him, "We may be forced into a fight very soon."
"Then, if a fight is unavoidable, let us do what we can to mitigate the danger," Orochi suggested.
"What?"
Orochi breathed a command to his sword and his body flickered darkly, then slowly resolved into the black body of a large snake. He slid down off of Arashi's back, prompting a sound of dismay from the spooked stallion.
"Easy, Arashi," Tetsuya soothed him, "He is right. We need to think ahead."
He nudged Arashi off of the trail and brought him to a stop, dismounting and watching as the black snake slid noiselessly into the brush and disappeared. A shiver went through him as he found himself alone in the grey forest, comforted only by Arashi's warm presence.
"I don't like this," he said softly, "I don't like separating."
It was necessary so that we could learn our enemy's position.
"Yes, of course. But that doesn't change the way I feel."
You really are in love with him, aren't you?
"Yes, Arashi. I know it doesn't make so much sense, but we are very deeply connected. And with the coming of this child, we will be even more so. I was dreading that because of what Orochi's father will likely do, but I can't be regretful. We are drawn to each other in a way that can't be undone."
Arashi emitted a soft, huffing sound that brought an instant smile to his master's lips.
You are very foolish.
"I suppose I am."
Tetsuya kept careful watch, making his breaths silent and listening closely for any sound of an enemy or the returning snake. But only soft breezes caused a rushing in the branches above him and dark mist crept in around the two where they waited in growing anxiety. Finally, a little sound in the brush brought Tetsuya to alert and he gave a sigh of relief as Orochi reappeared and shifted from snake form back to his shinigami form.
"I found the place where the compound would be if we were in the Seireitei," his cousin reported, "but it is surrounded, Tetsuya. I think they know it's there. I don't think they can attack it while we are on this side. They seem to be waiting for something."
"Probably for their leader to claim victory," Tetsuya breathed anxiously.
"I believe so."
"We can't leave them in that position," Tetsuya concluded, "We have to draw them off somehow or..."
"There are a large number of soldats that we should be able to handle," Orochi explained, "but there is also a powerful presence, likely a sternritter officer."
Tetsuya shuddered inwardly, remembering the terrible power of the one they had encountered at Kuchiki Manor.
"I suppose we have no choice," Tetsuya concluded.
"I want you and Arashi to draw off the soldats," Orochi said, "I will take care of the officer."
"What do you mean?" Tetsuya objected, "The two of us could not handle that officer back at the manor! You can't possibly..."
"The soldats could be a deadly distraction if we do not draw them off first," Orochi reminded him.
"Then, we'll send Arashi to draw them off," Tetsuya insisted, "I am not leaving you!"
"Tetsuya, you are with child!"
"I know that!" the younger Kuchiki snapped, "And I am not losing the father of my child the way I...!"
He paled and a look of illness overtook his features. He collapsed onto his knees, retching as Orochi watched with oddly sympathetic eyes. When the illness eased, he remained on his knees looking up into his cousin's black eyes.
"I can't go through that again," he managed softly, "I'll die this time, Orochi."
Orochi sighed and helped him back to his feet.
"Then, I suppose we'll have to make sure we survive this."