Beings of Light and Darkness
By Spunky0ne
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As Soul Society struggles to pick up the pieces after the war with the quincies, Byakuya makes a stunning confession to Renji about the truth regarding the original soul king. Their search for answers leads to the depths of Muken where Aizen Sosuke and a thought to be dead Kuchiki cousin hold the key to explosive secrets that their enemies would do anything to conceal…yaoi, mpreg…Byakuya/Renji, Aizen/Tetsuya (OC), Urahara/Ichigo
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Chapter 1: Light in the Darkness
As he floated aimlessly in darkness, Aizen Sosuke felt no connection at all with his badly injured body, and he wondered if perhaps something had finally broken his bond with the hogyoku, and his body could really be dying.
After all, despite the heavy damage I took, pretending to be Abarai Renji, I should have begun healing right away. Although, the black remnants of Mimihagi that seeped from Ukitake Juushiro's body were interfering with some of the capability of the hogyoku to heal my wounds. Renji should be very glad it was me and not him who was struck. He would have been killed instantly.
I knew that the damage would cause pain, and that I might not heal instantly, but I was sure that I would at least be conscious and able to escape when the battle was over. So…do I still lie on the ground, covered in black muck? Am I lost somewhere, having crawled away while only half-aware? What happened? Where am I?
The tiniest of whispers broke through, a soft, gentle male voice that urged him to rest.
Ah, so I have been found. That is…annoying. I shall probably wake in my cell in Muken, or another, because my cell was destroyed when Ywach arrived and asked me to join him. I don't know why he wasted his breath. I knew that he wasn't going to succeed. We both knew he needed the hogyoku…and…it refused him from the start.
That was not the case with me. I did stand a chance of overthrowing the king and taking the throne. It's why the orb fused with my body. The only reason we did not succeed is because Ichigo's desire to defeat us was stronger. Ichigo defeated me. He defeated Ywach.
I wonder if Ichigo senses that he is the only one who could really overthrow the king and take control. Not that he would desire that. No, that boy doesn't want to be king. He just wants a safe, secure world. He wants peace and safety for his friends and his family. Yes, his desire was stronger than mine and it was stronger than Ywach's, so…there is going to be peace.
I do wish that I could say it was enough. I wish that I could wrap myself in illusions and say it's all right that things are going back to how they used to be. But, I am not Ichigo. I can't just go to the living world and forget the treachery of this archaic system. No…I cannot win anymore, but neither can I just lie to myself and say I accept it all.
I don't.
"Can you hear my voice yet, Aizen Sosuke?" the male voice from before asked quietly, "Are you able to respond?"
"Yes," he answered, using his reiatsu to make the sounds, "I hear you, healer."
"That is good," the healer sighed wearily, "Although I was, after many hours, able to restore your body, it could not seem to hold reiatsu."
"What?"
"And then, there was the damage to the hogyoku," the healer went on, "but I am forbidden to heal that."
The hogyoku was damaged?
"Can you uncover my eyes and chest, so that I may see it?" Aizen asked.
"I am allowed two keys," the healer responded, "so I will uncover one of your eyes and the hogyoku."
The prisoner frowned as he heard the healer's oddly slow, shuffling step.
"Have you been injured, healer?" he asked.
"I am fine," the other man assured him.
There was a pause, then the bonds on Aizen's left eye curled back, and he took in the sight of the one who had been attending him. The young man had pale skin and a slim, delicate looking body. Though his wavy hair was uncombed, his skin filthy and his clothing tattered, there was something compelling about his bright, sapphire eyes that suggested untapped ability. Aizen's uncovered eye squinted and he smiled under his bonds.
"Are you a prisoner as well?" he asked, "They consider you expendable, so they allow you to heal me? Or, is all of that from the fighting in the war?"
The young man made his way back to the still bound prisoner, limping slightly.
"I am a prisoner," the blue-eyed man confessed, sitting down in front of the traitor and moving the straps on his chest, so that he could see the jagged crack across the hogyoku's crystalline surface, "but healers are in short supply, and in your unconscious state, you already killed two prisoner-healers who were attempting to heal you. My healing ability is different. It…allowed me to avoid damage when you blindly attacked me in your delirium."
Aizen noticed suddenly the pale shadow that hovered just behind the blue-eyed healer.
"Ah, you are somehow able to use that ghostly form behind you for your protection?" he concluded.
The healer nodded.
"Mine is a water-based ability," the young man explained, "I am able to place waterforms, though they have to be very close to me, because of the limiters I wear. The waterforms allow me to escape sudden attacks quickly. I also use this ability to repair damage to souls while I am in physical contact with them."
"That is quite an ability," Aizen said appreciatively, "I wonder how it might develop if not curbed by your bonds."
"I do not know," the prisoner-healer sighed, "I have never been unbound."
"Ah, I see," Aizen said quietly, observing the young man more closely, "Now that I get a better look, I think you look familiar. Will you tell me your name?"
The young man nodded briefly.
"I am called Tetsuya."
"Are you of one of the great clans, Tetsuya? That could be how I know you."
Tetsuya sighed softly, biting at his lips and looking down at his hands.
"I am not allowed a surname," he admitted, "as my parents were criminals, who disgraced my father's name…but…my father was Kuchiki Takao."
Aizen's brow furrowed for a moment, then his uncovered eye widened. Tetsuya's breath caught.
"You knew my father?" he asked quickly.
"I knew of him," Aizen explained, "You see, while I was still masquerading as a fukutaicho of the Gotei 13, word spread that the heir to the Kuchiki clan was seeking information about the disappearance of his father's first cousin, Kuchiki Takao. As you said, Takao was accused of disgracing the Kuchiki name by marrying a peasant woman…Kiko, if I recall correctly."
"Yes," Tetsuya agreed, "Kiko was my mother."
"It was rumored that there was a child," Aizen went on, "and Byakuya was intent on finding all of you. Unfortunately, although he did discover the location of the illegal prison where your family was said to be incarcerated, the raid he led only caused the prison's keepers to kill all of the prisoners, then they burned the prison to the ground to hide any evidence."
Aizen's frown deepened and he looked more closely at the young man in front of him.
"Yet, although you speak of your parents in the past tense, suggesting they are dead, you, yourself, stand right in front of me, a denizen of the depths of the Central 46 prison. How, pray tell, did you survive?"
Tetsuya's blue eyes darkened and he sighed.
"I was born just before my parents were captured," he related, "We were imprisoned in the hidden fortress called Itamigiri. I grew up there, in the prison and when I came of age, I was claimed and made the property of Kuchiki Orochi."
Tetsuya turned, reaching up to lift a tangle of black strands that covered the back of his neck. At the nape was a black marking in the shape of a coiled snake.
"Byakuya-sama did not fail us that day," Tetsuya said firmly, "He was betrayed…by Orochi and Orochi's father, Isas. The two were responsible for the slaughter of the prisoners and the burning of the prison. Orochi knew that I was a surviving witness, and his father wanted to kill me, however, Orochi pretended to do so while really saving me from death. He brought me into Muken and has been keeping me concealed, here, where no one ever would look."
Aizen's expression blackened under his bonds and his exposed eye narrowed aggressively.
"They put someone like you in a place like this?" he hissed softly, "You know, Tetsuya, I am a wicked man and I have done many evil things, but that is beyond the limits of even my treachery. I would have killed you, myself, rather than see you left here."
"You did try to kill me already," Tetsuya admitted, a tiny smile touching his lips, "before you regained consciousness, but as Orochi tells me so often when he comes to me, I am shamelessly disobedient, so I escaped death and survived to be the only one who will come close enough to heal you."
"He comes to see you here…frequently?" Aizen asked.
"As I told you," Tetsuya said solemnly, "I am Orochi's property."
"Not rightfully," Aizen countered, "It sounds to me like you should fall only under Byakuya's supervision."
Tetsuya sighed wearily.
"I suppose if Orochi and his father hadn't interfered, and if I had been rescued, Byakuya-sama could have decided my fate. As it is, Byakuya-sama doesn't know I am alive, and Orochi is the only master I have."
"And you simply accept this?" the traitor inquired, "You do not try to free yourself? Have you ever tried to escape him?"
Tetsuya colored and his head bowed.
"My cellmate, Naoki, and I tried to escape Orochi as Itamigiri burned," he whispered in a broken, strained voice, "We failed to get away…and as punishment, Orochi killed Naoki in front of me. After that, there was no one left who knew or cared I was alive. My father was executed shortly after being captured, and my mother died of illness before the raid. Even if the walls of this prison did not stand in my way and I could escape, I would have nowhere to go."
"You could go to Byakuya," Aizen suggested, "You could relay to him what you know of…"
Aizen noted the tragic look of sadness in the other man's blue eyes and stopped himself.
"Ah, but who would take the word of a mere mixed blood criminal over a noble born?" the traitor said in a disgusted tone, "You know, I didn't think anything they did could surprise me or make me despise them any more than I already do, but…this…"
"You are riled that much about they treat the mixed bloods? Or is it because they mistreated you and you are a commoner?"
Aizen gave him a cryptic look and gave no answer.
"My apologies," Tetsuya mumbled, flushing, "It is none of my business, I suppose."
He gave a longer sigh and withdrew his hands, watching as Aizen turned his attention to the cracked hogyoku.
"I must rest for awhile," he said softly, "I will be back to continue your healing later."
He started to rise, but Aizen's next words made him freeze.
"Is he going to come to you soon?" the traitor asked.
"Probably," Tetsuya admitted, "He usually comes during the night so that his father will not become suspicious."
"He admits to you that his father would object, and he continues to support his father's persecution of your kind, but he…comes to you frequently to rape you, Tetsuya?"
"It is not rape," Tetsuya said in a low, defeated tone, "I am his property."
"You are not rightfully his, and both you and Orochi know this," Aizen insisted, "Yet, you do not resist him in any way…and he continues to come to you. Is this some strange sort of obsession? Do you think he is lashing out at his father? Or…is there something else that draws this man to you, Tetsuya?"
"I…I don't know," Tetsuya managed shakily, stepping back from the prisoner, "I suppose you are right that Orochi and I both know his claim on me is questionable, but he has power over me, and I…have nothing with which to oppose him. He has already…"
"He has already destroyed the last person you ever cared about, maybe the only person left who you loved. As I see it, you have nothing to lose by fighting him…"
"But, I can't hope to overwhelm him," Tetsuya objected, "I have only healing power, and I am in Muken."
"Those things are true, Tetsuya," Aizen agreed, fastening his uncovered eye on the young man, "but it is also true that you are in the presence of a man that Orochi would not dare to come near. My reiatsu is under a seal, but even a seal just compresses the power around my own body. It does not mean I can't use it. I kill any who come close."
"Unless," Tetsuya whispered in a quivering voice, "they subdue you with drugs first."
Aizen's uncovered eye narrowed until it was nearly closed, and his reiatsu swelled furiously under the seal. Tetsuya backed away another step, shivering harder.
"They have had you do this?" he growled, glaring at the healer.
"No," Tetsuya replied, slowly lowering his tattered top to reveal deep, red slashes across his white back, "I refused, and I was beaten. Several times, you took longer than expected to lose consciousness, and you killed some of them. But…you did not kill all of them."
"You witnessed what they did to me?" Aizen asked, his reiatsu pulsating dangerously.
"I healed you after."
"I see."
The two prisoners gazed silently at each other in the darkness for several long moments, then Aizen loosed a ragged sigh and his burgeoning reiatsu calmed.
"Well, there is no recourse at the moment, but I will offer you this, Kuchiki Tetsuya."
"Stop!" Tetsuya shouted, "I am not allowed a sur…"
"I do not live by their rules, Tetsuya, and neither should you. And although they have incarcerated and enslaved us here, I know what I feel."
Tetsuya's blue orbs rounded as a little glow began to illuminate the cracked hogyoku.
"Wh-what is…?"
"Your arrival here, and our interaction today has awakened the hogyoku."
"But even it is under a seal," Tetsuya reasoned.
"The seal restrains active power," Aizen explained, "They don't understand the hogyoku like I do. They think it won't do anything as long as it is sealed. They are wrong."
"What do you mean? How are they wrong? What can the hogyoku do to help us?"
Aizen smiled.
"The hogyoku's greatest power is not the transformations it can do. It's greatest power is being able to sense and to realize the potential in the desires and abilities of the people around it. Right now, it knows that I can't break my bonds or free myself, but it knows that I desire this. You came into my cell with an odd ability, but no will to escape, yet what happened between us has awakened something in both of us. Separate, we had no way to escape, but together, I believe we can get out of here!"
Tetsuya swallowed hard, his face paling as he took another step back. Aizen held his gaze mercilessly and the light from the hogyoku flashed blindingly, making Tetsuya howl in fear and pain as he dropped to his knees. In his horrified mind, a vision flashed.
He felt light, as though he must be cradled in another's caring arms. He had no eyes, but he sensed the outline of a man with gentle reiatsu and a kind, soothing voice. The voice sounded sad.
"Go now, little one. It isn't safe for you here anymore. The way will be difficult, but you have everything you need. Trust your heart and where it leads you. You will not fail. We will see each other again, I promise. Hurry now, there is no time!
"Tetsuya!" Aizen called out, "Tetsuya, are you all right?"
He watched curiously as the younger man collapsed onto the floor and the light from the hogyoku faded. The doors to Aizen's cell crashed open and several guards entered, alongside a wickedly handsome man bearing the crest of the Kuchiki family on his clothes.
"What have you done to him, you filthy animal?" he hissed at Aizen, "The one person left who will heal you and you attack him?"
"I did not attack him," Aizen explained, "Tetsuya merely gave more than he should have while healing me, and he collapsed as he was trying to leave to rest."
Orochi's eye rotated to study his cousin's fallen form, then looked back at Aizen.
"It is just like him to waste effort on one such as you, who does not deserve it. I don't know why I let him be used to heal you."
"Oh," Aizen said sedately, "but I do. I will warn you to watch the steps you take, Kuchiki Orochi. You never know which one will be your last."
"Shut up, you wretch," the black-eyed Kuchiki snarled back, lifting Tetsuya's unconscious form into his arms, "Guards, replace the bonds on his eye and chest. None of us should be cursed with the sight of him!"