Chapter 5: Mourning

(Here's a long lost 'Renji in Distress' story Bya/Ren/Tetsuya for you! Hope you enjoy the revival!)

"How do I do this?" Byakuya whispered barely audibly, gazing with devastated eyes down at his younger spouse's pale sleeping face, "How do I tell you that he's gone? How do I break your heart all over again, Tetsuya?"

At the speaking of his name, Tetsuya stirred softly, moaning as he began to regain consciousness.

"R-renji?" he mumbled incoherently, "Oh...oh Renji, please don't...R-ren...!"

"Tetsuya, my love," Byakuya called softly, caressing his face gently, "please open your eyes."

The younger man's eyelids moved sluggishly, then flitted open. The dark centers of his sapphire eyes began to constrict in reaction to the light around him.

"Byakuya?" he whispered.

"I am with you," the clan leader said reassuringly, "You are safe now, Tetsuya."

Tears filled the younger noble's eyes and his face reflected heart wrenching devastation.

"R-renji?" he managed, barely audibly.

Byakuya took his cousin's cold hands in his and shook his head gently.

"Renji was nowhere to be found," he answered gently, "The search teams located spilled blood on a level that is not consistent with continued life. I am sorry, Tetsuya. I know how hard this is for you, but there is no denying that Renji died in that warehouse."

"No!" Tetsuya sobbed, "That isn't true! N-no!"

"You must rest now, Cousin."

"But, Byakuya...!"

"Shh," the clan leader said soothingly, "You were seriously injured and you need to rest."

"R-renji..." Tetsuya moaned deliriously, "Wh-where is Renji? N-no, Renji, please don't...p-please don't!"

"Shh, I am sorry. I am so sorry you have to suffer like this. I don't know what you saw in that place, and I don't think I want you to have to remember. Let it go from your mind, Tetsuya. You must rest and try to recover."

"B-but I s-saw him!" Tetsuya stammered dazedly, "I know, I s-saw him!"

Byakuya shook his head gently.

"You could only have seen him already dead, Tetsuya."

A flash image of the redhead, wearing a hateful expression and plunging a dark colored claw into his midsection made Tetsuya's breath catch sharply.

"Are you all right?" Byakuya asked, pausing then frowning, "But of course you aren't. This has been dreadful for you. I am just very relieved that at least you came back. Tetsuya, if I had lost you both..."

Tetsuya dissolved into soft, broken sobs into Byakuya's shoulder as the clan leader's arms curled around him protectively and his hands caressed Tetsuya's back gently.

"I know I shouldn't cry, but I..."

"Of course you are going to cry," Byakuya said soothingly, "You have already lost Naoki and now Renji."

Tetsuya shivered.

He wouldn't believe what I saw...and he will only restrict my ability to find Renji if I tell him.

I can't say anything...

He burrowed into Byakuya's shoulder and relaxed, breathing in his cousin's soft, sakura scent and wholly unsurprised when Byakuya send a throb of sedative kido through him, dropping him back onto the bed.

It's better this way.

If Byakuya sees Renji like that, he will destroy him. If my nightmares before were real, then I will see Renji again. I must be patient. I must be...

His thoughts scattered as he lost awareness and laid sleeping deeply while Byakuya looked down at him with tragically sad eyes and caressed his sweaty face and throat.

"You must be more cautious now, Tetsuya," he whispered to his sleeping husband, "All we have left is each other now. I can't lose you too!"

He left Tetsuya sleeping and raised a protective barrier around the room, locking malevolent things out and keeping Tetsuya inside. He touched Koji's shoulder and the attendant looked up at him questioningly.

"Stay within call and sooth him if he is angry that I have confined him. I have to go and make a report to Soutaichou. I will come back after. Just watch over him and make sure he takes his meals and gets plenty of rest. Encourage him to interact with the children, anything to take his mind off his confinement. I am doing this to make sure he heals fully and is protected. Be sure he understands why."

"Yes, Byakuya-sama," Koji said, bowing.

He watched the clan leader leave, then looked back at Tetsuya's quietly sleeping form.

"Oh, Tetsuya-san is not going to like this. He is not going to like this at all!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Did you sleep well, my love?" the hollow prince asked, tracing the golden markings on Renji's face with his fingertips and offering the red-haired hollow a penetrating kiss as he laid down on Renji's body and let his inflamed member tease the redhead's, "I think I slept deeply for the very first time...because I finally laid in the arms of my beloved. Of course, it will be better tonight when we are together sexually."

Renji flinched and stared in surprise at the bindings that held him and securely attached him to the bed.

"Don't mind those," the prince said off-handedly, "They are only for my protection until you are acclimatized. Right now, you are too connected to that place you were before. But after we are married, and I mate with you, your memory of them will begin to fade. When it is gone, I will let you sleep unbound in my bed."

"How about you unbind me now?" Renji demanded angrily, "You never asked me what I wanted in all of this! Who the hell are you to break into my life and take everything away that I love? I can't leave Byakuya and Tetsuya! I made promises to them!"

"If you will remember, you were the one who cut Tetsuya down. That young man is dead, and if you do not obey me...if you make any attempt to escape, then Byakuya will die next! Do not test me on this. If you want that man to survive, you will obey my every command."

Renji stared back at the hollow prince incredulously.

"I...killed Tetsuya?" he stammered, "I don't remember! I don't...! What did you do to me?"

"I claimed what was mine," the prince said sternly, "Tetsuya got in the way and he died for that."

"Tetsuya..." Renji breathed sadly, "He can't be...he can't really be...dead?"

Yutaka's hand brushed the tears away from Renji's eyes.

"I am sorry it causes you such pain, but you will forget them after we are wed today. In fact, it is time to prepare you for the service. But, as you are out of sorts, I will sedate you a bit to ease the rest of your transition."

"No!" Renji cried, struggling as the hollow prince's hand laid on his forehead, "No, don't! You fucking bastard, get off of me!"

His body recoiled as Yutaka loosed a flare of power that made him fall still and silent. The prince glared into Renji's eyes.

"Your attendants will dress you for the ceremony. I will see you in the ceremonial chamber."

Renji remained stunned on the bed as the prince left and only slowly recovered as several young male hollows entered the room and gathered around them. The room spun madly as they hoisted him onto his feet and dressed him in a beautiful red and golden kimono.

"Yutaka-sama had this made for you, Renji-sama," one of the attendants said appreciatively, "It looks wonderful on you. You will make a lovely consort for Yutaka-sama when he becomes king today!"

Renji tried to speak, but found himself unable. He tested his limbs, but they remained heavy and sluggish as the attendants finished dressing him and led him to the ceremonial chamber.

Inside, a large gathering of powerful hollows stood in attendance. Their eyes fixed on the prince's wildly beautiful, red-haired consort whose pale body was covered in an attractive array of bright golden tattoos. Renji barely managed to stay on his feet as the attendants led him to Yutaka, and the hollow prince took his hand. The prince's power continued to bind him as the marriage rites were read and the two were bound without Renji uttering a word. Left unable to protest, Renji stood at the prince's side as Yutaka turned him and presented him to the crowd, which burst into snarls and growling cheers. A feeling of sickness swept over him as he was led to a chair, where he had no ability to move, except to watch, while the coronation and celebration went on, and the dangerous eyes of the hollows admired him. He wasn't sure how long the celebration lasted, but as it ended and he was coaxed onto his feet, he tried again to resist as he was led to the king's suite. But whatever power Yutaka had used to subdue him remained in control, and Renji was forced to numbly submit.

Yutaka laid him on his back in the bed and opened his clothing, baring his slender, gold-touched form to the light as he bound Renji's wrists and ankles to the bed, then laid on top of him.

"I will forgive your stubbornness," he said affectionately, "You grew up away from your true home and unfortunately, became attached to the shinigamis there. But that part of your life ends now."

"No, you bastard!" Renji yelled, "Get off of me! Stop it! I'm not gonna let you...!"

"Be calm, my love," the newly crowned hollow king soothed him, kissing him and sending another pulse of sedative power through him that stole away his ability to resist, but left him painfully aware as the king slowly prepared him, then entered him unhurriedly and gazed lovingly down into his widened eyes, "Let go..."

As the king's movements began, Renji felt a swirl of memories pass over him. His eyes filled with brokenhearted tears as the whole of his shinigami life played out before him and he suffered deep panic as they flared brightly, then began to disappear. His days as a child, thieving in the streets of Inuzuri at Rukia's side, his arrival at the shinigami academy and his graduation and placement in the Gotei 13. He saw again his silent rebellion against Byakuya, then how Kurosaki Ichigo had entered their lives and changed everything. He felt one last time how his feelings and Byakuya's had grown into love, then how Tetsuya had offered to act as their bearer, and instead won their hearts entirely. Tears coursed down his face as he remembered their beautiful, intense lovemaking, their fierce protectiveness of each other and how it had all seemed so perfect. That happiness broke apart as the images flickered in front of his eyes, then as Yutaka's body stiffened and filled him with the king's seed, everything began to disappear.

Renji slipped down into a sea of blackness and silence, blissfully unaware as the hollow king curled his body around the redhead's and watched as the last bit of resistance went out of Renji's body and he relaxed completely in his bonds. His eyes opened and looked quietly into the hollow king's, and when Yutaka's lips sought his, Renji obediently kissed him back.

"That is much better," Yutaka whispered, kissing Renji's earlobe and sliding a hand down between the redhead's parted thighs, "There is no confusion left, no old thoughts to interfere as we connect with one another. You are mine now. You have always been mine, and mine, you will always be. Rest and let my seed bring you the comfort of a child. Now that I have taken you, your body will bear fruit. We will be a happy family."

He paused and frowned as he sensed the new life already beginning to grow in his consort. A scowl curled his lips and for a moment, he considered ending the pregnancy right then.

I sense that the seed of his shinigami lovers has entered the spirit chamber. The child will be theirs as well...a vizard. I should end it...but...perhaps having a child that carries their blood could come in handy, if those shinigamis ever try to interfere with us again.

No, I won't kill the child.

I will let him be born and grow up in the palace. I will control his upbringing and make certain he is one of ours. And if the shinigamis ever try to take them back, Renji and the child hollow prince we made will destroy them!

He smiled warmly at Renji, kissing the redhead's flushed lips and enjoying the way they moved acceptingly against his.

You are mine now, Abarai Renji.

You are mine alone!

XXXXXXXXXX

Ichigo started to open his eyes, then groaned and put a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes to make the throbbing pain behind them stop.

"Ugh!" he complained, "M-man, what happened?"

Kisuke rolled in his direction and met him with a warm kiss and a soothing pain block.

"You don't look like the rest did you much good at all," the shopkeeper commented wryly, "As a matter of fact, you look terrible."

"Y-yeah, I feel pretty crappy...and I don't even remember how the hell I got this way."

Kisuke frowned.

"You don't remember anything? Not the mission, the attack, nothing?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"No, nothing," Ichigo confirmed, "I just...remember us giving each other a good morning fuck, then everything's just kinda blank after that. You say I got attacked on a mission?"

"Yeah," Kisuke affirmed, "You went out with Renji..."

"Aww, great," Ichigo sighed, "If he had to carry me back, I'll never hear the end of it! He'll be..."

"Ichigo, Renji didn't bring you back. Renji...didn't come back...at all."

Ichigo stared at the shopkeeper blankly.

"What do you mean he didn't come back," he said in a wary tone, his already pale face going white, "What are you saying, Kisuke?"

Kisuke took a steadying breath.

"Renji didn't make it. He's gone, Ichigo. Renji died."

"What?" Ichigo whispered, feeling as though the breath had been knocked out of his body forcefully, "That's not possible. Renji..."

"Renji's dead," Kisuke repeated, "The team that Byakuya took out after you came back found large amounts of his blood...not compatible with continued life. I'm...sorry."

Ichigo leaned forward and buried his face deeply in his lover's shoulder, shaking softly and barely holding back tears.

"Do we know who did it?" he asked in a choked voice.

"Byakuya's division is looking into that right now. But he's also pretty worried about Tetsuya. Tetsuya went after Renji and was also attacked. He and his Arashi were badly injured, though I got word late last night that they're both going to be okay with some healing and lots of rest."

"Oh!" Ichigo mused, reeling as the full impact of the news struck him, "Man, this is going to kill Tetsuya. He and Renji..."

"Yeah, he's taking it really hard," the shopkeeper agreed, "But he's got Byakuya and the whole staff looking after him. And you know...you've got me looking out for you."

"Ah, well..."

"Hey, don't even think of bullshitting me," Kisuke said, looking into his eyes matter-of-factly, "I know you and Renji butted heads and yelled a lot, but you were good friends."

Ichigo swallowed hard and blinked several times.

"Yeah, we are...uh, w-were. Damn!"

"It's okay," Kisuke assured him, holding him tightly, "You're gonna be okay. And I'll promise you right now that we will find the son of a bitch that did this to him, no matter...where we have to go or what we have to do. We're gonna track him down, Ichigo."

Ichigo couldn't speak anymore, but managed a stiff nod.

"Let me take care of you, now," the shopkeeper went on, caressing his back and running his fingers through Ichigo's ginger hair, "Just relax and let me comfort you. You just had a big loss. I know how bad you must be hurting."

"I was with him," Ichigo said numbly, "I should have been watching out for him."

"You were. You know you were," Kisuke insisted.

"B-but I came back without him! I left him!"

"You don't know what happened," Kisuke said firmly, "Don't do that. You know you never would have willingly left him if he needed you. You're not like that. Come on, now. Just...don't get down on yourself. Sometimes you can't save someone. Sometimes people die. You know that."

"Yeah," Ichigo whispered, "I know. I just never thought that Renji would go out like that."

"None of us did. We're all in shock. But it'll be okay. We'll get healed up, find out who did it, and then we'll make them pay."

"It's not gonna bring Renji back," Ichigo sobbed softly into Kisuke's shoulder.

"No, it won't. But we can't let that bastard get away with this!"