Chapter 6: Beginning of the End
Kurushimi woke early and looked around the room within the protected area that he had been sharing with Kuchiki Tetsuya.
Unfortunately, since one of us has to always be on duty, I've not had so much time to spend talking to him.
He smiled at the thought of the lovely young flower of the Kuchiki family, who spent most of his time carefully watching over and caring for his leader.
He is so sensitive to Byakuyrai's needs. I know they have been very close since they were teens, and Byakurai saved Tetsu-hana from that horrid prison. Why it is such a sin for someone to have mixed blood, I don't know. Because when I look at Tetsu-hana, I can only think of how beautiful and special he is.
He reminds me of my Hideaki.
Tears came to his eyes as he recalled his late husband, another slightly built young man with light colored hair and eyes, an easy smile and like Tetsuya, bearing an almost painfully tender heart.
You were too good for this world, and it took you away from me, my Hideaki. You told me as you and our baby died that all you wished was that I could be happy, that I could smile again and open my heart to love. But…having been broken by the loss of our love, I cried every night…every single night…until I came here.
The door to the room opened and Tetsuya stepped inside looking weary and disheveled, his blue eyes troubled.
"Is everything all right, Tetsu-hana?" he asked, sitting up in the bed, "It must have been a difficult night."
Tetsuya nodded.
"They are nearly finished with the reiatsu exchanges, I think. They have fallen into a regular pattern of mating, then resting and eating…sleeping. It is just that, while the mating is going on…"
Kuri's turquoise eyes registered calm understanding.
"You feel the presence of the demons we were told about, yes?"
"I do," Tetsuya affirmed, "Kuri, their hunger for the king's reiatsu is fierce. I feel as though it becomes dangerous for either one of us to sleep anymore while we are protecting them."
"Hmm," sighed the Shima leader, rubbing his chin, "Then…you think it is time for us to use the items we were given."
Tetsuya shivered slightly, recalling the careful warning that the instructional video had given them.
As the matings conclude and the silver servant nears the point where the new king will emerge, the desires of the demons will run rampant. Remember that, although the demons do not understand their need, they are connected to the king. These are souls that the king made, which fell out of balance and lost their sanity. With the rise of the new king, the demons who have gathered here will be healed, calmed by the power that will finally restore the proper balances within them. Once the matings are concluded, you are to consume the pill you have been given. It will give you the strength to remain alert and ready to protect the pre-emergent king. It will be a test of endurance as you must hold back, but not destroy the incoming demons. All of your focus must be on not letting the demons get through. You have been chosen for this task because of your strong hearts.
"Yes," Tetsuya answered softly, "it is time now."
The two men reached into their clothing, removing the small pills they had been given. They studied them silently for a moment, then swallowed them. Within moments, the weary look had faded from Kuchiki Tetsuya's blue eyes and he nodded in the Shima leader's direction.
"Come, we must defend the palace together."
The two left the inner hallways and moved out, onto the palace walls, taking up protective positions and placing their hands on the barrier that held out the encroaching demons.
"Damn it, there are so many!" Kuri swore.
"Yes," Tetsuya agreed, "Can you feel their pain?"
Kuri's head turned slightly and he observed Tetsuya's lovely profile as the younger Kuchiki gazed out at the rising storm beyond the palace.
You are so like my Hideaki, and yet different too, Tetsu-hana. You have the caring heart that he did and the gentle healing powers, but there is such strength in you too. Such willfulness. No wonder you were the one prisoner to come out of Itamigiri alive. You are a formidable force, an iron flower who stands firm in the torrent.
And yet, like me, you are somehow broken. I see the silent suffering in your eyes. You have suffered like no one ever should, but you can still smile. We need that. We need to be able to smile and laugh and enjoy our lives.
I hope and pray that this endeavor will end soon and we can do that.
But something warned the Shima leader that the path home might not be so easy, so he braced himself against the gale force winds sweeping over the palace walls and stood with his sword ready.
XXXXXXXXXX
The sound of howling wind and pelting rain outside brought Byakuya out of sleep, and he instantly felt the telling nausea that had him on his feet and running to the bathroom, where he emptied his stomach violently. Spots danced before his eyes and he had to sit on the floor for several minutes before the fog cleared and the ringing left his ears. He leaned wearily against the wall, rubbing his rounded belly and feeling the energetic forces within him moving.
It's strange.
Kenpachi has been waking up with me and taking care of me whenever I am ill from the rendering. Not that I cannot bear the discomfort, but…
Byakuya rose onto shaky legs and walked back to the bed, where he found Kenpachi lying unusually still and looking strangely paler. He studied the man more closely, touching his face and nudging him to wake him.
"Kenpachi?"
It looks like the golden color is beginning to fade.
He wanted to feel some kind of relief that they had been successful and the birth of the new king was close, but a flicker of fear blossomed in his insides and he shook the big man more firmly.
"Kenpachi, wake up!"
He suffered a moment of near panic as the bigger man remained still under his now shaking hands.
"Kenpachi!" he shouted, slapping his comrade hard across the face.
"Huh, Wha-?" Kenpachi managed groggily, sitting up in the bed and glaring at Byakuya, "What the hell, Kuchiki?"
Byakuya swallowed hard, shuddering at the feeling he'd experienced.
For just a moment, I felt as though he was gone, and I was here, alone and powerless, with the broken souls of the demons struggling to reach me. I was terrified that Kenpachi wouldn't wake up…ever.
Byakuya felt a rough hand curl around the side of his face, then warm lips rubbed comfortingly against his.
"Hey, are you all right?"
Byakuya let out a long, quaking breath.
"One would have to be insane to be all right in our situation."
"Hmph…"
Kenpachi blinked slowly and reoriented on the noble, studying his carefully controlled expression.
"I guess you're right, but there's nothing to do about it, ne? We just have to…"
"Your reiatsu is weakening," Byakuya said suddenly.
"Huh?"
Byakuya swallowed hard around the knot that had formed in his throat.
"The gold color is beginning to drain away," he added quietly, "That means that the seeding has ended and now your body will begin to go back to normal, but…"
He paused, shifting uncomfortably at the ache in his heart.
"But what? Spit it out, Byakuya. Just say what you're thinking."
Byakuya closed his eyes tightly against the swell of emotion that roiled within him.
"Hey, don't forget that you're not supposed to get too emotional," Kenpachi reminded him, sitting up and wrapping his body around the anxious noble's, "C'mere. Let me make you more comfortable. Now that the reiatsu in all inside you, it's my job to keep you stable, right?"
"Yes, but…"
"Shh, just relax," Kenpachi urged him, kissing him on the cheek, then on his pretty, frowning lips, "Here, lie down."
He eased the noble onto his back and leaned over him, kissing him firmly.
He's worryin' about me again.
He slipped a hand beneath Byakuya's yukata, infusing the swell on his belly with soothing reiatsu for several minutes, leaving both of them more comfortable, but also aroused.
"Damn," Byakuya complained, "I want to be with you, but I think the growth is too."
"S'okay," Kenpachi chuckled, turning the noble onto his side, "Get on your knees. I'll do you from behind if you want."
Where any other time, Byakuya would instantly have given the barbarian taicho an icy stare and a scathing rebuke, instead, he climbed onto his hands and knees on the bed, bowing his head and moaning softly with desire, just feeling those penetrating green eyes looking down at his vulnerable bare bottom. He shivered as a warm hand slid slowly down the length of his back and rough fingers traced his puckered entrance.
"Oh," he groaned wantonly, "Oh, Kenpachi!"
"That feel good?" the bigger man asked, leaning down to run kisses along the length of his companion's spine.
"Ngh, yes, it feels good!" Byakuya panted, raising his bottom as Kenpachi's hands spread his soft ass cheeks, burrowing down between them to attack with his surprising long and forceful tongue.
"See?" Kenpachi snickered, "we can still do it just fine."
He licked and sucked the area, reaching around to stroke Byakuya's thick, swollen cock as the noble rocked his hips to intensify the blindingly erotic sensations.
"You got nothing to worry about," Kenpachi purred, "I got you, Princess!"
Byakuya gasped, arching his back as the bigger man's hot tongue slid out of him and was swiftly replaced by Kenpachi's dampened fingers. He ground wantonly against the probing, thrusting digits, panting and loosing curses as his pleasure intensified and threatened to overwhelm him.
"Kami, Kenpachi!" he moaned, "J-just put it in!"
"Heh, heh, you want it that bad?" Kenpachi laughed, "All right, whatever makes you happy, Princess."
"D-don't c-call me…!"
Byakuya broke off, gasping harder as he felt Kenpachi's fingers slide oh so slowly out and the barbarian taicho loomed up behind him, positioning himself, then pushing just the slick head inside and teasing him with it.
"Damn it!" Byakuya swore, "Kenpachi!"
"Easy," Kenpachi snickered, "You don't want me to break you, right? And you don't want it to be over too soon, right sweetheart? You want a good, long fuck, don't you?"
Byakuya suffered only a moment of wanting to kill the other man for his rudeness, but that feeling was quickly overtaken by the noble's urgent desire for completion.
"M-move, you bastard!" he hissed.
Kenpachi laughed and slid the head of his thickness out, then pushed it back in again, slightly more deeply.
"Augh!" Byakuya groaned, his chest heaving, "PUT IT IN!"
"Okay, okay, don't have an aneurysm or anything. Geez, I was just bein' careful cause you've got the king in there bakin' and I don't wanna mess with that."
Byakuya's head turned and he glared witheringly at the man behind him.
"Put that fucking thing in or I will kill you right now!" he snarled.
"Whoa, hey," Kenpachi laughed, "all right. I got you."
Byakuya clenched at the bedding with both hands, arching his back and angling his hips as his comrade rotated his hips, slowly pushing his burgeoning cock all of the way in.
"There, that good?" he panted, leaning down to kiss the back of a damp, naked shoulder.
"Kami please," Byakuya managed shakily, "move Kenpachi!"
The bigger man abandoned all restraint, thrusting hard and fast, his rough hands wrapped around the noble's soft bottom, clenching fingers digging into the pale flesh.
"Fuckin' beautiful!" he cried, ramming harder into Byakuya's braced body as pleasure mounted in his body, rising to a fierce internal firestorm, "You're fuckin' beautiful, angel!"
Feeling that he was about to be overwhelmed, Byakuya dropped his upper body onto the bed and slid a hand back to wrap around his own burgeoning member, carefully holding himself back from orgasm.
"H-harder!" he urged the man behind him, "F-faster, Kenpachi! You h-have a demon bankai…sh-show me your true power!"
"You want everything I got?" Kenpachi roared enthusiastically, "Be careful what you wish for, Princess!"
Byakuya's gasped as he felt the reiatsu around them rise astronomically and Kenpachi's laughter filled his ears and the bigger man loosed a storm of wickedly fast, deep thrusts that pushed him to the ends of his wits. Byakuya groaned holding himself at the edges of bliss for several torturously wonderful moment, before releasing his aching member and curling his body to watch it spasm, releasing spurts of hot seed while Kenpachi shuddered and swore, filling the noble inside with his blazing semen. Byakuya collapsed onto his side with Kenpachi curled around him and the big man nibbling contentedly on a soft earlobe.
"That was amazing, Byakuya," his comrade groaned, "I think that was more fun than my battle with Unohana."
"Our sex was better than fighting?" Byakuya panted, unable to hide the smile his partner's words brought, "I didn't think anything would trump fighting for you."
"Yeah, well, you're as good with that body of yours as you are with your sword. I think my dick just really exploded."
"No, I still feel it there," Byakuya said, smirking.
The noble wasn't sure why a little flicker of fear re-entered his heart at Kenpachi's next words.
"So, how long do you figure it'll be before you pop out the king and we go home?"
I don't know why…he felt so strong while he was making love to me. So, why do I still feel like one or both of us might not be going home? Kenpachi has gotten through the seeding, which was the most dangerous part…
"I don't know."
Byakuya fell asleep, still wondering.
XXXXXXXXXX
Rukia and Renji stood alongside Ichigo and Orihime, looking up from the gardens at Kuchiki Manor, into the stormy skies. Oddly, the storm seemed confined to an area high above, and no rain fell around them.
"It's so strange," Orihime said worriedly, clasping her hands together.
"It's been like that for days now," Rukia added, moving closer to the ginger-haired girl and slipping a hand over hers, "but…I'm sure Nii-sama and the others will be all right."
"This is probably just part of that ritual Byakuya and Kenpachi are doing, ne?" Ichigo proposed, looking less than certain.
"I'm sure it is," Renji said, sounding as unsure as his friend did, "Taicho and Zaraki are both really strong, and they've got Tetsuya and Kuri up there helping them. No way they're going to fail to complete the ritual, then they'll come back here and…"
The redhead paused, glancing at Rukia, whose head bowed slightly.
"There has never been a rebirth ritual in our time, so we can't really know what will happen in the end. Still, it doesn't do us or them any good to think about what could go wrong. We have to believe they'll come back and they'll be okay."
"Yeah," Ichigo sighed, leaning against Renji's shoulder and gazing up at the black storm clouds in the distance, "they'll be back in no time and Kenpachi'll be chasing everyone around, looking for fights again."
"Taicho will be sitting at his desk, working on reports and I'll be serving him tea."
Orihime listened to the others and tried to radiate that same amount of hope, but her heart ached for their comrades in the royal realm.
We don't really know what they're going through. Making and bearing the new king is a difficult and dangerous task. Even though we're trying to be hopeful, we all feel it. Up there, in the dark sky over us, Kuchiki taicho and Zaraki taicho and the others are working as hard as they can to give our worlds the king they need.
But I wonder.
Are they really going to come back safely? And even if they do survive and come back, will they be troubled or haunted by the things that are happening to them up there. I don't want them to be hurt! I wish I could help them!
Please…help them be all right!
"We should try to get some sleep," Rukia said, tugging gently on Orihime's arm and leading her away to the bedrooms.
Ichigo nuzzled into Renji's shoulder, bumping his body against the redhead's.
"What about us? You wanna get some sleep too?"
"Yeah, in a minute."
Ichigo looked from Renji's worried face to the storm above them and back again.
"C'mon," he said, taking Renji's arm and tugging, "We're not going to do them any good by standing out here all night. We did our part by fighting in the war."
"Yeah," Renji agreed, "and we lost a lot of good people in the war. Y'know, just because you're doing the right thing doesn't mean that things will go just the way you want them to."
"What's this all of a sudden?" Ichigo asked, looking into the redhead's worried eyes comfortingly, "Sure, the war was dangerous and a lot of lives were lost and it's true that we don't know what will happen to Byakuya and the others in the royal realm. But…even though their fate hasn't been decided yet and a lot of things could go wrong, I choose to believe that they'll come back okay."
"You really think that?"
"Yeah," Ichigo said, kissing him on the cheek, "I really do. Now, c'mon to bed. The sooner we're asleep, the sooner tomorrow comes."
"You're right," Renji agreed, giving the sky one last look.
Taicho, I almost lost you in the war, and it made me realize just how much our friendship means to me. I know you're doing your best to do what the king needs you to do, but don't forget to take care of yourself…and please…
…come home safely…
