Chapter 12: Opening Flower
(Another bit of Redstravaganza! Thanks to Sumeragix and Alabirdie for requesting! Don't have time to edit now, but will check for errors when I get back! Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. You guys are the best!)
Rikichi's eyes opened, blinked and settled on the golden eyes of the clouded leopard that laid, pressed up along his side, his upper body rested on Rikichi's bared chest, head rested on crossed paws and a sweet feline smile on his face.
"Kisho," the youth whispered, one slender hand sliding down the leopard's sleek back, "Did you transform while you were sleeping?"
The big cat's eyes blinked slowly.
"I had to change forms because I found you too tempting when I was in shinigami form," he whispered back, "I wouldn't have been able to resist making love to you. I love you too much, I think. It feels like a fever, Rikichi."
Rikichi smiled and kissed the leopard's nose gently.
"Then, I have it too," he admitted softly, "I love you, Kisho. I want very much to be with you like that."
"But we mustn't," said Kisho, firmly, "We still don't know if you are the heir that the man was talking about..."
"It doesn't matter," Rikichi insisted, touching his fingers to the leopard's mouth to stop him.
Kisho froze.
"Whoever I turn out to be, there is never going to be anybody else."
The two stared into each other's eyes for a long, silent moment before Rikichi went on.
"You remember when you told me that your clan was kind of looked down on? I know how that feels. I've been looked down on too. And a lot of the time, I don't like myself very much either. I'm not so skilled or powerful as the others in my squad. I know that...Kuchiki taichou had better choices than me. I was just lucky that Renji came through my town when he did, and he inspired me, then Kuchiki taichou took a chance on me. But...even though I got better with their help, I never felt very strong. I only felt that, once I met you. You gave me someone to love and protect...someone who loves and protects me too. And because we have had to fight together to stay alive, we are going to always be connected. It doesn't matter if I'm heir to one of the clans...or even royalty. Some things are more important than that. You are more important, Kisho."
Kisho's golden eyes rounded, then his feline form flickered, and he shifted back to shinigami form. He laid across Rikichi's bare chest, gazing into the other boy's gentle brown eyes almost dazedly.
"Rikichi," he said softly, "I am sorry. I thought that...remaining in my other form would make me able to restrain myself...but I can't anymore. I want too much to be with you. Is that...okay?"
Rikichi smiled and took the other boy's face in his hands.
"Of course, baka, that's what I was telling you!" he laughed.
"Okay," Kisho said, his voice trembling slightly as he shifted so that he laid on top of the other youth.
Rikichi closed his eyes and relaxed, letting Kisho's strong body slide down between his parted thighs. He met the other boy's kisses open-mouthed, welcoming the spirited thrust of Kisho's impatient tongue, and the deep, pleasant exploration that followed. His hands slid down the Shihoin prince's long torso, shaking slightly as they settled on the other youth's handsomely tanned bottom. He rubbed the soft flesh as their kissing continued, and clenched to encourage Kisho's hips to push forward against him. Rikichi closed his eyes and moaned as Kisho moved his hips in response, rubbing their aroused members together and leaving the two sweaty and panting softly. The Shihoin prince sucked warmly at Rikichi's mouth, distracting him gently as a hand slid down to provide additional pleasure while their bodies moved against each other. He pushed his fingers down deeper, chuckling into Rikichi's biting mouth as he gently sought his lover's virgin entrance, and Rikichi flushed cutely, releasing Kisho's name in a passionate moan.
He broke away from Rikichi's mouth and kissed his way down the youth's slender, pale body, slowing as he reached his nether region. He contemplated Rikichi's swollen and sweetly blushing member for a moment, then captured it, fastening his lively golden eyes on Rikichi's gentler brown ones as he teased the other youth, making him gasp and writhe restlessly.
"K-kisho!" he moaned, "Kisho...I w-want you...I want you so much!"
The Shihoin prince's hot mouth smiled as he kissed his way downward, pleasuring shamelessly until Rikichi's chest heaved with uncontrolled moans and his eyes became hazed and nearly senseless. Then he crawled back up to his lover's mouth and sank into it again, laughing as the other youth licked his lips and thrust into his mouth, eagerly seeking to share in the wanton flavors of his explorations. Kisho shifted his body and positioned himself at Rikichi's prepared entrance. But as he began to push forward, the grating screech of hollows rose up outside the window, making the lovers break away from each other and roll to their feet as the window and wall shattered, and the attacking hollow reached for them through the falling debris.
"RUN!" screamed Kisho, shifting to cat form and launching himself at the hollow's masked face.
"I'm not leaving you!" Rikichi yelled, raising his hands and firing a kido spell at the beast as it tore Kisho away from it's face, lifted him into the air and slammed him down onto the broken bedroom floor. His feline body flickered fitfully, then slowly reverted to shinigami form.
"KISHO!" Rikichi screamed, raising his hands as the hollow screeched and raised a huge foot over the fallen prince, "KISHO!"
Rikichi felt something odd, deep inside, a sensation of something shattering and breaking apart. Kido exploded from his hands with a fury he had never thought himself capable of unleashing. The kido strike hit the beast squarely between its feral yellow eyes, incinerating its head and sending the decapitated body crashing to the floor.
"Kisho!" Rikichi sobbed as the door opened and Kisuke and Miki ran into the ruined bedroom, "K-kisho!"
The youth bent over the Shihoin prince, touching his bloodied face with shaking hands as he pleaded for the other boy to wake.
"Kisho, can you hear me?" he asked, oblivious as Kisuke and Miki moved out through the shattered wall and attacked the remaining hollows, "Kisho, wake up!"
The Shihoin prince groaned senselessly and his eyes blinked and tried to focus.
"Rikichi! Kisho!" yelled Miki, "Look out!"
Rikichi grabbed Kisho and flash stepped clear as another huge hollow stepped down where they had been.
Miki's kido attack took the beast off its feet as another large hollow began to corner Rikichi and the injured youth he held tightly in his arms. A fiery blast from Kisuke's hands threw the hollow off its feet and swallowed it whole.
"Run, you three!" Kisuke shouted, positioning himself between the hollows and the three boys, "There's too many. Get out of here!"
Yoruichi, Byakuya and Renji appeared suddenly at Kisuke's side and added a hail of fiery attacks to the shopkeeper's. Miki grabbed Rikichi by the arm and dragged him along as the fight continued behind them.
"C'mon!" Miki cried, his gray eyes locking on Rikichi's as the other boy held the semi-conscious Kisho against him, "We have to get away! We can go to..."
He broke off as Rikichi howled a warning, then froze in shock as a clawed hand tore into his back.
"NO!" screamed Rikichi, dropping Kisho and raising his hands.
The hollow took aim on him, firing a cero at him from nearly point blank range.
Time seemed to slow as Rikichi's zanpakutou suddenly appeared in his hand, and his eagle exploded from the tip, rising up in front of the three boys and opening its beak in a shriek of defiance. Rikichi screamed in terror, expecting the eagle to be incinerated, then watched in surprise as the great bird swallowed up the cero and grew larger. Red light rose around him, and the eagle's eyes glowed with power. Rikichi felt something rise up inside him and let it pour out without thinking.
"Bankai! Hiwashi...Tenrai Hishou!"
Rikichi's eyes went wide and disbelieving as the eagle's feathers darkened, and his golden eyes flared, then a moment later, the bird's lovely avian body caught fire. The flaming eagle rose into the air and turned towards the group of attacking hollows, taking aim as Kisuke, Yoruichi, Byakuya and Renji stared wordlessly. The fire eagle's beak opened and loosed a sweeping, roaring inferno that swallowed up the remaining hollows and sent the watching shinigamis flash stepping away in surprise. Rikichi felt the seething heat of the fire eagle's power overwhelming him and screamed again in pain.
"Wh-what's wrong with...me?" he gasped, his sword sliding from his nerveless hand and clattering to the ground.
He heard garbled voices and saw movement around him, but could no longer make sense of what was happening. He staggered and fell, then his hands found Kisho's collapsed body, and he pulled the other boy close.
"I'm going to get you out of here," he whispered dizzily, tears running down his face as he spotted Miki lying motionless in a puddle of blood, "No one is going to hurt us anymore..."
"Rikichi!" Renji cried, flash stepping towards the youth, but sliding to a stop as errant golden fire from the fading eagle blocked his path, "Rikichi, stop! Come back!"
The youth held on to the Shihoin prince and ran blindly, bursting into flash steps and passing through a senkaimon that somehow opened, as though triggered by his will alone. He fled through the precipice world, sobbing as the smiling faces of his dead friends passed through his tortured mind. He exited the senkaimon and ran into the woods somewhere in the Rukongai, uncaring of everything except holding on to the last thing he had left. When he was finally able to stop himself, he found himself alone, deep in the forest, lost in a thick growth of pine, alongside a rushing creek. He swallowed hard, looking around and starting to come back to his senses.
It hurts inside.
When...when I said those words...the ones that just came into my head...when the eagle caught fire, I felt like I was burning inside.
I don't think that I was supposed to do that. Usually, a person must train to manifestation, then conquer the spirit in the blade. But...perhaps my desperation...seeing Miki fall, and worrying about what was going to happen to Kisho and me. Maybe all of that made it happen.
But it hurts inside now.
It hurts so much!
What did I do?
He looked down at his hand and tried to summon a small kido flame, but recoiled in shock as the small use of power burned him inside.
I've heard of this...of that burning feeling. I must have burned my spirit centers using a bankai without the necessary training and preparation. I could get threshold sickness.
He looked around and spotted a small cave that overlooked the area, and he carried Kisho inside and laid him down gently, then knelt next to him and tried to summon healing power. A gasp escaped him as his burned spirit centers throbbed to hotly to allow him any use of his powers.
"Oh no..."
We're alone here.
I have no powers to heal him or to protect us with.
"Kisho?" he whispered tremulously, "Kisho, please wake up. Please...I need you to wake up. We're all alone, Kisho. Kisho?"
XXXXXXXXXX
Byakuya knelt beside Miki, adding his healing power to Renji's as the two worked to save the boy's fading life.
"Hang in there, kid," Kisuke said, looking down at the injured youth from where he kneeled next to the other two shinigamis, "Yoruichi will have Orihime here real fast. You're gonna be okay."
He went quiet, watching as the other two men's power flared around Miki's body, holding him scant inches from death. Renji waited until the youth stabilized somewhat, then looked up at Byakuya.
"Did you fucking see that? What Rikichi did? That..."
"A bankai, yes," Byakuya said softly, his hands touching Miki's abdomen, "but did you notice the way it behaved?"
"There was something off about him, just before," the redhead agreed, then he let go with that huge kido blast. Taichou, you and I both know that kido blast was at a level well above what we knew him to posses."
"Yes," said the noble, looking back into Renji's eyes, "I had the impression of something breaking...a seal...one that may have holding his powers back all of this time."
Renji's eyes widened.
"Th-that's it, then," he said in a startled tone, "Rikichi...he's our kid, right?"
Byakuya's hand captured Renji's, making the redhead inhale sharply in surprise. He placed Renji's hand on Miki's abdomen.
"Your hand is over his core spirit center," Byakuya whispered, "What do you sense?"
"Oh my god!" Renji breathed, "This? This is another seal?"
"Yes," the noble answered, "And although I cannot say for certain while it remains in place, I think that this means..."
"Shit..." whispered Renji, "I had two."
"Um," said Kisuke, "Congratulations guys, but..."
"We still need to find Rikichi and Kisho...and we must find Tetsuya," said Byakuya.
He sighed in relief as Yoruichi arrived with Ichigo and Orihime at her side. Orihime's power activated immediately, forming a golden oval over Miki's body. Byakuya, Renji and Kisuke stood and joined Yoruichi and Ichigo.
"I heard there was trouble," Ichigo said quickly, "What can I do to help?"
"Renji and I must go in search of our other son and the Shihoin prince...and we must also find my cousin, Tetsuya, who has been abducted."
"But we need someone to keep our son, Miki, safe, too."
"Wha...?" said Ichigo, blinking, "You guys...?"
"It's a long story," said the redhead.
"And we do not have time to tell it," added Byakuya, "We must go immediately."
"I'll stay here with Miki and Orihime," said Kisuke.
"And Ichigo and I will look for Rikichi and my cousin, so that you and Renji can find Tetsuya."
"But," Byakuya began.
"You must focus on Tetsuya," insisted Yoruichi, "Rikichi was not being pursued when he ran."
"But he could be, now that he his powers have been revealed."
"Byakuya," Yoruichi said urgently, "If whoever is behind this senses Rikichi's freed power and assumes that he, and not Miki, is the heir, he will likely feel that Tetsuya's usefulness has come to an end. He will kill your cousin. You have to find him before that happens. We have to separate so we can see to both."
"She's right," agreed Renji, "I care about the boys too. But Tetsuya is the one who is most in danger right now. Come on, Taichou. Let's go and find him!"
Byakuya gave the unconscious Miki a troubled glance, then nodded briefly and followed as Renji flash stepped away.
"Come on, Ichigo," said Yoruichi, opening a senkaimon, "Rikichi passed through the precipice world, and when he did, his bankai power was still leaking through. We should be able to follow him...at least for part of the way, until his reiatsu calms and we lose track of it."
"But if we can follow, that means that whoever is trying to hurt them can follow him too," said Ichigo.
"That is why we must find them quickly," said Yoruichi, "We must reach them first or whoever this guy is, he will kill them."
"We're not gonna let that happen," said Ichigo, flash stepping into the precipice world, "We're going to protect them, whatever it takes!"
XXXXXXXXXX
"Did you feel that?" said Orochi, reaching down to remove the gag from Tetsuya's mouth, "That power...it is..."
Tetsuya's heart shivered inside him, but he steeled himself.
"It is the heir," Orochi said, a smile coming to his lips, "He cannot hide from me anymore. And you...you have no more use. I can find him on my own now. That power you sealed away to hide him has been released. I can track him, myself."
He glanced down at the bound shinigami and curled his hand around the handle of his long knife. He drew the weapon and held it so that the small shaft of light coming in from between the slats on the boarded up window of the dilapidated old building reflected on the metal surface of the knife and shined painfully in Tetsuya's widened eyes.
Master...I am here.
Tetsuya was careful to show nothing on his face.
Arashi, he is going to kill me. Quickly, please!
Fear lanced through the noble's veins as his cousin closed in, angling the knife threateningly.
"You know...I have wanted to do this for a very long time," Orochi whispered, "I have despised you and wanted you dead ever since we were teens."
"Why? What did I ever do to you?" Tetsuya asked, trying to stall him, "I only protected Byakuya from you...and then, his sons."
He caught his mistake a moment too late.
"His...sons!" Orochi repeated, halting the knife and leaving it suspended above Tetsuya's bound form, "Sons? There were...two, then?"
"I'm not telling you anything!" Tetsuya cried, "Go ahead and kill me! I don't care. I protected Byakuya's children from you, and even if you kill me, he knows about them now! He won't let you hurt them!"
Despite the anger that flared in Orochi's eyes, he remained icily calm. He sank his fingers into Tetsuya's long hair and pulled his head back, baring his throat. Tetsuya caught his breath painfully and closed his eyes.
Arashi!
He felt Orochi shift and start to move the knife into position, but then heard and felt the deafening roar of a hard volley of ice blades that blasted the door open and forced the other man away from him.
"Arashi!" Tetsuya cried as the stallion raced into the room, rearing and striking at Orochi, while sending a flash of kido through the bindings holding the noble.
Tetsuya rolled to his feet and leapt onto the black stallion's back.
"You filthy, half-blood!" sneered Orochi, "You may have escaped death this time, but now I know who those boys are! I will get to them first and I will kill them! Then, I'm coming back for you and our wretched leader! You are all going to die! And I will lead the clan, as I should have from the beginning!"
Tetsuya looked on in horror as Orochi flash stepped away.
"Hurry, Arashi!" he cried, nudging the stallion into motion, "We must find them quickly!"