#no but seriously this is tessai and urahara all over again

[evilkitten3]

the funniest thing about my durarara!! phase rearing its head again is the realization that simon and denis were gay the whole time and i just. didn’t notice.

seriously, what’s up with this anime trope of two older dudes with Weird Dad Vibes who have a shared and somewhat violent past running a store together, understanding each other in ways no one else does, and somehow the fans still not noticing?

[magical-girl-coral]

any bleach au tidbits??

Oh Jesus, oh fuck, oh shit-

(More under the cut because this became so fucking long)

I have so many that I don't even know where to begin, but I'll try my hardest:

Orihime healing Nelliel's forehead, bringing back her adult form, and kicking Nnoitra's ass until Stark comes to stop her on Aizen's orders.

Instead of bringing the rest of the captains, Byakuya goes behind the Gotei's back and brings Tessai, Yoruichi, and Hanatoro as a chance to let them shine.

None of them wins their fights. Aizen stops them mid-battle and calls them to his throne room to give Orihime a chance to speak for herself, and she agrees to stays at Las Noches because "he said he can bring Sora back." Ichigo is filled with rage, tries to attack Aizen only for Orihime to stop the attack with her shield, only for it to break and getting her hand sliced. It almost cut through the bone, and Ichigo leaves with sham burning his stomach.

The reason why Aizen needed Orihime is very simple- he needs for her to quicken the combination process with the Hokyogu since I doubt using an object of God as a stomach piercing is as easy as canon made it.

So much shit happened during this time that I cannot possibly put it in one ask, but needless to say, she went through a lot of character development and some of it wasn't good.

(but seriously, I should just make another post altogether.)

Two months passed, during which both sides had done everything they could to prepare. Nnoitra, Zommari, Szayelaporro, and Yammy all appear in Soul Society, and the canon fights return.

The Karakura gang comes to Hueco Mundo again to save Orihime with all the Espada gone to either Soul Society or Karakura Town. There they find Grimmjow wounded in Orihime's room, having been wounder by Ulquiorra for getting in his way. He explained how he helped her get behind Aizen's back as a way to pay her back for saving his life again and because of his own grudge against Aizen. Uryu and Chad stay behind to help Grimmjow while Ichigo goes to fight Ulquiorra.

The battle between them is more balanced this time, thanks to Ichigo's training, until Ulquiorra shows his second release. All goes the same, except that it's Orihime that snaps. She releases a new form she gained from being next to the Hokyogu for two whole months, and it gaining her wish to become strong, giving an incomplete version of Kaname's Hollowfication. Both Chad and Uryu have to hold her down, with Ichigo giving her the final push back to reality, having been healed from her newfound power. Ulquiorra still dies.

Orihime opens a Gangata by rejecting the walls between the worlds, something that her secret partner (not Grimmjow) helped her figure out. Grimmjow then goes to Soul Society to find Yammy fighting the remaining captains and screams "shows over, she's safe." Yammy then goes back to his normal size and explains that the princess was nice to his dog and had a head that could smash through solid metal, so he's on her side now. Grimmjow just said that he's tired of being treated like shit.

Back in fake Karakura, Orihime builds a barrier in the Visord's hideout, the one place she was sure Aizen didn't know about where she asks her friends to bring all the fallen to her to be healed. Since the barrier makes their SP disappear, Aizen just thinks they're dead. She also gives them chips that cloak their SP, something she gained by secretly working with Szayelaporro by letting him experiment with her powers while she gains gadgets in return.

(Orihime's time at Las Noches was basically making a house of cards fall by adding too many. The people there either used her for their own motives or had a discomforting self-reflection)

While Orihime heals everyone, she explains how no matter how many times they get back to the battle, Aizen would just get rid of them so they might as well wait for a sign from her partner. Rangiku figures out who they are and goes to comfort them on her own. Orihime still stays put, knowing damn well Rangiku won't get hurt. I'm sure you've guessed who they are already.

Gin and Aizen have an epic battle instead of him getting cut down because I deserve this.

Orihime notices that it's taking too long and goes to check what's happening, where she's confronted by Tousen who never used his Ressurection and won his fight because fuck you Kubo. He admits that he's not here to stop her but to get answers. You see, during the two-month period, Tousen noticed there was something odd with Suzumushi and with Orihime's oblivious advice, tells him to go to his inner world where his inner hollow forced him to face his flaws. Back to modern and he asks Orihime to find Aizen with him. They find him standing above Gin's body.

Aizen notices there is something different with Tousen and realizes that Orihime secretly took out his suicide bomb while she healed Tousen's scars. Aizen goes ballistic, having already become unhinged by Gin's betrayal, and goes straights for Orihime's heart. Tousen pushes her last second, and the sword goes to his throat. Aizen stabs him in the heart for mercy while strangling Orihime, and she cuts open Aizen's chest with Tsubaki, seeminglydoing nothing to him. Until Mugetsu.

Urahara let Orihime explain this one - Gin had secretly revealed to her that Rangiku was the only survivor who had their soul piece taken out. They planned on removing it once the Hokyogu was freed, and by taking out Rangiku's piece, an imbalance would occur. What happened to Aizen was the equivalent of when a person drinks during winter; instead of gaining new warmth, Aizen wasted the one that already existed, slowly emptying his soul.

A lot of stuff happens during the recovery period that I'm not fully down on, but here's what I refuse to let go of - Tousen goes to Karakura town for self treament, Orihime's aunt who also happened to be a lawyer gets her shit together and moves in with Orihime to a new apartment that's closer to the close, Gin becomes captain again after Orihime's aunt destroys the Central 46 in court, and the Shinigami was forbidden to visit Karakura town in the hopes of damage control.

(I also have a complete rewrite for the Fulbringer arc but this ask is already just too damn long)

[ramblingkat]

May 3. The Vampire

Been looking forward to this one. Hope you enjoy. 

Fandom: Bleach(is that any surprise at this point?)

Pairing/Characters: Urahara Kisuke/Kurosaki Ichigo(or this part?), Tsukabishi Tessai

Honestly, this was one of the last things Ichigo expected to walk in on. Given that this was Kisuke he was talking about, that was saying something. But Ichigo knew that his imagination was no match for the sheer -weirdness- that Kisuke could get into. The man’s mad scientist vibes were simply too strong for any other result.

Still, seeing him and Tessai sitting together, Kisuke biting Tessai’s wrist, were never anywhere on the list.

It wasn’t anything sensual. Tessai was looking at a list of something, checking off things with one hand while Kisuke’s mouth was firmly set against the wrist of the other. Plus, he could tell that Kisuke was swallowing something. 

Ichigo had flashes of old movies he and Tatsuki used to watch. Old black and white films with Christopher Lee in them as Dracula. Because he couldn’t imagine what else Kisuke would be drinking from Tessai’s wrist.

It was obvious that they registered that he was there. Tessai had glanced at him, nodding slightly in greeting, and tension rolled across Kisuke’s shoulders. That, Ichigo recognized as the man’s guilty body language. It usually came up when Kisuke had dropped some of the nastier details of his history, when he was waiting for Ichigo’s judgement about those new aspects of his past.

Shaking his head, Ichigo finished stepping into the room, dropping his bag in the corner. Then he sat at the table as well, waiting for Kisuke to finish. He’d get his answers once the other was done. This was obviously the right thing to do as Tessai gave him a small smile, and Kisuke’s shoulders slowly relaxed when there were no demands coming at him. 

There was a soft sound as Kisuke’s jaw relaxed as well, and the blond pulled back away from Tessai’s wrist a bit. There was a flash of tongue against the dark skin, then Kisuke sat back and rested a hand on the bleeding marks. A faint glow for a moment, then he dropped his hand, leaving smooth skin behind it. 

“Thank you again, Tessai-san,” Kisuke said softly. He turned towards Ichigo, absently licking a streak of red off his lips, eyes narrowed as he studied Ichigo as much as Ichigo was studying him. 

Ichigo was quiet, though he grinned a bit as Tessai took his list and not so subtly fled the rood. Kisuke scowled after his friend for the abandonment. Then he looked at Ichigo again, hands folding against each other and resting in his lap. “So, how was your day, Kurosaki-san?”

“It’s been pretty good. Other than finding out my boyfriend is a vampire?”

Because at this point? Ichigo was willing to accept a lot of shit. He was just confused on how, since nobody else did anything like that. As far as he knew. Though the whole ‘hadn’t told Ichigo yet’ thing was a bit annoying.

“I’m not technically a vampire as most media would have it,” Kisuke protested. “Also, you have been watching far too many western films.” Ichigo gave him a look, and Kisuke sighed. “Therewasanexperimentthatwentwrong.” Those words were quick and quiet, almost a mumble. Then his voice picked back up to normal. “I don’t -have- to drink blood. But it does keep some unfortunate side effects from popping up.”

“I distinctly heard something about an experiment,” Ichigo pointed out, scowling a bit. 

Kisuke huffed at him. “It was long before you were even born. Yoruichi-san and Tessai-san have both already yelled at me for it.”

Brown eyes were full of humor as Ichigo held up a finger to stop Kisuke’s protest. “I don’t recall that being part of our deal,” Ichigo said, feeling a bit more relaxed. This was obviously something that had happened a while back, and he could understand why Kisuke was hesitant to tell him something like this. “If I recall correctly, if you tried to experiment on yourself, I had full permission to chew you out about it.”

Kisuke huffed at him. “Ah, you are so cruel to me.” 

Now the fan was out, spreading out and hiding Kisuke’s lower face. Ichigo felt something relax in him. Kisuke was playing now, and that was good. Worried Kisuke was serious Kisuke, and serious Kisuke made Ichigo want to fight something. Mostly because when he saw serious Kisuke, Ichigo had to go punch something in the face. 

He flashed a smile at Kisuke, then Ichigo leaned against the table, curious now. “Seriously, though, how does this work?” Ichigo wanted to know, because it was part of Kisuke. 

There was a long moment of quiet, and then Kisuke rolled his shoulders, fan snapping shut with a sound that would have made Ichigo jump if he wasn’t so used to it. Then he set it down, eyes fixed on Ichigo’s face. 

“Every few weeks, depending on how busy I have been, I sit down and drink my fill from Tessai-san. He’s the only one large enough to handle that sort of blood loss that was willing to donate.” Kisuke smiled faintly. “Occasionally Yoruichi-san also donates, but she’s not around as often as Tessai-san. So her visits rarely coincide with my need.”

“I could donate.” It was an automatic offer, but Ichigo meant it nonetheless. Kisuke was his boyfriend, and if he was going to suck on anyone, it was going to be Ichigo.

There was a chuckle from Kisuke, low and throaty. Ichigo blushed, but he didn’t take back his offer. Instead, he scowled. “Seriously,” Ichigo huffed, frown in full force at Kisuke’s laugh, even as he flushed over it. That particular tone did things. 

“I believe what you say,” the other admitted, smiling faintly as he looked at Ichigo. Kisuke hummed, and then perked up a bit. “Would you like to try now? I’ve just fed, so I wouldn’t take much. Better for you to see what would be involved now than when I am...less in control.”

His tone was a bit disgusted at the last part, but Ichigo ignored that. It wasn’t something he could change, Kisuke’s hatred of being out of control. Instead, he focused on the offer itself. 

Licking his lips, Ichigo nodded. “Yeah,” he said after a moment. “What do I…?”

He swallowed hard at the smile on Kisuke’s face. That look of utter delight and hunger made something squirm in his belly. It was utterly unfair that Kisuke could make him blush like this with just a look. 

“First, you have to get closer, Ichigo-san,” Kisuke said cheerfully. Back to first names. Ichigo was happy to hear that as he scooted around the table. Then Kisuke held out a hand, and Ichigo didn’t even need to be told to put his own hand out to rest there.

Another small smile, and Kisuke’s eyes locked with Ichigo’s as he pulled the younger man’s wrist to his mouth. Then he pressed a kiss where the pulse beat under the skin, humming softly. Ichigo felt his cheeks burn, but he couldn't look away. A roll of tongue against his skin was a little too familiar for comfort when they were in a room anyone could walk into. 

“Hope this isn’t how you act with Tessai,” he muttered, trying to find some way, any way, to dull his own reaction to what Kisuke was doing. 

Kisuke just chuckled, his thumb rubbing gently against Ichigo’s arm. Another roll of his tongue, and then he shifted his mouth. Instead of lips or a tease of a tongue, there was the edge of teeth. For a moment, Ichigo worried that Kisuke was going to have to tear through the skin with those dull human teeth. It would work, but it would hurt. 

Then something shifted, and it was a pinch, like a needle. Then he felt Kisuke’s tongue rolling against his skin again. But this time, it was less a tease to remind Ichigo of other things. No, this was purely to lap away the blood he could feel on his skin.

“It didn’t hurt,” he said, a little startled. There was a huff of laughter, as best Kisuke could do with his mouth full. But he didn’t pull back, hand supporting Ichigo’s arm against his mouth as the blond slowly lapped away at the blood, swallowing.

This…. It had definitely not been anything more than business as usual for Kisuke and Tessai. Now, the way that Kisuke looked at him, the way his thumb was still brushing against Ichigo’s skin, the curl of his tongue, this was a lot more intense than what Ichigo had seen before. He swallowed hard, flush only intensifying. That was not fair. Kisuke should not be so hot doing something like drinking blood. 

Sooner than he expected, Kisuke gave one final lap, and it was Ichigo’s turn to be healed. 

“That was….” He swallowed again as Kisuke leaned in and licked away the trace of blood left on his wrist. “Wow.”

Kisuke smiled at him. For a moment, it was soft, happy with the world. Then it shifted. 

“Ah, it was amazing that I could get some blood from your wrist. It all seems to be in your face.” Kisuke then obviously let his eyes drop to look downward. “Or in...other places.”

Ichigo threw a punch at his face, hissing. 

Okay, his boyfriend was a vampire. Sort of. Ichigo definitely needed to get more details on that. It was unexpected. Something Ichigo could learn to live with, though.

But he was still a giant asshole. 

[kurosakikai]

. xx2 . Lost Soul

Find me on AO3 Find me on Ko-Fi Also available to yell at on Twitter

Heavily modified from an incomplete rp with @mysteriousshopkeeper

Kisuke wasn't sure what on earth was going on. He'd heard some loud, albeit childish, yelling, and assumed it was merely some kids playing games together until something shattered.

His focus now thoroughly shattered along with it, he takes Benehime in a hand and stalks outside.

"... Kai-kun?" Kisuke says, startled. The boy blinks up at him, a hand brought to a cheek. There's a dark red spot, and Kisuke isn't sure if he's furious on the boy's behalf or worried.

"Hi, Urahara-san," the boy says, smiling. It's marred by the potential injury, and Kisuke kneels down to gently check the damage.

"What happened?" he asks, quiet. Kai-kun gives a sheepish smile.

"Would you accept 'I got lost' as an excuse?" The boy says, cheeks flush with a little embarrassment.

Kisuke raises a skeptical brow. "I'm sure that's only half of the story, young man," he says dryly, and Kai-kun sighs, looking a little despondent.

"That's what I thought," he admits. "Sasha and Andre were being bullied again," he admits, and Kisuke has to search his memory for a recollection of their names.

"Ah yes, Sado-kun's little ones," Kisuke recalls, having been in Mexico at the time Sado-kun had requested his aid to gain custody of such young little children. "What happened to them?"

Kai-kun shrugs, blushing a little, and Kisuke shoos the little boy into his shop, glancing around to see what was broken.

Thankfully, it looked like nothing.

"Some of the kids from the junior high were bothering them, pushing them around and trying to yank at their hair," Kai admits, and Kisuke makes a note to make sure Sado-kun was told immediately.

Ichigo-kun too.

"I see," he hums, and the boy gives him a shy look.

"Please don't tell Papa?" He asks, and Kisuke levels the boy with a flat look. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Green eyes turn pleading, even as the boy obediently sits himself down on a comfy armchair Kaien had frequented before his death, seemingly drawn there despite the several other, closer chairs he could have gone to.

Kisuke's breath catches just a little. Kai-kun, swinging his legs, didn't notice, instead peering around the shop itself curiously. His hand is still on his face, hiding the worst of the damage, and the man gently tugs at the boy's hand. It doesn't budge, the boy looking stubborn.

Maa. Just like his papa, it seemed.

"Kai-kun, you know your father will be upset if I don't," he says, and Kai scowls.

"That's what I'm afraid of," the boy says unhappily. "I know Papa - he's super overprotective." Kisuke thinks about that. Given that the boy had rather recklessly thrown himself into protecting the older twins Sado-kun had adopted, Kisuke felt some protectiveness was well deserved.

"How is that little glass house of yours?" he teases gently, and the boy scowls mulishly. "Now, let me see the damage, and you can tell me, Mister Spy-In-Training, what you're doing here."

The boy's cheeks puff, and he's strongly reminded of Jinta, pouting over him daring to show compassion.

Oh the Horror.

"Now Kai-kun, you can't hide forever." he teases, pokes the boy's nose until he relents.

My goodness. The welt was pretty nasty, and Kisuke could see now, what had shattered. Thin lines cut across his face, and looking down, the boy's hand was also rather damaged as well.

"What did they throw at you?" Kisuke says flatly, and the boy winces.

"Bang-flashes in a glass soda bottle, " he admits quietly, looking shamefully down at his hands. Kisuke almost hisses. That mixture was probably responsible for the marks on his hand as well as his face.

"Kai-kun, listen to me, right now." the boy looks up, and he holds the boy's hand. "You do realize that if they had done this with anyone else, that child could have died?"

Startlement crosses his face. It must have not even crossed his mind. Inhumanly durable, he would have to guess, just like his father. Sighing, Kisuke gets to work, bandaging the little boy's hand and making sure there was no glass in the wounds. He wasn't sure if Kai knew about Shinigami yet and Rukia hadn't enlightened him during their brief conversation after he'd met Kai-kun that first time. He'd ask Ichigo on the phone.

"... Sorry," Kai-kun mumbles, swings his feet, and Kisuke simply pats the boy on the head.

"Just think about it a little more, okay?" He chides, gentle, before flicking the boy's nose. Kai-kun squeaks, offended, before giggling a little at the surprise attack.

"Now, when your father comes to pick you up, or I go to drop you off, either you will tell him or I will, is that understood?"

The boy wilts, but nods obediently enough, and just to make the little munchkin smile, he ruffles dark hair.

"You don't want them going and hurting anyone else, now do you?" he questions, and the boy gives him an offended look.

"No!" Kai-kun protests, and Kisuke raises a brow. "... fine," he mumbles, looking a little embarrassed. "I'll tell Papa..." pouting, the boy curls up on his seat, looking awkwardly like Kaien, when the man had taken a nap on this very same couch. He even curled his legs the same way.

To distract from that very unwelcome thought, Kisuke fishes a lollipop from his haori's pocket.

With a pat - and a lollipop for being such a reasonable child - Kisuke straightens, wandering over to his phone and dialing the clinic.

"Kurosaki Clinic, this is Ichigo speaking," Ichigo's voice is as welcome as ever, and Kisuke beams - it really had been too long since he'd spent any significant time with Ichigo.

"Maa maa, I seem to have located a lost little boy," Kisuke says cheerfully, and hears Ichigo suck in a breath. "He's safe and sound, at the moment, but I wanted to know if you wanted me to drop him off, or if I could expect your lovely self visiting," Kisuke says, chipper.

"My son's fine?" Ichigo says warily, and Kisuke sighs, offended.

"Would I hurt a little one?" He complains, and Ichigo is suspiciously silent.

"I mean, you did raise Ururu and Jinta," Ichigo concedes after a very long silence, and Kisuke grins, glad that he'd admitted such aloud. "I suppose you can bring him home - I've got some stuff I need to do, and I'm sure Kai has homework he'd prefer to do in peace and quiet, rather than in the middle of our inventory," Ichigo says, tone dry. "Call again in an hour, and I'll let you know if you can walk him home or if I'll have to pick him up."

"Do you want to talk to him?" Kisuke offers, hears a huff of laughter while Ichigo signs something on his end.

"Am I that predictable?" Ichigo asks, resigned in his amusement. Kisuke chuckles.

"Heavens no, but I remember being a parent, Ichigo. Even though I trusted Tessai, I was a nervous wreck when I first left him alone to babysit those two." Ichigo laughs, sounds a little startled as he does, and Kisuke preens.

"Thanks for that." It's quiet for a moment. "I'm guessing you see the resemblance."

Ah yes. There it was. At the quiet, almost forbidding tone, Kisuke has his answer to the question he'd held in his head for the three weeks since he'd last seen Kai-kun.

"It's certainly uncanny, but Kai-kun is a sweet child." The implications were not lost on Ichigo, who hums a placid-seeming agreement.

"Good. However, if you call him Kaien more than once in my son's hearing, consider yourself a dead man," Ichigo threatens seriously, and Kisuke sweats a little. What a short leash, my goodness. Then again, given Kaien's legacy, perhaps a little vicious, parental affection was in order. "I really am in a bit of a hurry, but if I can talk to Kai, I'd appreciate it." At Ichigo's words, Kisuke smiles.

"Kai-kun, your father wants to talk to you." At his call, the boy perks up, having pulled out his homework and put it on the table, apparently already aware of his father's schedule.

A good spy in training would know these things, Kisuke thinks with a grin, watching the boy scurry over to the phone and happily greet his father.

"Hi Papa!" The boy says happily, and the boy's expression is serious as he listens to whatever his father is saying, nodding along and giving little 'uh-huhs' and 'mm-hmms' as he does so. At Kisuke's look, the boy wilts a little. "Okay Papa - when I get home, I have to tell you some stuff," he says, and Kisuke ruffles the boy's hair. "It can wait, really." Muffled talking from the other end, and Kai looks a little panicked. "Wha - no, Papa, seriously, you don't have to stop inventory for it!"

Ah. Surprisingly overprotective, Ichigo. No wonder the boy wanted him not to tell. Deftly, Kisuke pulls the phone out of Kai-kun's hand.

"It's been dealt with, for the moment," Kisuke says cheerfully. "Your son will be fine for an hour, and if you'd like, you can come here and hug your son all you like."

Silence.

"If my son is badly hurt..." Ichigo's tone is dark, and Kisuke shivers a little.

"He's fine. He's as durable as you are. And besides, weren't you just begrudgingly praising my parenting less than ten minutes ago?"

"...Tch, fine." Ichigo gives an annoyed sounding grumble. "But I want names, and you better have them for me."

"Sure, sure," Kisuke says, cheerful. "I'll get your favorite tea brewing, how's that sound?" A huffed laugh.

“Now I know I’m predictable. Sure, sure. I’ll see you when I get out of inventory. Please put Kai back on,” Ichigo requests, and amiably, Kisuke does so, gives the boy a little wink. Kai-kun beams at him, takes the phone back and exchanges fond goodbyes before hanging up the phone.

“Thank you Urahara-san,” the boy says shyly, and chuckling, Kisuke ruffles that mop of hair again.

“It’s my pleasure Kai-kun, but my goodness, you were not kidding when you said your father was overprotective,” Kisuke chuckles, escorting the boy back to the table. “So what are you doing, little one?”

“Math,” the boy says, disgusted with it. Kisuke snorts, unable to help himself. Kaien had never disliked math, he recalls fondly. In fact, Kaien had tested out of it in the Academy, along with the classes required to fill out the paperwork.

“Don’t like math?” he asks, and Kai gives it a stink eye.

“Math shouldn’t have letters in it,” he grumps, and Kisuke snorts laughter.

What a precious child. Chuckling, Kisuke folds himself down next to the little boy, before offering him a quick hair ruffle.

“How about this - once you’ve done all of them, I’ll get you some tea sweets and tea, and check your answers.” The boy gives a disgruntled little mrrrp noise, but dutifully pokes at it, grumbling the whole while.

How cute. Chuckling, Urahara allows the grumpy boy his due, grabbing a teapot and setting it up, tin of tea sweets to the side while the boy tackles his math problems.

It’s quiet, for a good twelve minutes, before the boy puts his pen down, radiating accomplishment.

“May I?” He asks, and the boy eyes him - before offering his homework to Kisuke. In return, Kai-kun begins to sip his tea. He takes Kai-kun’s pencil in a hand, and gingerly marks the incorrect answers, circling where the little one had gone wrong. “And if you could, please text Sasha and Andre - Sado-kun will want to know who is harassing his little ones.”

Kai-kun doesn’t even look up as he tartly replies, “You mean Papa wants to know because he wants to throttle them with his bare hands.”

… It’s an increasingly good thing he doesn’t drink tea when Kai-kun speaks. He chokes a little on his scandalized laughter, but concedes with a grin.

“You know your father terrifyingly well,” Kisuke says, and Kai, in the middle of snacking on his second tea sweet, gives an absent nod as he texts one of the twins.

“I love Papa, but he’s really predictable like that,” Kai-kun remarks. “He’s lucky I love him lots or I’d throttle him instead.” Chuckling, Kisuke allows the little one his grumpiness, refreshes his tea and takes another one. Another moment, and Kai-kun speaks, “The Amagi gang, apparently. They’re supposed to be a small-time yakuza group. According to Sasha, they’re offended because their papa doesn’t pay them protection money.”

“Oh?” Kisuke asks, and in answer, the boy offers him his phone. My my, photos and everything, how thoughtful of the little ones.

“They told Uncle Chat already, and he promised not to tell Papa as long as I tell him first.” The boy grumpily glares at him. “You guys are all mean,” he says, and Kisuke simply snorts, fetching his tablet while the boy takes back his paper, grimacing at the wrong answers and dutifully correcting them. “Can I learn sneaky spy things from you yet?” the boy asks a little while later, and Kisuke laughs, still in the process of researching the small-time gang that had dared bother Kai-kun.

“What do you want to know?” He asks, amused. The boy finishes his homework yet again, and Kisuke takes it while he waits.

“How do you demoralize jerks so they don’t try to go after you in the first place?” The boy asks, and Kisuke raises a brow. “Sasha and Andre are my friends,” he says, looking annoyed. “I don’t like that a small-time bunch of thugs can go after them and think they got away with it.”

“I am going to sic your father on them,” he points out, and the boy scowls at him.

“And? Because it’s not me, or Sasha, or Andre, they’ll come back anyways, because they think we can’t protect ourselves, and we need an adult to come save us,” the seven-year-old says mulishly.

… ouch.

“Do you know how to defend yourself?” Kisuke asks, and Kai-kun shoots him a look.

“Papa freaks out when I get a papercut, and Momma cried the last time I bumped my knee. You think either of them would let me voluntarily go somewhere to fight?”

Oh my. Now that was certainly a bit of bitterness. Reaching out, he ruffles the boy’s hair and gives him back his homework, now error free, to tuck it away.

“You know they want to keep you safe,” he chides softly, and the boy scowls further.

“I know they do. But I’m a person, not a doll,” Kai-kun says bluntly, and Kisuke makes a note to talk to Ichigo about it the moment he arrives.

“Even so, please be gentle with them. You know, when I first had children I was all aflutter. I don’t think Ururu or Jinta stuck their noses out of my house without me knowing until they were at least ten or eleven.” The boy’s face is horrified.

“I have to deal with this for four more years?” he says, and Kisuke chokes back a laugh.

“Tell you what. If you behave yourself, I’ll talk to your Papa when he comes to pick you up, and see if I can have you come to me after school for some defense lessons, okay?” The boy scowls, for a moment, but at Kisuke’s earnest expression, the boy sighs, and nods his head.

“Fine, Urahara-san. Good luck,” he adds grudgingly, and goes back to his tea and sweets.

Once his hour is up, Kisuke dials Ichigo again. He gets dial tone, and blinks. Hanging up, he goes to dial Ichigo’s cell.

“Great timing,” Ichigo’s voice is dryly amused. “I’m right outside. Was about to knock, too.” Huffing a laugh, Kisuke hangs up and goes to the door.

The years have certainly treated Ichigo well. His hair was messy and tousled, reminding him distinctly of when Ichigo had completed his training in the Dangai, and it seemed, he’d grown another inch or so since they’d last met face to face nearly a decade ago. A pair of attractive black spectacles donned his face, and he was dressed in a white shirt and slacks, with boots rather than the typical doctor’s slippers.

“Ichigo-kun!” Kisuke beams, wrapping the young man in a hug that Ichigo accepts, smiling wryly. “Come in, come in!” Ushering the man in, Kisuke glances over at Kai-kun. He can see immediately, how Kai-kun perks up, a sudden radiance passing over his face as the boy gets to his feet and all but launches himself at his father, Ichigo giving a surprised laugh as he catches his son around the waist and spins him around before lifting him up to one hip.

His scowl has been replaced with a fond smile, though it quickly fades at the scrape on Kai-kun’s face, and the bandage around his son’s hand.

“Little one, what happened?” He asks, and Kai-kun’s cheeks flush, embarrassed.

“Urahara-san already knows,” the boy mumbles against his chest, and Ichigo gives him a sharp look, to which he smiles, flaps his fan towards the tablet sitting innocently on the table. A small nod, and Ichigo looks back down at his son, who is quivering in distress.

“Kai, tell me,” he says softly, his son looking down in embarrassment, “Why won’t you tell me who did this?”

“Cause you always have to save me,” he says, mumbling into his Papa’s chest. “You used to beat them up yourself, and they left you alone, but you’re always saving me instead,” Kai says, distressed.

Ichigo’s eyes soften. “You’re not even nine yet,” Ichigo says softly, bouncing his son gently until the boy looks at him. “Before then, granmomma kept me safe, you know.”

Kai-kun blinks, before looking up at him, suspicious.

“Really?” He sniffs, and Kisuke decides that he doesn’t need to listen any longer, giving the two their peace while he goes off and handles a few other matters.

It’s nearly fifteen minutes before Kisuke hears Ichigo call for him, and they’ve migrated to the comfortable couch Kai-kun had absconded with earlier, the boy squeezed tight against his father and looking content with the world. Ichigo’s fingers are scratching affectionately at the top of his son’s head, Kai-kun puddled next to his Papa in clear bliss. How cute!

Amiably, Kisuke takes a seat across from them, sets his fan down.

“So you want to teach my son self-defense?” Ichigo starts, glancing down at Kai-kun, who ignores them both, pushing his head up into Ichigo’s hand like a particularly greedy cat.

Kisuke can’t help but coo at the sight. Ichigo, too, melts at the sight of his only son’s joy.

“He’s just like you, you know,” Kisuke points out dryly. “Won’t stand for injustice if he can prevent it.” Kai-kun mumbles something, and Ichigo stops to look down at him suspiciously.

“If Papa gets to protect people, so do I,” he grumbles, before nudging up against Ichigo’s hand. “Paaaapa, more head scratches.”

“What are you, a cat?” Ichigo teases his son, and the boy gives him a little glare. Easily enough, Ichigo does so, however, clearly fond of his little boy. Kisuke watches indulgently, even as Ichigo heaves a little sigh. “I don’t like it,” he prefaces, before looking down at his son’s bandaged hand, his once trademark scowl reappearing as he observes his little one. Kai-kun looks pleadingly up at him, and he heaves another, heavier sigh. “But I’d much rather you learn to keep yourself safe than to watch you come home scraped and bruised because someone’s taking out my legacy on you. Three times a week, and no more,” Ichigo tells his son sternly, and the boy lights up. “But you can only help out in the clinic once a week.” The boy pauses, looks at him accusingly, and Ichigo raises a brow.

“But healing people is important Papa!” he protests, and Ichigo flicks his forehead.

Kai-kun squeaks, offended.

“So is you getting rest, and relaxing, and doing your homework,” the father remarks pitilessly. “That’s the terms - take ‘em or leave ‘em.” The boy pouts at him, and Ichigo raises an eyebrow, unwilling to budge. Eventually, Kai-kun wilts, aware he was fighting a losing battle.

“Fine,” he huffs, smooshing his face against his father’s stomach. “Meanie,” Kai-kun says, and Ichigo’s eyes sparkle with fond affection.

“Be happy I’m not making you tell your mother,” Ichigo says, and the little boy freezes.

“No, no, it’s perfect, please don’t make me tell Momma I’m begging you,” the boy yelps, to Ichigo’s amusement.

And Kisuke’s. Watching them brings a small smile to his face, and Ichigo plants a kiss to the top of his head.

“Pack your stuff, cutie,” he tells his son, and the boy does so, hefting his bag and finishing his tea before trotting off to go put his shoes on, bidding Kisuke a cheerful wave goodbye. “You find them,” Ichigo says darkly, “The ones who hurt my son, before I do, Urahara.”

“Of course, of course. Should I expect the Godslayer?” He teases, and Ichigo gives him a flat, unimpressed look before relenting.

“Depends on what you find out about those bastards,” Ichigo says, standing up and dusting his hands off.

“I was meaning to ask, but does Kai-kun know anything about Soul Society? He lacked the noble graces I would have thought Rukia would teach him.” Ichigo, in the middle of putting on his jacket, pauses.

“What, like formality lessons?” The shopkeeper raises a brow.

“Did Rukia and Byakuya never tell you about the fact Kai-kun is set to inherit the Kuchiki estate should Byakuya die?”

Ichigo’s brow twitches. “No,” he grits out, and Kisuke winces. “I’ll talk to them after Kai goes to sleep,” he says, irritable. “And no, not yet. Kai-kun can see ghosts, but so far, we haven’t told him much. He was too young for anything but basic reiatsu control exercises, and I didn’t want him practicing somewhere a Hollow might consider him a tasty snack.”

“Ah yes, an improbable chance, given that there hasn’t been a single Hollow in Karakura since you became the Godslayer,” Kisuke says dryly.

Ichigo doesn’t even have the grace to look embarrassed.

“My city,” he says simply, and Kisuke supposes for Ichigo, it really is that simple. “Good night Kisuke. I’ll come by with Kai in the morning to talk to you about his lesson plan.” Cheerful, Kisuke waves a goodbye, beaming.

“Of course!” he chirps, cheerful.

Ichigo pauses one last time, and Kisuke raises a brow.

“Pass the warning on to Tessai and the others, about Kai. And let Yoruichi know if she flashes my son even accidentally, she better dig her own grave or I’ll put her in one.”

On that terrifying note, Ichigo leaves, taking his son with him.

Kisuke looks at his home, and gives an awkward little sigh.

“Maaaa. Ichigo-kun really is out to put me in an early grave,” he bemoans, standing up and dusting himself off, though he cannot hide his excitement.

It’s been far too long since the Shoten has heard the sound of tiny feet.

[therainroguefanfiction]

⁂ Days Come and Go (Coyote Starrk) [1 of 2]

Genre: Romance, Comedy ☁

Word Count: 3,666 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Starrk ☁

World: Bleach ☁

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Days come and go, but my feelings for you are forever,”

You growled, struggling against the restraints on your wrists. Apparently, you were an ‘important asset‘ to Aizen, so he had Tousen sneak up behind you and grab you. ‘Like a coward’, you thought. He brought you back to Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo and the others had already saved Orihime and brought her back to the world of the living. Aizen retreated from the battle against Soul Society before it even began and sealed off any way of getting into Hueco Mundo – or out, in your case.

Orihime had gotten a hold of the Hougyoku and damaged it, making it take four times as long to awaken. After Ichigo managed to get her, Aizen took you two months later in order to replace her, even though your powers were nothing alike.

You were sitting in Aizen’s room, hands cuffed behind your back so that you couldn’t use any of your reiatsu and, of course, the door was locked. That didn’t stop you from struggling against them, though.

You closed your eyes, focusing all of your power into your hands and wrists and, with one swift movement, you broke through the cuffs. You smirked, ‘If that bastard really thought those would hold me, he’s in for a big surprise,’

You kicked the door open, making as little noise as possible, and closed your eyes again, focusing; you were trying to find your zanpakuto which had been taken by Aizen upon your arrival.

Finally finding it, you set off down the halls of Las Noches, keeping your eyes and ears alert, as well as masking your reiatsu.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

After searching for what felt like hours in the winding halls, you finally came to a door. Las Noches is one hell of a maze! You could feel RyuuKaji, your zanpakuto, pulsing on the other side. You slid the door open enough to look inside.

There was an Espada level guy lying on a huddle of pillows on the floor, fast asleep. There were no others in sight.

You slowly pushed the door open, slipped inside, and shut the door behind you. You tiptoed over to the sleeping Espada, kicking his leg lightly with your foot to make sure he wouldn’t wake up. His chest was rising and falling softly, face content. Your sword was hanging from his sash, right beside his own.

You kneeled down on the pillows next to him and, very gently, untied the sash from his waist, letting it fall to either side of him. His right hand, which was laying on his stomach, twitched slightly, but he made no signs of being awoken.

You proceeded to push the sash to the side and reach for your sword.

“What are ya doing?”

You froze, looking over your shoulder to see a blonde-haired Arrancar. She must be his Fraccion. ‘Shit, why didn’t I sense her?’

She narrowed her eyes and walked forward, kicking the man where the sun don’t shine. He woke with a start, grabbing himself and groaning in pain. “I told you not to do that, Lilinette!”

She rolled her eyes, “You shouldn’t be sleeping on the job.”

“Hmm?” his gaze moved over and he stared at you for a second before closing his eyes with a sigh, retying his sash.

She scoffed and left the room.

You stared at your sword, wondering if you should just grab it and run. For some reason, an idea popped into your head – an idea you normally would never think about, ever. ‘This has got to be my father’s fault,’

You took a deep breath to steel your nerves and got on top of the lazy Espada, your legs on either side of his waist and hands on either side of his head.

He opened his eyes and stared up at you, lazily.

“Look, I can tell you really like to sleep. I’m sure that’s hard, though, having to guard that sword. So, why don’t you let me take it off your hands, so you can sleep, hmm?”

He stared at you for a few seconds before closing his eyes. “Sorry, no.”

You scowled, more dirty thoughts coming into your mind. Biting your lip, you considered your options. He may be an Espada, but he’s still a guy.

‘It might just work. Then again, it may piss him off and he could kill me now. Wonderful,’

You took another deep breath before deciding to go with it. Leaning down, you placed a few butterfly kisses on his neck. He squirmed slightly but made no other movements. You grinned in satisfaction, bitting his neck lightly, earning a grunt from the Espada below you.

You peppered kisses down his neck, unzipping his uniform as you went. Looking up into his face, he looked content. ‘Maybe I will keep my life. Now, to get my damn sword!’

You trailed kisses back up to his neck and bit his ear gently. “What do you say? Can I have my sword back, please~?”

“I can’t,” he responded softly, enjoying what you were doing to his body.

‘He can’t seriously be this hard to break!’, you thought with a frown. You nipped his neck again, earning another grunt of approval as your hand made its way towards your sword.

“Bitch!”

You froze, head whipping up to see a smirking Grimmjow standing in the doorway. “You were supposed to get your sword, not dry hump Starrk!”

You scowled at him, “You really do have a big mouth, ya know that?”

Our eyes connected and he grinned a minute later, “Hurry the hell up, eh?” then he turned around and left the room.

When you looked back down, Starrk was looking up at you, his eyes concealing whatever emotion he felt. You leaned down to his neck again. “Please forgive me for this,” you bit down on his neck, drawing blood as you forced your reiatsu into the wound. You felt him tense under you before he slipped into unconsciousness. “I’m sorry,” you kissed his forehead lightly before grabbing your sword and leaving the room.

Grimmjow was leaning against the wall outside the room, his arms folded over his chest and a cocky smirk on his face.

“Don’t even,” you growled, glaring at him as you passed while putting your sword back through your belt – much like Ikkaku had when he first attended Karakura High.

He grinned, following after you. “Daddy rubbing off on you?”

“Go to hell, asshole.”

“I’ll see you there, bitch.”

You snorted, hitting his arm as you made your way down the halls of Las Noches.

You used to be a soul reaper but left Soul Society right after Kisuke and Yoruichi did; you take turns staying at Ichigo’s house and Kisuke’s. You do not wear the traditional Shinigami outfit, never have. Instead, you wear baggy black jeans, a white t-shirt, a black zip-up leather hoodie, and black and white skull sneakers. You also wear a black belt around your waist to keep RyuuKaji, though it can be hard to see since it blends in with your jeans.

A deep blue ring occupies your middle finger on your right hand; a present from Toushirou before you left, while a black and silver ring, with a silver dragon on top, occupies your thumb, a gift from your father. Around your neck was another ring, blood red, on a chain that hung down to your stomach, a present from Gin before he betrayed soul society.

“Think we can make it?” Grimmjow asked, sounding bored.

You shrugged just as Ulquiorra appeared, blocking your path.

“Aizen-sama has ordered me to bring you back and restrain you.”

“Bring her back?” Grimmjow laughed, “We haven’t even left yet, idiot!”

You rolled your eyes, stepping forward and drawing your sword. “We’re having a bit of trouble, Ulquiorra. See, me and Grimmjow are eager to leave this place, but can’t seem to find an exit. I’m afraid, I’m gonna have to use you to make one!” As soon as you finished speaking, you used shunpo to appear in front of him, swords clashing. You pushed him back, making his eyes widen, with such great force, that he crashed through five layers of wall.

“Hey!” Grimmjow appeared next to you, “I can see the outside.”

You glanced at him before using shunpo again to appear outside, quite a ways away from Las Noches. Grimmjow appeared next to you a few seconds later.

He snapped his fingers with a smirk and a portal appeared. “Shall we?”

You grinned, stepping past him and into the portal, appearing in the sky of Karakura town. He stepped out next to you and the portal snapped closed. You stretched your arms above your head, your back cracking in the process.

Grimmjow chuckled, landing on the ground with you behind him.

“I’m guessing we’re going to go to Urahara’s?”

“Where else?” you muttered, walking towards Urahara’s shop.

Urahara, Jinta, Ururu, Tessai, Noba, Ririn, and Kurodo were waiting for you outside the shop.

“It’s about time you two got here,” Urahara grinned from underneath his stripped hat.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

| Back in Los Noches |

Aizen, Gin, Tousen, and Lilinette were standing over the unconscious Espada. Lilinette had tried to wake him, using the tactics that she always used, but the Espada didn’t budge an inch. Getting worried, she sought out Gin, who in turn got Aizen and Tousen.

Aizen had his hand on his chin in a thinking matter, a smile on his lips. “They simply used a special spell that not many know. No doubt they learned it from the goddess of flash.”

“A spell?” Lilinette asked, staring down at the Espada.

Aizen nodded to Tousen who stepped forward, holding his palms out to face Starrk. He muttered something under his breath and his hands started to glow a deep purple. A few moments later, the Espada stirred, opening his eyes slowly and sitting up, looking at the four people standing around him.

“Haha, they really got ya, Starrk!” Gin grinned his normal, fox-like grin.

“Get ready,” Aizen said lightly. “You will be going after Y/N.”

Starrk looked up at Aizen, his mind running wild.

“As much as I hate to admit it, they are stronger than everyone here except for me and you. Y/N on equal standing with Gin. You are the only one who can beat them and bring them back. You leave in one hour.” With that, the three men turned around and left the room.

It was silent for a few moments before Lilinette spoke. “Why’d you let them do that? Why didn’t you stop them?”

Starrk sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. “I don’t know,”

Lilinette narrowed her eyes, “Yes you do! They took away the loneliness, didn’t they? Y/N made you forget everything!”

He nodded slightly, his voice still low. “They’re the first person to make me feel that way. I…” he was at a loss for words. He couldn’t even describe how you made him feel.

“We can’t doom them by bringing them back here, then,” Lilinette said, firmly.

“We have orders,” he countered, quietly.

“So?” she scoffed, “If they makes you feel that great, why bring them back here just to die?”

“Y/N would never love a hollow, Lilinette. Especially not me. The feeling wouldn’t last but a fleeting moment.”

Lilinette didn’t know what to say. All she knew was she couldn’t let him bring you back if you affected him so much. She had to form a plan and she only had an hour to do it.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

| Karakura Town |

“They’re here,” Grimmjow muttered, staring down at the tea Tessai had placed in front of him.

“To investigate, no doubt,” Urahara said, waving his fan.

“Huh?”

“Soul Society thinks that Y/N went to Hueco Mundo of her own free will. They’ve sent two shinigami to question her and possibly apprehend her.”

“What!?” Grimmjow growled, slamming his hands on the table. “After all the shit they’ve done for them!? This is how they repay Y/N?”

“Unfortunately,”

“Grimmjow,” you muttered, staring at the ground. “Let it be,”

“But – !”

“It’s fine,”

He growled again but kept his mouth shut.

A few moments later, two shinigami appeared at the door to Urahara’s shop.

“Y/N-chan,” the man spoke softly, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Father,” you murmured, avoiding his gaze. You saw Grimmjow glance at you out of the corner of your eye but ignored it.

“Can I speak to you alone?” he asked, softly, holding his hand out for you to take.

Grimmjow glared slightly and slapped his hand away, standing up. “If Y/N goes, I go!”

He nodded in understanding as you stood up. “Stay here, Nanao-chan.”

Nano nodded, sitting down at the table as the three of you left the shop, heading to the river.

Starrk and Lilinette were hidden behind a large tree, watching you, Grimmjow, and the shinigami as you talked. Their reiatsu had been hidden well, so none of you could sense them.

Starrk was listening closely to what was said, all the while curious as to your relationship with the two men.

“So, what happened?” Shunsui asked as he lounged on his back in the grass.

Grimmjow folded his arms over his chest as he stood nearby, a grin on his face. “Why don’t you tell him what happened, Y/N?”

You glared at him before looking back to your father.

Starrk was watching your movements carefully.

“Well – you see -” you sighed deeply, rubbing the back of your neck, “Aizen wasn’t happy about Orihime getting away. So, instead, he sent for me to be taken. Bastard Tousen snuck up behind me and put those damn cuffs on me.” Your voice was full of anger

‘What is this feeling in the pit of my stomach? Why do I want to make their anger go away?’, Starrk frowned.

“So much for vigilance,” Grimmjow sniggered.

You glared at him again, “I was locked in Aizen’s room – ”

“You should have looked for blackmail.” Grimmjow sniggered again.

You ignored him. ” – of course, you know me, can’t stay still for too long.” Shunsui smiled at your words. “I managed to break free and went in search of my sword. Aizen gave it to one of the Espada to guard.”

Grimmjow snorted.

“I would have gotten it scotch free if his Fraccion hadn’t shown up and woken him.” You sighed deeply, looking down as you nervously picked the grass from the ground. “She woke him and left the room. Of course, I couldn’t just take it from him after that. So, I tried to think up a plan.”

“Oh, you thought of one alright.”

Thinking about what you did to him made Starrk feel content for a fleeting second before it disappeared. Oh, how he longed to have that feeling back.

“Oh?” Shunsui raised his eyebrow in question. “What plan did you use, Y/N-chan?”

“Well… I figured that, even though he’s an Espada, he’s still a guy…”

“Oh~?” he sat up, looking eager to hear more.

“I kind of… sat on him,”

Shunsui chuckled, pulling his hat down to hide his amusement.

You continued. “And, err, well… the rest isn’t important!”

Grimmjow burst out laughing, earning another glare. “You were practically dry humping him!”

“I was not!” you growled, slamming him so hard on the back of the head that he face planted on the ground, leaving a small indent in the earth.

“Y/N-chan~” Shunsui cooed, “What exactly did you do, darling?”

You groaned in defeat. “I figured I could persuade him, ya know? All I did was kiss him a bit…”

“‘Kiss him a bit’?” Grimmjow scoffed, rubbing his face clean of dirt. “They were leaving kisses and love bites all over his neck!”

Shunsui stared at you for a few minutes before jumping up and squeezing you to his chest, “That’s my child!”

You managed to struggle free of his grasp and pointed an accusing finger in his direction, “I knew it was right to blame you! Pervy old man!”

He grinned sheepishly, swatting your hand away. “Now, now, Y/N-chan. What did you expect? So, how did he take it?”

“Pretty well, surprisingly. I couldn’t get him to break though,” you shook your head, folding your arms over your chest.

“My lord,” Shunsui whispered in disbelief. “All that and he didn’t give in? There is something wrong with that man.”

You rolled your eyes, “Something wrong with him? Just because he’s not a pervert like you and Grimmjow?”

Grimmjow shot up, glaring at you. “I am no pervert, bitch!”

You scoffed, “Suuurree, whatever you say, asshole.”

Grimmjow glared at you for a moment before his expression turned serious. “You should consider yourself lucky.”

“Hmm?” you raised your eyebrow at him.

“If he was any different, he probably would have killed you.” He smirked at your confused expression. “You didn’t know? You did something like that to him, and you didn’t even know?”

“Know what?” you scowled, feeling annoyed.

Grimmjow stared at you before laughing, falling to the ground clutching his stomach. You kicked his stomach with your foot. He managed to calm down a bit, still chuckling, “Starrk is the Primera!”

You stared at him in shock, “P-Primera?” you took a few steps back, thinking about what you had actually done to him.

Kyoraku cocked his head to the side, watching you curiously.

“Holy shit,” you muttered, falling to the ground, your hands behind you. “I could have died!”

Grimmjow laughed harder, “If he was any different, you would have been dead!” His laughter stopped, then started again, harder this time. “Imagine if you did that to Ulquiorra!”

You glared at him, kicking his foot. “I would never do something like that to Ulquiorra, or anyone else for that matter!”

He scoffed, “Oh yeah? Then why’d you do it to Starrk?”

You rubbed the back of your head, looking anywhere but at his blue eyes as you fought back a blush. “I-I don’t know… it was a one-time thing, okay!”

Shunsui started to chuckled, scooting over so that he was next to you, putting his arm around your shoulder. “Did you feel it, sweety? That special feeling?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know what I felt or what came over me.” You suddenly pushed him away, standing up and putting your hands in your pockets. “It doesn’t matter,”

Grimmjow stayed silent for a minute before speaking again. “You’re right, it doesn’t.”

You raised a brow at him.

“Aizen probably found ’em by now and he’s most likely going to send Starrk to come bring you back. Hell, he might already be here.”

Shunsui sighed, standing up and pulling his hat down over his eyes. “I need to get back to report everything to Yama-jii,”

You nodded, pulling off the blue ring from your finger and holding it out to him. He raised his head, a confused expression on his face. “Give it to Toushirou before you go see the old man, will ya?”

He seemed thoughtful for a minute before he took the ring from the palm of your hand, “Be safe, darling.” He used shunpo and disappeared.

“What do you think?” Grimmjow asked, softly.

“I don’t know what to think anymore.” You started in the direction of Ichigo’s house, “Come on. We’re staying with Ichigo tonight.”

He nodded, following at your side.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Ichigo! You’re late!” Isshin screamed from downstairs. A crash followed, along with Ichigo yelling, “It’s only seven o’clock!”

“That’s no excuse!”

More crashes could be heard before it went silent, the only sound being Ichigo’s annoyed footsteps and Grimmjow’s sniggering in the corner. His bedroom door slammed open and he came in, a scowl on his face as he plopped down on the bed next to you.

“Rough day?” you asked as he laid his head on your stomach.

Rukia walked over after shutting the door and plopped down in his desk chair, playing on her phone.

“Yeah,” he murmured, “Damn Keigo kept trying to get me to – ” He shot up suddenly, staring at you with wide eyes. He was frozen in that position before he jumped on you, hugging you tightly. “Y/N!”

Grimmjow snorted, “It took you that long for that brain of yours to actually work?”

Ichigo scowled, glaring at Grimmjow. “Why are you here?”

He shrugged, “‘Cause I can be.”

Ichigo ignored him, turning back to you. “How’d you get back?” Then he turned to Rukia, who was still playing on her cell. “Did you know about this?”

She shrugged, “Of course. I felt Y/N’s Reiatsu as soon as they arrived. They’ve been talking to captain Kyoraku.”

You sat up, moving to lean against the open window above the side of his bed, hanging outside it to feel the cold breeze on your skin. “I managed to escape,”

“How!?” he yelled, sitting in front of me, his brown eyes both concerned and confused.

“That’s not important,” you shrugged, “What is important is the fact that Aizen’ll be sending someone to get me back.”

Ichigo growled, folding his arms over his chest. “Not if I can help it!”

Starrk and Lilinette had followed you to the orange-haired shinigami’s house and watched as he talked with you. The window was open, making it a little bit easier to hear what was being said.

He would be lying if he said he felt nothing in his chest when Ichigo had laid his head on you. He longed to be in that position with you, to feel your skin on his again.

“I can handle almost anyone he sends,” you murmured, looking up at the dark sky. “The only ones I’d have trouble with is Gin, Starrk, or Aizen himself.”

“You know he’s gonna send Starrk!” Grimmjow muttered.

“Starrk?” Ichigo looked between the two of us. “Who is that?”

“The Primera Espada,” you said, quietly, “He’s the one that was guarding my sword.”

Now you had Rukia’s attention. “Primera? How’d you manage that?”

“Details aren’t important,” you waved her off, closing your eyes.

She gave you a quizzical look before her phone started to beep, “There’s an espada here.”

Grimmjow glanced at me, “It’s Starrk.”

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

▸ Part 2 of 2

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[cheshiresense]

so i was going through your uraichi tag and i came across that picture of ichigo crouched between urahara and yoruichi, and it got me thinking. what's she think of all of this?

I assume you mean in the SP!AU? Well, um.

Have I mentioned how much I hate writing Yoruichi pov

This takes place sometime after Ichigo graduates but before the convo with Kaien and Shinji.

Okay, here we go:

There is a row of small potted bonsai on the windowsill.This is very strange because for as long as Yoruichi has known him, Kisuke hasnever been particularly interested in gardening of any kind.

In the end, it doesn’t stop her from swinging herselfthrough the open window, although the Kidou trap that triggers the moment shelands is an even bigger surprise than the plants. She twists out of the wayeasily enough, watching with raised eyebrows as the black bolt of energy charsthe ceiling above and leaves a rather pretty imprint of… a rhododendron?

“Pretty, isn’t it? His finals at the Academy included themeanings of all the squads’ flower insignias, and it was apparently interestingenough to him that he researched further.” Kisuke’s voice floats out from thegeneral direction of the kitchen. “He’s still not very good with standard Kidouspells but he has a peculiar knack for creating traps. Still a bit hit-and-misson the power output but he can cobble a decent one together in under a minute.”

Yoruichi turns just as Kisuke appears in the doorway. He’scompletely out of uniform today, which hasn’t been a common sight since theygraduated the Academy. Instead, he’s thrown on a casual yukata with a dark coatover it, and he’s wearing geta of all things. They clack across the floorboardsas he moves into the room, jarringly loud in a way that makes Yoruichi’sinternal assassin cringe.

He’s also wearing that hat of his, the one he never goesanywhere without these days.

“Tea, Yoruichi-san?” Kisuke enquires mildly, setting downthe tray he’s holding on the kotatsu. “You were sitting out there for quite awhile.”

Of course Kisuke noticed. Well, Yoruichi wasn’t putting mucheffort into hiding anyway.

She sits down and accepts the cup Kisuke hands her.

“Finished off all the sake, huh?” Yoruichi asks dubiously,because hell, it really is tea.

Kisuke only shrugs as he folds himself into the seat acrossfrom her. “I haven’t bought any in a while. I’ve always preferred tea.”

True enough, but Yoruichi’s always preferred sake - mostShihouins do, with the tolerance to match it, and the reiatsu control to getrid of the hangover the morning after - and Kisuke’s long since mirrored hisown tastes with hers, as far back as when they still lived together at hermanor.

Until now, apparently.

There’s been a lot of until nows lately. It’s atleast half the reason she’s finally tracked him down without anyone else aroundto interrupt or overhear them. She wants to talk, and she feels like it’s aconversation long overdue.

They drink in silence for a few minutes, and Yoruichi letsher gaze roam around the room. There are signs everywhere of a second personliving here - a stack of Academy books and notes off to the side, two identicalpairs of Shinigami-standard sandals by the door, the bonsai for heaven’ssake, and of course the second reiatsu signature lingering in the air -it isn’t exactly subtle.

She turns back to Kisuke, who’s watching her with a patientsort of calm that she’s never seen before prior to… these past few months.She can’t say exactly when he became this. Sometime when she wasn’tlooking, obviously.

They don’t spend as much time together anymore, not since hewas made captain. They used to see each other every day unless one of them wasaway on a mission. Now, aside from getting drinks together with some of theother captains and lieutenants or coincidentally being invited to a dinnerhosted by the Shibas on the same evening, they go months without talking, andit’s been that way for going on seven years.

“So what have you been up to lately?” Yoruichi says at last.She didn’t really have a plan before coming here. She has questions, yes, butshe still can’t seem to find the right words for them.

Kisuke looks faintly amused now, the bastard, and his replyis equally frustrating, “Oh, a little of this, a little of that. Running mysquad, making new toys for the Gotei-”

He rambles on down the list, one non-answer after the next,and abruptly, Yoruichi realizes– Kisuke is treating her exactly the same wayhe treats anyone he can’t be bothered to take seriously. Once, that used to beliterally everybody except Yoruichi and Tessai. These days though, she’s seenhim strolling down the street with Hirako, heads bent together in actualconversation; she’s seen him sparring with his spitfire lieutenant in thecourtyard and actually offering useful tips, even if they do all come outsounding like taunts, while his other subordinates watched or cheered or both;she’s seen Urahara Kisuke waiting at the front entrance of the EighthDivision compound on random evenings, bold as brass and utterly impervious tothe wide-eyed looks of leery bewilderment he received that have slowly becomeindulgent smiles as he walks home from work with-

“-keeping up with my paperwork-”

“-and shacking up with your boytoy?” Yoruichi finishesdryly, cutting him off at last.

To his credit, Kisuke barely misses a beat, pausing only tosnap out a fan from one of his sleeves that barely hides half the sly grin onhis face as he chirps, “Well I can’t deny my darling strawberry-chan keeps mewarm at ni-”

Then he has to duck as something sparks in the corner of Yoruichi’seye, and a second later, a streak of red light bursts into existence and almostpunches a hole in Kisuke’s hat as it whizzes over his head before shattering ina rain of shimmering pieces on the far wall.

Yoruichi’s halfway on her feet before the Kidou trap evenfully dissipates, and she can only stare when Kisuke pops back up chuckling, onehand coming up to pat absently at his hat.

“Oh, he figured it out!” He says brightly, voice full of afond sort of pride. He glances at Yoruichi and adds for her benefit, “Keying aspell to a specific word and aiming it at a specific target. He’s been workingon that for a few weeks now. I had no idea he keyed it to ‘strawberry-chan’though. I only call him that to tease. But I suppose that’s the whole point.”

He looks amused all over again as if his hat isn’t stillsmoking a little.

“How many traps do you have in this place?” Yoruichi demandsincredulously. Then she pauses. “Wait, you taught him how to key a Kidou spellto a word and a target?”

That’s something you can only learn in the Kidou Corps.Yoruichi knows it, even if she doesn’t practice it much, because Tessai taughther despite the fact that he technically wasn’t supposed to. And Kisuke knowsit because he figured it out himself and mastered the art before even Tessaifinished that portion of his training.

It’s a Kidou Corps secret, one of the skills taught only tothe those who enter their branch of the military, kept within their ranks tomaintain their reputation as the best Kidou practitioners in Soul Society.Yoruichi’s not exactly in a position to throw stones, but for Kisuke toteach someone else…

“So,” Yoruichi slowly takes her seat again. “Not a boytoythen.”

Kisuke meets her eyes, and his features finally sober intosomething more serious.

He looks older, Yoruichi realizes. Not in any physical sensethat she can tell but… there’s an air about him, something tired and jaded in away even the Onmitsukidou could never inflict on him.

And somehow, Yoruichi missed it, missed the change when ithappened, missed whatever made one of her oldest friends look like this,and why did Kisuke even keep it from her?

Did he think - whatever he’s done, whatever problem he’sstumbled on, whatever happened - that she would refuse to help him?

(She knows he’s had it tough, as a captain. Not even just anew one, but one that came from the Onmitsukidou, and even if people don’t knowexactly what he did, there’s a reputation that comes with that, one that isn’tentirely undeserved, but also one that makes people give him a wide berth.There’s more than one reason Onmitsukidou members don’t usually stopbeing Onmitsukidou members until they die, and it isn’t just because it’s oneof the laws that governs Soul Society’s Covert Ops forces in order to maintaintheir secrets even more stringently than the Kidou Corps keep theirs.

But she thought if anybody could handle it, it would beKisuke. And he is handling it, isn’t he? There were a couple years atthe beginning when he floundered under the weight of his new responsibilities,surrounded by people who looked at him and only saw assassin and spyand genius and monster, while Yoruichi pretended not to seeanything at all because Kisuke had to be able to bear his captaincy on his own.But he’s better now. He got better. His lieutenant doesn’t yell as much, stillbacktalks but not in a way that conveys contempt and little else. He seems alittle closer to a few of the other captains, Hirako and Kyouraku in particularand even just those two are powerful names to be attached to. He even surfacesfrom his labs more often, in favour of spending more time with hissubordinates. And while there’s still gossip about whether or not he’s fit tobe captain, not quite as many shy away from him anymore.

So he has gotten better. He’s learned, even if ittook him several years and several mistakes to get there.

Or perhaps it just took a certain Shiba hovering at hisshoulder.)

When Kisuke doesn’t speak first, she heaves a sigh andreaches for her tea. “You’ve been getting into trouble without me.”

This earns her a rueful smile. The fan disappears and thehat finds its way into Kisuke’s hands.

He looks less like a stranger like this.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” He tells her, and at least hedoesn’t insult her by denying that there’s something going on. But shecan tell he also isn’t going to say anything else, and a part of her wishes shecould just order him to spit it out even though she knows that won’t workanyway.

Yourichi is Clan Head, the Shihouin heir her whole life,Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidou, captain of the Second. But Kisuke’snever followed her lead because of any of that, not really; he only ever did itbecause he wanted to, because he regarded her highly enough that he did justabout anything she told him to, up to and including presenting his Bankai inthe Captain Proficiency Test.

(He could’ve failed it, she knows. Failed it and made itbelievable.

He didn’t because she didn’t want him to. She knows thattoo.)

So in the end, she doesn’t ask. Once, perhaps she would’veneedled him for details, insisted he let her in on whatever secrets he’skeeping, and he would’ve relented easily enough, or more likely he wouldn’thave kept any from her in the first place. But she thinks - not for the firsttime even though it’s a hard thing to admit even to herself - that somethingmight have broken between them when she booted him out of the Second over halfa decade ago.

She still isn’t sorry for that, because no matter whatKisuke might think, it was never just because of Suì-Fēng. But she also doesn’tknow how to fix it, so she doesn’t ask.

“But you’re handling it with Shiba Ichigo?” Yoruichi saysinstead, grinning when Kisuke blinks at the sudden change of subject. “How inthe world did that happen anyway? Fresh out of the Academy, and word has it youwere seeing him even before he graduated. Robbing the cradle much, Kisuke?”

Kisuke blinks again, but that’s about the only reactionYoruichi gets, and she briefly mourns the fact that somehow she can’t seem tofluster him anymore.

“He’s young,” Kisuke agrees. “But he’s very mature for hisage.”

Yoruichi arches an eyebrow. “You’re telling me you’reattracted to him for his maturity?”

Kisuke shrugs, flipping his hat around and placing it backon his head before pouring himself some more tea. “Among other things.” Heseems to mull this over before admitting, “He’s smart. Not like me. Moreintuitive. He picks things up fast, and he doesn’t often need somethingexplained to him more than once for him to understand.”

“So he understands you when you go off on a sciencetangent,” Yoruichi clarifies, and that is impressive.

“At least the gist of it,” Kisuke agrees, and he’s smilingagain down at his tea, except this time it’s not so much amusement as it issomething soft and affectionate and just a touch fragile.

Ah. So that’s how it is. It isn’t just that Shiba Ichigounderstands. It’s that he listens. Even Yoruichi’s brain tends to glazeover with boredom if Kisuke goes on for more than thirty minutes. Tessai can makeit to a full hour but even he can only go for so long before he finds somethingelse to do while Kisuke’s voice becomes background noise. At this point intheir lives, they’ve pretty much learned to tune him out if he rambles on toolong, and Kisuke’s never exactly minded either– they listen when he’sspeaking to them directly or when it’s important, instead of just more or lessthinking out loud.

But then, she supposes Kisuke’s interests and hobbies aretheir own kind of important, and if Shiba Ichigo actually pays attention to itall… well, maybe it’s not such a shock that Kisuke’s remained interested in oneperson for even just this long.

She flicks a glance at the ceiling next, where the outlineof the rhododendron is still soot-dark against the wood.

Beware, she recalls. A meaning derived from howpoisonous rhododendrons can be.

“And the flower? The bonsai? I’m assuming those are hishobbies. You’ve never been interested in plants.”

“He likes making things grow,” Kisuke says. Yoruichi shootshim an odd look because that’s not exactly a common pastime for most young menfresh out of the Academy and probably raring to prove themselves to theirsquad. Kisuke only shrugs again. “And he’s a bit of an artist. It’s relaxingfor him. Being a Shinigami can be stressful.” He glances off to the side, atthe window she came through. “Sometimes he takes a sketchbook and sits outsideand just draws whatever he sees. He’s good at it.” That strange, warm smilemakes a reappearance. “He forgets the time on occasion. I have to make sure hedoesn’t end up skipping a meal when he gets too focused.”

Which is rich coming from Kisuke. The gods know how manytimes Yoruichi’s had to fish him out of a research haze when he disappearedinto his books for too long. No doubt, Shiba Ichigo’s probably done his fairshare of ensuring Kisuke doesn’t forget to eat or sleep as well.

But maybe this is good too, for Kisuke to have someone totake care of.

“…You actually like him,” Yoruichi observes. “This is anactual relationship.”

Kisuke glances at her, and there’s that amusement again,underscored with a hint of steel. “Well we are living together.”

Yoruichi sets down her teacup and leans back on her hands.“True. But I thought your interest in him might’ve been due to his genius. Wehad Ichimaru Gin, but the Fifth likes to keep him underwraps. Everybody heardabout the Shibas’ latest pride and joy though. I wouldn’t be surprised if youdecided you wanted to poke at his powers a bit.”

She pauses and studies Kisuke carefully. His features havegone curiously blank despite the lack of tension in his face, and he’s reachedup to tug the brim of his hat down to shadow his eyes. “Unless that iswhy you’re all over him-”

“I hardly need to offer to share living space with him ifthat was all I wanted, Yoruichi-san,” Kisuke interjects, the words coming lightand mild and perfectly pleasant.

Apparently, she’s touched a nerve.

Yoruichi hums noncommittally before pushing off her handsand leaning forward again, half-slouching as she balances her elbows on herthighs. “Alright. But if the Shibas get the wrong idea, you should probablymake sure you jump ship in time.”

“Jump ship?” Kisuke repeats, and he’s looking at her again,steady and calm and unyielding in a way that makes the back of her neckprickle. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. The Shibas will just have to grinand bear it.”

The conversation seems to end there as Kisuke beginsgathering up the cups and teapot before getting to his feet. “Feel free to stayfor dinner, Yoruichi-san. Ichigo should be back soon with the groceries.”

He sweeps away into the kitchen, leaving Yoruichi staringafter him. She’s still there when he returns.

“I think I’d like to meet him,” She remarks as he sits downagain.

Kisuke levels his gaze on her, silent and intent for a long,unblinking moment. And then, for the first time this afternoon, or maybe forthe first time in what feels like years, Kisuke quirks a smile at her, sly andconspiratorial and familiar, like fast-paced tag across Shihouin clangrounds and hours spent exploring every trapdoor and tunnel in the manor and apact of loyalty sworn between three brilliant students in the dead of night asthey planned for their future.

“Try not to ambush him when he comes in through the door,”Kisuke suggests, but his tone is more resigned humour than anything else.

Yoruichi cackles right back because Kisuke knows better. “Imake no promises.”

[akaluan]

YOU WROTE IT! o> I'm just SO interested in post-Quincy War non-shit-epilogue Uryu, I'm eating up anything you can give me on that! Attainable Dreams has been a super delightful serving of that particular goodness

Oops my muse slipped.

Ichigo knew, the moment the fight was over and Uryuu stalked towards him, all stone-faced and straight-shouldered and covered in blood, that this was going to be a bad night. His gaze flicked to Tatsuki for a moment — just long enough for her to catch, for her to understand, and nod, and slip silently away — before his attention was once more on Uryuu.

“The Shinigami are taking care of him,” Uryuu told them stiffly, right hand wiping absently against a clean patch of shirt, again and again and again. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Ichigo agreed, standing slowly under Orihime’s watchful gaze and stretching to try and settle within his own skin again. Orihime’s healing was amazing as always, but it always felt /strange/, his brain remembering a wound that had never existed on his body. “Thanks.”

Uryuu grunted and turned away, moving towards the gate that would take them home, and Ichigo followed after without hesitation.

Urahara was waiting on the other side, his usual antics tempered by their fatigue and blood-covered clothing. His gaze was dark with regret, mouth drawn down in a frown that he didn’t bother to cover with his fan. “I’ll have Tessai-san set the table,” he said. “Ishida-san, shower, bath, or hot spring?”

“Shower,” Uryuu answered as he brushed past Urahara.

“I’ll have some clothing set out for you!” Urahara shouted at Uryuu’s retreating back, as the Quincy disappeared up the ladder in a burst of hirenkyaku. He sighed a bit and tugged at the brim of his hat, giving the others a questioning look.

Tatsuki glanced briefly at her lover, then over to Chad and Ichigo, and answered, “Hot springs, for all of us.”

“Tessai and I will take Ururu and Jinta out tonight,” Urahara offered softly, before any of them could take more than a step towards the hot springs. “We’ll set things out for you, then leave you be tonight.”

“Thanks, Hat’n’Clogs,” Ichigo murmured, sending a grateful look at the ex-Shinigami. “I mean it. Thanks.”

Urahara inclined his head, watching them with sad eyes as they filed deeper into the training ground to the healing spring. Ichigo… tried not to think too hard, about the guilt he /knew/ was draping over the ex-Shinigami’s shoulders, piling higher every time they came back more tired, more bloody than before.

There wasn’t anything he could do about it.

On autopilot, Ichigo stripped and settled into his usual spot in the hot spring, leaning back and trying to finally, /finally/ relax. They were home. They were safe. /Nothing/ could reach them here, in the heart of Urahara’s territory.

(Something had tried, once. Urahara had destroyed it before it even crossed the property line.)

“Uryuu-san needed to use Antithesis,” Chad spoke without preamble, once all four of them had settled in the spring together.

Tatsuki /growled/ when Ichigo looked at her for confirmation he /didn’t want/, her fury and rage and /agreement/ unhidden from view.

Orihime whined. Ichigo cursed.

“It was that bad?” Orihime asked softly, waves rippling out from her as she shifted to cuddle into Tatsuki’s side. “I know Ichigo got hurt bad, but…”

“We couldn’t hurt him,” Chad explained with a grimace. “Blut vein and some personal trick.”

“He taunted us,” Tatsuki said. “Taunted /Uryuu/.”

Ichigo breathed out. Tried to control his fury.

(At himself. At their enemy. At the Shinigami. At /the entire fucking world/.)

(He was starting to become… tired. Of everyone but his nakama.)

He reached back to grab the washcloth behind him, then tilted his head at Chad in question. When his friend obligingly moved to turn his back, Ichigo shifted closer and began to wash it, dragging the cloth through the healing water and up across Chad’s broad back. Firm, steady strokes that wiped away the sweat and ache of battle, settled them back into /peace/, into /safety/, into /home/.

Tatsuki’s strong hands rested against his back for a moment — greeting, grounding, centering — and then she began the same on him.

It… wasn’t /quite/ a ritual for them, not yet, but… it was something that had begun to happen so often that Ichigo… Ichigo could no longer find it in himself to be embarrassed.

(After everything they had been through, everything that had happened… he was starting to feel like the other four were just extensions of himself. There was no need for embarrassment around them, for anything. Even Uryuu was beginning to spend more time like this with them.)

They stayed just long enough to settle themselves. To murmur truths about the battle, to align their information to form a picture, so no one went into the evening blind.

By they time they climbed out, bodies clean and refreshed, Urahara had done as promised; fresh jinbei and underclothes were laid out nearby for all of them, and when they emerged into the shoten proper the building was empty of all life but Uryuu.

“I’ll fetch him,” Tatsuki said. “You three get settled.”

Ichigo nodded as Tatsuki headed deeper into the shoten, and stepped into the side room they usually used, settling at the low table that had been set up. Chad sat across from him, pulling the small pitcher of saki from the hot water it was resting in and carefully pouring some of the heated saki into their cups.

“Thank you, Chad,” Orihime said, sitting down next to Chad and accepting the small cup from him once she had.

Chad gave her a faint smile and set the small pitcher down, sitting back and taking a sip from his cup. They sank into comfortable silence, drinking saki and waiting for the other two to return.

Soft footsteps drew Ichigo’s attention away from the table; Uryuu padded in, expression still blank and gaze unfocused, his glasses missing. Tatsuki was at his side, one hand gently gripping his upper arm, guiding him across the room and over to Ichigo’s side.

Uryuu sat, immediately picking up his cup of saki and draining it in one gulp. His hand trembled, the only outward sign of his rising distress. Chad leaned forward again and filled up his cup, and Uryuu almost immediately drained that as well.

Ichigo grimaced, sipping slowly at his own drink and watching as Uryuu downed one cup after the next. He shared a concerned glance with Tatsuki, but didn’t attempt to stop his friend; Uryuu rarely drank so heavily, but after what the others had mentioned…

Well, Ichigo wasn’t going to protest.

The more Uryuu drank, the more his hands shook and the more his expression lost its blankness. He swayed slightly, head tilted down, and began to lean towards Ichigo.

It happened before Ichigo had a chance to brace himself; Uryuu drained his cup once more, set it down, twisted around, and lunged at Ichigo. His pressed his face into Ichigo’s stomach, arms wrapped around Ichigo’s torso and hands clinging to handfuls of Ichigo’s jinbei.

Ichigo carefully set his cup down, now free hand moving to rest on Uryuu’s damp hair, ignoring the way his jinbei was growing damp from tears. It hurt, the utterly silent way that Uryuu always cried, shoulders shaking and sounds bitten off.

Orihime quickly stood and cleared off the table, which Chad and Tatsuki moved away. Pillows and blankets were dragged out and scattered around, as the three built a makeshift nest with Ichigo and Uryuu in the center.

Chad settled first, head resting on a thin pillow on Ichigo’s knee, face practically buried in Uryuu’s hair and one arm wrapped tight around Uryuu’s chest. Orihime was next, curling up with her back against Uryuu’s side, humming a soft lullaby. Tatsuki sprawled behind Ichigo, her legs tangling with Orihime’s and her hand gripping Uryuu’s upper arm once more.

Uryuu slowly relaxed into their hold, his reiatsu creeping out to latch onto them in return.

“He wanted me to lead the Quincy to glory,” Uryuu finally mumbled into Ichigo’s shirt, not lifting his head from where it was buried. “He— he wanted— he said I was— that because I was /his/ heir, that I could— could make /more/.”

“Being someone’s heir doesn’t make you them,” Ichigo said, combing his fingers through Uryuu’s hair. “And it doesn’t mean you have to follow in their wake.” He wished the spirit world wasn’t so fixated on /tradition/ and /how it was/ and /dominance over others/.

“But every Quincy—”

“Fuck them,” Tatsuki interrupted before Ichigo could. She sat up a bit and glowered at Uryuu without heat. “Seriously. After everything they did, I don’t care what they think or want. Let the Quincy as a people die out.”

Chad picked up the thread from there. “If you’re the heir, then it’s your choice now. Others can advise, but it’s your decision.”

“Yeah!” Orihime chirped, uncurling and twisting around to drape over Uryuu’s side, the sad smile on her face contrasting her upbeat tone. “How about making an Olympic archery team? Or you could try for speed skating? Uhm… gymnastics? Oh, I know! How about trampoline!”

Uryuu gave a watery chuckle, his grip on Ichigo’s jinbei slowly relaxing. “I don’t… think that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, probably not,” Tatsuki said dryly, giving her lover a wry look. “Can you imagine these dorks at the Olympics? They’d start trying to one-up each other, and then they’d get disqualified because they’d start pulling out powers.”

“We would not!” Ichigo protested, mostly for the fun of it. Tatsuki was right, after all; he and Uryuu might be almost a decade past the potentially destructive contests of their teenage years, but that didn’t mean they had stopped being /friendly rivals/ when they had time and space for it.

The Olympics would definitely be both.

Uryuu laughed, soft and warm and tired all at once. “We would, and you know it.”

“Yeah, fine, we probably would,” Ichigo gave in with a huff. He hummed a bit, tugging lightly on a few locks of Uryuu’s hair to be sure he had his friend’s attention. “They’re right, though. If you’re Yhwach’s heir, then that means the Quincy are yours now. Do with them what you will… even if that means ignoring them.”

“Even if I ignore them forever?” Uryuu whispered.

Ichigo nodded firmly, even if Uryuu couldn’t see him. “Even if it means you ignore them forever. We’re still trying to figure out what the hell to do with our Living World lives… why should we know what to do with anything else either?” He contemplated the pile of friends that had formed around him. Wondered at the loyalty, the /trust/ they had for him. He didn’t know what he would do without them.

(And, he suspected, they didn’t know what they would do without each other either.)

“We’ll figure something out in the morning,” Tatsuki suggested, as she laid back down. “Hat’n’Clogs’ll help us come up with something if we ask.”

Ichigo grimaced, but relented. He moved, carefully stretching out his legs and trying to sort out the pile of warm bodies draped across his lap. It didn’t take long; they were experienced in this, and simply repositioned themselves with him, until they were all laying down in the nest, limbs intertwined and using each other as pillows.

Things would (hopefully) look better in the morning.

[tappity-tap]

FOREVER BElonging WITH YOU

PART VI - THE RELAY

<< PART V || PART VII >> Story Rating: M Chapter Warnings: Pregnancy mentions. [This chapter is very sfw]

(FYI: From this chapter on I will also be tagging for IchiHime)

The Kurosaki’s house was last on Renji’s list.

 Ideally, Ichigo would’ve been the first person he’d want to break the news to but unfortunately, as a university student, he had class all day and wouldn’t be home until around 5pm. So as soon as Renji stepped out of the portal and into the cold winter air of the Living World, he shivered and set off for Urahara’s establishment with his coat pulled tightly around him.

 “Ohhhh, my my my!” The shopkeeper snapped open his fan with a sly wink “You two certainly didn’t waste any time, did you?” Behind him, the kids (and even Tessai) covered their mouths and snickered.

 As luck would have it, Shihoin Yoruichi was in the Living World that day as well, on break from teaching at the Academy. She smirked right along with them. “Feels good knowing you actually got it right, huh?”

 Renji dodged the poke she aimed at his arm and mentally kicked himself for even going there in the first place.

 He found Sado training hard at his gym, soaked with sweat and sorely in need of a break. When Renji told him the news, he was so stunned he actually paused in the middle of towel-drying his damp hair and sank down onto a nearby bench.

 “Wow,” he kept repeating, shaking his head in amazement and reaching for his water bottle, “Wow. That’s great, Abarai.” He took a long swing, only putting it down to flash a happy grin and a thumbs-up as Renji left.

 After ringing the doorbell, Renji stood freezing outside Inoue’s apartment for what seemed like forever before finally accepting she wasn’t home (maybe Rukia wrote down her work schedule wrong?) and he’d have to come back later. Or one of the guys would tell her first. Probably the latter.

 Up next was…

 “…Oh.”

 Renji crossed his arms in annoyance. “Really? That’s all ya have to say? ‘Oh’?”

 Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger. “I apologize if I seem unenthused, Abarai-san. I was simply unaware that Shinigami had any sort of natural reproductive capabilities. As a Quincy, and even from a medical standpoint, I’m actually very intrigued.”

 “Ya know Ichigo’s old man was a Shinigami, right?”

 “One who’d been bound to a human body and was living here as a human, yes.” Ishida reminded him. “However, you and Kuchiki are deceased souls unattached to physical bodies. It makes no logical sense for you to be able to conceive.”

 He…actually had a fair point. But Renji wouldn’t admit that. Not to his face. He settled for rolling his eyes instead. “Look…I’ve no idea how it works but…stuff happened ‘an now we’re havin’ a kid. ‘Sides, there’re other people in Soul Society who’ve had babies before.”

 This was true. Most of the nobles Renji knew of…Byakuya, Kira, the Omaedas, the Shihoins…had come into Soul Society as children born to a mother and a father instead of the usual crossing over after dying in the Living World. But admittedly, these births took place years apart, sometimes decades would go by before another family in the Seireitei was blessed with a brand-new addition, and the only noble Ishida was close to had been adopted into hers. He couldn’t exactly fault a merely 20 year-old human for his ignorance on the subject.

 “Right. Well.” Said human gave him a nod and went back to thumbing through his obnoxiously thick textbook. “My sincere congratulations. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an exam to study for.”

 (Renji would hold a slight grudge about this encounter until a few months later when a large box full of handmade baby clothing and supplies arrived on the doorstep.)

 At last, at a quarter past 5pm, Renji made his way up the walk to the Kurosaki’s residence.

 The sister with dark hair answered the door. “Oh, hey,” she greeted in recognition and motioned for him to come inside, “Ichi-Nii’s upstairs, wait just a sec.” Renji entered and took off his coat and shoes as she moved to the back of the house.

 “ICHI-NII IT’S FOR YOU!” she bellowed up the stairs right after he’d settled into a plush armchair.

 Ichigo’s muffled voice answered from above. “Geez, you don’t have to scream at me, Karin, I can hear you just fine. Who is it?”

 “That really tall guy with the tattoos and red hair.”

 “Oh, Renji-kun is here?” A feminine voice this time.

 “Yeah, so you two should get down here already.” Once she relayed that, Karin shuffled away and disappeared into another room.

 Renji suddenly sat up straight. It wasn’t just any feminine voice that had answered Karin, it was Inoue’s voice. Which meant she was with Ichigo. In his room. Alone.

 So that must mean…

 He couldn’t help the triumphant grin that spread over his face as they came down the stairs together. “Yo, Ichigo! Oh, ‘an if it isn’t Inoue! Didn’t expect to see you here.” Renji raised his eyebrows smugly at Ichigo.

 “Hey, that’s my line.” Ichigo retorted, flopping onto the couch and shooting him a look that read as annoyance with a slight hint of what the hell are you doing in my house right now?

 “Ah…well…I walked Kurosaki-kun home from the train station today.” Inoue blushed and perched herself primly beside Ichigo. She glanced around. “It’s good to see you, Renji-kun! Is Rukia-san not with you?” Since she was one of the few people who knew Rukia had taken Renji’s family name she had started addressing them by their given names to avoid confusion.

 Renji shook his head. “No, Rukia’s not with me.”

 “Oh.” Inoue looked disappointed. This worked as the perfect lead-in for Renji, however.

 Sticking to his plan to make the reveal as dramatic and exciting as possible, Renji cleared his throat and leaned forward with his arms braced on his knees. “Actually,” he said in a low, solemn voice with his eyes closed, ”that’s exactly the reason why I’m here today.” He lifted his head and gave them a stern look. “There’s…somethin’ I need to tell both ‘o ya.”

 Unfortunately, this plan of his backfired spectacularly. Both Ichigo and Inoue stiffened and their eyes widened simultaneously with fear. “Renji, did something happen to Rukia?” Ichigo demanded in a panicked tone while Inoue grabbed onto his sleeve and began drawing in short gasping breaths.

 “Whoa, whoa, hey, you two! Calm down! She’s fine!” Renji snapped out of the serious persona and frantically waved his hands in an attempt to diffuse the situation before they got worked up any further.

 It did the trick. They let out a sigh of relief in unison and Ichigo ran his hand through his spiky orange hair. “Damn it, Renji, don’t lead in like that!” he swore.

 With her breathing returning to normal, Inoue cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips. “But she’s alright? Why isn’t she here?” she asked. She was still holding on to Ichigo’s sleeve.

 Renji sat forward and tried again, this time forgoing the act. “Okay…the reason Rukia couldn’t come with me today, ‘an can’t come to the Living World for a while, is ‘cause we dunno how the journey here or bein’ in a Gigai will affect her now that…” he paused for effect, looking back and forth between their anxious faces before breaking out his proudest smile.

 “She’s pregnant. We’re havin’ a baby.”

 Much to Renji’s chagrin, the initial reaction was a little less enthusiastic than he would have liked coming from the people he and Rukia considered their closest human friends. Obviously under the assumption he was just messing with them, at first they both simply stared like they were expecting him to burst out laughing and say “Gotcha!” the second they made any indication they believed him.

 When that didn’t happen, however, Ichigo’s eyebrows shot up almost to his hairline. “Wait, seriously?”

 Renji puffed out his chest. “Seriously.”

 Inoue let out an excited squeal and enthusiastically clasped her hands together. “Oh, Renji-kun! That’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you both!” she exclaimed. True to form, she burst into tears shortly after.

 Renji usually didn’t like making girls cry (not that he did that often) but seeing the news had made Inoue so elated gave him a warm happy feeling. As promised, he took careful mental notes of all the details to tell Rukia later.

Ichigo regarded her fondly before turning back to Renji. “Yeah…yeah. I’m really happy for you guys, too.” He sported the same expression that appeared three years ago as Renji openly expressed his gratitude to his friend for reuniting him with Rukia. Out of all people, Ichigo probably understood most just what this child meant to them.

 Through her wet sniffling, Inoue managed to compose herself enough to ask Renji, “When is the baby coming?”

 “End of summer, right before fall. Captain Kotetsu put the due date at September 17th.”

 It didn’t take Ichigo long to do the math.* He immediately dropped the sentimental air and snorted, “Nice wedding present you got her, Renji.”

 Renji let the jab slide off with a casual shrug. “Heh. I know, right? But ya know what, enough about me ‘an Rukia.” He leaned back in the recliner and looked pointedly at the two of them. “What’s goin’ on here?” he asked with a sly grin and a gesture for emphasis, already knowing full well what the answer was.

 Inoue hiccupped and turned beet red. Ichigo’s utterly mortified face glared back at him.

Author’s Notes: Ishida banter is best banter and now I’m sad this is the only time he has dialogue in the story. :( As for the other characters appearing here, Urahara plays a big role at the end of the next chapter and Chad is featured in most of the final chapter.

So yes, at this point Ichigo and Orihime have been together as a couple for a few weeks and you’ll hear more about that in Part VIII.

*The 40 month due date for pregnancies is actually calculated from about two weeks before conception. If conception occurred at the end of December when I had the wedding take place this means the due date would fall in mid-September. As the son of a doctor who has most likely seen a good number of pregnant people come into the clinic I would expect Ichigo to have some knowledge of this.

Continued in [PART VII - THE WAIT]

[ramblingkat]

Fandom: Bleach

Characters/Pairing: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke

Prompt: Doesn’t Realize They’ve Been Injured

I blame the UraIchi server. On general principle

Head aching, ears ringing, and an aching throb that spread across his back. The body lying twisted in a most uncomfortable position, having been thrown across a room. Kisuke knew the signs of an explosion. A part of his mind was trying to pick apart what could have caused the explosion this time. The rest was trying to process the world around him. How long had he been out, and was anything on fire? 

Something was laying on him, and he shifted to push off something heavy. It felt wooden, and Kisuke thought it might be part of the table. He needed to invest in lighter furniture. Then he registered that something was digging painfully into his chest. That was a potential danger, and he forced an eye open to see what it was. That hurt as well, dust making his eye itch as he tried to focus on….

Ichigo. 

That sudden recollection that Ichigo had been in his lab with him made him bolt upright, ignoring the way it made him ache, a flash of pain stealing his breath for a moment. He had flung himself at the other when he realized that his experiment was about to go up. Ichigo, in his fragile, -human- body. Gigai were designed to be tougher than regular human forms, even if they were modeled off them. If the explosion made Kisuke ache….

Ignoring his own pains, he checked on Ichigo, who was breathing, which was a relief. That was one thing off Kisuke’s nightmare list gone. The other stirred a bit as Kisuke checked his pulse, finding it there, steady and slow.

Closing his eyes in relief, Kisuke started the rest of his checks. No real damage to the ribs and he smiled at Ichigo as his partner opened dazed eyes. “Hey,” he said, voice rough, then turned to cough against his shoulder. There was too much dust in the air. It was making it hard to breathe. 

“Wha’ hap’n,” Ichigo slurred, looking up at Kisuke with eyes that were more dazed than he liked. Kisuke ran gentle hands through Ichigo’s hair so he could check the skull. A million horrible possibilities were flashing through his mind, and he rather hated his brain at moments like this. The wall had stopped their momentum, and neither of them was light. He couldn’t focus enough to properly do any diagnostic kaido, but he was pretty sure that nasty knot he just found was the result of Ichigo hitting the wall first. 

His chest felt tight at the idea, and he coughed again. That sent his back muscles into a spasm and pain shot through them. His back burned, but he didn’t feel the telltale sensation of blood, so Kisuke ignored it for now. 

He ran his fingers down the back of Ichigo’s neck. “Can you feel your hands and legs?” he asked, panting lightly as he tried to get a good look at Ichigo’s eyes. They seemed like the pupils were equal. But it was hard to tell when Ichigo kept looking around, not focusing on Kisuke. That distraction he didn’t like either. He was used to Ichigo being focused. 

After a moment, Ichigo seemed to register the question and nodded, fingers wiggling as he did. “What happened?” he asked again, words much clearer this time. The sense of relief nearly staggered Kisuke. He was light-headed from it and had to put a hand on the wall to keep himself from falling over from the sensation. 

“Explosion,” he said, coughing again as his chest protesting the talking. It was getting harder to breathe. He should get Ichigo out of here as soon as he confirmed that his spine was fine. Who knew what chemicals were lingering. “Dust in the air, be careful.” 

Ichigo’s eyes finally seemed to snap into focus, fixing on Kisuke. He shifted, moved to sit up, but Kisuke put a hand on his chest. “Hold still,” he said, words short as he tried to catch his breath from the last fit of coughing. Ichigo ignored him, still trying to move. 

“Kisuke, are you okay?”

That was a silly question. He had been the one to wake up first. If they should be concerned about anyone, it was the person who had been unconscious longer. “I’m fine. Just….” He trailed off into another fit of coughing, pain spiking through him again. 

One particularly violent cough sent his vision white, and then everything sliding sideways into a hazy grey. 

He could hear Ichigo talking, but it was as if from a distance, and Kisuke was trying hard to focus on breathing. It hurt, and he couldn’t think clear enough on why that was. All he could do was focus on that. After a few moments, he felt something prodding at where his back ached the most, and that got a flare of pain so strong that his brain retreated more from it. 

***

Ichigo knew that hanging out with Kisuke in a lab was a dangerous proposition. Though, usually, it was more in the line of “does touching this feel weird” sort of dangerous than explosion dangerous. But Tessai and Ururu were at a movie they’d been excited about and had dragged Jinta along with them. So it was the chance to have some nice quiet time with Kisuke. Ichigo liked the others, but they could pop up at the most...inconvenient times. 

Ichigo was happy that Yoruichi didn’t live here as well. He’d never get the chance to have sex with Kisuke if she did. That troll would make a game out of interrupting.

Explosions were now his least favorite interruption. He’d been watching with interest when Kisuke had jerked, then twisted and flung himself at Ichigo. Then the world had gone up in a flash of weird violet flames and he had seen half the table come at them before he had made contact with the wall.

Kisuke was looking grey when Ichigo had opened his eyes. It was really hard to focus, thoughts scattered and not wanting to come together. But he knew that grey was not the right color for Kisuke. Not that sort of grey.

His brain wondered when Kisuke had gotten bluish lipstick, and that was a horrible color for him. A random thought, but he knew it was important as well. That was what had snapped him back into focus, yanked all his wandering thoughts into line.

Then Kisuke had started to cough, face going pale under the grey. He gasped for air, slumping sideways.

Ichigo moved, bolting up and ignoring the way that made his head swim. He knew that sensation and dismissed it. A light concussion, but that was all. Yes, he knew he shouldn’t dismiss that, but Kisuke was struggling to breathe. 

“Kisuke,” he said, trying to get the other to wake up. He was looking the other for injuries, but when the other sagged, he focused on making sure the other kept breathing. He was, even if it was in short little gasps, and then Ichigo had called a professional. This was far outside his abilities, and it hurt to think.

Digging his phone out, Ichigo hit a number he rarely touched. 

“Dad,” he said, interrupting Isshin’s boisterous greeting. “Kisuke’s hurt.”

***

A hand in his. 

That was the first awareness that came back to him. Kisuke could feel the fingers laced with his. A familiar hand and he wondered why Ichigo was holding his hand like that. The grip was tight, and he could feel the agitation in the other’s reiatsu. 

He was on his stomach, and he could feel the warmth of kaido against his back. “Stay still,” came a familiar voice, and Kisuke blinked as he realized that Isshin was healing him. Hadn’t seen the other use kaido before, though he knew that Isshin had probably been trained. “You are both idiots.”

Ah, serious Isshin. It must have been quite serious damage. How had Kisuke missed that?

He opened his eyes and glanced up to meet Ichigo’s scowl. Ah, yes. That was how. 

Taking a breath to ask, he was cut off before he could start. “Don’t talk,” came the next order, even as Kisuke opened his mouth to ask how Ichigo was. “Ichigo is fine, other than you giving him a heart attack. I dealt with his concussion already. And now I’m fixing your ribs after I already fixed the punctured lung they gave you.”

He sounded annoyed, and Kisuke wondered just had nasty it had been to drive Isshin so far out of his normal behavior pattern. It usually took quite serious injuries to get that particular tone from him. 

The hand holding his squeezed, and he looked at Ichigo and smiled. He got a weak smiled back, and then Isshin sat back. 

“You need to take it easy it a few days,” he said. “Your reiatsu will finish the healing, and you just need some time to recover.” Isshin sounded annoyed. “Maybe have less explosions around my son.”

“Dad,” Ichigo muttered, rolling his eyes, helping Kisuke sit up. Though he didn’t move away from Kisuke until the older man took a few deeper breaths. Then Kisuke reached up to run his fingers gently though Ichigo’s hair. He didn’t feel the knot on Ichigo’s head anymore and that made him feel better. 

“Ah, Kurosaki-san, you’ve been spending time with Ishida-san,” Kisuke said, carefully as his chest ached. “You sound just like him.”

Isshin huffed at him. Then he stood. “I’m going, as I don’t need to see what Ichigo does next,” he said, sounding cheerful as he ignored Ichigo’s mortified “DAD!” “But I’m sure it’s going to involve looking you over. Seriously, don’t make me come back to help heal you again.”

Kisuke smiled at him. “Kurosaki-san. Get out of our home.”

There was a snort from Isshin, but he did leave, and Ichigo grumbled faintly. He curled forward and rested his head against Kisuke’s shoulder. “Don’t do that to me again,” Ichigo said softly, winding his arms around Kisuke and clung to him. Kisuke was still taking careful breaths, but he did return the hug. 

They could move in a bit. Right now, he just hugged Ichigo close and enjoyed the fact they were both still alive.