Chapter 3: Imbalance
Oh gods, not again…
Byakuya woke to a swell of intense nausea that brought him swiftly out of bed and into the bathroom as Torio flash stepped into his room and followed. The attendant waited quietly outside the door, flinching and wearing a sympathetic expression as he listened to his leader's discomfited retching. After several long moments, the sounds ceased and Torio cautiously pushed the door open. He found Byakuya still half asleep and leaned wearily against the wall where he knelt on the bathroom floor. He quickly wetted a washcloth and returned to Byakuya's side, where he washed his leader's face gently.
"Are you all right now?" he asked, trying to sound calm, "Should I bring Michio-san?"
"There is not time," Byakuya managed in something that seemed to be between a heavy sigh and a deep groan, "I am already behind at work, and my team is collaborating with Shima taicho's on a mission into Hueco Mundo."
"But you can't think of going into enemy territory in this kind of condition," the attendant objected.
"I will be fine," Byakuya assured him, "I feel better already."
Torio gave him an uncertain look, but, unable to think of an argument, he bowed respectfully and left the bathroom. Byakuya dragged himself to his feet, pausing and leaning against the wall again as little stars danced in front of his eyes and his ears rang loudly. He blinked to clear his vision, heading for the dressing area, but staggering more with each step.
"Byakuya-sama!" Torio exclaimed, flash stepping forward and catching the Kuchiki leader as his legs collapsed and he started to fall, "I have you."
He helped his barely cognizant leader back to bed and rushed out of the room, returning quickly with the house healer. Michio bent over Byakuya, quickly scanning his reiatsu and taking readings of his vital signs.
"I see no signs of fever or other illness," the healer noted, "but your reiatsu is fluctuating, and that is causing your discomfort. I will give you an infusion and then we should watch to see if things improve."
Byakuya sighed resignedly, closing his eyes as the healer began the infusion.
"Torio, please send word to Renji that I have been briefly delayed. Have him rendezvous with Shima taicho's group and tell him I will meet them at the crossover point."
"Yes sir," Torio said, turning away and summoning a hell butterfly.
Byakuya leaned back against his pillows, breathing slowly and relaxing as much as was possible as Michio's healing power seeped into his body, radiating comfortingly and slowly relieving the feeling of illness.
"This does seem to be helping," Byakuya commented.
"I can see that you do look somewhat more comfortable," Michio agreed, "but it does seem to be progressing at an unexpectedly slow rate. This infusion should have provided significant relief much more quickly."
"The important thing is that I feel well enough to attend to my duties now," Byakuya said, sitting up.
"I would really feel better about this if you would allow me to explore this a bit more closely," Michio suggested, "It may be just a simple fluctuation, but…"
"I will return at the end of the day and there will be plenty of time for a more thorough examination," Byakuya assured him, sliding out of the bed.
Michio frowned disapprovingly, but nodded silently.
"As you wish, sir. I will be waiting when you arrive home."
Byakuya returned to the dressing area, where Torio hastily set his uniform in place, then he flash stepped out of the bedroom, heading towards the central senkaimon. Touches of nausea continued to nag his insides and he felt a slight dizziness, although the more intense feelings of weakness had abated.
This is very odd.
He had little time to focus on the problem as he arrived at the Central senkaimon and found Shima Kurushimi and a group of soldiers waiting for him.
"My apologies for the delay," he told his colleague, "I assume you've sent Renji and your fukutaicho ahead to reconnoiter?"
"Yes," Kuri confirmed, "Ren-ren-nii sent a message that they have the coordinates of a cleared entry point for the rest of us. It is a short distance from where the rebel quincies were sensed. The hollow governor met with our advance guards and is providing a guide to bring us to a position where we can gather intelligence on the rebel quincy camp. We can decide from there whether we should attempt to invade the camp ourselves or call for more troops."
"Very well," Byakuya said, following Kuri into the senkaimon as their subordinates followed.
Kuri stole several inquisitive glances at Byakuya as the group made their way through the precipice world.
"Byakurai," he said finally, "are you feeling all right? You look…pale and your reiatsu seems, eh, more fluttery than usual."
"I am fine," Byakuya said shortly, scanning the area ahead of them, then frowning and scanning again.
"Are you sensing something?" Kuri asked.
"It is more like I am not able to sense something," Byakuya answered cryptically, "I am not sensing presences that should be there, so I cannot be sure if I may be missing something that is there but shouldn't be."
"I sense the advance team's passage," Kuri informed him, "Do you not sense that?"
"No," Byakuya admitted, "but I was…unwell this morning. I feel fine now, but my senses seem…inhibited."
"You think we should call the advance team back and…?"
"No," Byakuya said firmly, "You can sense the advance team, and you do not sense anything unexpected ahead of us, do you?"
"No," Kuri answered, scanning ahead of them again, "I do think Ren-ren-nii's reiatsu just flickered strangely, but…"
He paused as they reached the exit into Hueco Mundo and felt a heavy shudder pass through the area.
"You felt that, right?" Kuri asked, drawing his sword.
Byakuya nodded and drew his weapon.
"They are fighting," he said darkly, "I sense shinigami, hollow and quincy reiatsu."
"Don't engage the hollows unless they attack you!" Kuri shouted to their group of soldiers, "Let's just get our men out of there!"
The gate opened in front of them, revealing dangerous flashes of power and the rumbles of blistering attacks. Smoke billowed up, over the top of the canyon as beneath, the advancing quincies closed in on the small group of defenders. The shriek of Renji's skeletal snake roared in their ears as he attacked while giving the order for his men to fall back. Kuri's face paled.
"He is sacrificing himself?" he whispered in shock.
Byakuya gripped Senbonzakura and lifted the weapon, tip down.
"Not on my watch!" he hissed, "Bankai, scatter Senbonzakura."
Bright pink petal blades erupted from Byakuya's extended hands, sweeping out in a huge wave that surged in between the attacking quincies and the small group of defenders who faced them.
"Taicho!" Renji exclaimed in a relieved tone.
"Get your men out of there, Ren-ren-nii!" Kuri shouted, sending his Totsuzenshi's heavy chains down under the sand and turning them in Renji's direction.
The rest of the group broke back across the safe section of sand that Byakuya's attack had provided. Renji yelped in surprise as Kuri's chains burst out of the sand and wrapped around him.
"HEY!" he objected, struggling madly as he was dragged under the sand and all of the way to the dune where Byakuya and Kuri waited with the rescued forces. The hollows shimmered and disappeared, leaving the quincies alone, but still surrounded by Byakuya's swirling storm of petal blades.
"Do you have any injured?" Kuri asked quickly.
"Yeah, a couple," Renji panted, spitting sand out of his mouth and shaking more out of his hair, "You mind telling your damned zanpakuto not to drag me around under the fucking sand next time? I can't breathe down there, for kami's sake!"
"Sorry, Ren-ren-nii," Kuri chuckled, "She has a mind of her own and a terrible sense of humor."
"You're telling me!" Renji huffed.
"Take everyone back through the senkaimon," Byakuya ordered, "Shima taicho and I will guard the passage until you are all inside."
"Yes, sir!" Renji cried, "You heard him. Everyone into the senkaimon!"
Renji hustled the men through the gate, moving in to help as the last three passed through with two carrying one on a stretcher.
"Let me give you guys a hand with him," Renji offered.
He glanced back at Kuri and Byakuya, starting to speak, then stopping as a heavy wave of quincy arrows broke through Byakuya's petals and bore down on the two taichos.
"TAICHO, get out of there!" Renji screamed, bolting forward, then skidding to a stop as Byakuya's eye caught his meaningfully and the senkaimon snapped shut between them.
Renji stared in dismay into the darkness.
"Abarai fukutaicho," one of the men said, his voice echoing in the too quiet passage, "what should we do? We can't leave them!"
"We're not leaving them," Renji said firmly, "You four get our injured back to the Seireitei. I'll call for backup and we'll wait here. The quincies know that the precipice world is heavily monitored, so they're less likely to attack us while we're here."
"But what about Kuchiki and Shima taichos?" a subordinate inquired worriedly.
"They'll find cover and they'll hold on until we get back with more help," Renji assured him.
Renji summoned a hell butterfly and quickly crafted his message, then sent the insect off into the darkness. He looked back at the closed gate, his lips tightened and his red-brown eyes fierce.
"Find cover, Taicho," he whispered, "Be safe."
XXXXXXXXXX
"What happened?" Kuri panted, turning with Byakuya and flash stepping swiftly as the two retreated over a sand dune while Byakuya's petals spun threateningly all around them, "How did those arrows get through?"
"I do not know," Byakuya answered, "I felt a shudder in my reiatsu and that is when the arrows came through. Either they found a way to disrupt the path of my petals or there was a problem with my bankai. I cannot tell which is the case."
"Well, since it could be a matter of life and death, I think we should try to find a place to hide and figure this out before we confront anymore enemies. Don't you agree?" Kuri asked pointedly.
Byakuya nodded and indicated a small cave on a rocky incline ahead of them.
"We can enter that cave and collapse the entrance enough to cover our presence."
"Just as long as it does not cover us too!" Kuri chuckled, "Eh, maybe since you are not feeling well, I should collapse the entrance?"
"With your level of control? You'll kill us both," Byakuya said dismissively.
"Says the one who let the arrows through his bankai to impale us," Kuri snorted.
The two men dove into the cave and Byakuya sent a swirl of petal blades out the entrance to distract and confuse the oncoming quincies. Kuri followed with a carefully aimed kido blast that shook the cave and sent rubble crashing down to cover the entrance. The men coughed and backed further into the cave, going silent and drawing in their reiatsu, then swiftly masking it. They listened silently as the quincies passed by the cave, honing in on the area where Byakuya's petal blades were still threatening. The ground rumbled with several jarring impacts. With the last, a piece of the cave's roof crashed down and sand began to slide down into the cave. Kuri pressed back against Byakuya, watching with concern until the sand had covered the cave in front of them to the point that they were unlikely to be found. He patted his comrade on the shoulder and laid down on his back. Byakuya gave him an exasperated look and laid down beside him, looking up into the blackness.
"Well," Kuri chuckled, "this is cozy, eh, Byakurai? The only thing missing is some tequila and a good view of the moon."
"I am surprised you do not have the tequila stashed on you somewhere," Byakuya mused.
Kuri grinned and reached into his sleeve.
"As a matter of fact, I do have some."
He took a long swallow and offered the flask to Byakuya, who shook his head and rolled his eyes disapprovingly.
"We are on duty."
"I think we are on a break," Kuri snickered.
"I am so pleased that you are enjoying this so much," Byakuya said dryly, "But we do have a rather large problem if we are found. My powers have very obviously been affected by something."
"Are you still feeling ill?" Kuri asked, "Your reiatsu seemed low before you concealed it."
"It did seem that it was easier to conceal than usual," Byakuya confessed, "I had an infusion to stabilize it, just before I left Kuchiki Manor to join you."
Kuri gave him a meaningful smirk.
"Maybe next time you are under the weather, you will call in sick instead of endangering everyone, okay?" he teased.
Kuri sensed immediately the boundary he had stepped over, and he cleared his throat softly.
"I was just kidding you," he assured the noble, flinching at Byakuya's guilty expression, "No one was endangered. None of the arrows that passed through your bankai even touched us."
"Fortunately," Byakuya added skeptically, "But it is my fault that you and I did not have time to escape with the others. We are trapped here, for the time being, because of my actions."
"Don't worry about it," Kuri said off-handedly, "There are much worse things…Totsuzenshi in a bad mood and misbehaving during a fight to spite me, being engaged to that rabid cousin of yours, Sasune, or watching Tetsu-hana marry the man you were secretly in love with. Those are bad things. This? Curling up in a little cave with you and chatting until reinforcements arrive? No es nada."
"Well, while I am pleased that you can take all of this so blithely, I think it is a serious thing to endanger the lives that are entrusted to me."
"How do you know it was even you?" Kuri asked pointedly, "You said that it could be that the enemies found a way to weaken your bankai so the arrows could pass through."
"But you just said that my reiatsu seemed weak."
"It did," Kuri agreed, "but that doesn't mean it was this that caused our situation. And anyway, I only need to give you a little infusion and I am sure that you will be fine."
Byakuya sighed resignedly.
"Very well, then. Please get it over with."
Kuri closed his eyes, sensing the area around them for several minutes, until he was sure that the enemies were no longer nearby. He turned to Byakuya, watching silently as the noble loosened his uniform, baring his lower abdomen. Kuri placed a hand over his spirit core, sensing the core and beginning a gentle flow of reiatsu into the area. Byakuya sighed more deeply as the area was flooded with Kuri's reiatsu that seemed to seep through his very skin and to ease the discomfort he had felt. Within moments, the energy seemed to rush back into his body and he felt the more natural hum of power through his spirit core.
"You look a lot better," Kuri observed, shifting slightly to hide a burgeoning erection, "How do you feel?"
Byakuya sucked in a steadying breath, trying to ignore the heavy throbbing in his loins.
"I feel much improved, but…perhaps I had better rest while I can."
He turned away from Kuri, facing a dark wall of the cave and pondering his body's odd reaction to the other man's touch.
He did nothing remotely sexual. It was just an infusion. If we were soul bonded and making a child, I could understand, but this is…so very strange.
The oddity of the situation continued to nag at him as he laid, facing the wall and trying to forget that the man who had caused his arousal was lying directly behind him.
Kuri shifted uncomfortably, stealing glances at Byakuya's slender back and clenching his jaw against the little twinges he continued to feel in his heated nether region.
I have been feeling strange about him, ever since the wedding celebration, Kuri mused, Maybe something did happen between us that time.
His loins ached fiercely as he recalled what he had been sure was a dream. He shifted, turning towards Byakuya, then a sting went through his shoulder and he flinched and made a little sound of pain. Byakuya turned towards him, meeting his eyes questioningly.
"What is wrong?" he asked frowning.
"I don't know, Kuri said, sitting up and sliding his shirt off.
Byakuya sucked in a sharp breath as he spotted a significant puncture wound in the other man's shoulder.
"You were injured!" he exclaimed softly, sitting up and moving closer as Kuri examined the wound briefly.
"It's a scratch," he said off-handedly.
"That is a moderately serious puncture wound," Byakuya corrected him, pulling out a healing kit, "You are still bleeding significantly. We need to clean and bandage that."
"I can…"
"Sit still," Byakuya chided him, laying a hand over the wound and focusing his power.
Kuri smirked at him.
"Are you sure you should do that?" he asked teasingly, "I just had to infuse you."
"I am fine," Byakuya insisted.
"You want to pour a little of the booze in that?" Kuri asked.
"I have cleaning solution," Byakuya answered shortly, "I said, sit still."
"Lo siento," Kuri apologized, "I feel a little strange after that infusion. A little dizzy."
"Are you sure you weren't affected by something?"
"Maybe I was affected by you," Kuri giggled dizzily.
Kuri wasn't sure how the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. Byakuya scowled at him, ignoring his comment and continuing to heal the wound. As he finished, a hell butterfly appeared and floated to them.
Taicho, Renji's voice said from within the hovering insect, the injured have been evacuated and we are waiting for the reinforcements. There's been a little delay, so hold your position and stay under cover until we can arrive. It could be several hours.
Byakuya sighed and glanced at his half-dressed and not fully sensible comrade, biting at his lip in frustration as his body continued to react to the sight and masculine scent of the other man.
I think I will have to see Michio right away when we return. This is becoming very, very odd!