Chapter 21: With My Last Breaths I'll Tell You...
(HAPPY BIRTHDAY ICHIGO! And here's a present from Spunky to you. A very special moment for this couple as the moment they've waited for finally arrives! Enjoy! Love, Spunky)
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(Six months later)
It was still too early in the morning when Byakuya rose out of sleep, one hand instinctively moving to rub his aching belly and his dark eyes looking down to examine the soft glow that lit the area. He felt flickers of radiating power mingled with twinges of moderate pain that warned him of the impending arrival of the awaited heirs. His heart quickened and he felt a wave of nausea and dizziness pass over him. He turned slightly and touched his sleeping husband's face, bringing Ichigo awake instantly.
"Wh-what is it?" the ginger-haired man mumbled, "You okay?"
"I am fine," Byakuya assured him, "but...I think that it is time, Ichigo."
"Time?" the Shiba heir repeated, blinking, "Like time, as in time time?"
"Yes," Byakuya answered, a little breathlessly, "It is time."
"You think so? Are you sure?" Ichigo asked, climbing onto his knees and peering at Byakuya's rounded belly, "How do you know? Does it hurt? You want met to get Kisuke and Orihime?"
"Ichigo, calm down," the Kuchiki leader said patiently, "Send for Urahara Kiuske and the human girl, though. I really feel like it will be soon."
"Okay," Ichigo said anxiously, climbing out of bed and calling for their attendant.
"What is it, Ichigo-sama?" Torio asked as he appeared in the doorway with Ichigo's attendant, Toshi, at his side, "Is something wrong?"
"No," Ichigo replied, smiling nervously, "But Byakuya says he thinks the babies are coming!"
"I'll go get Urahara Kisuke," Toshi said quickly.
"And bring Orihime too!" Ichigo called after him as he flash stepped away.
"Hai!" the attendant called back over his shoulder.
Ichigo turned back and slipped a warm hand into his softly panting mate's, noting the rising discomfort in Byakuya's troubled expression.
"It's going to be all right," he said soothingly, kissing Byakuya lightly on the mouth, "I'm going to be with you all the way through this."
"I know," Byakuya whispered back, his voice shaking slightly, "That's why I'm not afraid."
"Huh," Ichigo huffed softly, moving closer so that he could slide a bracing arm around the Kuchiki leader and nuzzle against his cheek, "You might not be afraid right now, but I'm plenty scared."
"Ichigo, it's going to be..."
"I know," Ichigo answered, stopping him with a kiss, "I'm afraid, but I've got no doubts that you're strong enough to get through this."
Byakuya gave him a fleeting smile.
"I will do my best not to disappoint you, then, my love."
"Then, you and the babies will be fine," Ichigo said in a calmer tone.
"We will," Byakuya agreed, looking steadily into Ichigo's eyes as Kisuke and Orihime burst into the room, followed by Torio and Toshi, then Rukia, Renji and Tetsuya.
Kisuke and Orihime moved quickly to Byakuya's side, while the others waited a short distance away, watching and keeping carefully out of the way. Kisuke's hands sought Byakuya's glowing midsection, and his eyes told the others nothing of his thoughts as he swiftly assessed the noble's condition.
"Kisuke?" Ichigo inquired softly.
The shopkeeper nodded.
"Byakuya's right. This is it."
He gave Ichigo a smile that was both relieved and slightly chilling.
"You're going to be parents now. Just, let's get these kids out and into the world, okay?"
Ichigo forced down the sudden knot of fear that had risen in his throat, and he squeezed Byakuya's soft hand encouragingly. Byakuya's eyes met his quietly, radiating a look of calm and serenity that seemed to defy the situation.
On the one hand, I'm glad he seems like he's handling this okay, but I've seen him wear that look before. He's scared inside, but he's doing this to comfort me. That's just like him. I need to let him know I don't need to be comforted. I believe in him. I know he can get through this.
He smiled down at Byakuya, forcing himself to ignore the anxious twinges in his belly as Kisuke infused the area around the spirit chamber with his reiatsu, his eyes intense as he monitored the changes in Byakuya's condition.
"The area over the spirit chamber has lost cohesion," he explained, as much to reassure himself as to inform the others," I'm sending in my reiatsu around the edges of the chamber to monitor things as it opens. As soon as it opens, I will deliver the babies."
He felt sweat break out on his forehead as he let his power touch Byakuya's exposed spirit core and read its condition.
"Byakuya's spirit core is under some stress, but it's stable for now. Orihime, I want you to focus on protecting his spirit core. If it starts to become unstable, you're going to have to carefully reject the instability. It will be difficult, because we're talking about the thing that supports both his powers and his life systems. It's a hard balance to manage."
He paused, considering his words before going on.
"I don't think I have to tell you that if you have to choose between the two, you need to save his life. Not saying it will come to that," he said, glancing at Byakuya and Ichigo's carefully controlled expressions, "but I want you to be prepared."
"I understand," Orihime said, frowning determinedly, "I will keep him stable."
Ichigo nuzzled Byakuya's cheek, earning a brief smile and a soft meeting of their lips. He felt the Kuchiki leader shiver under his arm and squeezed him gently.
"You all right?" he asked, keeping his eyes focused on the glowing light around his husband's exposed abdomen.
"I'm fine," Byakuya assured him.
"You feel a little cold," Ichigo commented.
"His body is pretty much throwing everything into having the babies," Kisuke explained, "If he's uncomfortable, you can wrap him in something warmer."
Torio ducked away and returned a moment later with a warm wrap. Ichigo accepted it with a grateful nod, then laid it around Byakuya's shoulders and snuggled closer to his husband's side.
"That better?" he inquired, trying to keep his tone light.
"Yes, thank you," Byakuya answered, nuzzling the Shiba heir's warm cheek again.
He flinched as a burning sensation began in his belly and seemed to spread slowly over the area where the spirit chamber laid. The intensity of the sensation made him pant harder and close his eyes.
"What is it?" Kisuke asked calmly, "What does it feel like?"
"B-burning..." Byakuya breathed unsteadily, "Just where the babies are."
Torio handed Ichigo a cool, wet cloth and the Shiba heir quickly used it to cool his husband's flushed face.
"Th-thank you," Byakuya panted, unable to tear his eyes away from where the light streaming from his abdomen was growing brighter.
"It's okay," Kisuke assured him, "The burning you're feeling is the chamber wall opening so that the babies can be born. I can already sense there are two reiatsus. You're having twins."
"Twins," Ichigo repeated breathlessly, "Can you tell if they're boys or girls yet?"
"Not yet," Kisuke chuckled, "I have to take them out first."
He glanced at Orihime, who gave him a look of warning.
"The pressure on his spirit core is pretty bad," she reported, "but I'm keeping it stable."
"Good girl," Kisuke answered, turning his attention back to the opening chamber, "We've got this. It's going to be all right. C'mon now, kids, come on out and see the world."
The light around Byakuya's rounded belly brightened and took on a bolder white shine that lit Kisuke's serious expression as he slipped his hands into the glowing area.
"I'm maintaining a coating of thick reiatsu around my hands as I work," he explained, to keep the others calm as he worked, "This protects both the babies as they emerge, and me from the errant forces of colliding power. Byakuya's body isn't accustomed to having something like this happen, so his own reiatsu reads it as an intrusion and tries to resist. Orihime's power is keeping it from resisting so strongly, and that will ease some of the pressure on his spirit core."
He shifted slightly, feeling something begin to solidify in his outstretched hands, and coaxing the thickening cluster slowly upward.
"I have the first baby in my hands," he reported, his smile warming, "Just a cluster right now, but as soon as it's out, we'll get to watch as it changes."
The room went quiet except for the soft hum of power around Byakuya's glowing body. Kisuke maneuvered his hands around the cluster, rubbing the outside lightly and very cautiously lifting as it rose upward and began to emerge from the noble's swollen abdomen.
"Kami!" Ichigo whispered in a stunned voice, "I've never seen anything like that!"
Tears filled his eyes and he tightened his arm around his equally shaken mate, as Kisuke lifted the glowing bundle and set it gently in Byakuya's waiting arms. All eyes were on the baby's glowing form as it flickered brightly, then almost painfully gradually resolved into a tiny pink infant's body. Neither of the baby's parents could speak as it seemed the air was suddenly sucked from their lungs.
"You have a baby daughter," Kisuke announced, his voice sounding slightly strained.
He extended his hands over the little girl's body and examined her briefly.
"She looks good," he said in a relieved tone, "perfectly healthy."
Wide smiles broke out all around the room as the baby girl's features softened and came into better focus. Byakuya looked deeply into the baby's eyes, admiring the grey ring on the outside that was interrupted with a golden starburst. Ichigo's fingers touched the bright ginger strands of her hair that ended in soft, black tips. Her features were more delicate and her skin fair, like Byakuya's, but there was no missing the powerful eyes and ginger hair that marked her father.
"She's amazing," Ichigo breathed, his heart pounding and his fingers shaking where they touched his baby daughter's face, "She's just perfect!"
"She is," Byakuya agreed, finding his voice, "She's lovely...such an expression of both of us. I can't imagine anything more beautiful."
"Well," Kisuke said softly, his eyes happy, but still betraying an edge of worry, "she is a beauty, but the miracle's not done yet."
He returned his attention to Byakuya's midsection, thickening the reiatsu around his hands again and slipping them into the glowing opening.
"It's a little easier this time," he explained, "because the first one, there, loosened things up. This one ought to come a little faster."
He felt a disconcerting flicker in the glowing radiance around his hands and glanced at Orihime.
"How's he doing?"
The human girl bit her lip gently and shook her head.
"The pressure on his spirit core is getting really intense. I'm still rejecting the instability, but..."
"Don't worry," Kisuke said, cutting her off as he spotted the looks of concern rising on Byakuya and Ichigo's faces, "I'm getting the other baby out now. just...hang in there."
"I will!" Orihime promised.
Ichigo and Byakuya watched raptly as Kisuke's hands dipped into the Kuchiki heir's opened belly again.
"You okay?" Ichigo whispered, "You feel kinda shaky."
"I am a little dizzy," Byakuya confessed, "but there isn't any pain anymore. I think you should take her, Ichigo."
Ichigo nodded and accepted the baby girl from his husband's quivering hands.
"Torio," he said, trying to keep his voice calm, "why don't you take our girl over to meet her aunt and cousin?"
"S-sure," Toshi answered, stepping forward to gather the tot into his arms.
He carried her to the doorway, where the others waited and laid her gently in Rukia's arms.
"Big sister's about to have company," Kisuke announced with a smile, raising the second cluster out of Byakuya's abdomen and setting it in Ichigo's arms.
He worked swiftly then to hasten the chamber to close, his eyes flicking to where Orihime struggled to keep the tenuous balance.
"It'll be okay now," he assured her, "The babies are out. His core could still destabilize suddenly, but the worst of the danger is over. We'll watch him."
"You hear that? The worst is over," Ichigo sighed, his eyes still locked on their second baby, "It's going to be okay."
The new parents' eyes watched closely as the cluster in Ichigo's arms gradually resolved into the small, wiry body of a little boy with large grey eyes and a wild shock of mingled ginger and black hair.
"His hair looks like burning embers," Byakuya whispered, "Fascinating!"
The baby squawked loudly and reached up to touch his father's beaming smile.
"Congratulations," Kisuke said, sounding weary but happy, "the Shiba and Kuchiki heirs are both here and healthy."
Byakuya smiled up at his shocked looking spouse.
"What's wrong?" he asked, studying Ichigo's oddly surprised expression, "You are a father now, Ichigo. Is that not what you wanted?"
"Yeah, it's what I wanted," Ichigo said numbly, "But...I don't know. I guess that I thought becoming a father, I'd feel like I knew how. I feel like I don't know anything!"
"Don't worry," Byakuya said reassuringly, touching their son's face lightly with his fingertips and earning a happy gurgle in return, "We will have plenty of support as we learn our new role."
"Thank kami it didn't happen for me like it did for my folks...just the two of them having to figure it out without much help. I wonder how they did it."
"Nonsense," Byakuya said, shaking his head, "They had friends to help them, even if not their own family. And we are even luckier in having family, friends, and a full-time staff to assist us. Just enjoy this moment, Ichigo. It is the moment that changed everything. It is the moment that made us a family...and that...is all I ever wanted!"
"That's all I want too!" Ichigo exclaimed, tears coming to his eyes as Torio returned the baby girl to Byakuya.
He swallowed hard and blinked, searching for something to distract himself out of the show of emotion.
"Hey, shouldn't we have thought of names?" he asked, shaking his head, "I guess we were so busy worrying about just having them that we didn't get to really thinking about that."
"It is better to name them now, looking into their eyes as we say their names to them for the first time."
"Yeah, I think you're right," Ichigo agreed, gazing down at their children proudly, "But I'm not able to think right now. Maybe you should name them."
Byakuya smiled.
"I will name our daughter Suki...loved one. You should name our son."
"Okay, okay," Ichigo chuckled, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck nervously as he considered, "He kinda looks like a little tiger with his hair like that. So...what do you think of Torao?"
Byakuya nodded approvingly.
"A strong name for a strong son," he agreed.
The two moved closer together, holding their babies and gazing happily down into their widened eyes.
"Suki and Torao," Byakuya said softly, "welcome to the Kuchiki and Shiba families."
"Is it okay for Rukia and the others to come over here now?" Ichigo asked Kisuke.
The shopkeeper looked up from where the spirit chamber had closed and the glow around Byakuya's distended belly was fading.
"They can come over, but only for a few minutes. The toughest part is over now, but Byakuya's still not out of the woods. His reiatsu is going to fluctuate as his body begins to return to normal. It'll be a few days...a week or two maybe, before we know if his powers will function the way they're supposed to. Just...take a minute to enjoy this. You two have earned it."
Ichigo returned his attention to his still pale, but happy husband, tightening his arm around Byakuya, then kissing him on the forehead as the others gathered around them.
"Thanks, Byakuya," he whispered, "Thanks so much for not giving up on me. To think, I couldn't see that you were everything I ever wanted. I was an idiot."
"You won't get any arguments here," Renji chuckled, earning a snicker of agreement from Rukia, "You were an idiot."
"Well, you are wise enough now to understand what you have," Tetsuya said, more kindly.
"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, letting the warmth of the others encircle him, "We're all family now...and that's how it's going to stay."
"Okay kids," Kisuke said firmly, "I think that's enough visitation for now. Torio and Toshi are going to take the little ones down to the nursery and we'll get them settled. Ichigo, I want you to stay here with Byakuya and you let me know if he shows any sign of a problem. I don't care what it is...a little fever, an odd ache, anything, you come and get me."
"I will," Ichigo promised.
Byakuya and Ichigo kissed their children and set them in their attendants' arms, then watched as the others left. He settled into Byakuya's arms, sighing wearily.
"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted," he confessed, "and if I'm exhausted, you've got to be even more tired than that."
"I am tired," Byakuya agreed, "but I am more happy."
"That's good," Ichigo said, smiling and seeking his lips for a warm, open-mouthed kiss, "You deserve to be happy, Byakuya. And I'm going to keep you that way."
"Don't worry," Byakuya said, leaning heavily against his husband's shoulder, "it will be easy to keep me happy if you are with me."
"I'm always going to be with you. You know that now, right?"
A sliver of fear went through Ichigo's chest at the haziness that seemed to suddenly take over Byakuya's dark, weary eyes.
"Byakuya?" he cried anxiously, "Hey, are you okay?"
"I...I am..." Byakuya managed weakly, his eyelids fluttering.
Ichigo hugged Byakuya tightly against him, looking around frantically.
"Toshi!" he called desperately.
"Hai, Ichigo-sama," the attendant answered, appearing almost instantly.
"Get Kisuke now!"
He looked back down into the Kuchiki heir's dazed expression.
"Byakuya, hang in there, okay? Kisuke's coming. You just have to stay with me! Don't go anywhere, okay?"
Byakuya's lips moved sluggishly, forcing out a last few words as the blackness closed in.
"Ichigo...I love you."
"Don't...say that! Don't leave me now! You can't do that to me, Byakuya!"
"I am sorry," Byakuya whispered brokenly, "I wish I was stronger. But...even if it ends now, Ichigo...it was...worth it to be with you."
"B-byakuya!" Ichigo sobbed, barely noticing as Kisuke and Orihime ran back into the room, "Stop it! You can't do this to us! I don't care what it takes, I'm not letting you go!"