Chapter 11: Scattered Petals
Aizen Sosuke woke to a sight both beautiful and heartbreaking. He had seen Byakuya asleep before…asleep, unconscious, and half-dead. But when he woke, he found the noble deeply asleep and stretched warmly along his body. His face was turned toward Aizen, the usually stoic features relaxed, his lips almost upturned. Aizen had never realized how long his eyelashes were, or how his pale skin seemed to glow from within in the darkness of early morning. He loved seeing the usually perfectly combed lengths of hair tumbled and wild around his face and shoulders. As many times as he had taken that slender, powerful body the night before, he found himself yearning for it again. He ran a hand down the length of Byakuya's back and brought it to rest on his nicely rounded posterior. A dark eye opened and observed him sleepily.
"Is it time, Sosuke?" he asked in a voice that barely broke the silence.
He indulged in the depths of the noble's mouth for several long minutes before pulling his mouth free to answer.
"It is early still, Byakuya. There is time, I think, for us to give each other a final farewell."
Byakuya shifted, bringing his body up to rest on top of Aizen's and pressing the lengths of their slowly waking arousals against each other. He met his lover's mouth in a long deep kiss that began gently, but grew in its power, its forcefulness until both were left weak for breath. The long graceful fingers slid down the sides of Aizen's face and into his hair, curling and tightening as Byakuya broke away from his mouth and burrowed into his throat, teasing it with wet strokes of his tongue and sensuous nips with his lips and teeth. His hips ground deeply into Aizen's, the heavy contact slowly bringing their aching members back to life. Aizen ran his hands slowly down the long muscular back and took hold of the noble's writhing buttocks, pulling them in more deeply, increasing the contact and eliciting a hungry moan from Byakuya.
"I have to tell you," Aizen whispered, "I have to say it before you leave, Byakuya. I've never felt anything as perfect as the feel of your body making love with mine. I wonder if I'll ever know this kind of perfection again."
Byakuya raised his body up and straddled Aizen, gazing down at him with calm acceptance.
"I do not know when or if we will meet this way again, Sosuke. But I like to believe that we will," Byakuya replied, leaning down for another kiss.
"So we'll leave this to fate?" Aizen queried, "We'll let go and let fate take us where it will?"
Byakuya sighed.
"Sosuke, you know that when I return, I will be examined. Captain Unohana certainly knows the difference between the effects of love and violence. She will know that I was indulged in both here. I will be carefully watched. Even if she interprets what I've done as a case of captor and captive binding, it won't change the fact that they will suspect me of turning traitor. I cannot risk coming to you…nor can you risk entering the Seireitei."
Aizen nodded in resignation.
"I know. I am all too aware of how closely you will be watched. But given time, they will find other concerns. When such a time arrives, will you come to me?" he asked, placing a hand on the noble's cheek.
Byakuya took hold of the hand that touched his face and brought it to his lips.
"Let us leave it this way. If you succeed in overthrowing the spirit king and the Gotei 13 comes under your control, I will, if you still wish it, join you in the spirit dimension."
Aizen smiled.
"And what if I fail in that? Will I ever see you again, Byakuya?"
The noble nodded.
"Should you be killed in battle, I will visit your grave in remembrance."
"And if I am captured?" Aizen asked, chuckling softly.
"If you are ever captured and brought to the Seireitei, I will come to your trial. I will come to you the night before your execution and I will make love with you one last time. When the time comes for your execution, I will go to the Sokyoku with you and I will watch as you die…only so you can look down and find loving eyes among your enemies, someone who will miss you when you are gone."
"I wonder," Aizen said, stroking Byakuya's cheek, "if I should be offended that you wouldn't try to release me."
Byakuya yielded a small smile.
"Despite my penchant for breaking the rules and sleeping with the enemy, I do still defend the laws and practices of the current monarch. If you become that monarch, you will make the rules, Sosuke. I just hope you learn to be wiser in your choices. Some of yours have been shocking."
Aizen sighed.
"I imagine time will tell on that count, Byakuya. But let's leave all that for now. Be with me. Too soon, your rescuers will breach this fortress's defenses. Before that happens, I want to bury myself in you and forget everything else…just one more time."
Byakuya bowed his head and let his eyes close.
"I want this as well."
"Why?" Aizen asked quietly, "As much as I've spoken my reasons, you have kept yours concealed…only ever saying that you could not resist. So tell me now, why do you want this?"
Byakuya fastened his eyes on Aizen's and leaned down to kiss him again. His lips pressed softly to the other's and the words, when they came, were delivered directly to Aizen's deeply protected heart.
"I wanted you for the same reason that I gaze at the moon every night. I was enchanted by your unique beauty…your inner passion…and your unobtainable status. I was lured to you and I resisted you with all of my strength, but when that strength was gone and I was forced to yield, you did not devour me, as I had expected you would. You treasured me…and I was forced to admit…I was captured…and at long last, conquered. That is why."
"But you will willingly leave me now?" Aizen asked softly, "Without a second thought, Byakuya?"
Byakuya's head bowed and his lips brushed Aizen Sosuke's tenderly again.
"You and I both know why I must leave Hueco Mundo. Even if not for the ire of the hollows and our differences over the fate of Ichimaru Gin, I will not soil my family name by being branded a traitor. It is simply something I cannot do, Sosuke. We must save this for another time and place. We must be thankful for that it existed, even if briefly, and we must let go."
"Yes," Aizen agreed softly, "We must let go."
He reached up with open hands and curved them around the glowing dawn-lit face, bringing the noble's pretty mouth down to fasten on his. He kept his eyes open and locked on Byakuya's. The dark gray eyes gazed into his and Aizen Sosuke found in their calm depths the deep traces of affection and the beginnings of regret. He treasured this small betrayal of Byakuya's emotions for the precious gift it was, kissing the soft brow over each eye, then sinking back into the warm, sweet mouth that sought his in silent desperation. He wouldn't say the words aloud. Instead, he released them in soft offerings of lips, tongue and fingertips. But Aizen Sosuke not only understood, he returned the honest sentiments in calm return touches.
The noble thrust his hips into Aizen's, grinding against his swiftly hardening member, teasing his lover's throat with soft brushes of lips and tongue, light touches of breath. Aizen Sosuke held on tightly to the noble's riled hips, encouraging them in their path, guiding them more and more deeply into his, until Byakuya moaned loudly and pulled his body away. He straightened above Aizen, lowering himself onto his lover's inflamed arousal, his dark eyes gleaming and wanting.
His hands braced against Aizen's muscular chest, Byakuya rose and fell on the swollen member, his head dropped low, the wild strands of raven hair obscuring the lines of his deeply affected expression. Aizen drank in the delicious sight of the noble, boundaries forgotten, his normally stoic body strained against Aizen's in full rebellion, the deeply restrained inner spirit he kept so carefully hidden, suddenly unleashed.
Aizen bucked his hips upward into the noble's, striking the bundle of nerves deep inside him. Byakuya's head came up sharply, his eyes widened and his black hair swept back to reveal a shocked and feral gaze. He gave a hard cry of pleasure and released onto Aizen's chest and stomach, his fingers digging into Aizen's flesh, his body shuddering and threatening to collapse onto the body stretched out and writhing beneath him. His lover thrust upward one last time, emptying himself deep inside the noble, finally claiming the last of Byakuya's strength. His arms gave way and he dropped down onto Aizen Sosuke's body, senseless with pleasure and exhaustion. Aizen caught him as he fell, delighting his mouth with kisses and calming his shaking form with feather light touches and strokes. Slowly, the trembling ceased and he fell into a troubled slumber, his lips heedlessly releasing what, in his right mind, Kuchiki Byakuya would never say aloud.
"Sosuke…Sosuke…aishiter…"
Warm fingers touched his lips, stopping his words.
"Do not say that," Aizen whispered softly, "If you tell me that you love me…I won't be able to let you go. Please…stop, Byakuya. You can't say those words to me, nor can I say them to you…no matter how much we feel them…no matter how true they are."
The noble's words faded into incoherency and he drifted more deeply into sleep. Aizen Sosuke gazed down at him worriedly. The time for his leaving was nearly upon them and the noble's considerable resolve was beginning to strain under the weight of their passion. But he didn't want to wake Byakuya. He didn't want to watch him go.
And yet it had to be done.
He didn't fall asleep again, but lay calmly holding Byakuya in his arms and watching the sky brighten. Outside, the crescent moon was disappearing into the light of day.
_ _ _
Byakuya stood near the window, dressed in just his hakama, loathe to finish preparing for the moment of his leaving. As much as it was his duty to leave Las Noches, to return to the Gotei 13, his heart rebelled against the idea, warring with the calm reasoning he had used to cement his resolve.
It was ironic, he thought, that he still remembered when all he had wanted was to leave, to return to the Seireitei, to Rukia, to Abarai Renji, to the home he knew and loved. But there was love here…even in so dead a place as this. It would hurt him to leave that behind.
Why does this bother me now? Before, I might have felt the stirrings, but my heart did not rage against the very thought of leaving him. But I simply must go now. I do not belong here. I do not belong to him. How do I do this? How do I let go when my heart holds me frozen?
"Byakuya," Aizen said quietly, "all is in place."
He approached the noble, who still stood half-dressed and staring out to where his rescuers lay concealed. Aizen slipped the top of his shihakushou into place and fastened the tie at the waist. He took hold of the haori that rested on the peg on the wall where it had been since Byakuya's arrival and wrapped it around his decidedly more slender frame. He picked up the ginpaku kazahana no uzuginu and gently wound it into place around his elegant throat. Byakuya swallowed hard as he lifted the kenseiken and fastened it in place. Finally, Aizen Sosuke reached down to his own hip and removed Senbonzakura. He placed it gently in Byakuya's waiting hands and passed his hands over the katana and Kuchiki Byakuya's wrists, releasing both Byakuya and Sanbonzakura from the seal on their powers.
"You are as beautiful as ever, Byakuya," Aizen Sosuke observed in a soft voice, "I always admired your beauty."
Byakuya stood, quietly staring back at him.
"I will always remember yours," Byakuya whispered back.
Aizen stepped in close, wrapping his arms around Byakuya and indulging in a long, last kiss. He then released the noble and stood ready.
"Whenever you are ready then," he said softly.
In front of him, Byakuya's spiritual pressure began to resonate, and his body began to glow white with his power. He stood for a moment, bathed in the white light and looking to Aizen Sosuke like what the people of the living world referred to as an angel.
Aizen smiled warmly at him.
Byakuya turned toward the window and gathered his power.
"Hado #33, Soukatsui!"
His eyes flared blue for a moment as the kidou power rose up inside him, then was released from his hands and soared across the room. It struck the window and blasted it away. Byakuya stole a final look back at Aizen Sosuke, then flash stepped through as alarms began to sound all around.
He could sense the closeness of the rescue force, of his fukutaichou, of Rukia. It resonated in his heart, reminding him of all he had missed while being held in Hueco Mundo. Despite what he felt for Aizen, he was glad he would be going home.
As he burst out the window and onto the roof of the next building, he sensed Aizen's flash step and turned with practiced ease to meet Kyoka Suigetsu as it slashed at him. Cries were sounding in the fortress now, and where the soul reapers were rushing out of hiding and dashing across the distance between them, hurrying to offer him aid in his escape.
Aizen Sosuke's eyes held his as they slashed at each other, flash stepped and slashed again. They moved over the top of the building and to its edge, where Byakuya turned and again engaged him in a clash of blades and kidou.
Byakuya heard the screech of the skeletal snake rising up behind him and knew that the time had come for him to break free. The skeletal snake rose and turned toward him, screeching with power as it closed the distance between them. In moments, Renji's Ban Kai would close around him and sweep him back over the sand, into the arms of his rescuers.
His eyes found Sosuke's and locked on them as their swords crashed together, slashed and broke free. He locked himself against Aizen as the skeletal snake drew close. He felt the moment of escape reach him. Then…the unthinkable happened.
As Kuchiki Byakuya stood on the brink of rescue, he turned toward his rescuer, the skeletal snake that swept down to gather him up. As he started to flash step toward it…Kuchiki Byakuya faltered. In a moment of horrendous weakness, his body turned back toward Aizen, his eyes locked, his expression one of agony. Aizen stared in dismay, reading the disaster that was about to happen.
He would lose everything, Aizen reminded himself…his family, his home, his friends, perhaps even his life. With only a split second to react, Aizen Sosuke slashed at the noble, the strike tearing across his chest and sending a blood spray outward. Their eyes still locked, Byakuya's went dark with registers of deep shock, of pain…then of gratitude. He staggered back, teetering madly on the edge of the roof. It took every bit of restraint Aizen had to stand calmly and watch the noble begin the long fall to the ground. As he fell, Byakuya gazed back at Aizen and mouthed a single phrase. It slashed Aizen Sosuke more solidly than a zanpakuto ever could.
Sosuke…aishiteru yo…
Then the noble was falling, plummeting from the roof toward the ground. The skeletal snake soared downward, taking hold of Byakuya and winging back to Abarai Renji.
"Byakuya," Aizen said softly, "aishiteru yo."