Dark Angels
By Spunky0ne
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In a torrent of rain, Tetsuya finds his angry, abusive cousin near death. Orochi makes a startling admission that sends them on a dangerous search for something precious to both of them. Can the secret in their past be the one thing that can save Soul Society?…yaoi, mpreg…Orochi/Tetsuya, Aizen/Gin, Kisuke/Byakuya, Grimmjow/Renji/Ichigo
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Chapter 1: Rain
It was the first time in Orochi Kuchiki's life that he had ever been so completely vulnerable. It seemed inconceivable, but there was no denying the blood that leaked from numerous wounds on his body, the overwhelming pain that assaulted his senses when he tried to move, or the sight of the shattered black steel sword that he still clung stubbornly to. It was little compensation to also have a perfect view of his dead quincy attacker's collapsed and mangled body, being that it was surrounded with the dead bodies of the very ones the Kuchiki subfamily heir had spilled his own blood to defend. And the falling rain washed over everything, slowly blending with the blood and sliding down their fallen bodies, painting the defiled grounds of their home in redness.
To think, after everything, this is how it would end. I suppose I have wondered once or twice how death would come to me, but somehow, dying valiantly while defending women and children isn't something I would have foreseen.
I am not a hero.
No part of me is selfless.
He looked again at the dripping dark steel sword gripped tightly in his hand.
It's dead, or at very least, it is gone.
I have to say that I'm surprised. I didn't think that anything could overwhelm Kurohebi. The quincies surprised me…but then, they were made to battle things of deepest darkness, weren't they? Hollows…shinigamis…still, a demon spirit?
I wonder if…now that it is gone…
…if…she will…
He stiffened as a very faint feminine voice sounded in his mind.
Master, do not despair.
"Eika?" Orochi's bloodied lips whispered.
I am here.
He hadn't heard this, the calm, gentle voice of his own zanpakuto, for nearly three centuries.
Kurohebi was the birthright of the heirs of our subfamily, ever since my ancestor defeated the demon snake in the first war with the quincies, heir after heir has seen their own zanpakuto sacrificed to gain the power required to maintain our place. Usually, we regain our own weakened zanpakuto when the new heir is raised, but…
…because of me, that will never happen.
Even if not for my failure here, I ensured that the heir to Kurohebi's power would never inherit it.
He heard again the petulant howl of the snake spirit and shivered, recalling the horrid ritual his own father had put him through at only ten years old, to receive the spirit's power.
No one asked me if I wanted Kurohebi. I wasn't warned what they were going to do. Eika was just bonding with me and my shikai was already strong, when father and several others led me into the forest and put me through the ritual. They said it was my true birthright power, and that Eika wasn't worthy of me.
I was a child and I did cry for her, but I learned a brutal truth about life from that experience…eat or be eaten. That was always the challenge of wielding the demon snake. I did wonder about what my own choice would be for my child someday.
…but…
…when the time came, I hadn't the strength to break her zanpakuto.
A hard shudder went through him as he realized.
The snake could be revived, but do I want it to be?
He was distracted out of his thoughts when Eika's voice reached him again.
He is coming.
Orochi didn't need to ask who…who would risk life and limb, leaving the safety of the family encampment, searching for fallen fighters, innocent civilians or even collapsed enemies.
He would also save those of us who refused to adhere to the plans he made that protected the main family and most of the other Kuchiki subfamilies. He would pluck me from among the fallen bodies of the innocents, sacrificed on the altar of our own arrogance…my father's and mine. Yes, Tetsuya would heal the devil, himself, if he was in need. Does he understand anything at all?
Orochi heard the sound of approaching footsteps, barely audible and revealing a stagger in his cousin's walk.
I suppose even healers were not spared by those bastards. It is good that Byakuya insisted on training you to fight.
The footsteps came to a halt, and Orochi could just make out the muddied, but finely crafted leather boots Tetsuya always wore for riding, and the torn and dripping uniform he wore. For a moment, his cousin froze, and Orochi could feel the widened sapphire eyes that studied him through the heavy downpour.
"I'm not dead…y-yet," he managed brokenly, "I killed…it, though, not before it slaughtered my father and everyone here."
"I heard from your attendant…Shoji-san," Tetsuya answered sadly, kneeling in the mud at Orochi's side.
Orochi's breath caught for a moment and he loosed a rattling cough.
"Sh-shoji…"
"He saw that the situation was dire and came to me for help. I…would have arrived sooner, but there was an attack on the barrier protecting the encampment and we were forced to…"
"You don't need to explain to me the consequences of my bastard father's choice to ignore your warnings, Tetsuya…and by listening to him and failing to object, I shared the weight of that responsibility. But still…y-you should check the…"
"I have already," Tetsuya whispered, his voice shaking, "None lived."
Orochi's already pale face blanched.
"M-my mother? And Yuu?"
Tetsuya swallowed hard and shook his head, lowering his eyes.
"Shoji managed to carry Maria-sama to the encampment with him, but…Yuu fell defending them as they escaped. I found his body and I did try, but I could not revive him."
"Damn it."
Orochi coughed, and more blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
"Did you find my father's body?"
The silence that opened up was like a stake through his heart.
"I see."
"Maria-sama and Shoji-san were both badly injured and they were greatly worried about you," Tetsuya informed him, as he began to address Orochi's wounds, "but I reassured them that I would not return without you."
Orochi managed a short laugh that ended in a heavier, rattling cough.
"Lie still," Tetsuya admonished him, looking at him through long, messy strands of wavy black hair, "I am going to heal you."
"Save your power for someone who needs it. Just go, Tetsuya. You and I both know the reality of what is happening here."
Tetsuya let out a dismissive breath and ignored him.
"Kurohebi is dead," Orochi said flatly.
Tetsuya's blue eyes narrowed for a moment.
"You know that…"
"Do not say it, Tetsuya," Orochi hissed, "I do not deserve to live, and no one knows that better than Kurohebi. He poisoned me for failing him. I won't be breathing for much longer."
He drew in a shaky breath.
"So, there is something I must tell you…s-something I debated whether or not to tell you."
"You're delirious," Tetsuya said, bowing his head as he invoked his healing power, "You don't know what you're saying."
Orochi laughed, setting him coughing again.
"Stop it," his cousin warned him, "You are in no condition to be pushing yourself."
"I am going to die."
"No. I am holding back the poison," Tetsuya informed him.
"But you are aware that you can't do that forever, and there is no cure for Kurohebi's…"
"We will find one."
"No," Orochi said with finality, "I don't know why you persist. Maybe…maybe I want the snake to die with me."
Tetsuya's head tilted and he gave his cousin a curious look.
"You speak as though there is a way to save Kurohebi…and you," he offered, "Is there, Orochi?"
"No."
Tetsuya knew immediately that he was lying, although he had no sense of the reason why.
"Go look for Byakuya. That's what you really want to be doing, isn't it?" Orochi chided him.
Tetsuya started to answer, then froze, staring at his black-eyed cousin in dismay as his body stiffened, then began to convulse.
"Orochi!" he gasped, extending an opened hand over the stricken warrior.
"No, Tetsuya, damn you, don't! J-just…just let it go!"
"I'm not letting you die, not while I have the ability to save you!" Tetsuya cried, "Stop fighting me!"
"B-baka!" Orochi coughed, spitting out more blood, "You can't save me. Y-you need to give this up and…and…f-find her."
Tetsuya's blue eyes registered surprise, then confusion.
"Find who?"
Orochi coughed harder, his breath rattling ominously and Tetsuya intensified the healing power he was using.
"Shissui," he breathed, invoking his innate ability to slow the absorption of the poison.
"It won't do any good," Orochi panted, his eyes glazing over, "T-Tetsuya, I know I don't deserve this, b-but…you do, so I'm going to tell you."
"Tell me what?" Tetsuya asked, "Orochi, you need to rest."
"Rest is useless. This body is useless. B-but, there is one thing you can do for me."
"You're not going to…"
"Your baby, Tetsuya."
His cousin stiffened, staring down at him.
"Our baby. She didn't die. I hid her in the east fifty-first district…low enough…"
"Low enough that accurate records aren't kept of all souls," Tetsuya said numbly.
"But high enough that she would be safe."
"You took her."
"Yes."
There was a long silence between them, only broken by the sound of the falling rain.
"Will you just let me die now?" Orochi sighed raggedly, "You know it's what I deserve."
Tetsuya looked down at him, and Orochi was surprised to see no sign of anger or accusation, only weariness and sadness.
"Why aren't you leaving?" Orochi asked weakly, "I told you where to find her. There is nothing more that you can do. The curtain has fallen on my house and it is dead."
"You are wrong."
White light flared around the two, lighting up the still falling rain and illuminating their bodies.
"I'm not letting you die," Tetsuya panted, his slender form quaking with the force of the power that was building inside him.
"N-no! No, stop this!" Orochi objected, loosing a scream of agony as he tried to struggle and pain erupted all over his damaged body, "Tetsuya, you're too drained from battle. You can't…"
But Tetsuya's glowing sapphire eyes only brightened as the power continued to swell, leaking out of his hands as they reached for his horrified cousin.
"Tetsuya!" Orochi howled as the raw reiatsu sank into his dying body, "Tetsuya, you'll kill us both! DON'T! TETSUYA!"
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"You're being kind of quiet, Byakuya-san," Kisuke said, peeking out from under his hood to observe his companion's calm, pale visage.
Also cloaked and hooded, Byakuya scanned the area they were searching, frowning at the way the black muck that laid over everything seemed to fog his senses, making it harder for him to read reiatsu.
"Not that you aren't quiet to begin with, but your reiatsu is a little riled too."
"That is the interference from the black slime Mimhagi emitted," Byakuya answered off-handedly.
"Bullshit," Kisuke chuckled, earning a dark glance from the sixth division taicho, "Well, it's half-bullshit. That stuff is pretty disgusting and it does affect our sensing, but that's nothing that you can't overcome."
"Hmph," Byakuya huffed, "Do you want me to thank you for the compliment?"
"Heh," the shopkeeper snickered, "a thank you wouldn't hurt now and then, right?"
"Do something worthy of one and I will give one to you," Byakuya answered dryly.
"Charming as always, Kuchiki taicho," Kisuke laughed.
"Enough about me," Byakuya chided him, "Do you sense anything? Can you feel Aizen's reiatsu? He was last sighted near here."
"Although, who knows how far he got tossed in that power thrust as Ywach died."
"Yes. Ichigo and Renji were thrown quite a distance as well. I was unsettled, leaving my fukutaicho and Ichigo in the care of that blue-haired hollow."
"Eh, Grimmjow?" Kisuke mused, "He's all right, as long as you have an agreement, which we do right now."
Byakuya gave the shopkeeper a skeptical look.
"I know what you're thinking, but even though Grimmjow is a foul mouthed, bad-mannered guy, he keeps to his word," Kisuke said reassuringly.
"He had better," Byakuya said warningly, "or I will remove his head and yours."
"Nice," Kisuke chuckled, shaking his head, "Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about. Grimmjow will take care of'em while we get this mess cleaned up."
"Did I really just hear you ask me to trust you?" Byakuya asked dryly.
"You know, you're not very nice, considering all I've done for Soul Society," Kisuke said, smirking.
"Which great acts are you referring to?" Byakuya inquired blithely, "Conducting illegal experiments on hollows, shinigamis and humans?"
"Hey, they were all criminals! They more than deserved it."
"Luring, not one, but five taichos and a number of fukutaichos into dereliction of duty and abandonment of their posts, perhaps?"
"You can hardly count the Vizards!" Kisuke objected, "It was Aizen who hollowfied them."
"Using your dangerous and outlawed hogyoku," Byakuya pointed out, "And you also encouraged both Shiba Isshin and Shihoin Yoruichi to abandon their posts. Yoruichi also abandoned leadership of her clan because of you. What, in all of that, is supposed to inspire my trust in you?"
"Hey, you haven't been hollowfied or yanked into any of my…what did you call'em? Shenanigans?"
"Yes. But, I consider you at least partially responsible for the war with Aizen, as he was depending on your research for much of his plan."
"I cleaned up that mess," Kisuke objected.
"Hmm," Byakuya huffed, "Then, why are we…here?"
The two broke off as they came to a slight break in the muck and found two collapsed bodies, covered in so much of the black gunk that neither was immediately identifiable.
"Ugh," Kisuke grunted, "Where's your cousin when a guy needs him? He could use his water powers to clean this up."
"Tetsuya is leading a search and rescue mission for one of our subfamilies that was caught up in the home front battle," Byakuya explained.
"Right. So, I guess we're doin' this the hard way."
"I suppose."
Byakuya leaned over one of the men, while Kisuke knelt in the muck beside the other.
"I believe that this is Aizen," Byakuya said, cleaning away some of the grime on the first man's tormented face, "He is missing an arm and has a hole in his chest. This is consistent with what Renji reported."
"Yeah, Aizen taking a shot for Renji is kinda out there," Kisuke mused.
"I am sure that he was not doing so out of the goodness of his heart," Byakuya said sternly, "though…don't you think that the wounds should have begun to heal themselves? After all, he is fused with the hogyoku."
"Yeah, he should be partially healed. Let me have a look."
The two men switched places and Kisuke worked at the gunk all over Aizen's damaged torso.
"He is still alive?"
"Yeah," Kisuke answered, "though I don't know how. What've you got over there?"
"Hmm, this man is alive, but…"
Byakuya suddenly froze, staring down at a silvery strand of hairs he had uncovered. Stunned, he washed more of the gunk away from the man's face.
"Byakuya-san?"
"I don't believe it," Byakuya said, shaking his head.
"Huh?" Kisuke said, leaning over to look.
He stiffened at the sight of the man's face and the soft, barely readable pulse of his reiatsu.
"Well, that's not something I expected to find out here."
Byakuya's expression darkened with mingled anger and curiosity.
"Ichimaru Gin."
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"Ugh!" Renji grunted, shifting under the blanket that had been laid over him, and cracking his eyes open.
He found himself lying in a small tent and sensed the careful shielding around it that radiated with Byakuya's powerful reiatsu.
"T-taicho?" the redhead panted, trying to sit up.
Immediately a strong hand pushed him back down, so roughly that his head thumped on the pillow, igniting a flash of pain that made him yelp in dismay.
"What th'hell?" he objected, blinking and squinting as he tried to make sense of the one he found was taking care of him, "G-Grimmjow?"
"Yeah, what of it?" the blue-haired hollow snapped.
"Wh-what're you doin here?" Renji asked, turning his head to see out the tent door, "What're we doin' here?"
Grimmjow gave him an annoyed look.
"What does it look like we're doing?" he huffed, "I'm takin' care of your and Ichigo's wimpy, trashed asses, while everyone else is out stomping those quincy bastards."
"The quincies…" Renji mumbled, sitting up, but slowly and earning another glare from the irascible hollow, "Damn, the last thing I remember was Uryuu yelling something and shooting an arrow, then Ichigo slashed at Ywach. What the fuck? Did we get him? Did he die?"
Grimmjow followed the redhead's gaze out the doorway of the tent.
"Yeah, you got him. He's dead. The blast just threw everyone in the area ass over teakettle and spewed that black gunk everywhere. We could barely tell who you were in all of that mess."
Renji blinked slowly, looking down at his body and flushing a little as he noticed that he'd been bared to the waist, and that Grimmjow was stealing glances at the bold tattoos on his chest and belly. He looked away again, and Renji grabbed his kosode. He wrapped the top around himself and moved closer to the tent doorway where a steady rain was falling from the bleak, grey sky. Grimmjow shook his head and sighed.
"The rain should be washing that disgusting shit away, but it's just makin' an even bigger mess. I don't know why th'hell I've got to sit here with you idiots. I've got things to do."
"Well, I'm awake now," Renji said, rubbing his hands over his face, then looking around the inside of the tent, "I can take care of Ichigo. You don't have to hang around if you don't wanna."
"Are you kiddin' me?" Grimmjow scoffed, "You're a fucking shame. I can barely feel your reiatsu at all, even sittin' next to ya. If I leave, you're gonna get trashed if one of those quincy bastards comes through. Their leader and elites are all gone, but there are rogues making trouble where they can, while they turn tail and run for the shadows. Not that I would care if you got yourself destroyed, but I have a deal with Urahara."
"Kisuke? Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine," Grimmjow said, scowling, "He and your taicho went out lookin' for that bastard, Aizen."
"Aizen…" Renji mused, "Oh right, Sotaicho brought him out of Muken. And surprisingly, he didn't just kill all of us."
Renji glanced over at Ichigo.
"Yeah, well don't get any ideas about him giving a shit about the lot of us, because if Aizen was helping, it was for his own reasons. I'm sure if he woke up first, he would've just killed you all and gone on his way. He has a habit of doin' shit like that."
"Yeah," Renji agreed, "I guess we learned that the hard way."
"He's seriously fucked up, that's for damned sure, though…what his own kind did to him was pretty fucked up too. Don't know as you can blame him for breaking ranks and going nuts."
Renji gave the hollow a curious look.
"Were you talkin' about lockin' him up in Muken?"
"What? No, I meant how Central 46 had his family killed because they sensed his power when he was a kid, and they couldn't control it, so they wanted to end it. That's why the vendetta. You tellin' me you don't know about that? Though it wasn't common knowledge, I guess. I only know because I heard it from Urahara."
Renji gave him a stymied look.
"Central 46 had Aizen's family killed?" he repeated, "Are you sure?"
Grimmjow shrugged.
"It's what Kisuke said, but you never quite know with that guy. The only real difference between Aizen and Urahara is that Urahara was smart enough to just accept banishment so he could keep doin' what he does. Aizen crashed the system and he lost the war. Both of'em hate Central 46, but Aizen got hard time and Kisuke ended up getting the freedom to work quietly in the background."
"You make it sound like Kisuke's just as shady as Aizen."
Grimmjow shrugged.
"Calls'em as I sees'em."