Categories > Anime/Manga > Bleach > The Howling
The Heart of Everything
0 reviewsBlood can never justify the sins of a Holy War, but when the War reaches Heaven's Gate, difficult choices are made. Time passes, but the memory of old pain remains, and all that is left is memory. ...
-1Predictable
Title: The Howling
Summary: Blood can never justify the sins of a Holy War, but when the War reaches Heaven's Gate, difficult choices are made. Time passes, but the memory of old pain remains, and all that is left is memory. Yet memory is a poor substitute for the reunion of lovers.
Pairings: Byaichi
Prompt #24: Reunion
Chapter 3: The Heart of Everything
Open up your eyes. See what you've become, no sacrifice. It's truly the heart of everything. --Within Temptation
Kuchiki Byakuya's transition ceremony was performed alone, very much like the ceremonies of the Royal Guards before him, and like the previous ceremonies, it was a bittersweet triumph. Byakuya was not the first Royal Guard to perform the ceremony, while wishing that his lover was there and he would not be the last.
Even as he walked the streets of Seireitei, Byakuya could see the shadow of his lover everywhere. He remembered how Ichigo's successes became Soul Society's successes, his grievences became Soul Society's grievences, and over the course of the war, Kurosaki Ichigo became Soul Society's little baby, a Shinigami with great potential who threw all his will into everything he did because of the shadow of death and the potential loss of his memories hung over him at all times. Every shinigami in Soul Society had looked forward to seeing Ichigo's growth and over the course of the war, Byakuya thought as his steps brought him past the Fourth Division, they had come to be terribly protective of Ichigo, with Unohana being the worst of the lot.
Where once Duty had been the heart of soul Society, Ichigo had become the heart of the Shinigai's extended family. He looked up toward a window, one he knew led to Unohana's office, and he saw the serene faced Captain raise a hand in both salutation and farewell. Byakuya responded by raising his own hand silently, thinking all the while of the day when Unohana had dragged him to her office for a full body physical that later ended with his being tied to a chair while the other senior officers interrogated him about his intentions toward Ichigo. He'd never told Ichigo about how terror had threatened to consume him when he realized that former captains were present and glowering at him also. Byakuya blinked away tears and allowed his hand o fall to his side and he kept walking, all too aware of Unohana's concerned eyes on his back.
It was exactly sunset when he arrived at the Senkaimon, where he was greeted by a Royal Guard who had a black badge on her left arm with the number one carved beneath a dragon. She stood there, surveying him with cool green eyes, and held out her hand. Byakuya hesitated for a moment and placed his hand in hers and kneeled, bowing his head in respect as cool fingers curled around his hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~
"Kuchiki Byakuya," she said, " Former Gotei 13 Captain of the Sixth Divsion. Your initiation into the ranks of the Royal Guard is nearly complete. From here on in, until your formal initiation by the High King, you may neither speak nor make any sound. To do so is to forfeit the right to enter the direct service of the High King. You have shed your past ties to the Gotei 13. Now shed the voice of the Gotei 13's Comander General so when next you speak, you speak with the voice of the King. Now, Come."
she released Byakuya's hand, spun on her heels and swept into the Senkaimon as a pair of dragonflies flitted into the gate ahead of them. Silently, Byakuya followed her lead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~
The High King's Sky Palace was made of white stone and the entirety of the Palace was laced with fine webwork of sekiseki stone. Of course, the Sky Palace was less of a fortress and more of the Palace that was called and the sekiseki stone was not a part of the walls in the truest sense but rather, it was inlaid into the walls and ceilings and floors to form beautiful pictures and the most delicate of filigree. The white of the Sky Palace was not a dull monochromatic white, but was actually composed of the palest imaginable colors, as close to white as possible without actually loosing its hue. The colors shifted and swirled in mezmerizing patterns, shifting and flowing, and giving the most delicate of color and shimmers to the carvings and murals on the wall, giving them depth and bringing them to life. High above them arced magnificent stained glass domes and the glass ceilings were held up by frames of the rarest dark colored sekiseki stone. The floors contained beautiful mosaics of precious stones, sliced so thin as to be thinner than a sheet of paper and laid into a cement of the purest calcite, forming family crests and division symbols and simple yet captivating patterns. There were indoor balconies, and fountains that threw colored water into the air and sweeping staircases and indoor rivers cleverly hidden so one could hear them and catch passing glimpses of the water flowing into little creeks where multicolored fish darted about in forests of marine plants. There were beautiful indoor gardens under high glass roofs so vast and teeming with wildlife that one coul almost believe that one was outside in the natural world.
Everywhere there was people walking, talking, woring, relaxing, sparring, fetching and carrying and delivering messages. Some wore the shihakushou of the Royal Guards and some did not, but all wore the red mantles of the Royal Guard and under it, the white mantle of their former Captaincy in the Gotei 13. Only those who wore full uniforms were armed, a startling difference from Seireitei where all had gone armed at all times. For all that the Sky Palace was a fortress of war, it was very much a Palace built in times of peace, and a sense of calm and contentment permeated everything.
All too soon, however, the unnamed Royal Guard and Byakuya passed out of the magnificent halls and wings into a part of the Palace that was very much a cold, monochromatic white, where everything was made of the finest, purest, white sekiseki stone, and the only decoration was cream colored stone inlaid into the walls to form doorways and lotuses of pure white quartz were set into the walls near the ceiling, and they gave off a cold white light. Here, there were only solemn faced and hard eyed Guards in full uniform, and the silence was cold and oppressing. This was the part of the Sky Palace that showed that despite it's magnificence, the Sky Palace was a fortress of war first and foremost.
The Royal Guards took no notice of the two who passed them, and Byakuya's guide led him ever deeper into the heart of the Sky Palace where the crowds thinned and vanished, and it was only his Guide and Byakuya who walked down a long, silent hall of white sekiseki and cream doorways and quartz lotuses that illuminated the corridor which no longer branched off into different directions. Byakuya swallowed hard as he realized that his guide had at some point, vanished, and he was alone in the silent hall which threw the echoes of his footsteps back at him.
At the end of the hall was a pair of massive silver doors cored with sekiseki stone which swung silently open on well oiled hinges as Byakuya approached and his breath caught in his throat as he sensed and reconized the huge reiryouku pulsing inside the chamber in a slow, steady beat. It had been three hundred years since he had last sensed this particular reiryouku, he could never forget the texture of his particular soul, had longed to feel it flowing over his skin and entertwining with his own spiritual aura in that deep, intimate place of his soul where only his most beloved person could access. Even after three hundred long, excruciating years, he could recognize this reiryouku with a single taste...
He took a shakey step into the cavernous chamber and once he cleared the threshhold, the doors swung shut. He swallowed hard as he took in the figure seated on the white throne on the high dias. Other than the golden mantle and the much, much longer hair, he looked no different from the day that he'd last seen him. Kurosaki Ichigo. The High King of Seireitei.
"Do you, Kuchiki Byakuya," the King's voice, though quiet, echoed through the cavernous chamber, "You stand before Us today to become one of Our Royal Guards. Do you hearby swear to adhere to the laws of your King, to obey without fail, to forever be loyal and to Protect your King and his abode for ever as long as may be?"
"I, Kuchiki Byakuya, do so swear," Byakuya said. It was remarkably difficult to say his part of the oath when there was so many other things he wanted to say swirling about in his mind.
"I, Kurosaki Ichigo, High King of Seireitei, do so swear to be a just King, to reward loyalty with glory and betrayal with cruel death. Welcome, Kuchiki Byakuya, to the ranks of the Royal Guards."
Byakuya bowed low, and when he rose, was surprised to find that the King was no longer on the dias.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it?"
Byakuya spun around to find Ichigo staring at him with sharp, wine colored eyes.
"Can you forgive me for what I did to you?" he whispered.
Byakuya swallowed hard and nodded. Wine colored eyes brightened, and Byakuya suddenly found his back pressed against the dias, warm lips on his own, and then Byakuya was returning the kiss, pouring three hundred years of love and longing into the kiss. He reveled in the spicy tang of Ichigo's soul flowing over his skin, and relished the sensation of their reiryouku meshing and binding them together, connecting them as they had been connected in the days before the ginger haired shinigami had left to fight Aizen and become Seireitei's High King. After three hundred years of seperation, things were finally right, and Byakuya couldn't be happier.
~~~~~~~
owari
Summary: Blood can never justify the sins of a Holy War, but when the War reaches Heaven's Gate, difficult choices are made. Time passes, but the memory of old pain remains, and all that is left is memory. Yet memory is a poor substitute for the reunion of lovers.
Pairings: Byaichi
Prompt #24: Reunion
Chapter 3: The Heart of Everything
Open up your eyes. See what you've become, no sacrifice. It's truly the heart of everything. --Within Temptation
Kuchiki Byakuya's transition ceremony was performed alone, very much like the ceremonies of the Royal Guards before him, and like the previous ceremonies, it was a bittersweet triumph. Byakuya was not the first Royal Guard to perform the ceremony, while wishing that his lover was there and he would not be the last.
Even as he walked the streets of Seireitei, Byakuya could see the shadow of his lover everywhere. He remembered how Ichigo's successes became Soul Society's successes, his grievences became Soul Society's grievences, and over the course of the war, Kurosaki Ichigo became Soul Society's little baby, a Shinigami with great potential who threw all his will into everything he did because of the shadow of death and the potential loss of his memories hung over him at all times. Every shinigami in Soul Society had looked forward to seeing Ichigo's growth and over the course of the war, Byakuya thought as his steps brought him past the Fourth Division, they had come to be terribly protective of Ichigo, with Unohana being the worst of the lot.
Where once Duty had been the heart of soul Society, Ichigo had become the heart of the Shinigai's extended family. He looked up toward a window, one he knew led to Unohana's office, and he saw the serene faced Captain raise a hand in both salutation and farewell. Byakuya responded by raising his own hand silently, thinking all the while of the day when Unohana had dragged him to her office for a full body physical that later ended with his being tied to a chair while the other senior officers interrogated him about his intentions toward Ichigo. He'd never told Ichigo about how terror had threatened to consume him when he realized that former captains were present and glowering at him also. Byakuya blinked away tears and allowed his hand o fall to his side and he kept walking, all too aware of Unohana's concerned eyes on his back.
It was exactly sunset when he arrived at the Senkaimon, where he was greeted by a Royal Guard who had a black badge on her left arm with the number one carved beneath a dragon. She stood there, surveying him with cool green eyes, and held out her hand. Byakuya hesitated for a moment and placed his hand in hers and kneeled, bowing his head in respect as cool fingers curled around his hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~
"Kuchiki Byakuya," she said, " Former Gotei 13 Captain of the Sixth Divsion. Your initiation into the ranks of the Royal Guard is nearly complete. From here on in, until your formal initiation by the High King, you may neither speak nor make any sound. To do so is to forfeit the right to enter the direct service of the High King. You have shed your past ties to the Gotei 13. Now shed the voice of the Gotei 13's Comander General so when next you speak, you speak with the voice of the King. Now, Come."
she released Byakuya's hand, spun on her heels and swept into the Senkaimon as a pair of dragonflies flitted into the gate ahead of them. Silently, Byakuya followed her lead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~
The High King's Sky Palace was made of white stone and the entirety of the Palace was laced with fine webwork of sekiseki stone. Of course, the Sky Palace was less of a fortress and more of the Palace that was called and the sekiseki stone was not a part of the walls in the truest sense but rather, it was inlaid into the walls and ceilings and floors to form beautiful pictures and the most delicate of filigree. The white of the Sky Palace was not a dull monochromatic white, but was actually composed of the palest imaginable colors, as close to white as possible without actually loosing its hue. The colors shifted and swirled in mezmerizing patterns, shifting and flowing, and giving the most delicate of color and shimmers to the carvings and murals on the wall, giving them depth and bringing them to life. High above them arced magnificent stained glass domes and the glass ceilings were held up by frames of the rarest dark colored sekiseki stone. The floors contained beautiful mosaics of precious stones, sliced so thin as to be thinner than a sheet of paper and laid into a cement of the purest calcite, forming family crests and division symbols and simple yet captivating patterns. There were indoor balconies, and fountains that threw colored water into the air and sweeping staircases and indoor rivers cleverly hidden so one could hear them and catch passing glimpses of the water flowing into little creeks where multicolored fish darted about in forests of marine plants. There were beautiful indoor gardens under high glass roofs so vast and teeming with wildlife that one coul almost believe that one was outside in the natural world.
Everywhere there was people walking, talking, woring, relaxing, sparring, fetching and carrying and delivering messages. Some wore the shihakushou of the Royal Guards and some did not, but all wore the red mantles of the Royal Guard and under it, the white mantle of their former Captaincy in the Gotei 13. Only those who wore full uniforms were armed, a startling difference from Seireitei where all had gone armed at all times. For all that the Sky Palace was a fortress of war, it was very much a Palace built in times of peace, and a sense of calm and contentment permeated everything.
All too soon, however, the unnamed Royal Guard and Byakuya passed out of the magnificent halls and wings into a part of the Palace that was very much a cold, monochromatic white, where everything was made of the finest, purest, white sekiseki stone, and the only decoration was cream colored stone inlaid into the walls to form doorways and lotuses of pure white quartz were set into the walls near the ceiling, and they gave off a cold white light. Here, there were only solemn faced and hard eyed Guards in full uniform, and the silence was cold and oppressing. This was the part of the Sky Palace that showed that despite it's magnificence, the Sky Palace was a fortress of war first and foremost.
The Royal Guards took no notice of the two who passed them, and Byakuya's guide led him ever deeper into the heart of the Sky Palace where the crowds thinned and vanished, and it was only his Guide and Byakuya who walked down a long, silent hall of white sekiseki and cream doorways and quartz lotuses that illuminated the corridor which no longer branched off into different directions. Byakuya swallowed hard as he realized that his guide had at some point, vanished, and he was alone in the silent hall which threw the echoes of his footsteps back at him.
At the end of the hall was a pair of massive silver doors cored with sekiseki stone which swung silently open on well oiled hinges as Byakuya approached and his breath caught in his throat as he sensed and reconized the huge reiryouku pulsing inside the chamber in a slow, steady beat. It had been three hundred years since he had last sensed this particular reiryouku, he could never forget the texture of his particular soul, had longed to feel it flowing over his skin and entertwining with his own spiritual aura in that deep, intimate place of his soul where only his most beloved person could access. Even after three hundred long, excruciating years, he could recognize this reiryouku with a single taste...
He took a shakey step into the cavernous chamber and once he cleared the threshhold, the doors swung shut. He swallowed hard as he took in the figure seated on the white throne on the high dias. Other than the golden mantle and the much, much longer hair, he looked no different from the day that he'd last seen him. Kurosaki Ichigo. The High King of Seireitei.
"Do you, Kuchiki Byakuya," the King's voice, though quiet, echoed through the cavernous chamber, "You stand before Us today to become one of Our Royal Guards. Do you hearby swear to adhere to the laws of your King, to obey without fail, to forever be loyal and to Protect your King and his abode for ever as long as may be?"
"I, Kuchiki Byakuya, do so swear," Byakuya said. It was remarkably difficult to say his part of the oath when there was so many other things he wanted to say swirling about in his mind.
"I, Kurosaki Ichigo, High King of Seireitei, do so swear to be a just King, to reward loyalty with glory and betrayal with cruel death. Welcome, Kuchiki Byakuya, to the ranks of the Royal Guards."
Byakuya bowed low, and when he rose, was surprised to find that the King was no longer on the dias.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it?"
Byakuya spun around to find Ichigo staring at him with sharp, wine colored eyes.
"Can you forgive me for what I did to you?" he whispered.
Byakuya swallowed hard and nodded. Wine colored eyes brightened, and Byakuya suddenly found his back pressed against the dias, warm lips on his own, and then Byakuya was returning the kiss, pouring three hundred years of love and longing into the kiss. He reveled in the spicy tang of Ichigo's soul flowing over his skin, and relished the sensation of their reiryouku meshing and binding them together, connecting them as they had been connected in the days before the ginger haired shinigami had left to fight Aizen and become Seireitei's High King. After three hundred years of seperation, things were finally right, and Byakuya couldn't be happier.
~~~~~~~
owari
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