Chapter 10: Scions

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Update: The problem with the reviews seems to fixed now. *crosses fingers* Thanks to everyone who e-mailed ff to get them to fix it! I am now knee-deep in reviews and going to have lots of happy shout outs!

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Aizen Sousuke rested beneath a tree in Tetsuya's ever-night world, gazing up into the starry, moonlit sky, his fingers sliding absently through Tetsuya's silken hair and his sharp mind working. He held Tetsuya against him, relieved at finally sensing calm in the younger man's resting mind.

I am sure that Tetsuya's role in whatever is happening is pivotal, or Byakuya would not have placed him in my possession. It was clearly a last resort that was based on his judgment of the situation. I am sure he has more information than I do, and Byakuya has a sense of true nobility. Where the others wouldn't hesitate to turn aside from the true purpose of what is happening, Byakuya will address it honorably. If we have a need to keep someone in our camp, it will be him. I think that means that if the way is there to bring him along with us when we escape, I should make the attempt to acquire him.

He frowned as he sensed riled expulsions of reiatsu nearby and shook his head.

That ridiculous bunch of old fools can't decide anything efficiently. The one benefit of having a single leader is that there is one clear vision, and it guides everyone forward instead of allowing the leaders to become mired in the details. The overarching sight of the one leader sets a fast, clear pathway. A king's vision may be corrupt, but whether it is or not, there will be someone who will overthrow him eventually.

He paused in his thinking as Tetsuya stirred in his arms and his blue eyes opened and looked quietly around.

"Are you feeling more comfortable?" Aizen asked, offering no resistance as Tetsuya sat up and pulled free of him.

"I don't know that anyone could describe what they feel, lying in your arms as comfortable, but being with you did allow me to sleep, and fortunately for me, you decided this time to comfort me, rather than murder me as I slept."

"You are fortunate," Aizen agreed, smirking, "All I have felt compelled to do is touch your hair and skin and kiss you. I confess it was a little lonely not having you kiss me back."

"Why would I ever willingly kiss you?" asked Tetsuya in a piqued tone, "It would be a slap in the face to those I care about whom you have tried to kill. Byakuya-sama, Rukia-chan, Renji-san…and the list goes on. Each person alone is a compelling reason never to look at you as anything other than the monster I know you to be."

Aizen's smile warmed.

"And you are described as an angel, Tetsuya," he asserted, "one who would do anything for the ones he loves, one whose long list of accomplishments underscores his commitment to protecting others. Don't you think an angel like that could find a little sympathy for even a monster?"

"I won't fall into your trap," Tetsuya said matter-of-factly, "I know who you are and I will not…"

He sucked in a surprised breath as Aizen's body surged forward, bringing him down onto his back and straddling him, holding him down.

"B-bastard! Let me go!" Tetsuya objected, struggling, "Get off of me!"

Aizen's dark brown eyes gazed quietly down into Tetsuya's as the younger man writhed and twisted, trying to free himself. The struggle went on for several long minutes before Tetsuya tired and slowly ceased his movements. Aizen continued to look down at him and kissed his cheek as Tetsuya turned his head away.

"You can resist all you want," Aizen said blithely, "but Tetsuya, you know what our bond means. We will be together."

Tetsuya gave him a stricken look and tears flooded his eyes, overflowing onto his face.

"I sympathize with you," Aizen went on, sliding his arms around the distraught, younger man, "it's a dreadful fate, especially for someone like you. But you have incredible courage. I've seen it. Be courageous enough to let me inside you, Tetsuya, and we will find our fate together."

Tetsuya stared back at him in silence, tears running in streams down his cheeks as Aizen's hot mouth found his and possessed it forcefully. He reeled in the heat and intensity of the exchange, his face flushing brightly and his overwhelmed mind spinning as he tried to make sense of what was happening. His heart pounded as Aizen's fingers began to bare him, but then a warning flicker in the reiatsu around them brought them hastily crashing back down into their bodies where they rested in the depths of Muken.

Tetsuya gasped and tried to sit up as the door to the chamber crashed open, and a group of soldiers led by Byakuya entered the cell, but he quickly found that his hand was still firmly bound to Aizen's foot.

"Hold them back!" Byakuya ordered the men with him.

He moved forward, drawing his blade and slashing at the bonds that held the two men.

"What are you doing?" a man's voice cried, then flashes of kido impacted with the rock walls, raining shale down onto Tetsuya and Aizen and the former broke free.

Aizen turned and struggled to free himself as a kido spell struck his chair, sending it crashing over backwards. Tetsuya knelt at Byakuya's side and quickly raised a thick ice shield between the attacking men and them.

"What happened, watashi no itoko?" Tetsuya asked worriedly, "These are council troops! Why are they attacking us?"

"There is great division in the council because of a king's order," Byakuya began, "You and Aizen are…"

"Byakuya-sama, look out!" Tetsuya howled, trying to pull his cousin out of the path of a scathing blast of kido that broke through the ice shield and crashed into them.

Their bodies flew over the fallen chair and left them both lying senselessly behind the partially freed prisoner. Aizen climbed to his knees, raising his reiatsu until it forced the soldiers back. Tetsuya came awake and scrambled to his knees, bending over Byakuya's unconscious form.

"We have to get out of here!" Aizen exclaimed, "They have that…!"

He glared down at his chest in surprise, clutching at the area as the hougyoku began to pulsate warningly. A moment later, another blinding burst of kido sent him crashing to the floor as Tetsuya came down with him. Two men dragged Tetsuya away, while Hisoka appeared alongside three more men, who fired powerful binding spells at Aizen's fallen form.

"Quickly, before he recovers!"

Hisoka dashed forward.

"This won't hold him for long," one of the other soldiers panted.

"We don't need long to end his life," Hisoka hissed, "It is over for you, Aizen Sousuke!"

Aizen struggled against the binding spells, raising his reiatsu as Hisoka swiftly connected him to the hougyoku removal device. As the device roared to life, Aizen's eyes widened at hearing the hougyoku's heavy scream in his mind. On the ground, beside him, Tetsuya writhed in the arms of his captors, his mouth opening and emitting sounds of agony. His groans quickly grew into piercing screams as the removal device throbbed, and the hougyoku's crystal housing cracked ominously.

"Stop!" Tetsuya howled, his body shaking madly, "Oh kami, please stop!"

Aizen's teeth clenched against the mingled pain and horror he felt in the dying hougyoku as the housing broke apart and the spirits confined within the device were expelled violently. Tetsuya staggered to his feet, moving towards Aizen and linking his mind with his nearby stallion's.

As soon as I am touching him, you must use a waterform to take us to you, Arashi!

He felt the stallion's mind touch his comfortingly.

I will, master.

Tetsuya dove towards Aizen, extending his hand and reaching to brush his fingers against the prisoner's. But as they touched, Hisoka gave a defiant scream and drove his sword down into Tetsuya's exposed back, striking once, then pulling the weapon free and swiftly striking again. Tetsuya and Aizen's bodies erupted into a swell of water that splashed over their advancing enemies and Byakuya's collapsed form. Hisoka stared in dismay, then turned to the others.

"Well, go and find them!" he ordered the men, "They are escaped criminals and need to be captured!"

Aizen felt a powerful sense of disorientation, then his body slammed down onto unforgiving ground. He heard Tetsuya's body impact the ground near him, but was momentarily distracted as a horse's hoof stomped on the ground beside him, making him sit up quickly. He noted the familiar looking sapphire eyes of the horse, and looked down at Tetsuya.

"You are his horse…Arashi?"

The horse made a sound of affirmation.

"We have to leave this place at once."

Aizen leaned over Tetsuya, frowning as he noticed the blood seeping through his dark clothing. He turned the younger man onto his back and felt a jolt as he saw where the two wounds had passed through from back to front.

"Bastard!" Aizen whispered, seething inwardly as Tetsuya's eyes opened and the young man gasped for breath, blood leaking ominously from his mouth.

"G-go!" Tetsuya urged him, "I…I am dying. A-arashi will live a little longer, but h-he will die soon as well. Y-you have to use him to escape!"

"And leave you here to perish?" Aizen mused, "After you just saved my life?"

"Aizen S-sousuke doesn't need me," Tetsuya panted, "Go."

Aizen watched as Tetsuya took a few more struggling breaths, then lost consciousness. His breaths slowed as Aizen lifted him onto Arashi's back, then mounted behind him and pulled him into strong arms.

"Do you think I will let go of my soul bonded so easily?" he chided Tetsuya, "Hold on, Tetsuya. I will take you to someone who can help you, even if you are dead."

Arashi read Aizen's intentions and opened a senkaimon as the alarms within Central 46 began to wail. They passed inside and the doors closed behind them, making the sound fade away. Arashi galloped through the dark corridor, heading for Karakura Town. His ears tilted back questioningly in Aizen's directions as he ran.

Will you tell me something? he asked, Why are you doing this? Tetsuya didn't expect that you would save him. Not that I object. I don't want him to die, but I must ask why you have done this? What are you thinking?

Aizen smiled cryptically.

"I am thinking that Tetsuya still has a role to play. Hisoka was almost desperate to end Tetsuya's life. I want to know why."

Those men hated Tetsuya for being bonded to you and stopping them from taking the hougyoku.

But if that was all that was fostering his hatred, then he should have been happy enough when the hougyoku died to forget Tetsuya completely. Instead, he attacked Tetsuya, aiming to kill."

My master was trying to help you escape, Arashi reminded him, Maybe that infuriated him.

"Maybe," Aizen said in a non-committal tone, "but I think there is more behind Hisoka's behavior that has not been said. Byakuya was about to tell us something when things went awry. I would have brought him with us, but things happened too quickly. Can you sense if he is alive? My senses are still recovering."

Byakuya-sama is alive.

"Good. We may need him."

Aizen turned his attention back to Tetsuya, noting with concern that the young man's breaths had stopped and his heart was slowing. He focused small jolts of reiatsu into the dying man's heart, stimulating it to beat as Arashi dropped down into a park near Urahara's shop. He headed away from the shop, to a little apartment complex a short distance away. Aizen dropped down off of his back before he was fully stopped, bringing Tetsuya down into his arms, then running up the stairs to Orihime's apartment. He knocked on the door, waiting as footsteps approached and the door opened. Orihime gasped in dismay at the sight of the two blood soaked men, then barely held back a scream at seeing Aizen's face.

"I am not here to hurt you," he promised, "I need you to save this man's life!"

"Are you hurt too, Aizen-sa…" Orihime broke off, backing away to let him in.

Aizen laid Tetsuya down on the floor, watching as Orihime's golden healing field spread out over him.

"I am not hurt," he assured the young woman, "Thank you for asking."

He noticed the way she was staring at his chest and looked down at the burned and damaged place where the hougyoku had been fused with him. Wordlessly, she extended her power, working at healing both men at the same time.

"S-so, you have escaped?" she asked, "from Muken?"

"Byakuya came to free us, yes," Aizen clarified.

"Rukia-chan's brother?" the girl asked, frowning, "Why would Kuchiki-taicho free you? Wasn't he angry with you for hurting Rukia-chan?"

"I don't know exactly why Byakuya decided to help us," Aizen explained, "It probably has something to do with the fact that his cousin, Tetsuya, was identified as my soul bonded recently."

"You have a soul bond with him?" Orihime repeated curiously, "But I know Tetsuya-san. He is not at all like you."

"No," Aizen agreed, meeting her eyes quietly, "He is nothing like me, and yet, he protected me, the first time when Urahara Kisuke tried to use the device he had created to destroy the hougyoku, then just now, when he was fatally injured, protecting me as we escaped."

"I feel your bond," Orihime agreed, "but it just surprises me."

"I was surprised as well," Aizen confessed.

"It's hard to think of Aizen-sama…of you being surprised," Orihime commented, brushing the red hairs away from her face, "You usually seem to anticipate most things."

Aizen looked down at Tetsuya's pale face.

"I don't think this young man is someone I could have anticipated," he confessed, "I am a little mystified as to why we are bonded, but thanks to you, we will have time to explore that."

"Tetsuya-san is responding to my power," Orihime affirmed, "He will need a lot of rest after I am done."

"I am afraid he will have to rest on horseback," Aizen sighed, "being that we are fugitives."

"S-so, you are going to take Tetsuya-san with you when you leave?" the girl asked.

"I am."

"And…will he be your prisoner, like I was?" she asked warily.

Aizen frowned.

"I think Tetsuya will realize that he can't go back anyway. He will be pursued for helping me to escape."

"But you won't hurt him?"

"I am not planning to, no," Aizen answered, "But you know that there are no guarantees."

"I know," Orihime said, shifting uncomfortably, "But…Tetsuya-san is a gentle person. I don't want anything bad to happen to him."

"Well," Aizen said, watching as the girl's power that was healing him faded, "I can't guarantee anything, but I don't want him hurt or killed either. That is why I came to you. Thank you for healing us."

"It's the right thing to do," Orihime said quietly.

Aizen smiled.

"After all of the terrible things that have happened to you, you can still look me in the eyes and say this truthfully? You are a fascinating person, Orihime. Truly."

Orihime gave no answer, but slowly withdrew her power from around Tetsuya. She glanced at Aizen questioningly.

"Let him sleep," Aizen directed her, "I don't want him to wake for a while yet."

Orihime made a sound of surprise as Aizen lifted Tetsuya into his arms again.

"What are you doing?" she objected, "You can't leave with him like that!"

"You have saved his life," Aizen said, carrying Tetsuya to the door, "Now, if you will shatter the bonds on my powers so that I can use my full strength to protect the two of us, I will leave you."

"You want me to break the bonds on your powers?" Orihime asked nervously, "But…"

"If you don't, then Tetsuya and I will both be killed when we are found. I no longer have the hougyoku. I need some way to protect us."

"Your reiatsu is already crushing."

"But I can't control it properly," Aizen explained, "and that makes it even more dangerous. I can function this way, but I could inadvertently kill someone I don't mean to."

Orihime sighed anxiously, but reached out and swiftly rejected the seal holding back Aizen's power. Her face paled as she felt his reiatsu swell for a moment, then settle.

"We had best be on our way," he said, turning away from her, "Thank you again, Orihime."

Orihime watched with worried eyes as the two disappeared with Tetsuya still lying unconscious in Aizen's arms.

"Please don't hurt him," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself, "Don't hurt anyone…"