Chapter 20: Hidden Tiger Garden

Byakuya stood quietly in the dressing area of the opulent room he had been given, with Kazuhiko, himself, dressing him in fine, royal robes of dark navy that were embroidered with a brilliant fall of bright pink sakura petals. He marveled at being so honored that the king's own hands should dress him in preparation for the joining that would bring the first royal heir in an age. Kazuhiko wore a peaceful smile as his hands lovingly set the rich material in place, then he freed the satin lengths of the noble's fine hair and combed them until they shined.

"You know," Kazuhiko said quietly, "Of all of the noble lords who have served over the years, I think you come closest to the Kuchiki progenitor who the first king crafted in the royal gardens. And it is not just the loveliness of your body, Byakuya, it is the strength, will and devotion of your heart. I know that service to the crown has been a heavy weight for you to bear, at times, but you have always endured with grace and poise."

He smiled and kissed the noble on one cheek, then the other. Byakuya descended onto one knee in front of the soon to be king and bowed his head dutifully.

"What would our worlds be, if we did not set an example of what all should strive to become?" Byakuya asked solemnly, "Who are we, if we do not ask of ourselves what we would demand of others? Our future is not assured by what we have, but who we are."

Kazuhiko nodded and gestured towards the chamber door.

"And you are an honor to your family's name…and now ours also. We are grateful for your service. I know that it has been a challenging and sometimes very lonely path for you to walk, but I think you know already, that having found your way to Renji's side, you have found the path to a peaceful and beautiful future, filled with the brightness and joy that you have so longed for. That this will come with you being embraced by the wild, spirited arms of a tiger spirit may surprise you, but you will be stunned by the beauty and fulfillment the rewards of your long search for happiness will yield."

"Being with Renji has already been both lovely and challenging," Byakuya answered, "I admit that no one has ever given me the gifts that his love brings. Even when I thought that Renji would follow through with his plans to leave me, just the promise that some part of his love would remain with me kept me hopeful."

Kazuhiko nodded.

"You told yourself it was enough," he said, curving a palm around the noble's fine cheek, "but it is not wrong for you to want more from your connection to our son. We long for Renji to be happy and well adjusted, but it is also our desire for you to share in the delight of your bond. So, no more dismissing your own desires. Enter the garden and find the treasure that waits for you…one your heart has known must exist, but never dared to hope."

"I am hopeful now," Byakuya said, bowing deeply, then accepting Kazuhiko's hand and letting himself be guided into the hallway.

Soft kido lights illuminated their path, into the heart of the vast estate. They came to a large, polished dark wood door and Kazuhiko laid his hand on it, speaking a few words in the ancient language of the kings. The door glowed softly for a moment, then slowly opened.

"Walk to the place that touches your heart most deeply," Kazuhiko advised him, "Renji will come to meet you there."

Byakuya stepped out into gardens so vast and wild and heartbreakingly beautiful that his feet could barely move to take the steps. All around, wind moved through the tender boughs of sakura and plum, sending a dance of soft petals swirling ahead of him, then laying themselves at his feet as Byakuya passed ever more deeply into the idyllic environs. He wasn't sure what to expect, but found as he walked, that he had a strange sense of where he was heading. He knew which turns to take, and he was certain when he came to a certain, pretty, shaded hillside, that it was the right place for him to stop and wait. He laid down beneath one of the trees and turned his eyes to the bright blue sky. He knew that the time for his joining with Renji had come, when the light slowly faded and night brought out the bright, moon and blazing stars. He closed his eyes, breathing slowly as he felt the strong presence of his husband's feral soul.

XXXXXXXXXX

I still feel like this can't be real," Renji mused, "like it's gotta be some kinda mistake. I mean, when I think of what a king should be like, I think of someone like Byakuya…beautiful, noble, graceful…not me!"

"You are more kingly than you realize," Torao said, setting Renji's royal robes in place, "There needs to be a balance between brute strength and statescraft. Kazuhiko and I found our balance, and you and Byakuya will find yours too. When you go into the gardens, follow your heart. It has always been your best guide. It will guide you right."

"I don't know about that," Renji said, smirking, "I've always kinda felt that I was going from one disaster to the next. I was always clumsy and I felt stupid a lot of the time."

"Do you think that tigers are born graceful and majestic?" Torao chided him, smirking, "We all start out as awkward cubs, and we learn to be graceful and instinctive. You are now much more majestic, having down away with those awkward years and having directed yourself at something greater. Do not sell yourself short, Renji. You have a soul meant for greatness, whether or not you ever serve a day as king. You may lead by being king or you may lead by your acts that will bring greatness back to our name. Kazuhiko and I feel blessed to have you as our son."

Renji found himself smiling helplessly.

"Well, I feel pretty blessed to have you now too. I wanna say it makes up for the shitty childhood I had, and I'm sure it will. I just…"

"It was a great deal of suffering that you went through. But think about what it taught you. Would you truly appreciate what you have, if you didn't understand the pain of having nothing? Would you be compassionate towards others if you didn't know the pain of thoughtlessness? Would your heart know how to dream and your mind to conquer if you had not been greatly challenged. One thing that is true is that no great leader has ever had an easy life. But they have full lives."

"Yeah," Renji said, his heart calming as understanding passed over him, "I think you're right. It was really hard growing up in Inuzuri, but it did make me determined and it did make me want to be strong. Then, meeting Byakuya made me want to be powerful and respected."

"You are now all of that and more," Torao assured him.

He took Renji's hand and led him out of the dressing room, and down a different hallway than the one Kazuhiko had led Byakuya through.

"Renji, you are ready now to step out into a larger world, but as you go, remember the seemingly very small things that ground you. When you walk, breathe the air slowly into your lungs and feel how vast the sky and lands are. See all of the beauty that surrounds you and embrace the freedom of choosing your path. You may not have felt free while suffering as you did in your childhood, but taking that path ensured that each step was your own…and that the destination you reached was one that you, yourself had desired to reach."

"You're right," Renji said, squeezing Torao's hand affectionately, "I wanted to be strong and graceful, and I am. I wanted to have a connection to my past, and now I have that. I wanted to be loved, and now, the most beautiful and powerful man I've ever known, loves me. I wanted a family, and now I have my family back again."

"Your will is strong," Torao said proudly, his body shimmering as he took on his brilliant, fiery tiger form, "like Kazuhiko's and mine. Go and claim what your willfulness and strength have won for you!"

Torao's great paw extended and touched Renji's palm, and the redhead's body shimmered as his father's had, and took on his tiger form. He turned and loosed a shattering howl that made the great door in front of him fly back, opening the way into the gardens. Sakura and plum spun fiercely on the breezes, and the heavy tread of his paws left markings in the fallen petals. Renji's feline eyes closed and he sensed Byakuya ahead of him somewhere, his reiatsu relaxed as he waited patiently for the arrival of his royal mate.

I've never felt very lucky, Renji mused, I grew up in a shit hole. I never had a family. I had to fight for every inch, and I was gangly and awkward and looked down on. But no one handed me a thing. And I never felt constricted. I was poor, but I was free. I'm glad that I grew up that way. I see now just how all of that made me worthy of taking the steps I am now. I feel royal. I could never say that while I was struggling to find something to eat, scratching out a living, overcoming my inadequacies and fighting tooth and nail to make something of myself. But I can say it now. And I can lie down with Byakuya, the man who made all of this possible, and I can give him the love he deserves. It doesn't feel anymore like I'm asking him to lower himself.

And indeed, when he reached the place where his husband laid on his back, his robes spilled around him and his dark, beautiful eyes focused up on the stars, all he felt was the perfection of this moment that had come for them…the moment when the prophecy would happen, yes, but also the moment they had never thought could happen.

A little growl escaped him, and Renji felt a powerful ache in his loins as his feline eyes glowed and fixed on the man in front of him. He stalked slowly forward, moving until he stood, poised over Byakuya's resting form, then he bared his teeth and laid down, warming the noble's body with his own. He nuzzled Byakuya's cheek with his furry one, then tenderly licked the side of his face before changing to his shinigami form.

Byakuya looked up at him through dreamy, affectionate eyes, losing for a moment their usually stern bearing. Just that hint of vulnerability stoked the igniting fires in Renji's body, and his hands moved to slowly peel away the rich, layered robes, gently baring Byakuya's wickedly beautiful body and setting his heart pounding furiously.

There was a time when I feared just stepping where he had, just standing in Byakuya's shadow. I saw death in his eyes and felt the ice in his heart. I didn't know what was beneath all of that…and now it lies here, waiting to be explored.

I am the luckiest bastard in the three worlds!

Byakuya Kuchiki loves me.

He paused to admire the noble's sweet smelling and tender, pale flesh, knowing well the fearsome power and dangerous nature of the man beneath it. He fell into the man's deadly grey eyes, and into the complex soul underneath that had always enchanted and confounded him. His lips found Byakuya's and caressed them, first gently, then with growing passion as their mouths opened and attacked each other's.

"Are you sure about this?" Renji paused to ask, his heart dancing madly in his chest as Byakuya looked up at him and offered him a rare smile.

"I would be honored," Byakuya answered.

Renji's head tilted and his eyes narrowed.

"I'm not asking you to submit, here," he insisted, "I'm asking if you're sure that you want this."

"And I have answered you with all of my heart," Byakuya replied, his fingers playing over the bold markings on his husband's muscular shoulders.

"But…the way you were before," Renji reminded him, "It didn't seem like you wanted this. I don't want this to be just something else you do because you feel like it's required."

"And I assure you that my decision to be with you and carry your offspring is not something I am doing out of duty. I love you, Renji Akazaki Abarai, and I am proud to accept you into my body, into my heart, into my soul. If I did not dream of this before, it is because my heart was too disciplined to imagine it. But you have turned the life I knew upside down and that has made all things possible."

"I feel like anything's possible when I'm with you," Renji agreed, wetting his fingers slowly in Byakuya's mouth, then sliding them down, over the noble's white flesh, to begin an unhurried preparation.

How can a man be so soft and smell so sweet, but also be the strongest and most frightening person I've ever met? How can there be so much underneath the eyes that always looked so cold and detached? How can the voice that once tormented me with its sarcasm and disdain now make my heart flutter inside with its heartfelt confession? It's like he's two different people, the one you meet first and the one that most people never get inside to see.

Renji watched Byakuya's eyes darken and go smoky and hazy with rising lust. He finished his preparations and ran his hand along the noble's soft, naked thigh, positioning himself.

"Tell me if I hurt you, okay?"

Renji almost laughed at the dismissive look he received in reply. Byakuya flinched and drew in a sharp breath at the first touch, then he melted Renji's heart with a look of momentary uncertainty and a little shiver of anticipation. Renji joined their bodies carefully, fully encasing himself and pausing to give his softly panting husband a moment to adjust, then he growled softly and loosed his soul wildness on his beautiful mate, falling in love with Byakuya all over again as the two writhed feverishly together, riling the blanket of soft petals they laid on.

Renji had never felt anything so soft and hot and willful as the man moving beneath him. And even while submitting to Renji's love, he still felt powerful, beautiful…regal. Renji couldn't get enough of the feeling of deep connection and affection between them. He forgot comepletely that they were there to make a baby, and he poured all of his affections into their joining, nearly sobbing with happiness at how wild and passionate Byakuya's movements became, how riled his eyes were, how his hair was in disarray, and there was nothing more beautiful to Renji than when his hard, fast thrusts brought the reeling noble to the pinnacle of pleasure and tossed him over into the throes of a powerful climax. Just witnessing the sweetness of Byakuya's complete surrender to bliss was enough to bring the redhead to his own explosive release. With a gripping snarl, he loosed himself into Byakuya's shaking body and collapsed onto his husband's chest, panting hard, brightly flushed and beautifully sated.

Renji started to speak, but was shocked almost to tears by the sudden peacefulness and contentment in Byakuya's dark, lovely eyes. They blinked sleepily and closed as he fell asleep, still joined with Renji and dreaming of the arrival of their children.

And even though once would have been enough, the two lingered in the gardens, making love as ferociously as they had during the making of Renji's babies. In shinigami form, then as red and white tigers, they joined time and again, until the new day was dawning and they laid in a messy tangle with petals clinging all over their bodies. They slept, then, curled up and warm in each others' arms, sleeping until well past noon, before refreshing themselves in a warm bathing pool, then retrieving their clothing and returning to the house.

"I'm starving. How about you?" Renji asked as he held the door open for his paler mate.

"I am very hungry also," Byakuya agreed.

Both abandoned their manners completely as they found the feast that Renji's absent parents had laid out for them and consumed it eagerly. They returned to the room they had been given and slept more deeply, dreaming of the future they had chosen and deeply content in each other's embrace.

Byakuya woke before Renji and laid in his arms, his fingers lazily tracing his lover's bold markings and his smile warm and lusty. Renji's eyes opened and Byakuya attacked his lips hungrily, setting off a more leisurely joining that left the two relaxed, their sated bodies humming with life.

"Thank you, Byakuya," Renji whispered, nuzzling his mate's soft cheek, "You don't know how happy you've made me."

Byakuya smiled.

"It is good to see you so content."

"It's good to finally understand why everything happened like it did."

"Are you more accepting of your place in the royal family now?" Byakuya asked.

"Yeah," Renji chuckled, "although I still think that the three worlds are in some trouble if I do end up on the throne someday!"

"I am sure that it true," Byakuya teased, earning a little growl from his handsome partner, "But one things that is certain, is that I will love you and enjoy every minute with you, from this one on."

"Me too," Renji sighed happily, starting to drift off again.

He woke sometime later with a start, as a sharp, telling pain radiated in his abdomen and he felt the sharp rise in his reiatsu that told him without a doubt, that their future had really begun.