Renji opened his eyes when he heard a knock on the door. Groaning he stood up and opened it a little bit. Apparently the staff had already unlocked it.
"Yes?" he asked tiredly, squinting at the light.
"Abarai-san. Please wake up Byakuya-sama as well." Kai, Byakuya's personal housekeeper whispered softly with a bright blush on his face. "We have a breach in security and we need your help."
Renji nodded and turned around to wake up his lover but seeing that he was already wide awake, and grinning.
"We'll be there in a minute." Byakuya said smiling and Renji closed the door, wondering why Byakuya was grinning, and why the kid had blushed.
And then it suddenly hit him. He was still naked.
Once again he groaned and quickly put on some clean underwear before also putting on the only thing he could wear right now, the thin nigh yukata.
Byakuya followed his example and then they both went outside, immediately being met by the head of security who handed them their zanpakutô.
"Momentarily we have cornered the arrancar at the east side of the house. We have no idea how he was able to come inside and no idea why he is here because he's not attacking anyone. Oh…. And it's pink."
"pink?"
"yes… bright, baby pink."
Renji and Byakuya stared at each other. One of the new arrancar race. What was it doing here of all places."
They raced to the east side of the house and surrounded the arrancar, who was grinning at them, as well.
And then suddenly it spoke.
"Well…. Se who we have here. Happy with my little gift?" He asked, his grin widening even more.
Renji and Byakuya stared at each other and then they suddenly seemed to remember that this was the hollow that had 'attacked' them during their trip to hueco Mundo.
"Ah.. you finally seem to recognize me… Took you long enough. Well … let me tell you something. Normally I'd have to kill you while you are both too distracted with each other. That's the strategy you see? But you two are way too interesting together to do so, so I decided to give you both a little gift. You can thank me later."
The arrancar lifted his arm and pointed it towards them before shooting the same pink ray at them he had in Hueco Mundo.
And just like then it engulfed them in a warm, tingling feeling, mixing their reiatsu's together.
Renji and Byakuya stared at each other and then at the arrancar who was still grinning at them.
"Sleep well… I put the bond on maximum level. A level not even known to shinigami." He said, disappearing right before the two of them collapsed.
XXXX
When Renji opened his eyes he found himself inside his inner world. Red stone and sand everywhere with a bright sun shining above his head. He blinked and stood up, turning around quickly when he suddenly felt a breeze and something sweep against his cheek. There were no breezes in his inner world. Never.
A gasp fell from his lips when he saw what appeared to be a forrest with sakura blossoms. Half way in the sky it suddenly became a night sky filled with stars and a beautiful full moon. He could also hear water flowing somewhere very near to him, and that's when he saw the small river flowing from the forest through his own desert.
"Must be what Byakuya mentioned. The fusing of our inner worlds."
And that's when another thought occurred to him. If he was here, in their inner world, because of what the pink arrancar had done, then so was Byakuya… probably.
He started walking towards the forest, following the river and hoping that that would be where he'd find his lover.
"Byakuya!"
He heard a groan coming from his right and immediately turned that way. A few seconds later he found said lover who had had only now awoken.
"you alright?" he asked softly, kneeling down next to him.
"yeah… where are we…" the captain asked, looking around and then recognizing his own inner world with some red stones near the river.
"we're in my inner world?"
"yeah… well.. kind of. Our inner world actually. Right outside these woods is my red desert."
"they have already fused completely? That wasn't supposed to happen for another few weeks."
"yeah… well I think they already are because of what that arrancar did."
"right… he did mention something about a maximum level, unknown to shinigami."
"so the bond is complete?"
"yes. Apparently so…. But I wonder what comes with that maximum level that we don't know about."
The redhead pulled up his shoulders. "dunno… don't really care. We'll just have to wait and see I guess… It's not like we can change anything about it." He said smiling while now sitting down next to his lover. "I wonder why we're in our inner worlds thought." He mumbled silently. "and also if Zabimaru and Senbonsakura ar here as well."
"yeah.. we are." He could somebody say suddenly before 3 forms emerged from the deeper within the woods.
"what the hell happened?" the baboon asked. "The merging suddenly speeded up."
"that arrancar gave us a little 'gift' He raised our bond to the maximum level."
The zanpakutô looked at each other like they actually had any idea what that meant.
"what?"
"well… Do you know what that means? Maximum level? That is not just like the bond you had before you know."
Now Byakuya was the one who answered the baboon. "We know a few things. Our inner worlds merge. Hearing thoughts and communicating through them becomes easier. We can also hear and read them when further apart and we can sense when the other is in great distress."
"And you'll be able to use each other's zanpakutôs. Renji will be able to use me and you will be able to use zabimaru. Thought you have to hold the sword for that. That is only possible in the maximum level and it requires practice. You two now practically became two parts of the same soul, two sides of a coin. When one of you dies, so will the other. But that also means that when the one is in great danger, near to death, the other will have the same complications. So if the second one gets treated, the first one will heal as well…." Senbonsakura explained. But his face showed that there was a little more about that maximum level that he wasn't telling them.
And that's when the baboon smirked and started talking. "of course other things will happen as well. But we're not going to spoil all the fun. You'll find out soon enough." He teased.