Chapter 3: Sharing Life

Squad 12 captain's log entry 212017: I think it's remarkable, the kinds of things a scientist encounters when dealing with dangerously unstable compounds. The constant threat to life from explosions, mingled with the temptation of new discovery is unexpectedly tantalizing. This time, the dangerous factor in my experiment is the mingling of the brutish and completely intractable captain of the eleventh division with the more refined, but every bit as deadly, Captain Kuchiki of the sixth. And although, for the most part, Captain Kuchiki is the more stable, he loses some of that stability when involved in dealings with Captain Zaraki. When working with chemicals, the result is usually a painful and devastating explosion. I wonder what will happen when our fairer comrade realizes what measures Captain Zaraki employed to save his life. This should be very, very interesting.

Mayuri turned his eyes to the monitor in front of him, watching curiously as the sun rose in the pocket realm the two captains were entrapped in and Byakuya stirred and began to come awake.

"Ugh," the noble groaned, opening his eyes into slits and grimacing as the first sight that met his eyes was a shirtless and grinning Kenpachi, who shoved a cup of hot tea into his hand and chuckled in greeting.

"Not feeling so good this morning, eh Kuchiki? Drink this. It will make you feel better."

Byakuya took a sip, then choked and coughed, spitting out the bitter concoction.

"This had better have some astonishing curative properties to compensate me for the egregious assault on my senses," he complained.

"Naw," the bigger man laughed, "it's just green tea. Shut up and drink it."

"Just tea," Byakuya repeated disbelievingly, "and tell me, exactly what contortions did you put those tea leaves through to arrive at such a travesty of flavors? The only fortunate thing in drinking it is that my taste buds are being burned into numbness so I won't have to suffer for very long."

"Does that mean you'll shut up and stop pissing and moaning about it?" Kenpachi asked, narrowing his eyes, "Cause that would be a good thing for me. Take it easy, all right? You had the shit pretty much knocked out of you. You're lucky to be alive to experience how bad my tea is. You should be six feet under, you know."

"I am all too aware of that," the noble sighed, his frown deepening, "In fact, I little know how I am still breathing."

He paused and looked down at his hands for a moment, extending his senses and examining his reiatsu. After a few moments, a look of confusion rose on his fine features and he turned his gaze on his fellow taichou.

"Kenpachi," he said, considering his words carefully as he spoke, "I...assume that you infused me with your reiatsu? I sense yours radiating in my body. You must have had to employ a number of infusions over much of the time I was unconscious. I do hope you managed to get some rest as well."

"You worried about me?" the bigger man asked, grinning.

"No. I simply know that we will likely need both your skills and mine to escape this horrid place at some point."

"You're worried about me," Kenpachi laughed, "I'm touched."

"I wasn't concerned for you," Byakuya said tersely, "I am concerned for our survival."

"Well, I have that in hand, okay? You should be quiet and rest some more."

"You probably need the rest more than I do after repeated infusions."

"I didn't do repeated infusions. I just gave you one really powerful one," Kenpachi explained.

"One...powerful one?" Byakuya inquired, his frown deepening.

"Yeah," the eleventh division taichou answered, crouching beside the fire he had built and stirring the contents of a large black pot, "Regular reiatsu wasn't going to do shit, so I used something with a little more kick."

"A little more...?"

Kenpachi scowled.

"What are you, slow?" he asked irascibly, "If reiatsu's not enough, there's always life juice."

"Life juice," Byakuya repeated in a horrified whisper.

Watching through the monitor, Mayuri cackled in amusement.

"Oh, this is to die for!" he exclaimed.

Back in the pocket dimension, Byakuya fixed widened grey eyes on Kenpachi's rebellious green ones and struggled for words.

"D-do you mean to tell me that you...used your own life force to bolster mine?" he inquired, the words making his insides clench, "Do you know what you have done?" Byakuya managed in a disbelieving tone.

"Yeah," Kenpachi said, resuming his more jovial demeanor, "I didn't let you die. You're welcome, by the way. You want some soup to go with that tea?"

"What? Are you trying to finish what those beastly little monsters started yesterday?" the noble asked, shaking his head, "You are out of your mind!"

"Hey, you don't have to be such a pain in the ass about it. It's just soup. And yeah, I'm not the best cook, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"

"I was talking about you filling my veins with your alarmingly uncontrolled and extremely pungent life force, you moron! Do you even remember that doing that is a crime? And there is a reason it is a crime. Life force is hard to manage. It is too easy to give too much and die."

"Well, I didn't, see? I'm still breathing!" Kenpachi snapped.

"And the mixing of two life forces, especially two captain level life forces can have explosive results!"

Kenpachi smirked.

"Well, you did pass a little gas while you were sleeping, but no one died, so it's fine, ne?"

Byakuya stared back at him in disbelief.

"Do you think this is some kind of joke?" he demanded furiously, "And...and aren't you the one always trying to kill things, especially me! You challenge me to fight to the death nearly on a daily basis."

"Well, how am I supposed to fight you if you're already dead?" the eleventh division captain posited, "I said I wanted to fight you to the death, not just watch you die all by yourself. It's more honorable to die fighting."

Byakuya's lips parted and a flustered look overcame his lovely features.

"But if you would go to such lengths to save me, why would you want to kill me yourself?"

Kenpachi studied his noble companion for a moment, then shrugged.

"Because you're strong enough to give me some level of challenge, especially after those quincy bastards almost did us in and you went up there to the royal realm and got yourself an upgrade."

"Ugh," Byakuya sighed, letting his face drop into his hands in capitulation, "You don't make sense at all. I mean, you would risk your own life to save mine, but then you'd take it just for fun. Don't you see how ridiculous that is? If you care for protecting someone's life, you shouldn't then take it yourself!"

"Maybe," Kenpachi shrugged, "but the truth is, you're really pretty when you fight."

Byakuya stared back at him wordlessly.

Kenpachi leaned closer, brushing a few stray hairs away from his face and Byakuya felt the oddest sense of those hands being caring, even loving in the way they touched him.

"Bold white reiatsu," he went on in a softer rumble of words, "curling all around you like an ice storm...death in those big grey eyes of yours. Your hair fluttering all around your face and your face smudged, not perfect or clean. The smell of sweat and blood is better mixed with that sweet smell that's always around you. And your clothes look good torn and stained with blood from the good fight, the kind you put your heart into and that you really want to win. You move like the swamp cougars down in the low Rukon where I grew up, stalking your opponent like prey and drawing them out to understand them before moving in and making the kill."

Byakuya gazed up into the bigger man's intense hazel eyes that were now much closer, his heart pounding strangely in his chest and his throat suddenly gone dry.

"Kenpachi," he said in an almost dazed tone, "you are a very, very deranged person."

"I'm crazy cause I think you're beautiful when you fight?"

"No," Byakuya said, his eyes darkening slightly as an image of his father flashed in his mind, "You're crazy because you glorify battle. I guess it's fine if you want to be out there yourself. But there are people who only fight because they have no other choice, people who trying to protect something or someone they care about. They lay down their lives without realizing that their lives are precious to the ones they leave behind. That is what I learned from losing my own father and from nearly dying at As Nodt's hands."

"So...what? You think we should all just lay down and let them slaughter us together?"

"No," the noble said impatiently, "but you shouldn't assume that throwing your life away or taking someone else's is fun. It's not fun to the people who get left behind...the ones who love you or the ones you slaughter."

"Byakuya," Kenpachi said, shaking his head, but still smiling slightly, "who the hell cares if I die? I'm a lowly thug from the low Rukon, not a noble prince like you. When you live in that place, the only thing you know is that you have to kill or you will be killed. Protecting someone just makes you an easier target."

"You protected Yachiru," the noble pointed out quietly.

Kenpachi nodded.

"She was never a burden. She was born knowing how to stay out of the way and out of trouble. She was never a defenseless little tyke that needed me that badly."

"But you are protective of her. That much became clear when you could not find her after the second invasion of the quincies."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't like it if she got killed, you know?"

"I didn't like it when my father was killed...but at least he was killed doing something important, something honorable. He wasn't throwing his life away for fun."

"What about that shit you were spouting a minute ago?" Kenpachi asked pointedly, "That stuff about how dying in battle hurts the people you try to protect? How does the way someone you loved died matter anyway? Dying honorably, dying stupidly, they're still just as dead, ne? And that's a place we're all going anyway, isn't it? So, why not get strong and have fun trying to stay alive in a world that's already going to kill you?"

Byakuya paused, blinking in surprise at the confusing swirl of emotions the other man's words conjured in him.

"You okay, Kuchiki? You need a little more life juice?" Kenpachi chuckled.

"You really are insane," the noble said, shaking his head and sighing resignedly, "but I suppose I should at least thank you for saving my life. I think, however, that you should be glad that you're not of noble origin...because sharing life force? I've read in the old stories, the ones from before the practice was banned. When noble men fell in love and exchanged their life forces, it created an unbreakable bond. From that day, the two were inseparable, the passions between them so strong that they could give themselves only to each other, that even when apart, they could feel each other's pain, see through each other's eyes. And even though they were male, one could give the other a child."

"What?" Kenpachi snorted, blowing a measure of his tea out of his nose, "Are you shitting me, Kuchiki?"

"No," Byakuya confirmed, "It is well documented, although the documentation is carefully controlled so that not so much is known about the process by the general population. Even knowing about such a thing might encourage it's use...and the elders of the time in which it was banned saw the danger in that."

"Yeah, well we've got no need to worry," Kenpachi laughed softly, "If we want to have sex, we're in the clear, right?"

"Did you really just say that to me?" Byakuya mused, rolling his eyes.

"Heh, I was just kidding, Kuchiki. I know I've got no business touching a prince like you. Though...who doesn't want to touch something soft like that sometimes?"

"You're out of your mind," Byakuya said, closing his eyes.

He felt something change inexplicably in front of him and opened them again to find Kenpachi's face was much closer and the bigger man's hazel eyes were glaring deeply into his.

"What are you doing?" he managed in a whisper, "Kenpachi..."

"You married a Rukon girl," Kenpachi remembered, "You don't hate what's not like you. You get curious, don't you? You want to touch what's on the other side of the fence, ne?"

"Hisana was nothing like you."

"No."

"She never belonged in the low Rukon. She was too gentle..."

"And it ate her alive, even though you tried to save her."

Byakuya sighed and closed his eyes.

"Hey, don't get all weepy," Kenpachi chided him, "We all have people we love, but can't protect. It doesn't make you a bad person. You tried, right? You took her away from there, gave her a good home and all of your affection. Just because she died anyway doesn't mean it was all for nothing. You loved each other, right? You had five years together."

"We did," Byakuya agreed, "and despite her illness, there were many good times."

"See, so it wasn't a wasted effort. Each of you gave and got. You shared things that meant something."

"Yes."

"Well, you must have really loved her to still look sad when people mention her fifty something years later. Or maybe it isn't sadness, really. You just look lonely. You ever consider remarrying?"

"I suppose I will have to, at some point," Byakuya answered, frowning, "I have an obligation, being the most powerful and the clan's leader, to continue my legacy for the clan's benefit."

"But don't you miss having someone? I haven't had anyone like that, so I couldn't tell you how it is with me. I just think that it would be good to have that. If you have a choice, why not?"

"Why not?" Byakuya repeated, his dark, smoky eyes meeting Kenpachi's again and remaining firmly locked.

The two remained frozen for several long moments, a heady feeling of dark temptation teasing both men dangerously. And before he quite realized it was happening, Byakuya leaned forward very slowly, bringing his lips to the other man's and brushing against them lightly. Kenpachi flinched and stared, stunned into silence at the softness of the lips that sought his and overcome by the mingled scents of sakura and fiery, scorched earth. His arms slipped around the slighter man, pulling him closer as he bit down on that sinfully soft mouth, then teased it open and slipped his tongue inside to explore more thoroughly. Byakuya's hands came to rest on his shoulders, neither quite holding on nor pushing him away. The noble's eyes closed against what was happening and even though he knew very well it was wrong, he couldn't make himself move to stop what was happening. Instead, he kept his eyes closed and opened his mouth wider to permit even deeper penetration.

Kissing Hisana was never like this, he mused inwardly, She was fragile and I was always having to hold back my reiatsu so I wouldn't overwhelm her. I could never relax into our kisses like this. Kenpachi won't break and neither will I. We can love each other more ruthlessly. I never realized what an attractive thing that was.

But...

His mind went blank for a moment as he felt Kenpachi's hand loose the tie on his yukata and he slid onto the bigger man's lap, returning Kenpachi's kisses with equal ferocity. Heat and reiatsu flared around the two, exciting the breezes around them and making the leaves in the trees flutter. But neither man noticed a thing, wholly focused on each other as they kissed with more fervor and Byakuya ground his hips into the other man's, reeling at the size of him, unable to fathom how he would dare to take something like that inside himself. But he couldn't move or object as the bigger man's fingers slid down between them and slowly prepared him and he went nearly breathless as Kenpachi's hands captured his hips and guided him with unusual care as they joined thier bodies.

Byakuya's head dropped onto Kenpachi's damp, muscular shoulder and he panted harshly at the sting. He expected the other man to be impatient and to move immediately, but to his surprise, Kenpachi held perfectly still, his rough hands sliding up and down Byakuya's slender back.

"You okay?" the bigger man asked in a low, husky voice that suggested the restraint wasn't so easy for him.

"Fine," Byakuya answered, suspecting that his words were somewhat of a lie, but overwhelmed with a pressing need for completion, "Move!"

Kenpachi's hips bucked upward, dragging a heavy groan from deep in Byakuya's heaving chest. He moved with the bigger man, burning in the hard flares of their reiatsu and not having to open his eyes to know they would be met with a wild, feral glare. Nothing mattered at all except rising and falling, straining for that blissful explosion. He was sure it would have to hurt, but he couldn't help thinking that it was also stunningly beautiful, being touched in ways and places he had never been touched. And being touched in that deep, secret place that made stars catch fire behind his eyes and sent shivers up and down his spine was, he thought, worth the slight discomfort. His eyelids fluttered and his moans thickened as he felt the approach of something that was nothing short of heavenly.

"Kenpachi!" he managed, unable to believe that such a savage could cause such a strong elation in his loins and all over his body as his pleasure peaked and the hard shudders of release began.

Then everything disappearing into a haze of heat and light as Kenpachi groaned and unleashed himself completely. It was a moment that was as terrifying as it was beautiful and as dangerous as it was fulfilling. Byakuya felt everything disappear for a moment, then found himself lying on his back under the bigger man's collapsed form. Although trapped, he certainly felt no discomfort in his comrade's warm embrace, so he fought off the urge to say anything and instead closed his eyes again and slowly surrendered to sleep.

It's impossible, of course.

It only happened because we were trapped here and I let my guard down with him.

But it will be fine.

Once we go home, we'll regain our senses and forget about this.

Back in his lab, Mayuri looked up and found Nemu standing frozen and staring at the image of the two copulating captains.

"Stop ogling those two and get back to what I told you to do!" he scolded her.

He shook his head and returned his attention to the screen, cackling softly as the two climaxed violently, then collapsed together.

"A fascinating experiment," he muttered, "but it's a good thing for Soul Society that they are trapped in that pocket dimension and not where they could cause real damage."