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Wedding Night Mishap	By : picabone99 Category: Bleach > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 4778 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own Bleach or any characters original to it; nor do I make any money from it.

Chapter List
- 1-Wedding Night Mishap
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-5a
- 7-6
- 8-7
- 9-7a
- 10-8
- 11-9
- 12-10
- 13-11
- 14-12
- 15-13
- 16-13a
- 17-14
- 18-15
- 19-16
- 20-17
- 21-17a
- 22-epilogue
- 23-1st bonus
- 24-promised bonus
- 16
- 17
- 18
Byakuya was bringing up the rear of the group, having lost the arguement over who was going to lead due to his suspected broken collar bone. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the new tunnel's entrance, the way back sealed shut. Byakuya failed to notice this because as soon as he entered the tunnel, he felt a familiar reiatsu wash over him before dissapearing just as quickly as it appeared. Byakuya felt his steps falter from the shock he was too well bred to show on his face, before regaining his composure again. In front of him, Starrk had frozen as the powerful reiatsu quickly pulsed, then faded from perception. Spinning in place, Starrk fixed a hard look on Byakuya. Both men ignored Lilynette in her place between the two of them and the grumbling she commenced with when she ran into the back of Starrk's legs when he stopped moving.
"I can see by the expression on your face that you felt Juushiro's reiatsu as well," Byakuya said. "There are only two meanings to such an event, here and now, when we have been unable to sense nought of those we left behind before this. One, we are nearing the end of the challenges and this tunnel will bring us to the group we left behind."
"Or dos, he has somehow been brought here, wherever here is. And that is not an option I wish to think of since he was guarding our most preciado tesoro," Starrk finished Byakuya's statements.
Staring hard at one another in wordless communication, Starrk and Byakuya both gave a sharp, decisive nod. They needed to finish the challenges as soon as possible. If Juushiro was indeed here, it was, unfortunately, good odds that Ichigo was here as well, since both knew the calm, older man took his duties extremely seriously and would never leave Ichigo's side until he was informed that his job was over, and even then, the white-haired male would probably stick around until Ichigo had been delivered to Byakuya's home once again, just to make sure.
Starrk spun back around and started prowling foward again, trying to speed up while not sacrificing watchfullness. Just because the hallways and tunnels had been empty and safe so far meant nothing.
They had only been moving foward again for a few minutes before the three of them came to a split in the path. Before them were two openings in the rough hewn walls of the cave they were in. Starrk kept his eyes on the openings, while raising a hand and gesturing to Byakuya to come up next to him. Once he had moved up, the two of them began a discussion about which path they should take. As they became engrossed in their talk, neither paid much attention to Lilynette.
Seeing her chance to investigate the openings as well, Lilynette slid around the legs of the much taller males standing in front of her. Lilynette inched her way fowards slowly, hoping that by moving slowly she wouldn't catch the eyes of the other two. Upon reaching the fork in the tunnel, Lilynette took a second or two and allowed herself to bask in her accomplishment. Shaking off her glee, Lilynette got to work examining the two tunnels before Starrk and Byakuya could surface from their discussion and notice her. Seeing something odd, Lilynette knelt onto the ground and ran her hand over the floor of the tunnel on her right first, then ran her hand over the other tunnel.
"Huh."
Starrk and Byakuya jerked their heads around and down at the noise, focusing all their attention on Lilynette, who blushed under their scrutiny. Trying to ignore the looks the two of them were giving her, Lilynette stood back up and brushed off her knees.
"Lilynette, what do you have to say for yourself? You were supposed to stay behind me," Starrk said.
Bracing herself, Lilynette smiled up at Starrk and spoke up.
"I know which way to go."
"What?" Came the response from two throats.
Gathering himself together, Byakuya gestured for Starrk to continue on with the questioning. Nodding in acceptence, Starrk raised an eyebrow at Lilynette.
"How did you come to this conclusion, mi companero?"
Drawing a deep breathe, Lilynette waved a hand toward the tunnel on the right hand side.
"This tunnel's floor is worn extremely smooth, much more so than the other floor."
"Si, that just means that more people have walked that way."
"Exactly!" Lilynette said in exasperation. "If more people have walked that way, when there is a 50/50 chance to pick the correct way, that means that way must be wrong! The reason more people have walked over the floor, smoothing it out, is because they went the wrong way and have had to turn back around, causing double the foot traffic."
Lilynette smirked at the stunned expressions on the faces before her. Schooling her features until she looked completely innocent, Lilynette then gently buffed her fingernails on her coat and spoke.
"Well, if you two boys are just going to stand around waiting until you've had a nap or some more tea, I guess that I will just have to lead this little group."
"You will do no such thing, Lilynette," Starrk replied.
"Indeed," Byakuya spoke up in a pleasent drawl. "It was truly inspired how you figured out which direction to travel in, but that means that it is back to the order already decided upon. Starrk, if you would be so good as to proceed, we need to finish this and find Ukitake-san."
Getting a thoughtful look on his face, Byakuya continued on in a slightly distracted voice, "If what she has concluded is correct, that means that we will not be penalized for choosing the wrong direction by having the way back seal behind us. It also means that this is, in effect, a maze. We may have wandered lost in here until we died, either by starvation or by some means of the challenge we now find ourselves in."
Starrk grunted an acknowledgement and began to move foward again, making sure to take the less traveled path that Lilynette had pointed out to them. As Starrk moved foward, he made sure to stay to the center of the tunnel, just in case there was something that could be triggered by brushing up against the walls. He still had to be alert about where he placed his feet, and took every effort to make sure the floor under foot wasn't going move before he set his full weight on it. This all took time, and although Starrk was impatient to find Ukitake and question him, he forced it back and took his time going down the hallway.
As they walked, the three of them came across more pathways breaking up the tunnel walls. Each time that occured, Lilynette moved up from her place behind Starrk and examined the floor. They never moved on until Lilynette was convinced that she knew the correct way. They had only had to back track once, when the fork in the path was equally worn. After talking it over, they chose to travel the left hand path, only to find it blocked by a cave in after almost 20 minutes of slow, carefull walking. Fortunately they discovered no additional branches off of the path before they found the cave in and were able to easily return to the fork that started the problem.
Starrk couldn't help but feel that this was slightly too easy and found himself waiting for the other shoe to drop. Concesquencely, when the soft illumination that was eminating from the ceiling ceased and plunged them into pitch blackness, he wasn't all that surprised.

Ukitake heard laughter coming from behind him, but ignored the one making it in favor of keeping focused on Enapay's "pets". They were more ingenious than their creator had mentioned. Earlier, hoping to end the fight and reclaim his place guarding Ichigo, Jushiro had raised his reiatsu. He was hoping that the pressure a Taicho's spiritual energy would place on them would slow them down and allow him the opportunity to take them out. Unfortunately, Jushiro was unhappy to discover that the "dogs" merely reflected the increased pressure back at him. Once that little fact was discovered, Ukitake quickly lowered his levels back to what they were at the beginning of the fight. He had no desire to wear himself out as quickly as would have happened if he was fighting under double pressure as well as burning through his rieryoku reserves.
"Ah, the little one that travels with this one's Alphas is quite clever. The little minx figured out the best way to traverse my maze. Ichigo must be proud of his cub. Although I am a bit shocked at her sire for taking such a young one into such a challenge as this with him. I must say, it is obvious that she was sired by the taller of the two Alphas. Her power feels almost the exact same as his after all."
Ukitake let a small, grim smile spread across his lips for a moment as he listened to King Enapay speak, before letting it fall off. He would take any information he could on how Starrk and Byakuya were doing, even if it was loaded with inaccuracies due to the fact that Enapay didn't actually know any of them. All Ukitake could do was concentrate on fighting his battle and regulate his breathing, praying all the while that he would not be subjected to one of his spells.
As he fought on, Ukitake was acutely conscious of the fact that the "dogs" had the advantage. He was quite aware of the blood that seeped from the numerous injuries that the beasts had inflicted upon him, while their wounds had all healed almost instantaniously. The only bright spot in his fight was the fact that he had managed to behead one of the beasts, causing it to disentigrate and leaving him one less "dog" to fight against. Jushiro, knowing that the only chance he had to protect Ichigo was to play by Enapay's demands, perservered in his fight, waiting for Starrk and Byakuya to exit what he now knew was a maze.
After an unknown length of time passed, Ukitake heard more laughter fill the room. This time he was facing the throne as the beasts paused for a moment in their attacking, and were instead circling him. This allowed him an oppurtunity to take in the sight before him.
Enapay had thrown his head back and, although laughing loudly and seemingly concentrating on what Starrk and Byakuya were doing, he still had a hand gently rubbing and caressing Ichigo's abdomin.
"They have reached one of my more favorite sections of the maze. They will have to continue onwards in complete darkness for a while," Enapay called out.
He was finding immense enjoyment in watching the white haired Shinigami fight against his pets, and even more enjoyment in touching the flame-haired Beta on his lap. Lowering his voice so the Shinigami wouldn't be able to hear, he continued speaking to himself and the one on his lap, even if Ichigo was unable to respond back.
"I do not know whether I should be rooting for those Alphas of yours to succeed, or if I should be wishing for them to fail. They would obviously be exceptional rulers. No one has ever moved so fast though my challenges. They make it look effortless. I know, I know," Enapay said and smoothed Ichigo's hair back from his face again. "They had to spend some effort to get past my one little warrior, but he has taken out numerous challengers and they fought their way past with such minor wounds. The few who have achieved victory over him have come out of it with much more damage. It was nothing but sheer genious on their parts to use your older cub. She is something else and I am looking foward to meeting her."
Enapay paused in his speaking for several moments and watched in grim satisfaction as the white-haired Shinigami began coughing harshly while, at the same time, trying to defend himself from three of the dogs charging him. Once his dogs pulled back, Enapay was pleased to note several new wounds gracing the other man's lithe body, as well as blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth.
"Oh, my little one. It is a shame that you are not aware right now. This is a truly glorious fight. The Shinigami who was in charge of your safety is an amazing sight to see in battle. He is both graceful, and extremely powerful. It almost appears as though he is dancing instead of fighting. His twin blades are excisite as they spin and flash in the light. It is quite the sight to behold."
Enapay focused his attention back on Ichigo and resumed his gentle fondling of the Beta's small baby bump.
"If your Alphas fail, then you would become part of my court and would grace my presence for the rest of time. You are truly an extraordinary Beta. So powerful. So beautiful. Obviously able to carry and birth extraordinary cubs," Enapay's hand stilled in its gentle movement and his eyes took a distant, faraway look. "Cubs..."
Enapay drifted off into his thoughts, only vaguely aware of his hand resuming it's motion on the slight bump under it and the battle occuring before his eyes.
"Perhaps it is for the best that I am unable to rearrange the maze while the challengers are within it. We shall just have to await the outcome without any interferrence from anything or anyone on the outside of the maze," Enapay said extremely quietly.

Byakuya felt his lips twitch as he heard swearing from Lilynette. While he did not agree with the use of such vulgarities, in this situation he could have some sympathy with her use of them. And she really did have quite the vocabulary of them. Byakuya found himself impressed despite his views, especially when it was obvious she was fluent in several languages.
Starrk heaved a sigh and buried his head into his hands that he brought up to cradle his face in. Resigned to the fact that his reunion with his Beta just became that much more difficult. Gathering himself back together, he felt a sense of fondness for his other half as he heard her use the words that he would have used had he not kept the most part of their patience after their split.
"Lilynette, while you have summed up the situation por cierto, it is perhaps not doing anything to change what has happened."
"But it makes me feel better," Lilynette said, pouting, even though she knew no one could see her in this inky blackness.
"We need to keep moving onwards," Byakuya spoke up. "We have no way of knowing if this darkness is limited to this location in the maze, if it is a matter of a length of time before the light returns, or if it will continue through till the finish."
"Si, your reasons are all most well thought out. However," Starrk continued, "we must take precautions that we do not become separados in such a blackness as we have found ourselves in."
Thinking very hard for a moment, Starrk hesitantly spoke up, choosing his words carefully.
"I think if Lillynette were to hold onto my jacket, that would prevent her from being perdido as we move fowards. Byakuya, it might be wrong to assume such, but I feel that you have trained as a guerrero, unlike those of us who became Espada. Espada were formed through survial and power, not intense training for the future. Did your instructores ever train you to battle without different senses?"
Byakuya was slightly surprised at the turn Starrk's speaking had taken, but answered the other Alpha.
"You are indeed correct in your assumptions. I was most vigorously trained in many different aspects of combat and warfare, including fighting without the use of various senses."
"I think it might be for the best if you were to take the lead, mi amigo, even with your injured hombro. Your trained senses might be able to give a moment's more warning then if I were to be the one in the lead."
"Agreed," Byakuya said quietly, knowing that no one could see if he had nodded as was his wont. Thinking as he moved foward, brushing up against Starrk as he moved past, Byakuya halted before he lost all contact with the taller man. "It might be for the best if Lilynette took ahold of some article of my clothing so that she will still be between us."
"Si. Lilynette, do has Byakuya has suggested."
Byakuya waited to move foward until he felt Lilynette's small hand enfold the fabric of his Shiahakusho tightly in her little fist. As he extended his trained senses, a random thought occured to Byakuya and he couldn't stop himself from voicing it aloud.
Shuffling backwards slowly, giving Lilynette time to move with him, Byakuya found Starrk and tugged him down until he could feel an ear under his lips. Extremely quietly, so that it seemed as though the words he spoke were nothing more than soft breaths, Byakuya spoke.
"Why do Lilynette and yourself not combine and summon Los Lobos? Their senses would be so much more than my paltry Shinigami ones."
Starrk turned his head and searched until his lips brushed up against Byakuya's ear.
"I have no knowlegde of what might be waiting for us further on in this maze, or waiting for us upon the exit. It is not wise to give away such a secreto without having dire need."
Starrk knew he had made his point when he felt the ear under his lips move as Byakuya nodded. Starrk extended his senses to the best of his abilities and listened as Byakuya slowly walked foward.
As Byakuya gracefully slid one foot in front of the other, he focused hard on all of his senses other than sight. In fact, he closed his eyes just to ensure that he wouldn't be distracted by the darkness imposed upon him by someone or something else. Byakuya also removed his sheathed zanpakuto from his sash and reached out with the tip, setting it against the wall of the tunnel his right, and using it to try and check for any openings. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the best one possible without the use of sight or proper resources.
There was no way of measuring time in the darkness and agonizingly slow pace foward. It could have been hours, or mere minutes later, when Byakuya felt a small stirring of air caress the left side of his face. He immediately froze in place, not wanting to move ahead any further and possibly break the airsteam.
"Starrk," Byakuya tensely whispered. "I think I may have come across a trap of some kind. I am feeling a small amount of moving air against my face. I need you to reach foward and grab ahold of Lilynette. I will be testing the air current to see if we can move around it without having to go through it. I find my self unable to trust any moving air in a place where we have not had such until now."
Once Byakuya could no longer feel Lilynette's hold on him, he carefully brought up his healthy arm. As he brought it up it, he paid attention to his fingers, feeling for any trace of air moving against them. It wasn't until his fingers were level with his waist that he finally felt still air begin to stir, at which point he pulled his hand back and left just the faintest of faint traces of movement stroke against his fingers until they were level with the top of his head, at which point he let them move foward again. As his fingers moved foward, they only encountered the barest trace of movement, allowing Byakuya to determine that the air current was only level with Starrk's, and his own, torso. Stretching out his hand to either side, Byakuya found that the current came out of one side of the tunnel wall and moved across the tunnel until it disappeared into the far wall. After explaning his finds, Byakuya then suggested that they merely crawl foward, ensuring that they wouldn't block the rush of air.
Starrk fervently agreed with this idea and slid onto his knees with no hesitation, crawling after Byakuya as the smaller male moved past the possible trap. As they moved foward, they were having to continuously stop to allow Byakuya to brace himself against the wall and reach his good arm upwards to test if the air had ceased in it's movement. Once Byakuya gave the all clear, they still moved foward on their knees just to be sure that they were past the outer edge of the air current. When they finally stood up, Byakuya indicated that he was ready to move on and waited until he had Lilynette's tight fist wrapped firmly around his Shiahakusho again before he did.
Starrk was using all of his senses to follow his Segundo's lead. It was made more difficult because the normal grace Byakuya possesed caused the nobleman to move with hardly any noise. With all his attention so focused on Byakuya, it could be, perhaps, excused when he failed to hear a faint clicking noise coming up from behind him until it was almost to late.
Starrk spun around and yelled when he felt something sharp pierce through the back of his calf. Drawing his katana as he spun around, it was by luck more than skill when he felt something provide resistance to the metal of his blade. Starrk continued swinging his blade, hoping that the more spread out technique would allow him to hit whatever was attacking verses the limited contact thrusting would provide.
Byakuya drew Senbonzakura and held him in a defensive postition before him. As much as he wished that he was able to assist Starrk, Byakuya knew he would better serve his Primero by guarding his other front and ensuring that Lilynette wouldn't be harmed.
As the battle in the darkness progressed, Starrk could feel numerous wounds being inflicted on his body. That was bad because blood loss and pain would slow his reaction time, but it also worked in his favor because, as whatever it was that attacked him made contact, it allowed Starrk the only sure place to return attacks. Starrk could feel less and less contact with the what-ever-it-was as time went on, until finally, there was nothing injuring him from the blackness surrounding him. Starrk stood there, waiting, the only noise was his harsh breathing. When, after a timeless moment, nothing else came after him, Starrk relaxed and sheathed his katana, promising to himself that he would spend some much needed time to care for his blade once this mission was ended. As he stood there, still breathing heavily, something occured to him, causing him to stop breathing momentarily in shock.
"Segundo, I do believe that the stone that let us enter the challenges did more than just examen us for the power levels it needed to open the puertas. I think it set the level of power for here in this maze, and possible, the other conflicts and bumps in the path laid before us. I have never been so out of breath, after all, unless being in a great battle."
Byakuya, still standing in a defensive position, thought for a moment before he vocalized his agreement. It would certainly account for the harsh breathing he heard coming from behind him.
"Whomever designed these challenges was muy ingenioso. To enter and be allowed to compete, a certain level of power is needed, but after that, the challenges and fights have all been up to test the stamina and intellegence of the ones attempting to become king."
Lilynette couldn't stop herself from snorting at Starrk as he rambled his thoughts aloud.
"If you're all done now, we could get a move on. After all," Lilynette said snidely, "I'm pretty sure I remember you both were in a hurry to finish this up. You can talk theory or whatever once this crap is done and over with."
Lilynette concluded her little speech by poking Byakuya in the leg with the forefinger on her free hand. Byakuya, taking the poking as the not so subtle hint it was meant to be, cleared his throat to ensure that he had Starrk's attention and sheathed his zanpakuto.
"We shall proceed onwards, again. Please follow closely and keep yourselves aware of your suroundings to the best of your abilities."
Once they were moving again, Byakuya decided to use Senbonzakura to help monitor the locations of the tunnel walls as he had done previously. He cautiously made his way foward, sliding his sheathed zanpakuto along the walls as they went. They had been making their way done the tunnel in this fashion when Byakuya felt nothing under his questing foot. Freezing in place, Byakuya quickly drew his foot back onto solid ground.
"Stop!" Byakuya barked out. "Do not move. Starrk, take Lilynette again. I need to examine the floor. My foot came across an emptiness when I went to take my last step."
Byakuya gracefully took to his knees as soon as he was assured of Lilynette's safety. Placing his hand on the ground before him, Byakuya begin to sweep it around, finding nought but a cut off and free air before him. As he felt around, Byakuya was able to tell that the gap went from wall to wall and extended as far as he was able to reach at the moment. After explaining his findings, there was nothing but silence. Until..
"What the hell? Now what?" Lilynette called out loudly.
"Lilynette, calm yourself," Byakuya responded. "I have an idea. I have been testing the tunnel wall to our right as we have walked foward. If we were to flip positions and have us go back towards the air current, I will be able to test the other wall for openings. That is probably all that happened here. We missed a fork in the path because of the darkness and this is a false path that would have led to out death if we were less careful. Since the pathway was straight, the pit before us was most likely a very successful trap and claimed many victims. Now. Let us rearrange ourselves and attempt to find the proper pathway."
Once they were in the new formation, Byakuya carefully led the way back down the, apparently, wrong path. As he slid a sheathed Senbonzakura along the wall, Byakuya focused hard on what the friction caused vibrations were telling him. The tunnel walls, although rough hewn, were relatively uniform, with no major bumps or grooves that the had noticed before now, so when Senbonzakura felt like he had slid into a notch in the wall, Byakuya immediately called for a halt. Sliding one foot before the other until he reached the wall, Byakuya withdrew his zanpakuto and placed it back in his obi. He then placed his one good hand, very cautiously, on the wall before him in as near the location of the nitch as he could tell, feeling around until he could feel a thin, vertical crack under his sensitive fingertips. First, Byakuya followed the crack up with his fingers as far as he could reach, then he reversed direction and slid his fingers along the crack until they came in contact with the floor. After thinking over his findings for a moment, Byakuya decided to voice his conclusions aloud.
"I think that I might have found something interesting. It is a very thin, floor to ceiling crack in the wall. I find it to be of interest due to the fact that no other flaw in the structure of the tunnels has been found until now, that and the fact that it is completey vertical with no deviation to one side or the other. Which means, to my way of thinking, that it is most probably deliberate in nature. The question before us now is what shall we do with it?"
After quiet discussion on the part of Starrk and Byakuya, and loud, insistant rejoinders from Lilynette, Starrk handed down the final verdict.
"I think it might be the way foward for us. Stand aside, Byakuya."
Byakuya inclined his head slightly in the direction of Starrk's voice and gave a quiet affirmative to the order the Primero gave, although he waited to move out of the way until Starrk's hand was firmly in place on the odd crack.
Starrk waited until Byakuya had withdrawn with Lilynette then drew his katana. Placing the blade into the crack, Starrk pushed his reiatsu down into the blade, hoping to strengthen the blade enough to allow it to act as a prybar with taking to much damage. Once he was sure his blade was as re-inforced as it could be in this situation, Starrk leant on it, using his body weight to force it foward into the odd crack. As he stood there, placing more and more of his body weight against his sword, Starrk began to think that their reasoning was off and this crack was nothing more than a naturally occuring oddity. Just as he was beginning to think about giving up on what he was doing, his katana suddenly slid into the wall like a hot knife through butter. Starrk, with all his weight on the blade, stumbled foward as well, taken by surprise by the sudden movement.
As the blade thrust into the wall, a thin slit was revealed by the light shining through it. The momentum imparted by Starrk's weight caused the thin slit to quickly progress into a full size opening in the tunnel wall. Any further details were lost on the small group as the light flooding the tunnel overwhelmed their dark sensitive eyes and inflicted temporary blindness on both Starrk and Lilynette. Byakuya, who had kept his eyes tightly shut as they wandered in the dark, was left with some vision, although it was also somewhat hampered as bright starbursts flashing behind his eyelids.
Byakuya, his senses still on high alert, tried to ignore Lilynette's swearing and his own eyes' weakness to focus instead on his surroundings, sure that such an apparent weakness would be an irresistible draw to any foes that might happen to lurk nearby. Concentrating as hard as he could, Byakuya thought he heard an odd, soft chittering noise though Lilynette's increasingly loud swear words.
"Hush!" Byakuya hissed and reached out to where he heard Lilynette at, placing his good hand over her mouth. Once she was stiffled, the odd noise was able to be heard by all, and at an increased volume than what Byakuya had noted just a few seconds earlier. Byakuya wasted no more time. He quickly swung Lilynette behind him by the hand he had on her mouth and, once she was in place, released her just as quickly, hoping to draw Senbonzakura before whatever was making the noise arrived. He was almost in time. As he was in the process of unsheathing his weapon, something sharp latched ahold of his sword arm. Prying his eyes open to take advantage of as much infomation as his dazzled eyes could impart, Byakuya was rather alarmed at what appeared to be razor sharp, silver claws and far to many teeth in a one meter high body.
Byakuya gave a convulsive shake of his arm, which unfortunately failed to shake off the frightening creature that was now digging in it's long, sharp talons into Byakuya's arm. Byakuya held in the painfilled hiss that wanted to escape and instead used his energy to better purpose. Mainly bodyslamming the disgusting little creature into the nearest wall. Repeatedly, since it failed to release it's talons on the first attempt. Once free from the beast's clutches, Byakuya was able to finish drawing his zanpakuto. Settling into an offensive position, Byakuya quickly dove into the fray, opening his eyes extremely briefly every now and again, allowing himself only occasional glimpses of the battle to try and spare his eyes any damage from the blinding light.
And battle is what it was. The creatures might have been on the small side, but there were many of them and they were extremely vicious, never releasing their claws or teeth once they were sunk into their victim, unless the monster was dead or otherwise disabled.
As he spun and fought to the best of his ability against the seemingly unending wave of the creatures, Byakuya was dismayed to hear Lilynette's painfilled cries coming from behind him. Forcing his still acclimating eyes open, Byakuya took in a most alarming sight. Lilynette had drawn her zanpakuto and was wildly swinging it at several of the creatures who had somehow bypassed both Stark and himself. As he watched the child-sized Arrancar fight to the best of her ability under their new handicap, he was stunned to see one of the digusting little things scurry past him by digging it's sharp talons into the walls of the new tunnel, allowing it to completey bypass any contact with the more experienced Shinigami Taicho. Byakuya took this all in in mere seconds. Just as he was preparing to dart to Lilynette's side, he found himself, instead, freezing in place at the never before heard sound of Stark roaring in anger.
Starrk was unable to hold his anger back when he heard Lilynette's painfilled cries. Letting out a primal roar of overwhelming anger, the powerful Alpha forced his eyes open. Ignoring the burning sensation over taking his dark habituated eyes, Starrk focused instead on the nasty, little imps that were currently surrounding him and preventing him form reaching the other half of himself. Swinging his katana harshy around himself, he freed enough room to allow him to spin around and begin to move towards where he could make out the vague blur of violent motion and pain filled cries. As Starrk made his move towards Lilynette, he ignored the many imps that were fastening their teeth and claws into his legs, already wounded from his earlier fight against the creature in the darkness.
Byakuya, seeing the many creatures hanging off of his Primero, attempted to move foward throught the swarm, but was unable to make any speed towards his objective. Instead, he was forced to fight and struggle for any foward space, killing any and all of the little beast that blocked his way or swarmed the walls around him. Byakuya was only able to find himself along side of Starrk after a great deal of effort. Once they were reunited, Byakuya turned his attention to killing the monsters that were hanging off of Starrk and were appearently attempting to take him down by chewing and slicing his legs off.
Starrk paid no attention to what Byakuya was doing; all of his attention was focused instead on reaching Lilynette, and killing anything that stood in his way. Fortunately, it seemed to Byakuya's finally acclumated eyes, most of the nightmarish little beasts had attacked Starrk, with an almost equally large number coming after Byakuya, only then did a few of the creatures bypass the fight to attempt to take on Lilynette. As Starrk reached the swarm of creatures surrounding a screaming Lilynette, Byakuya could almost find it himself to feel sorry for them.
Starrk attacked in a frenzy, spearing several of the imps on his blade in one thrust, and beheading several more when he shook the first load off of his blade. After that, the fight passed in a blur.
When it was all over, Starrk and Byakuya sagged wearily against the tunnel walls, trusting the cool stone to hold their tired, overheated bodies upright. Lilynette had been forced by Starrk to stand with her back against the wall and had both Starrk and Byakuya standing shoulder to shoulder in front of her, ensuring that little beasts were no longer able to reach her. Blood covered the floor and was splashed up the walls, not all it was the beasts' either.
Starrk was hardly able to support himself on his legs due to the damage they had sustained in his two maze fights. The first thing he had fought against, he had had to allow to wound him since he was unable to see it in the dark, and in this battle, the beasts had been too numerous and vicious to avoid taking damage off of.
Byakuya was in only slightly better condition. Without both hands able to be of use, he was unable to use his off hand to grab the beasts off of his body and slam them into the nearest tunnel walls. Consequensely, his injured shoulder was now joined by deep puncture wounds and bite marks all over his body where he was unable to pry the creatures off of his body before they had dug in with their teeth and claws.
The only good thing in the fight was the fact that Lilynette took only minor injuries: Starrk having reached her before too many of the creatures had bypassed the two males.
Heaving a deep sigh, Byakuya forced himself to leave the solid support the wall offered, wavering for a moment until he was able to shake off the lightheadedness that assailed him.
"Come. We must be moving onwards. Starrk, I want you to stand on my injured side and drape an arm over top of my shoulders. I may be unable to support you entirely due to my injuries, but I can certainly offer you much needed stability. Lilynette," Byakuya looked down at the girl where she was peeking her head out from in between Starrk and himself. "I need you to walk along the other side of Starrk and try to ensure that he does not slump away from me on that side. I know that going down the tunnel three abreast is not the wisest of strategies, but until we have recovered somewhat it is the only option we have to move foward at all. Otherwise we shall be waiting, injured, in a hostile environment for an unknown length of time. The only chance for a true recovery is to find the exit, and the sooner the better."
Starrk mumbled out his agreement and stumbled over against Byakuya, draping his arm over the shorter male's shoulder. Once he was in position, Lilynette slid around to his other side, quickly because she had no desire to remain in this nightmare of a maze that somehow blocked/matched power levels any longer than she had to.
Once the three of them were abreast of one another, they slowly set off down the hallway, stumbling and weaving as they went, leaving a blood trail behind them.

Ukitake was finding it increasingly difficult to focus his attention on anything other than the "dogs" that were physically attacking him: ignoring any that weren't actually fighting against him. He had no idea how long he had been fighting for, which, when he had had the resources to spare to think about it, he had found disturbing; but now, he had no reserves to spare for any thoughts that would take his attention from the ferocious animals. He had managed to kill a total of three of Enapay's pets with great effort and now only had three left to deal with. However, the three left were the largest and fought together with the most coordination. Ukitake hardly paid any attention to King Enapay's announcements of how well, or poorly, his friends were doing in the maze.
Enapay wasn't upset over the beheadings of his precious pets. Knowing that the moment they were defeated here, his dogs would find themselves back in his private domain took a great deal of the sting out of their "death" and let him focus instead on the artistry of the fight taking place before him. Although his enjoyment was tempered by the fact that unless his beloved pets killed the Shinigami, he would be unable to claim the Shinigami for his kingdom. Enapay felt a wave of feral glee spread through his body at the thought of having the Shinigami under his control. Until then, he would enjoy the fight, "listen" for the Alphas, and savor the lithe beauty settled on his lap.
Lost in his enjoyment of the fight and the thoughts of punishing the Shinigami, and the pleasure of touching the Beta in his control, Enapay left off checking in on the Alphas for a long while after they had come across his little imps, knowing that they still had a great deal of the maze to traverse yet. He could still "feel" them of coarse as they fought against the other creatures that inhabited the maze and"listen" in on them as they dealt with the waves of darkness that apeared and disappeared, as well as how they dealt with the occasional wrong path taken, but it was just knowledge that lurked in the back of his head, easily ignored as he lost himself in other thoughts. Enapay was therefor quite taken aback to have his attention brought back onto the challengers by them stumbling out of the maze exit, covered in blood. Looking back through his mental landscape, Enapay was forced to acknowledge the fact that he hadn't been paying attention for far too long and that they had progressed through the end of the maze without any conscious thought spared from them on his part.
Straightening himself on his throne, Enapay scowled at the thought that he would now have to follow through on his "agreement" with the white haired Shinigami. He had honestly believed that the man would have been killed long before the other males would have beaten the maze. If they were able to do so, that is. Looking down at his lapfull, Enapay's scowl deepened even more as he realized that he would also have to give up on having a Beta for his court. Giving one last, lingering caress, Enapay carefully lifted Ichigo in arms and stood. Turning around, Enapay then set the vibrant haired male back down on the throne. Once his arms were empty, he turned back to the room and waved his arms, causing the remainder of his pets to be dismissed back to his realm.
Ukitake staggered as the "dog" he was currently engaged against suddenly disappeared, causing him to over balance once the weight counterbalancing his own was no longer there to brace against. Looking wearily around the room that was now oddly silent to his battle accustomed ears, Jushiro was relieved to take in the sight of Starrk, Byakuya, and Lilynette standing just inside of the room, before the gaping opening.
Starrk and Byakuya were overwhelmed with the presence of Jushiro's reiatsu as they stepped into the latest cavern in the maze. They had wandered and fought, experienced waves of darkness and light, chose wrong paths and back tracked to try and correct their choices for what seemed like weeks, even though they never experienced hunger or thirst. They had encounted creatures they had no name for and fought numerous battles against them. So when they stumbled out of the narrow, dark tunnel, the familar reiatsu washing over their senses was enough to make them freeze in place just inside the new room. Hearing someone clapping slowly and loudly, drew everyone's attention to the other side of the room, where Starrk, Byakuya, and Lilynette beheld Enapay for the first time, and Ukitake took in the sight of the King with leisure for the first time since he had appeared.
"Bravo! Color me impressed with all of you. No one has ever beaten my challenges so quickly before," Enapay turned and focused his attention solely on the white-haired Shinigami. "Congratulations are in order for you as well, I suppose. True to my agreement, you will be the Shinigami ambassador to their court. After all, you did manage to survive till they came to get you."
As weary as they all were, the various people in the room were still able to take note of the sour expression crossing the speaker's face. Smoothing out his features to the best of his ability, Enapay continued on with his speech.
"You three do not yet know me so allow me to introduce myself. I am King Enapay. I set up the rules and challenges for kingship. There is only one thing left for you to do and then you will be finished."
Byakuya and Starrk firmed their grips on their weaponry as they made note of the dark smirk on Enapay's face as he summoned a heavy looking mace. Enapay, seeing their knuckles tighten and fade to white around the blood covered weapons, began laughing. Waving his free hand at them as he bent over with laughter, it took him a while to bring himself back under control. Once he manged to do so, Enapay spoke up.
"No, no. I am not going to fight you. I am not allowed to fight against you in fact. That is my fault, though. When I set up the rules for the pocket dimension this all takes place in, I worded something poorly. Although, at the time, I didn't know what I had done," Enapay, seeing the confusion on the tired faces, chose to answer the the unasked question. Chuckling lightly at himself, he continued, "I had myself become the "unchallenged" ruler of my new dimension. Hence the reason that I will not be battling against you. If I fight against someone who beat the maze, and is now a King in his own right, I would become challenged and the dimension would cease to exist under the rules I set. No, all you have to do is come claim the sceptor and crown from my hands."
Controlling the relief he felt so that it didn't cross his face, Byakuya helped steady Starrk as they moved across the cavern. As they got closer, they were able to make out what was behind the extremely tall man. It was an oddly shaped throne, apparently. However, the closer they moved, the more details they were able to make out. It wasn't just an oddly shaped throne: it was a throne with someone draped sideways across it. Someone with a very familar hair color.
Starrk began to growl as he took in the sight of Ichigo. His mate was wearing appropriate attire for a pregnant Beta, and had been gifted with some rather extraordinary jewels, but they were given by someone other than himself or Byakuya. And that was ignoring the point that Ichigo was just laying there, unguarded by the warrior chosen by Starrk and Byakuya. Starrk failed to note that his reiatsu was beginning to rise and flood the surrounding area for the first time since they had entered the first room of the challenges.
Enapay, hearing the growl and feeling the spiritual pressure begin to pulse against him, decided that ensuring the safety of the dimension was his paramount duty and tossed the sceptor he had summoned towards the duo. Once the sceptor was airborne and had their attention, he quickly snatched the crown of of his head and threw it at them as well. When the crown was removed, Enapay began to fade from sight. As he faded, he left the room with a parting piece of advice.
"Once you put the crown on, it will take whatever shape you desire. The last one who managed to win the crown choose to have it merge with the remainder of his mask and become a part of his body. Whatever you choose to do with it, when you are killed or choose to retire, the crown and sceptor will return on their own."
Starrk lunged foward, ignoring his almost useless legs in his quest to attack the Alpha who dared to touch his Beta, but was unable to make it before Enapay had faded completely from sight. Starrk stumbled the rest of the way foward, through the place where Enapay had been, and collapsed on the floor, leaning against the throne that Ichigo was resting on. Reaching up a hand that trembled in exhaustion, Starrk gently placed it against Ichigo's cheek.
As soon as Starrk's hand came into contact with Ichigo's skin, Ichigo's eyelids began to flutter. Seeing this, Byakuya stumbled his way foward to the throne as well and placed his hand gently onto the rounded abdomin that held his heir. Ichigo's eyes shot open as soon as Byakuya was touching his skin. Shooting upright, Ichigo wrapped his arms around Starrk and proceeded to attack the other man's mouth with his own. Byakuya, feeling left out, slid his hand up Ichigo's body until he was able to bury his hand in the soft, bright strands of Ichigo's hair. Ichigo, feeling the hand in his hair tighten, removed his lips and arms from Starrk and attacked Byakuya instead as he leaned over him. The sound of someone loudly clearing his throat broke the intense make out session that Ichigo was just beginning to instigate. Scowling, Ichigo re-focused his attention from the extremely welcome sight of his mates to the one who was interrupting his desperately needed relief.
Ukitake gave a gentle smile once he had everyone's attention.
"Ichigo, it is good to see that you are in good health, but this is not the best place or time for such a reunion. Myself and your mates are in need of assistance and I'm quite sure that the others are worried about us."
Ichigo, taking stock of his location for the first time, was greeted by the sight of two tired, wounded mates and an equally tired and wounded Ukitake. He was stunned to put it mildly. The last thing he remembered was Starrk, Byakuya, and Lilynette entering through the doors.
"What? How?" Ichigo spluttered and waved his hands around, gesturing at the three other males.
"We will explain later, mi tesoro mas preciado. Ukitake is exacto. Let us get what we came for and find the way out of here."
Starrk fitted his actions to his words and heaved himself to his feet. Ichigo jumped up from the throne immediately and steadied his Alpha when he took note of how badly Starrk swayed from side to side. Ichigo continued to lend his support as Starrk slowly and carefully made his way foward until he came to the crown and sceptor that lay together on the floor where whey had landed after hitting Starrk when thrown at him. Bending down, Starrk picked them up. Placing the crown on his head, he then gave the sceptor to Byakuya, who had followed his mates.
"Here, I may be the final authority, but you are my Segundo and shall share the throne with me."
When Byakuya's hands gripped the sceptor, a portion of the cavern wall fell away, revealing a brightly lit room on the other side. As the group made their way towards it, Ichigo, taking a look at Ukitake, was finally able to process what he had missed before in his indignation at being interrupted, then his surprise and worry for his mates.
"Hey Jushiro," Ichigo casually threw out. "I love the new tattoos on your face. Seriously, the whole "tribal" style thing on your face looks great. I'm sure that Shunshui will agree with me. Especially done in that deep blue."
Ukitake, paused at the entrance to the next room, looked over at Ichigo in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
Before Ichigo could respond, a faint voice was heard. Everyone except for Ichigo easily identified the voice as that of Enapay.
"Oh yeah. You now bare the traditional markings designating the ambassador. It was to ensure that all knew who it was, making sure that dealings between the two worlds was all above board. We shall see if you manage to return the honor to the post that the last incumbent destroyed. All hollows will be able to read the markings you now posess and will know who you are and what you represent."
The group was stunned into silence with that last parting speech as they left the cavern. Upon entering the new, fully furnished room, Ichigo immediately settled Starrk onto the nearest seat and went over to the double doors on the adjacent wall, hoping to find something that he could use to aid his mate. He was just in time as he flung them open to hear Grimmjow's startled voice.
"Well shit! Now what?"

Whew! What a long chapter! Hope this meets with all possible satisfaction from my readers. Many challenges were inspired by the insane number of books I've read through the years, others were thought up by yours truly. Hope they went together well enough to create a suspenseful chapter. I also hope my point of Enapay's dimension being outside of time, somewhat, came across. After all, spending weeks trying to compete insane challenges would seriously hamper the ruling and running of a healthy realm, and that would be the best case senario if the first challenger won.
All thanks and appreciation to my reviewers.
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Wedding Night Mishap