Chapter 2: Chosen
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(Had a sudden urge to write some Kenny/Bya and remembered this one! Kurushimi and Aderia Shima appear courtesy of Shima-taicho31. Thanks! :) Enjoy!)
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(One month later - At the end of the quincy war)
The sound of footsteps echoed slightly in the newly restored first division as the taichou of the Gotei 13 headed in for their first meeting in that place since the opening battle of the quincy war. They walked proudly past the rebuilt white pillars and spotless walls, on gleaming wooden floors that led to the room where Kyoraku Shunsui waited with Fukutaichos Ise and Okikiba standing on either side of him.
Along one side of the room stood the pale, but recovering Ukitake Juushiro with Kuchiki Rukia at his shoulder. Next to them stood Kuchiki Byakuya alongside his cousin and new fukutaicho, Tetsuya. Renji stood tall in his new haori, representing the eighth division alongside Yadomaru Lisa with Shima Kurushimi and his sister Aderia representing the third and fourth divisions and Kurosaki Ichigo leading the seventh. Along the other side of the room, Hitsugaya Toshiro and his fukutaicho exchanged conversation with Soi Fon, while Zaraki Kenpachi sighed impatiently and tried to catch the eyes of the sixth or third division taichos in an attempt to instigate a fight. Shinji, Rose, Kensei and Kurotsuchi Mayuri rounded out the group, who waited as attendants closed the door to the chamber and Kyoraku sotaicho called the meeting to order.
"Welcome back," he said, smiling, "to those of you who haven't been here in a while and welcome to Abarai Renji, Shima Kurushimi, and Shima Aderia, new leaders of the eighth, third and fourth divisions. It's been a long time since our gathered number has been complete. I think we owe a lot of thanks to Shima Aderia and Inoue Orihime for mending those of us returning from the battles in the royal realm as well as patching together the rest of those who needed it down here in the Seireitei."
He paused and ran his eyes around the room.
"I think we're all relieved to be entering a time of peace, but before that party can really get started, unfortunately, we have a rather big problem we have to solve. But I am sure that with the talents that we have in this room, we will address the issue quickly and get back to the business of purifying hollows and transitioning souls. I will turn things over to Urahara Kisuke to give you the explanation for the work at hand."
The chamber doors opened to admit the shopkeeper, who strode in, then moved up the aisle to join Kyoraku Sotaicho. He cleared his throat softly, then began to speak.
"All of you are aware that our worlds are held together by the balance of souls passing constantly between Soul Society and the living world. When the soul king was killed, our worlds would have fallen out of balance, but they were restructured by the quincy king, who scrambled things up pretty good, and then died, leaving us with a huge mess to clean up and no king to keep the balance of souls. We were able, using a Shihoin family construct, to create a temporary balancer, however Central 46 and the officers of the Royal Guard have come to the conclusion that we are going to have to attempt a rebirth of the soul king, using this."
Kisuke held up a multi-colored, faceted prism that just filled the palm of his hand.
"This is the king's prism," he explained, "and this is how it works. See, the king is an immortal, so although he can be killed and turned back to spirit particles, those particles return into this prism when he dies and there is a process by which he can be reborn in a new incarnation. The souls of the former incarnations remain in the prism, and their voices guide the new incarnation as he maintains the balance of souls and provides foresight and insight needed to ensure our safety and well being."
"How does the king get reborn?" asked Renji, his tattooed brow furrowing.
"Well," said the shopkeeper, "I think the best source of the basic information is Kuchiki Byakuya. As you know, the Kuchiki clan is the guardian clan who protects the history of the Seireitei within the Kuchiki Family Archive. Byakuya, if you will take over from here, I will discuss the more intimate details of this with the chosen ones."
Byakuya nodded.
"As Urahara Kisuke has already said, the souls of the former incarnations of the king enter the king's prism when they die, and their voices guide the new incarnation of the king, lending him their wisdom and foresight. The new king is made by the binding of transcendent reiatsu that is generated by the king's prism and is primed in the body of a chosen shinigami, who then places the reiatsu in a second shinigami through multiple acts of mating."
"I wonder who the lucky bastard'll be picked for the inseminating," chuckled Kenpachi.
Byakuya glowered at him, but refused the bait.
"Because the forces generated in the royal reiatsu, the shinigamis chosen for this task are always members of the Royal Guard and Gotei 13, and will be taichos or fukutaichos."
A murmur went through the room.
"Well, ladies, Kenpachi said, smirking, I guess one of you is about to get lucky...a lot!"
"Do you mind?" Byakuya inquired archly.
Kenpachi gave him a crooked grin.
"Not at all, Princess. Go on," he drawled.
Byakuya scowled and his reiatsu darkened ominously.
"All right fellas," Shunsui said, breaking the tension between the two, "That's enough. Please, Kuchiki taicho, go on."
"Who chooses the two shinigamis?" Toshiro asked, looking around at the other taichos.
"The prism will choose," Byakuya informed them, "The Royal Guards have already been tested, and none of them were chosen. It requires strength and durability to withstand the powerful forces involved, so the souls in the prism must choose strong shinigamis with deep resonance."
"How do we know who is chosen?" Shima Kurushimi asked, glancing at Byakuya's lovely male cousin out of the corner of a turquoise eye.
Byakuya shifted slightly so that the man's eyes could no longer ogle Tetsuya, who blushed as he realized the attention the third division taicho had been giving him.
"Each of us, taichos and fukutaichos will pass by the prism set at the front of the room and lay hands on it. If the prism glows, that person touching it is chosen for the task, gold for the first chosen and silver for the second. The two chosen will be locked into the newly rebuilt palace for the mating, and attended as needed by two appointed taicho levels. The rest of us will act as guards outside the Royal Realm, ensuring that the transcendent reiatsu does not leak out and wreak havoc on the Seireitei. When the mating has ended, the reiatsu will be rendered in the body of the second chosen and will be born as the new soul king."
"Sounds easy enough," Shunsui said, smiling, "Do they take volunteers?"
"Yeah, I'll sign up to shag one of you pretty ladies," Kenpachi snickered.
"Does it have to be a female?" Kurushimi mused just loudly enough to earn a smack in the head from his disapproving sister, "Ow! It's a fair question!"
"All right, all right," Shunsui laughed, shaking his head, "Let's get you all lined up and see who is chosen to make the new king."
The taichos and fukutaichos to Shunsui's left filed past, each pausing to lay their hands on the prism that had been placed on a table at the front of the room. Soi Fon gave a sigh of relief as she touched the prism and it earned no reaction. Omaeda and Toshiro earned a like result. Kenpachi wore an amused smirk as he approached the prism and laid his hands on it. His smirk widened into a huge grin as the prism vibrated softly under his palms and resonated a bright gold color.
"Ho, ho, ho." he chortled, "I guess that thing knows quality when it feels it, ne?"
He studied the females left in the room and his eye fell on Shima Aderia, earning a look of pure hatred from Kurushimi. The rest of the taichos and fukutaichos on Shunsui's left filed by and none were selected.
"Do we really need to have the guys do this now?" Renji asked Ichigo, "I mean, we've got our guy, right?"
"I guess they're just being thorough," Ichigo suggested.
He and Renji laid their hands on the sphere and were not selected, then Aderia, Lisa, Kurushimi and Tetsuya approached the prism, and all were passed over.
"Oh my god!" Renji whispered to Ichigo, "Only Rukia's left. Byakuya looks like he's going to bust something."
"He has even more reason to hate Kenpachi now!" Ichigo agreed.
Her heart in her throat, Rukia approached the prism and laid her shaking hands on the artifact. Her breath caught as the prism remained dormant.
"What the hell?" Kenpachi mused, "Who'm I gonna shag now? All the girls got turned down."
Juushiro placed his hands on the prism and it stayed dormant. All eyes were on Byakuya as he stepped up and laid his hands on the prism. Shocked gasps sounded all around the room as the prism glowed a bright silver color. Byakuya's grey eyes widened and he stared at the prism in disbelief. The room went still for a breathless moment, then Kenpachi's voice sounded again.
"Can I call you princess now, Kuchiki?" he snorted.
Byakuya disappeared in a scathing flash step and reappeared, sword in hand and slashing at the eleventh division taicho, who crossed sword with the sixth division taicho as several of the other taichos hastened to separate them.
"Am I the only one who thinks that the worlds are in a lot of trouble right now?" Renji asked, shaking his head.
"I think they're gonna kill each other before they can make a king," Ichigo added skeptically.
The two yelped as Rukia swatted them in the head, scowling at them.
"You shouldn't be making jokes like that!" she scolded them, "Poor Nii-sama!"
"You shouldn't be hitting your superiors!" Renji objected.
He yelped again as Lisa swatted him, just as Rukia had.
"Ow! Hey, knock it off!" Renji complained.
"Hey, hey, take it easy everyone," Shunsui said, putting up his hands defensively, "Let's all calm down. It's a little unexpected."
"A little unexpected?" Byakuya repeated scathingly, "I am not letting that hideous, hulking barbarian lay hands on me. I would rather the three worlds ended!"
"Now, now, Kuchiki, where's your sense of duty?" Kenpachi teased him, "Aren't you always getting on me about being more responsible? Setting an example?"
"I don't see how letting an overgrown monkey like you lay down with me is setting any kind of example!"
"Now, now," Shunsui soothed him, "I know it's a surprise, and not a good one, but we all agreed upon becoming taichos that we would follow the will of the king. Well, the king is willing you to do this, because you have the strongest resonance between you."
"There is nothing of the sort between us," Byakuya seethed, "And when we do this and nothing happens, the worlds will come crashing down!"
"Unfortunately," Juushiro added sympathetically, "if we do nothing, we are guaranteed the worlds will end."
"Juushiro's right," said Shunsui, "We don't really have a choice. You two are the ones chosen to rebirth the king. None of the rest of us can do it. I know it's unpleaant..."
"Unpleasant?" Byakuya huffed, "Try unbearable."
"But you'll get through it. Look, it's just a few days..."
"A few days?" Byakuya snapped.
Shunsui shrugged.
"Maybe a week, right? You just do this and make the king, then you and Kenpachi can come back here are forget this ever happened, okay?"
Kurushimi let out a skeptical breath and shook his head.
"I don't think half the ones here will ever let Byakurai forget this, especially el diablo over there!" he mused.
"Sotaicho," Tetsuya said respectfully, "how will the attendants be chosen?"
Shusui glanced at Byakuya questioningly.
"We are free to choose who we want to attend us," he answered.
Byakuya scanned the room and met his cousin's sympathetic eyes.
"I select Tetsuya to attend me," he stated quietly.
Kenpachi smirked, letting his eyes scan the room until they landed on Kurushimi.
"Hey you," he called out, grinning, "You wanna be my little helper, cupcake?"
Kurushimi's turquoise eyes flared and he started to give an equally heated reply, but he caught sight of Tetsuya, standing close at his cousin's shoulder and bit back his scathing reply, nodding in assent.
"I accept."
Kenpachi did a doubletake.
"Huh? You do?" he stammered awkwardly, "Aw man, I was just kidding. Can I still choose one of the ladies?"
"I think those are fine choices," Shunsui said decisively, "We have our chosen and their attendants. The rest of you are dismissed."
Byakuya stared blankly ahead of him, his mind in a whirl as the chamber emptied, save for the chosen, their attendants and Kyoraku and Urahara Kisuke.
"It has to be some kind of mistake," he mused, "How could the king think for a minute that such a hideous beast could be useful for making a wise and all-knowing king?"
"W-well," Tetsuya reasoned, "You did say that the one who was chosen first was to gather transcendent reiatsu from the prism. The reiatsu will be horribly powerful and unstable."
"And my body has to take that reiatsu in and stabilize it," Byakuya said uneasily, "This is insane!"
"Hey Kuchiki, no hard feelings, right?" Kenpachi said, moving to join them, "I was just kidding around before."
"Would you do me the favor of not speaking to me?" Byakuya asked coldly, "Better yet, just get away from me!"
"I don't think that's possible, Princess. It's necessary to be close since we have to have sex, you know."
Byakuya paled.
"I think I'm going to be sick..."
"Sorry to be in a rush here," Kisuke said, calling the four over to him, "but time is of the essence. The temporary king is just a construct that is slowly breaking down. We need to get the new king made before he fades away and everything goes to hell."
"This way, only I get the dubious honor of visiting hell," Byakuya said under his breath.
"Here's how it will work. Shunsui and I will take you to the palace and the Royal Guards will lock you in. There, you will go to the king's healing pool, where you will be subjected to a ritual bath..."
"Thank kami that giant ape is going to bathe before putting his hands on me," Byakuya muttered.
"I'm giving the prism to Kenpachi, because he is going to be gathering the king's reiatsu for the exchange, and it comes out of the prism."
"How do I get it to work?" the big man asked, frowning at the prism as Kisuke handed it to him and turning the artifact over in his hands.
"You sit quietly and focus on it," Kisuke directed him, "And the reiatsu will seep out and into your body. When your body is full of reiatsu, you will have the urge to mate with the other chosen."
"I kinda already have the urge, if you know what I mean," Kenpachi snickered, earning a hateful look from the noble.
"You'll need to be careful," Kisuke cautioned him.
"Yeah, don't want to hurt that delicate flower, eh?"
"You don't want to force in too much transcendent reiatsu and blow him up," Urahara said matter-of-factly.
"Damn..."
"I told you. The reiatsu you are gathering is strong and extremely unstable."
"Like the half-wit that is gathering it," Byakuya said dryly.
"I heard that," Kenpachi growled.
"Really? Good," Byakuya said blithely.
"You wanna go a few rounds before we get to reiatsu gathering and fucking?" Kenpachi asked in an aggressive tone.
"I don't think so. I might be tempted to kill you, and the worlds would end. Still, it might be worth it."
"Are they leaving their weapons here?" Kuri asked, "because I think they will actually kill each other if they don't."
"They're going to be occupied with their tasks and probably won't have the energy to fight," Kisuke reasoned, "Kenpachi will mostly either be focusing on the prism, placing it or eating to maintain his strength. Byakuya, you will be depleted of your reiatsu and powers before you begin."
"What?" Byakuya asked, looking alarmed.
"Your body is being turned into a big receptacle for the reiatsu. It'll be forced into your body, and your body will be tasked with rendering it to make it stable enough to form the new king. The reason for the multiple matings is because putting it all in at once would overwhelm your systems and blow your spirit centers. We don't want that. We want you to come back unharmed."
"Except for being subjected to that primal animal's sexual torments," Byakuya complained.
"Except for that," Kisuke agreed, smirking, "Once the reiatsu is placed, the mating ends and the full rendering commences. You will need to have Kenpachi bond with you to help control the reiatsu within you. When the rendering is done, you will return to the king's healing pool, where the king's rebirth will take place. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Kenpachi said, smiling at Byakuya, "is someone going to make sure the princess here doesn't kill me in my sleep while we're there?"
"I think Byakuya understands that this is necessary or our worlds are history. But just in case, Kurushimi and Tetsuya will each be given tranquilizing darts to stop any escalating situations. Emotions will be high and you two might not quite be yourselves, so we need to have a way to get you to pause and think before killing each other."
He looked the four over, then indicated a tenchurren that had arrived to carry them.
"All right folks. This is it. Anyone have to go to the bathroom? Cause once we leave, the next stop is the palace. No takers? Good, let's go, then."
Byakuya watched as Kyoraku and Kisuke boarded the tenchurren, then he glared meaningfully at Kenpachi.
"What's that look for?" Kenpachi asked, scowling back at him, "What's on your mind, Kuchiki?"
"Just so you know?" Byakuya hissed softly, "You had best not do or say anything offensive to me while we're there. I may not be able to kill you during the ritual, but eventually, we are going to come back! Insult my honor and I will destroy you when this is over!"
"Oh, don't make me promises you can't back up!" Kenpachi snapped back, following him into the tenchurren.
"This isn't starting off very well," Tetsuya said warily.
"I am not a gambling man," Kurushimi ventured, "but even if I was, I would have to be loco to take bets on what will happen."
"Do you think they will calm down by the time we get there?" Tetsuya inquired.
Kuri gave him a knowing smirk.
"I think we'd better keep those tranquilizer darts close to us, Tetsu-hana"
