Chapter 10: My Light in the Dark

(Aaaaaaaaaaaaand Ichigo and Grimmjow's birthday month gets an early start as June enters it's last day! Love to all, Spunky)

A gentle, calming blue glow seemed to invade Ichigo's sleeping mind and he came slowly to the surface and opened his eyes. His golden brown orbs blinked and blinked again, working to make the vision in front of them come into focus. A sharp tickle went through his insides as he registered the beautiful sight of Grimmjow, naked and curled around his body, the two of them sharing that electric blue glow and the sound of Grimmjow purring contentedly.

We spent all night having sex. You wouldn't think he'd still be turning me on like this, but it's like we can't stop. We finally passed out and slept for awhile. But then, I woke up and all I wanna do is have sex with him again. I even think it would be sexy to do it with him like he is now…all sleepy and with his eyes so hazy. Gods, I want him so badly now. He's going to yell at me for that, but even when he's yelling at me, I wanna push him down and have sex with him.

Grimmjow twitched several times and a sleepy growl escaped him.

Oh my god, can he just stop being so…so goddamned sexy like that? The way he looks. The way he smells. Damn it!

"You look hungry, Ichigo."

When did Grimmjow's eyes open?

When did he wake up?

How long was I sitting here, staring at him?

Ichigo frowned and blinked, reaching down to rub his blue-haired mate's rounded belly.

"Your baby bump's bigger," he noticed, "It's a lot bigger. Is that because we…?"

"Because we spent all night screwing?" Grimmjow finished for him, "Probably. That's what Urahara said when he came in while you were passed out and checked me. He said that it could happen soon. He said the prince and that redhead, Abarai, are gonna pop soon too. The lovers are coming along a little more slowly. I guess they're more polite than the rest of us. Don't wanna tire each other out or some bullshit like that."

"I told you not to talk mean about Rikichi and Tetsuya."

"Well," Grimmjow snickered, "I guess if they wanna be knocked up forever, that's their business. But, since we know that power level and the reiatsu we cook up when we have sex both speed up the process, we can get this over with faster, and I can pop these kids out and get outta…"

He stopped abruptly, his blue eyes flitting away. Ichigo felt a worried twinge inside as he processed the words in his shocked mind.

"Grimmjow, are you going to leave me when this is over?" he asked numbly.

The hollow let out a wounded breath and closed his eyes.

"C'mon, Ichigo," he said in a low, sad voice, "think about it. We've got fucking Central 46 after us. They wanna kill me and the babies in me."

"Well, we're not gonna let'em!" Ichigo snapped, "I'll protect you and the babies! I'm not letting anyone hurt you. I told you that!"

"I heard you," Grimmjow said more softly, "You're living in a dream, Kurosaki. I mean, yeah, you've done a lot of impossible things. You've saved people who couldn't be saved. You saved our worlds from the quincies. But…you know, you can't always win."

"What are you talking about? You don't know what you're saying," Ichigo insisted, "Grimmjow, the assholes in Central 46 are wrong! Kisuke's already confirmed that the kids have shinigami reiatsu and hollow reiatsu. That makes them vizards. And since the return of the vizard taichous, they've protected shinigamis with hollow powers. I mean, we have to avoid the authorities until after they're born, because of the laws, and there'll be extra rules the kids will have to follow, but…"

"What about me?" Grimmjow asked suddenly, making Ichigo go silent and staring, "I'm not a shinigami and I'm not a vizard, Ichigo. I'm a hollow. Even if they accept you and the kids, they won't want me hanging around the Seireitiei. At the core, hollows and shinigamis are enemies."

"No!"

"Whaddya mean, no?" Grimmjow snapped, "Listen to you! You're lying to yourself. We are different. We've always known that."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "We've known it and it doesn't fucking matter!"

"It might not matter to us, but it does to them." Grimmjow persisted, "And if I want our kids to be accepted by them after they're born, then it's best for me to just…"

He broke off, looking down at his hands dejectedly.

"Grimmjow?" Ichigo managed, his eyes burning in the corners.

"You might as well get used to the idea," the blue-haired hollow said more softly, "Look around you. Everyone here knows it but you. You're the only one thinking this is gonna work out like a fucking fairy tale or something, but the world just doesn't work like that!"

"Yeah?" Ichigo yelled, "Well, it's fucking gonna work for us because I'm not giving up and you'd better not either!"

"You're crazy," Grimmjow managed, his voice breaking and his blue eyes dampening, "You think you can do anything you want and it will just…work out."

"It won't just work out," Ichigo said, curling a warm arm around the distressed hollow, "Everything will be fine."

"We can save the kids, but you and I are done when this is over," Grimmjow insisted, closing his eyes against a flood of tears, "I know you don't wanna hear that, but you have to listen to me. I'm not saying it cause I'm mad at you or trying to push you away. You did it, all right? You got under my skin and even though I didn't want you to, you made me fall in love with you, and I'm glad that happened. But not every love story has a happy ending, Ichigo. Some things don't work out. If there's one thing that being a hollow has taught me, it's that you have to find what happiness you can and be grateful for it. It's that or sit around, pissing and moaning about how shitty things are, and that's a waste of time. We never know what time we're gonna have, so we have to make the most of it. Otherwise, why would we wanna live?"

"Then," Ichigo said, curling his fingers into the wrinkled folds of the Espada's opened yukata, "if you wanna make the most of this, don't be so ready to run away from it. Tough it out with me."

"You don't know what you're asking."

"Yeah, I do," Ichigo said, nipping at his lips, "I'm asking you not to give up on me. Trust me. I'm going to protect you. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I'm not afraid for me, stupid!" Grimmjow snapped, swatting at him half-heartedly, "I can take care of myself, once these kittens are outta me. I'm worried about you jumping in front of me again and getting yourself killed. I'm not raising a herd of your little brats alone!"

"Wouldn't that be a pride?" Ichigo teased, "Or would a bunch of kittens be a clouder?"

"Who makes that shit up?" Grimmjow chuckled, wiping his eyes.

"I don't know," Ichigo laughed softly, "But you don't have to worry about that. I'm not that easy to kill."

Grimmjow let out an annoyed huff of breath.

"Yeah, I guess I, of all people, should know that. I thought I killed you. Aizen thought he did. Ywach thought he did. You beat us all. I guess I should trust you a little more. But, like I said, trust doesn't come easy for a guy like me."

Ichigo smiled and ruffled his fingers gently in the Espada's blue hair, kissing him at the sensitive junction of neck and shoulder, then warmly on his frowning mouth.

"It's okay. I get it," he said soothingly, "I promise I won't get myself killed."

"Baka," Grimmjow scolded him, closing his eyes and leaning against his ginger-haired mate as Ichigo began a soothing infusion, "Like you can even promise me something like that. Do you know how many damned people have told me they weren't going to die?"

"Shh," Ichigo purred into his ear, sliding searching fingers under the blue-haired man's clothing and running them over his enlarged belly, "just relax. Let everything go and just close your eyes. We're safe here. We can take our time and have our kids. They're gonna be so beautiful. Your blue eyes…"

"Pretty ginger hair," Grimmjow whispered, "No one's gonna be able to tell'em what to do. They'll have ass-kicking reaitsu…"

"Melting ceros," Ichigo laughed softly, "The Seireitei had better watch out."

"They don't know what they've got coming," Grimmjow agreed.

"I wonder what kinda powers they'll have," Ichigo wondered, "I mean, I wonder if one of them will have a power similar to my Zangetsu and my father's Engetsu."

He bit down on the pale flesh of his hollow mate's shoulder and sucked gently for a moment as he considered.

"I hope at least one of them will have a form like your Pantera," he sighed, closing his eyes as he continued the calming infusion.

Grimmjow couldn't hold back a pleased grin.

"You like my cat form?" he asked, turning a blue eye on Ichigo

"Yeah, who wouldn't?" Ichigo chuckled, sliding a hand down the Espada's arm and lacing their fingers together.

"Um, anyone who met the wrong end of my claws," Grimmjow said, smirking.

"Right," Ichigo laughed, "You got me there."

"Just don't fucking tell me how fluffy and cute that form is, or I'm gonna have to kill you," Grimmjow warned him teasingly, "You and your stupid inner hollow."

"Forget about Shirosaki," Ichigo said, shoving Grimmjow down and climbing on top of him, "It's his fault we had sex the first time, but ever since then, it's been all me. And I think your resurreccìon is damned sexy!"

Grimmjow gave Ichigo a toothy smile and shifted easily into his advanced form, watching the aroused reaction he earned from his amorous partner.

"I'm not done with the infusion yet," Ichigo giggled, "You shouldn't…"

"Fuck that. Lovemaking's faster than an infusion anyway," Grimmjow growled, spreading his thighs and glaring at him meaningfully, "Get your ass over here and make love to me, Kurosaki. I don't like people making me wait."

Ichigo managed only a hasty preparation before his blue-haired lover toppled and mounted him, spreading his slender legs wider and howling voraciously. Grimmjow's powerful hips ground furiously and his sharp teeth snapped dangerously at Ichigo's mouth as the two young men writhed heatedly together. Fiery blue reiatsu exploded around the two and the room rumbled with the burgeoning force of their exchange. They reached a lovely, mind-numbing pinnacle together and hung suspended for a breathtaking moment, before crashing down in heavy shudders of a violent release.

Grimmjow collapsed onto Ichigo's sweating chest, still growling and snarling fiercely, and his resurreccìon form gleaming.

"Fuck, you're so beautiful!" Ichigo panted dizzily, grabbing Grimmjow's sweat-slicked bottom and holding their bodies together, "I love you."

Grimmjow turned his head away, but even though the words he said next were spoken softly, and in the language of the hollows, Ichigo understood perfectly.

"Tu eres mi luz en la oscuridad." (You are the light in my darkness.)

XXXXXXXXXX

Renji felt the bed move and he moaned unhappily, instinctively clutched at the lovely raven-haired man who was trying to quietly escape his grasp.

"H-hey, where you goin' beautiful?" he objected.

Byakuya turned and stunned him momentarily with a melting kiss.

"I am just going to speak to Urahara Kisuke," Byakuya explained, reaching down to rub Renji's rounded belly gently, "You remember that he told us that the reason we were advancing in our pregnancy so quickly has to do with power levels, resonance and our level of…hmmm, sexual activity."

"You want s'more sexual activity?" Renji snickered, grabbing the handsome noble and dragging him into another long, wet kiss, "I can do that."

"Mmmm, I am sure you can," Byakuya answered, shoving him away playfully, "But I have more questions about the…"

"Eh, the questions can wait, can't they?" Renji persisted, "I'm havin' fun here. I finally have the most beautiful shinigami all to myself, and all he can think about is going to talk business. C'mon, get back over here."

"You are insatiable, Abarai!" the noble huffed, ducking away as Renji tried to take hold of him again.

He climbed to his feet, then inhaled in surprise as Renji pounced suddenly and dragged him down onto the bed again. The redhead mounted him, letting his ample privates rub provocatively against his flustered taichou's.

"Abarai!" Byakuya managed, his words ending in a hiss of intense pleasure as Renji's powerful hips moved, causing throbs of shockingly lovely friction between the two.

"You wanna talk business now?" Renji teased, tickling his scowling taichou's erect, pink nipples playfully and looking down at him with such affection it made the noble's heart skip and flutter in his chest.

"Renji," Byakuya pleaded more softly, "I will be back in a moment. I just…"

"Uh-uh," the redhead insisted, moving his hips again and earning a rare curse from his lover's usually proper mouth.

"Ooh, don't let the elders hear you talking like that," Renji giggled, "They're gonna think I've corrupted you with my nasty peasantness!"

Byakuya could barely contain an amused smile as Renji's hand parted his thighs and the redhead's fingers began a breathtaking invasion.

"P-peasantness isn't a w-word, Abarai!" Byakuya panted, "R-renji, stop!"

"Nope."

"I want this very much, but can it wait for…?"

"Nope, not another moment," Renji laughed, watching as Byakuya frowned and tried to keep up his resistance, only to give a shuddering sigh several long, ecstatic minutes later as he gave in to his amorous partner's unrelenting advances.

"You are impossible, Abarai," he whispered, his breath catching as his body was lovingly invaded.

"You love me because I'm impossible," Renji mumbled, sucking enthusiastically on the noble's pale throat.

"I do," Byakuya moaned, arching his back and lifting his hips to deepen the heavy impact of each ardent thrust.

His slender, graceful hands wrapped around the redhead's undulating bottom, clenching and pulling impatiently as the sensitive hidden pleasure center within him was stricken repeatedly, until he lost his breath and was overcome, sent into heavy shudders of complete bliss. And even more beautiful than his own dizzying release was the look of abandon on Renji's impassioned face and the deep, throaty sounds he made in orgasm."

The redhead collapsed onto Byakuya's sweat dampened chest, panting heatedly and wearing a pleased grin.

"Glad you stayed?" he asked, nipping at a flushed earlobe.

"I have no regrets," Byakuya sighed, sinking his fingers into the thick red strands of his partner's, "You?"

"Eh," Renji sighed shakily, "I regret that I'm actually starting to feel too tired to have sex anymore for awhile. Being with you is like dying and finding out heaven's better than I ever imagined, y'know?"

He felt a sudden tension in Byakuya's body and frowned curiously as he noticed the noble's head had turned away. Rough fingers captured Byakuya's chin, pulling gently until the noble's dampened eyes met his.

"Don't say things like that to me while I am like this!" Byakuya scolded him, "You know that…"

The hormones'll make you cry," Renji finished, sighing helplessly and brushing his lover's tears away, "S-sorry. You're just so beautiful and you make me feel so good, I wanna tell you how much I love you."

"That is not helping, Renji," Byakuya complained, pulling free of him and sitting up.

"Sorry!" Renji laughed, "I'm really sorry. I don't know why I'm laughing."

"You had better not be laughing at me," Byakuya warned him.

"N-no, I'm not laughing at that," Renji giggled, "I just can't s-stop! You're so cute, Taichou!"

"I am not cute and I will hurt you if you call me Taichou while I'm pregnant with your child!"

"You wouldn't hit a guy who's pregnant with your kid," Renji teased him, flopping onto his back and rubbing the large black striped bump on his belly.

"I will wait until after you deliver," the piqued noble promised.

"Nah," Renji laughed, "after we deliver, we'll be knee-deep in diapers, baby formula and kids who smell sweet. Like you, except when they need changing."

Renji's laughter stopped and his expression grew curious at the look of surprise and cautious approval his words earned. Byakuya relaxed against the pillows, yielding readily as Renji curled into his arms.

"You look a little shell-shocked," the redhead commented, tracing Byakuya's nearly smiling lips with his fingertips, "Why is that, huh?"

Byakuya let out a slow breath.

"I was surprised to hear that you didn't mind parenting in a more direct fashion," Byakuya said softly, "I know we have both expressed relief that we will have attendants for the children…but even though I had attendants as a child, my father was always taking care of as many of my needs as he could."

Renji nodded and cuddled closer.

"That sounds like what I've heard about him. He really, really loved you."

"He did," Byakuya agreed, "and I felt that closeness I had with him because I knew I was so very important to him. I want our children to have that safe, loved feeling that my father gave me in the short time we had together."

"Me too," Renji agreed, "I want that too. You and these babies are the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm not going to forget that. Not now, not ever, Taichou."

"It's Byakuya, you fool."

"Okay, okay, Byakuya," Renji chuckled, "I won't forget that, Byakuya."