Chapter 5: The Anomaly
Squad 12 Captain's Log Entry 212019: There is a circumstance in science that is somewhat of a mixed blessing...the anomaly. It often leads to great discovery, but almost as often involves some amount of blasted annoyance. Yes, a double edged sword, a love that binds and burns, or in my case, a flower that smells lovely, but is surrounded in thorns. It is a delightful and maddening mystery what is happening inside Byakuya Kuchiki's body.
The parasitic reiatsu that found its way into him is now attached to his systems and appears to be nurturing itself, using his veins and spirit core. This occurs at a rate at which he does not sense the intrusion. But I am noticing some curious oddities in his behavior that seem to be meant to distract him from what is hiding in his body. I likely couldn't remove it without killing him, so the other option is to watch it and see if it kills him and saves me the trouble.
But another infuriating factor to add to the rest is that whatever has buried itself in Byakuya Kuchiki is somehow having an effect on the brutish captain of Squad 11. I have never once seen that man nurture anything, well, except for that pink-haired vice captain of his, but she is as much of an anomaly as he is. And with Kuchiki being the anomaly I want to focus on, having a second anomaly as troublesome as Kenpachi Zaraki is nearly enough to end this charade and kill them both.
I would have killed them already, but sadly, they have made me curious.
Damn those two!
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"Are you feeling any better, Kuchiki?" Kenpachi asked, a measure of genuine sympathy in his voice making Byakuya pause in his eating and look up disdainfully at the other man, "You still look pale as ghost shit, but you're not eating like someone does when they feel bad. You'd think there was two of you in there..."
"Are you trying to goad me into a fight or is this just your usual level of cluelessness?" the noble asked dryly.
"Well, I wouldn't mind a good fight, but I'd rather fight you while you're in top form and not taking turns vomiting, fainting and eating like a horse."
"Haven't you ever had a virus?" the noble asked sarcastically, "Or do even germs find you too repulsive?"
"Yeah, I get sick. You puke, you crap until it comes out liquid and then you feel better, but you don't do that while you're slamming down about twice the food your much bigger comrade eats. You're gonna get too fat to fit into your uniform."
Byakuya gave Kenpachi a look of undisguised hatred.
"How dare you, you overgrown warthog!" the noble spat, throwing his bowl at Kenpachi and following with a kido enforced punch to the face.
Kenpachi caught Byakuya's hand just short of his face and breathed an aggravated sigh as Byakuya made a discomfited grunt before going sheet white and crashing to the ground at his fellow captain's feet.
"Fuck, Kuchiki," the big man complained, lifting the unconscious noble into his arms and carrying him to where their bedding was laid out, "We might as well stop looking for the goddamned exit, as often as we have to stop for your little hissyfits. Come on, let's get you fixed up."
He laid the noble down on his side on the mat and covered him with a light blanket.
"You're a little warm," he commented, feeling Byakuya's pale, sweaty face, "But that's no problem, right? I got the fix for that right here."
He removed a small washcloth from Byakuya's pack and dampened it in the nearby stream, then washed the noble's face and throat. Byakuya sighed sleepily and his body relaxed noticeably.
"Feel better now?" Kenpachi chuckled, "Thought you would. I just wish you'd wake up and insult me a little. This is boring as hell and I wanna go home. I sure as hell can't sense the way back, so you've gotta quit doing this and find the way out. You think you can do that, Kuchiki?"
Byakuya groaned and shifted in his sleep, while Kenpachi watched closely, then sighed again and relaxed.
"Eh," he grumbled, "I was afraid of that. Guess I'd better go and get a few fish for breakfast. You know, you're eating us outta house and home. You knock off those fish faster than I can catch'em and five minutes later wanna eat'em all over again. What is with you, Kuchiki? This isn't like any virus I ever saw."
Byakuya grunted uncomfortably and came awake, his eyes widening and a hand rising to cover his mouth as he hastily exited his mat and staggered away. Kenpachi let out an annoyed breath and waited until the sounds of sickness had passed, then walked to where Byakuya knelt, holding his abdomen and looking even more pale.
"We've gotta get you home. I don't want you dying on me."
"I'm not dying," Byakuya moaned softly, "It's just a nasty..."
"...a virus," Kenpachi finished, helping the noble to his feet and guiding him back to their campsite, "Do you feel good enough for some tea?"
"N-not yours," Byakuya groaned thickly, "I'll make some when the forest stops spinning."
"Shut up, will you? My tea's not that bad. You said it was getting better."
"I was delirious."
"Well, you don't exactly look like you're all here now, so I think I'll make the tea."
"Fine. Please, just stop speaking to me!"
"Man, you're bitchy today..." Kenpachi chuckled, helping the noble back to the mat, then starting the tea.
He frowned and stole glances at Byakuya as he slept, an odd feeling of worry nagging at him.
We really need to get him back home to be looked at. I've never known Kuchiki to act like this...like a pregnant girl. Damn, I really hope he's not dying. He's a good fighter.
He left the campfire for a moment and extended his senses, trying to orient on the location of the precipice world, but after several long minutes had only managed to give himself a pounding headache. He finished making the tea and brought a cup to the fitfully sleeping noble.
"Here you go," he offered, lifting Byakuya slightly and holding the cup to his lips, "This'll fix you up."
He felt a knot of growing worry as Byakuya said nothing, but only sipped carefully at the hot liquid, then sank back into sleep.
I've really got to do something...
He moved to sit beside the sleeping Kuchiki heir, looking down at him quietly and trying to remember even the basics of healer assessment.
This is a bad time to be a guy who stinks at reiatsu sensing of any kind. But I really don't want Kuchiki to die here, so I'll just give this a try and...
He was drawn back out of his reverie as he realized that something about his lovely noble companion had changed. Although Byakuya remained deeply asleep, his body had begun to glow a soft pink color and just looking at it made Kenpachi lean closer.
"What the hell?"
He flinched as he felt a strange tugging inside and instinctively, he released his reiatsu in response. His more golden colored reiatsu swirled lazily in between them, then spiraled downward and slid into Byakuya's resting body. And as he continued the calm infusion, the look of distress left Byakuya's face and he rested more comfortably. And seeing him like that made an unusual warmth blossom in Kenpachi's insides. Not sure why he wanted to, he laid down and curled his bigger body around the noble's.
Man, this feels good. I don't know why. Usually, I don't like to sit still, let alone lie around, but...he's soft. He smells good. I want to...
Before he realized what he was doing, he had turned slightly and his lips were touching the senseless noble's. Byakuya shifted without coming awake, his lips pressing sleepily against Kenpachi's rougher ones and his thighs parting easily. Given the invitation and the hard rush of arousal that seeped in. Kenpachi groaned softly and moved their clothing enough to permit an unscripted joining of their bodies.
Still unaware, Byakuya moved easily with the bigger man as Kenpachi's hips moved restlessly and his dazed mind drank in the hypnotically erotic sensations. Everything seemed to strike him at once, the cool evening air, the softness of Byakuya's skin and hair, the even softer and more beautiful sounds he made as his barbarian partner made love to him.
I feel kinda guilty, but...fuck...!
And all sense of guilt left him as the noble's eyes opened and Byakuya's only reaction to finding himself being penetrated by Kenpachi was to close his eyes again and writhe hard against the bigger man's undulating body. His pristine mouth, so given to insulting his beastly comrade only opened to expel hungry moans and gasps of pleasure as their motions brought the two up and over into a powerful, mutual release.
Kenpachi cringed as the heavy throbs of orgasm faded and he expected Byakuya to return to being icy and insulting, but to his surprise, the noble only snuggled close to him, saying nothing at all, and swiftly falling asleep again.
"Huh...maybe he'll just think he was dreaming or something..."
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"Nemu! Did you get the results of the last scan on Captain Kuchiki?" Mayuri asked impatiently.
"Yes sir," the girl responded solemnly, "The parasite is growing, but at a curiously slow rate. It is stealing nutrients from Captain Kuchiki's systems, but the rate at which it does so is not dangerous."
"So much for wishful thinking," the scientist huffed, "Did you scan the parasite's reiatsu?"
"Yes sir. The reiatsu is unique, but seems to have stolen some of Captain Kuchiki's own markers. Interestingly, it also has some of Captain Zaraki's markers."
"Well, as much as that barbarian has been plundering him, it's probably just a contaminated sampling. Run the scans again and feed the results to my computer."
"Yes sir."
Mayuri turned his attention back to the monitor in front of him.
"No poison, no signs of dangerous encroachment...then what is this thing? And what good is it if it doesn't make something significant happen? Ah, his brain?"
He tapped furiously at the keyboard.
"No, damn it! Brain function is normal...thought patterns chaotic, but non-destructive. He's not suicidal or deranged. Gah! What is the answer? This is going to drive me crazy!"
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"Good morning, beautiful," Kenpachi rumbled softly, nuzzling his waking comrade's cheek, "You feeling better now?"
Byakuya opened a dark grey eye and glanced down to where his naked and plundered body was entwined with Kenpachi's, then looked back at the other man.
"You were having sex with me while I was unconscious?" he mused, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
"Hey, you were awake enough to roll around with me and you weren't complaining, especially after the belly rub I gave you. You really looked better after a little infusion of my reiatsu. Magical stuff, eh?"
"Hmmm," Byakuya sighed, "no wonder I have an urge to go kill something. Would you like to volunteer to be the quarry?"
"Later, we need to get you home. You're really not okay. I sense something weird in your reiatsu."
"You do?" Byakuya queried, frowning and slowly sitting up, "But you are hopeless at reiatsu sensing..."
He slid a hand down and ran it over his chest and stomach, sensing each area, then moving on to the next. He paused over his lower abdomen and his frown deepened.
"Kenpachi," he said, looking confused, "I know this is an extremely strange question for me to be asking you, but...there is no chance that you have any appreciable amount of noble blood...is there?"
The big man laughed and spread his arms out, looking down at himself.
"Hell no!" he answered in an amused tone, "You see anything here that isn't pureblood mongrel?"
"Not really," Byakuya sighed, "I just can't think of what this could be. You're right. We need to get out of here."
"All right," Kenpachi said, climbing to his feet and helping the unsteady noble up, "Tell you what, you pick a direction and what you think is the closest weak spot in this place and I'll try to blast an opening."
Byakuya scowled.
"What are you saying? That will never work! You would have to have..."
"Hey, you also said I couldn't cut that little stink bug before. I did that."
"I said you couldn't cut it with your sealed sword."
"Fine, so I used something a little bit bigger. I'll do that now. Unless you have a better idea, sweetheart."
"Don't call me that!" Byakuya snapped.
"Oh, you're feeling great now, huh? I think I liked you better when you were unconscious."
"I think I liked you better when you being manhandled by that sternritter pretending to be the quincy king!" Byakuya fumed.
"Hey, don't go there, Kuchiki! You got your ass raped by your own bankai. You shouldn't go calling me weak when you lost too. Let's just stick to the here and now and get ourselves the fuck outta here before I get really pissed and fry you and this place and me altogether!"
"Fine! Anything to get out of here and away from you!"
Back in the twelfth division laboratory, Mayuri rolled his eyes and groaned, putting a hand to his head.
"Nemu! Pain reliever...now! I wish I could be rid of the pain of dealing with these two!"
"Well then," said Shunsui from behind him, "You won't mind if I take those two off your hands now, right?"
"Eh, what?" the twelfth division captain squawked, turning, "What the devil are you doing, showing up in my lab unannounced? I have delicate experiments going on. You'll make my readings go haywire!"
"I hope you aren't conducting any illegal experiments on our fellow captains," Shunsui said, his tone still jovial, but a hint of mayhem in his eyes.
"No, no, they just stumbled into one of the pocket dimensions that I have a little less control over and I've been attempting to stabilize the doorway to get them out."
Shunsui glanced at the monitor and smiled as Byakuya's slender hand pointed towards a place in the sky and Kenpachi's crushing reiatsu swelled, fired and slammed into it, shattering the barrier and opening the way into the precipice world.
"Ah, I think they took care of that for you."
"Augh!" Mayuri roared, "That brute has unsettled the whole Dangai! Nemu, start recalibrations now before the whole region explodes! Those brainless idiots! Weren't they sent here for being destructive? They need a longer time in my lab to redeem themselves."
"I don't think so," Shunsui said, opening a senkaimon and smiling as the two smudged and singed captains stumbled into the lab.
"Baka!" Byakuya snapped, "You could have killed us both!"
"Stop your bitching. I got us back, didn't I?"
"Gentlemen?" Shunsui greeted them, "Welcome back. I trust you have mended fences and are ready to return to your divisions?"
Byakuya and Kenpachi exchanged heated glances.
"Anything to get away from that unrefined mongrel!" Byakuya huffed.
"Huh, anything to get away from that prissy little princess!" Kenpachi countered.
"I see. So, you're still angry with each other, but not enough to make you want to tear up half the Seireitei fighting?" Shunsui said, eyeing them meaningfully, "I can put you back on duty and you'll actually defend something instead of destroying it?"
"Yes sir," the two said together, looking away from each other.
"All right, then. Why don't you two take the rest of the day off and get yourselves cleaned up and rested? You can resume your duties tomorrow."
"Thanks, Head Captain," Kenpachi said, recovering his more cocky grin, "But Kuchiki should be checked out. He's been sick most of the time we were locked...erm...trapped in the pocket dimension."
"Is that right?" Shunsui inquired, giving Byakuya a concerned look, "That doesn't sound good. Captain Kuchiki, are you still ill?"
"A bit weary and somewhat nauseous, but it is nothing."
"Nothing," Kenpachi grumbled, "I carry his ass halfway across that pocket dimension with him throwing up and fainting and he says it's nothing."
"Kenpachi...!"
"Hey, hey, hold it down," Shunsui chided them, "I'm sure Captain Kuchiki will be fine. Byakuya, you should just check in with the fourth division, get them to issue you a clearance."
"Why do I need a clearance?" Byakuya complained, "I am a little nauseous, that's all. I don't need a healer..."
"Well, let's just be on the safe side. You get your clearance and all's right with the three worlds again, okay?"
Byakuya loosed a discontented sigh.
"Oh, very well."
The captain commander laughed and led the two out of the twelfth as Mayuri stood, crossing his arms and staring daggers at their backs.
"Well," he muttered, thank goodness I had the foresight to attach surveillance monitors on their bodies..."
Outside the division, Shunsui paused and looked back at his two battered colleagues.
"I have to leave now. Can I trust you two not to destroy anything?"
"I don't know if that beast can contain himself, but I will follow orders and go to the fourth division," Byakuya answered.
"You want me to carry you, doll?" Kenpachi asked, grinning, "I kinda got used to it in there."
Byakuya's eyes glinted hatefully, but he gritted his teeth and spat out a clipped response.
"No. I will be fine."
"You see," Shunsui said, smiling charmingly, "We're all one big happy family."
"Please do not ever suggest that barbarian and the noble families share any kind of connection," Byakuya sighed, "I already feel sick enough as it is."
"Well then, you'd better get going," Shunsui chuckled, "I'll see you two for the captain's meeting in the morning."
Byakuya and Kenpachi watched as their superior flash stepped away.
"Well, it's been fun, Byakuya," Kenpachi said, surprising the noble with the more casual use of his name, "Let's spar again when you're feeling better, okay?"
Byakuya watched wordlessly as the eleventh division captain disappeared, leaving him alone.
"Let's not," he said, frowning, "I think we've done enough damage."