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Safe in my Arms	By : ShadowedEcho Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3066 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, no money is being made by me, this was written purely for entertainment purposes

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Additional Story Warnings: There is going to be discussions of the following sensitive topics in this and future chapters, some of which was already touched on earlier, but I am developing them deeper. Please know I am going to do my best to handle the topics respectfully, but I don't want to upset anyone when you are just looking for a light read, so if you, for any reason, have an issue reading stories dealing with these topics either let me know so I can clearly mark the sections, or please do not harm yourself by reading. I write to entertain not to upset.
-Infertility
-Miscarriage
-Infant mortality
-Forced miscarriage/non-consenting abortion
-mentions of dubious consent, or partially abusive relationships
Chapter Four
Right Kind of Wrong
(This is set during the last chapter chronologically; this is what happened to the others while Ichigo was sleeping after speaking with Starrk.)
Grimmjow had just gotten the news his Beta and children were healthy, Szayel had conned him into helping carry a box of supplies back to his quarters. Now he had met up with Ulquiorra on the way back from Szayel's quarters. The emerald eyed Arrancar unable to staunch his curiosity asked, "What happened Grimmjow? You just happened to stumble across him?" He spoke evenly, walking with the Sexta towards Aizen's old meeting hall, which was now their communal living room.
"Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't sure it was him at first, you know when a Beta is in labor their Spiritual Pressure fluctuates, but I sensed he was alone so I couldn't just walk away." Grimmjow replied easily, knowing Ulquiorra would work himself up to the question he really wanted to ask.
Ulquiorra glanced at him out of the corner of his bright emerald eyes, "You didn't observe, you actively helped, didn't you?"
"Yes," Grimmjow admitted lowly, not liking where this was going.
"Alphas don't interfere," Ulquiorra began, reciting as if out of a textbook, but when Grimmjow made to interrupt, he held up a delicate hand halting his speech, "We watch, we protect, and we ensure their safety, but birthing is the Beta's task. What was different about him? What made you cross into Betas' territory?" Ulquiorra had been intrigued by the orange haired Vizard since he was tasked with the care of Orihime Inoue, she spoke so confidently about him, the boy inspired as much loyalty as Aizen, but without the fear and illusions that Aizen employed.
Grimmjow ran a hand through his blue hair, messing it up even more than it usually was. "I'm not really sure. I think it was the look on his face. I have seen him angry. I have seen him passionate. I can remember seeing him come completely undone as his instincts surfaced and lust clouded our minds. I have never seen that look before, and to see it on the face of my Beta, while my children were being born, I don't know. I couldn't not comfort him."
"What kind of look?" Ulquiorra prodded as they lowered themselves onto one of the cushions, sticking close to keep their conversation private.
"It was like fear," Grimmjow closed his eyes, trying to picture it, "It was desperation, it was hopeful, and pained. He was terrified of me. He has always been defiant and fiery, I have never seen fear on his face, yet there it was. His first words to me were asking me not to kill him. No asking for help, no telling me to go away, no fighting me, just him forcing words through pain so I wouldn't kill him minutes before our first child was ready to be born."
"If he was so terrified, why get closer? Why didn't you back away, patrol outside the cave while he gave birth?" Ulquiorra was only beginning to understand what Grimmjow was saying, but he would keep fishing for answers until Grimmjow refused to give any more.
Grimmjow had his head in his hands, rubbing his temples as he tried to get his thoughts in order, "I didn't have time to get him to trust me before the first baby started coming, and he didn't know how to handle it, he wouldn't have calmed just because I was outside. That would have only scared him more, maybe made him think I was lying in wait to kill them once the babies were born. He tried to hold off the baby from coming, and he was straining so hard to keep from delivering I thought he would hurt himself. The only way I had to calm him down enough to give birth was if I stayed and helped him. If I proved I could be trusted. I'm glad I stayed, the last one, he may not have made it if Ichigo had been left alone." It was true Shiro had told him what to do, but still, someone had been needed to keep Ichigo calm as that helped as much as whatever Shiro had done.
"He is very young, and this was his first mating, it is surprising all of them made it through." Ulquiorra knew those words could hurt, but unfortunately it was the truth.
Grimmjow growled, a low, deep, warning sound, "I know, my first mating, only one of four made it through the pregnancy and birth. Just because I know the likelihood of failure, does not mean I am going to sit back and watch if there is something I can do about it. Ichigo is stronger than my first mate by far. He managed to carry them completely alone; I was not going to be responsible for letting him lose one of them when I was there to prevent it. I know you would have done the same had he been your Beta and that was your child struggling to live."
"Never said I wouldn't have, just trying to understand why you did. I haven't been put in that position to know what I would do." He normally produced single babies, many Betas preferred Alphas that gave multiples because of the low survival rate of offspring. He had far fewer successful matings than Grimmjow, despite the fact he was the older Hollow. Although he did have one asset, all of his young had survived from his few matings. Carrying one child was easier on the Beta than multiple ones, so even if a mating produced four or five young, the Beta might only birth one or two of them.
Grimmjow's eyes softened a fraction; an Alpha with Ulquiorra's odd position had his sympathy. His children survived, but Betas would rather take their chances starting out with a larger litter. "Some day you will, Szayel prefers you, he wants his next batch to make it. He won't mind if you bend the rules to stay by his side during the delivery."
"Unlike your Beta, Szayel knows the traditional approach, you truly think he will let me be there?" Ulquiorra didn't sound hopeful, but then again, no one could really read him one way or another.
Grimmjow wasn't put off by Ulquiorra's seeming lack of interest, he knew better, "Why wouldn't he? This isn't the wilds of the desert or Menos forest, this is Los Noches, where there are other strong Alphas and Betas around to protect him, he might even prefer you stay close. Things are different now Ulquiorra, we are not truly Hollows anymore, we are Arrancar, the rules are changing with us."
"This is all moot if Aizen managed to ruin any chance he has of carrying another batch," Ulquiorra added. What Aizen had done had been cruel and deliberate, even to a species used to high infant mortality rates the loss of young was hard under natural conditions, but with the extensive trauma Szayel had endured it was no wonder he ended up the embodiment of madness.
"He is your best prospect at the moment, but he isn't the only Beta around here willing to mate you, unless you've forgotten." Grimmjow knew there was truth to what Ulquiorra had said, but there was still hope for the quiet Alpha.
"He is even more eccentric than Tia," Ulquiorra knew exactly who Grimmjow was referring to, "And as far as Nel goes, yes she could hold her shape long enough to mate, but not carry. That's why Tia keeps her surrounded by Betas when she can't be there, just incase Nelliel comes to the surface and triggers our lusts."
"Triggers yours maybe, Nel never really did trigger me," Grimmjow pounced on the ready made change of topic.
Ulquiorra blinked a few times, Nelliel was a prize for an Alpha, if Grimmjow wasn't interested… "Grimmjow you don't think Nel is?"
"She might be, but she never did get around to telling us if she was born or created, now with her memory so patchy it's hard to tell." Grimmjow admitted.
"How many of your children survived?" His voice was even quieter then usual.
"Not including Ichigo's three since they are still so young, eight, that survived long enough to be weaned and separated from my mates and me. How about you?" Grimmjow figured if he was answering questions, Ulquiorra might as well answer some too.
Ulquiorra dropped his head a bit, "Two."
"Ah but you have only had two successful matings, I have had more successful matings than I do surviving children. A few of my early litters, not even one made it, my mates weren't strong enough and I wasn't enough to protect them. I was still a very young Adjuchas." Grimmjow might have produced more children, but Ulquiorra had the better survival rates.
"Unfortunately it does seem the inexperienced Betas are paired with young Alphas, it doesn't help the survival rates." Ulquiorra added.
"No it doesn't, but with every litter we lose, we get stronger for the next try." Grimmjow agreed.
"I wonder how many batches Ichigo will end up carrying?" Ulquiorra mused, it was a true oddity that all of them made it on the first mating, if he continued like that Ichigo would have Alphas lining up for him, from the weakest Adjuchas to Vasto Lordes.
Grimmjow shrugged, "For all I know this could be his only batch. We don't know enough about either us or Visoreds to know if maybe they all survived because he could only manage one litter."
"If that's true than Szayel might truly be barren now," Ulquiorra whispered.
"I think he knows it's possible, that's probably why he tries so often now, even with all the disappointments. He's only the eighth Espada, surviving a mating with us is difficult, but he puts himself through it almost every other week." Grimmjow guessed.
"He managed with Nnoitra, and he was harder on Betas than we are, we only fight as much as our instincts want. He fought until the Beta couldn't even move anymore." The dark haired Arrancar defended Szayel, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra both had enough self-control to stop the battle with the Beta once they submitted, Nnoitra didn't stop until they were close to breaking.
Grimmjow nodded, "Yes he was rough on Betas, but more of his children survived than mine, if his mates survived him first they made strong children."
"Many didn't care for the price I noticed," Ulquiorra allowed himself a bit of a grumble, he was naturally standoffish, but Aizen had just made it worse. Turning him into little more than a dog, and he was still getting over it. His moments of emotion were occurring a little more often, but he had never been a strongly social creature.
Grimmjow nodded in agreement, fully believing Ulquiorra justified in his uncharacteristic show of emotion. "I knew about Nnoitra before Aizen stepped foot in Heuco Mundo, I took in one of his Betas that couldn't stand him any more. I know Szayel cared about the creep, and he was a good ally in a fight, but he didn't treat his Betas like an Alpha should. Where was he when Aizen went after Szayel?"
"Where were you when Soul Society was after Ichigo?" The strong voice reached them from across the room, a voice Grimmjow knew vaguely, he looked up and saw Tia was escorting two people into the room. Visoreds, one of which Grimmjow had fought before, the very same one that had called out to him. The other was silent, but carried a plain brown box in his arms, making Grimmjow curious about the contents.
"Shinji Hirako," The blond haired Visored filled him in, "And I'm waiting for that answer. The Visoreds have Hollows too; we know what should have happened, why did you leave Ichigo to fend for himself?"
"I didn't remember mating him until Aizen was dead." Grimmjow answered, bristling at the implication he would knowingly leave a mated Beta unguarded.
"Well why didn't you track him down immediately when you did remember?" Shinji's eyes were hard, and his arms crossed in front of him, not in a defensive pose, but to put his hand next to his Zanpakuto.
Grimmjow growled, an actual growl, before replying, "Have you ever been under Aizen's control? I didn't know if I was remembering something real, or walking right into one of his damn traps."
"Aizen was my Lieutenant." Shinji informed him, "I have no way of knowing how much he used it on me, but I don't doubt he did. Also the only Visored that doesn't have Aizen as the direct cause of their Hollowfication is Ichigo."
"What happened to Ichigo?" Ulquiorra spoke up, breaking up the oncoming fight, wanting answers, "What did those Shinigami do to him?"
"Sit down first, we don't need to be circling each other like hungry wolves," Tia interrupted before either Shinji or Kensei could answer.
Kensei complied with the order first, seating himself near Harribel, while Shinji sat back to back to him, they wouldn't be taking any chances exposing vulnerable parts of themselves until they had some answers. "Where should we start, how much has he told you yet?"
"He hasn't told us much, only that he came to you first, the Soul Society found out in his third month, but he was exiled in the fourth. We don't know what happened in between, or if anything significant happened before that." Grimmjow let them know, wanting those answers more than Ulquiorra, and he didn't want to upset Ichigo by asking.
"He did come to us first," Kensei started talking slowly, giving Shinji a chance to calm down so he didn't jump down Grimmjow's throat. "He was so worried we were going to hate him, or hurt him, he was pale and shaking like a leaf. I haven't seen anyone so scared since the night we escaped from Soul Society. At first we weren't sure if he was going to tell us or chicken out, it took him a few hours of trying to find the right words, opening his mouth to say it, and it just not coming out. It would have been funny, if he didn't manage it only to blurt out he was pregnant. We knew it was possible for certain Hollow males to get pregnant, but we had never experimented with ourselves. We needed to make sure, so we asked him how he found out that he really was carrying life. He told us that his Hollow had let him know about it, but he had enough physical symptoms to believe it," Kensei's story was cut off as Shinji took up the thread.
The blonde smiled as he spoke, now able to find amusement where there had only been confusion and a touch of fear, "After he told us that, he hesitated a bit again, only to give one of those scowls of his, and he lifted his shirt. He was only about ten weeks along by his count, but the muscle tone in his abdomen was already starting to diminish. That's when he said his Hollow thought there might be more than one, but their Spiritual Pressure wasn't developed enough to be sure exactly how many."
Kensei picked up the topic from there, "We helped him hide for a couple weeks, nearly a month, before he started to truly show and the Shinigami closest to him figured it out. The night before she found out, Ichigo had been with us, he was simply stretched out on the ground, he had a hand on his stomach with his eyes closed. We felt his Hollow surface, but it was different from the usual surfacing, instead of taking over it was more like when a Soul reaper calls on their Zanpakuto, just a spike in power with an overlay of his Hollow spirit pressure. He stayed that way for a few minutes before his Hollow went back down. I have never seen a smile so wide on him before. He said the babies were big enough to sense, there were three of them, and they were healthy as far as his Hollow could tell."
"When Soul Society came for him, Kensei and I went with him," Shinji was being serious again, "We had helped enough in the battles that we were allowed back into Seireitei for the meetings. Ichigo was kept in the fourth division being watched over by Unohana and her seventh seat, Hanataro, while we were held at the eighth division under Kyouraku. Exile was not even among their first few choices, they needed Ichigo, or thought they did. All of their effort went into persuading him to give up the children, either before they were born or immediately after their birth. Ichigo probably thinks the worse thing that might have happened to him is execution, that wasn't even on the table. What was really wanted was complete imprisonment.
"Ichigo is a threat. He is powerful and dangerous, but hasn't even tapped a tenth of his potential, and Yamamoto knows that. If he couldn't get Ichigo to willingly get rid of the children, he was going to have Ichigo under lock and key for the remainder of his pregnancy, probably with use of Seki Seki stone, which may very well have eliminated the children immediately since his Spiritual Pressure is what maintained them. If the stone didn't kill them, he would have used the pregnancy as a means of controlling Ichigo, after all if he wouldn't give them up than the children could be used to make him do Yamamoto's bidding. I highly doubt the children would have been allowed to remain with them once born, if they were allowed to live at all they would probably be locked away somewhere in Kurotsuchi's lab." Shinji had to stop there, Grimmjow was growling again.
"I thought Aizen was the bastard!" He was so angry red spots danced in front of his eyes. The Visoreds were thoroughly shocked when Ulquiorra, who was still sitting next to him, leaned over and bit him hard enough to draw blood at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, making the Alpha go limp.
Ulquiorra pulled back with now red tinged lips, choosing to remain silent.
"What the Hell was that?" Shinji asked in a combination of shock and curiosity.
Tia answered him, "If he hadn't done it, Grimmjow would be on a rampage right about now. The only thing that can calm an angry Alpha is a bite from one of his Betas, or a related Alpha of a higher rank."
"Wait, those two are related?" Kensei interrupted, following everything, including exactly what Ulquiorra was doing.
"Related is a loose term with Hollows, it's not necessary for blood to share, just for your instincts to recognize them as such. Everyone still here in Los Noches qualifies." She explained to him.
"I notice no one argued over the higher rank part," Grimmjow grumbled, still partially immobile from the built in calming device.
"He is four, you are six, sorry Grimmjow we all know he outranks you." Tia decided to get a little teasing in while Grimmjow was too out of it to get too worked up.
"Yeah, yeah, all right, now finish the story before he has to bite me again." Grimmjow turned stiffly back towards the two Visoreds with blood still seeping from the bite on his neck; Ulquiorra had sharp teeth.
"Yamamoto is not a diplomat, he is the head of an army, he would do whatever he thought he had to in order to win. However, even his close subordinates think he was going too far with this one. It was actually Kyouraku who suggested the idea of sending us into exile. He thought Ichigo would have a better chance of freedom for himself and the children if he had us hide him here, we have practice hiding from people we don't want to find us after all. None of us thought he would ever send Ichigo completely alone, frankly I am surprised he was allowed to bring his Zanpakuto with him. Though I know now Gin was never really on Aizen's side, Yamamoto must have relented with his plans for Ichigo when Gin reported in that he was close to finishing off Aizen from the inside. I think the exile was meant to kill Ichigo, without getting his hands dirty, by defying everyone in keeping those babies, Ichigo declared himself a danger to Yamamoto. He would never allow someone as powerful as Ichigo to run around unchecked if he couldn't be controlled." Kensei explained.
"How did he know that alone and pregnant, Ichigo wouldn't seek out the sire?" Tia had to ask, it was the only piece that didn't make sense.
"Ichigo is a lot smarter than he gets credit for," Shinji confessed, "He looks, and fights like a hot head, but he knows how to take care of himself. He was in Soul Society for almost a month and that entire time he claimed he did not know which Arrancar was the father, only that his instincts had taken over and he had been caught up in a mating frenzy before he knew what had happened. He claimed those babies were his, and he wouldn't let anyone hurt them, including anyone coming around claiming to be the sire."
"Which is true, he didn't, even if he couldn't have found us, Shiro could." Grimmjow admitted a tad bit unhappily.
"Grimmjow he is a very young beta, the first batch of young is always the most sensitive one. He has been fighting you ever since the two of you met, you weren't around him for the beginning, he had every right to believe he was abandoned. An abandoned Beta trying to return to their Alpha might very well be killed. You know this." Tia spoke sharply, but not harshly, Grimmjow couldn't change what happened, only what happens now.
"How old is he?" Ulquiorra asked, speaking for the first time since his brow raising action.
"He's sixteen, but hasn't been for very long." Shinji answered him.
"He's even younger than I thought," Ulquiorra responded, then tilted his head towards Grimmjow, "You know that is young enough that your first fight or two, it might not have been Aizen, he may simply have not been old enough to tell if he was an Alpha or Beta yet."
"Nah, that's not true," Shinji corrected, "Our Hollows are Alphas or Betas from the start. It took some of us longer than others, but we do know what we are. We just hadn't done anything about it. Ichigo has had his Hollow since before he met you."
"Who are you?" A girl's voice rang through the room, as Lilynette came down the stairs.
"Friends of Ichigo," Kensei answered, not seeing a problem answering the childlike Arrancar.
"Any of you seen Starrk? He never came back to the room, don't want to find him passed out in the hallway again." It only happened every other week since coming to Los Noches
"If he didn't come back he probably fell asleep in Ichigo's room." Grimmjow didn't remember Starrk leaving, or hearing him leave after Szayel and him had left. "Don't bother them, I want Ichigo to get as much rest as he needs."
"All right but I am not responsible if Nel and I manage to destroy the room before he gets back," Lilynette turned back and went the way she came, not sounding at all like she was joking.
Grimmjow turned to Tia, "Are we really sure those two should spend so much time together?"
"Yes we've explained this before, Lilynette might look like a child, but she is Starrk's other half, she can protect Nel from Alphas after Nelliel, and keep her entertained. They can't do nearly as much damage as one of Ulquiorra's and your 'friendly' spars." Tia responded automatically, the ingrained response leaving no doubt this was a common exchange.
The Arrancar and the Visoreds continued to talk, leaving behind the serious topics, they were trying to learn what they could about each other. They have to deal with opposite issues a lot of the time, but they were similar enough it was worth comparing notes. Their talk lasted them long enough that they felt it would be alright to see if Ichigo was up yet.
Shinji and Kensei went to fetch him, even after hearing Starrk might be in his room, they still hadn't been expecting the grown man to be sharing the bed with him.
Now Grimmjow was lounging with Ichigo and Tsume in his arms. The babies were finally named. Things were looking good, they had even gotten some confirmation that Ichigo had not been completely abandoned, which brought back some of the fire in his eyes that Grimmjow had missed.
Then came Shinji's dark cloud of doom. They would be dealing with Soul Reapers. They better hope they were serious in their intentions or no number of bites was going to stop him from tearing apart the threat to his family, piece by itty bitty piece.
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Safe in my Arms