Chapter 9: True Connections
Haschwald woke late at night to soft sounds of discomfort that escaped Byakuya's parted lips as he shifted restlessly in his sleep. His pale eyes reflecting warmth and sympathy, he slid a gentle hand down to caress the noble's growing baby bump.
The transcendent reiatsu of the royal family is causing the cluster within Byakuya to develop at an accelerated rate. A full quincy would tolerate this more easily, as we are accustomed to drawing in large quantities of powerful reiatsu and shaping it. Byakuya's blut should protect him, but he is not trained in using it efficiently.
Haschwald pressed his lips to his husband's earlobe, nuzzling and instructing him in how to ease the feeling of pressure inside. He felt a little sad twinge at the slight stiffening in Byakuya's body at the initial sound of his voice, but remained calm as the noble's eyes met his, reflecting first mistrust, then recognition, and finally acceptance.
The natural barriers that our different societies imprinted on us are hard to overcome. I will not take it personally that it is difficult for Byakuya to trust me. Until very recently, I was his enemy. Now, he sees me as his captor. He has no real reason to trust me. His life has depended on not trusting me or my kind. It will take time for that to change.
He looked quietly into Byakuya's wary eyes for a moment, then stretched out again, along his side, continuing to rub his belly as they drifted back towards sleep.
I am grateful that I am allowed this closeness with the ones who will be protectors of our future, both Byakuya and this child he carries. I regret now that I viewed Byakuya's life with such aloofness, merely announcing the fading of his reiatsu as he approached death after our first attack. If I had known when I looked at his photograph before the war and planned his death…had sensed his importance…
But there is no going back. I callously sent soldiers to take his life. Should I ever be forgiven for that? It is true that Ywach had me in his thrall. Does he still? That is something I can't answer. He hated his brother, Tarelle, so much so that he erased the man after killing him. It is lucky for us that he was careless about the details, or Byakuya would not have ever reached adulthood.
"Do you know how my father died?" Byakuya asked suddenly, startling his quincy mate out of his thoughts.
"Bach Tarelle was reported dead by his brother after they quarreled. Tarelle was never seen again after, but a body was never found. We assume that Ywach simply absorbed his life force and he faded."
"I see," Byakuya said softly.
"I am sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry about?" Byakuya inquired wearily, "I barely knew the man. I believe I only met him that once."
"I never met him either," Haschwald replied, sitting up in the bed, "He had already died by the time Ywach found me."
He examined Byakuya's comely face in the semi-darkness.
"You should get some more rest," he suggested.
"I am a bit hungry," Byakuya said quietly, "I know it is not a proper time, but…"
"You are with child," Haschwald finished.
He touched a button at their bedside and a moment later, Torio entered the bedroom.
"Will you bring hot green tea and some warm cookies?" he requested.
"Of course, sir," the attendant said, bowing, "I will bring them immediately."
Haschwald turned to Byakuya, meeting his eyes questioningly.
"Do you need another infusion, your highness?" he asked.
"I think so," Byakuya answered, reaching down to rub the bump on his belly, "I seem to be needing them with greater frequency."
"That is normal," Haschwald assured him, "The reiatsu matures at an accelerated rate, which makes the side effects stronger. Add to that, the fact you are a shinigami and you are not used to channeling reiatsu the way we do, and it explains your discomfort. I will be sure to remain close to you for the rest of your gestation."
He didn't miss the tormented look that rose on Byakuya's face for a moment at his words.
"What is it?" he asked calmly, "Something troubles you."
Byakuya considered silently for a moment, then let out a long breath.
"I do not know what to do," he whispered, keeping his eyes on the rounded place on his abdomen, "Things are moving so quickly. I had thought to have more time to decide what I will do when the baby or babies are born. After all, if I want to be a part of my own children's lives, I must stay here. I cannot return to my own home or show them where I grew up. Because of my connection to Bach Tarelle, it is as though my shinigami father and my own childhood never existed, but were only lies from the beginning."
Haschwald gave him a sympathetic look.
"Byakuya, you know that if you wish to have additional children, beyond those required to be our heirs…"
"Do you really think that I could abandon my own children?" Byakuya asked softly, "Any of them?"
Haschwald gazed back him in silence.
"Understand that once you took me from the shinigamis, once you cast me in this role as the bearer of your future kings, you changed the course of my life. There is no way that you can simply change it back. Once these children come, there is no going home. I have no home. I am as ash on the wind…but a shadow."
"I do wish that you would not look at it that way," Haschwald said in a wounded tone, "You have a home here, with any children you have, for as long as you wish."
"And what of my promise to lead my shinigami clan? What of my promise to provide heirs to the Kuchiki family? Maybe those things, those people mean nothing to you, but they, not you, have been there every day of my life. I know them and I have cared for and protected them, ever since being named their leader. You would have me disappear and forget them?"
"And what would you go back to?" the quincy regent said sadly, "How would they look at you, once they knew that the blood of the shinigamis' most dreaded enemy ran in your veins, and had been there all along? Could they still see the one who protected them? Byakuya, I know that you want to fault us for discovering this connection you have to us, but…as much as your life in the shinigami world is truth, so is your connection to the quincy world. I might argue that for all of these years, you have been denied knowledge of half of who you are. You grew up knowing Soujun, and it is good that you did. But, what of Tarelle? What of this quincy who your father, Soujun loved? Loved enough to bear a child for him, to protect that child from Ywach's vision? I understand that you mourn what you have left behind, but there are things ahead of you that are worth considering as well. Perhaps you can't go back, but you can move forward with hope in your heart."
Byakuya's eyes closed and he shuddered against the rage of emotions that tortured his insides. His face paled and he laid a hand on his rounded abdomen. He turned away from the quincy regent and ran into the bathroom, where he fell to his knees, retching. Haschwald remained where he was for a moment, a look of pure agony touching his pale features.
He is in misery.
And all I want is to bring him some kind of peace.
But all my words do is to hurt him!
His heart aching, he forced his feet to move, carrying him slowly into the bathroom and to Byakuya's side. He knelt silently, laying his hands on Byakuya's round abdomen and infusing the area gently as the noble struggled to shove off the continued feeling of illness.
"Byakuya, I am truly sorry," he whispered with sincerity, "Believe me when I tell you that I wish I could undo this discovery that has hurt you. No one here wants to hurt you."
"You are wrong," Byakuya objected solemnly, "The guard who tried to take my life is not the only one who hates me because of the blood that runs in my veins. Shingami blood, the Bach blood. It does not matter. I will be despised here as well as there. There is no stopping that."
"Try not to think this way," the quincy regent pleaded, focusing more of his reiatsu into Byakuya's belly, "Byakuya, this unease is unsettling your reiatsu as quickly as I can calm it. I am not going to be able to keep your reiatsu stable if this continues. I know that, despite everything, you love our child…"
He paused, staring in surprise as he felt a little flutter under his fingertips, then the touch of a curious, reaching soul, followed swiftly by a second. His eyes rounded and filled with tears and he grabbed Byakuya's hand and pressed it to the area.
"You feel it, don't you?" he managed in a half-sob, "These two souls that need us? Maybe the rest of the world would see our end without regret, but when all else is lost, we will…have just this, will we not? We needn't be alone!"
One pale, shaking hand rose to brush away the devastated tears that had risen in Byakuya's dark, brooding eyes.
"Please don't leave me alone to do this," Haschwald whispered, pressing his cheek to his stunned husband's, "I can't do this alone! I need you, Byakuya. I know you have thought of my actions as selfish, but…I was only doing as I must, just as you are now. I, of all people, know the struggle of standing between what I wish and what is. All of my life, I have drifted between one man's plans or another's. I never chose anything about my life. But if I have a choice now, I choose this path! I choose to love these children and I choose to love you!"
Byakuya stared back at him wordlessly for several long moments before answering.
"Do you really?" he breathed in agony, "Can you?"
Haschwald opened his mouth to give his answer, but was halted as an urgent knocking sounded on the outer bedroom door.
"Byakuya-sama!" Torio called through the door urgently, "Byakuya-sama, Tetsuya-san is in labor, sir, and he is asking for you!"
Haschwald withdrew his hands and lowered his eyes.
"You should go," he said calmly.
Byakuya looked quietly at Haschwald for a moment, then climbed to his feet and hurried to the door. He opened it to find Torio, looking pale and frightened.
"Is Tetsuya all right?" Byakuya asked quickly.
"He is coping," Torio said anxiously, "but the healers are concerned that his reiatsu is unstable. Kuri-kuri-sama is doing what he can, but…"
"Take me to him, now!"
"Hai, Byakuya-sama!"
Byakuya followed the attendant, barely noticing that Haschwald was at his side. He hurried into Tetsuya's treatment room, sliding to stop as he reached the bed.
"B-byakuya-sama!" Tetsuya panted, blinking and reaching for his hand as Kuri washed the heavy sweat from his face.
"I am here," Byakuya assured him, joining Kuri at his side, "I am with you, Tetsuya."
"Everything is going to be fine, Tetsu-hana," Kuri said with forced calm, "You are doing fine."
"What can I do to help?" Byakuya asked the quincy healer that was leaning over his cousin.
"You are close to him and you are a quincy," the healer explained, "Shima taicho is providing reiatsu, but Tetsuya's blut is reacting as though it is an intrusion. It will help of you can hold his hand and focus on keeping him very calm."
"I am trying," Tetsuya sobbed, "but I just can't be calm here. I want to be home…w-with Magdelina-san and Antonia-san, in the home I know with my own healer and attendant!"
"I understand, Tetsuya," Byakuya said solemnly, his hand caressing his cousin's and a sliver of reiatsu passing between them, "We all wanted to go home. We all miss the familiarity of that place. But the truth is that it is not the place that makes the home. You know this. It is the people around us."
Haschwald's eyes widened and he turned and rushed out of the room.
"I am here with you," Byakuya went on, "Kurushimi is here. Torio is here. Renji and Ichigo and Uryu are here."
The Kuchiki leader motioned for the others to move closer.
"I am surrounding Tetsuya with a strand of my reiatsu," he explained, "I need you to do the same."
He watched quietly as the others emitted little strands of reiatsu, letting them float gently around Tetsuya's panting form. Tetsuya's eyes blinked and he shivered at the first touch, then loosed a relieved sigh and began to calm.
"Very good," the aged quincy healer said approvingly, "Keep your breathing slow. It won't be much longer, my boy. You are doing well."
"Thank you, Byakurai," Kuri whispered shakily, "I think I needed the reminder as much as he did."
"None of this is what any of us expected or wanted," Byakuya acknowledged, "It is tempting to give in to the feelings of strangeness and distance. But…the truth is that, despite the fact that we identify most with the shinigami life we grew up in, Tetsuya and I were denied knowledge of our quincy blood. We didn't have the chance to know this ,place or these people. I still do not agree with the method that brought us here, but we do have connections here too. We have to make our peace with that."
"I know this," Kuri breathed softly, "It is not easy for either of you. I wish all of this had happened differently, not when Tetsu-hana was so vulnerable."
"I wish the same," Byakuya agreed, "I…"
He paused and the ones in the room looked up in surprise as the chamber door opened, and Magdelina, Antonia and Urahara Kisuke entered. The three moved swiftly to Tetsuya's side.
"Angelito," Magdelina greeted him smilingly, looking as though she hadn't noticed that they weren't home at Shima Adobe, "Mijo, it is so good to see you!"
"Magdelina-san!" Tetsuya whispered happily, taking the elder woman's hand, "Antonia-san! How did you get here?"
"The quincy appeared to us," Antonia explained, leaning over Tetsuya and adding her reiatsu to the small streams that radiated around him, "Urahara-san had come to give us an update on things. Haschwald said that you needed us and that Urahara-san might be needed too."
"I feel so much better, now that you are here," Tetsuya said with increasing calm, "I still wish we could go home, but…"
"We will go home, just as soon as it is safe, Tetsu-hana," Kuri assured him.
The door opened again and Torio and Koji entered.
"Koji!" Tetsuya exclaimed, reaching out as his own attendant joined them, "You're here too?"
"Haschwald-sama came to me and said that you needed me."
Koji turned his attention to Byakuya for a moment.
"Byakuya-sama, when Haschwald-sama arrived at the manor, there was a minor skirmish and he was injured."
"Haschwald was…?" Byakuya began, laying a hand on his abdomen and paling.
"He is all right. His personal healer is seeing to his injury. I just wanted you to know."
Byakuya nodded.
"Thank you, Koji."
"Okay folks," Kisuke said, running a hand over Tetsuya's rounded belly, "I think it's time we had these babies, don't you?"
The area just below Tetsuya's navel began to emit a soft glow that slowly brightened.
"Kuri, would you like to deliver your children?" Kisuke asked.
Kuri smiled helplessly and nodded. He rose and joined the shopkeeper and quincy healer, and Kisuke's hands guided his into the glowing area. They curved gently around one thick cluster of reiatsu and very slowly removed it. He set the cluster in Tetsuya's arms and the two watched in awe as the golden reiatsu gradually resolved into a tiny, caramel-skinned infant with Tetsuya's black, misbehaving hair and Kuri's handsome turquoise eyes.
"Oh my god, he's so beautiful!" Kuri exclaimed, tears streaming down his face, "Tetsu-hana!"
"He is amazing!" Tetsuya agreed, smiling widely.
"That's not the end of the show," Kisuke chuckled, "Kuri?"
Kuri met Magdelina's large, damp eyes.
"Mamà, will you please do the honors?" he asked.
"Me?" Magdelina mused, touching a hand to her heart, "Oh, mijo!"
She joined Kisuke at Tetsuya's side and allowed the shopkeeper to guide her hands into the glowing area of Tetsuya's belly. She carefully removed a second golden cluster and everyone watched as it resolved into a pale, brown-haired girl with Tetsuya's large, sapphire eyes.
"Oh, she's so beautiful!" Magdelina exclaimed, "She looks so much like our Angelito!"
"She is an angel, like her mother," Kuri said proudly, "Shall we call her Angèl, Tetsu-hana?"
"I think it's a lovely name," Tetsuya agreed, "and shall we call our son, Akira, as we planned?"
"Yes, yes, it is fitting for him, eh?"
"I think so," Tetsuya agreed.
"How is my cousin?" Byakuya asked Kisuke quietly.
"He's doing fine," the shopkeeper assured him, "He just needs to rest and bond with his babies. I think having everyone here really helped him through. He and the kids are looking good now."
"Thank you," Byakuya said gratefully.
He touched Tetsuya's face lightly.
"Watashi no itoko, I must go and see my husband now," he said solemnly, "I will come to see you again later, when you are well-rested."
Tetsuya nodded.
"P-please thank Haschwald-sama for bringing my family," Tetsuya requested.
"I will."
Byakuya left the room and walked back through the quiet hallways to his suite, pausing for a moment at the door before he entered. He found Haschwald alone and sitting up in their bed, looking silently out the open balcony doors.
"Are Tetsuya and the children all right?" the quincy regent asked, "Though, I don't suppose you would be here if they weren't."
"They are fine," Byakuya said, sitting down on the bed and rubbing the enlarged bump on his abdomen gently, "I heard what you did to get the others here…that you allowed yourself to be injured. That was…kind…and careless, Jugram."
"You are right," Haschwald confessed, "I was careless. I am sorry."
"I am sorry as well," Byakuya apologized, "for my behavior earlier."
"You had every reason to feel despair."
"But I realized as I was helping my cousin, that it is the people who matter. I have been taken from the home I knew and many of the people I knew. I have lost some things. But, I have also gained a truth I need to know. I am to have family here, as well. That must be enough to mitigate my feelings about not being able to go back home."
"You can't help feeling detached from family you never knew."
"But it is best that I come to know all of myself," Byakuya resolved, lying down and curling into his husband's arms, "I will try harder to do so."
"Danke dir meine Liebe für dein Verständnis. (Thank you, my love, for your understanding)."
"Bitte schön. (You are welcome)"
"You have begun to learn our language," Haschwald mused, looking pleased.
"No," Byakuya corrected him, "I am remembering it. You see, my father, Soujun, made sure it was a part of my historical education to learn multiple languages, and this is one of them."
Haschwald smiled.
"Soujun was an amazing person."
"I find more about how amazing he was every day," Byakuya whispered, closing his eyes and resting his head on his husband's shoulder.