Chapter 11: Wounds
Byakuya shifted restlessly in his sleep, shivering as images rose up in his mind. He saw bony, masked hollows slashing at him from all directions…heard low angry voices and caught the coppery scent of blood that leaked onto his skin. He woke, bathed in sweat, alone in his bed. He looked around, his mind still dizzied and unfocused from dreaming.
"R-renji?" he whispered, placing a hand on his abdomen, "Our baby?"
Tears rose in his eyes and spilled onto his face, and he fled the room, reaching out and taking hold of Senbonzakura as he ran. He flash stepped past the evening watch, his reiatsu flaring around him. The lead guardsman, frowned as he passed.
"Sir…should we inform Prince Tohma?" asked another guard, "He said to let him know if Kuchiki-sama needed him…"
"Hai, go and inform him. Kuchiki-sama's reiatsu seemed very disturbed."
The second guard flash stepped away.
Byakuya ran out the back gate and into the forest, his body aching fiercely and straining as he flash stepped again. He caught sight of the moon through the trees and in his mind, he heard a baby crying.
"Our baby?" he whispered, "Renji, our baby is crying?"
His eyes wide and unfocused, he continued on, reaching the waterfall and gliding down the cliff face, and still running endlessly. The baby's cry sounded in his ears, high and frightened, and all around him in the darkened meadow, under the light of the full moon, he saw hollows…too many hollows.
"No…" he whispered, "You can't have them! You can't have our baby and you won't take Torio either!"
He heard the growls and screams all around him and the baby's voice cried louder. He stepped back, the sound flooding his ears and making his breath ache in his chest. Tears overflowed onto his cheeks as the hollows moved in closer and encircled him.
"Leave us alone!" he screamed.
He thought he heard his name on the breeze and blinked. But his body burned as though it was on fire. His head turned right and left, looking about frantically, while the baby's cry sounded again.
"Don't cry…" he said dazedly, "I won't let them find you. You're safe inside me…"
He started to run again, but screamed as cold hand grabbed him and dragged him down in the grass.
"No!" he cried frantically, "Leave us alone!"
Senbonzakura began to glow within his sheath. Byakuya tore himself free, but then looked down at himself and caught his breath in painc.
"They're inside me…" he moaned, "Kami, they're inside me!"
"Byakuya!" a voice shouted.
But he couldn't hear anymore. He pulled his zanpakutou from its sheath and loosed it without making a sound. He surrounded himself in pink petals, focusing on the hollows he felt crawling around inside him. With an agonized sob, he sent the petals slicing into his own body and the one that held him. Shock flooded him as he heard Tohma cry out in pain and both dropped to the ground beneath a hailstorm of glowing pink petal blades.
Tohma's power exploded around them, blowing apart the mass of attacking blades, but hundreds still found their mark and both shinigami's bodies leaked blood as Tohma grabbed Byakuya's wrists and sealed his spirit energy away. He turned Byakuya in his arms and shook him roughly.
"What's the matter with you?" he demanded, "Are you out of your mind? You could have killed us both!"
"He's crying," moaned the noble, falling heavily onto Tohma's shoulder, "Our baby is crying! The hollows…they were…they were inside me…and he was…crying!"
Tohma stared into the dark, senseless eyes and felt a chill pass through him. He pulled Byakuya close and wrapped his cloak around them. He tried not to hear Byakuya's voice as the noble continued to whisper incoherently against his skin.
"It's okay now," he said quietly in the delirious noble's ear, "Your weariness and your grief have simply overtaken you. Come, let's go back to the manor. We can have some tea…and I will call for Unohana taichou to come and see you."
"N-no…" Byakuya said, peeking out at him from under his tumbled lengths of hair, "Don't you hear it? The baby is still crying. He wants me to hold him…"
Tohma swallowed hard and gazed deeply into Byakuya's hazed eyes.
"Byakuya," he said softly, "You know that our son died. Now come with me. We need healing. We were both injured by your zanpakutou…"
"No!" Byakuya said, trying to pull free, "He's here! I hear him!"
Tohma grabbed his face and held it in both hands.
"Our baby died, Byakuya! You can't be hearing him. You are senseless with grief. Please…"
"No! Let go of me! Let go…let go…let go…" Byakuya gasped, struggling.
"Stop this!" Tohma yelled, shaking him again, "You have to stop! Everyone will think you've lost your mind! Our baby is gone, Byakuya! You have to accept that!"
The noble's eyes filled with angry tears.
"It wasn't your baby!" he hissed, furiously.
The back of Tohma's hand struck him hard across the face and Byakuya dropped to the ground, unmoving, except for the soft rise and fall of his breathing. Tohma glared down at him, unbidden tears in his eyes as the noble's words echoed in his ears.
"You can't say things like that, Byakuya," he murmured, lifting the unconscious man into his arms, "Such awful things…such hurtful things…you can't say things like that to me."
He flash stepped through the darkness, back up the cliff face and down the forest trail, where he met the evening guards. He stopped at the gate into the gardens and turned to the watch captain.
"You are not to allow Kuchiki-san to go out alone. If he tries to leave, return him to his room and call me. He is beside himself with grief at having lost our child. We must keep him calm and safe."
"Hai, my lord," the watch captain replied, bowing, "We will watch out for him."
Tohma nodded and carried Byakuya back to their bedroom. He set the noble on the bed and set kido restraints at wrists, waist and ankles, then slid into bed next to him and kissed him gently on the mouth.
"You will be all right now that you are calm. Just stay calm and quiet and everything will be fine now. Your body will heal and you will have another baby. And this time, I won't let you out of my sight for an instant. This time, I won't let anything bad happen to you. You think I don't love you…that all I want is this baby, but that isn't true, Byakuya. I need you in my life, you see? You are the first person who ever really tried to understand me. I know we have had many differences, but you always try to understand me. I am not an easy man to live with, I know…but you do try. The others…they were repulsed by me. They couldn't see how badly I was hurting inside…and that the damage doesn't stop inside me. It keeps raging inside me until I feel it come out of me…and it hurts the people around me…but it's the same hurt from inside me…from when she was alive…from when she…well…that is over now. I know I have to let that anger go. And once my father and brother are gone, I will have swept away all of the reminders…all of them…except…"
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Renji woke to blaring pain in his red, swollen eyes and his throbbing head, and he groaned fitfully.
"Oh…" he gasped, "Oh…hell, this…this…fucking h-hurts!"
He felt another presence and squinted into the darkness.
"Ichigo?" he managed in a thick voice that hardly sounded like his.
"Yeah," the substitute shinigami said in a low voice, "Kisuke and Yoruichi said you needed a friend."
"Oh…" Renji moaned, "Kami, yes…well…as long as it isn't another bottle of damned sake. I don't know what I was thinking letting her talk me into drinking like that. I mean…I do sometimes, but it's not like it's gonna change anything, you know?"
His eyes filled with tears again.
"Damn! I just can't get this out of my head! He was holding on to me so tight, you know? And I knew he was hurt, but I thought that the baby would be okay…I didn't know. And when Kisuke told us he was gone…it…it looked like he was dying too. And I was sympathetic, you know, because even though I was in love with him and I didn't know it was my baby, I wanted him to be happy. I didn't want him to…to lose the baby…and then he said it was ours, Ichigo! And I felt my heart break into pieces. And then I just wanted to hold him…to tell him it would be okay…that…but…it isn't okay, you know? And it isn't going to be okay! Our baby died, Ichigo! The only thing we had left…died…"
"I know," said Ichigo, slipping an arm around his inconsolable friend's shoulders, "But even though this is really hard…you will get through this, Renji. Remember…Byakuya is still in trouble. That bastard still has him trapped and we have to find a way to get him out of this. I know you feel all broken up inside. You lost your baby…but it's not over yet for you and Byakuya. You two can still have each other. You just have to get through this pain that's eating away at you and fight for him."
"But…how?" Renji half sobbed, "He's…right, you know? He said that you and I…we think different than they do…nobles and royals. The rules are different and it isn't fair. He's having to let that son of a bitch beat him up…and there's nothing he can do! The court favors the royals over even noble lords! All he had in his corner was Torio! And Torio's dead too! Ichigo…Ichigo, how are we going to get him out of there? How do we get him away from Tohma?"
Ichigo shook his head.
"I don't know," he said softly, "But you won't be much good to anyone like this. You relax and I'll make us some tea. We'll take some deep breaths and start trying to come up with something. The situation is bad…but it is not hopeless."
"I saw him, Ichigo…before? He was so beautiful…so…so like…B-byakuya. His hair was mostly black, but the bits in front were...were red...like mine. And I had this thought that passed through my head. Ichigo…I…I wished he was mine! And…And then he was! And Byakuya and I had a family…for just one moment before I even knew…we were a family! Then…it all disappeared. And I was holding Byakuya in my arms…and he was shaking all over when Kisuke told him. His eyes went wide…like when he used to have nightmares sometimes…after Rukia's near execution. I tried to comfort him, but then Tohma showed up. And that son of a bitch said it was Byakuya's fault…"
"What?"
"B-because he left the manor against Tohma's wishes. But Ichigo…he only left because he was trying to get Torio out of there. And Torio died too. I know he's blaming himself…and Tohma is only going to make it worse, saying awful things like that to him. He needs to be held by someone who loves him. He needs me, Ichigo! I can feel him breaking apart…all the way from here. I know he's in agony over this!"
Ichigo rested his face against Renji's.
"And I'd wager he isn't the only one, ne?" he said gently.
Renji turned into his friend's shoulder and burst into tears. Ichigo held him and let him cry until the torrent slowed and the redhead found he had reached the point where he had no tears left. He continued to lean against Ichigo, his mind racing and spinning at a dizzying speed.
"I have to…do something," he told Ichigo, nearly startling his friends with the first intelligible words he had spoken in nearly a half hour, "I can't just sit here and let this keep on…"
"Hey…you can't go off half-cocked, Renji. Keep it together. You aren't going to help Byakuya if you do something reckless and you die too. We're going to do something."
"We?" Renji said, looking up at Ichigo.
"Yes," said Rukia from the doorway, "Ichigo said 'we.'"
XXXXXXXXXX
"There now," said Torio, smiling and holding the baby boy on his shoulder, "Don't cry. See, I've opened the curtains so that you can see the moon. Kuchiki-sama loves to look at the moon."
The infant turned his head to rest it on Torio's shoulder and blinked as the moon's light filled his eyes. The attendant patted his black hair and lightly stroked the red strands that trickled down onto his forehead. His cries ceased and he gazed, rapt, at the large white sphere in the night sky. A moment later, Torio smiled as the baby boy cooed softly and began to suck on his tiny fingers.
"There, you see," Torio said softly, "You are so much like Kuchiki-sama…and Urahara-san says you are also Renji's baby, and we have to hide you from Prince Tohma. He will hurt us if he finds us. But don't worry. We will be safe as long as we stay here. Urahara-san says that we will be. I will take good care of you, I promise. And soon, we will go home to Kuchiki Manor, and everything will be all right. You will see."
Torio turned his head as the door opened and his brown eyes met Urahara's. Kisuke smiled and nodded in greeting.
"You are doing really great with him," the shopkeeper commented, "Byakuya will be very pleased with how well you have kept him."
Torio met his eyes worriedly.
"Do you have any word from Kuchiki Manor? Is Kuchiki-sama all right? He was injured. And it must be hard for him, going on as though he thinks his son is really gone…"
"Don't worry about that. Remember what I told you. Byakuya's orders were for you to care for the child here so that Tohma won't find him."
"Will Kuchiki-sama come to visit soon?" asked the youth.
"No," Kisuke said, meeting Torio's eyes meaningfully, "He won't take the chance on Tohma finding the boy. He trusts you, Torio. He trusts you to keep his son safe."
"I will," the youth promised, "I won't let anything happen to him."
Kisuke smiled.
"I know you won't."
He studied the infant for a moment.
"Did Byakuya say anything to you about what he wanted to call the baby?"
Torio nodded.
"Before we were sure it was a boy, he said he would choose Emiko for a girl and Koichi for a boy. And this boy…he loves to look up at the moon like Kuchiki-sama. His eyes are very bright and shining…and he is a prince, too."
"I think Koichi is perfect for him," Kisuke said, smiling, "So Koichi it is."
"Urahara-san," said Torio in a more serious tone, "Do you think that Kuchiki-sama will really be all right? I feel like I shouldn't have left him alone with the prince…"
"He'll be okay," Kisuke promised the youth, "He has a lot of people looking out for him. We will find enough proof for Byakuya-san to take to the Royal Court and he will have his marriage to Tohma annulled soon. But you just focus on your part. Keep Koichi safe and comfortable, okay?"
"I will," Torio promised, "Kuchiki-sama can count on me!"
Kisuke slipped back out the door, closing it behind him.
"They're doing all right?" Yoruichi asked, meeting him on the doorstep.
"Yeah, for now," Kisuke said, frowning.
"But something's wrong…"
"Yeah, something's wrong," Kisuke said, looking up at her, "I hate lying to the kid like that…and lying to Byakuya and Renji. Did Rukia come back from her assignment yet?"
"Yes, I just saw her before she went to help out with Renji. She said that Byakuya had made Ukitake taichou assign her to a post away from home to protect her from Tohma. But after I told Ukitake taichou what was going on, he recalled her. And Ichigo and Renji can back her up. Ichigo is about to get an 'assignment' that will keep him in the Seireitei…and Rukia's going to invite him to stay at the manor. Don't worry. She won't be going in alone. They will place the secret monitors we gave them and gather what they can on Tohma. We will prove what he's been doing to Byakuya, Kisuke. We will."
"Yeah," said Kisuke, "Well it had better be soon. We can't keep things like this for too long. Torio is already asking questions…"
"Just as long as Tohma isn't," Yoruichi said, "If he suspects anything…we are in a world of trouble. We could lose Byakuya like we lost Naoki…"
"We won't let that happen," Kisuke said softly, "Never again…"