Beauty Shared

Title: Beauty Shared
Author: Ansela Jonla
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: R
Warnings: minor violence
Summary: Byakuya is in Yumichika's usual training spot, and curious about a childhood memory involving the other man.
Word Count: 4666
Notes: This one is partially the fault of delwynmarch, who shamelessly fed the plotbunnies that her comments generated.

--

Kuchiki-taichou's eyes snap open as I approach, his body flowing through the end of the kata and into another one even as he watches me walk to the other end of the training field. I don't let my shock at finding him here show: a Captain surely has access to more of the training field locations, even the ones that have been abandoned for general use, than a 'lowly' Fifth Seat such as myself.

His presence is something I could do without though, even if he is more pleasing to the eye than most of the people I spend my time with. I had wanted to spend some time alone though, in this place that even Ikkaku doesn't know about, to repair my fractured relationship with Ruri'iro Kujaku. Kuchiki-taichou doesn't look like he's ready to leave yet though, and I glare at him resentfully as I start my own warm up drills.

-Stop that, Yumichika-kun. You don't want your face to be stuck with such an ugly expression if the wind changes, do you?-

'I have every right to be annoyed with him, Kujaku. This is our training ground, and he has no right to be here.' I swing Kujaku in a vicious arc, the sun shining beautifully off the blade as my reiatsu twines around me. I'm not angry, not really, just disappointed that the one time I get away by myself happens to be the time that Kuchiki-taichou wants to practice in private as well. 'Doesn't he have training areas in that fancy house of his?'

-You're being unreasonable, my love,- Kujaku whispers, his voice sliding over my mind like feathers over silk. I falter at the endearment, correcting myself just in time to prevent an ugly and embarrassing stumble. Kujaku so rarely calls me that now, since I stubbornly rejected his full abilities in favour of the compromise he offered me, and even knowing that his flattery is a distraction doesn't lessen its impact. -He loaned his training grounds to those others, the ones who wield Zabimaru, Zangetsu and the beautiful Shirayuki. No doubt their idea of a restrained spar has left the area unuseable.-

I chuckle, knowing that Kujaku is right. Renji and Ichigo are about as restrained as an angry and wounded mother bear, and adding Rukia to one of their sparring sessions would just have added a layer of ice to their usual level of destruction.

-Besides, this man already knows about our power, or did you already forget? He was there that day, the first time you called on my assistance.-

I glance at Kuchiki-taichou as I turn, striking up at an imaginary opponent with Kujaku. It couldn't be, yet it was. Despite the intervening years, I can still see that gawky, inexperienced child still within the powerful, graceful, beautiful Captain at the other end of the training field. This man handles his sword as if he was born with it in his hand, his footwork swift and certain as he battles against an invisible opponent almost as if he's dancing.

-I wonder if he remembers us, Yumichika-kun,- purrs Kujaku, a sound he's perfected despite being a bird half the time, and I shake my head, sliding seamlessly into my next sequence of moves as I do so. Nothing good ever comes of that tone of voice. It was Kujaku's seductive, honey-coated purring that led to me waking up in bed with Kira and a massive hangover that one time, an experience that neither of us have ever felt a desire to repeat.

"Ayasegawa-kun, are you finished with your warm-ups yet?" Kuchiki-taichou says, suddenly appearing behind me. He seems to be well-used to the conditioned response of a startled Eleventh Division officer, no doubt due to long association with Renji, as he dodges my reactionary attack with practised ease.

I recover quickly, pulling myself to my full height to look him in the eye. He's even more beautiful up close, with those storm-grey eyes focused solely on me. "I'm finished, Kuchiki-taichou."

"Good. I was wondering if you would do me the honour of a simple sparring session?" He says it as if there's a chance that I'll refuse, and I find myself smirking despite myself. A member of Eleventh Division never backs down from a fight, even if it is likely to be nothing more than a friendly spar.

Raising Kujaku to a guard position, I nod respectfully at Kuchiki-taichou. "I'm ready when you are."

He nods back, raising Senbonzakura to guard as well. For several heartbeats we stay like that, just watching each other silently, before Kuchiki-taichou vanishes from my sight. I spin to block, recognising the move from Renji's descriptions and my own observations on the battlefield. While I trust Kuchiki-taichou to stop his blade before he pierces my Hakusui and Saketsu, a successful Senka would be an instant win for him, something that my pride, and Kujaku's, will not allow.

My arms tingle from the clash as I deflect Senbonzakura's thrust. Kuchiki-taichou seems to be impressed with my speed as he pulls back, already sliding into another attack even as he does so. I match him thrust for thrust, slash for slash as we dance across the training field, flickering in and out of shunpo in an attempt to force even just a small opening in each other's defences. Despite how well I'm defending against him, I know it's not enough. He's a Captain; he could demolish me without breaking a sweat if he truly tried. Even that first Senka wasn't something that I should have been able to block. Blood trickles from minor cuts on both of us, wounds that are hardly big enough to even be noticed, that wouldn't be noticed were this a real fight.

"You're stronger than I expected, Ayasegawa-kun. I would not guess that you were a Fifth Seat if it was something I did not already know." I block the overhead strike that accompanies Kuchiki-taichou's compliment, placing my left hand against the flat of my blade to stop his from reaching my skull in such a way that it would signal my defeat. Kuchiki-taichou's greater weight presses down on the two swords, slowly forcing me to my knees to avoid being having to concede the match.

As my right knee touches the ground I throw myself to the side, pivoting on my left hand as I skid and roll out of reach of Kuchiki-taichou's blade. He jumps over the leg sweep that I attempt as I roll, smoothly turning the dodge into a strike that forces me back on the defensive. Parrying another strike I jump away, using shunpo to put distance between us as I bring Kujaku up, holding him at chest height and parallel to the ground.

-Don't ruin the fun yet, love. Senbonzakura wants to play as well, but his master isn't ready to go that far... yet,- Kujaku sends pride and adoration and trust and, most importantly, love at me in a wave, and I know I'm grinning like a fool as the feelings crash over me. Hopefully Kuchiki-taichou will attribute the expression to my being an Eleventh Divisioner, and won't think too much of it. I don't exactly advertise how close I really am with Kujaku, even if recent events have damaged that relationship somewhat.

'I won't. I want to see Senbonzakura's full beauty for myself, close at hand, instead of at a distance on the battlefield, when I'm distracted by my own enemies,' I reply. I've never been lucky enough to be close enough to get a good view of the moment when Kuchiki-taichou finally looses the millions of blades that make up his bankai, and even though I know it's a futile hope, I wonder if today will be the day that I get to see that sight.

"Sake, Fuji Kujaku." The blade in my hand glows and twists, eventually smoothing out into the shape of a falx. Kuchiki-taichou nods in approval, bringing his own sword up so it's vertical, with the edge towards his chest.

"If you wish to take this spar in that direction, Ayasegawa-kun, then I will oblige you. Chire, Senbonzakura." He turns the blade as he speaks, so the flat catches the light before it dissolves into a swirling cloud of petal-like blades. Pink where they catch the light, they swirl around us in a stunning display of beauty and elegance. Even up close they hardly look deadly at all, and I don't think I'd believe in their power had I not seen the devastation this flood of blades could wreak on the field of battle.

In my rapture I barely notice the blades flowing together to form a single body, before a sharp swing of the hilt still in Kuchiki-taichou's hand sends them streaking towards me. Slashing with Fuji Kujaku I manage to split the stream in two, only for the halves to change direction and flow towards me from either side. Unable to go forwards or sideways, I instead jump back and up, glad that this training ground lies outside of Seireitei and the barrier that prevents Shinigami from taking to the air.

"You cannot defeat Senbonzakura with a single blade, Ayasegawa-kun, nor can you hope to dodge forever." He swings the hilt again, this time slashing up to send the wave crashing into me in a manner that would make human scientists cry at the blatant disregard for gravity. I dodge, shunpoing away, always just barely one step ahead of the deadly cloud. If I can just get close enough to Kuchiki-taichou, to where I can strike at him with Fuji Kujaku, then this fight will be over in my favour. His shikai seems ill-suited for defence, especially when it's commited to pursuit the way it currently is.

Flicking my wrist to separate Fuji Kujaku's four blades, I vanish from the sky and reappear behind Kuchiki-taichou, already mid-slash as he turns to face me. There's not enough time for him to face me though, and a strike to his back would be a winning blow for me.

-Watch out,- Kujaku calls urgently, at the same time as I spot Kuchiki-taichou's arm wrapped around his stomach, with the backwards-pointing hand curled into a fist with a single finger pointed at me.

"Hadou no yon, Byakurai," he mutters softly. The lightning sears into my side, scorching flesh as I awkwardly change my lunge into a sideways jump. The pain shoots through my body, and I ruthlessly push it back as I shunpo away from Senbonzakura's rapidly approaching attack.

The length of the field between us, I pause to catch my breath. Kuchiki-taichou is stronger than me, faster than me and has the advantage of being able to use kidou and a nigh-unblockable shikai. If I'm hit by that attack full on then the best I can hope for is a lengthy stay in Fourth Division's care, if Kuchiki-taichou is unable to blunt it in time. Forcing myself to breathe deep, thankful that the kidou missed my ribs, diaphragm and lungs, I prepare to make another attack. I'm not out of this fight yet.

-Don't you think it might be time, love? Surely you can trust at least this man to keep our secret. Not that it should be a secret, but we don't have time for that argument now, do we?- I roll my eyes at the petty reminder of our old quarrel, and shake my head.

'Why would he remember that day? He was young and scared. He might have blanked that incident from his memory a long time ago,' I reason. It's the habit of almost a lifetime to be stubborn about this matter, and the argument with Kujaku, even as I charge headlong at Kuchiki-taichou, is familiar and warming.

I don't even get within attack range before I'm forced to retreat again, or be swallowed up by the thousand blades. Kuchiki-taichou frowns as I skid backwards on the grassy sand, lowering the controlling hilt and letting the blades swirl aimlessly in patterns that are mesmerisingly beautiful to watch.

"Stop playing around, Ayasegawa-kun. I know that this isn't all you're capable of." He stalks forwards, either confident that his shikai will defend him from any attack I might make while he's open, or certain that I won't attack him like this. "I remember, Ayasegawa-kun. It's hard to forget something like that, your first brush with death in human form. I never forgot that the most beautiful thing we found that day was also the most deadly, and that only by your mercy was I left alive."

"So this is your revenge, Kuchiki-taichou, for an insult over a century old, sparked by the rude behaviour of your own men?" I raise Fuji Kujaku, calculating my chances of getting within striking range before Kuchiki-taichou brings Senbonzakura's blades crashing down on me from all directions. They're not very high, but I've gone into fights with less certain odds and come out on top before.

"No. As you said, my men were the ones at fault. You were obviously not a bandit, as was obvious from the manner of your dress, and they should have allowed you to leave in peace." Kuchiki-taichou stops, just out of striking range, and regards me coolly. "I want to see that power again, the one you used to defeat four of my men in one go."

-What do we have to lose, mi amor? He already knows; there's no point in lying to him. Let him see our true beauty, so he may know what exactly it is he's asking.- Kujaku purrs, his smooth hand brushing against my cheek and down my arm.

'Kujaku, what part of secret don't you understand?' I hiss back, mentally distancing myself from the spirit's teasing touches.

-You let that thug find out about me, the tattooed one who wields that barbarian Kazeshini, so what's wrong with letting this beautiful, wonderful, powerful man see me?-

I sigh. Kujaku has a point about my letting Hisagi-fukutaichou know our powers, though I hadn't had any other choice but an unacceptably ugly defeat at that time. Kuchiki-taichou has known for over a century, not all of it but enough to ruin my career in Eleventh Division if it ever slipped out, and yet he seems not to have told anyone. I suppose I could trust him with the knowledge of what exactly he saw that day, all those long years ago.

"Kuchiki-taichou, this is a secret that I've kept ever since that time. You were lucky enough to be a witness to the first time I called Ruri'iro Kujaku's name, and since then only one other person has discovered that knowledge and lived to tell the tale."

"You honour me, Ayasegawa-kun." He's watching me with interest now, Senbonzakura's hilt still held loosely by his side. He's completely open, as if he wants to be caught in Ruri'iro Kujaku's vines.

-If that's what he desires, Yumichika-kun, then who are we to deny him?- croons Kujaku. I nod in agreement, raising Fuji Kujaku to chest height and smiling beautifully at Kuchiki-taichou.

"Sakikurue, Ruri'iro Kujaku," I call, feeling the power rush through me even before the first syllable is complete. Kujaku is eager to fight properly, to display his beauty for all to see, and the four-bladed falx in my hand glows and writhes, forming feathery vines that shoot out and capture Kuchiki-taichou before he can react to the attack. Wrapping around his arms and legs, pulling him spread-eagle and immobile in the air, Ruri'iro Kujaku renders him defenceless almost instantly, the vines pulsing as they begin to draw out his strength to feed their own.

-Hah! We have him! Did Kuchiki-bocchama not consider that he was far too close to our beauty to escape unscathed?- crows Kujaku, pride and fury and exultation flowing across our bond in a victorious and heady mix. Kuchiki-taichou struggles ineffectively in Kujaku's grip, twisting and writhing as he attempts to free himself. His right hand twitches, drawing my attention to Senbonzakura's hilt still held there, and I frown slightly.


'Love, could you please bind Kuchiki-taichou's right arm more securely. If he gets even the slightest freedom of movement in that, then I will have to extinguish your beauty once more. I am not capable of dodging Senbonzakura with you in this form,' I warn Kujaku. The vines tighten in response, wrapping around Kuchiki-taichou's arm with almost enough force to crush it. He nods to me, understanding that Kujaku's grip could easily get tighter if he continues his attempts to escape that way, and smirks.

I reach deep inside myself, joining my will with Kujaku's to better control the insatiable peacock's draining of Kuchiki-taichou's reiatsu. Left unrestrained, Kujaku would take every last drop of that sweet power, killing him as surely as a blade to the chest. That stolen strength seeps into me as well, joining with my own reserves in a rush, heightening my own beauty. I know I'm glowing with power, can see my reflection in Kuchiki-taichou's eyes, and I smile dizzily. I've never felt like this before, never captured someone with such pure, untainted deep reserves of power. This must be the difference between a Captain and those of lesser status, or maybe it's Kuchiki-taichou's noble birth that makes his reiatsu so different.

My eyes slip closed as I embrace the power flowing through me, accepting Kujaki's caresses across my mind as his limbs twine of those of my mental self. I start to slip into my inner landscape, knowing that Kuchiki-tacihou won't escape, and that the limits I imposed on Kujaku will hold, leaving him alive but too weak to do anything but concede defeat as I accept the offering that my beautiful zanpakutou is making towards repairing our relationship.

"Ayasegawa-kun, I hope you haven't forgotten my rank, and what that requires of me," he states, the words penetrating the fog clouding my mind and bringing me back to full alertness.

Understanding his meaning, remembering Renji's disjointed and drunken relaying of his fight with Kuchiki-taichou, I cry out to Kujaku, 'GAG HIM! STOP HIM FROM SPEAKING!' Kujaku's ability alone should prevent him from gathering the reiatsu necessary for bankai, but I haven't survived as long as I have by making such assumptions in battle.

It's too late even as I say it, and Kuchiki-taichou drops his newly sealed zanpakutou to the ground blade-first. Dark ripples spread out from the sword as it sinks into the ground, surrounding us in darkness as a thousand massive blades, each the height and width of several men, form two flanking rows.

"Bankai," Kuchiki-taichou says gravely, a victorious smirk tugging at his lips. "Chire, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

The blades burst into countless points of light, which promptly vanish from view, even as a feathery vine slides across Kuchiki-taichou's mouth. The quickly-disguised look of horror on his face tells me all I need to know: the hastily mustered reserve of strength he'd used to call on his bankai had run out, drained by Kujaku quicker than he'd anticipated, and his attack had been defeated before it could even be fully started. Now gagged and unarmed, there was no way he could repeat such a valiant attempt, especially with Kujaku's full attention turned back to him.

"You misunderstand, Kuchiki-taichou. The more reiatsu you attempt to use, the faster Ruri'iro Kujaku drains it from you. Although I must admit that you surprised me: no one has ever managed to gather up the strength to use bankai after being caught, even for as short a time as that. I can truly see why you are a Captain."

I force myself not to voice the disappointment that I feel. With Kujaku's attention given fully to keeping Kuchiki-taichou under control, I have no respite for the arousal coursing through me. Neither of us are willing to give the stubborn, prideful Captain another chance at unleashing his bankai, a move that would result in our defeat, and to continue where we left off would certainly give him that chance. He's a dangerous opponent, and were he a true enemy I would have ordered Kujaku to hasten the extraction process with no regard to the damage it would do to him in the process. Seeing that Kuchiki-taichou is attempting to speak behind the gag, I cautiously order Kujaku to pull the vine back far enough for his words to become audible.

"I... I yield," he says reluctantly, all fire and shame and wounded pride. Slowly I draw Ruri'iro Kujaku back from Kuchiki-taichou's limbs, ending the drain of his reiatsu and lowering him to the ground where he stumbles before gaining his footing. I don't worry about him calling Senbonzakura's wrath down on me while Kujaku's in this vulnerable half-state between full shikai and his sealed form; Kuchiki-taichou has too much honour to attack once a match has been decided either way, even if the outcome isn't to his liking. Even if he was the sort to contemplate acting in such an ugly manner, Kujaku has left him in no state to even call out his shikai without first resting for some time.

Kuchiki-taichou is still swaying as I sheathe Kujaku once more, and I move to support him, intending on leading him to the shelter of the cliff that forms one side of the training area. He jerks at the contact with my body, but gradually leans his weight on me as if grateful for the assistance... or punishing me for being the one to put him in such a state. He doesn't speak, seemingly putting all his concentration into walking without tripping and bringing us both down, and I see no reason to interrupt the silence.

Only when he's sitting in the shade of the cliff, water bottle half empty and several energy bar wrappers littering the ground around him, does he speak again. "That was unexpected, Ayasegawa-kun. I did not anticipate being so overpowered and disarmed. If you don't mind me asking, why are you still only ranked as a Fifth Seat?"

I look away, my hand slipping to Kujaku's hilt as I answer. " I've always enjoyed being in the middle of a fight, staking my life on my own skills and how well I apply them. As you just discovered, Ruri'iro Kujaku renders my opponent helpless almost immediately, ending the fight without me having to risk my life too much." 'And your beauty is not for just anyone to see. I couldn't bear the thought of letting every ugly person out there see your true self.'

"So it has nothing to do with your being in Eleventh Division and their famed dislike of kidou?" he asks quietly, his hand coming to rest on my knee. "Or your long association with Madarame, which I have heard extends to before your time there?"

"No, it has nothing to do with them. I made the decision to keep Ruri'iro Kujaku as my last resort, my trump card, a long time ago, and I've stuck to that decision since. And, as I said, most people who've seen my true release have died at my hands, so they couldn't spread the secret even if they wanted to." Kuchiki-taichou's hand slips higher as I speak, his touch feather-light but impossible to ignore as it slowly creeps closer to the erection that had only just started to die down but was renewed by his touch. "As for Eleventh Division, I have no desire to leave there. I joined because Ikkaku did, but I'm happy there and serving under anyone but Zaraki-taichou would feel wrong after all this time."

"So I suppose I cannot seduce you away from Zaraki's command once Abarai takes up his position as Fifth Division Captain," he whispers huskily. I turn back to him so fast something in my neck clicks, but I ignore the discomfort as his hand completes its journey up my thigh, coming to rest just inches away from my erection. "I could force the issue, let what I know of your powers slip in his hearing, but that would forever set you against me and likely make you apply as Abarai's Lieutenant out of the stubbornness you must surely have in abundance."

"E-Eleventh Division is my h-home, one that I have no d-desire to leave," I stutter eventually, forcing my brain to work again even as certain parts of my body tell me to simply accept what Kuchiki-taichou has to offer. Then the full implications of that offer sink in, and fury courses through me. "And I am no whore to change allegiances based on who I last bedded, Kuchiki-taichou."

He sighs, but doesn't remove his hand, instead giving my thigh a quick squeeze. "I did not intend to suggest any such thing, Ayasegawa-kun. The seduction that I had in mind was not sexual in nature, and I apologise if my actions suggested as such. I merely spoke my mind about something that I have been considering for a while, and I chose my time for it clumsily. What happens today, if anything, has no bearing on any request I may make for you to consider a transfer to my command."

-He would be a beautiful partner for us, my sweet love,- Kujaku croons, once more wrapping around my mental self. -You should consider any offer he might make in the future. I wouldn't mind working more closely with Senbonzakura one day.- I shudder under Kujaku's renewed assault on my mind, my body reacting to the soft touch of fingers though cloth brush of feathers against skin, the lust burning in Kuchiki-taichou's eyes love and adoration in every fibre of Kujaku's being.

My hands move as if they have a mind of their own are pinned above my head by Kujaku's strong grip, grabbing at Kuchiki-taichou's haori scrabbling for grip in the grass, dominating submitting to the rough, almost aggressive gentle, loving kiss that I pull him into Kujaku gives me.

Hands tangle in my hair press on my chest, pulling me closer pinning me further, as the kiss deepens. I grind thrust desperately against the hard body holding me close straddling my hips, needing the sweet friction that it provides denies me. I arch my back buck wildly under Kujaku as my completion crashes over me, a high-pitched moan escaping into the air stifled by soft lips over mine.

I regain consciousness in my own futon, dressed in my favourite nemaki, the one decorated with a peacock standing under a wisteria-covered archway, with Kujaku lying in reach to my left. For a few horrible seconds I think that everything was just a dream, until I see the letter lying by Kujaku's hilt. I open it carefully, listening for the sound of footsteps over the raucous laughter of probably drunken Division members, lest someone catch me off-guard and discover the contents of the note, whatever they may be.

Ayasegawa-kun,
I sincerely apologise for my rudeness in leaving you alone after such a liaison as ours, but several important matters in my Division required my immediate attention. No one has any idea as to exactly what occured: I informed your Captain that I goaded you into a sparring match that got out of hand, and that you would require several hours rest to recuperate from the injuries you received, an explanation that he appeared to accept without question.

If it suits you to accept, I would invite you to dine with me this coming Wednesday. There are several topics I wish to discuss with you, and an informal situation would be far preferable to me than the formality of my office, which I remind you is shared with Abarai. If you accept, you know where I can be found.

Byakuya.

I smile as I read the letter over again. Maybe I will take Kuchi- Byakuya up on this offer of his. Dinner and conversation with someone as beautiful as him could never be anything less than a pleasure.