Chapter 11: Secret in the Desert
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What was it that held us apart? When I look at you now, I see differently. You were a devil and I was an angel, but now your wings look white while mine have surely darkened.
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"Renji!" Rukia's stern voice shouted, shattering the haze around the sleeping redhead and making him jump awake.
"Holy fucking hell!" Renji yelped, sitting up and scrabbling with his hand, searching for his sword, "What the…?"
He stiffened and his cinnamon eyes blinked as everything came back to him.
Those bastards were torturing Taicho! Then when Rukia and I broke in, that one was gonna kill us and…!
"B-byakuya!" Renji gasped, grabbing at his aching head, "Where is…?"
"I don't know," Rukia said, lowering her voice and moving in close to him and sitting on the edge of the bed, "Renji, look around you. We are not in the Seireitei."
Renji looked closer at the furnishings in their room, then climbed out of the bed and onto unsteady feet. He walked to the nearby window and looked out at the sunlit desert, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Holy shit," he breathed, "Rukia, I think we're in some real trouble here."
Rukia followed him to the window and nodded as she pressed up against his side, shivering slightly.
"You remember, don't you?" she said in a worried tone, "We arrived and found the elders torturing Nii-sama, and when we protected him, Head Elder Nori aimed that kido at us with intent to kill."
Renji felt ice stabbing at the pit of his stomach.
"Byakuya got in the way," he added, his voice shaking, "He was thrown against the wall, then…"
The two looked anxiously into each other's stricken eyes.
Then, we heard Aizen's voice and the release command for his Kyoka Suigetsu.
"Shit," Renji breathed anxiously, "We are in a world of trouble, here. That is for sure."
"Well, even if Aizen has taken us as prisoners, he hasn't killed us," Rukia pointed out, "He still might, but…"
Renji thought for a moment, then stiffened.
"What is it?" Rukia asked, "Is it about what you were trying to tell me while we were going to help Nii-sama? Is it about Nii-sama's baby?"
"Y-yeah," Renji confessed softly, his head bowing and his fingertips touching the warm glass in front of him, "about that."
"You said to me that you weren't the father of Nii-sama's heir," the young woman prompted him.
"Right," Renji agreed, "I'm not. I was only gonna claim to be, because…"
He broke off, shaking his head and closing his eyes for a moment.
"Rukia, Taicho had some real complicated things happen to him while he was growing up. Lately, he's been confiding in me a lot of stuff about that."
Rukia blinked, thinking, then she stiffened and her breath caught.
"He told you who the father was?"
"Yeah."
Rukia's eyes rounded as she thought again about the scene just before their capture, then about the arrival of the shinigami traitor, Aizen. Her jaw dropped and her wide violet eyes blinked again.
"Aizen…?"
"Yeah," Renji affirmed, "Back when Taicho was younger, he…well, Aizen seduced him. Ginrei found out and Byakuya was punished, but apparently, when they were together, it triggered something called…"
"The Seirei Joumae?" Rukia said, her heart pounding.
"You know about it?"
"Yes," Rukia affirmed, "I learned about it while I was being educated in noble customs, traditions and history. I didn't know that Nii-sama had that bond with anyone. And…Aizen, of all people!"
"I know," Renji mused, shaking his head, "It's hard to wrap your head around that. Someone like Byakuya being spirit-locked to someone like Aizen. But it's true. Taicho told me, himself, when we found out about the baby."
Rukia went quiet for a moment, gazing out the window and thinking, then she looked up at her taller friend with a quizzical expression.
"Huh?" Renji grunted, "What?"
"The Seirei Joumae," Rukia said, frowning, "For there to be a baby, they would have to have been together again, and recently. But…"
She stopped as Renji's eyes filled suddenly with sad sympathy.
"Just before the betrayal," Renji admitted, "It could've been when Taicho swiped some liquor from my desk and got drunk because he was agonizing over your sentence, or…coulda been when Aizen faked his death. But, whenever it happened, Taicho got pregnant, and he thought that it was over, because…well, who's gonna be able to overlook the shit Aizen pulled? The elders, the Gotei 13, Central 46? They would've imprisoned Taicho in a second and had him on trial for treason, at the least. And that baby?"
"The elders would know that with the Seirei Joumae, they couldn't get other heirs from Nii-sama, though I don't know really if they would have been so shocked they might've ordered the baby aborted and just chosen another heir from among the subfamilies. But whatever happened with the baby, Nii-sama would have been disgraced. Disgraced…imprisoned, maybe executed."
Renji took a breath and loosed it again in a deep, shuddering sigh.
"Maybe it's not so bad that we're here, then," he concluded, "We may be Aizen's prisoners, but if the bastard actually has feelings for Taicho, then…"
He broke off and the two turned as the door to their chamber suddenly opened.
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Byakuya woke to a deep throbbing in his head and a feeling of heaviness of body that seemed almost stifling. He groaned and tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but immediately felt a touch on his arm and heard a familiar male voice speaking softly, but urgently.
"Don't try to move too much. You are safe, and your body and the baby's are stable, at the moment."
He obeyed the request not to move too much, but focused then on slowly raising the heavy lids on his eyes. He blinked slowly to clear his vision, then honed in on two fuzzy shapes beside his bed, one who appeared to be an aged healer, and the other, the traitor and leader of the enemy forces in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Sousuke.
"Aizen."
The traitor's lips curved upward, and the man's brown eyes reflected quiet relief.
"How are you feeling?" Aizen asked, taking the noble's pale hand in his, "You've been unconscious for awhile. I was concerned for you."
"R-rukia? Renji?" Byakuya managed.
"Here, my boy," the healer intervened, handing him a cup of water, "Have a bit to drink. You should eat something soon as well to sustain your reiatsu. I will go and bring something."
"But, you say the baby is all right?" Byakuya asked, sitting up to take a sip of the water.
The old healer exchanged glances with Aizen, who gave him a little nod.
"Eh, you and the baby are stable for now, but…there are some things we will talk about when you have rested a bit."
"If the baby is in danger, then we need to speak now," Byakuya answered sternly.
"Now, now," Aizen chided him, laying a hand on his forearm, "Haruto has every intention of discussing everything with you, but you must restore yourself so that you will be strong enough to continue the pregnancy."
Byakuya bristled, but gave a short nod, excusing the flustered healer. He sat back against the pillows, meeting Aizen's eyes confrontationally as Aizen smiled at him warmly.
"Are you comfortable?" the traitor asked.
"No," Byakuya spat, "I want to know what you've done to Rukia and Renji. They wouldn't have let you just leave with me like that. Where are they? Are they safe?"
"They are fine," Aizen assured him, continuing to look steadily into Byakuya's angry eyes, "I did have to hypnotize them to bring them here, for their safety, but I left illusions in your places. No one will know you are here."
"Hmm," Byakuya sighed, "and…what is the fate of the Kuchiki elders? Did you kill them, Sousuke?"
The traitor's brow arched slightly at the shift to his first name, and he gave the noble a little, wicked smirk.
"Don't you think that they deserved to die for attacking you, your baby and your loved ones?" Aizen asked dulcetly.
"Were you not also attempting to kill me and my loved ones only a short time ago?" Byakuya asked dryly, "Did I not also nearly allow my own sister to be executed? I am sure we all are guilty of something that makes us deserving of death."
"Hmm, I think we need to speak about what happened at Sokyoku Hill," Aizen suggested, "Perhaps if you understand what was going through my mind, you will be relieved to know it wasn't what you thought."
Byakuya scowled.
"Do not attempt to rewrite history for me," he scoffed, "I was there, Sousuke. You ordered Gin to kill my sister, and when you saw me protect her, then you started to draw your sword. Wasn't it much like the treatment you have Hinamori Momo and Rukia? You were done with me, so you decided to kill me so I wouldn't trouble you anymore?"
"Not at all," Aizen answered smoothly, "Remember the power of my blade. Yes, I did use it to run Momo through. It was a callous act, and I admit to being cruel, but the situation with Momo was different, because I had caused her to be too dependent on me. She would have died, just more slowly had I not dispatched her more humanely. I was also careless in not finishing the job, but you, yourself, have made that mistake…with Ichigo? With Renji?"
"And what about my sister? What is your excuse for using Rukia to obtain Urahara's hogyoku, then ordering her killed? Was that aimed at me? Were you still angry because I did not give in to you during my promotion banquet, and I called you a peasant?"
"I was angry about that," Aizen admitted quietly, "and I was cold in my treatment of your sister, but your recklessness in saving her…"
Aizen paused, and a touch of surprise lit Byakuya's expression at the very genuine struggle for words that afflicted him for a moment.
"It reminded me of the person you were when you were younger, and I was taken aback. I did draw Kyoka Suigetsu, but I wasn't going to kill you. I was going to do what I just did. I was going to bring you here so that we could talk."
"What is to talk about?" Byakuya sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, "You are a traitor and a murderer. There is no way that I can simply look beyond that. Now, I will ask you again, did you also kill the Kuchiki elders?"
Aizen's smile returned and he let out a soft, amused breath.
"No, I didn't kill them, although I certainly thought they deserved to die."
"You let them live?" Byakuya mused, studying the other man more closely, "And what brought on this unusual act of mercy towards the ones who almost killed Rukia, Renji, me and our child? What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that it was best not to leave things the way they were," Aizen replied, matter-of-factly, "I do not wish for you to be disgraced, perhaps removed from leadership of the clan and even executed. Things were spiraling out of control. I merely brought them under mine."
Byakuya looked back at him questioningly.
"I left them thinking that you simply told them that Renji was the father of the child. Now, they will probably be chiding you for your reckless disregard for rules and happily planning your and Renji's nuptials, which will not matter in the least, since you will not be there."
"You cannot think that I am going to stay here with you…"
"I am sorry," the traitor said with perfect sincerity, "The injury you have sustained is not something that just anyone can heal. Haruto could stabilize you, but you and the baby are slowly declining. Neither of you will survive unless we find someone who knows about noble male pregnancy, and has the skill to address the injury. I was hoping that once you were awake, you would be able to think of who could help us. Urahara Kisuke? Perhaps the human girl? Orihime?"
Byakuya sighed.
"I think that the chaotic nature of the reiatsu inside me will make it unlikely that a power like Orihime's will be able to more than hold things in check. Urahara is very knowledgeable, however, there are rare few who have extensive knowledge of noble male pregnancy. There is someone who I think can help, but we will probably need Orihime present to keep things stable while I send for him."
"Hmm," Aizen said, rubbing his chin, "I think that works just fine with my plans."
"Your plans?" Byakuya repeated, arching a fine eyebrow.
Aizen laughed softly.
"I think that will be a good way to start the war…"
"Sousuke!"
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Deep in the west Rukongai, a slight, male figure leaned over a young girl, placing a cool, wet cloth on her forehead and looking down into her frightened eyes.
"I have relieved the pain, ne?" he asked softly, moving slightly to shield her from the sight of her missing arm, "It no longer hurts?"
"N-no," the little girl managed shakily, "but my arm!"
The young man heard a little sob from where the girl's parents waited by the bedroom door. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded to an older woman, who waited with the distressed parents.
"Don't you worry," the woman with the healer said soothingly, putting an arm around the girl's mother, "Tetsuya is a skilled healer. Your little Yui is going to be fine."
"Are you sure?" the anguished mother asked, gulping, "That hollow…"
"Now, there, my husband has destroyed the hollow and he is out right now with some of the villagers, making sure there are no others that will threaten your town. It will be all right, I promise."
"Th-thank you!"
Tetsuya smiled down at the little girl and touched her cheek tenderly.
"Now, I want you to watch," he requested, extending a downturned palm over the child's missing limb.
The girl's eyes rounded as blue light flowed around Tetsuya's extended hand, making the blue ends of the healer's wavy black hair and his sapphire colored eyes glow.
"This is the power of my zanpakuto, Rekuhime," Tetsuya explained, "She has studied your reiatsu, and she can restore your arm."
"Really?"
"Yes," Tetsuya assured her, "watch."
The room went silent as the blue energy flowed out of Tetsuya's hand, and first curled around the stump of a limb that was left on the girl's right side. The energy intensified, forming what looked like a translucent copy of the arm that had been lost.
"Rekuhime first makes the missing arm with water, her restorative element," Tetsuya explained, "then she will slowly withdraw, leaving the new limb to solidify. In just a few moments…"
The child and her parents watched raptly as the watery arm seemed to thicken into a gel, then very slowly solidified into a new limb.
"C-can I move it?" Yui asked, blinking and staring at her new arm.
"Of course. It is just like new," Tetsuya answered, standing, "You are a brave girl, not running away like the others did when your parents were threatened."
He turned slightly to meet the girl's parents' eyes.
"Yui has strong reiatsu, and her will to protect you and others, while it may distress you now, can be turned into true power to protect. If you wish it, I will see that she is recommended for the Shinigami Academy. She will need proper training to see that her ability develops to its fullest capacity."
"You…really think that Yui has this potential?" the girl's father asked, stealing an anxious glance at the girl, "Her mother and I are peaceful people, but we know very well that not all of the world is peaceful. If Yui can become stronger, so that she has a chance at a better life, then that is what we want."
"What do you think?" Tetsuya asked the little girl, "Would you like to develop your powers with other talented children like you?"
The girl looked from her restored arm to Tetsuya's sheathed sword, then up at Tetsuya again.
"Do you have to sometimes fight too?" she asked, "Most of the healers can't fight, but you have a sword like the soldiers do."
"I sometimes have to fight," Tetsuya answered, touching his fingertips to the handle of his sword, "but only when there is no choice. Rekuhime is a healing spirit, so we much prefer healing to fighting."
"I do too," Yui said softly, looking up at her parents, "but Momma's going to have a baby soon, and I want everyone to be safe. I don't want to have to run away from the hollows. I want to fight them when they try to hurt people."
"You have a fighter's heart," Tetsuya said appreciatively, "I will surely give your name to the Shinigami Academy so that their scouts can come to test you for their program."
"A test?" the girl asked anxiously, "What do I have to do?"
"It's going to be easy for you," Tetsuya assured her, "Here, give me your hands."
He took the girl's hands and held them, palm upward.
"Imagine a ball of energy. Close your eyes and imagine it in complete detail. Form that ball of energy, here, in your open hands."
The adults watched in silence as Yui's eyes closed, and a moment later, a large, glowing ball formed in her hands.
"Very good!" Tetsuya praised her, "You see. You will have no trouble passing the entrance test. And when you are a strong shinigami, then you can come back to this town and protect everyone."
"I want to!" the girl exclaimed, sitting up and trying to climb out of the bed, "Mommy! Daddy! I want to be a shinigami!"
"And you will," her mother laughed, "but first, you need to eat and rest. You just had your arm healed, little one."
"Listen to your mother," Tetsuya advised the girl, smiling down at her, "Rest and eat. Save your strength for your training."
The girl's father followed Tetsuya and his mother outside, where a group of men was returning from the edge of town.
"Takao!" Tetsuya's mother called out, running to meet them, "Is everything all right now? Are the hollows gone?"
"It's safe now, Kiko," he assured his wife, slipping an arm around her, "Tetsuya, segare, how is the little girl? Were you able to heal her arm?"
"I was," Tetsuya answered.
"Good, then we are finished here?"
"Oh," Yui's father said, shaking his head, "you can't leave. Not until we've thanked you properly. Please, join my family and friends in town tonight. The owner of the inn is a good friend of mine. He will give you a room and meals tonight. Will you stay?"
Takao glanced at his wife and son, who nodded in answer.
"Very well, then," Takao chuckled, "It looks like we're staying."
The family of healers returned to their cart and Tetsuya held the black horse hitched to the front steady as his mother and father climbed up.
"Easy, Arashi," Tetsuya said, patting the horse's neck.
He started to move to join them, then stiffened, staring as a hell butterfly radiating a familiar reiatsu fluttered up to him and hovered in front of him.
"Tetsuya," Byakuya's voice said, a note of urgency in his voice, "my apologies for interrupting your work in the Rukongai, but I am in need of your abilities as a healer, and as one who is knowledgeable about noble male pregnancy. I am sending two officers to bring you to me. Please proceed with them to my location."
"That sounds serious," Takao said, frowning.
"He wouldn't call upon me unless it was," Tetsuya agreed, "I wonder who he plans to send."
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Renji stiffened and his hand reached for his absent sword as Gin stepped into the room, grinning widely at seeing its two occupants on their feet.
"Hello," the silver-haired man said brightly, "You look much better, now that you're awake. You slept for a long time."
Renji snarled and flash stepped, but was stopped short of reaching Gin by a sudden swell of thick reiatsu. He braced himself against it, baring his teeth and glaring at the former taicho.
"Where is my taicho, you bastard?" he demanded, "Where did you and that monster, Aizen, put him?"
"Temper, temper," Gin chuckled, opening on eye slightly to look at the redhead, "You're being pretty rude for a guest."
"A guest?" Rukia scoffed, "We're not stupid, you know. We know that we're not anyone's guests here. We're prisoners!"
"Is that right?" Gin mused, touching a finger to his lips, "But…if you are prisoners, then where are your chains? I don't see any kido restraints or anything? How can you say you're prisoners? Has anyone even threatened you?"
"Like you need to say anything to be threatening," Renji scoffed, "Now, tell me what you've done with Byakuya!"
"Oh my, my," Gin snickered, "Byakuya, is it? Are you sure you should be saying his name like that when he's not your boyfriend, Renji?"
"I don't need to be his boyfriend to know your backstabbing, murderous master doesn't belong anywhere near him!" Renji seethed, punching at the kido barrier with each of the last three words, "I swear, if you've hurt one hair on his head, I'll FUCKING RIP YOU APART!"
"Take us to my brother!" Rukia demanded.
"Well," Gin said disapprovingly, "not like you two should be telling anyone what to do, but I was actually coming in here to take you to him anyway. So, if you think you can calm down and stop trying to beat me up…"
"I'm not tryin' to beat you up," Renji sneered, his cinnamon eyes blazing, "I'm going to fucking kill you!"
"Oh, calm down!" Gin snapped, his fake smile slipping, "You know, you're only safe here because of Sousuke's attraction to Byakuya. If you're not careful, you might get the wrong person angry and end up dead."
"Ha! Now, that's a laugh," Renji scoffed, "Do you think I give a rat's ass about getting you angry?"
"I wasn't talking about myself," Gin warned him, opening his eyes and freezing the stunned redhead in place for a moment, "Believe me, if you get frisky and upset this apple cart, I'm the last one you need to be worried about."
Renji paused and gave Gin a confused look.
"What's that supposed to…?"
"Come on," Gin sighed impatiently, opening the door to the room, "Your Taicho is waiting."
"What's up with him?" Rukia whispered as they followed him out into the hallway and past the hollow guards, "For a second there, he sounded like he might not exactly be with Aizen."
"Who knows what that snake is up to?" Renji huffed, "I don't trust him and you shouldn't either."
"Of course not," Rukia agreed, "I just thought he acted funny. That's all."
"When does he not?"
