Chapter 5: Rain

(Have to run, but wanted to get this out before leaving for the day. Love going out to all of you Kenny/Bya fans. More is on the way! Cheers, Spunky)

Byakuya woke to find himself alone in the large, soft bed, wrapped warmly in blankets and still catching breaths of Kenpachi's strong, but oddly pleasant masculine scent. He laid still, listening for a time, then he took a deeper breath and sat up. Almost immediately, his ears began to ring loudly and he fell back against the pillows, watching the white ceiling spin dizzyingly over him. Nausea assaulted his insides and he staggered to his feet, barely making it into the bathroom before falling to his knees and emptying himself violently.

I wonder why I even bother to eat, he mused dryly.

He waited until the feeling of illness had passed, then returned to the bedroom, where he demolished several helpings of food. He was certain that as soon as he was finished, Kenpachi would arrive for the next mating. To his surprise, he heard no sound of the eleventh division taicho approaching.

I can't even sense him anymore. I would have no idea if he simply disappeared.

And a few days ago, I wouldn't have cared.

He left the bed and moved to the balcony doors, where he stood, watching the gentle rain falling outside.

Everything here is coming back to life. Why do I not feel like I am a part of what is being renewed? Being chosen to host the king's growing soul is an honor very few will ever have. I just…cannot seem to feel that sense of honor. I should welcome my king's touch and the sound of his voice. I shouldn't quiver when he is in control of Kenpachi and he touches me. But unlike that time when Kepachi and I made love of our own free will, the joinings with the king are horrid, emotionless occurrences. He never shows any sign of connection with me, nor does he offer any comfort. Maybe he is unable to do so. Perhaps his state of being is so different than mine that he simply cannot understand. It leaves me feeling so empty, I just long for the mating to end so that Kenpachi's eyes and face return to looking more lifelike. I would have cringed before at admitting it, but Kenpachi is surprisingly adept at sensing what I need most, and while I am weak like this, he offers me the support I need without his usual jibes. There is much more to this man than I realized.

I think…

Byakuya's thoughts stilled and his body stiffened for a moment as the door to his room slammed open and Kenpachi flash stepped across the room and grabbed him roughly. He yielded easily, wrapping his arms around the bigger man's shoulders as he was lifted and carried back to the bed and, rather than just dropping him, the transitional king tumbled down with him. The hands that bared him clenched and shook oddly, and when he sought the man's golden eyes, he felt a shaft of fear cut through him.

Something is wrong!

Kenpachi's gilded body heaved and shook with strain. Flickers of light escaped around his eyes and from under his finger and toenails, and he groaned in distress.

"B-byakuya!"

The pained gasp was more than ample warning of what was coming.

Byakuya turned and coaxed the distressed man down onto his back, mounting him quickly and moving his hips as Kenpachi moaned and writhed fitfully beneath him. Hot flashes of feral reiatsu burned around the two, and Byakuya felt the scathing warning of the danger they were facing.

"Sh-shit!" Kenpachi gasped his voice a mingling of his own and the transitional king's, "I don't know if I can…I don't wanna kill you!"

Byakiya glared down into his partner's golden eyes and moved his hips more urgently.

"We were chosen for our durability," he said calmly, "Place the reiatsu, Kenpachi."

"Hah…ah, fuck! Fuck!" the bigger man panted, "It's too goddamned much. It'll hurt you!"

Byakuya's silver eyes flashed with fury and his voice hissed dangerously in Kenpachi's golden ear.

"Don't you dare insult me by insinuating I am not up to the task of bearing the king's reiatsu! I was chosen for this! Now, place the damned reiatsu, Kenpachi!"

"W-wait!"

Byakuya's hand moved suddenly, delivering a stinging slap to the gilded man's face and making him blink in surprise as his quaking body was overcome. The explosion of reiatsu shattered the windows in the room and sent shockwaves out and into the hallways and other rooms, sending things crashing to the floor and cracking the walls and ceiling. Byakuya felt the seething heat explode inside him, and white fire blinded him for a moment as his body struggled to contain the power. Kenpachi went still beneath him, holding Byakuya against his chest and shaking more softly as he watched the noble fight to hold his challenged body together.

"I got you," he panted, a strange burning filling his golden eyes, "I got you, Kuchiki."

The silvery light burned blindingly around the noble, licking hungrily at his skin until it seemed he might just be incinerated. But just when the outcome seemed inevitable, Byakuya's teeth unclenched and his eyes began to calm as the forces in his body stabilized. Kenpachi's hands moved immediately to rub his belly gently as the noble crashed down onto the bed beside him and swiftly lost consciousness.

"You're okay now," he rumbled, more to reassure himself than to soothe the unconscious man beneath his hands, "Sorry. I dunno what happened. The reiatsu was rougher than it has been until now."

The big man's hands glowed brightly, lighting his face as he looked down worriedly at Byakuya.

"Hang in there, all right? Don't want you dying on us now, Kuchiki. It won't be much longer."

His hand curved around the noble's lovely silver face and he leaned down to kiss Byakuya's sweating forehead.

"I promise I'm gonna be nicer to you after all this shit is over. No teasing you about bein' a princess. No fucking princess could do what you're doing. I always knew you were tough. Pretty and tough. That's what I like best about you."

"Sh-shut up, you moron," Byakuya huffed weakly, "I am fine. You can stop fussing over me now."

"Eh, you heard all that, huh?" Kenpachi asked, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck, "I thought you were passed out."

"I was only unconscious for a moment, then I woke to find you going on as though I was some injured child."

He sat up slowly, holding onto the bigger man's arm.

"Disgraceful!"

"That's the stuffy little princess I remember," Kenpachi said, grinning and patting the noble's scowling face.

"You said you…"

Kenpachi shrugged.

"Heat of the moment."

"You're reprehensible."

Kenpachi's smile warmed, sending an odd feeling of connection through Byakuya's chest that radiated shockingly in his loins. The noble was surprised into stillness and gentle compliance as his golden partner's lips sought his and caressed them affectionately.

"And you're fucking beautiful."

"I am not forgiving you for that horrendous display," Byakuya said coldly, "Were you trying to completely obliterate me?"

"It's not my goddamned fault. I don't control how much stuff comes out of the prism. I just gather it and plant it. It's your job to render it, remember?"

"I hadn't forgotten," Byakuya said dryly.

He reached a hand down to rub his belly, then paused and looked more closely. He frowned and touched the much bigger bump that had formed, scowling as Kenpachi's rakish laugh rattled his already frazzled nerves.

"Pumped you up like a basketball there, didn't we? You know, you'd look really cute, all knocked up with our kids."

Byakuya's silver eyes flashed and his reiatsu sizzled threateningly.

"I did not just hear you say that!" he snarled.

"Hey, take it easy," Kenpachi laughed, regaining his more casual demeanor as the danger passed, "I was giving you a compliment."

"That is nothing compared to what I will give you if you ever insult me like that again! Your insistence on constantly comparing me to women is…!"

"HEY!" Kenpachi yelled, grabbing the front of the noble's open yukata and dragging him closer, "shut up, all right? I know you're not a woman. And before we came here, that used to matter to me. But the more time we spend here, the more I see you're not like any woman. You're more beautiful than any woman. You're good in a fight. You're down and dirty when we're arguing and you're so good in bed that it makes me feel like crying after I've been with you! So, get your goddamned nose outta the air, come down off your fuckin' high horse and just make love to me, okay? A few more minutes of foreplay and I'm gonna go off, in you or outta you, get it?"

"F-foreplay?" Byakuya repeated in a stunned tone as he was taken down onto the bed and his flustered mouth invaded forcibly.

"Yeah, foreplay," Kenpachi panted, doing a hasty job of preparing him, "You know all the tough talk just makes me hard. Used to be that it made me hard for fighting. But fighting with you like we do, all I wanna do is make that pretty body of yours shimmy on mine."

"Y-you…!"

Byakuya's words were stopped by another bout of fevered kisses.

"I love you, Kuchiki."

"You do not!"

"Yeah, I do."

"You're out of your mind!" the noble insisted.

But when the bigger man's hand touched his thigh, he blushed at how quickly he spread his legs in answer. His mind seemed to fill with blinding white light and he lost all ability to think clearly. Still, he felt the rough slide of the other man's fingers along his inner thigh and the heat of Kenpachi's golden flesh as he moved closer and positioned himself.

"I don't know if you'll ever let me touch you again when we go home," Kenpachi breathed into his ear as he joined their bodies, so I won't plan on it happening. I'm just glad you're letting me do it to you here."

"I-it is just the mating ritual," Byakuya managed, trying to sound cold and distant, but failing completely, "Do not think that…"

"I'm not thinking anything, sweetheart," Kenpachi purred, moving his hips and sending scandalously lovely tickles of pleasure through his silver companion's undulating form, "nothing but enjoying how this feels…being with you this way. Y'know, I'm glad now that we were picked to do this, and not because of the sex. I never got to know you like this, Kuchiki."

Byakuya looked back at him wordlessly, unable to say anything as the heat and rush of arousal overpowered him. He surrendered to a heavy flurry of jarring thrusts, almost howling with delight as the coil in his belly snapped viciously sending him tumbling headlong into a furious release. He clung tightly to Kenpachi's muscular body, reeling at how firmly the other man was holding him too. He closed his eyes, reveling in the blazing warmth that filled him and unable anymore to deny what he was sure he was supposed to.

"Felt good, didn't it?" Kenpachi drawled breathlessly, "I got to you?"

Byakuya didn't answer right away. Instead, he continued to look steadily into the bigger man's gilded eyes and his fingers brushed at the moisture on his face.

"Sorry," Kenpachi apologized, "I probably kinda stink."

"Since when are you worried about offending me?" Byakuya sighed in a strangely casual tone.

"I should go and clean up."

"Don't you dare move," Byakuya warned him, tracing his lips with a graceful fingertip.

Kenpachi gave a little, rough giggle.

"Y'know, if I don't get outta ya', we might end up doing it again."

Byakuya let out a soft, dismissive breath.

"Do you hear me complaining?" he asked, arching a fine eyebrow.

"What's in your head, Kuchiki?" the bigger man mused, "One second you talk like you can't stand me, and the next you're threatening me if I try to leave. Which way do you want it? You're kinda confusing me."

"Then, you and I are on the same page," Byakuya concluded.

"Yeah," Kenpachi laughed, "neither one of us knows what the hell we're doing here."

He let out a low growl as Byakuya's slender hands slid down his back and caressed his soft, round bottom.

"You really don't know when to stop, do you?" he snickered, "You're a glutton for punishment, sweetcheeks."

"Please do not ever call me that again."

Kenpachi's face came closer and he moved his hips, making Byakuya flinch and gasp in reaction. He licked and suckled the noble's soft earlobe, rubbing against him until the two were aroused again. The two men closed their eyes, keeping their movements slow and deep as the feeling of arousal grew stronger and more insistent. Their hands touched each other's faces caressing tenderly as they kissed and nipped at each other's lips. The gentler touches gave way to firmer handling, then to clenching as they writhed harder and faster together. Brightly colored lights seemed to explode in front of their eyes as the two climaxed together and descended into a flurry of finishing kisses.

Kenpachi dragged himself free of Byakuya's body and collapsed beside him, panting hard and smiling so that his face hurt.

"That was amazing, princess," he said so affectionately that Byakuya couldn't even register his usual disdain at the feminine designation, "You are fucking amazing!"

"You are surprisingly enjoyable when you cease taunting me and use that body for something other than beating things to death."

"That may be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Kenpachi giggled, snuggling closer and running his long tongue up the side of Byakuya's sweating throat, "Damn, if even your sweat don't taste good!"

"Do not patronize me," Byakuya huffed softly, lacing his damp fingers together with the bigger man's, "I smell just as awful as you right now. It is just the pheromones that are confusing our senses so that we are not repulsed by it. We need to get up and shower."

Kenpachi nodded and climbed out of the bed.

"I'll get it started," he offered.

Byakuya nodded and sat up more slowly, sliding the sheet down so that he could look again at the large bump on his abdomen. He tried to imagine it being a real child and found his mind overtaken by a gripping image of walking in Kuchiki Manor's serene gardens with his hand in Kenpachi's and his belly sticking out in front of him. His normal anger at such a thought refused to come to the fore, and all he could think of was how beautiful it would feel, knowing that it was a real child, not just a being who would leave his body and cease to care about him.

But I do care, Byakuya, the king's voice whispered into his mind, I wasn't able to, at first, because I was just a collection of reiatsu. Your interactions with Zaraki Kenpachi have taught me how to connect with others. It is an important skill I must have, if I am to be a capable monarch. I am learning a great deal from you and Kenpachi…and now, I am able to tell you.

Thank you, Byakuya.

And I am sorry for the hurt I am causing you. I promise that it won't be much longer, and you will be able to go home and pursue your own life again. You have proven yourself to be a loyal and devoted noble servant.

Byakuya sucked in a surprised breath and felt tears sliding onto his cheeks. He heard Kenpachi exit the bathroom and the sound of his feet suddenly stopping.

"Kuchiki?"

I don't know what is wrong with me. I thought I had too much pride to cry in front of that man. But the king's words…they cut a path right through my heart. I didn't understand before, and I thought he was being cold. The truth is, he just didn't know. And now that he knows, he is sorry and he is feeling pain too. Pain, gratitude, remorse. We are making a good king.

I just wonder if we will really survive the process.

He said I would, but what was the meaning of his warning before?

Kenpachi's arm wrapped around his shoulders, and the bigger man helped him to his feet and guided him towards the bathroom.

"C'mon, you'll feel better after a hot shower," Kenpachi mumbled worriedly.

He barely held back a sob as, steps from the shower, Kenpachi stiffened, and the two felt the call of the king's prism.

"You gonna be all right?" Kenpachi asked anxiously.

Byakuya nodded and wiped at his eyes.

"Go."

"You sure?"

"I will be fine now. Go, Kenpachi."

He bit his lip gently, a little sweet ache gripping his heart at the regretful expression the other man wore as he turned and walked away.