Chapter 11: Wicked Fate
"Have you lost your mind, Sousuke?" Byakuya whispered, quivering as his former love's breath cooled the saliva around and inside his navel, and warm fingertips slid lazily along his skin, coming teasingly close to, but never touching his flushed and softly aching genitals, "To go to such lengths. To abduct me so brazenly. To leave yourself open to arrest and to incite the wrath of my family? What are you thinking?"
An unbidden and luridly wanton sigh escaped his lips as the end of the leather crop Aizen held trailed slowly down his face, over his pale breast, pausing to torment him and earning an unbidden gasp, then meandered down over his soft belly, coaxing a groan of anticipation as it carelessly brushed against a sensitive area
"I am thinking that you, of all people, shouldn't be underestimating me," Aizen said blithely, "For threats of law enforcement to be meaningful, there must first be evidence that a crime has been committed and for threats about your family, you must be able to assume that they will not take your past actions into consideration and discount this as a relapse of your own judgment and not an abduction. That is assuming far too much, I think."
Byakuya flinched as the leather crop snapped, leaving a stinging on the skin along his outer thigh on one side and causing an oddly powerful reaction in his loins. He gritted his teeth, panting softly as he tried to control his warring urges, both towards fury and passion. Both, he thought, could be used by the other man. The safest path, he thought, was apathy...something that had sadly become a natural reaction for him. But there was no way that he could feel the teasing of the leather crop and the other man's fingers, lips, teeth and breath, the way they began to assault him all at once, and maintain any kind of aloofness. And although he wanted to channel his emotions solely into hatred, the next assault was not on his body, but on something even more vulnerable than his securely bound form.
"Your body still remembers mine," Aizen whispered, kissing his way along the fine skin and breathing in Byakuya's sweet, yet still finely masculine scent, "You still become hard for me. I know you can't see that, but you feel it, of course. And that is the manner of communication we are relying on, is it not?"
The crop scraped lightly along Byakuya's blushing flesh. Heat flashed on his skin and he renewed his efforts to free himself. He felt Aizen's brown eyes observing him and found the anger swelling inside him until it threatened to swallow them both.
"Let me go, you bastard!" he screamed furiously, "You have no right to do this to me! I don't want you to touch me again! I don't want you to look at me! I haven't given my consent to any of this. Unbind me, or I will never forgive you, Sousuke!"
"You do not want me to touch you? You do not want me to look at you? You will never forgive me?" Aizen repeated softly, loosing a breath on his skin and watching the shiver that passed through him, "These words that you say contrast with what your flesh tells me. So, do not speak anymore, Byakuya. If you hate me, then merely make yourself unresponsive. If you wish me to stop, then let the lovely sheen of sweat on your skin dry and no more evidence of hidden passion be seen. But I think you cannot do those things. I would ask you then to listen to what your body tells you."
He returned to Byakuya's lips, tracing them with his tongue and watching the flesh redden.
"Your lips blush because they like me kissing and licking them. They want to be tasted and enjoyed, Byakuya."
"Shut up! Don't touch me anymore!"
" Your skin is flushed all over," Aizen went on, making it blush more furiously by lightly running his fingernails along the other man's throat and down one sweating side, "You pant because you feel dizzy, as though you do not get enough air when you breathe. But, it is not air that you are craving, is it?"
Byakuya winced and snarled angrily as the leather crop teased him again.
"You are obviously aroused. Why deny it anymore? Your body loves being touched by me. And do you know why it defies you and revels in this?" Aizen asked, smiling as he removed Byakuya's blindfold and looked deeply into his furious eyes. Byakuya glared back at him, trying not to notice that as they had interacted, Aizen had removed his clothes and was now naked. He clenched his jaw and said nothing in response.
"You are so beautiful!" Aizen whispered in a blazingly hot breath onto his earlobe, catching the soft bit in between his teeth, then sucking indulgently before letting his lips slide off the end of it, "Everything about you is strikingly beautiful, Kuchiki Byakuya, and every part of you longs to have that beauty acknowledged."
"You do not know what you are...!"
A savage kiss stopped the words before he could finish, and Aizen's tongue plunged into Byakuya's mouth, invading, possessing and slowly ravishing. He climbed on top of the slighter man, forcing his way deeper into his captive's helplessly groaning mouth, while his hips pressed forward.
"Damn you!" Byakuya hissed in a shaky voice as Aizen's mouth finally released his, "Why are you doing this? Is this just because you want Tetsuya to work for you? You go to such lengths, Sousuke! Why? Surely, there are easier pursuits."
"Why, indeed..." Aizen mused softly, licking Byakuya's lips again and smiling at the shudder that went through him.
He continued to move, providing lovely, dizzying friction as he kissed Byakuya's panting mouth more gently.
"To answer your question, yes, there are other ways to make money, other ways that would be easier, but my interest in you and your family's company is personal, Byakuya."
"You want to make me pay for leaving you, in the end," Byakuya said accusingly, "You want to hurt me because I chose to stay with them, even though it meant never performing at all!"
"Certainly, you believe this with a passion," Aizen breathed in his ear, sharing with the other man a long, plundering kiss, "And sadly, I bear some of the responsibility for leading you to that conclusion. But that is not the truth, nor has it ever been. While you did pay the price for your ultimate decision to remain with your family, I assure you I gained nothing from it, not even the satisfaction of knowing that I had cornered you. It was not winning to see you throw away years when we could have been wrapped in each others' arms and enjoying the fruits of your talent together. We both lost, Byakuya."
"You say this like it mattered to you, Sousuke," Byakuya said, sounding less angry and more defeated, "But it didn't change anything for you. I am sure that it wasn't long before you were lying in bed with another pathetic fool like me and positioning yourself to..."
Byakuya cried out suddenly as Aizen's eyes darkened dangerously and his fingers gripped the collar around his captive's throat almost painfully. The leather crop snapped, stinging him sharply. Aizen's face came close to his...so close that Byakuya could feel the scathing heat of his anger.
"Do not ever say a thing like that to me again, Byakuya."
"What, that you were using me? That you found a weakness that could get you what you wanted and you exploited it shamelessly? Those are not lies, Sousuke! You did those things! And if you want to say that I was to blame as well, then go ahead! Do you honestly think I do not know what a fool I was to fall in love with you? To trust you with...with that horrid secret?"
"I meant that you cannot say that nothing changed for me and that I simply went on to the next victim. It wasn't like that at all," Aizen said more calmly, making him shiver by drawing the leather crop along his already stinging skin, "You seem to have forgotten, so let me remind you that although I was older and wiser, I was barely older than you. I had only gotten where I was by being a ruthless man and using whatever it took to win what I wanted. That was how I was. And yes, I went into our love thinking that it would not last and that I would enjoy it while you were mine. But as your heart came closer to mine, something happened that never had before."
"Please do not tell me that I made you regret your ways and that I reformed you," Byakuya said, frowning, "We both know that you hadn't changed at all. And as soon as you realized that you had to make a choice between courting me and winning the company, you used that awful secret to try to force them to do as you wanted! I will never, ever forget that! Not ever!"
"You are wrong," Aizen said, tracing his frown with gentler fingertips.
"What do you mean? How am I wrong? Didn't you threaten to reveal my condition unless they agreed to sell the company to you? After pretending to care for me..."
"I did care for you," Aizen insisted, "And I still do. You misunderstand what I actually intended."
"What? How can I misunderstand you taking advantage of what you only knew because I allowed you to come close to me?"
"Do you understand that I didn't give a damn about stealing the company at that point, Byakuya?"
"But that was what you wanted all along!" Byakuya whispered, his voice breaking, "So, even though you knew how devastating a blow it would be to me, you used that."
"It was the only to..."
"To get what you wanted," Byakuya said bitterly.
"No! I told you. I didn't care about the company. I was trying to steal you away from them, Byakuya! I had them perfectly positioned, but I didn't expect that you would misunderstand...that you would think I would destroy you, rather than to let you go. We were this close to having everything, Byakuya. But you didn't walk away from them. I opened the way, and you turned your back on me."
"You humiliated me," Byakuya whispered, looking away as tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, "You used my condition to force the family to sell the company to you. But you didn't realize that they would rather destroy me themselves and the company, than to hand us over. So, I lost everything...everything except the company my father founded, and Tetsuya. That is all I really have left. And neither one is worth enough to you to want to steal them."
"What are you talking about?" Aizen said, brushing away a tear that had begun to escape one proud, gray eye, "Tetsuya is going to be a star. He is going to finally break that barrier, that invisible wall between classic and modern performance. Don't you understand how that will profit your father's company? Just let Tetsuya make the single as a mysterious 'guest' vocalist. I guarantee you that within a year, you and your company will be on top of the classic venues again! Not only that, but that entire segment of the entertainment industry will enjoy a renewed popularity."
"Why are you trying so hard to convince me?" Byakuya said defeatedly, "You know that with me in this place and unable to protect the company, it will collapse. You won't need to do anything. Just wait for it to fall apart. I am all that holds that bickering group of old men together!"
Aizen laughed softly, brushing his face lightly against Byakuya's.
"I don't want the company to fall apart. Give your cousin permission to complete the song and video anonymously and your part of the profit will more than fill your company's coffers again. Then, when I steal the company and its lovely CEO from that bickering group of old men, it will be worth tens of millions of dollars!"
"You want me to betray them."
"Hmmm," Aizen mused, tasting Byakuya's lips again, "You do not have to betray them. You are going to make sure that the company does not fail. Isn't that in their best interests?"
"And you think they won't ask or suspect where the money came from?"
"Oh, they will have their suspicions, I suppose. But it doesn't matter. The company will be protected in the short run, so that you can get Tetsuya's career launched, then you may pursue your own career."
"But..."
"Come now, you really didn't think that I would follow through on humiliating you with what I learned about you, did you? I set up an elaborate trap. You just managed to disarm it, but got tangled in the pieces. You suffered horribly for that, and I am sorry. I am not asking you to forgive me for what I did, but to give me the chance to make it up to you."
"You want me to believe that you are doing this for me?" Byakuya mused.
"I want you to believe that I am doing this for us, "Aizen corrected him, plunging into his protesting mouth again.
Byakuya went quiet, his dark eyes closed and his mind slowly taking in the feel of Aizen's marauding lips, teeth and tongue as they attacked, the warmth and affection in the hands that caressed him, the fingers that traced his most sensitive places, then made him quiver anew as they found that hidden, secret place that had always been his mark of shame.
Except for when he occupied it. He is the only who ever possessed that place, who ever thought it was a good and beautiful thing, who ever appreciated it, loved it and filled it with his essence. And when he did, it came to life. What they thought was useless in me, came to life...and made that beautiful little miracle that I clung to.
Tetsuya...
My son.
Our son.
The only thing that was left of that love after Sousuke was gone.
Aizen kissed him harder, feeding hungrily on every sweet inch of whiteness and pale beauty. And heedless of whatever resistance might remain in him, Byakuya's body reared up against the leather bonds, eagerly meeting kiss and stroke, tender touch and wet caress. He caught Aizen's powerful, masculine scent and felt his loins quiver with desire. And he found he couldn't speak his objections anymore. He could only moan and thrash, now pulling hard against his bonds again, but to get closer...to win more of the other man's erotic manipulations.
Aizen's half-closed eyes spotted a flash of blood on one straining wrist and bruising along a restrained thigh. As he continued to pleasure the writhing body beneath his, he worked at the straps, slowly loosing Byakuya and allowing those pale, slender arms to loop around his shoulders, and those sweet legs to curl tightly around him. He slipped a hand down between their bodies, only to pause and blink in surprise as Byakuya pulled away slightly, a flash of fear appearing in his eyes, then disappearing again almost immediately.
"Not there," he whispered dazedly, "L-like a man..."
Aizen smiled and shifted his body, moving into position again as Byakuya sucked in a surprised breath and froze.
"I told you," the brown-eyed man hissed softly, "I will love the man in you and the woman in you. I will take you in any way and in every way possible!"
Sousuke, don't!
But he couldn't voice the words as Aizen's hips thrust forward and he brought their bodies together. Byakuya stared in dismay as Aizen's eyes locked on his, the man's fingers laced together with his and he continued that steady, dizzying motion, until both men were left nearly breathless. Overcome, Byakuya closed his eyes against the danger, so consumed with receiving the affections the man on top of him that his defenses crumbled completely and he gave everything to loving Aizen Sousuke in return. He stiffened, fear returning in a white-hot flash as Aizen's body seized atop his and heat exploded inside him, driving his own body into a powerful orgasm. He loosed his passion in a howl of pleasure, surrounded in a lovely haze of gray that seemed to swallow him up and left him suspended just beyond his body...unable to move, to see, to hear...much less to speak.
It was some time before his vision cleared and he focused on Aizen Sousuke's concerned brown eyes.
"Are you all right now? You lost consciousness for a moment."
"I am fine," he whispered, managing a weak smile.
It struck him suddenly that he was lying on his belly, with Aizen's body stretched languidly along his back, and that Aizen was preparing him for additional pleasures of another kind.
"We can stop, if you like," Aizen whispered, kissing the damp skin along the side of his throat, "I don't want to hurt you."
"Which perfectly explains why I woke up last time to leather bindings and a riding crop?" Byakuya asked dulcetly.
"Very well. I might have wanted to inflict some pain, but I don't want to damage you."
"I am fine," Byakuya assured him, "And I want to feel you everywhere inside me."
Aizen smiled and stroked his reawakened member, bringing it to the place he had prepared and entering slowly, biting down on the back of Byakuya's neck and shoulder as he fought to restrain himself. He caught his breath in surprise as Byakuya's hips pushed upward, drawing a groan of discomfort from the raven-haired man as their bodies were roughly joined. His resolve to be gentle shattered by Byakuya's sweetly wanton behavior, he loosed his passion completely, clenching his lover's body unforgivingly and only finding himself more aroused at the soft sounds of mingled pain and pleasure Byakuya emitted as their bodies writhed heedlessly together. Suddenly, Byakuya cried out in intense pleasure, surrendering completely to the gripping sensations that exploded through him.
Aizen collapsed onto his back, dazed and panting. Neither man spoke for several minutes, and the ability to move returned even more slowly.
"I love you," Aizen whispered in his ear, brushing his lips affectionately against the area, then resting his chin on the back of a naked, sweat-slicked shoulder, "I never stopped loving you."
"If I could have stopped loving you, I would have," Byakuya confessed, "But...you are the only person who makes me feel beautiful. And whatever you've done, I would give anything to feel that way all of the time."
Aizen smiled.
"Then...you will consent to let Tetsuya and Renji record the single with Grimmjow?" he asked.
Byakuya frowned in confusion.
"Renji?" he asked, meeting the other man's eyes with mock defiance, "I don't recall giving my permission for Renji to work with you."
Aizen laughed softly.
"That was actually Gin's idea," he admitted, "He seems to think he can sell them better as a love triangle."
"Hmmm," Byakuya said, shifting slightly, "I can see that. Romantic tension. Forbidden love."
"They are preparing a sample," Aizen informed the Kuchiki CEO, "When they are done, I want you to watch with me. And I give you my word, if I don't think it will sell, I will cease to annoy you and Tetsuya from now on."
"But, somehow, I don't think that will happen," Byakuya said quietly.
"No, it won't," Aizen agreed, settling against Byakuya's back and closing his eyes, "It might be easier for you if it did fail. But...I am too certain of this. We should enjoy the quiet for now, because as soon as that single hits the airwaves, things will quickly become chaotic. Do you want to stay here with me while we manage your board's ire? It would be safer."
"Hmph," Byakuya huffed, turning a dark, stoic eye on the other man, "That's cheeky, coming from you. You call yourself safe? A protector? How amusing..."
"Seriously," Aizen said, an edge of concern in his voice, "You should stay with me."
"Don't worry. They don't know I have given my permission for this. And me going back will be an assurance that you don't do anything to disrupt Tetsuya's launch for Kuchiki Studios."
"Ah, yes. I see. A competent hedge. Very well, I will let you go back, then. But, you must promise me, if word leaks out about Tetsuya, you must come back to me immediately."
"They wouldn't dare..."
"They would. Trust me. Promise me."
"Fine, then, you have my promise," Byakuya said, yielding a sleepy kiss, "But I won't trust you, Sousuke. I will never trust you."
"That is probably wise."