Chapter 22: The Proposal
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You tore us apart and while we were separated, we could not defeat you. But you sensed the strength we have when we're together and you fear it. You are right to fear our strength. You can part our bodies, but you can no longer separate our hearts. We remain linked and strong…and we will break you…
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Renji leaned over and kissed a sleeping Akane, then moved to the other side of the bed and adjusted the covers on Byakuya, leaning down to kiss his forehead. He walked to the garden doors and sat down on the walkway outside, his back resting against the wall, his eyes constantly checking to make sure that the night guards stood outside the room and in numerous places in the garden. As the guards changed, he spoke personally to each guard coming on duty, then moved back to Byakuya's heavily guarded room. The noble still slept…as he had ever since arriving earlier in the day. And although he knew Byakuya had been through a great deal and had reason to be exhausted, he found himself concerned that he was sleeping so soundly…and for so long.
As the morning arrived, he left the room briefly to make some tea, then returned to the bedroom, expecting that the scent of the tea would be enough to rouse him. Byakuya laid perfectly still, his breath moving in and out at a steady, relaxed pace. Renji watched for several minutes, an odd feeling of disquiet passing over him. After several minutes, he moved to Byakuya's side and placed a hand on his arm, shaking him gently.
"Byakuya…I made some tea. Wake up, Taichou, you've been sleeping a really long time."
Byakuya continued to sleep soundly.
"Byakuya?" Renji said, shaking him somewhat more firmly.
There was still no response.
"Bya, please wake up!" he said, more urgently, "Byakuya!"
Byakuya's personal attendant knocked softly on the door.
"Come in," said Renji.
"Is there something I can do to help, sir?" he asked softly, "I heard you…"
"I can't wake him up! I need you to get Unohana taichou, quickly! Please hurry…"
The attendant nodded and dashed out of the room.
"Daddy Ren?" Akane whimpered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, "Is something wrong with Daddy Bya?"
"It's okay," he told the girl, "Why don't you go and see if Aunt Rukia is awake yet."
"No," she said firmly, "I'm staying with Daddy Bya."
"Akane," Renji said patiently, "Daddy Bya is going to be fine, but the healer needs to be alone with just Byakuya and me. Go on to Aunt Rukia."
He turned to the guard at the door.
"Could you walk her down to Kuchiki Rukia's room, please?"
"Hai, Abarai-san," said the guard, taking the girl's hand and leading her away.
Renji pulled the noble into his arms and held him quietly, rocking gently back and forth. He ran his fingers through the noble's dark hair and breathed affectionate words against his lips. He remained kneeling on the bed with Byakuya in his arms until the bedroom door opened and Byakuya's personal attendant led Unohana taichou into the room.
"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, watching as Renji lowered Byakuya back onto his pillow.
"I can't wake him up!" Renji said, trying to hide the panic in his voice, "He's been sleeping since the moment he got back…hasn't even moved. I brought tea and that usually wakes him…but this time, he didn't respond at all! Unohana taichou, what's wrong with him? Could Aizen Sousuke have…done something to him?
The healer leaned over Byakuya and examined him in silence. She extended her hands over him and sent her reiatsu into his unmoving form, then waited and watched. Renji sat beside Byakuya, trying to be calm and to slow his breathing, but his body still shook softly and his eyes were still wide with concern.
"Please," he said finally, unable to wait any more, "Just tell if it's something bad. I can deal with it, but I need to know, okay?"
Unohana smiled gently, reached across Byakuya and took the redhead's hands in hers.
"Abarai Renji, take a deep breath and let it out. Listen to me. Byakuya is fine."
"What?" said Renji, disbelieving, "but he's…not waking up! He's…I can't…"
"Breathe, Renji," Unohana said patiently, "and listen. Byakuya has been through great amounts of stress, physical, mental and emotional. He was held captive and tormented for five years. In all of that time, his body remained in a constant state of alertness, of awareness, of crisis. When we first brought him back, he was still in crisis and had to come out of it slowly. Ideally, we would have brought him to recuperate here, but circumstances put him in protective custody and back into a state of crisis. The strain on Byakuya has been very great and when he returned home, he was finally able to center himself. When he entered his own home…spoke to his staff…walked to his room and laid down in his own bed, something inside him finally accepted that he was safe. He trusted that you and everyone around you would protect him. And being so exhausted from his five-year ordeal, he fell into a very deep sleep. It may last as much as a day or two…but Byakuya is fine. There is nothing for you to worry about. The sleep is restorative and will just help him to distance himself from what happened…and move on from it."
"Daddy Ren?" Akane's voice called sleepily from the doorway, "Is Daddy Bya going to be okay?"
Rukia stood behind the girl, a worried expression on her face.
"Sorry, Renji," she said quietly, "She was just really concerned about Nii-sama."
"That's okay," Renji sighed, "Byakuya is going to be just fine."
Unohana taichou turned and smiled at the young girl. Akane smiled back shyly.
"I am Unohana taichou. I am a healer. I examined your father and he is going to be all right. He is just very tired from his long ordeal and needs his rest."
"You need yours too, squirt!" said Renji, smiling, "Get back to bed! It's still too early to get up!"
"No, it's not!" the girl laughed, "When Daddy Bya visited from the hosp…"
The girl stopped and corrected herself.
"Um…when Daddy Bya was there…we woke up at this time every day!"
"Oh, so you're like him, liking to get up early. Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but not everyone is like that! I like to be up half the night and then get up late morning."
"You were up every time I opened my eyes last night, Daddy Ren."
She turned to Unohana taichou.
"Daddy Bya told me that it's important for everyone to get some sleep during the night."
"And he is right, Akane," she said, smiling and rising to her feet, "I think it would be good if we left now and allowed Abarai Renji to get some rest."
She turned her gaze on Renji and he could see the threat beneath the smile. And in case her eyes hadn't gone far enough, she veiled the rest in her words.
"I would hate to have to have him taken to the fourth division to be treated for symptoms of exhaustion!"
"All right…I'll sleep. But just until Byakuya wakes up. Then we have work to do. We have to figure out how we're going to get Aizen to stay away from him."
"A Herculean task, to be sure," said Unohana, moving toward the door, "You should get a lot of rest to prepare for that."
Renji had to admit that she was right.
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Byakuya felt a very light tugging on his hair and lifted and turned his head toward the source of the tugging. He met a pair of eyes that were dark gray like his, but that sparkled with life as Renji's did. Akane giggled and moved closer again, running a comb gently through his hair. Byakuya rested on his stomach with his face turned in her direction, watching calmly as she continued to comb his hair.
"You're very good with that comb," he complimented her, "You hardly pull at all, but you are doing a very good job of getting the tangles out."
"You had a lot of tangles because you were asleep FOREVER!" she admonished him, running the comb through again, then letting her fingers slide down the long, silken strands.
Byakuya yawned and stretched, then flinched as the motion caused the comb to catch in his hair.
"Oops," said Akane, "Sorry…I should have told you not to move."
"It's okay," Byakuya assured her, "I think I will survive."
He relaxed again as she continued to comb his hair.
"So," he said, yawning again, "how long was I asleep?"
"Two days," said Renji from the doorway, "six hours, forty minutes and sixteen seconds."
Byakuya blinked in surprise. Renji sat down on the bed next to Akane and ran his fingers through the long strands of black hair, nodding in approval.
"You scared the crap out of me," he said, only half-jokingly.
"Daddy Ren," said Akane, looking at him sternly, "Mika said that it's not polite to say 'crap.' It isn't a swear word exactly, but it is rude."
"Especially in the presence of ladies," agreed Byakuya, blinking sleepily.
"Yeah, sorry," Renji said, looking less than apologetic, "but I wasn't raised in a place like this or around lords and ladies. I'll try to mind my manners."
Byakuya's eyes took on a soft, contented expression.
"We'll keep that in mind," he said quietly, "but maybe Akane and I could be of some assistance in helping you adjust to noble life…"
Renji laughed heartily.
"Me in a noble family…right! That is…"
He stopped and caught the look of longing in Byakuya's eyes.
"B-byakuya?" he stammered in surprise.
Byakuya lifted himself so that he was kneeling on the bed beside Akane, looking up at the stunned redhead. Byakuya's expression grew distant and deeply calm.
"I once thought…that you could not get me down onto one knee, Abarai Renji, but now you have me down on both."
He paused, swallowing and taking Renji's face in his hands.
"We don't have the life that we would have had if I had never been taken. I've been broken into all kinds of pieces and you've done nothing since my return, but try to pick them up and put me back together. I'm not the partner I would have been, but I think that might be better. You see, Renji…I know what it is to live without you…to lose everything…to be empty inside. So when love wraps itself around me, I know it for what it is…and I would do anything to hold on to it."
He paused and turned his head away, blinking, then returned his eyes to Renji's.
"I want for us to be a family. You, me. Akane and this little one," he whispered, bringing Renji's hand down to rest on his abdomen, "and the truth is…we might not have had our children if things hadn't happened as they did. Renji, my reproductive system came to life because of what happened to me. It made me look at the life I had…and long for a place beside you. I would love for that place to be here…but it doesn't have to be. If you asked me to, I would give up my leadership of the clan…my position as taichou of Squad Six…all that I own…just to have you say that you love me…and that you want to marry me, so we can raise our children together."
"You mean that you aren't married and you had babies?" exclaimed a shocked Akane, "I thought that you were supposed to get married first!"
Byakuya and Renji exchanged glances and laughed softly. Renji took hold of the noble's hands and looked into his eyes.
"That's how it should have been for us," he said, rubbing the soft, pale hands he held, "but Byakuya disappeared…and I didn't know where to find him…not for the longest time. My heart told me to keep looking, so I didn't give up…and one day, I found him again…and all I can think about now…is how much I want to be with him…"
He brushed away a tear that had formed in the corner of one eye.
"You don't have to give up a damned thing for me," Renji said, ignoring Akane's look of disapproval of his language, "I love you, and I want to marry you. We can live here…and have as many kids as you want. You have suffered enough, bled enough, paid enough…that I want there to be no more sadness in you…no more hopelessness. And we will have everything, Byakuya…everything…starting with the peace of knowing that this place, our home, is a safe place…a shelter…our shelter from anything that hurts. We are going to stop Aizen Sousuke…get that sham of a marriage of yours annulled and we will be married here."
"Then you'll marry me?" Byakuya whispered.
"Of course I will," Renji said, kissing the noble's palm, then his forehead, then his lips, "Did you really think for a minute that I wouldn't?"
Byakuya gave a small, relieved smile and shook his head.
"I just needed to hear you say it."
"Then I'll say it again, so there's no confusion. Kuchiki Byakuya, I am going to marry you…and we will live here in Kuchiki Manor, with as many children as you want to have. We'll be incredibly happy…and we won't have to worry about Aizen Sousuke anymore. We are going to wreck his plans. We are going to stop him in his tracks…and he is never…ever going to lay his filthy hands on you again!"
Byakuya wrapped his arms around the redhead and let his head fall onto Renji's shoulder. He let out a long sigh and closed his eyes, visions of the future rising up and dancing through his mind. He smiled at the feel of those strong, loving arms that held him and nuzzled deep beneath his lover's chin, breathing in his wonderful scent.
"Renji," Byakuya whispered against his tattooed throat, "Aishiteru yo…"
Renji turned his head, smiling into the soft, sakura scented hair.
"Aishiteru yo, Bya," he whispered in return.
Akane cleared her throat and two pairs of eyes opened and fastened on her.
"Did you forget I'm here?" she asked, crossing her arms, "Daddy Bya said that he would take me on a walk. He said that he had a surprise for me."
Byakuya smiled at her and freed himself from Renji.
"That's right," he said, nodding, "I did say that. Because we weren't able to celebrate your birthday properly, I wanted to give you a special gift…something that is kept within the confines of our family. I know you are going to like it."
"Then let's go!" the red haired girl said excitedly, "Can we go right now?"
Byakuya looked up at Renji.
"As long as we stay close to our guards, I can't see why not. Why don't you go and find Aunt Rukia. I think she will enjoy this as well."
He looked up at Renji.
"You'll come too, won't you, Renji?" he asked.
"Of course," Renji said, smiling, "I want to see this big surprise. It sounds great!"
Akane scampered off toward Rukia's room with a guard following close behind. Byakuya looked after her. He felt a hand settle on his shoulder and the brush of warm lips against his throat.
"The bad stuff is over," Renji whispered, "Things will be better now."
Byakuya nodded silently and accepted words and kisses, forcing down his doubts and the thin edge of fear that remained lodged in his heart.
Aizen Sousuke stood silently across the garden from the two, cloaked in illusion, his eyes glinting with undisguised fury as he watched them exchange slow, deep kisses.