Chapter 10: The Encroachment
(Happy Birthday, Sousuke Aizen! And many happy returns (to the bedroom with all of your favorite uke partners!) The Aizenlove glows strongly today! Thanks to everyone spreading the Aizenjoy. And yes, more chapters are on the way! Love you all, Spunky)
Tetsuya laid quietly as Unohana taichou and Urahara Kisuke leaned over him on one side and Inoue Orihime sat on the other side, her power activated and glowing around him. His eyes looked blankly up at the ceiling and he meandered unhappily over how his life had gone from being something of contentedness mingled with an edge of loneliness to the tangled, life threatening mess it was.
Why?
Why did I give in to him that night?
None of this would have happened if I had just done the job I was sent to do. But...there was something about Aizen Sousuke that enchanted me without any bit of his hypnosis. I want to say I was manipulated, and maybe he did mean to mislead me, but...
He returned to Las Noches, his aching mind trying to make sense of what had happened there.
"Aizen Sousuke, will you tell me something?"
Tetsuya placed a hand over the one that rested on his belly.
"Does this child mean anything at all to you?"
Aizen sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing Tetusya's abdomen and breathing slowly.
"It would be accurate to say that when first I knew that you were with child, it meant nothing at all to me."
"And now?"
Aizen's eyes opened and fixed on Tetsuya's.
"What do you think, Tetsuya? What do you feel when you look into my eyes? When my hands touch you? You feel the powerful resonance, don't you? As much as I have resisted it, I am connected to this small speck of new life we have created. I don't think either of us realized the full nature of what we agreed to that night. I was trying to use you to escape and you were trying to draw me off guard so that you could tighten the barriers around me. But amidst the deceptions was one simple truth."
"We were both longing for something," Tetsuya whispered.
Tears filled Tetsuya's eyes at the thought of the baby that he had imagined was the driving force behind their connection.
But it isn't a child at all, is it? It is something else that eats away at my body, draining away my strength and will leave me just a dried out shell eventually. But perhaps it is the punishment due for letting that man inside my head...inside my body. I wonder why I fight at all. Without the child, there is nothing left to hold us together.
Tetsuya felt the retreat of Orihime's power and heard the distant sounding voices of Unohana and Kisuke telling him to rest. He did try to close his eyes, but tears leaked out of them anyway, trailing down his face in streams.
I was so stupid.
I was already an outcast in my own family, but at least I felt like I had something to hang on to. I made connections with Byakuya, with my adoptive family, and the others, as time went on. But even though I grew closer to them, there was always the feeling that there was a little distance that I couldn't break through. It was a boundary I couldn't step over. And when Aizen Sousuke entered my life, the boundary thickened until the others disappeared and all I had was him.
And now, he has abandoned me.
But, why would he stay? There is no child...nothing really there between us. He spoke of our souls being bonded, but I don't feel that at all. All I feel is the steady draining of my life, this teasing dream of a child that isn't there, an enemy in my own body, dragging me down into death.
But Sousuke will walk away and forget me after a while.
Why does that hurt me more than anything.
The man never promised me anything. And he hardly gave me anything but pain.
Tetsuya swallowed hard as an unbidden memory ate away at him.
He blinked slowly, unable to avoid noticing how beautiful Aizen looked, surrounded by falling sakura, and how his body ached with desire for him as Aizen's mouth found his, and the man's fingers worked quickly to prepare him. He gave an agonized sigh of relief as their bodies were joined and sank deeply into the hard, urgent motions of their coupling. A soft glow rose from his abdomen and grew brighter as the two men neared climax, The reiatsu exploded around the two as their pleasure crested, and Tetsuya gasped in surprise as Aizen's reiatsu flared hotly around them, then began to decline rapidly. The two parted, and Tetsuya came to his knees, wrapping an arm around the other man as he closed his eyes and panted softly to regain his breath.
"Why can't I just forget you?" he whispered, hating himself for sounding so needy.
He left his bed and stumbled across the room, making his way out onto the balcony, then paused as he felt the heavy presence of a barrier that worked both to keep pursuers out...
...and me locked inside.
I am a prisoner again. And even the fact that the people who care most about me are the ones locking me in, and that it is as much that they care as that they don't trust me anymore, it is unbearable.
But I brought this on myself. I let Aizen Sousuke into my heart and let him poison my body, and now, all that is left is taking my last breaths. They will try, but they won't be able to save me. And I don't deserve to be saved. The only solace I have is in meeting my death and perhaps being held in my Naoki's arms again in that place beyond.
Tetsuya felt his legs weaken under him and started to drop to his knees. Strong arms startled him by curling around him and holding him tightly.
"B-byakuya-sama, you don't have to..." he began.
"It's not your cousin," Aizen's deep, compelling voice whispered into his ear.
Tetsuya stiffened.
"Why did you come back?" he managed brokenly, "There isn't anything here for you but decline and death, Sousuke. There is no child to bring us together, no future for us even if I am eventually healed. There is no reason for you to risk coming here. Why? Why did you...?"
"I came for you," Aizen breathed warmly into his ear, making him feel even weaker in the knees, dry-mouthed and breathless, "Tetsuya, I will be the first to admit I am a heartless man sometimes...a lot of the time. But...I am not accustomed to feeling a level of solitude and loneliness that rivals my own."
"I am not..!"
"And the startling things is that you feel this loneliness when your loved ones are all around you. You have everything you need to find your way back to the life you had, and to forget what happened that night. You will be healed, Tetsuya, and when you are, you can walk away from me and go back to the calm, gentle existence you knew before. That is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"Y-yes...perhaps. I don't know. Sousuke, are you really even here?"
"Shh," Aizen breathed, warming his earlobe and sending gentle shivers through his tasked body, "Don't torment yourself anymore. Just let me comfort you. How real it is doesn't matter."
Fresh tears streamed down Tetsuya's face as he felt himself being lifted and carried back to his bed, then laid down gently. Another body slid into the bed beside him, and he turned instinctively into Aizen's arms, seeking the other man's mouth desperately. And where their last coupling had been hurried and careless because of the need for the reiatsu exchange, this joining occurred more slowly. Aizen's possessive mouth closed over his and the kiss that followed was long, warm and undeniably sweet. Another followed, and another, just as wonderfully firm and sensuous as the first, then the elder man's hot tongue teased his lips apart and sank inside, blazing along the length of Tetsuya's and curling around. Tetsuya's body pressed upward reflexively, seeking friction against Aizen's, and the traitor's body answered, pushing down against his and sending flutters of sexual hunger all through him. As the deep, penetrating kisses continued, Aizen's hands slid beneath Tetsuya's opened yukata and touched and caressed him everywhere. Aizen's mouth left his and attacked the pale, soft flesh of his throat, then crawled slowly down the length of his surrendered body, while Tetsuya's eyes stared upward sightlessly, and he still wondered if he was only desperately dreaming.
But the hands and mouth that traveled all over his skin felt hot and alive and very, very real. And the other man's wickedly beautiful brown eyes enjoyed his strong reactions and raked over him, leaving him flushed and weak in Aizen's embrace. Tetsuya moved readily with the insistent fingers that carefully prepared him. He spread his thighs easily as Aizen's dark form rose over him and positioned itself to enter him.
"I still don't know if you're really here, but if all I have is the illusion, then it will be enough," Tetsuya whispered.
"This is no illusion," Aizen whispered back, "but I think you know that, Tetsuya. This is the power of the soul bond. I felt your pain, your despair, and as your soul bonded, I was driven to answer. You needn't feel alone in your struggles anymore. You aren't alone. Be calm now and let me give you what you need."
"I only need your love, Sousuke," Tetsuya confessed, "I have always thought that I could live without love, but once I felt that emotion for you, I knew I desperately needed to feel your love in return. You have no reason to give that to me..."
"I have every reason," Aizen chided him, "What happened between us is no mistake. We both needed something and we have found that."
"But, I thought that it was the baby that made you desire me," Tetsuya reasoned, "There is no child, Sousuke."
"I know that, but Tetsuya, there was no child that night in my cell when I seduced you either."
"That was just..." Tetsuya began.
"That was the power of the soul bond working as fate brought us together," Aizen concluded, "And just like it led me to you that night, it guides me to give you the comfort you need now. Let me help you, Tetsuya. Don't feel like you have to do this alone."
"But I don't even know if this is real, or if I've just become so desperate that I'll do anything to even pretend that you could ever feel anything real for me," Tetsuya sighed, closing his eyes at the slight pain as his body was claimed.
"Don't worry about whether it is real or not," Aizen panted softly as he began to move, "Let it happen."
For some reason, the reassurance made him relax completely. Tetsuya groaned and writhed fitfully, but the tormented expression left his comely face and was taken with a more flustered and desirous look. Aizen's fingers traced his lips and his mouth followed, delivering life giving, open-mouthed kisses, then hotly breathed words that caused warm flickers deep in Tetsuya's heaving chest. He held on tightly to it all, yielding everything his shaking body could offer and surrendering completely to the feverish shudders and hot throbs of a gripping climax. Aizen's scathing heat filled him inside, and finally Tetsuya realized that no dream he could have conjured would have come close to what he was experiencing. He opened his eyes and looked up into Aizen Sousuke, then froze at the affectionate look beneath the cool, deadly surface.
"I love you," Tetsuya confessed dizzily, watching the edges of that smirking mouth warm into an even more affectionate smile.
"I know. And you should know this...I won't let you die, Tetsuya. I promise you that you won't. We will learn how the hougyoku is connected to what is happening to you and we will stop this."
"We will," Tetsuya answered with growing confidence, reaching up to trace the other man's smile.
Aizen's dark eyes blinked and his vision flickered oddly.
"Tetsuya," he whispered into the younger man's blushing ear, "I..."
Tetsuya felt the sudden retreat of the other man's reiatsu, and the heavy quiver of reaction as Aizen's body stiffened, then collapsed onto his.
"Sousuke!" Tetsuya called out, sitting up and holding the other man against him, "Sousuke!"
He looked on in disbelief as another voice sounded in his mind, making Tetsuya shiver with its iciness.
This is the beginning of the end for both of you, the voice promised, You thought you could get rid of me. You thought you could kill me! But now, you and that man will die giving me everything I desire!
"SOUSUKE!" Tetsuya screamed, ignoring how his cry brought running footsteps in the hallway and the door burst open, "Sousuke, wake up!"
"Tetsuya, what's happening?" Byakuya demanded, sliding to a stop at seeing the unconscious Aizen being held protectively in his cousin's arms.
"It's going to kill us!" Tetsuya cried, "That's what it wanted all along! That's why it told me to open my heart to him that night!"
"What are you talking about?" Kisuke asked, moving to join Byakuya as Unohana and Orihime appeared in the doorway, "Tetsuya, what do you know about what's happening here?"
"I don't know exactly," Tetsuya sobbed, "but that night...Christmas eve, when we were together, I heard the hougyoku tell me to open my heart when Sousuke first made love to me. I did...I did what it said, and that's when this all started to happen. Our souls were bound together that night, and after that was when we thought I was pregnant..."
The group froze and stared raptly as the hougyoku in Aizen's chest flared blindingly, then flickered and shattered, leaving a gaping hole where it had been.
"Holy hell!" Kisuke whispered in disbelief, his face paling, "Just what is that thing doing to you?"
He started to move forward, then paused as Tetsuya shifted and held the unconscious traitor away from them.
"Tetsuya..." Byakuya breathed worriedly.
"Don't hurt him!" Tetsuya howled, holding on to Aizen fiercely and glaring warningly back at the others.
"Tetsuya-san," Unohana said kindly, "You must let us help him, or Aizen Sousuke is going to die right here, right now."
"And what would any of you care about that?" Tetsuya shrieked, his reiatsu returning suddenly and his blue eyes glowing a bloody, dangerous red, "Aizen Sousuke is mine! He gave himself to me! I won't let you touch him!"
"What is happening to him?" Byakuya gasped, laying a hand on his sword as his cousin's eyes gleamed hatefully back at them.
"Don't you get it?" Kisuke managed in a choked, almost fearful voice, "It's the hougyoku. It's always been the hougyoku. That's what made this whole damned thing happen! It...somehow, it found a way to use the soul bond that occurred when Tetsuya opened his heart. It used that conduit to travel slowly from Aizen's body into Tetsuya's. It's been stealing Aizen's power little by little, giving him about the most painful death possible. And now, it's fully within Tetsuya's body."
"It's taking over my cousin's body?" Byakuya said, blinking and staring in disbelief and horror.
"No," Kisuke said, shaking his head slowly and swallowing hard, "It's using them to bring itself to life. It just emptied Aizen of everything. He's dying. And if we don't do something to stop it, Tetsuya's going to die too...then that thing is going to shed Tetsuya's body and be born. Now, I've seen wickedly powered hollows, even spirit demons, but what we have here is a demon god about to be born!"
"We can't let that happen," Byakuya reasoned, starting to draw his sword.
He made a sound of surprise as Kisuke's hand stopped his.
"What are you doing?" the Kuchiki heir demanded, "We have to stop this! I know it will cost Tetsuya his life, but my cousin wouldn't want this!"
"I know that," Kisuke assured him, "But killing him now won't do us a damned bit of good. That thing is in the last stage of maturing. It will drain Tetsuya faster now, until there's nothing left and he just turns to dust. Then, it will emerge."
"Unless we find a way to stop it," Unohana said sadly, "But how do we do that?"
"I don't know," Kisuke said, shaking his head, "I've got no idea what to do!"
"I will place Tetsuya-san in suspension. Perhaps that will give us some time."
"What should we do with him?" Kisuke asked, looking at the unconscious man in Tetsuya's arms.
"I can help him," Orihime offered, "I'm sure I can stop him from dying."
"You can't help him," Tetsuya said in a far colder voice the others had ever heard emanate from the younger Kuchiki, "I want him to die...and I want my mother to die giving me life. That is my desire, my will."
"Bakudo number sixty-one," Unohana said softly, "Rikojokoro!"
Tetsuya gave a shattering screech as the six rods prison of life wrapped around him. Unohana flash stepped forward and retrieved Aizen as Kisuke and Byakuya moved to Tetsuya's side and Kisuke began the preparations to send the younger Kuchiki's body into suspension.
"There's nothing you can do," Tetsuya's possessed form taunted them, "And when I am born, I will kill all of you!"