Chapter 11: Silhouette

Renji's cinnamon eyes closed and he breathed the steamy air of the shower in deeply, enjoying the splashes of hot water all over his lanky body, a helpless smile on his red lips.

For the first time in a really long time, someone made me feel beautiful, loved, desired. It doesn't matter at all that Kisuke couldn't say the words yet. Hell, neither of us was expecting this at all, and he's been nothin' but patient while I struggled with my feelings for Taicho.

Taicho is a good person, someone worthy of that kinda struggle, but how much worse does it have to be to have fallen for Aizen? That bastard twists people's minds into knots, and then some. Fucker needs to be put in the ground, and I hope I'm the one strong enough to do it someday, even more now because he hurt Kisuke.

Yeah, I want to fucking kill him for that.

Anyway, Kisuke was right with me, supporting me all of the way, and now it's my turn to be there for him. The situation with Aizen made him feel stupid and used. It went about as wrong as wrong can be. It's gonna take time for all of that to heal. I'm gonna make sure he's got me in his corner while he works it all out.

Renji's rough hands ran slowly over his golden-tanned skin, his fingers tracing along the bold black tattoos and his smile warming as he remembered the feeling of Kisuke touching and stroking him in all of his most sensitive places.

He sure knows how to make me feel good. I love that he's so smart, but more than a little perverted. It makes him really fucking amazing as a lover.

His hands hesitated as they passed over his belly, his thoughts briefly turning to the reason Byakuya's relationship with Tetsuya was sanctioned by the noble elders.

Tetsuya can give Taicho heirs... children of their own...

He bit his lip.

Kisuke would be an amazing father, already is to Jinta and Ururu. But I gotta wonder if he ever wanted kids of his blood? Either way, I hope I'll be enough since I can't help him have any tiny rugrats.

He thought briefly of the other children that he'd grown up with in the Rukongai.

Me'n Rukia tried to be kinda like parents to some of the littler street kids, but livin' in the Rukongai like we did…maybe we didn't teach'em the kinds of lessons they'd have learned in more polite society, but we did help'em stay fed and clothed.

He shivered as he recalled the sad fates of all of the ones he and Rukia had known and protected.

It's still a burden to think back on that. I wonder…was I a good parent to them? How good would I be for a kid who doesn't know what it's like to struggle just to stay alive? I know I have some bad habits, not that Kisuke's perfect either.

Still…if I could have kids with Kisuke, I'd wanna be the kinda person a kid could look up to.

He continued to ponder that thought until the water began to cool, then he finished up and dried off. He started to put on a pair of jeans, then scowled down at them as he realized he wasn't able to fasten them.

I was really drowning my sorrows in booze and good food, plus I haven't been training as hard as I usually do at the division. I've been avoiding going back. I don't feel the need to avoid things there any longer, but now…I just wanna stay with Kisuke cause we've got something really good going here.

I guess I can't put it off forever, though. Maybe I'll just have to start taking more assignments that bring me here.

Smiling at the thought, he chose a pair of sweatpants and a looser shirt. He started to step into the hallway, only to almost collide with Tetsuya. The half-noble didn't seem perturbed by the near-crash, only looking up at him solemnly.

"Oh, sorry, Tetsuya."

"It's fine," the slighter man assured him, "I was just looking for you because Byakuya sent a hell butterfly with orders for you to accompany me to Kuchiki manor immediately. We should go."

"Is something wrong? Taicho's okay, right?"

He felt an odd little twinge, looking into the half-noble's strangely distant eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Byakuya and I are fine," Tetsuya answered, "but he did say to come back now."

Renji nodded, starting to turn back into the room. "Sure thing, just need to-"

A staying hand wrapped around his wrist.

"Time is of the essence," Tetsuya said, politely but firmly, "You don't need to bring anything."

Renji felt weird leaving Zabimaru and his uniform behind, but apparently this was urgent. He nodded again, following the slighter man down to the underground training room.

"You don't know what this is all about?" he asked as Tetsuya opened a Kuchiki family senkaimon and led him inside.

"Byakuya didn't say. He only seemed to think it important for us to return quickly. He will give us the details upon our arrival."

A little chill went through the redhead's body as the senkaimon closed behind them, leaving them in the dimly lit precipice corridor.

"Hey, uh…where's Fleabag?" he joked, "Isn't that silly horse of yours always lurking around you somewhere? He sure likes to mess with me."

"I sent Arashi ahead to ensure a safe path for us."

Renji frowned and blinked at the odd feeling and strange shimmer in the area around them. He turned to look back in the direction they had come.

"Tetsuya, do you feel like…?"

His words ended in a heavy grunt as Tetsuya turned and loosed a point-blank kido spell at his back, sending him crashing to the ground. But, accustomed to his own exploding kido spells, though his ears rang and his head spun, he wasn't knocked all of the way unconscious.

"What the fuck? Tetsuya!"

A second blast sent him tumbling away and he raised himself into a crouch.

"Hado number 31, Shakkaho!" the redhead cried, sending off several heavy blasts as Tetsuya flash stepped away, "Knock it off, Tetsuya! What's wrong with you? What are you doing?"

A chill shot down his spine at the sudden coldness that had come into the normally gentle blue eyes and the detached sound of his voice.

"Bakudo number four, Hainawa."

Fuck! I don't know if he's just not in control of himself or if this isn't Kuchiki Tetsuya at all!

"I don't know what's going on with you," he growled, thickening his reiatsu and flash stepping away as the powerful crawling vines tried to ensnare him, "but I know something's damned wrong here. Did Taicho even really call for me to come back with you? He didn't, did he?"

Tetsuya gave no answer, only loosing a soft, steamy breath, then filling the corridor with shadowy waterform copies of himself.

"What is this? What're you pulling? I don't wanna hurt you, but I will if you don't…"

He barely moved in time to avoid a kido spell fired from one of the copies that then thickened and transformed into Tetsuya's body.

"Shit!" the redhead gasped, barely escaping a kick aimed at his head, "You're not tryin' to kill me, here, but I can tell you don't mind knocking me out. Just stop it, okay, Tetsuya? This is not what you wanna do!"

"What do you know about me?" Tetsuya asked icily, his sapphire eyes darkening to midnight blue and glinting strangely, "Except…that I am the person who Byakuya loves instead of you."

Even now that Kisuke had replaced Byakuya in Renji's heart, the words still found their mark.

"I know you fucking well enough that I know you'd never say something like that to me," the redhead snarled, raising his hands in front of him, "I don't know who you are, but you are not Kuchiki Tetsuya, which means I can stop holding back and beat the shit out of you!"

He fired off more kido blasts, destroying a number of the waterforms as Tetsuya shifted rapidly from one to the next.

"It's no use," the noble said quietly, "You can't summon Zabimaru. I've used my reiatsu to confuse the signs so that your zanpakuto cannot sense your exact location, and I am sure that the spirits in your blade know better than to attempt to approach us while we are in the chaotic space that is the precipice world. Even if you could summon your blade, it would be useless to try to use its full power in such a confined space."

"You sure know a lot about me," Renji observed, raising the back of one hand to brush away a thin trail of blood that had leaked onto his face, "but even if you know about Zabimaru's power, you don't know shit about what those two idiots inside it will do to reach me."

Tetsuya gave a low, angry growl and flash stepped away as the monkey and snake spirits suddenly appeared and slashed at him with the released form of their master's sword.

"Hey there," the she-monkey called out, smirking at the redhead, "looks like you could use some help."

"Stupid asses," Renji grumbled, "Now, you know better than to come into the precipice world without the senkaimon! With everything distorted like it is, you coulda manifested right in front of the cleaner!"

"Don't underestimate us, you jerk!" Snakey snapped.

"Don't be troublesome," Tetsuya warned the two.

"Enough."

The voice that interrupted was smooth and quiet in tone, but the sound of it froze Renji and the two spirits and made Tetsuya's possessed body shudder. A hissing sounded around them, and Tetsuya's power faded, leaving them in the near darkness. Slow footsteps echoed as Aizen Sousuke appeared in the corridor ahead of them and approached Tetsuya's trembling form.

"Aizen!" Renji snarled through clenched teeth, his cinnamon eyes glowing red with hatred, "What the fucking HELL did you do to Tetsuya?"

Aizen let out a dismissive breath and moved closer to the spellbound half-noble, pausing to caress his cheek lightly.

"Don't you dare hurt him, or I'm gonna fucking kill you right now!" the redhead roared.

He flash stepped, grabbing the sword out of Monkey's hand and throwing himself at Aizen. Metal crashed against metal and he found himself crossing swords with a hazy-eyed Tetsuya.

"Hurt him?" Aizen repeated, frowning, "I wouldn't hurt Kuchiki Tetsuya. He has been extremely valuable. And for as long as he continues to be valuable, I have no reason to harm him…but…it's rather cold and dark here, don't you think, Renji? Why don't you come with me, and we'll have some hot tea and talk?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you, and I wouldn't drink a damned thing you gave me!" Renji shouted, drawing back again, "Tetsuya, get outta the way!"

He feinted, then shoved the half-noble aside, opening the way to Aizen. With a growl, he thrust his blade through Aizen's chest. A moment later, Aizen's next word sent ice shooting through the redhead's veins.

"Shatter."

Renji's eyes rounded and his hand reflexively released his sword as he found himself staring at Tetsuya's impaled body.

"Shit!" he screamed, his face going white as he backed away, "What are you doing? Stop it!"

"You can't hope to win," Aizen's voice said, echoing in the corridor as Tetsuya dropped to his knees, his hands wrapping around the blade that had sunk into his chest, "and if you delay things, Tetsuya will die. Now, what do you say, problem child? Will you come along quietly?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kisuke frowned as he halted below the training room ladder, his smoke-gray eyes narrowed.

I know I sensed the opening of a senkaimon down here, and Renji's reiatsu disappeared at the same time. Tetsuya's, as well. Did Tetsuya take Renji back to the Seireitei? They didn't stop to let me know, so perhaps it was something urgent?

"Urahara-san?"

He turned to see the reigai behind him, wearing a pensive expression that seemed out of place on Byakuya's replicated features as he approached. The reigai hesitated, then spoke quietly.

"I thought that you should know, I was talking with Tetsuya earlier, and I sensed something odd in his reiatsu."

Kisuke narrowed his eyes further, a strange, gnawing feeling in his gut.

"'Something odd, you say? You're gonna need to be more specific."

The reigai shook his head, wearing a matching frown.

"That's just it. I couldn't tell exactly what it was. When you created me, you gave me knowledge of a great many things relating to reiatsu. And I'm telling you, I have no reference for what I sensed in Tetsuya's! The best I can do to describe it is by saying that it felt in some way…distorted, as though something was acting on it, though I could not sense what or how."

A little, uncomfortable jolt went through the shopkeeper.

"Was there any notable change in Tetsuya's behavior when you sensed it?" he asked warily.

"Actually, yes," the reigai informed him, "At the moment I noticed it, he seemed to pause, as though suddenly distracted. He apologized for losing his train of thought. Although it seemed strange, it was only momentary, as though a switch was being thrown or something was being activated."

"That doesn't sound good," Kisuke concluded, rubbing his chin.

"Being focused on my task, I didn't think it warranted my attention, however, as I was preparing to meet with you to discuss Tetsuya's progress in his efforts, I felt his reiatsu shift again."

"And, if I'm not mistaken, you'll have felt the opening of a senkaimon down here and the disappearance of both Renji's and Tetsuya's presences."

"Yes," the mod soul affirmed.

"Really not good," Kisuke said, approaching the place where the two had passed through, "Also not good that they appear to have used a Kuchiki family senkaimon. As you know, the noble families use their own entries and paths, and these are not able to be monitored by the twelfth division."

"So, it seems that someone was not wanting them to be tracked," the reigai concluded.

"Yeah. All kinds of not fucking good. I have a nagging suspicion that…"

The opening of a new senkaimon brought their conversation to a halt as a tall, regal looking shinigami on horseback exited into the underground training room. At the sight of the man, the reigai took a step back, maintaining a position slightly behind the shopkeeper. Kisuke nodded at the new arrival in greeting.

"Byakuya."

"Urahara Kisuke," the noble leader replied.

"I was just about to contact you," Kisuke informed him, "I imagine you're here about Tetsuya."

"I am," Byakuya confirmed, sliding down from the black stallion's back.

He frowned as he took a closer look at the man standing a step behind the shopkeeper's shoulder.

"Kisuke," he said, his frown deepening, "what is the meaning of this? Why is he here? I know you are aware of the order for any remaining reigai…"

"Yes, I am," the shopkeeper answered, looking steadily into Byakuya's disapproving eyes.

"And I see you are showing the same disregard for the rules that resulted in your banishment."

"Aw, c'mon," Kisuke replied, managing a little smirk and a chuckle, "Now, you know that I wasn't guilty of what got me banished."

"Though you were certainly guilty of other things that would have gotten you banished just as quickly."

"Well, I can't deny that. But we should probably get right to the point. Byakuya, this reigai was the last one to see Tetsuya before he passed through the senkaimon with Renji. I assume you felt the disappearance of their reiatsu?"

"I did," Byakuya affirmed, "I wasn't aware that my cousin was in Karakura Town. As you know, Tetsuya's waterform ability helps him to mask his presence because he can set and move easily between waterforms, even when they are set on different sides of the precipice world."

"Yeah. It makes him hard to track."

"Something that is useful to us, but it also makes things more difficult in such a situation. Do either of you have any idea where Tetsuya and Renji might have gone?"

"We were just wondering that, ourselves," Kisuke answered, shaking his head.

Byakuya's grey eyes narrowed, studying the reigai's bowed head.

"You said that this reigai was the last one to see Tetsuya?" he inquired, "For what reason was my cousin breaking the law and interacting with him?"

"I think our friend, here, can speak for himself about that," Kisuke replied, tipping his hat forward slightly.

"I was asked by Urahara-san to assist Tetsuya in learning to manage his anxiety about your upcoming nuptials and the conception of your child. Your cousin was concerned about pleasing you, so I meant to reassure him about the effect he has on you."

Byakuya's eyes darkened and his reiatsu thickened warningly.

"You were…?"

The reigai's eyes widened slightly.

"I assure you, there was no impropriety," he insisted as Kisuke bit back a smirk and Byakuya's scowl deepened, "I merely provided a situation in which it was possible for Tetsuya to understand what might be passing through your mind in different situations."

"I see," Byakuya said stiffly, "And do you have any information that might help us to know where to look for Tetsuya?"

"I do not," the reigai answered regretfully, "but as I was explaining to Urahara-san, I did notice while I was speaking to Tetsuya, that he had an odd shift, a strange variance in his reiatsu while we were talking. He paused in speaking to me and apologized for his distraction. I did not think much about it at the time, because I was focused on…"

The reigai flinched and Byakuya's reiatsu flickered.

"I was…focused on my task," the copy continued, "But I felt it again, and I arrived here to inform Urahara-san, and I learned that he felt it too."

Kisuke sighed, gazing at the place where the senkaimon had opened.

"Byakuya, when I heard his story and I thought about what we both felt, I was reminded for a moment of someone."

He met the noble's eyes and watched them widen in shock and worry at the shopkeeper's next words.

"Hinamori Momo."