Chapter 13: Old Lies
"Tetsuya is...our son, you say?" Aizen breathed, blinking, "Fascinating..."
His fingers sought Byakuya's lovely, downcast face and raised it slightly so their eyes met. Byakuya gazed back at him wordlessly, waiting. The Kuchiki heir's heart pounded as Aizen's fingers caressed his cheek, then his lips and the soft flesh of his throat.
"You know, you have fascinated and mystified me from the very beginning, Kuchiki Byakuya," Aizen went on, the brown eyes yielding nothing of his emotion or intent.
Byakuya felt a shiver pass through him.
"I knew from the moment that we laid eyes on each other, that there was something very different, very unique about you. It seems that I was more correct about that than I knew."
"Sousuke, I..."
"Do not apologize," Aizen said, touching his lips to halt his words, "Even if you said that you were sorry for not telling me, I would not be able to believe it."
"You must remember that I..."
"You were barely an adult?" Aizen prompted him, anger beginning to flicker just beneath those dangerously darkening eyes, "And I had just betrayed you in the worst way possible, using your condition to try to wrest control of the company away from your family? I understand that part."
He went quiet for a moment, thinking deeply, the controlled fury burning softly beneath his still placid surface and making Byakuya's breath quicken.
"What I do not understand is the exact breadth and meaning of your lies, Byakuya," he went on, the anger beginning to sound in the edges of his voice, "For how long did you know that your body could carry a child? Did you know all along? Did you know all along and hope to use that to...!"
"No!" Byakuya hissed forcefully, pulling away from him roughly and sitting down on the hot tub seat across from his lover, "No, I told you back then, when you discovered that I am a Chimera. I had no idea that the female organs were functional. I was told that neither the male organs, nor the female would create life! I believed that when I went to bed with you! I didn't expect that I would, or even could become pregnant!"
"And once you found out, did you not plan to use my feelings for our child to manipulate me?"
"Never!" Byakuya insisted, "I was going to go to you and tell you, hoping only that you would be happy about our child and cease trying to hurt me by seeking to take the company from my family. The only thing I wanted, Sousuke, was for you to choose us over your nefarious plans. But as I was preparing to slip away, the board supervisor came to us and told us of your threat against the company. The board members were livid..."
He paused, shivering at the memory of what he had never told Aizen.
"What are you going to do?" he gasped, backing away as the cloaked and hooded men approached and cornered him in one of the straw-bedded stalls in the barn, "My father and grandfather will...!"
"They are being kept busy," Orochi's dark, hateful voice growled softly, "And by the time they come back, you will be dead and gone. There will be no trace that you or that freakish abomination in your belly ever existed!"
"You cannot do this!" Byakuya cried, shrinking back as the men advanced, and Orochi took hold of one slender wrist, "Stop it, Orochi-san!"
His attackers froze as the barn doors crashed open and Kuchikis Soujun and Takao burst in.
"Get away from him!" cried Soujun, racing forward as Orochi's free hand wrapped around Byakuya's pale throat.
Byakuya's hands tore at his strong arm, scratching the skin as he struggled. He bit down on Orochi's arm and heard the man scream in fury as he let go. He fell onto the straw and rolled to his feet as the older men began to fight.
"Dad!" Byakuya cried, watching in horror as the usually gentle Soujun threw himself furiously at the other man.
Orochi scowled and loosed a dangerous hiss, stalking Byakuya as the fighting continued. Byakuya tried to angle towards his father, but was quickly isolated and cornered again.
"Hey!" Orochi yelled as one of his cohorts sent Soujun tumbling headfirst into the stall wall, "Don't hurt him! We need him since we're getting rid of this other vermin!"
Soujun's body collapsed onto the straw, blood leaking from his head, and his slender form ominously still.
"Damn it, you imbeciles!"
"Dad!" Byakuya sobbed, breaking free of Orochi again, "Dad! DAD!"
Byakuya realized suddenly that he had stopped talking, and that Aizen was gazing at him curiously.
"You remembered something very painful," he observed, extending a wet hand and brushing away several tears that had escaped Byakuya's eyes as he remembered, "Why don't you tell me what happened?"
I can't do that, of course, Byakuya thought numbly, If Sousuke ever learned what really happened that day, then he would stop at nothing to kill them. And as much as they might deserve that, I cannot allow him to do that to them. For my father's sake, for his honor and in his memory, I must not tell Sousuke how they tried to kill Tetsuya and me before. How they accidently killed my father and Takao instead. And how they had to let me live after, because the company would likely not survive without someone to be groomed to take my father's place. Yes, they accepted Tetsuya then, albeit grudgingly. They had no choice at that point, if they wanted the company to survive.
"Byakuya?" Aizen said quietly, extending a hand in his lover's direction.
Byakuya stared at him for a moment, then calmly accepted his offered hand, and allowed himself to be coaxed back onto the other man's lap. Aizen's hands cupped his face, and the still piqued brown eyes glared more softly into his, urging him to continue.
"I am sorry, Sousuke," he said finally, "It is painful to remember."
He bowed his head slightly and gazed down into the bubbling water as he went on.
"The venomous things that they said to me that day...I have never forgotten a word of it. They were truly vicious, Sousuke. And if they could have convinced me to abort the pregnancy, if my grandfather hadn't stepped in to protect me, then Tetsuya would not have survived."
He bit his lip gently as Aizen's fingers brushed several errant raven strands of silken hair away from his face.
"And amidst all of that, you came to me that day...to tell me that you were leaving me," Aizen concluded, "And because I had betrayed you, you did not tell me about our son, but disappeared shortly after. To...bear him?"
"The board did not want anyone to learn Tetsuya's lineage. They concocted the story about Takao and Kiko, partially based on fact and partially based on a lie, as Kiko was not pregnant at the time. She remained at Kuchiki Manor after Takao's death, feigning a public pregnancy that could explain Tetsuya, and no one ever questioned when she was taken away briefly to join me where I was in hiding. She returned with Tetsuya, and I came home a short time later."
"Does Tetsuya know about this?"
"No. Tetsuya believes that he is Kuchikis Takao and Kiko's son. He does not know about what happened between the board and me...only that there is a deep discord."
Byakuya lowered his head onto Aizen's warm, wet shoulder and rested quietly for a time.
"They were horrible to him, of course," he went on, as the hot tub cycled off and the pool jets went quieted, "They told him that he was a burden on the family. And being that he believed he was Takao's son...the offspring of a 'black sheep,' as it were, he had no recourse. My grandfather and I could shield him somewhat, but the board made sure that he was as miserable as they could make him. Everything that you did to my family in the way of dishonoring them, they visited their vengeance for that upon our son. It did not matter to them that Tetsuya did not even know of the 'devil' that had spawned him. They made him pay, several times over, for anything you ever thought of doing to them."
"And because you never told me about him, the two of you were made to suffer," Aizen mused, the fury beginning to build in him again, "Had you only told me then, I would have..."
"Remember that, right or wrong, I believed that you had used me," Byakuya reminded him, "I could not go to you, Sousuke, because I could no longer trust you."
"Again, you display that annoying need to trust, to depend," Aizen said, his lips tightening, "How many times did I tell you back then, that you didn't need trust, as long as you made sure that your situation was in your own hands."
Byakuya arched an elegant eyebrow.
"Oh? And do you really think I am stupid enough to believe that coming to you would have left me in control of my own life, Sousuke?" he asked, an iciness coming into his tone, "Remember, you were as eager to gain control of me as they were!"
Aizen's hands tightened suddenly, where they held on to him, and a look of warning rose in his blazing eyes.
"I sought to control your career, Byakuya," he corrected his lover, "Had you come to me, I would, of course, have continued to try to wrest control of the company from your family, but our son would have grown up with both of us! Knowing both of us. You and he would have had everything, and those useless fool relatives of yours would have had nothing to say about it. How can you justify...?"
"What? Remaining with my grandfather, who had never done anything to hurt me at all? Trying to protect Tetsuya from both the board and the devilish father, who was only out to use me? You give me far too much credit to think clearly for how young I was!" Byakuya answered angrily, "You had just handed me the worst betrayal I had ever endured, and Ginrei offered me what looked like the only safe path. I did what I had to do! You can hardly blame me for that!"
"Perhaps," Aizen answered, the cold edge still present in his voice, "But I do not think we will ever reach any kind of agreement on this. It is safer, I think, to focus on what happens now."
He met Byakuya's flickering gray eyes meaningfully.
"You may have just let me impregnate you again."
"Yes," Byakuya answered simply, making no attempt to explain or excuse the action.
"Was it on purpose, Byakuya?" Aizen went on, more calmly.
"It is not as though you gave me a choice," the younger man snapped, "You wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I did try to stop you."
"Yes, you did," Aizen agreed, "But...you gave in rather easily, ne?"
"I was...I am still in love with you," Byakuya answered, "I think I am more in love with you than I realized before."
"And yet, you were not 'in love' enough to tell me what was going to happen?" Aizen countered, "What were you thinking, Byakuya? That you would just do the same thing? That you would make another child with me, then run away?"
"I wasn't thinking that far ahead!" Byakuya snapped in a flustered tone, "You had me at your mercy, as you might remember."
"Yes," Aizen replied, a smirk snaking its way onto his lips, "I did, didn't I? Then, maybe a bit of forgiveness is in order. But..."
He captured Byakuya's face and glared wickedly into his eyes.
"I am not a forgiving man."
"What are you going to do?" Byakuya asked, staring breathlessly into those unreadable eyes and feeling his heart skip painfully.
His legs went weak as Aizen surged to his feet, dragging his spellbound lover with him. Byakuya thought to object, but couldn't find the words as he was captured and possessed in Aizen's strong, merciless arms, then carried back in the direction of the secret room.
"You plan to torture me, then, do you?" Byakuya hissed rebelliously, "Go ahead! You can't do anything worse to me than those vicious bastards in my family did!"
"Oh," Aizen said, tossing him down onto the bed in the hidden room and wrangling him back into the restraints, "I will do things to you that those ridiculous fool could never dream of...not in all of their worst nightmares!"
He picked up the leather riding crop and snapped it smartly across his own palm, leaving a red streak.
"Brace yourself, my love," he warned Byakuya, "You have no idea of the delicious torments you are about to endure!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Tetsuya left his guest room, walking out onto his balcony and looking down on the pretty, moonlit lake below him. He wasn't sure why he felt so troubled, even now that he was free of the Kuchiki board's manipulations and Renji had become his lover. He remembered again, Grimmjow's words and felt a twinge of pain in his heart.
"Huh," huffed Grimmjow, "I guess. You mean, Renji didn't tell you that he and I were lovers?"
"I wouldn't call it that," Renji answered in a wounded tone.
"You did before," Grimmjow said quietly, the smile leaving his lips, "You seemed happy enough, naked in my bed and letting me lick those wicked tattoos of yours until you couldn't breathe."
He didn't want to think he was jealous.
I trust Renji. I love him. And I understand that he might have just not reached the point yet where he could tell me about his relationship before. He didn't do anything wrong by not telling me yet. It is just troubling, I think, because of the way I learned about it. Grimmjow..."
"Hey," said Grimmjow's voice, breaking into his thoughts and making him blink in surprise.
His eyes found the vocalist on the next balcony, wearing a sky blue yukata and looking less polished, more unscripted and feral under the full moon.
"Where's your bodyguard?"
Tetsuya sighed.
"He is showering," Tetsuya answered stiffly, an uncomfortable feeling passing through him as Grimmjow regarded him for a minute, then jumped lightly over the rail, and the space separating their balconies, and came down in front of the blue-eyed Kuchiki.
Tetsuya crossed his arms and frowned more deeply.
"What do you want, Grimmjow?" he asked quietly, "You should know that I have no interest in seeing you, outside of when we are working on the video."
"Yeah, you were pretty damned clear about that," the vocalist said, nodding, "I won't take up much of your time."
"As I said, what do you want?"
"I want to apologize," Grimmjow said, surprising Tetsuya with the sincerity in his voice, "I know I'm a real rat for what I did, and I'm willing to own that. But, what I did...it's not something I wanted to do."
"Yes, I know," Tetsuya sighed, sounding annoyed, "Your bastard manager put you up to it. I got that part. But you still drugged me and took shady photos of me. And I don't think I believe for a moment that you gave them all to Aizen!"
"Heh," Grimmjow huffed, looking a bit sheepish, "Well, I admit that I did keep one."
"What?" Tetsuya snapped, his anger coming to the fore, "Where is it? Give it back, you pervert!"
"Hey, take it easy!" Grimmjow said, putting up his hands defensively, "Don't get so pissed. It's not a nude photo."
"What?" Tetsuya asked, blinking in surprise.
Grimmjow reached into his pocket and withdrew a picture, then handed it to Tetsuya. To his wonder, he was fully dressed in the picture, curled warmly around a pillow, with Grimmjow leaning over him and kissing him on the blushing cheek.
"An odd choice, considering," Tetsuya mused, "This cannot be your favorite, given the wealth of choices..."
"It is," Grimmjow affirmed, "But you can believe me or not believe me. That's your choice. I just don't really want you to hate me, you know? I didn't know you when we first crossed paths. I admit I was a prick. I didn't know you like I do now."
"You don't know me," Tetsuya said, shaking his head, "or else you would not be leading up to asking me to leave Renji and join you."
Grimmjow gave him a charming grin.
"And who said I'd ask you to leave Red? I like him too."
"You like him," Tetsuya repeated, "And you like me too?"
"Y-yeah," Grimmjow admitted, looking up at the moon, "Y'know, Tetsuya-san, there's a reason that Gin-san advised Aizen to have the three of us in a love triangle."
"Wh...wha...?"
Grimmjow reached out and rested a warm palm on Tetsuya's cheek, freezing him in place as he stepped forward and moved in to kiss him.
"What are you...?"
Tetsuya's words disappeared as Grimmjow's lips pressed lightly against his, then quickly withdrew.
"S-sorry," he said, shaking his head, "It's just that I think we'd really be good together...you, me and Red."
"Really?" Tetsuya asked, disbelievingly, "The three of us for real?"
"It's not the weirdest thing to ever happen," Grimmjow said, shrugging, "If it was, then why were you out here, thinking about it before I even got here."
"I wasn't...!"
Grimmjow's fingers touched his lips, silencing him.
"It's okay if you want to just think about it and run it by Renji. He'll be pissed at first and say all kinds of nasty things about it. But, give him some time. He and I were tight. And the thing is...I miss him. And I just plain think you're cute, Tetsuya-san. You really are an angel."
"Leave me alone," Tetsuya said, irascibly, "And I'm not giving this picture back to you!"
"That's okay," Grimmjow said, grinning, and making the leap back to his own balcony, "I've got another copy."
"Grimmjow-san, you...!"
He let out his breath in a flustered huff as the vocalist disappeared back into his room and Renji stepped out onto the balcony Tetsuya stood on. Tetsuya shivered softly at the look Renji gave him.
"What did that asshole want?" he asked sourly, "I hope you told him to go to hell."
"I believe I made my opinion clear," Tetsuya answered, folding himself into the redhead's arms, "Come, Renji, let's go to bed."
The undertone of anger faded instantly from Renji's eyes, and his expression grew more feral.
"I hope that means what I think it means," he said, seeking Tetsuya's lips for a penetrating kiss.
"I think that you will not be disappointed," Tetsuya said, letting the moonlight catch his eyes as he turned into the room and captured Renji's hand to make sure he followed.
"Hope you don't mind if I'm kinda loud," Renji said in a low growl, "I kinda want the bastard to hear, you know. Maybe it's wrong, but..."
"He deserves it," Tetsuya said, surprising Renji with a hard tumble down onto the bed.
"Oh my god, Tetsuya!" Renji gasped breathlessly, "Are you sure you're a Kuchiki? 'Cause right now, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that you aren't an angel at all, but the devil's own son."
Tetsuya gave him an oddly wicked smile that sent a frenzied chill down the redhead's spine.
"You never know," he said, seeking his lips and hungrily devouring them.