A/N: One more chapter after this, minna. I'm not sure where I'm going next exactly. Though I am posting more frequently over on AO3: Niji_Hitomi_Iscariot. I've gotten pretty big into Homestuck lately. So, that may be where I'm concentrating my focus. Can't say I've completely abandoned Bleach though. Thanks everybody for sticking with me, both here and my oh-so-patient followers on my other fics. I swear I haven't orphaned them! x.x Also, smut is coming in the next chapter! SO MUCH SMUT! XD
"So, why I've got a bag o' magical artifacts sittin' on m' desk ag'in?" Shiro asked for the third time, as he peered into the satchel.
The nue had just disappeared, leaving behind a cryptic apology along with the sack and refusing the meet the albino's eyes. The Mage had at first been curious. He'd examined all of the different objects and trinkets, powders and oils, and, at his lover's prompting, referenced several tomes and scrolls so he could catalogue the whole lot.
"Because they are needed," Ulquiorra replied, also for the third time. As occupied with organizing and labeling as he was, his mind was a bit too distracted to give a proper explanation. However, this time he added, "I'll tell you what for when we're done," as he delicately placed the jar of mermaid scales where Shiro had marked for it to go.
He didn't dare touch the dragon-bone wand, and had prevented his mate from doing so when he'd tried. That thing had so much blood on it, so much darkness imbued down to the little bits of remaining marrow. He shuddered to think how that darkness would attack the mage if he touched it with his bare hands.
"Ok, yeah. I got that. I got it when ya said it th' first time. I got it when ya said it th' second time. An' yes, I get now, but what ya still haven't said is why 're they needed?!" Flopping back in his chair with all the grace of a pouting toddler, Shiro crossed his arms over his chest and glared at said wand that drew him in like nothing else in the bag had.
"Famine and the Paladin will require them, once the memories are sorted through and they have reconnected," Ulquiorra said with the slightest of fond smiles for the pair's amorous nature and successful spell.
Then, with a dark glare at the bone that had absorbed the Warlock's evil like a magical sponge, he caged the thing carefully in his claws and pulled it away from the items underneath—faerie wings and tiny vials of nue poison. Shiro watched him with a deeper pout. What did the Fourth think? He couldn't resist temptation?
By way of explanation the bat looked to his mate with an apology in his expressive eyes. "I can still smell that Warlock on these items. I am glad Ichigo forbid me to take her. Her eternal torment is well-earned."
The albino huffed again, and rolled his eyes. "Yeah I know. I mean, I can't blame ya guys but it just...I dunno...it makes me squirm."
He was deliberately looking away. That had been the hardest part of adjusting to the whole situation. He didn't say anything to anyone, but at night, if he was awake after everyone else had fallen asleep, he could see the look in the woman's eyes as he'd healed her again and again and again during the Trial. He couldn't cross through the courtyard without hearing her screams, and it didn't matter that eighteen years had passed, he could still smell the blood, see the stains in the stones. Involuntarily he shuddered, betraying his thoughts.
Ulquiorra went to his mate and hugged him, stroking his hair. "I know, dearest," he soothed, baritone soft and pleasant as his wings came around them both. "I know the cruelty you saw that day, from all of us, and your own twin, disturbed you. I know. I would be concerned if you weren't. You human mates are the balance to the ruthlessness and viciousness of we Horsemen. We are inhuman and you are all that keeps us from going too far." He kissed his lover's forehead.
The Mage turned his face into the equally pale chest that was his home these days and sighed. After a moment he fully relaxed by wrapping his arms around Death's waist. "Just...don't ask me ta do anythin' like it again an' I'll be fine."
"I was all for throwing her into Tartarus," Ulquiorra told him quietly, for the first time admitting the fact that Ichigo's Directive was warranted. He would have gladly taken her if the King had not demanded he stay his hand. "I would never ask you to do such a thing. I don't know why Ichigo told you to…Aizen or myself could have performed the same spell just as well."
"It was cuz he knew neither of ya could've done it th' way I did." He shuddered again, this time because of the implications about his twin, and took a deep breath. "King's got this...way o' doin' stuff. He c'n...kill ya wi' th' smile on his face. He 'pologizes fer beatin' ya up. There were these bullies when we moved ta Tokyo after Ma died. They didn't take too well ta me. Said I was weird an' stuff. Th' last time they ever picked on me, King cornered 'em. Him an' Red an' this other guy King called Chado who moved outta th' country after graduatin'. Th' three o' them fought th' guys pretty hard, but after a bit, I guess King got bored. Cuz leader-dude threw a punch at King when he wasn't lookin', but King caught it. He turn ta th' guy, smiled that...y'know what smile I mean...and said, 'sorry, I can't afford ta take any more injuries.' An' like right after that th' guy fell down, passed out cold, an' th' others carried him off like Hell itself was after 'em."
Ulquiorra simply nodded, ruffling his wings in an involuntary shiver. "I know the smile. And it is natural. It is part of his inner nature as the King. As a matter of necessity he must be both kinder, more gentle, and yet more vicious and brutal than any of the rest of the Court. It's necessary to keep order. That was...practice, so to speak. He was defending his personal Court at the time."
"But...ya know what I mean, though? How he couldn't let th' two of ya be tempted? He had ta make me do it...cuz I know how ta act like him." Shiro sighed again, playing with the soft fur at the base of his mate's tail.
"Well you are his twinnnngh~" Ulquiorra forgot everything he had been saying and the task at hand to melt into a puddle of total mush. "Dearrrrrr loving Lorrrrrrds you knnnnow what tha' does ta mmmmme," he purr-moaned, twitching sporadically.
The albino turned a smirking eye up at his lover and chuckled darkly, "Yeah. I do."
The best way for him to get his own mind off of uncomfortable topics was to tease, and his favorite target to tease was Death, because he knew just what to do to make the demon squirm in good ways. In fact, he added nibbling along the fur line below the monochromatic male's belly button to his playing, licking and nipping with teeth and tongue while continuing to comb through the ebony fur with his fingers.
There would be damage to repair later because the bat's clawed central wing-joints slammed into the floor so hard he punched small craters into the marble, cracks spider-webbing outward from them as his knees went weak and he all but collapsed onto his wings, both hands coming up to pull his claws through soft, thick spikes. Shiro may have designated himself 'bottom' in this relationship, but damn if he couldn't drive Death himself to his knees with no more than a brush of his fingers and a suggestive leer.
"Alright, alright, put yer dick away." The playfully chastising voice from just beyond the doorway interrupted them before they could go further.
The person gave Shiro enough time to ensure his mate was still well-covered by his fur, before striding into the library in glory that hadn't been around for entirely too long. Like summer personified, warm air accompanied him, his clothing was airy and light regardless that he wore a tee-shirt and jeans, and his hair, previously straw-like, positively glowed like the sun on a hot day. His grin was plastered on his face as proof that he knew exactly what he'd cut off.
"Mah! Ya've got a room fer that, don'tcha, Death?" Shinji teased. "An' we've got work ta do."
Shiro snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, as if you two haven't spent th' last two days doin' exactly th' same thing."
The blond strode across the room confidently and perched on the corner of the Mage's desk, careful not to disturb any of the artifacts. "But we did it in our room, ne?"
"Beside the point." The albino pouted, but the Paladin only laughed.
"And of course Aizen introduced you to the joys of magical lubrication," Ulquiorra said with amusement, unable to resist joining in on the teasing. "Less time fumbling and more time stretching, correct?" He didn't wait for the Paladin to respond before he resumed sorting. "However, I apologize, we have not yet finished. The warlock collected...a disturbing amount of material from anything she could use."
"Yeah, I fig'red. Pity I missed out on her...oh well. What can I do ta help? So-so's off doin'...somethin'..." Shinji frowned, trying to remember, though after a few moments he shook his head. "I dunno, but somethin'."
"Here," Shiro handed him the journal he'd been using to catalogue the stuff.
"Alright." The blond scanned over the list. "Where's th' wand? So-so said he wanted that kept sep'rate."
Ulquiorra pointed with one shiny, blood-soaked talon—the claws he'd used to move the wand had been tainted by the evil and he'd just ripped them out. Darkness so terrible could not be cleansed. At least they regrew quickly.
"There. The cursed thing lies untouched, the taint it carries too deep for the likes of me. I am too corruptible and I will not let it poison my mate. I had to separate it from the other...materials myself anyway, or they would have become poisoned by its taint as well."
"Hmm..."
Hopping off the table, Shinji crossed the room again and in the blink of an eye became The Paladin as he grasped the bone barehanded. Light overwhelmed his hand and the scent of hot grass filled the room. After a few moments he put it back down and shook his hand as though working out a cramp. "It's pretty bad but I think it's still useable. I definitely wouldn't let anybody touch it if I were you."
Meanwhile, Shiro took his lover's bloodied hand between his own and muttered a soft healing spell. He'd let the claws would regrow on their own, but he could at least stem the bleeding so the bat wasn't dripping all over the library. He watched the blond carefully though, and asked, for a fourth time.
"So, why d' we need this stuff? Qio won't gimme a straight answer."
Shinji laughed, grinning over his shoulder, "Course he won't. Straight ain't in his definition."
"The inscrutable nature of Death is all that keeps humans in line while they live," Ulquiorra replied—he wasn't aware of the other meaning of 'straight'. "However, since I cannot handle most of the items until I have washed off the blood, I might as well tell you these are all key ingredients in a spell only those two, Paladin and Famine, are able to perform as a pair. They can resurrect whole, magical beings from these tiny, scattered fragments," he gestured with his tail, "with me to breathe life into them. It is the only way to repopulate the magical world, which has been extinct for thousands of years. The nue we saw today is...very possibly the last of his kind, as was Gin before he and War started breeding like rabbits. The only magical creatures that exist now are those in slavery, and even most of them have perished from their cruel abuse."
"So, whadya need me for?" Shiro looked between the two, and frowned at Shinji, when the blond failed at hiding his snickering.
The Paladin coughed to control his laughter at Death's ignorance, and waved his hand. "The bat's right. Only So-so an' I can bring 'em back, but once they're back, we'll need yer magic ta keep 'em in line. I mean, we'll have Hell on our hands if we can't calm th' unicorn when he's born. Picky bitches they are. Hate non-virgins. We might hafta bring in a couple of the cubs fer that one." He was thinking out loud again. "Of course, then there's the siren. Y'ill need ta cast a silence dome 'round her so she doesn't try ta sing at us. Th' banshee'll need that too. An' th' sphinx..." He trailed off deep in his own mind as he began scribbling on a clean page in the journal, sorting through the different precautions he'd need once the spell got started.
The albino made a disgruntled noise as he realized he'd lost his notebook, and dug into his desk to pull out a new one so he could re-copy the list. "Do we hafta help th' nue though? He's th' fucker that bit me."
That brought Shinji's head back up and into the present. "Of course we do! Nue are rare and precious creatures. Without them there would be no dreams! They spin the tales and fabric of the dreamworld from the fur of their ruff and the gold they hoard. An' b'sides, he's been Fergiven."
Ulquiorra nodded. "And I'm sure he apologized when he Confessed his sins to beg for Forgiveness?" The question was polite, but the dangerous ticking of his tail was the clear warning that if he hadn't he would have to answer for it. "Also, we do need to bring back the rest of the species. He is quite old and has been enslaved so long I can still see the chain-marks in the core of his being. His hands are scarred from interrupted dream-weavings, likely another torture the Warlock inflicted to keep him obedient. You know how they hate to leave a dream unfinished, what with their tendency to warp into horrific nightmares." Then he leaned over and kissed Shiro. "He said he is now in service to the Court...that includes us. You can ask him to run and fetch things for your spells and potions, as he can step beyond the Veil. It is his penance."
"Still don't trust him." Shiro muttered, licking his lips.
His tongue never had gone back to pink after being purged of the poison, though his sclera and fingernails returned to normal except when he was particularly angry. It was how the children of the Court gauged Uncle Shiro's mood. If he was 'bleeding' it meant he was getting angry and only the bravest—Pantera, Shanks, and Toshiro—dared to push him. All of the others immediately apologized at the first speck of black in either hand or eye.
Shinji ruffled the white spikes on his way back across the room to inspect the vials of poison. "Course he did. I wouldn't've Fergiven him if he hadn't."
The albino resisted the urge to growl just barely, especially when the blond noticed it and chuckled at him while sorting out vials that came in as many colors as they did sizes. This naturally was due to the different kinds of nue, each 'breed' wove a different sort of dream. Nightmares wouldn't exist if they could help it, but they were self-propagating things caused by an unfinished weaving's attempt to finish itself and failing. They hated those.
Ulquiorra calmed and cuddled his mate with a little grin, purring. "Oh ma~te," he sing-songed, a habit he'd only picked up after being with Shiro a few years. "You're getting needlessly tense. I do believe a little...'de-stressing session' is in order," he added a little nip to his Mark as punctuation.
The albino flushed, and bit his lip, only getting darker when he heard the increased laughter coming from the Paladin.
"Go on, go on. I'll be fine here. So-so should be along in a min'te an' if I really need help I'll call in the kitsune." The blond made a dismissive waving motion at the couple, not really looking up from his sorting, and mumbled, "Th' one species that don't need my help. Prolific vulpines."
"They do still need your protection," Ulquiorra reminded even as he bundled his mate up in his arms and made off with him, grinning like mad. "Now, mate, you've been busy for weeks and your Demon demands attention," he added in a husky whisper.
Between Grimmjow's adjustment, research, and then Aizen's troubles, they had not done more than sleep in the same room in a month and a half. He wanted some downtime with his mate damn it, and if he had to stop time to get it then so be it!
As soon as the pair left, Shinji smiled softly. Now he just needed to get the others in the Shrine to engage in the same way. The Mage's magic was good, and Death's breath of Life would be essential, but in a spell of this magnitude...with this many creatures...he'd need more Creation. It was an odd sensation for the blond. The protective longing he'd always felt for beasts made sense now, and was so much stronger! He rubbed his neck, backing away from the collection of misaligned scales—this was drake not salamander, that was manticore not chimera. But how? The kitsune would be easy. All he had to do was make War sit still for a short while...though weren't they abstaining until the twins were older? Fuck...that made things difficult. Unconsciously he bit his lip, his mind going faster than words could keep up, and utterly absorbed in his arranging.
Aizen came in just then, looking slightly dazed, blinking in time with wing-flutters. His hair was mussed on one side, and he had what looked suspiciously like a bite mark on his neck just under his jaw. "...Love, I don't suppose you know where that book on Ultimate Strength Contraceptive Spells is, do you?"
"Fourth stack, seventh shelf, thirtieth book from the left, green cover with gold lief on the spine. Can't miss it." Shinji responded without looking up from the reference book on kirin, kelpies, unicorns and other equine magical beasts, but pointed over his shoulder. "And tell Gin, he needs ta keep his paws off. I don't wanna be step-father ta a kitsune kit."
"I'll tell him, but if he doesn't get pinned by his mate soon that may very well happen," the brunette said, still a bit dazed as he fluttered off to the directed area.
Kitsune, if they didn't get enough sex, would pounce the first adequate sexual partner they saw, and Famine was by nearly all standards more than merely adequate. Furthermore, asking kitsune to abstain from their mate was asking to get a stepchild.
"Well, then—" Shinji was cut off by the sound of the library door banging open.
"Wherrre is he? Must..." Gin sniffed and growled out something in no human language before attempting to stalk off for the stacks.
"Hold up there, Foxy!"
The Paladin snagged his center tail, the kitsune's own momentum bringing him down on his rather fuzzy chin in a sprawl across the stones. Silver fur bristled and frost grew on Shinji's hand as the vulpine growled another string of non-human words.
"Hey, I may not've known my father but at least he wasn't a wetback! Now knock it off, I need ya ta mate yer tiger in a min er two anyway."
The word 'mate' had the large conical ears perking and the other two tails wagging impatiently, a soft whining noise emanating from the canine humanoid much like that of a dog awaiting a treat being held in front of his nose.
The blond rolled his eyes and called, "So-so, love. Hurry please? I'm startin' ta develop frostbite."
There was the sound of ancient Greek, spoken quickly but clearly, and a snap of green magic came down on Gin, concentrating on his belly where it became a dark green seal.
Using his other hand, Shinji grasped Gin's chin so the kitsune had to look the Paladin in the eye. He may be part of the Court, but at his most basic, the silver-haired male was still a kitsune and therefore under the direction and jurisdiction of the one who was curator for the magical world. So, even though the vulpine attempted to get away, a small lean on him from the blond, had him stilling as much as possible and focusing all of his attention on Shinji.
"Listen carefully, Inari no Musuko-san, ya are ta go directly ta yer bedroom an' wait fer yer mate. When he gets there ya c'n pounce him all ya like, but yer not ta touch anybody else, an' don't be distracted by anythin' on yer way. Ne?" He spoke softly, in old Japanese.
"Hai! Hai!" Gin panted, tails wagging furiously, and practically vibrating in Shinji's grasp. "Not a person. Just m'mate! Hai!"
"Good. Now go."
Halfway around the world, in the middle of a rather bloody battle, Renji frowned, suddenly feeling tugged. Why the hell did he abruptly feel there was somewhere else he needed to be…?
Just at that moment the blond let Gin go and the kitsune was out the door on a mist cloud so fast that it trailed behind him like an early morning fog, clinging to the edges of the tables and the doorframe. The Paladin sighed and shook his head, and to think...he was supposed to be the youngest of the Court.
Renji had just finished limping into their shared bedroom in order to get on some clean clothes and go look for his mate when the vulpine burst through the door. Finding that his mate was right in the middle of the room, already naked and vulnerable to 'attack', he grinned his most devious, and feral grin.
Back in the library, Aizen smiled gently as he came peeking around the bookshelf, checking that the coast was clear before he came slinking over to kiss his mate, purring, wings distributing a soft film of rose-colored dust. Even at his age, he was not immune to the kitsune's Mating Pheromones, especially as enhanced as they were by the beginning groundwork of the Paladin's spell.
The blond allowed it, with a smile and small purr of his own, but in the nature of the Paladin was his intense focus. He had one more pair to seek out and convince to 'get busy'. So, with a tickle along the place where the butterfly's wing met his shoulder blade, Shinji pulled away. "Hold onta that. We'll need it once th' magic starts workin'. But I gotta find me a panther. He's got a King ta seduce."
Aizen chuckled, swiped one hand along his wings, and raised an eyebrow at his mate. "It's not hard to do that, and I can do it from here." With the handful of wing-dust, still that lovely deep reddish purple, he blew it into the air and commanded, "Go to Grimmjow."
As though it was sentient, the dust swirled once and went streaking off to find the panther, stretching thin so as to become invisible. Shortly, Grimmjow's eyes dilated where he was sitting in the den with a book and he turned his nose up, tail curling and ears dropping to half-mast with dazed arousal. He rose to his feet and started to purr low in his throat as he trotted off in search of his mate. He found him in a meeting.
Well, that just would not do. His attention was on someone other than Grimmjow. Conquest promptly bent forward and with no warning hauled the King over his shoulder, turned on the pad of his foot and made off with him like the primitive-minded cave-cat he'd been turned into by the 'love dust'.
"Wh-what?!" Ichigo blinked widely at the priests and priestesses gathered in the living room rapidly getting smaller as he was hauled out of the converted chapel. Once out under open air, he turned to the back of his blue-haired Consort's head and propped his chin in his hand, using the well-muscled shoulder beneath him as a shelf. "I could have walked you know."
"Minnneeeeeee," he growled in response, tail a-twitch. "Mine was thinking about otherrrrrs." This was his most feral, basic state; he had 'taken' his mate from the 'enemy' and was now proudly returning to his den to enjoy his conquest.
Shinji giggled as the pair passed the library windows. "Yer certainly effective." He stroked that junction of wing and shoulder again, "Now, we need ta take the artifacts an' place 'em. Everythin's gotta be in th' circle in th' courtyard b'fore we join th' others. Yer swarm should be able ta handle that, ne?"
Aizen smiled and snapped his fingers. Immediately, a contingent of moths appeared, each picking up an artifact and popping off to place them. "They are indeed helpful little creatures."
The pair paused to watch for a short while before the lord of butterflies added, softly, "I'm glad you utilized them as your comfort and secret-keepers."
"Yeah, me too." Shinji reached up and kissed his mate softly. He still couldn't get over the way things had turned out.
A bright, pale green, lunar moth fluttered almost silently up to the two of them, and gave a message only they could hear, in a language only they could understand as Famine, keeper of all things insect, and the Paladin, caretaker for the living world and all of its creatures. Aizen gave the thing a smile, and it promptly darted off to wherever it came from when it was summoned, and Shinji looked about the room, surveying what was left.
He nodded, "I think that's everythin'. All we need now is ta channel th' ritual and..." He smiled darkly with a burst of lust in his eyes, "get ta Creatin'."
The Third picked him up and grinned. "Well then, why don't we go feed my Ley Line some power, since that's hooked into the Circle, hmm?"
With that, he Flitted. Somehow, and Aizen would never admit how he did it, the clothes disappeared along the way as though vaporized. The entire situation made Shinji's normal giggles so much worse when he finally landed on the bed of their room.
