Chapter 16: What is Sacrificed for Love
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We found and lost and found each other again. Your love was a shelter that brought me back from oblivion. But our moments of peace and happiness are fragmented. There is darkness yet to face that may consume me. And although I know you would walk with me to the very end, there are some things I am called to face alone. But even in the moments when I stand, isolated and lost…you are forever in my heart, and I know that somehow we will find each other again. Aishiteru yo…
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"This is so soft, Daddy Bya! What is it?" asked Akane, delicately stroking the long green creature with a fingertip.
"That is a sea cucumber," he told her, "and this is a sea anemone."
She touched the harder surface of the spiky creature carefully.
"And look, Renji found a starfish," Byakuya went on, "but he'd better watch out or that crab will…"
"Ow! Hey!" Renji exclaimed, trying to shake the offending creature off of his finger.
The crab clung to him and the two glared at each other as Byakuya and Akane exchanged amused glances.
"Akane," Byakuya went on, "Renji and I have something we need to tell you."
The girl's eyes took on a worried look.
"Is it something bad? Are you sick again, Daddy Bya?" she asked quickly.
"No…no, it is nothing bad," Byakuya assured her, smiling, "It is a very good thing. I think you will be happy when you hear it."
Akane stared up at him, wide-eyed.
"Akane, our family is going to grow bigger soon. You are going to have a little sister or brother."
"You mean…you are going to…have another baby, Daddy Bya?" she asked, blinking.
Byakuya nodded.
"You remember that I told you that my body is special in that, under certain conditions, I can have children. Well, those conditions were met and I am with child again."
"When will the baby be here?" the girl said excitedly, "Will we all live together at your house in the Seireitei?"
"It will be about nine months," Byakuya told her, "and yes, we will all be moving into Kuchiki Manor…as soon as it is safe for us to do so."
Akane's eyes darkened.
"What is it?" Renji asked, "What's wrong?"
Akane looked up at Renji with desperation in her eyes.
"Daddy Ren, we have to make sure that…that he doesn't hurt Daddy Bya and our baby!" she exclaimed.
Renji moved closer to the girl and slipped an arm around her.
"Don't you worry," he said, his eyes meeting Byakuya's, "We're not going to let anything or anyone hurt Byakuya. We're going to move to a new safe house tomorrow…and the Gotei 13 is still hunting for Aizen Sousuke. He has to worry about being found, himself, so that will slow him down."
Akane sighed and leaned into Renji's embrace.
"I wish I was bigger and had a sword like Zabimaru," she said, glancing back at Byakuya, "then I could make it so he wouldn't hurt any of us ever again!"
"Thank you for being so courageous and wanting to protect your younger sibling and me," Byakuya said softly, "but you'll need to leave the fighting to Renji and me. And even then, we will not be alone. There are a lot of strong shinigamis defending us. We will be all right, Akane. We just need to be cautious. That is why we are moving to the new safe house."
The three were quiet for a moment. Akane reached into the tide pool to pick up a starfish.
"Daddy Bya," she asked quietly, "why don't I have any powers?"
Byakuya gazed up at her.
"Your spirit centers are still forming. When they are fully formed, your powers will emerge. This happens at different times for different people. You must be patient and wait for your powers to grow."
"But, I want to be able to fight, too," she whispered, tears rising in her eyes.
"You don't have to have powers at all to be able to fight, Akane," Renji said, giving her a squeeze.
"Abarai…" Byakuya said, a stern look in his eyes.
"Hey," Renji said softly, "I get that you don't want her involved in the fighting. But I think that under the circumstances, our daughter should learn a little bit of street smarts to help her get away if anyone tries to bother her."
Byakuya tilted his head slightly, considering the idea. Then, he nodded briefly.
"I believe you have a valid point, Abarai fukutaichou, and as you are in charge of making certain our squad members are prepared for battle, I think you are, perhaps, best qualified to prepare our daughter in case she needs to defend herself."
Renji gave him a disarming grin and nodded.
"Come on, then, Akane," he said, standing and bringing the girl to her feet, "I'll show you a few things I learned in the Rukongai that might just save you if you get into trouble."
Byakuya watched silently as the two moved further away and Renji began the lesson.
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"Renji," Byakuya said softly, slipping out of his clothes and into a light yukata, "I want to thank you for comforting Akane today. She has had a lot to deal with, what with learning of Aizen Sousuke's lies and treachery…and feeling scared that we might be found. I think it helped her to have something to depend on in case of trouble."
"Well," said Renji, wrapping a yukata around himself and tying it at the waist, "it may not seem like much, but those things I showed her will help her…if anyone tries to bother her. I know it's not much, but…"
"But it's all you had when you were a child…"
"Yeah," Renji admitted, walking to the window where Byakuya stood, looking out at the stars, "and it did help."
"Both you and Rukia," Byakuya added, curling into the redhead's arms.
They stood for several minutes, pressing their bodies warmly together and exchanging deep, open-mouthed kisses. Renji ran his fingers through the noble's dark hair and buried his face in it, breathing in the light sweet scent of cherry blossoms. He freed the tie at Byakuya's waist, then let his other hand slide down the soft, smooth skin and fine hairs of his abdomen, before finding the nest of dark curls and letting his fingers play lightly over the noble's soft genitalia. Byakuya sank deeply into the redhead's mouth and pressed his hips forward, his breath catching as Renji's hand wrapped more firmly around him and moved enticingly. He released a feverish moan and thrust heatedly into the hand that pleasured him. The redhead smiled against his lips and slid his other hand down the noble's long, straight back and curled it around his firm bottom, encouraging him as the intensity of his movements increased and his hands tightened on the redhead's shoulders.
Still firmly holding Byakuya in place, Renji nuzzled beneath his chin and assaulted the soft skin of his throat with long strokes of his tongue and teasing nips. The noble's head tilted back and his eyes closed. His mouth opened in a heated gasp of pleasure as Renji's mouth traveled slowly down his chest, alternating delightfully between tender kisses and long hot licks that warmed Byakuya to the core and made his body tremble softly beneath the redhead's hands. Renji's lips curled into a devilish smile. He slid down Byakuya's torso and dropped slowly to his knees and released him, only to recapture him with his mouth. Byakuya moaned louder and his legs began to shake softly beneath him.
"R-renji…" he hissed softly, "Renji, for kami's sake, I won't be…able to stay on my feet…R-ren…ji…stop…"
He almost loosed a whimper as his lover's mouth broke away.
"Don't worry," Renji laughed softly, "I have no intention of letting you fall."
He wrapped his arms tightly around the noble's hips and continued the heated stimulation. Byakuya's head and shoulders dropped back against the wall and he moaned incoherently as Renji wet his fingers and gently prepared him. He released the noble and crawled back up his body, meeting his mouth for a flurry of hard, eager kisses, then biting down hungrily on his throat and sliding a hand down his back, around a firm buttock, then pulling one leg up to curl around his waist. Byakuya released a soft gasp as the redhead teased his way inside, then paused to kiss the noble's cutely flushed cheek.
"Impossible…" murmured Byakuya, his head spinning as the redhead tightened his hands on him and slowly began to move.
"What…" panted Renji, "doing it like this?"
"N-no…ah…that it…feels so…amazing," Byakuya managed in a whisper.
His words gave way to soft, unintelligible moans of pleasure as the redhead held their bodies locked together and continued to against the noble's trapped body. Byakuya's eyes glazed over and his breath shortened. He gripped Renji's shoulders tightly as his body shuddered heavily and hot seed pulsed out of him and ran warmly down their entwined bodies. The redhead's fingers dug into the noble's soft flesh as he emptied himself into his lover's core.
Byakuya's eyes closed and his legs gave way beneath him. Renji caught him up in warm arms and carried him into the bathroom, then set him on his feet again. Still flushed and breathless, they stepped in under the hot water and indulged in a rage of intense, wet kisses.
"Renji," Byakuya whispered, his lips against the redhead's ear and his voice barely audible above the sound of the water, "Renji, I have to tell you something."
The redhead pulled away slightly and met the noble's dark eyes questioningly.
"When I was Aizen's prisoner, I wasn't brave, or anything like it. At some point, I gave up. I thought that my life was over. All of the minutes and hours and days and weeks, months and years…they were going by…and I was trapped there…alone. And I didn't think that the pain would ever end…not until I died. But he wasn't going to let that happen. He told me…I couldn't die until my usefulness was done. I couldn't die until he allowed it. But the truth is…I was already dead inside. Even when I came back, it's like I wasn't alive. I thought that it was another of his tricks…just another way to torment me. But…you…Renji…you made me feel alive again. I feel happy again. We have our daughter…and each other. That is so much more than I ever thought we would have…and even though I waited…and even though I suffered so badly…I finally feel alive inside again, and I want to stay that way. I always want to feel this alive."
"Me too," Renji whispered back, holding him tightly, "Every day you were gone, every time Rukia and I stepped out onto the desert sand to look for some sign of you, the weight of that deadness was all around me. I wasn't the one who was taken and lost and tormented, but I haunted, Bya. Your face…it was in my dreams every night…and I would think I saw you everywhere. I almost went crazy. Rukia was barely able to hold me together…and the only way she could…was to remind me…that if I didn't keep looking…then you were really gone…If we gave up trying to find you, then you were never coming back. I couldn't bear that. I had to believe you would come back. And even though I knew what you'd had to suffer…when we found you that day…I couldn't help but be happy, because even broken to pieces like that, you were still alive…we still had hope. Now, we'll have everything…everything that bastard took from us. We're going to beat him, Byakuya. That man is going to die for taking you away from me…for putting his hands on you, for turning you into the wreck of a person we found. He's never going to hurt you that way again."
He pulled away and gazed fiercely into Byakuya's dark eyes.
"I won't let him take you away from me like that again," he promised, "because I'm nothing without you."
"And I am nothing without you," whispered Byakuya, "and nothing can keep us apart now, Renji, nothing. We are bound at the soul…and there no force that he wields that can defeat it…Renji…not even death can part us anymore, because we'll still be together, even if death takes us!"
The two men stood, holding each other, the water crashing down onto their bodies, the blood and reiatsu rushing through them inside and the hard pounding of two racing hearts, determined not to let the darkness make them still.
The water was cooling by the time they finally released each other and stepped out of the shower, drying each other's bodies and slipping into fresh nightclothes. Byakuya stepped out into the bedroom and walked back to the window to look out at the stars. Oddly, the window looked to have been opened and not properly closed. Byakuya felt a chill pass through him, but, sensing no enemy reiatsu, he closed the window the rest of the way and started to climb into bed. His hand touched something cold and metallic and he looked down. His breath caught in his throat and he touched it with a fingertip, his head spinning and his heart pounding. He picked up the silver necklace, staring at the silver sakura pendant. Dropping the necklace, he pushed himself back off the bed and backed away, trying to gather a breath. A pair of arms slipped around him from behind and Byakuya loosed a frightened cry.
"What is it?" asked Renji, releasing him.
Speechless, the noble sank to his knees pointing to the bed. Renji stepped forward and looked carefully, then looked back at Byakuya questioningly.
"Byakuya…" he said softly, "There's nothing there…look."
"What?" Byakuya whispered, "Renji…it was there! It was the silver sakura pendant he gave me for our first anniversary. He used it to incapacitate me…"
"It isn't here…really, Byakuya. I mean, I don't doubt you saw it, but…could you have just been mistaken? I mean, we're all on edge about Aizen finding the others. Maybe…"
He stared at the noble's too pale face and haunted eyes.
"You don't believe that, do you? You think he was here?" Renji asked.
"The window wasn't closed all of the way," Byakuya whispered.
"But if someone brought it in…Bya, there wasn't time for him to take it out of here again."
He shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. If you say you saw it, then I believe you. I think we should tell the others and call in the watch. If he's here…"
"Akane…" Byakuya whispered, white-faced, "Renji…"
The redhead bolted out the door and ran for the children's bedroom. Byakuya turned to follow, his legs leaden as he stepped toward the door. Suddenly, it slammed shut in front of him. He caught his breath sharply, staring as arms took hold of him from behind.
"Don't move," whispered Aizen Sousuke's voice, "Don't breathe…don't call for them. If you do…I'll kill them all…I promise you…"
Byakuya twisted free and reached for Senbonzakura. Petals exploded all around him and Aizen disappeared into them. The wall and window shattered under the force of his attack and he heard screams and pounding feet in the hallway. The door near him shattered as Renji kicked it down and ran into the room with Yoruichi, Kisuke and Tessai on his heels.
"Byakuya!" Renji exclaimed staring at the noble, who knelt where he had landed on the floor, still holding the hilt of his released zanpakutou, "Bya, what happened!"
"He was here!" Byakuya gasped, "In the room. He had his arms around me…"
Kisuke stared at him, his eyes narrowed.
"There was no change in the reiatsu," he said softly.
"Akane?" Byakuya whispered.
"The kids are fine," Yoruichi assured them, "They are with Ichigo. Byakuya…he wasn't really here."
Byakuya lowered his eyes and sealed his weapon. The four stared at the shattered remains of the wall.
"But just because it wasn't him you saw and felt," Kisuke went on, "doesn't mean we can relax. If it wasn't him, it may have been an illusion he made to unnerve you. It's just the kind of sick, cocky game he would play. We need to gather everyone into the basement now. We'll stay by the gates until morning. If he does show up, we can gate out."
"Why not just leave now?" asked Renji.
"They won't be fully powered until morning. We might get thrown off course if we pass through too soon…or someone could get left behind. I don't want to chance it. So, we'll only leave in the dark if Aizen shows up. Come on…let's go get the kids and move everyone down to the basement."