As always it is lovely to hear from all of you, so please leave a review.
Panda master X: i don't know what that means?
iJapan: Starrk for being lazy is surprisingly volatile, and he most likley wont take a chill pill where Ichi is concerned. Grimm and I agree, its best to what Ichi get his ass pounded *nods head*. As for Renji and Szay they are so so cute i wanna squeeze em.
SexyBVirgo: Glad to see your still hanging in there! It's entirely possible you are an exhibitionist=)
Now, things are going to settle down for a bit...the calm before the storm if you will...
Ch.43
Rukia stretched her small body out over the ragged tiles of the roof; her mind was still reeling at the lurid display she had witnessed. She had been slowly trying to digest everything she had seen and this had simply sent her mind into a state of shock. Yes, she was happy her friends and family were alive, and Jushiro was returned to her once again. They had turned over their transporters to Szayel at Renji's insistence; both she and Jushiro were reluctant however the truth was the pink haired scientist was their only hope at deciphering whatever riddle Aizen had given them. The hot midday sun warmed her body as she closed her eyes, contemplating what she had seen these past few days.
She simply couldn't get her head around this "imprinting" as they called it. Essentially, fearing extinction the arrancars imprinted upon anyone who was compatible with them to mate. As she understood it children were possible from such a union but not probable as all involved parties were male, however that didn't mean it couldn't happen. Ulquiorra had patiently explained it to her, a dominant and submissive will imprint on each other or in the case of the arrancar/shinigami the arrancar would imprint and battle for dominance with the shinigami as their instincts drove them to. This does not mean the submissive will always be the one penetrated however, as the dominant can and most often will switch spots with his mate. The relationship was not unkind she had come to understand, the involved parties oftentimes grew to care for each other or had a previous relationship and it had blossomed into an imprint.
Which was the case with her brother. Byakuya had told her in a calm and steady voice of how Grimmjow had saved him, bathed him, and brought him out from his depression. How the blue haired devil had taken him gently in the sand their first time, how he had grown to care for him, how they had become connected naturally and then in a gentle way completed their imprint. How Ulquiorra had imprinted upon him, and due to the fact they both tended to use logic more than emotions there was no battle for dominance it was simply agreed and done, thusly Grimmjow was the dominant to both Byakuya and Ulquiorra; yet it was obvious to Rukia the pale jade eyed man was well loved and cherished by both men. When she inquired about his and Grimmjows relationship she giggled when Ulquiorra's cheeks turned pink, staining his pale skin prettily. Byakuya cracked a smile as he re told the story about Grimmjow's reaction to their imprinting, then his face became serious as he told her of the crimes Aizen committed against Ulquiorra, rendering him only as a hole to be plundered, unable to ever satisfy his own needs. She shook with rage, after all she had seen and had done to her to hear that one of his own men had suffered at his hands was an outrage. Byakuya waited for her to compose herself before continuing about Szayel's declaration of Ulquiorra's unrequited love for Grimmjow and how their relationship built on love, not imprinting had evolved. It was clear the three of them all loved each other very much, and her brother and Grimmjow were fiercely protective of the smaller man and each other. Byakuya had fallen for Grimmjow in the bleakness, fighting for survival; and then for Ulquiorra and his quiet steadiness. Despite herself she found herself feeling happy that her brother had found a family, such as it was, salty tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of her family and Akihiko. Byakuya wound his arms around her as she poured out her story of how she came to be here, of the torture, her son, and the condition of Seireitei.
Byakuya radiated rage; she felt it pouring out of him as his arms tightened around her. Alerted to the scene due to the massive outpouring of anger the rest of the rag tag group had gathered and listened to the story, by the time she finished there was not a dry eye in the house, even Nnoitra and Kenpachi's eyes were suspiciously wet. Jushiro had joined her and held her hand silently in a show of support, letting her get her story out. He added to it here and there but mostly nodded, and when she got to the part about the torture she felt his grip tighten around her hand. His eyes wet he met hers in silent understanding; they still made love frequently despite the fact that their genitalia was now brutalized and mutilated. The wrath and anger she felt from the group damn near flattened her, but she kept on, speaking of their son, their beautiful boy. She smiled gently remembering his big violet eyes, soft white hair and tan skin; then she snapped back to reality as she saw his cruel smiling face while he trained with Aizen. No, he wasn't hers anymore.
She turned over on the roof, banishing those thoughts from her mind and letting it wander back to the group of men she was now living with. She had heard Tatsuki, a human female, had been her prior to her and had sacrificed herself to get to soul society; leaving behind Reina, who was her son's age. Reina was a daddy's girl, always attached to Kasai's side, determined to be "as strong as daddy." She was a cute thing, with white hair, almost the same color of her skin, vibrant golden eyes and a red ruff around her wrists. She was noticeably lacking a hollow hole, something she inherited from her mother along with and according to Kasai, her rather tenacious personality. Tatsuki sounded like someone she would have liked to have met, and to sacrifice herself to get word to the others in soul society was incredibly brave. She wished, in a way, the human was still here. Kasai himself seemed to be handling being a single dad during the apocalypse quite well, he always had a smile on his face for Reina, yet she saw the sadness in his eyes. She was shocked when she learned he was Ichigo's hollow, fully manifested and a completely different person, due to his imprint on Tatsuki. He had taken her, while he still resided in Ichigo's body and things had become unclear, when he finally separated from his host it became obvious just who had the romantic feelings for Tatsuki, and it wasn't Ichigo. Not that she was surprised; she had always suspected Ichigo swung the other way. Kasai was an impressive specimen, she would acknowledge that. His white hair hung low, down to his waist, his torso was impressively sculpted and he frequently went shirtless. His black gold eyes sparked in high contrast to his pale skin, and a red ruff encircled his wrists, ankles and neck. He was terribly beautiful and scarily strong, easily as strong as Starrk; if not more so.
Starrk, the terrible power he wielded so easily never ceased to amaze her. After what she had seen take place with Ichigo she doubted she could look at the taciturn man the same ever again, the melding of the two, sharing and mingling of power simply astonished her. Moreover Grimmjow had explained only a being of certain strength could do such a thing, and neither he nor Ulquiorra were strong enough. That sent a shiver down her spine; Ulquiorra wasn't even strong enough to do it. Yet Ichigo and Starrk were, and probably Kasai. Starrk was kind, and gentle, yet what she had witnessed was neither of those things; and yet Ichigo seemed to adore it. Ichigo, that headstrong teen she was friends with had not changed one bit. He was more broken and wounded than before, but that was to be expected; yet he was still as lively and full of spunk as ever. Being dominated by Starrk did nothing to change his demeanor, a thing she found common throughout all the men. Starrk was submissive to Kasai, and the white haired hollow never coupled with the man save unless they had to for his heart was somewhere else, with someone else. Starrk had taken out his anger at Kasai's actions on Ichigo though, a vastly unfair act however Starrk was acting on instinct, and he could not go against Kasai. Where Byakuya, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were all in a relationship with one another the lines on this particular threesome were clearer. Kasai was the leader or the strongest, Starrk deferred to him most of the time, and she couldn't tell if it was his instinct or because he was lazy. Ichigo deferred to both of them, although not always willingly and he always made a big show of disagreeing on the rare occasions that he did. She smiled; he was still trying to act defiant despite everything, a true Ichigo trait.
She turned her head at the sound of metal on metal and sighed, Kenpachi and Nnoitra were at it again. The two bloodthirsty men had paired up, and it had been quite the shock to see the thin man offering himself up like a cat in heat to Kenpachi. Apparently their imprinting had been brutally violent, similar to Starrk and Ichigo's but even more so. Of course those two loved every minute of it, and oftentimes their foreplay was fighting out on the sands, blood running down their bodies until they couldn't take it anymore and simply took each other savagely right there. Nnoitra to her surprise was more than just a walking toothpick, he was shrewd and a master tactician; his lust for blood tended to get the better of him yet in quiet conversations his true aspects shone brightly. It was clear he was underestimated constantly and his arrogance was just a cover, yet out here with nothing to lose he had dropped pretenses and instead settled into life with his comrades. He was still boastful and cocky, that didn't change, but it seemed more genuine and less showy, and he had slowly come to believe in his abilities more and more. Indeed under Kenpachi's training he had evolved into a more fearsome fighter. He used his mind in conjunction with his strength to create a terrifying attack, whereas before he simply fought for the thrill, the lust, the love of his sickle biting through flesh. Now he revealed in planning and executing the attack, patting himself on the back when his plans hit their mark and analyzing his failures; he had truly become dangerous indeed. Kenpachi enjoyed his time with the espada, in fact a little too much as their combined howls of pleasure were heard like clockwork throughout the day. In a way Nnoitra was a replacement for Yachiru, not sexually of course but by being by his side Nnoitra had relieved Kenpachi's grief quite a bit. The giant of a man had been mourning since the day he ate Rubornn's heart, Rukia knew it had been done out of anger, an eye for an eye was how Kenpachi lived; and in a way she was glad he did. The side of him that she had seen after Yachiru's death wrenched at her very heart, an image she would never get out of her head. Kenpachi cradling the broken body of his Lieutenant who was like a daughter to him, her small body cut in half and bloody. Kenpachi gently stroking the pink hair, now stained with red as his body shook silently. He didn't cry, he was so far past that point; his grief clogged her throat as the atmosphere thickened and it was all she could do to stay conscious. He hadn't been the same since, and when the final battle came he had disappeared, she knew better than to think him dead. He was a survivor, and he would always find a way to live. His eyes still held the same sadness she had seen, yet they were tempered with something more, hope.
Renji and Szayel oddly enough had been the most unstable couple to start out, with Renji fighting the imprint every step of the way and eventually succumbing completely to it and raping Szayel and Ulquiorra. She knew her friend had been hurt and depressed after that, and unable to get away from the situation had only worsened it, not that she was surprised at his typical blundering. He and Szayel had slept in separate beds, hardly talking, and he had avoided Ulquiorra like the plague. According to Szayel he had fallen into a deep depression, blaming himself and moping around, he hadn't forgiven himself easily and it wasn't until he started getting assigned to patrols with Ulquiorra to gather supplies that a change occurred. The slender man had somehow gotten into his head and made him see reason, Ulquiorra had long ago forgiven him and he had told Renji to forgive himself and try, as Szayel was. It was true Szayel had told her, he did find Renji attractive and saw that he had more to him than first met the eye, he had made slight overtures of interest; none which were reciprocated until slowly Renji begun to bring him back things from patrol. It was small at first, a new plant here, a journal there and then every time he came back he would have something to give Szayel. Then one day he had entered the room and flung the pink haired man on the bed saying he wanted to try to be lovers and not simply just mates, Szayel welcomed him with open arms and the two had never looked back. Renji was the yin to Szayel's yang, the smart, slender, logical scientist and the emotional, large, and straightforward Renji made quite the pair. The two were quite affectionate with each other and frequent PDA's *public displays of affection* were common, a peck on the check a squeeze of the ass; they were like newlyweds and she was glad deep in her heart that her friend had overcome the obstacles and found someone who made him happy. Szayel had tried to kill him during the war and now the two were inseparable, something which seemed ironic yet fitting to her. Szayel confided in her the second he had laid eyes on Renji he had found him sexually appealing, his wildness, and the untamed spark in his eyes all had driven the man to spare him despite the fact he was ordered to kill any shinigami. Szayel was whip smart, not much got past him she realized, and what she had found creepy before was fascinating now. Szayel looked at the world with different eyes than anyone else, scientist eyes, he reminded her of Urahara and she found herself frequently asking him questions to learn as much as she could about her surroundings. He was more than happy to educate her and in fact took pride in how fast she was learning, and sometimes Jushiro too joined in their lessons.
She and Jushiro had bunked down in the kitchen on mats and sleeping bags that she, Kenpachi and Byakuya had brought back when they found her. Each morning they cleaned up their bedding, but there was little privacy and when they coupled they were very quiet, expressing their love in soft kisses and caresses. Despite the fact that they were in desolation it still felt more peaceful than being under Aizen's thumb, and for the first time in years a warm feeling began to surround her heart as she finally let a little bit of happiness and hope creep into it.
