Chapter 11: Missing Pieces

Byakuya stirred uncomfortably as he slept, his abdomen throbbing intermittently and his reiatsu burning beneath the limiter that he wore to conceal his identity. His soft, discomfited moans nudged Hisana awake, and she placed her small hands on his face, searching for signs of fever. Finding none, she tried humming quietly as he slept. The sound seemed to soothe him, and he fell back into a deeper sleep. And in that more removed state, he began to hear a familiar, ominous voice.

"Kuchiki Byakuya…"

He opened his eyes and inhaled sharply in surprise as he found himself in Aizen Sousuke's bedroom. He stood silently in the middle of the room, listening intently.

"Kuchiki Byakuya…" the voice said again, "So, you are still alive?"

"Who are you?" he asked, looking around the room.

He spotted something sitting on a desk, next to a bottle of sake and two waiting glasses. With hesitant steps, he approached it, peering ahead and trying to bring the object into focus. But even as he moved closer, whatever it was continued to confuse his eyes.

"I know I've heard your voice before…"

He heard a soft, dismissive laugh.

"Who am I, you ask?" the voice went on, "I am the one who is responsible for the turns your life has taken as of late, Byakuya. You do not remember, but I told you that I grant the desires of the ones around me, and I sensed your desires. You wanted to marry him, to have his child…and you were willing to die for him. My power altered your body, and you became pregnant, but oddly, you never told him you were with child. You just left him, and you left him wondering why…"

"Who are you? How did you make my pregnancy possible? And why? How do you know so much about what is going on?"

"So many questions, Byakuya. But the question you need answered is the question of what I intend to do, now that I know you are alive. The answer…is nothing, for now. As long as you stay away from Aizen Sousuke, you have nothing to fear from me. So, as you are playing dead, stay dead. Remember, you have a child to protect."

"What are you doing? Are you going to hurt Sousuke?"

"I would never hurt Aizen Sousuke. I am making certain that he achieves his full potential, but you were distracting him a little too well. Stay out of the way."

"Wait," Byakuya said, his eyes widening, "Does this have to do with the things that he could not talk about? Is it the reason why he couldn't marry me?"

"Focus, Byakuya. Focus on your baby. Because this is your last warning. If you pursue Aizen Sousuke, then you won't just feel that you would die for him…you will."

Byakuya sat up suddenly, his stomach turning. He had a vague realization that Hisana wasn't in the cave, then he was crawling out and a short distance away. The feeling of illness overwhelmed him and he emptied his stomach, and rested for a few minutes, then forced himself to the nearby stream and drank a few mouthfuls of water. He sat by the stream, shivering in the chill air and wondering about the voice in his dream.

I know I have heard that voice before. But was it real or was I just dreaming it? And who is this, who has the power to grant inner desires? Is this a shinigami? A zanpakutou? Is any of this even real? I just don't know. But that warning sounded real. And if this person is real, then what is it that they are doing that Sousuke could not tell me? I worry for him, but…

A soft flutter of movement and a glimmer of reiatsu in the area of his abdomen stole him out of his thoughts.

"What is this?" he whispered, laying a hand over the area.

The growing reiatsu went quiet again for a few minutes, then flared softly again.

"Is this…?"

He went silent, his eyes wide and a very soft smile touching his lips as he registered the awakening of another consciousness. The feeling was faint and quiet, and the thoughts were curious and primal in nature, but even not having ever been with child before, he knew he had just connected with the cluster of life that he and Sousuke had made together. And for some reason he could not fathom, his mind spun back in time and he was suddenly very certain of what night the conception had taken place. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he was transported back to that night.

"You look lovely, standing under the full moon like that, Byakuya," Aizen said, sliding his arms around Byakuya from behind and pulling back the hair on one side.

He planted a soft kiss at the juncture of throat and shoulder, and slid a hand down to entangle it with his. All around them, sakura blossoms floated down from the nearby trees. Byakuya turned slightly, the bright moon reflecting in his eyes and lighting the sweet smile on his lips. Sousuke was the only one who could bring that smile to his lips and such contentment to his heart.

"I was wondering if I would see you tonight," Byakuya said softly, "I know you are busy preparing to leave with your squad. I can't imagine how lonely I'll be for the next month while you are gone."

"Hmmm," the brown-eyed taichou purred against the skin of his throat, "Your own squad will be busy as well, preparing for the royal family's visit, ne? You'll hardly know I'm gone."

"I always notice when you're not here," Byakuya breathed, closing his eyes and enjoying the feel of the other man's mouth feeding gently on his pale flesh.

He could feel Aizen's smile.

"Then I must do my best to take your mind off my leaving. I'll give you something to reflect on that will keep your heart warm while I'm gone."

Aizen's lips left his throat and found his mouth, and his hands moved to loosen the flowing white yukata he wore. The front fell open, giving the moon a larger expanse of his pale skin to light, and the fine material shifted, revealing a glowing, white shoulder. Aizen's hands slipped beneath the yukata, sliding over the not yet revealed places and waking the strong flicker of desire in the noble's enchanting gray eyes.

"What are you doing?" Byakuya said catching his breath as he was pushed back against one of the sakura trees, "Do you intend to take me out here? Now?"

"I love the way you look dressed in moonlight," the older shinigami said, pressing closer and busying his mouth with deep, penetrating kisses.

Byakuya sank deeply into each kiss, his hands working slowly at the other man's clothes and quietly baring the wonderfully warm body beneath. As his clothing fell away, he laid his hot flesh against Byakuya's, sending shivers of anticipation through the younger man's body and making him moan very softly into his lover's mouth. Aizen's mouth pulled away for a moment and Byakuya loosed a regretful sigh. But he couldn't hold onto the regret as Aizen's hungry mouth traveled slowly down the front of his body, his lips touching, his tongue tasting and his fingers pleasuring every inch of lovely white skin he could reach.

"Are you sure you do not mean to torment me, doing this and then leaving me?" the noble panted heatedly, "I won't be able to concentrate. I'll be remembering this constantly…"

Aizen's mouth closed over his navel and the man's sinful tongue sank inside, as his fingers stroked the noble's sensitive inner thighs and coaxed them apart. Byakuya sucked in a fevered breath, his legs quivering as Aizen's lips kissed their way down from his navel, following the line of fine, black hairs until he reached the hard, flushed member at the base. Byakuya groaned as the man's lips brushed very lightly against the leaking head, taking the smallest taste of him, then kissed their way down the long shaft and with agonizing slowness, pleasured the soft sac. The younger man's hips pushed forward wantonly as Aizen's tongue found his entrance, then traced the ring around it and pushed inside him, caressing and probing until Byakuya could no longer control the pleased sounds he was making.

"Sousuke!" he moaned breathlessly, sinking his fingers into the man's soft, brown hair and feeling near madness at just how good it felt to touch him, "I want you inside me…"

He would never have imagined himself pleading for anything, but he always did so shamelessly when they were together.

"Please, Sousuke…you are…"

"All in good time," the older man whispered, running a line of kisses back up to the head of his aching erection and sending a sweet jolt through him.

"And you say I tease…"

He lost his breath as wet fingers thrust into him and Aizen's mouth wrapped around his damp arousal, abandoning his leisurely approach and sliding his mouth up and down the noble's length. Byakuya pressed his back harder against the sakura tree, enjoying the tiny shards of pain it caused as he pushed his hips forward, tightening his hands in the other man's hair and releasing his breaths in hard, hissing moans of intense need. Aizen's glinting brown eyes looked upward, feeding on the play of emotion and arousal over the younger man's moonlit face. He brought his lover to the brink of completion then wickedly held him there, hardened fingers tightening at the base of his cock and holding him suspended on the edges of bliss until he felt himself sliding into madness. He released his lover's name in a deep, feral growl and heard Aizen laugh softly as the noble's clenching fingers scraped against his skin, trying to gain purchase, to pull him upward, to end the maddening game and bring their two bodies together. He continued the sweet torment until Byakuya's legs threatened to collapse beneath him and the lovely white lips promised him death if he continued to tease. He ran his tongue a final time from base to tip of the younger man's length, then lifted himself and rose to his full height.

He returned to Byakuya's mouth, thrusting inside and sharing the exotic tastes of his explorations. His hand slid down the noble's side, then over a slender, naked hip and buttock, and down his thigh, before taking hold and wrapping a graceful, white leg around his waist and bringing the head of his very aroused member into position at the noble's wet entrance. He pushed inside the younger man's body in a few, short, hard thrusts as Byakuya's hands took hold of the lower branches of the sakura tree, and his other leg joined the first, wrapped around his lover.

Aizen's mouth remained tightly fastened on his, devouring the noble's sounds of pleasure as they thrust against each other. Byakuya's hands gripped the branches hard and he tightened his legs around Aizen's torso, his moans rising into hard cries, then into gasping screams as their pleasure peaked. Hot seed pulsed out and splashed onto their writhing bodies, and Byakuya screamed again as Aizen's seething release filled him inside, chasing away the chill in the air around them and leaving him shaking and unable to stand. His legs slid down and his feet touched the ground, but both gave way and his hands released the branches he had been holding onto so tightly. He started to fall, but was gently caught and brought down to rest on Aizen's abandoned clothes.

Byakuya turned into his lover's arms and dropped his head onto Aizen's sweat dampened shoulder, taking a deep breath filled with sakura and the scents of their lovemaking. He loosed a moaning sigh and went still, one hand stealing up Aizen's resting form, following the curves and lines on the soft flesh as he caught his breath and turned his eyes again to the full moon.

"I love you," the noble whispered, "Don't ever leave me…because I think that if you did, I really would die, Sousuke."

"I won't leave you," Aizen promised, feeding him warm, slow kisses, "I will always love you, Byakuya…"

He felt awful, surrendering so easily to tears, but afflicted with hormones and still in the flush of first contact with their growing child, he couldn't stop the tears. And he couldn't make sense of why he had ended up so afraid that his lover would hurt their child.

Nothing makes sense, he thought as the tears ran down his face, I don't remember what we argued about or why I became so afraid. I want to go back to him, but I feel the danger to our child and I can't make myself go back. Why, Sousuke? What happened that I became so afraid of you?

He had a flash memory of being held in his lover's arms and catching sight of Aizen's zanpakutou in his hand…of a maddened flight through the forest and standing at the top of a waterfall. He saw again, Aizen standing a short distance away from him, his zanpakutou lifted tip-down and his own panicked release of kido that thew him over the falls.

But why did you attack me? Does it have to do with that voice I heard in my dreams? Who is this one who claims to give people their desires? I was given this child…and yes, I did desire it, but not in this way! Not in this horrid way! I didn't want to be separated from him…to have to fear him finding me. That was no desire of mine. It seems this one…that voice I heard…it does feed desire, but it has its own desires too. And I don't think it feeds all desires, just the ones that further its own wants. It granted my desires as a way of attacking me…and forcing me out of Sousuke's life. But who or what could this be…that was so threatened by our love that it would do this?

"Byakuya-san!" said Hisana's voice, "Byakuya-san, are you all right? You look as white as a ghost!"

Her hands touched him and he felt numbness steal over him. He knew she was still speaking to him, but couldn't register the words. He felt himself fall onto the soft, cold grass at the edge of the stream and heard the outright fear in Hisana's voice. But even her voice faded into stillness and he was left in complete darkness. He hated that cold, isolated feeling and his mind screamed his lover's name. He screamed it repeatedly into the darkness until something sent him spinning into sleep.

He woke, hours later, in a bed at the healer's home, with Hisana at his side, holding his hand in hers and crying softly.

"I thought you had died, Byakuya-san," she whispered.

"It is all right now," Michio assured her, leaning over the noble and touching a hand to his midsection, "This pregnancy is just very difficult for his body to handle. I think he is going to have to remain here until the baby comes. Their reiatsu could destabilize again, and if it does, it needs to be treated quickly."

"Are you sure it was not something I did?" Hisana asked in a trembling voice, "I followed all of your instructions…"

"I'm sure that you did," the healer said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "This is not your fault. Male pregnancies are rare, and most do not reach full term. If he was not so adamant about keeping his location a secret, I would have him transferred back to the Seireitei, but…"

He shook his head briefly.

"Well, best not to dwell on it."

Their conversation stopped as the door opened.

"He's here," said Noa's voice.

Byakuya heard a light footstep and felt a warm, masculine hand slide into his. He opened his eyes and found himself looking into dark blue eyes and a gentle, youthful face.

"Tetsuya…" he whispered, "Why did you come here? It isn't safe."

"That's why I came," the younger man said quietly, "After all, if I was able to sense you, then whoever you are hiding from may sense you too. I came to take you back with me. My home is shielded enough to keep you from being sensed…and I can bring Michio in to examine you every week."

"No…"

"Byakuya-sama, you cannot stay here any longer. You will be found. You know I'm right."

Byakuya hesitated, staring up into his cousin's guileless face and fearing what could happen to him. But he had another life inside him to protect…

"Yes," he said finally, "you are right. I will go with you."

He paused and glanced at Hisana.

"And she will come as well."

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Aizen Sousuke sat up in his bed, the dream he had had still spinning in his mind. He saw again the vision of Byakuya collapsed next to a small stream, clutching his midsection and slowly losing consciousness. He didn't know why he continued to have odd dreams like that. He wondered if it might be a guilty mind…a penitent heart, but in the months following his lover's disappearance, he thought he had made peace with losing Byakuya.

He sat up, blinking and looking around. A hand strayed to his chest over his heart as an odd feeling of connection passed through him. And for one breathtaking moment, he felt Byakuya's mind touch his. He came to his feet, closing his eyes and trying to strengthen the connection. But whatever he had felt faded quickly.

"But," he mused, "even if you are alive, you won't return to me. Still…"

He sighed softly in resignation, returning to his bed and settling again. He drifted off to sleep and was pleased this time to be gifted with a more pleasant dream…a memory really, of stealing up behind Byakuya as he stood, gazing up at the full moon, then plundering the younger man's lovely, moonlit body beneath that sweet night sky as a soft rain of sakura petals fell all around them…