Chapter 11: Shelter

"Byakuya sensed that you still hate him that much?"

Ichigo let out a hissing breath and rubbed his hands over his face. Kisuke smiled disarmingly, moving forward and slipping an arm around the shinigami substitute's shoulders.

"Hey, like I said, you shouldn't be up and around yet. Let's get you back in bed."

"But…"

"Ah, no buts," the shopkeeper insisted, guiding him back into the room, "You just lie down and you and Rukia can talk while I go and get you some hot tea and food, okay?"

"Eh…all right," Ichigo sighed, feeling the edge of the bed, then climbing back into it.

He sat back against the pillows, waiting silently as he heard Rukia sit down in the chair beside the bed. A long moment passed between the two, then Rukia took a steadying breath and broke the silence.

"Do you…still hate Byakuya, because of what happened with me?" she asked warily, "I guess I understand why you might, but Ichigo, you shouldn't."

"I don't hate Byakuya," Ichigo said sullenly, "I don't like what he does sometimes. He can sometimes be a real jerk. You know that, even if you try not to blame him."

"It's not just that I don't want to blame him," Rukia said, frowning, "It's that I see his decisions aren't always easy, and they aren't always what he wants to do. In a lot of ways, Byakuya never really gets to just do what he wants to do. I suppose, because you do usually get to make your choices on your own, you expect he should too?"

"Well, he is the family leader," Ichigo pointed out, "That means he makes the decisions, right?"

Rukia's frown deepened into a scowl that Ichigo didn't have to see to feel it.

"Baka!" she spat, "You really think that Byakuya just decides what he wants to do and dictates that to the family? Really?"

"Ah…well, I mean, being leader has to mean he has some power," the substitute said in a defensive tone, "He's the strongest, right? He wouldn't be leader if he wasn't. So, I imagine Byakuya can stand up to them."

"He can," Rukia agreed, "but my point is that Byakuya doesn't just get to make whatever decision he wants. When my brother decides something, he has to think about how it will impact everyone in the family. He has to stop and think about how the elders will react, how the subfamily leaders will respond and how his decision might burden the people he leads. You should know that doesn't make it easy."

"I guess not, but at least he…"

"Listen to me," Rukia said sternly, "You feel trapped right now, don't you?"

"Yeah," Ichigo admitted, "You know I wouldn't choose to be blind, powerless and knocked up right now. Is there something wrong with that?"

"There is nothing wrong with that," Rukia snapped, "What's wrong is you thinking that Byakuya would just do what he wants, when there are other people's lives involved. If Byakuya did something irresponsible…"

"I know," Ichigo interrupted, "It would dishonor the family in the eyes of the other families."

"It's not just about dishonor, stupid!" shouted Rukia, "It's about exactly what you were mad at him about, and if you'll shut up and listen instead of interrupting, I'll explain it to you!"

"Fine!" Ichigo huffed, shaking his head, "Sorry."

"Ichigo," Rukia said solemnly, "Byakuya knows that when he makes a decision, any decision, his choices could have real impact on other people. Think of how you feel right now. You don't like that a decision was made that impacted your life, and you had nothing to say about it. That situation happens every day in noble life, and Byakuya is aware of the responsibility he has. The family may not always agree with his every decision, but he has earned their trust, so they accept what he decides, when he must make decisions for them."

Ichigo paused, letting the words sink in.

"You can be sure," Rukia went on, "that when my brother and the others were making the decision to take the path they had to, to save your life, Byakuya was aware of how you would feel, being left out of the decision. He knew you would be angry, and that he would be the main target of that anger. Yet, even knowing you would be angry, Byakuya knew that you wanted to live! You didn't want to die like that, did you?"

"Well, of course not, but…"

"But, nothing!" Rukia snapped, "My brother thought carefully about it, and in his decision, to the best of his ability, he thought about your feelings and how you were likely to react. And don't you think he regretted that it would make you so upset?"

"Yeah…"

"Then, why don't you stop wallowing in self-pity and realize that Byakuya wasn't just going off and making a snap decision that changed your life. He changed his own life too. Do you think he wants to have someone as angry as you are, carrying his child? Have you given any thought to how this feels to him, having lost my sister and his first child?"

"I have. I just…"

"Ichigo, neither you nor my brother is getting what he would have chosen. You should try to remember that when you go blaming him for your situation."

"I don't…"

"Yes, you do."

Ichigo's jaw clenched stubbornly for a long moment, then he let out a ragged sigh and deflated.

"I guess I was blaming him," he confessed, "I was just…so angry that I didn't have any choice."

"And each of the people who made the decision to do what they did to save your life, had to overlook their own wishes too. Kisuke didn't want to do something that could hurt you and make you angry, but he didn't want you to die. Tetsuya didn't want to end up married to Kisuke, who is a stranger to him, and have his child, but he didn't want to lose you. Byakuya didn't want to have a child with someone who doesn't love him, but he didn't want Soul Society to lose its great protector. It wasn't easy for any of them. It really wasn't."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed softly, his head bowing slightly, "I guess you're right."

He paused, frowning curiously.

"Did you say that Tetsuya married Kisuke?"

"Ah…" Rukia said, catching her breath, "yeah, about that…"

She felt a rush of relief as the door to the room opened, and turned, thinking it was the shopkeeper returning. Her jaw dropped and she stared in silence as Byakuya stepped back into the room.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, then he paused, tilting his head a little, "Is that…Byakuya?"

"Yes," the noble answered calmly, "I left hastily before. I think we had more to say."

"Yeah."

Rukia stood and headed for the door, but as she reached it, Byakuya placed a staying hand on her shoulder.

"I think that you should be here," he said quietly, "Perhaps it would be best for us to discuss this…as a family."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya reached Urahara's shop and paused outside for a moment, gathering himself. His blue eyes were wary just looking at the front door and thinking about the conversation that he and his husband must have.

I have carried this alone, but for Orochi, for so many years. It should be a relief to unburden myself, and I know Kisuke is a safe place to put these worries. Renji-san is right that Kisuke is a person with an uncanny ability to weigh options and to see the possibilities. Still, I shudder to think of what will happen if…

A sudden stinging sensation on his right ankle interrupted his thoughts, and Tetsuya looked down in surprise and dismay at the small, shining black snake that had wrapped around his ankle.

Oh no…

The effects came on quickly, an odd numbness that relaxed his body and a fogginess that invaded his mind. Tetsuya's blue eyes blinked and he breathed more slowly as he sensed the direction of the snake's master and moved to join him. Orochi waited for him a short distance away, concealed in a small grove of trees at the edge of the river park. His black eyes expressionless, he slipped a hand into Tetsuya's and opened a senkaimon.

As they moved forward together, Tetsuya shuddered and made a sound of pain upon coming into contact with the heavy reiatsu of Soul Society. Orochi's emotionless eyes blinked and registered comprehension. He turned them away from the senkaimon and instead led Tetsuya away from the shop, up a winding road that led through a prosperous neighborhood within the town. They turned onto the walkway in front of one of the houses and proceeded quietly to the front door. Orochi reached into his clothing and produced a key that he used to let them inside. He closed the front door behind them, then he stood, facing Tetsuya and glaring down at his bowed head. His voice, when it sounded, wasn't like the voice he had used before, but had a more guttural, hissing sound to it.

"You are weak."

"I was injured recently," Tetsuya said quietly, "and I am with child."

He shivered at the sharp, angry hissing that his words evoked, but was surprised a moment later when the snake spirit calmed again.

"No matter. It will not affect our feeding. Is the child his?"

Tetsuya shivered harder, risking a look into Orochi's now abyssal looking black eyes.

"No."

"Whose?"

"I was impregnated by the Karakura shopkeeper, Urahara Kisuke," Tetsuya answered in a shaky voice.

A sharper, angrier hissing filled Tetsuya's ears and pushed hard against his mind, bringing a crushing feeling of constriction and intense pain.

"This does not affect our contract," the snake spirit spat, "He will be angry, but he knows better than to damage you. Come."

Orochi's hand took hold of Tetsuya's and the two walked through the home's lavish entry and down a long hallway to the master bedroom. Tetsuya's laid down on his back on the bed, unresistant as more slender black snakes seemed to crawl out of the air, and they wrapped themselves around his limbs, biting down into his pale flesh and deepening the snake spirit's control over him.

Orochi gave a sudden, gasping groan and dropped to his knees, holding his midsection. His eyes flared with black light and billowing black smoke erupted from his body and swirled around him. A hard shriek of pain escaped him as the body of a much larger snake emerged and pulled free of him. Orochi groaned again and collapsed onto the floor as the snake slid up the bed post, then slithered onto Tetsuya's restrained form. Sliding under his clothing and along his slim torso, it honed in on his left breast, then it sank its fangs in deeply.

White, glowing light exploded around the breach and the snake hissed delightedly, feeding hungrily on it, while Tetusya laid quietly in the grip of the snakes, looking dazedly at the ceiling above the bed.

It hurts, but it won't hurt the baby.

What is this spirit that possesses Orochi's zanpakuto? He told me what they know about it, but there is much about that spirit that is a mystery. And this radiant power it feeds on that is somehow housed and maintained in my body…what is it? Where did this power come from, and why is it not affected by my powerlessness?

As the drain on his body increased, Tetsuya felt a heaviness fall over him, and his eyes blinked slowly, then slid shut. A ringing rose up in his ears, and by the time the snake's fangs released him, he was completely unconscious.

He woke to find himself lying alone in the bed in the now empty house. The smallest movement revealed what he already knew had happened in the wake of the wicked spirit's feeding.

When the snake re-enters Orochi's spirit core, their connection causes Orochi to crave connection with me. It's like he can't stop himself. I'm glad I was unconscious. I hate the feeling of his hands on me. His kisses burn my flesh. I wonder if he even feels pleasure when he is so desperate like that. I can imagine it feels lonely, because I can never return his love. Orochi's hatred and his love are the same…a poison he corrupts me with.

He may possess my body, but he will never corrupt my heart with his evil.

Tetsuya moved slowly as he climbed out of the bed. He paused, wincing and groaning at the pain movement caused, and a shiver passed through him as a small amount of blood and semen leaked onto his inner thigh.

I have to get out of here!

His shaky hands found his scattered clothing and he dressed hastily and fled the house, carefully avoiding the open when he could. In minutes, he reached Urahara's shop, and he crept in through the back door, avoiding the ones he sensed were in the kitchen. On silent feet, he entered Kisuke's bedroom and hurried into the bathroom, where he threw off his tainted clothing and rushed into the shower before the water was warm.

He looked down at the already fading fang marking's on his left breast, and the tiny leakage of the odd white power.

Strangely, although that power restores Orochi's reiatsu after the snake feeds and invades him again, it doesn't heal my body. I feel the residual pain of both the snakes' bites and Orochi's inflamed passions.

I didn't want Orochi to touch me.

Even though we are not in love, I promised Kisuke fidelity.

How will I tell him?

Tetsuya stepped back and leaned against the wall of the shower, then he slid down slowly until he knelt beneath the falling water. He wanted to cry, but felt pushed beyond tears and filled with a heaviness of heart that seemed to leave him unable to move. He remained in that place, unmoving except for the soft, quiet passage of breath.

Sometimes, in the noble's prison, I felt like this. I wanted to just disappear. The weight of captivity was so horrible, I just prayed for it to end. I thought that Byakuya's raid on the prison would set me free. In the naivete of youth, I believed that the prison I lived in was made of stone and steel.

I was wrong.

My body left the prison and I grew strong under Byakuya-sama's guidance. I earned the right to wear the Kuchiki name and to protect our family's leader. But the truth is…

…I am still a prisoner…

The water grew lukewarm, then cool, then icy, but Tetsuya knelt relentlessly, his tortured mind moving in endless circles.

Why do I have this unexplained power?

Why does the snake have to feed on it?

Do I only exist to feed it?

"Aren't you a little cold in there?" Kisuke's voice asked, shattering the quiet shell that Tetsuya had retreated into, "I think you're skin's turning as blue as your eyes. Let's get you out of there, okay?"

Tetsuya shivered as feeling returned to his body and realization struck his mind. He watched as Kisuke turned off the water, then offered a warm hand to help him to his feet.

"Let's get you in bed and I'll bring some hot tea."

The shopkeeper paused and his smile faded as he reached out and touched curious fingertips to a tiny sliver of white that still marked Tetsuya's now perfectly restored breast.

"What is this?"

He tried to look closer, but the little bit of white quickly faded. He met Tetsuya's eyes more sternly.

"I really think we need to have that talk we tried to have before. I know it's uncomfortable for you, and that it involves Orochi. But this…" he mused, looking down at his now dry fingertip, "Tetsuya, just that little bit of whatever that was, radiated a power I have never seen before. It makes me wonder…are you even a normal shinigami? And if not, then what are you?"