Chapter 4: Delineations
Your heart is unsettled, Master, Arashi's wispy equine voice whispered into Tetsuya's mind, And your reiatsu seems equally disturbed. Are you all right?
I will be fine, Tetsuya assured the stallion, his blue eyes focused on the trail ahead of them, I am merely distracted.
Were you dreaming about him last night again? queried the stallion, He seems to occupy your thoughts with renewed ferocity these days, ne
Yes, he does, Tetsuya was forced to admit, I am not sure why. I know in my heart that I accepted Naoki's death long ago. Byakuya-sama helped me to do him proper honor by having a place made for him within the family cemetery, although there was no body ever found. All that is buried there is a rose that he pressed and dried between two broken stones in our cell...the one that he put in my hair when we married in the prison. But even so, I do not question that he is gone. I made peace with that with Byakuya-sama's assistance some time ago. I do not know what is causing this.
Arashi quieted as he reached the guard post at the northeast edge of the estate border, an the watch commander greeted them.
"Greetings, Kuchiki-san," he said, bowing respectfully.
"Good evening, Tsutomu," Tetsuya answered, inclining his head, "How goes the watch?"
"It has been quiet," reported the other man, "The reiatsu in the area has remained at normal levels, sir."
"Very well," said Tetsuya, "The evening watch is just behind me and will relieve your group soon. I am off to the next checkpoint."
"Good evening, Kuchiki-san," Tsutomu answered as Arashi turned away and broke into a gentle lope.
Arashi followed the trail along the edge of the manor property, minding their heading while his shinigami master read the reiatsu traces and physical signs of passage in the area. But although there was nothing in either to indicate trouble, Tetsuya felt an odd shiver of uncertainty inside that only increased as dusk fell over the area and they closed on the final guard station. Still short of that final checkpoint, Tetsuya felt the touch of eyes watching him, and brought Arashi to a stop.
What is it, Master? Did you sense something?
Tetsuya opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again as a young man peeked out from the trees, smiling at Tetsuya and putting a finger to his lips.
Master?
Tetsuya blinked, and when his eyes opened again, the young man was gone.
Master, please, you seem distressed. What is it?
Tetsuya slid down off of the stallion's back.
"Go on to the final checkpoint and wait for me there," he directed the stallion.
Master, given the state of things, I don't think that...
Arashi snorted unhappily as Tetsuya's flash step sounded, and he disappeared into the trees. He looked around, suddenly unsettled. He reached out with his senses and only registered that Tetsuya was still somewhere nearby. He thought about following the young man's order to go on to the guard station, but felt unable to comply, although he couldn't think of any reason he should not.
Master...
Within the trees, Tetsuya paused and looked for physical signs of passage, and quickly found signs that someone had, indeed, been there in the trees recently. But reiatsu in the area still seemed normal and undsturbed.
So this would seem to have been a transient...someone passing through. Not malevolent and not possessing any appreciable power.
Still...
What is this feeling that seems to resonate all through me? And could I really have seen that man who looked like Naoki? I saw someone. I know that. But one with no powers should not have been able to move away so quickly.
He studied the path that the person had taken, but lost the trail a mere few steps later.
So very odd...
Tetsuya frowned, his intelligent mind shuffling the pieces of the puzzle as darkness fell over the area.
"Tetsuya."
He jumped at the sound of the voice and looked around him, but spotted no one in close enough proximity to be the speaker. He looked up into the trees, and sensed the reiatsu around him again, but found no sign of anything out of the ordinary. A moment later, the reiatsu around them spiked. And to his surprise, when he sensed the presence within the reiatsu, it seemed as though the power was emanating from his own body.
"What...?" he managed.
He turned, reaching out for Arashi in his mind, but shocked out of it again as Naoki appeared in front of him, and stopped him, placing his hands gently but firmly on Tetsuya's forearms. His eyes rounded in distress and his body seemed to go numb, his knees weakening as Naoki looked into his eyes with an apologetic expression.
"Don't be afraid," he whispered, "We will find a way to escape him."
Tetsuya felt a chill slice through him as another presence loomed up behind him, the reiatsu carefully masked. He started to turn, but was shocked with a paralyzing jolt of kido, and collapsed into Naoki's arms.
"Y-you won't...hurt him? You promised, Oro..."
The young man reeled as his black-eyed companion backhanded him hard across the face, sending him and the unconscious Tetsuya crashing to the ground.
"Shut up," the black-eyed man hissed, "And bring him."
The brown-eyed man climbed to his feet, wiping the blood from his lips. He leaned over and gently lifted Tetsuya into his arms, looking down at him with tragically sad and worried eyes.
He lied to me. He has been lying to me since that first day, Tetsuya. I have to follow his orders for now, because I don't have any powers, or any way to escape him. But...I won't let him go through with his plans. I will find a way to stop him. I won't let him hurt you ever again. Not ever, Tetsuya.
I would rather die a thousand deaths than to let him touch you.
"Damn it!" swore the black-eyed man.
"What is it? What's happening?" asked the young man who held Tetsuya.
"It's that infernal beast of his."
The man thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Take him to the prison," he ordered the other, "You know what to do."
The brown-eyed man's lips tightened in protest, but he managed a short nod. He started to leave, but was stopped by the grip of a malevolent hand on his shoulder.
"I sense the rebelliousness inside you, boy," the black-eyed man said warningly, "And you should remember that you are getting something out of this too. You two will belong to me after this, but at least, for you, it means that he'll still be alive. I could still decide to kill him. I should after the way he defied me, and how he has used Byakuya to shield himself from me for all of these years. But Byakuya is distracted with that commoner right now. And while he is, I am going to do what I should have done long ago. I am ridding our clan of the common trash. And when I'm done, no Kuchiki will ever again dare to insult our clan's name by binding it to common trash. Byakuya and that red haired peasant are going to die. And this one will kneel at my feet in the end, even if I have to break every bone in his arrogant body to make him do it! Now, go, before I just decide to rid myself of the burden of both of you useless half-bloods!"
The black-eyed man watched for a moment as his companion carried Tetsuya away, then he sensed the presence of the incoming stallion and quickly confused the signs on the area in which he stood. He flash stepped away just as Arashi arrived and slid to a stop, his head turning this way and that, searching for any sign of his master.
Tetsuya? Master, where are you?
He walked around the area, searching carefully and found a faint trail leading deeper into the trees. He followed, reaching out with his senses, but finding nothing. He came into a small clearing and paused, looking around again as he sensed a faint presence. He heard an odd whisper, then reared as a swift, black snake shot out of the trees and bore down on him. The snake plunged into the stunned stallion's abdomen, and Arashi felt it coil tightly inside him.
You! he managed, as the coiled snake inside him tightened painfully, and its fangs sank into the stallion's core spirit center, making him scream and rear again.
The snake's venom flooded Arashi's core spirit center, sending the stallion's own power coursing through him at a dangerously high level. Arashi screamed in terror as his own reiatsu exploded all around him, burning at him from all directions and sending him crashing to the forest floor.
The snake remained coiled inside the fallen horse until it was sure that he was incapacitated. Then, it slid out of his abdomen, careful to mask all signs of its passage, before flicking its tongue lazily and returning to its smiling master.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Here's your tea, Taichou," Renji said, smiling as he set the tea down in Byakuya's desk.
And although he longed to drop all pretenses and just climb onto the noble's lap, then and there, he forced himself to settle for the touch of those dark eyes and the next words Byakuya spoke.
"Arigatou, Abarai fukutaichou. If you have finished everything, you are welcome to leave."
Renji's smile widened.
"Are you kidding, Taichou?" he asked, "And miss out on time with you? Why would I want to do that?"
Byakuya looked up at him dispassionately.
"Because I have to work late tonight. And I do not have time to de distracted. Soutaichou wants me to sift through the research we provided and use it to procure some sort of coherent battle strategy. And he is not inclined to wait. I am sorry, Renji, but I just cannot..."
He paused as Renji's mouth captured his in a long, very savory kiss. He started to protest as it ended, both for the fact of it being a horridly beautiful and effective attempt to distract him, and because it had occurred in plain view, and at work. But something stopped the words in his mouth as Renji's eyes locked on his and the redhead squeezed his hands gently.
"Okay, Taichou, I'll go so that I won't distract you. Just promise me that when you finish and you're about to go home all exhausted, or collapse in your quarters here that you'll send a hell butterfly so that I can come and tuck you in for the night."
"I am not a child, Abarai," said the noble, looking offended.
"Yeah, I know," Renji chuckled, "but...I really like watching you fall asleep in my arms."
Byakuya shifted uncomfortably and looked back down at the papers in front of him.
"Renji...I...I don't know if we should...be in the habit of sleeping together."
Renji's smile faded.
"What?" he asked uncertainly, "I thought that you liked sleeping next to me. That's what you said."
"Yes," said Byakuya, looking even more unsettled, "It is just that..."
"What? Was it something I did? Was it because I got you angry at me? Just tell me what I did, Taichou. Whatever it is, I won't do it again. I promise!"
Byakuya sighed.
"It isn't your fault," he said quietly, setting down his brush and looking Renji in the face, "I just...I felt that...I indicated a readiness for something that I am not really prepared for. Ah...I am saying this badly..."
"Hey," said Renji, hiding the hurt behind a sad smile, "It's fine. You seemed kind of spooked after us sleeping next to each other."
"I wasn't spooked," argued the noble, "It is just that, as much as I enjoyed sleeping in your arms, I was surprised at how it...how it affected me."
"I'm not really understanding you here, Taichou," Renji said, losing his smile again, "But look, if you need time to think things over, take it. It's not like we have to be in a hurry or anything. And anyway, I can see you're not really able to deal with this now, with Soutaichou on your case and all. I'm going to go. I'll see you tomorrow."
He turned and started for the door, but stopped just short of it as Byakuya's flash step sounded, and the noble placed himself between Renji and the door. He looked up into the redhead's confused expression, searching for the right words. As he struggled to find them, a knock sounded on the door. Byakuya turned and opened it to find Hisagi Shuuhei, Izuru Kira and Matsumoto Rangiku outside.
"Ah, sorry to bother you, Kuchiki taichou," Hisagi said respectfully, "But we are looking for Renji. He was supposed to meet us for drinks and dancing tonight."
Rangiku giggled.
"And we totally plan on making him tell us who his new secret lover is! We know he's interested in somebody! We're going to force it out of him, whatever it takes, ne?"
Byakuya opened the door wider.
"Abarai, it is for you."
He turned back to his desk and sat down as Renji approached his friends and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. And as much as he tried not to let it bother him. As much as he told himself that it wasn't his right to feel jealousy when he had already told Renji he was otherwise engaged for the evening, he couldn't help but thinking about how handsome Renji would look, smiling, laughing and dancing to loud music. And he tried to see how he would, in any way fit into that picture, but couldn't manage it.
I am a noble clan leader and Renji's taichou. I cannot be a part of that. But it also isn't right to alienate Renji from his friends. His friends and I are in two separate worlds. Renji crosses the boundaries easily and fits into both places, but...I do not.
How do I explain that to him?
And how do I tell him that the reason I was afraid...yes, afraid to share a bed with him tonight was not about him at all...but about waking up in someone's arms for the first time in over fifty years, and not knowing if I could bear to lose that again. I hate being alone. But more than that, I hate being teased with such happiness and feeling afraid of losing it. Losing Hisana weakened me. I cannot love so fearlessly as Renji does. But how will I make him understand that?
He heard the footsteps of the ones outside as they walked off, talking and laughing. Byakuya waited breathlessly, but the door to the squad room remained closed. And as much as he knew that there was nothing at all wrong with Renji leaving and spending time with his friends, he ached inside at being left behind. It was a common enough feeling as his obligations constantly took things and people away from him. He usually bore the pain with grace and perfect control of his emotions, but something about it being Renji that was walking away from him, made him want to throw aside his obligations and go running heedlessly after the redhead.
Why does he bring out such reckless desires in me?
Byakuya stood and walked to the door. He opened it and stepped outside, and ran headlong into Renji, who was standing alone outside the division doors and staring up at the moon. Renji's hands wrapped around his upper arms, steadying him as they collided. Their eyes locked and neither seemed able to speak for a few moments. Finally, Byakuya took a breath and collected himself.
"Abarai, I thought that you had gone," he said quietly, "I had excused you for the night, and I was otherwise occupied, in any case. Why are you still here?"
Renji looked back at him with an unusually stoic expression.
"You were trying to say something to me before they showed up. I didn't think it would be right to leave. But at the same time, you looked sort of...undecided. So, I didn't know whether or not to bother you by going back in. I was just trying to decide what to do."
Byakuya sighed and looked down at where Renji's hands still held on to his arms.
"And I was just struggling with what to say if you came back inside," Byakuya added, "Renji, I still don't know how to explain myself, and I will understand if you would rather be with someone with less issues."
"So you'll let me just walk away if I want to. Is that what you're saying," the redhead asked, an edge of anger in his voice.
"I...It would not be easy, I admit. But someone as young and beautiful and strong as you are belongs with someone with like qualities...not with someone so caught up in what was, that he cannot face the very thought of it repeating itself."
"Whoa...hold on a sec," Renji said, letting go of the noble's arms and holding his hands up defensively, "Taichou, do you even know what you're saying?"
"I do."
"No, you don't. Or you would never have spouted such utter bullshit!" Renji exclaimed, "You are not that much older than me, number one. And strong? Taichou, you still kick my ass all over that training ground, practically every day!"
He captured Byakuya's face in his hands and couldn't help but smile at the wide-eyed expression he received in return.
"And I have to say, you wrote the book on 'beautiful,' Taichou. The only thing that you said that makes any sense to me at all is the part about not wanting to repeat the past. I get that, because it must have been hell losing someone you loved. And you know what? I can't tell you that one of us or the other or both aren't going to die. We will eventually, ne?"
Byakuya hesitated for a moment, then nodded silently.
"Then, that just means that we shouldn't waste time right now, doesn't it?" Renji concluded, "And trying to make me leave so that you don't have to worry about me dying is a pretty stupid thing to do anyway."
"Renji!"
"Well, it is!" said the redhead, bringing his face closer to Byakuya's, "I say, yeah, the universe or gods of fate...whatever, they're going to have our way with us, but why let them have all of the fun? If we worry, we'll still die eventually, Taichou."
"I am aware of that," Byakuya said dryly, "But that is no reason to throw caution to the wind and forget one's obligations."
"No. So we won't," Renji said firmly, "But we will enjoy the time we have together, Taichou."
"And that means?" Byakuya asked, frowning.
"It means, we're going back inside, and I am going to go and have a nice hot shower, after which I am going to curl up in your bed in your quarters and wait for you to finish your work and join me."
"And what if I do not want to have you invade my quarters and my bed?"
Renji grinned and looked down at himself.
"C'mon," he quipped, "Who wouldn't want to wrap himself around this all night?"
"Abarai..." Byakuya said, unable to hold back an amused smile.
"C'mon," Renji went on, "You know you loved running your fingers over my tattoos, ne?"
He leaned in close, scorching the noble's ear with his hot breath.
"And I promise, if you let me invade your bed, I'll let you see all of them...touch all of them, if you want to. You'll forget all about one of us dying, I promise you!"
"Renji..." Byakuya said, but couldn't finish as a genuine laugh escaped him.
He caught his breath and then lost it again as Renji pushed him up against the squad room door and fed him a long, savory kiss.
"Let's go back inside," Renji said, running his fingers through the noble's silken hair, "I do want to lie down next to you sometime before morning..."
They entered the headquarters and went their separate ways, Renji adjourning to the shower, while the distracted noble worked at battle strategy as visions of a naked, wet Abarai Renji, luxuriating under a hot spray of water assaulted his mind. The images pushed him to find the most sound strategy in record time, and he flash stepped into his bedroom, just as the shower in Renji's quarters turned off. Throwing off his clothes hastily, he wrapped his body in a red satin yukata and slid into the bed and turned out the lights. Moments later, the door opened and Renji slipped into the room. He left the lights off and started to crawl into the bed, when he found a warm, affectionate body tackled his. He looked up at Byakuya, smirking.
"You must've set some kind of record, coming up with a battle strategy so fast," he mused, "I hope you weren't careless. It would suck if you were so distracted by me that our troops fell into a trap."
"The strategy is sound," Byakuya assured him, "And...I believed that you promised me something as payment for letting you in here?"
"Ah...right," Renji said, smiling as Byakuya opened his yukata, and the noble's graceful fingers began to trace the bold lines on his chest.
He breathed in Renji's warm, just showered scent and felt himself harden. He leaned forward to kiss the redhead, but was distracted by a hell butterfly. Renji yanked him down again and dragged him into another fiery kiss.
"Screw that, you need to sleep sometime tonight," the redhead said, swatting at the annoying insect.
The hell butterfly floated out of his reach and hovered, delivering its message, although Byakuya hadn't indicated readiness. Byakuya went rigid upon hearing.
"Priority message from house security. The guard post on the north-central border of the property sensed a disturbance in the woods and discovered Kuchiki Tetsuya's stallion, unconscious and badly injured. Reiatsu readings in the area indicate that he either suffered some event that caused his own reiatsu to explode out of control, or because his reiatsu and Tetsuya-san's are the same...that perhaps it was Tetsuya-san who attacked him. Sir, Tetsuya-san is missing, and we cannot sense him anywhere on the grounds!"
