Chapter 15: The Gift
"Kiyoshi," said Tsuneo, looking to where the blue-eyed noble stood, staring out the window, "Shouldn't we leave soon for the wedding? You look troubled."
The young noble glanced down at his zanpakutou, then back at the vendor.
"In a bit," he replied softly, "I need to speak to Kisuke first."
"Oh?"
"Yes," the noble said solemnly, "I will catch up with you."
"Ah," said Tsuneo, picking up in the hint of anxiety in the young man's eyes, "Very well, then."
He left the room, but concealed himself and watched silently as the young noble gazed out the window, laying his youthful face against the cool glass and letting his breath mist the window in a small circle.
I understand that path of your thoughts, Master, his sword's spirit whispered to him, And I accept your decision. It is only right.
"None of this is right," whispered Kiyoshi, "That one our cousin gave his love and trust to would betray him so...try to murder him, and even now, holds his core power away from him...that it demands such a sacrifice is wrong. But...we will do what we must."
It is likely that Byakuya would have acted to stop us if you had told him your plans.
"Yes, and my own plans leave me chilled at heart. But we will do what we must do...and we will set our hearts upon Byakuya winning back his place as leader."
But if we do this and he fails...
"If he fails, then you and I will be parted forever. Still...
He is our leader.
"He has never ceased to be our leader. We owe him our trust, our loyalty and our allegiance."
Yes, master. I understand. Go now. The longer it waits, the worse the agony of it.
Kiyoshi drew a painful breath and left the room, then followed the hallway to Kisuke's laboratory and stepped inside.
"Ah, Kiyoshi," Kisuke greeted him, "You come to tell me it's time to go?"
"Soon," answered the young man, "But...before we go, there is something that you must do."
An odd feeling of foreboding entered the shopkeeper's heart and he looked back at the young noble sternly.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Kiyoshi took another stinging breath, his knees weakening as he came to full realization of what he was doing.
"I know that you have made no progress on finding a way to restore Byakuya-sama's power."
"Yeah, well," said Kisuke, "There is still time before they have to fight. We'll figure something out."
Kiyoshi gave him a tremulous smile.
"I already have figured something out. I know how to give my cousin the power he will need to defeat Tsuyoshi."
Kisuke's eyes widened as he considered, then narrowed suspiciously.
"No way, kid," he said, tightening his lips and shaking his head.
"It is the only way to give him the power he needs now. You know that he needs the full thirty days to prepare himself. Doing this will give him what he needs."
"Maybe?" Kisuke said skeptically, "But remember what it will mean to you. You know, first, that Byakuya would never go along with this and second, that while he will be powered up, you will be left powerless. And as soon as Tsuyoshi knows Byakuya's got his powers back, he'll be chomping at the bit to distract him by looking for people he cares about to attack. With no powers, you..."
"I will be no worse off than my cousin has been for the past ten years, Kisuke Urahara!" Kiyoshi insisted, "Say what you will, but you know that this is the way to give my cousin the best chance of success in defeating Tenrai Keibatsu. I have a ban kai and respectable reiatsu. That is what Byakuya needs to win!"
"Well, not to put too fine a point on it, the procedure for removing a shinigami's core power is illegal unless prescribed as a punishment by Central 46, and then it must be carried out in the presence of..."
"Are you really going to refuse me on the grounds that it could get you banished? You're banished already!"
"Byakuya will kill me! And if he doesn't, then Renji will...or Rukia or about fifty other people who know this is a damned crazy idea! Put it out of your head, kid. Put it out of your pretty noble head and go get ready for your cousin's wedding."
"My cousin will die if I do not do this! We need to do this now! I am not going to let you change my mind. I am determined to do this, one way or another, and if you won't do it, I will be forced to go to someone of even lesser moral values than your own, something you are well aware could end in complete and utter disaster!"
"Whoa, hold on, little prince," Kisuke said, raising his hands defensively, "You need to stop and think about what you are saying. You go to one of those pay for hire freaks and it's likely that you'll end up dead, Renji and Rukia will kill me and your lovely cousin will die of a broken heart before Tsuyoshi has a chance to kill him! Let's just slow down, and go to the wedding...and we'll all talk about this once Byakuya and Renji are happily married."
"No," Kiyoshi said, his blue eyes blazing, "I won't hear of it, Kisuke! Either you remove my core power and implant it within my cousin, or I will miss the wedding entirely and worry my cousin while I search for an independent source to perform the procedure for me!"
Tsuneo held his breath, watching from his hiding place as the shopkeeper and the young noble stared each other down, neither giving an inch or breaking eye contact. The standoff continued for an excruciating several minutes, until Kiyoshi turned with a swish of his shihakushou, and Kisuke reached out and caught hold of his sleeve, stopping him before he could leave.
"You know," said Kisuke unhappily, "If it wasn't for the fact that your cousin would absolutely notice you missing the wedding, and moreover, Tsuyoshi would probably figure out why you weren't there, I would just knock you out and have done with this nonsense."
"But?" Kiyoshi said, his proud chin lifted defiantly and his blue eyes flashing.
"But..." Kisuke went on, "I can see that you are just about as likely to listen as your headstrong cousin, and if you go and get yourself killed, I'll feel personally responsible. But...and this is not negotiable, you are going to have to do something for me."
Kiyoshi raised a curious eyebrow and tilted his head slightly.
"You are going to have to hide this from everyone."
"What?" said the noble, "How? I will have no spiritual pressure."
"Let me deal with that. I have a special mod soul that will give you just enough power so that you can use the senkaimon and crank out a few kido spells in a pinch. But I'm warning you...you overdo it and you'll pass out. So if you're going to do this, you need to choose someone who can stay close to you and help you out, but won't spill the beans to the bad guys. I'd like to keep Byakuya and Renji in the dark too, but they'd kill me twice if they figured it out then...once for doing the procedure and once for hiding it!"
"But..."
"I will stay close to him," said Tsuneo, stepping into the laboratory. I will stay close by him and make sure that no one interferes with him."
"But you're not a shinigami," objected Kisuke, "You have nothing to protect him with."
"I admit I'm not the most powerful person, not a shinigami, and I am from the lower Rukongai," said Tsuneo, "But I am very good at staying alive under less than perfect circumstances, and..."
"And he has already shown me his aptitude for thinking quickly and using small amounts of power to accomplish what is necessary," finished Kiyoshi, meeting the vendor's eyes gratefully.
Kisuke went silent, his gray eyes deeply contemplative as he tried to measure the chances that the vendor would be capable of protecting Kiyoshi quietly as Byakuya trained.
"I really don't like this," he admitted finally, "But the rest of us are going to have our hands full getting Byakuya back up to speed. He's had ten years with almost nothing running through his spirit centers. I don't even know what will happen once we start pumping your core power through him. He could just blow his fuses and leave us with no way to put him back together."
"But we are out of options. You know that," insisted Kiyoshi, "This is what needs to be done. And whatever happens, we will weather it together."
"All right," replied the shopkeeper, releasing each word grudgingly, "I hope you know what you're doing."
He gestured to the nearby examination table.
"Lie down."
Kiyoshi felt a knot in the pit of his stomach that waged war with his relief at convincing Kisuke to go along with him. He took a few steps towards the examination table, then paused, taking an unsteady breath and gazing down at it.
"You having second thoughts?" asked Kisuke, "It's okay if you are. You don't have to do this. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
"Byakuya managed ten years without his powers," Kiyoshi whispered, as much to build his courage as to convince the other man, "I can be without mine for thirty days."
He caught his breath softly as Tsuneo appeared in front of him and caught one slender hand gently in his.
"You'll be fine," he assured the lovely young noble, "I won't let anything happen to you."
XXXXXXXXXX
Byakuya woke to what he was certain must be the most beautiful of dreams. He was warm from head to toe, snuggled down in crisp, fine sheets, under warm blankets and wrapped around Renji's naked body. Sweet smells came in from the gardens and the breeze carried also, the scent of cooking food. The noble's stomach complained noisily, making Renji open one lovely, red-brown eye and smirk at him.
"A guy would think you were half-starved, the way your belly's complaining," he chuckled, sliding a hand down the noble's bare torso and teasing his privates as they kissed.
"I can't help thinking how this feels so unreal," the noble whispered, his fingers teasing the ends of Renji's tumbled hair, "I had grown used to being constantly cold, achingly hungry...lost...and but for Ronin, hopeless."
"That's not how it was," Renji said, shaking his head, "You were everything to those kids in Inuzuri. Did you know that those ten years that you were gone, the death rate for the street kids in that town was cut in half? That's amazing, Byakuya. You did incredible things, despite having no powers and being lost."
"It was just common sense," Byakuya sighed, "Common sense, some tricks, changes in thinking. Anyone could have taught them."
"No," said Renji, smiling, "Not just anyone. You're special, Bya. Wherever you go, you make a real difference."
Byakuya let out a soft breath.
"Arigato. You make a great difference to me and to Ronin, too."
"Gods, he's an amazing kid, isn't he?" Renji said, grinning, "Looking back, I should have known that he was mine from the moment I laid eyes on him. There's so much of you and me in that little boy!"
"I only wish that we could have shared in the joy of his birth. It was the greatest of miracles amidst the deepest of my suffering, but he made it worthwhile. I never wasted time on regret, because it could have cost us both our lives. And now we..."
He paused, a look of discomfort crossing his features.
"Byakuya?" Renji queried, sitting up, "You okay?"
The noble rubbed his abdomen, and breathed slowly.
"I felt dizzy for a moment," he confessed, "But I am..."
He broke off, discomfort radiating all about him.
"Byakuya!" Renji said, more urgently, "Byakuya, what is it?"
The noble stood, holding his abdomen and starting towards the bathroom. Halfway there, he stopped, his legs quaking beneath him, then collapsing.
"Byakuya!" Renji cried, flash stepping to him and catching him as he fell.
He swept the noble off his feet and laid him back in bed, calling for their attendants to summon a healer, then leaning over him, his red-brown eyes widened in distress.
"C'mon, Bya, don't do this to me! You're scaring the shit outta me! C'mon, wake up!"
The clan healer burst into the room and settled in the edge of the bed and conducted a brief examination. Renji watched nervously, aching to scream frantic questions at the man, but somehow hanging on to enough control to keep his considerable temper in check. But after several minutes of waiting, panic overcame reason.
"What's wrong with him? Can you tell?" he asked stridently, "Is he going to be all right?"
"He will be fine," the clan healer assured him in a calm voice.
"Well, what's going on? What happened to him? Why did he pass out like that?"
"Master Byakuya," the healer said, "lost consciousness...because he is pregnant."
XXXXXXXXXX
Kiyoshi stared up at the laboratory's white ceiling and forced himself to breathe slowly. He said nothing and ignored the heavy throb of his heart as Kisuke set his wrists and ankles in soft restraints, then set another strap across his slender abdomen. He kept his face relaxed, though inside, he felt hard shivers of fear. But as he had been taught from a tender age, he hid his emotions well.
Yet, the man sitting beside him in a chair wasn't fooled for a moment. He looked at Kiyoshi quietly, recognizing the very small signs of discomfort, the tensed hands, the very light air of uncertainty that escaped his expressive blue eyes and the intermittent fluttering in his reiatsu. Kiyoshi inhaled sharply as Tsuneo's hand found his, and the vendor's eyes touched on him gently.
"This is a really brave thing you are doing," he said, bracingly, "Bya...I mean...Byakuya will be so grateful to, not only have his powers to use for the fight, but to have them soon enough so that he can train properly."
"I regret that I will be unable to assist him in his training. I am familiar with his techniques and would have enjoyed letting him test his limits against me. But...he had Renji for that...or Ichigo...someone else."
"Not to worry," said Tsuneo, fastening his warm brown eyes on the noble's, "Byakuya will win back his place in your family. He will defeat that man, Tsuyoshi, and soon enough, you will all be back at Kuchiki Manor, training together. Just...keep that in mind as things move forward."
"Okay, kids," said Kisuke, giving Kiyoshi an appraising look, "Last chance to change our minds here...you know, really look at this and realize we must be out of our minds to try this..."
"I am ready," said Kiyoshi, his youthful features set.
Tsuneo squeezed his hand and stepped away as Kisuke walked to a large control panel. He pressed several buttons, then watched as a soft jolt of kido stunned the young noble, making him relax completely. His blue eyes closed, and he looked like he might have drifted off as the machine near him began to whir and hum. An enclosing capsule lowered down and covered Kiyoshi as the reiatsu in the room rose and Kisuke pushed buttons and turned a number of knobs in careful sequences. Kiyoshi laid still within his bonds, looking as though he might have gone unconscious. Tsuneo bit at his lips, watching closely, clenching and unclenching his hands. Kisuke frowned and touched more buttons, reading the indicator lights and making several adjustments.
"Okay," the shopkeeper said softly, "We'll go slow and easy to make sure we don't give his body too hard a shock."
He touched several more buttons, and a soft red light began to pulse within the capsule, and although he still seemed to be asleep, his face took on a discomfited look and he shifted uncomfortably.
"Easy..." said Kisuke, "Stay calm, kiddo. We're almost done."
The light around Kiyoshi pulsed more strongly, and the noble made soft sounds of distress. Tsuneo watched closely, and as soon as the pulsing light faded and the capsule opened, he burst across the room and sat down next to Kiyoshi, slipping his arms around the young noble and holding him close, speaking quietly to him as the kido wore off and he began to regain consciousness. His eyes flew open, and a frightened haunted look possessed him for a long moment.
But Tsuneo's arms anchored him as a feeling of emptiness washed over him and the voice of his zanpakutou faded. Kiyoshi held on to Tsuneo tightly as a horrid dizziness washed over him and the room spun oddly.
"Kami!" he gasped, reeling.
"You'll be all right," Tsuneo said bracingly, running his fingers through the young noble's hair and rubbing his hands gently.
"D-did it...work?" he asked haltingly, looking up at Kisuke.
"Yeah," the shopkeeper assured him, "Your core power has been removed and stored. I'll take it with us to Kuchiki Manor when we go for the wedding in a few hours, and we'll try powering your cousin up. For now, just go into the next room and sleep for a while. You're going to be pretty wiped out. Before we go, we can activate the mod soul to give you a little oomph. We just don't want to shock your body with it so soon after removing your power. Go on, then, and lie down."
Kiyoshi nodded and tried to stand, but found his legs too shaky. He started to fall, but was caught up in Tsuneo's arms and carried out of the lab and into the next room, where the vendor laid him in bed and sat down next to him
"Arigato," Kiyoshi said quietly, "Thank you for helping me to convince Kisuke to do this. It is difficult, but...I still think it was the right thing to do."
"Rest now," Tsuneo said, nodding, "I'll be here if you need anything."
"Again, arigato," said the young noble.
"No trouble at all," Tsuneo said softly, watching as the noble surrender to sleep.