Bleach 1. Chapter 1

"Squad 11 5th Seat, Yumichika Ayasegawa, it has been decided that you are currently unfit for duty," Head Captain Yamamoto said darkly. "You will turn in your zanpakuto, which will be returned once you have been deemed fit to return to active duty. Dismissed."

Yumichika stared at the Head Captain. He couldn't be serious? A few scuffles and he was unfit for duty? His eyes drifted towards Captain Unohana, who looked back at him sadly. His own Captain grunted disapprovingly and stormed out of the hall, pissed off that he had lost one of his best fighters. Captain Kuchiki didn't look at him as he strode past, wearing the cold, emotionless expression that he always did. The Captain of Squad 9 bowed his head and lowered his hat further over his eyes. Captain Ukitake patted him lightly on the shoulder. None of the other Captains had been present.

"5th Seat Ayasegawa," Captain Unohana said softly, approaching his slowly. "If I may have a word."

Feeling as though he was unable to speak, he merely nodded and followed her to a corner of the large meeting hall. The room was ridiculously huge, as were most of the buildings in the Squad 1 barracks. The Squad 4 Captain waited until they were alone before speaking.

"I'm sorry," she said. He didn't speak, but instead looked at his feet. "It is not due to your fighting abilities," she continued. "We believe that your current mental state many bring harm to your fellow squad members."

"My mental state?" Yumichika repeated, lifting his head to look at her square in the eyes.

"Yes. I have not told the other Captains, but the abilities of your zanpakuto -," he drew breath sharply. Did she really know? "I have no intention of telling anyone that your zanpakuto is kidō based, Mr Ayasegawa."

"Thank you," he mumbled in reply, looking down again.

Captain Unohana waited a few moments before continuing. "The abilities you possess are quite terrifying, however, the down side is that when you absorb you enemies Spiritual Pressure, you also take a part of them within you. Do you understand?" She took his silence as a 'no' and kept talking. "It means that part of their personality lingers in you for several days. And it bleeds through. When I examined you earlier, I felt and extremely aggravated and volatile Spiritual Pressure – one that wasn't yours."

Yumichika swallowed, remembering the bastard he had used his full release on. The asshole actually thought that he and his friends had a right to repeatedly touch him in very inappropriate places. He had snapped when one of them had grabbed him from behind, groping his crotch while still having the nerve to lick his cheek. He had made sure that he wouldn't remember the event either by giving the man a nasty bump on the head.

"I understand that tensions are still high, even with Aizen having been defeated. Things are only just beginning to return to the way they were and your actions will not do anything to help keep the peace. I hope you understand at least that much."

Still unable to find his voice, Yumichika nodded. A pair of small, soft hands cupped his cheeks, lifting his head so that he was once again looking at the Squad 4 Captain. She smiled slightly, letting her hands fall away.

"Take this opportunity to go on a holiday," she suggested warmly. "Somewhere nice."

"Yes, ma'am," he said meekly.

"And," her smile dropped. "I'm going to need your zanpakuto."

Yumichika swallowed, his hand tightly gripping the lavender hilt of his sword. While he wouldn't hesitate to admit that Ruri'iro Kujaku was a cocky, arrogant asshole most of the time, he warmly welcomed to gentle words he gave him when necessary. Ruri'iro had helped him through some very dark times, and he wasn't happy at the thought of letting him go.

-_Honestly, I'll still be here. I'm part of you, remember?_

-I know.

With a heavy sigh, he drew the sheathed sword out of his white obi and placed it gently into Captain Unohana's waiting hands. She smiled apologetically, patting him on the shoulder lightly before walking out of the hall. Finally alone, Yumichika choked, fighting to hold back tears. It had been almost six months since Aizen's defeat. Everyone had settled back into routine, and they were as close to peace they would ever be.

Some people would definitely regard his actions as over the top, but very few people knew about his past. Captain Unohana knew, that's why she had been sympathetic towards him. The only other person who knew was Ikkaku. Yumichika stopped. Ikkaku. His brow furrowed and he balled his hands into fists. He clenched his teeth and stormed out of the meeting hall, determined to find the bald man.

It took no time at all the complete his quest. The man was standing outside the Squad 1 barracks, leaning casually against the wall. He was picking dirt out of his ear as Yumichika approached, and flicked it away when he saw the dark haired man coming towards him.

"Hey Yumi," he called out waving. "How'd it -," he got cut off when Yumichika slammed his fist into Ikkaku's jaw.

"You asshole!" he yelled, kicking Ikkaku before he could answer. "Why the fuck weren't you there to defend me?"

"Yumi, I -," Ikkaku started, but Yumichika kicked him again, this time in the face.

"Fuck you!" Yumichika spat before sprinting away towards Squad 11.

He had run because he knew he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. He let them run freely down his face, evaporating instantly as he used his flashstep to get away from Ikkaku. When he realised where he was heading he stopped. His barracks were not where he wanted to go in his current state. While he thought about an alternative place to go, he didn't notice the person behind him until he spoke.

"Hey, Yumichika," said Shuhei loudly. Yumichika froze. "How did it go?"

Yumichika turned slightly and Shuhei saw his face. Before he could speak, Yumichika used his flashstep to vanish again. Shuhei sighed, scratching his cheek awkwardly.

"That bad, huh?"

God, that was embarrassing. It wasn't like he particularly liked Shuhei, but it was his policy to look good at all times. And no one looked good when they cried. Not even him, although he was close. In an effort to avoid possibly coming across anyone else, he dashed out of the Seireitei and kept running until he was deep in a forest past the Rukongai.

He stopped, leaning against a large rock while he caught his breath and brought his Spiritual Pressure back to a controllable level. He was just regaining his composure when there was a loud crash and two large Hollows appeared behind him. Instinctively, Yumichika reached for his zanpakuto, but only grasped at empty air.

"No zanpakuto eh?" one of the Hollows said in a grunting, brutish voice.

"Easy kill," said the second one stupidly.

Yumichika sneered. Neither creature was remotely beautiful, and he had no desire to look at them for any longer than necessary. As the two beasts approached him, he smiled in the most elegant way he could manage. "I am _not_ an easy kill," he said, raising his hand to point at the closer of the two Hollows.

"Hadō 4: Byakurai!" he cried. Blue lightning sparked and flew in a deadly concentrated line from his outstretched finger. It hit the Hollow square in the face, shattering its mask. The monster howled and disintegrated.

The second Hollow immediately turned tail and ran, but Yumichika flattened his hand, so that his palm was facing the retreating beast. "Hadō 73: Sōren Sōkatsui." A mass of blue fire crashed into the Hollow, engulfing it and killing it instantly.

Yumichika scoffed. They had been no challenge to him whatsoever, even without his zanpakuto. This only served to prove that he was still very talented at kidō, even though he never used it. He brushed a stray hair away from his face and was about to turn back when he felt an immense Spiritual Pressure fill the air. He looked over his shoulder and saw a large rip in the sky, and it was growing rapidly.

"A Menos?" he breathed. There was no way that he had released enough Spiritual Pressure to attract a Menos Grande. Nor was his kidō powerful enough to take one down unassisted.

Just as a giant foot thudded into the ground, Yumichika was gone, running as fast as he could. If anyone from Squad 11 saw him now, he would have been a laughing stock. Not that he particularly cared at the moment. When he heard a familiar whistling, rushing sound, he went cold. He spun around and saw a cero forming in its open mouth.

"Damn it!" he spat, picking up his speed and running further into the forest. Moments later, the Menos released the cero. Yumichika ducked behind a wide tree, but the range of the attack was huge. The cero caught the left sleeve of his shihakshou, burning through it and scolding his arm.

Swearing, he tore the smouldering fabric away and started running again. The ground shook beneath him as the giant Hollow took a step forward. Why the hell was it following him? There was no way his Spiritual Pressure was high enough to attract a Menos in the first place, so why was it even here? Glancing over his shoulder, he saw another cero forming.

"Shit!" His arm, although relatively uninjured, stung when he moved it, and he would prefer to avoid pain if at all possible. If he was hit by the second cero, he would be killed. Still considering his options, Yumichika's thoughts were interrupted when a wave of what looked like pink petals swooped up and over the Menos, cutting it to pieces. Moments later, he was hit with a surge of Spiritual Pressure, strong enough to force him to his knees, panting.

"5th Seat Ayasegawa, what are you doing on my property?" said a monotone voice above him.

Yumichika looked up, seeing Captain Kuchiki standing above him, glowering. He hadn't even noticed that man approach. He unsteadily got to his feet and bowed slowly before he spoke to the man.

"Forgive me, Captain Kuchiki. I didn't know you owned land out here," he said coolly.

A moment of silence, then. "I should also apologise. I am what attracted the Menos and it would appear that you got injured due to my negligence," he said indicating the ruined shihakshou.

"That you, Captain Kuchiki," Yumichika said, bowing again.

Byakuya frowned. He took a step forward and looked down at Yumichika's bare arm. "This however, is not from the Menos," he said, pointing. Following his gaze, he went cold when he realised that Captain Kuchiki was talking about the dark bruise on his bicep.

"That is-," he started hurriedly, but was abruptly silenced when the Captain wrapped his hand around the bruise. He drew breath sharply, the sudden contact shocking him.

"A bruise from being grabbed roughly," Captain Kuchiki finished for him. "Who did this?" he asked coldly. Yumichika looked at his feet. Annoyed, Byakuya tightened his grip on the injury. "Who. Did. This?" he repeated menacingly.

"C-captain Zaraki," Yumichika whispered. There was a pause, then Byakuya slowly released him.

"What happened?"

When Yumichika didn't answer, he grabbed his shoulders roughly. Yumichika yelped in surprise, answered and said in a small voice. "Sometimes, when the Captain gets drunk, he also gets violent and wants..." he trailed off, but Byakuya had understood where he was going.

"Has he ever raped you?" he asked, no emotion in his voice. Shaking, Yumichika nodded. "How many times?" no reply. "How many times?" he repeated, raising his voice.

"L-lots. I...I don't keep count anymore," Yumichika's voice was barely more than a whisper.

Byakuya frowned, showing emotion that rarely crossed his features. He knew that Zaraki was a brute with primal, animalistic instincts, but he had never thought that he would go as far as raping one of his subordinates. And a male one at that. He glanced at the man shaking in his hands. While he wouldn't deny that Ayasegawa had very feminine features, he wouldn't mistake him for a woman, even in a drunken state.

His thoughts drifted to the rumours that he had heard about the man's history in the Rukongai. If they were indeed true, it would explain why he was so nervous when answering Byakuya's questions.

In an effort to be sympathetic, he gently patted the side of Yumichika's head. Although the action was awkward, it had the desired effect. Yumichika stopped shaking. However, now he looked to be on the verge of tears. Surpassing a sigh, Byakuya pushed gently on the man's shoulder, indicating that he should follow.

"I do not think that it would be wise for you to return to your barracks tonight," he said. "I will have a room prepared for you at my home."

Relief washed through Yumichika like warmth. He had been dreading his return to the Squad 11 barracks. The news of him being removed from his position, even temporarily, would surely be reason for the other members of the squad to ridicule him for something other than his looks.

He mumbled a thank you then silently followed the stoic Captain back to the Seireitei. They walked through the wide streets without coming across anyone and it wasn't long before they arrived at his estate. Yumichika let his head hang shamefully he whole time.

The two men walked silently through the empty house. After several minutes, they passed Rukia in a hallway. She opened her mouth in surprise when she saw the ashamed 5th Seat following her brother, but she was silenced with a look. She simply stared at them as Byakuya lead him around a corner.

The Squad 6 Captain showed him to a large guest room that opened onto the estate's vast garden. For a guest room, it was quite exquisite, and larger than his quarters at the barracks. The wall at the back of the room was covered in a beautiful painting on peacocks and blooming cherry blossom trees. The bathroom was large, the bath itself being big enough to easily accommodate four people.

"I will have someone come by soon with a change of clothes and a new uniform," Byakyua said from the door. "They will see to your injury. I will also put in a request for permission for you to go the World of the Living."

"The World of the Living?" Yumichika repeated, slightly confused.

"Think of it as a holiday," the Captain said smoothly before exiting the room.

Yumichika stared at where he had been standing for a few moments before glancing around the room again nervously. It was just beginning to sink in that he was in Byakuya Kuchiki's house – Lord Byakuya Kuchiki. He felt increasingly nervous as he stripped out of his dishevelled shihakshou and folded it neatly in a corner, setting aside with his orange collar and sleeve.

In a hope to find something to wear while he waited, he wandered into the bathroom. As he passed by the large floor-to-ceiling mirror, he caught sight of his reflection. Usually, he only looked at his face in his small hand-held mirror. Seeing his full body brought a cold realisation.

There were dark, purplish bruises scattered all over his upper body, seemingly more concentrated around his hips and shoulders. There were hand-shaped bruises around his biceps where he had been gripped by strong, powerful hands.

He shivered and looked away, drawing his thoughts back to what he was looking for. He found a deep crimson yukata folded on a shelf behind the door and carefully draped it around his shoulders. He pulled it tightly across his chest, making sure that none of the bruises were visible before tying it.

Yumichika went back to the mirror and carefully pulled the coloured feathers he wore off his face. He placed them beside the sink before turning the tap and allowing the water to warm up. After a few moments, he bent over and splashed the warm water over his face, washing the dirt and sweat away. He would bathe properly when he had a change of clothes.

Wandering back into the bedroom, he decided to sit on the shaded veranda and look out at the garden, he sat down and sighed, thinking about what Captain Kuchiki had said to him. A holiday in the World of the Living. Captain Unohana had also suggested that he take this as an opportunity to take a holiday. He smiled slightly to himself. What a novel idea.


	2. Chapter 2

Ichigo wasn't paying much attention to what his math teacher was saying. He had done all this last year – he didn't feel that it was necessary to do it again. The boy sitting in front of him turned and glared sharply at him when he strummed his knuckles loudly on the desk. Ichigo flipped him the bird and lent back in his chair, propping his feet up on the desk.

Just as thing were starting to settle down again, a chair scrapped loudly on the floor and Uryu dashed out of the room, saying something about going to the nurse. Orihime and Chad watched him go, leaning forward in their chairs slightly, prepared to run off themselves if need be. Knowing the situation, Ichigo returned his attention to what the teacher was saying. He soon lost interest again, and let his mind wander to Uryu.

Ever since he had lost his powers, Uryu, Chad and Orihime had taken over the killing of Hollows in Karakura. He sighed. Not once had he actually felt that he needed his powers again. He knew that the three of them were perfectly capable of defeating Hollows without him. There was no need for him to worry.

Glancing out of the window, his attention was almost instantly caught by someone walking into the school grounds. Although, they weren't walking so much as skipping. Ichigo put his feet back on the floor and moved a bit closer to the window, staring in confusion at the strangely familiar man.

It wasn't until the man lifted his head and looked up at the windows that Ichigo saw a very recognisable feature. His eyes widened in surprise. What was he doing here? He glanced at the clock above the door. Only ten minutes til break.

He could wait that long.

The minutes seemed to drag by at an agonisingly slow pace. Growing steadily more impatient, he tapped his pen on his desk, earning himself another dark look from the boy in front of him. He ignored it and continued tapping.

The second the bell rang he stuffed his books into his bag and dashed out of the classroom. He bounded down the stairs, getting several weird looks from the people he passed. Once he was outside, he looked around, trying to find his target.

"Ichigo!" said a cheerful voice from behind him.

He turned and saw Yumichika waving at him, a large, glowing smile plastered on his face. Ichigo was surprised to see that the man was wearing a uniform akin to his, but with a few personal additions.

"Are you wearing a gigai?" Ichigo asked, still staring at the man.

Yumichika opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted when Chad and Orihime appeared beside him.

"Mr Ayasegawa?" Orihime asked tentatively.

"Hello Orihime!" Yumichika exclaimed, beaming. She giggled slightly. "And Chad!" Chad merely grinned in reply.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My question exactly," Uryu asked as he appeared on scene.

"Hey Uryu!" Orihime said overenthusiastically. "Did you finish already?"

"Yes I did," Uryu replied promptly, pushing his glasses up his nose. Ichigo wondered, not for the first time, why he didn't just get ones that fit properly. "Although that Soul Reaper, Kurumadani, or whatever, didn't seem pleased about it."

"What are you doing here Yumichika?" Ichigo repeated, but was instead given another annoying distraction.

"You!" came a shout from the doorway. They all looked over to discover that the source of the yell was Keigo. He was pointing a shaky finger at Yumichika, a terrified look on his face. Mizuiro was standing behind him, shaking his head. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I keep asking," Ichigo growled under his breath.

Yumichika flicked his air out of his face and looked away from Keigo. "How rude," he huffed. "I don't know if I should grace that with an answer."

"What about your friend? The scary one that's always with you?" Keigo asked, ignoring what had just been said to him.

"Enough!" Ichigo said, loud enough to make everyone go quiet. "First, we should move out of the doorway. Then, you will explain to me what the hell's going on." He said, directing the last words at Yumichika.

He swung his bag over his shoulder and stomped off towards to grass near the gate, shoving his empty hand into his pocket. Smiling, Yumichika skipped off after him and the others trailed behind. Ichigo dropped to the ground beside a tree which he lent against while he waited for the others. Yumichika sat down next to him and the others formed a circle around them.

"Now," Ichigo said, glancing around warily for any more possible interruptions before asking his question a third time. "Yumichika. What are you doing here?"

"I'm on holiday," the man replied cheerfully. "Alone," he added when he saw Keigo's frightened look.

"Okay, that's fine. Next question. Why are you having a holiday here?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh, you know," Yumichika said, standing and stretching. "I've travelled all over the Soul Society. There's stuff here that they don't have over there."

"Yeah, but why Karakura?"

"So that you can show me around, obviously," Yumichika said, matter-of-factly.

Ichigo scowled, more so than usual. "And what makes you think I'll do that?"

Yumichika was about to reply but was interrupted by a brunette menace who seemingly materialised behind Orihime. There was an evil glint behind the red-rimmed glassed and the person was about to pounce when a foot slammed into her face. Chizuru went flying, blood pouring from her nose.

"Stop bothering Orihime!" Tatsuki growled.

Chizuru stumbled back to the group, clutching her face while blood dripped steadily through her fingers. "Punctual as always," she said darkly in reply.

"What is that?" Yumichika asked apprehensively, cringing away from the bleeding girl.

She looked up at him and the grazed glint reappeared. "Why hello my lovely, I didn't see you there," she said before she pounced. Literally. She leapt across the circle so quickly that no one saw her move.

Yumichika however, managed to plant a foot in her face before she could reach him. Chizuru crumpled, bleeding even more than before. Quite disgusted, Yumichika wiped his shoe on the grass before Tatsuki answered his question.

"That is Chizuru. She tends to attack some of the girls in our class at random," she said, sitting on the grass next to Orihime. "I don't know why she attacked you though."

"Isn't it obvious?" Chizuru said, somehow managing to get on all fours. "She is a very fine specimen indeed."

"I'm quite repulsed," Yumichika said, gingerly stepping away from the bleeding girl.

Ichigo sighed and pulled himself to his feet and stood next to Yumichika. "Sorry to disappoint Chizuru, but Yumichika is a man. So back off, okay?"

Chizuru slumped, looking Yumichika up and down. It seemed that she was just noticing that he was, in fact, wearing a boys' uniform and had no breasts. She howled, sobbing into the grass.

Suppressing a groan. Ichigo grabbed the front of Yumichika's uniform and dragged him away from the group. He didn't say anything until they were far away from his friends. He did a quick check to see if anyone was nearby before turning back to the dark haired man, staring him down angrily.

"Okay, so you're here on holiday, without Ikkaku, and you plan on doing what, exactly?" he asked, scowling.

Yumichika shrugged and smiled sweetly. "I haven't decided yet. I had hoped that you would help me with that."

"And you plan on staying at Keigo's house again, right?"

"No. Not a chance," he replied, shuddering. "The only reason I stayed there last time was because his sister liked Ikkaku, or at least his shaved head," she said, making air quotation with his fingers.

Ichigo laughed lightly. "Okay, I get that. Mizuho is a bit out there and Keigo is...well he's just Keigo. But that still doesn't tell me where you're staying."

There was a moment of silence, the Yumichika took a step towards him, a creepy, seductive smile on his face. Ichigo shied away, knowing full well what the intention behind the smile was.

"No way! You are not staying at my place!"

"Why not?"

"Because you're kinda creepy."

"What?"

"You know..." Ichigo struggled to find the right words as Yumichika loomed down on him. "You...well...you manipulate people."

"Such an ugly word," Yumichika muttered, stepping away. "Very well then, I will go and see if Kisuke will let me stay with him."

Ichigo tensed. "Mr Han-and-Clogs?"

Yumichika nodded solemnly. "Yes. He's the only other person I can think of."

"What about Chad?"

"Too quiet."

"Uryu?"

"Too uptight."

"Orihime?"

"That would be inappropriate. She is underage, and I am a grown man."

Ichigo sighed loudly. "Mizuiro?"

"I hardly know him."

Sighing again, Ichigo decided to give in. He didn't particularly want to man in his house, but he didn't trust Kisuke. Let's face it – the ex-captain was a weirdo.

"Fine, you can stay at my place, but -," he was roughly cut off when Yumichika jumped on top of him, hugging him with bone crushing strength.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you1" he exclaimed, completely oblivious to the fact that he was on the verge of squeezing Ichigo to death. It wasn't until he began to go limp that the dark haired man realized and let him go. "Sorry," he said quickly.

Coughing, Ichigo glared at him. "But," he said continuing from what he had been staying earlier. "Only if my dad and sisters are okay with it. If not, you find somewhere else."

Unable to hide his utter delight, Yumichika squealed and nodded, a dazzling smile on his face. Pleased, he skipped back to the others, ignoring the looks that his display granted him. Sighing, Ichigo followed, his hands in his pockets, but not really angry.

"Manipulative bastard," he laughed under his breath.

Yumichika hung around the school grounds for the rest of the day, somehow managing to avoid teachers and the P.E. classes. He joined Ichigo and his friends again at lunch and, because he didn't have any food of his own, consistently stole pieces of Ichigo's. Orihime offered him some of hers, but he politely refused on Tatsuki's advice.

"When the bell rang to signal the end of the day, he was waiting outside his classroom. When Ichigo crossed the threshold he grabbed his arm and proceeded to swing off it as they walked out of the building, earning several sideways glances in their direction.

They didn't speak as they walked to Ichigo's house. The younger of the two managed to shake Yumichika off as they approached his house, and he stopped before they went inside.

"Just so you know, my dad's a psycho," he said and apprehensively opened the door.

"Ichigo" My beautiful son you've returned!"

Scowling, Ichigo stepped in front of Yumichika just in time to avoid the man trying to tackle him to the ground. As the man leapt to his feet, Ichigo slammed his elbow into the man's chin, sending his stumbling backwards.

"Dad, come on! Can't you see that I've got a friend with me?" Ichigo growled, indicating Yumichika who looked slightly shocked at the scene in front of him.

Isshin raised an eyebrow, staring at Yumichika.

"You're a Soul Reaper," he said bluntly.

"Dad can he stay here for a while?"

"I'm on holiday," Yumichika added.

Isshin thought for a moment. "Only if Yuzu and Karin are okay with having a strange man staying under the roof."

"I'm not a strange man!" Yumichika huffed.

"What did you want old man?" Karin said, appearing behind them, still in her middle school uniform.

"Hey Karin. You okay with having this guy crash at our place for a while?" Ichigo asked, pointing back at Yumichika.

The dark haired girl crossed her arms over her chest, looking the stranger up and down. After a few moments of silence, she shrugged. "I have no problem with it."

"Cool. Now let's find Yuzu," Ichigo said, kicking off his shoes and walking into the house. Yumichika put his own shoes neatly on the threshold and followed him inside.

They walked into the kitchen and Ichigo pulled his lunch box out of his bag. A girl with light brown hair appeared, smiling brightly as he put the empty box in the sink.

"Hey Ichigo. How was your lunch?" she asked happily.

"It was great Yuzu," he replied. "This guy thought so too," he jerked his head towards Yumichika. "Are you okay if he stays here for a while?"

Yuzu's face lit up when she looked at the disguised Soul Reaper. "Sure it's okay! I never mind cooking for another!"

"Thanks. See you at dinner," Ichigo said, before leaving the room and dragging the elated black haired man up the stairs. On the way up Isshin tried to attack his son again but was instead kicked back down the stairs.

Once they were in Ichigo's room, with the door closed behind them, Yumichika spoke. "I am very grateful you know."

"Yeah, I just hope my insane family doesn't end up killing you."


	3. Chapter 3

"Oww," Ikkaku growled, rubbing his jaw. It might not look like it, but Yumichika could punch harder than most people. And he had punched Ikkaku hard. And kicked him. Twice.

Grumbling angrily to himself, he got to his feet and stormed off in the direction of his barracks. His partner had been headed in that direction, so it was more than likely that he would find him there.

While he walked, he thought about what Yumichika had said. What had he meant by not being there to defend him? He shouldn't need defending. He was the 5th Seat in Squad 11 and from experience, Ikkaku knew that he was more than capable of defending himself. Although...

The 3rd Seat stopped. Did this situation have something to do his growing up in the Rukongai? He hadn't been told much, but he got the general idea of what he had gone through before they had become friends. Even after they had been together for years, the dark haired man seemed to shy away from any sexual contact. If that guy he attacked had done anything of that nature...then it was no wonder he had lashed out.

Sighing, he continued walking. He would talk to Yumichika when he got back to the barracks. That would work. They would talk it out and make up like they always did. If that didn't work, he'd just buy something that Yumichika wanted and they'd be friends again.

At least that was his plan.

When he got back to his barracks, he found his Captain sitting in his office, anger clear on his face. His zanpakuto was unsheathed and he had it resting on the desk in front of him. His brow was set in a heavy scowl and his teeth were bared, clenched tightly together.

"Captain? What's wrong?" Ikkaku asked warily, prepared to use his flashstep if an escape was necessary.

"Yumichika's been ordered off duty," Kenpachi growled.

Ikkaku stiffened. "What?"

"Don't act like you're deaf! He's been stripped of rank and they took his zanpakuto away until they see fit to give it back," the captain's Spiritual Pressure rose dangerously and Ikkaku took half a step back.

"Do you know why?" he asked slowly.

His captain paused for several seconds before answering. "He attacked a low ranking officer. Apparently, he's not in the right mental state or something. Could be dangerous for others so they demoted him."

"Damn," Ikkaku muttered. "I'm going to talk to him," he said, moving to leave the office.

"Don't bother," said Kenpachi, standing and moving to a window on the other side of the room. "He's not here."

Ikkaku spun around, staring at his captain. "What? But I saw him coming this way."

"Well he must have gone somewhere else."

"Thanks Captain," he hissed before marching out of the room, determined to find Yumichika.

Zaraki watched him leave. After a few moments, he looked back out the window and saw the bald man crossing the courtyard below, making his way out of the barracks. Bored, he turned away, sheathing his sword as he went back to his desk.

As he went to sit down, he saw a speck of red on the corner of the hard wood desk. He leaned in to see what it was, registering almost instantly that it was blood. He sneered and shifted some papers to cover it up, pushing the thoughts that came with it out of his mind as well.

They were insignificant.

From what Ikkaku had discovered in his last four hours of searching, Yumichika was not within the confines of the Seireitei walls. That must mean that he was somewhere in the Rukongai. That would make his search all the more difficult.

He sighed and scratched the back of his head. It was getting late, and although he wanted to keep looking for his friend, it would be hard to find him after night fell. Still contemplating his options, he suddenly felt a slight spike in Yumichika's Spiritual Pressure.

His head snapped the direction that the spike was coming from and started running towards it. The last time he had felt a spike like that, Yumichika was being held down at knife point. Moments after he felt the rise of Spiritual Pressure however, it went back to a normal level and he could instead feel the Spiritual Pressure of Captain Kuchiki.

He slowed to a walk and eventually stopped. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the two Spiritual Pressures. After a while, he could feel the two men moving together towards the Kuchiki estate. Frowning, he followed at a distance, wondering why they were together. When the estate was in sight, he stopped and saw the two dark haired individuals walk through the guarded gates.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

Knowing that there was no way that he would be able to enter the estate grounds, he slowly began to walk back to his barracks, contemplating what he had just seen. It was completely possible that Captain Kuchiki thought it would be best if Yumichika didn't go back to Squad 11. Ikkaku did think that was wise. If the others found out that he had been demoted, then they would ridicule him.

But why the Squad 6 Captain? Was something else going on that he didn't know about? Everyone knew hat Captain Kuchiki was a cold, emotionless person. Why would he show sympathy for someone who wasn't even in his squad?

Those questions and ones similar to them plagued his thoughts until late into the night, keeping sleep at bay until well past midnight.

The next morning, Ikkaku went straight to the Kuchiki estate, hoping to catch Yumichika as he left. He paced back and forth near the gate for close to an hour before he felt the distinct pressure of a Senkaimon opening.

"No way," he growled, running towards the gate, only to be barred by two of the Estate guards. "Get off me!" he yelled, pushing past them as he felt Yumichika's Spiritual Pressure close to the Senkaimon.

His efforts were wasted. Seconds later he felt his friend's Spiritual Pressure vanish and the Senkaimon close. He stepped back from the guards, a stunned expression on his face. Yumichika had left. He was gone and he hadn't said anything to anyone about it.

Why would he do that? Why would he run away? Sure things might be bad a first, but it was only temporary. He would get his rank back eventually, and then everything would go back to normal. He would be the 5th Seat of Squad 11 again and everything would be fine.

One of the guards approached him, weapon raised, prepared to move him away from the gate. Ikkau growled at him and kicked him in the shin. Another man approached him. Cracking his neck, he lowered himself into a fighting stance, but before anything fun could happen, there was a heavy Spiritual Pressure and everyone turned to see Byakuya Kuchiki striding towards him, an emotionless expression on his face.

"3rd Seat Madarame, why are you causing a commotion on my property?" he said coolly.

Ikkaku stood and bowed slightly to the distinguished captain. "I was looking for Yumichika Captain Kuchiki. I felt his Spiritual Pressure here and came to investigate."

Byakuya looked him up and down before answering. "He is no longer here. He departed to the World of the Living earlier this morning."

"But sir, my Captain did not give him authorisation to-."

"I have organised everything. There will be no problem."

"But-."

"Please return to your Squad, and leave my property, 3rd Seat Madarame. I have business to attend to," Captain Kuchiki said striding purposefully past Ikkaku without looking at him.

Ikkaku stood motionless where he was for a while after the captain had gone. He was still trying to wrap his head around what he had just been told. Yumichika was in the World of the Living. Captain Kuchiki had organised it for him. Why? Why? Why? Why?

Turning to the nearest wall, he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into the stone, cracking it and causing several chunks to crumble and hit the ground. Muttering curses to himself, he stormed off, hitting and kicking things on his way.

As he approached his barracks, he came to an abrupt halt. Did his Captain know? If he didn't...Ikkaku didn't want to be the one to tell him. He would be liable to a trip to Squad 4 if that happened. But if he already knew...he would end up at Squad 4 regardless. His Captain would want to vent his anger on something.

Taking a deep breath he continued towards his barracks. Maybe he could just avoid his Captain for the time being. That could work. Maybe. Unlikely. He stopped again. There was no way he could avoid his Captain.

Groaning he started pacing again. What to do. Maybe he could follow Yumichika's example and run away. But Captain Kuchiki said he had authorised that for him. He could hide in the Rukongai. But his Captain knew the streets better than he did.

"I'll just have to face him and hope that he doesn't kill me," he growled, apprehensively walking towards his captain's office.

He paused when he reached the closed door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked twice and waited. There was no reply. Thinking that maybe the captain had fallen asleep at his desk, Ikkaku eased the door open and peered into the room.

It was empty.

Letting out the breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, he shut the door and turned to head towards the training grounds. He passed a few low ranking officers who all bowed and greeted him. Ikkaku muttered replies and walked past without glancing at them. He wasn't in the mood for wishing people good morning.

As he had suspected, Captain Zaraki was found in one of the spacious training halls, pounding the new recruits into the ground with a manic grin on his face. It would seem that he was not aware of Yumichika's departure.

Swallowing, Ikkaku headed over to him. Zaraki noticed him and if possible his grin widened. Resting his sword on his shoulder he stepped over the thoroughly beaten rookies and walked towards him. The feeling of foreboding in the back of Ikkaku's mind increased tenfold.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Want a spar?" the big man, towering over the 3rd Seat.

"Uhh...actually I'm not Captain. It's about Yumichika," he said, looking at the ground at his feet.

The grin on Zaraki's face faltered. "What is it?"

"He's...well...he's in the World of the Living," he said quickly.

Ikkaku instantly felt the heavy weight of the Squad 11 Captain's Spiritual Pressure crash into him, knocking the air out of his lungs. Panting, he cautioned a look at Zaraki's face and was completely unsurprised by the cold glare that could freeze hell.

"I didn't give him permission to go to the World of the Living," Zaraki growled. "How did he get clearance?"

"Captain Kuchiki apparently organised everything for him, sir," Ikkaku said loudly.

"Tch. Noble bastard. He's got no fukcin' right doing stuff for my subordinates," the Captain hissed. "I'm gonna have a word with him."

With that, Zaraki stormed out of the hall, brandishing his unsheathed sword dangerously. Ikkaku watched him storm off, clenching his fists nervously. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell his captain.

Byakuya Kuchiki was unsurprised when he felt the Squad 11 Captain's Spiritual Pressure fast approaching his office. He easily maintained his passive, emotionless expression when his office door was slammed open with enough force that it hit the wall and bounced back.

Zaraki stomped towards his desk and slammed a fist onto the polished surface. Byakuya lifted his pen off the page he was writing on so that it didn't smudge, but didn't take his attention away from his paperwork.

"What are you doing giving permission for my men to go to the World of the Living?" Zaraki snarled.

"You are completely aware that he has been stripped of rank, correct?" Byakuya asked coolly.

"'Course I fuckin' know! I was there!"

"Then you should also be aware that it is within my power as a Captain to order unseated officers that aren't in my squad. Captain Unohana also put in a request for leave," the Squad 6 Captain looked up from his papers and stared calmly into Zaraki's burning eyes.

"I don't care. It should have gone through me first," he growled.

Byakuya stood and walked slowly towards the open door. "I don't think that Mr Ayasegawa would have wanted to be in your presence yesterday. I also didn't feel that he would be completely safe in your company. I cannot begin to imagine how you would treat him."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Zaraki turned to face him, a deathly glare on his face.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes and allowed a small hint of anger bleed into his voice. "Do not pretend as though you are unaware of what you have done to him. There is no way you can be completely oblivious. Now," Byakuya regained his composure and closed his eyes. "Please leave my office. I have paperwork to do."

Fuming, Zaraki stormed out of the office in a manner similar to the one he had used when he came in. Once he was gone, Byakuya sighed and went back to his desk. He had definitely done the right thing. Ayasegawa might not have been in his squad, but that didn't mean that he wanted to see the man raped and beaten by a brute of a Captain.

He picked up his pen, but didn't start writing. Instead, he looked out of the window behind him. It had been lucky that Captain Unohana had requested leave for the 5th Seat. If she hadn't, things wouldn't have gone down as well as they had.


	4. Chapter 4

Somehow in the week since he had arrived in Karakura Town, Yumichika had been enrolled in the High School and was now in all the same classes as Ichigo, much to the teen's annoyance. He strongly suspected that the pervy, hat wearing shop owner had something to do with that.

Yumichika had completely redecorated his uniform with his own accessories, and somehow he managed to get away with it. It was also surprising that he was completing the class work with ease – Ichigo didn't think that he would have been educated in the classes that he took.

Everything was slowly becoming the norm – although other students still cast the disguised Soul Reaper strange looks because if the feathers he refused to take off his face.

Yuzu was more than happy to make lunch for another, and had recently discovered that he was the one to go to for fashion advice. After discovering that he was by no means a push over, Karin got along with him too, though she didn't make it obvious. Isshin still acted like himself around the house guest, randomly attacking his son and wailing to the poster of Masaki when Ichigo beat him up.

None of this bothered Ichigo. The only thing that annoyed him was that Yumichika had taken up most of the floor space in his room with a futon. There had been several incidents where Ichigo had fallen over the man in the middle of the night on his way to the bathroom.

"So why did you transfer this late in the semester?" asked Chizuru, taking a sip from her juice box. It was lunchtime on Friday, and everyone was looking forward to the weekend.

"Family stuff," Yumichika replied matter-of-factly. The tone in his voice told everyone in the group not to bring it up again.

"Oh…sorry," Chizuru said meekly. She still refused to believe that he was a man, and was constantly asking questions to see if he let anything slip.

"Yeah, there's only one week after this one until summer break," said Mizuiro.

"Summer break!" Keigo cheered, punching the air. Everyone looked at him. "We're all going to hang out this year because we didn't get the chance last year! Right guys?"

No one answered him.

"Well, I'm going to Hokkaido for three weeks," said Uryu without looking up from the book he was reading.

"I'm visiting my aunt," said Orihime.

"I'm working," said Chad.

"I'm going to California," said Mizuiro.

"I'm showing this guy around," Ichigo said, jerking a thumb towards Yumichika.

"I'm being shown around," Yumichika said happily.

Everyone else in the group voiced their plans for the summer, none of which involved hanging out with Keigo. The brunette's bottom lip wavered and he started wailing nonsense about everyone hating him and why no one wanted to hang out with him. After about thirty seconds no one was listening anymore.

Yumichika turned to Ichigo, who was absently watching the scene Keigo was making unfold. "So what are you going to show me?"

The teen shrugged. "I don't know. Stuff. Karakura isn't that big, so I guess it won't take very long."

Pouting, Yumichika crossed his arms and looked away. "You're not supposed to say stuff like that. You're supposed to tell me that we'll have fun and see lots of stuff," he grumbled.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and sighed. "We're gonna have fun and see lots of stuff together," he repeated monotonously.

"Idiot," the older man hissed.

"What was that?" Ichigo growled.

"I called you an idiot," Yumichika said loudly, looking at him angrily. "Don't just repeat what I say!"

Ichigo stuck his tongue out and returned to his sandwich. Still annoyed, Yumichika leaned over him and attempted to steal the other half of Ichigo's lunch. The teen saw him and smacked his hand away.

"You have your own," he said through a mouthful of food.

"But yours is better," Yumichika whined.

"Well you can't have it."

"Meany."

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

Throwing insults at one another seemed to have become a common thing between the two. There was no malice behind the words – all they were doing was saying words to each other. They stopped after a few minutes and sat in silence until a thought popped into Yumichika's head.

"Hey Ichigo, what are you doing after school today?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"I need clothes."

Ichigo blinked and stared at him. "What?"

"I have a school uniform and pyjamas. You can't possibly think that's all I'm going to wear during summer break."

"What's wrong with that?"

Yumichika sighed. "You really are an idiot, aren't you? I need something else to wear, not to mention the pillow you gave me sucks."

"Hey there's nothing wrong with that pillow!"

"Then why don't we swap?"

Ichigo scowled at him. "Fine, I'll take you shopping, but-," he was cut off when the dark haired man squealed with delight. "But," he repeated, making the other man stop, "you'd better be paying for this yourself!"

Scoffing, Yumichika waved him off. "I wouldn't dream of using your money. I have plenty of my own, so don't fuss about it."

"Tch. Whatever," Ichigo mumbled, returning his attention to his food.

Yumichika had apparently never seen a mall before. As soon as they walked through the sliding glass doors, his eyes lit up. He instantly started babbling about wanting to visit every shop in the place, but the teen was having none of that. Before the man could run off, Ichigo grabbed the front of his uniform and dragged him in the direction of the place he bought his clothes from.

Although the clothes in this shop were fairly cheap, they were of a very good quality and varied in styles and colours. At first, Yumichika had seemed apprehensive, but then he spotted a pale blue shirt with a demonic style angel on the front.

And once he found that item, he found more and more things that took his fancy until Ichigo was almost buried under a pile of clothes he wanted to try on. He only stopped looking when Ichigo barked at him, saying that there were other places they had to go before the mall shut.

None the less, they didn't leave the shop for another half hour as Yumichika tried on every piece of clothing and paraded in front of Ichigo, asking for his opinion. Not that it mattered in the slightest as he ended up buying every single item he had selected.

"Do you really need this much stuff?" Ichigo groaned, carrying four of the seven bags full of clothes.

"Of course I do," Yumichika said. "There's enough there to last me six months."

"Are you seriously going to be at my house for six months?"

All he got was a shrug. "I don't know."

Ichigo looked over at him, and saw to his surprise that Yumichika looked quite sad with those words. The expression lasted only moments because then they passed a fast food restaurant, and his expression lit up again.

"Can we eat in there?" he asked excitedly.

"I guess so, but then we need to finish buying your things," Ichigo said.

"Yay!"

Yumichika went to find a table to dump his bags at while Ichigo pulled his wallet out of his pocket and ordered their food. Not knowing what the Soul Reaper would want, he got some of everything.

"I'll have to make sure he pays me back half," he muttered darkly when he saw the cost.

As he waited for the food, he took out his phone and texted Yuzu, informing her that they wouldn't need dinner tonight. She replied moments after he had sent the message, telling him that it was okay, but that he shouldn't eat out with his friends to often.

A smile tugged at his lips and he put his phone away. Trust Yuzu to tell him something like that. After a few minutes, his order was called and he collected the heaped tray and carried it over to where Yumichika was sitting.

He slid the tray onto the table and dropped into the seat opposite. Yumichika's eyes widened when he saw how much food Ichigo had bought.

"I didn't know what you wanted," Ichigo said, grabbing his soda and a pack of fries. "So I got some of everything."

Yumichika blinked and smiled happily at him. "Thanks," he said, taking the other pack of fries. "Normally people aren't that considerate."

"You think so? Oh, I got you lemonade, since I know you like it," he added when he reached for his drink.

"You're really spoiling me," Yumichika said, a jokingly seductive tone in his voice.

"If you say so."

They ate almost in silence, Yumichika breaking it every now and then to ask about what he was eating. Surprisingly, they managed to finish all the food Ichigo had bought. They sat at their table for a while after they'd finished, not speaking, just letting their food settle before Ichigo sighed and got to his feet.

"Come on, we'd better get to those other shops," he said, picking up several bags and starting to walk away.

"Right," Yumichika grabbed the rest of the bags and followed.

Ichigo led him to a surf shop, and told him firmly that he was only allowed to buy one item of clothing and two pairs of shoes before going inside. They went over to a large rack that had dozens of styles of board shorts in various colours and patterns.

Yumichika pouted. He really wanted to buy more than one pair, but did as the teen asked, choosing a pair that were coloured with fluorescent stripes and had a black paint-splodge pattern on one of the legs.

Choosing shoes was a much simpler task. He picked a pair of black flip flops and black and white high tops. He also put a pair of red, square rimmed sunglasses on the counter when Ichigo wasn't looking.

The last place they went to was a home ware store. "So you can get a new pillow," Ichigo muttered when he saw Yumichika's confused look.

Roughly ten minutes later they walked out of the mall, carrying at least a dozen bags of stuff. The air outside was hot and dry compared to the cool air conditioned mall, and the sun was still fairly high considering the time.

As they walked home, Yumichika began to complain about the heat, calming that he was sweating and that it wasn't a good look for him. That turned into him whining about his clothes sticking to his skin and it feeling gross. Eventually Ichigo tuned him out completely and they were home not long after.

"Welcome home Ichigo!" Ichigo spun on his heel and kicked his father in the face as he tried to tackle him.

"Hey dad," he said calmly, stepping over the collapsed form of his father to get into the house.

"Good afternoon Mr Kurosaki!" said Yumichika happily, taking off his shoes and setting them neatly against the wall.

"Yumichika!" Isshin jumped to his feet, seemingly undeterred by his bleeding nose. "How many times must I tell you, call me Isshin!"

"Yes, I'll try to remember that," Yumichika replied, before hurrying up to Ichigo's room to dump his stuff.

Ichigo was already sitting on his bed, headphones in and a book open in front of him by the time Yumichika stepped into the room. He put his bags in the corner where Ichigo had left the other ones, not before separating his new pillow from the pile.

He hummed contently as he pulled off the packaging, which he tossed in the bin by the desk, and sat on his futon. He removed his pillow case from the thin pillow he had been using and stuffed the fluffy new one inside. Once he set it down, he tossed the old one at the bin. He misjudged the distance however, and knocked the bin over instead.

Grumbling, he crawled over to it and apprehensively put everything back inside. Then, holding his hands away from his body, he quickly left the room and headed for the bathroom to wash his hands.

While he was there, he also brushed his teeth, removed his feathers and combed his hair. He looked himself up and down in the mirror, nodding when he though himself presentable and skipped back to the bedroom.

Ichigo was still sitting on the bed, and paid him no mind as he stripped out of his school uniform and pulled on his pyjamas. He looked at the sweaty shirt and trousers which he had dumped on the floor, thought for a moment, before picking them up again and leaving the room to put them in the laundry. He would just wear one of Ichigo's tomorrow.

When he returned, Ichigo had changed into the track pants and singlet he wore to bed and seemed to be on his way to the bathroom. Before he could walk out the room though, Yumichika had wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Thanks for taking me out today," he said, squeezing for a moment before letting him go and sitting down on his futon as though nothing had happened.

"Yeah...sure," Ichigo said slowly.

"Yumichika looked up at him, and for the second time that say, Ichigo saw a hint of sadness in the lavender eyes. "I had fun. We should do it again sometime!"

Ichigo laughed. "Maybe," he said before walking out of the room. Not that he would admit it, but he'd had fun too.


	5. Chapter 5

"You want to go to a club?" Ichigo asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Yumichika said, nodding cheerfully. "I've heard lots of stuff about human clubs and I want to see what it's like!"

"Well sorry to disappoint but I'm not old enough to go to a club," Ichigo said, looking back to his ice cream. The damn thing was melting all over his hand. While he could understand the appeal of the cold snack in the summer, it was completely impractical.

He had only bought the damn thing because Yumichika wanted one, but didn't know if he wanted he lemon gelato or the chocolate marshmallow swirl. Not wanting to put up with the man whining, he had bought both and ended up with the marshmallow swirl.

"You don't need to worry about that," Yumichika said, waving him off and slurping at his gelato. "I had Kisuke organise everything! You can easily pass for twenty-one so I had him make us IDs!"

"You know that's illegal right?"

"Do you think anyone will see through something made by Kisuke?" Yumichika asked him, raising his feathered eyebrow.

Ichigo paused, thinking about the question. "No...probably not. But what makes you think I want to go to a club with you?"

"Because," he said, drawing the word out slowly as he spun in a circle around the teen. "You said you would show me around."

"I don't know where any clubs are Yumichika."

"I've sorted that! Kisuke gave me a list!"

Ichigo sighed. There seemed to be no way for him to talk Yumichika out of his plan. Although the possibility of going to a club while being underage pulled at his sense of adventure and going against the norm, he was also apprehensive. Alcohol was served at clubs, and though he could avoid it, it would be harder to stop someone spiking his drink when he wasn't looking.

If he was being completely honest with himself, he did want to go to a club.

"Fine," he growled. Yumichika squealed with delight and began to skip around, but Ichigo caught his elbow and held him still. "But just once. And not for too long."

Yumichika pouted. "You always have a 'but' when you agree to something," he said haughtily.

"At least I say yes."

"I suppose so," he huffed, flicking his hair behind his ear. Then he suddenly perked up and grabbed Ichigo by the elbow, dragging him towards the mall. "You need clothes to go clubbing in!"

Ichigo froze. "No way! I don't want to go shopping!"

"Don't worry, I'll pay!"

"I don't care! I hate shopping!"

"But you need something to wear!"

"I have plenty of clothes!"

"Not that I've seen."

"Can I at least show you before you try and force me into a shop?"

Yumichika paused, but didn't release his arm. He considered what he'd been told for about a minute before he let go and stepped back. "Fine," he said, focusing his attention back to his gelato which had begun to melt. "And I suppose if you don't have anything something of mine might fit you."

The summer air was quite cold while the two of them were waiting in a line that lead into a club. Ichigo was exceedingly nervous. Although he had complete faith in Urahara's fake ID, he still had an itching feeling that they would see through him and he'd get busted. Yumichika had no such qualms. He was quite happily checking his hair in a small hand-held mirror he seemed to keep on his person at all times.

Yumichika had decided to wear tight-fitting grey skinny jeans, his black and white high tops and a red and silver graphic singlet. He wasn't wearing his feathers, and instead had put red and yellow eye shadow around his right eye. He had wide leather bracelets adorned with chians on his arms, and several more silver chains around his neck.

Ichigo was wearing black skinny jeans with several fashionable rips going down the length of both legs. He had purple converse on and a matching purple and white shirt. On top of that he had a leather vest covered in various buttons and pins. He had several large rings on, and a leather chocker around his neck.

As the two moved further forward in the line, he tugged at the choker nervously. By now he could see the bouncer checking people before allowing them inside the club. He bounced from one foot to the other several times before Yumichika grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

"Calm down. We'll be fine," he said, smiling gently.

Ichigo let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. "Yeah," he said nervously. "If you say so."

None the less, his heart rate didn't calm until they were face to face with the bouncer. The large man looked them both up and down before nodding and stepping aside to let them in. Without pausing Yumichika pulled him inside, down the steps into the club.

The air was hot and heavy, filled with the smell of hundreds of bodies pressed closely together, moving around to the thudding beat of the too loud music. Flashing lights illuminated the somewhat dark area, but there were blue neon lights around the bar, and leading down a corridor to where Ichigo assumed lead to the toilets.

He was suddenly dragged to the bar by Yumichika when he shouted something about drinks that he barely heard. They waited for a gap to clear and pushed themselves against the bar, and Yumichika waved at someone behind the bar, who spotted them and walked over.

"What can I get you?" he said loudly, leaning towards them so he could be heard.

"Just a coke," Ichigo yelled back.

"You driving?" the barman asked.

"Yep," Ichigo lied, nodding.

"And you?" the man turned to Yumichika.

"Rum and coke with ice," the dark haired man said loudly.

"Got it," the barman moved to the back of the bar to make their drinks and Yumichika pulled out his wallet. They got their drinks less than a minute later, and he paid for both. He then dragged Ichigo into the crowd to dance.

Ichigo leaned down and rested his head on Yumichika's shoulder to talk to him. "Don't put your drink down. It might get drugged," he said.

Yumichika nodded and started swaying his hips to the beat of the music. Taking a sip from his drink the teen copied him and he soon lost himself to the music. Somewhere along the lines he managed to put down his empty glass and was now moving to the music with his arms above his head, eyes closed.

The mass of people on the dance floor pushed him and Yumichika closer together, and the Soul Reaper was now leaning against his chest, making the two move in time with each other. Yumichika raised his arms and looped his fingers through Ichigo's orange locks, pulling his head down. In return, Ichigo wrapped one arm around his chest and placed his other hand on his hip, pulling him closer still.

They stayed together like this for a long while, until they broke apart, both needing something to drink. Ichigo got the same thing as last time, but Yumichika got something that was bright pink. When he took a sip of it, the dark haired man giggled.

Shaking his head, Ichigo pulled him away from the bar to stand against a wall, away from the crowd. They stood there for a while, catching their breath and finishing their drinks before they forced their way onto the dance floor once again.

Ichigo, apprehensive and nervous as he had been earlier, was ecstatic. If he had known that the club would be as fun as it was, he would have agreed to go in a heartbeat. If he were legal, he would have had alcohol and was sure it would have made the experience completely different.

Time passed, and soon Yumichika was pulling his down to eyelevel and shouting into his ear. "Grab me another drink, I'm just going to the bathroom."

"What do you want?" he yelled back.

"Screwdriver."

"Right."

They broke apart and went in separate directions, Ichigo heading for the bar, Yumichika for the bathrooms. After dragging himself out of the throng of dancers and finding a gap at the bar, Ichigo waited until the barman who had served him earlier spotted him and strode over.

"Another soda?" he asked loudly.

"Yeah, and a screwdriver for my friend," he replied.

With a nod, the man stepped away and Ichigo rapped his knuckles against the bar and looked up and down its length, studying the people lined up along it. It wasn't long before his drinks were before him and he pulled some cash out of his wallet and dropped it on the counter as he picked up the glasses and moved back to the wall.

He sipped at his own drink while he waited, and examined the one he had bought fir Yumichika. He lifted it close to his nose and smelt orange juice, and something else that made the inside of his nose tingle as if he were about to sneeze. He wrinkled his nose at it and swallowed a mouthful of his coke.

He bobbed slightly to the beat of the music as he stood against the wall, waiting for his friend to return. He barely noticed when the song changed, but when it changed again, he definitely noticed the change in speed and tempo. Yumichika had been gone for a while now.

Slightly concerned, he set down his empty glass on the bar and pushed through the crowd towards the bathrooms, still holding Yumichika's drink. Hopefully he was worried for no reason, that maybe there was a line or something. That was his hope.

Yumichika weaved through the crowd towards the bathroom, gracefully avoiding flailing limbs and spilt drinks on the floor. He was sweaty and flushed, not a good look, and he wanted to check up on his appearance.

The narrow, blue lit corridor was only wide enough for two people to pass through at a time, and even then, barely. He pressed himself into the wall as a bugger man walked past him and back out onto the dance floor. Yumichika grimaced as the scent of sweat and beer washed past him and he hurried into the bathroom.

The tiled floor was surprisingly clean and the mirrors unmarked. There was however, a multitude of graffiti and stickers covering the walls and the doors on the stalls. He crossed the floor and stopped in front of the cleanest mirror to examine himself.

His face was slightly flushed and his hair was damp with sweat, but otherwise he looked completely presentable. He turned on the tap and splashed some water onto his hands and dabbed at his face, careful to avoid smudging his eye makeup.

Behind him the bathroom door swung open, but he pain no mind to it until someone spoke to him.

"So you are a man. Shit, I just lost a bet." Yumichika spun around, seeing a large, burly man standing a few feet away from him. Several other men of similar build were standing behind him, all of whom had the same grin on their face.

"Poor you," Yumichika said dryly, wiping his hands on the back of his pants and moving to leave the bathroom.

One of the men stepped in front of him, blocking his path. He turned to step around him, but was blocked by another. Sighing, he crossed his arms over his chest, and looked up at the men.

"Can I help you with something?" he growled.

"Yeah. There were two parts to my bet," the man who had spoken early said, stepping close behind him, making it so he was completely surrounded. "The first was your gender. The second was whether or not I could get some of that ass of yours," with his last words, he slapped Yumichika on the backside.

Without hesitation, he retaliated, attacking with an elbow strike to the man's face. He felt a nose break with a satisfying crunch and snapped a kick forward, catching one man in the gut. Before he could attack again, a hand closed around his shoulder and slammed him into the ground.

He landed with a grunt. If he weren't in the damned gigai that wouldn't have done anything to him. The man with the broken nose grabbed him by the throat and straddled him, reaching inside his jacket as Yumichika thrashed around underneath him.

A glint of silver made him freeze.

_You're a good boy. If you're good, I won't scar that pretty, pretty face of yours._

The man drew the knife out of his jacket slowly, his bloody smile widening as he noticed the dark haired man's reaction. A rough laugh escaped his throat as he leaned closer, pressing the flat side of the knife against Yumichika's face.

"That's right, stay still. You wouldn't want to hard that pretty face of yours."

_You're such a pretty boy. And now you're mine, ya hear? No one's coming to help. You're mine forever._

"I'll by gentle...maybe," the man growled as Yumichika started to shake.

_Help me Ikkaku!_

No. Not this time. Ikkaku wasn't there to save him. He closed his eyes as he felt hot breath of his cheek, pushing himself further into the floor in a desperate attempt to get away. The bathroom door banged open and there was a crash of breaking glass.

The man on top of his roared with pain was leapt off him, and he opened his eyes to see a blur of orange attacking the man. Shivering all over, he crawled away from the commotion and found a corner to curl up in.

The sounds of fighting washed over him for several minutes, and even when it grew silent, he didn't look up. When he felt a warm hand on his shoulder he jumped and recoiled from the touch, but the hand stayed.

"Yumichika," said a soft voice. He shook his head and curled up tighter. "Yumi, Yumi it's okay. I'm here. You're fine."

He turned his head slightly and opened his eyes slightly. Ichigo was crouched on the floor next to him, and worried look on his face. He sniffed and allowed the teen to pull him into a tight hug against his chest.

Rubbing his hand up and down the dark haired man's back, Ichigo rested his chin on top of his head and pulled him to his feet, not letting him go. "Come on, we're going home."


	6. Chapter 6

By the time they got back to Ichigo's house, Yumichika was shaking, his face buried in the teen's shoulder. Ichigo could feel dampness on his sleeve – the man was crying. He pulled him through the kitchen and sat him down on the couch. Once the contact was gone, Yumichika rolled onto his side and curled into a ball.

_What do I do?_ Ichigo thought, running his fingers through his hair. He had never in a million years thought that he would ever be in a situation like this. How was he supposed to comfort a male friend who was almost sexually assaulted?

Still completely unsure of what he should be doing he dashed up to his room and grabbed the blanket Yumichika kept with his futon. It was a good thing that his father had been called in to work at the hospital and that his sisters were at a sleepover considering how much noise he made running through the house. He ran back down with it scrunched up in his arms and was surprised to see the dark haired man was sitting up, hugging his knees to his chest.

"Yumi?" Ichigo said quietly, stepping closer to him. "You okay?"

Yumichika looked over at him, his eyes red and swollen. Feeling a lump rise in his throat, Ichigo stood in front of him and wrapped the blanket tightly around him. He cupped his wet face gently and gave a weak smile. The Soul Reaper sniffed and looked at the floor.

"Can I have hot chocolate?" he whispered.

Ichigo sighed in relief and gently wiped Yumichika's tears away with his thumb. "Yeah, of course you can," he said softly.

"And can you turn the TV on?"

"Sure," Ichigo stood slowly and walked over to the TV. He glanced back at Yumichika before he turned it on. The man was hiding his face again.

Sighing, he flicked on the TV and picked up the remote which he gently placed next to Yumichika as he walked passed him. He knew it wasn't necessary. He just didn't want there to be silence in the room.

He made the hot chocolate as quickly as he could and hurried back to the couch where his friend was sitting. Resting a hand gently on his shoulder, he sat down next to him and carefully pushed the steaming mug into his hands.

After muttering a thank you he took the mug in both hands and brought it close to his face, but didn't drink. He simply stared into the mug, a blank, empty look in his eyes. They stayed like this for several minutes before Yumichika took a deep breath and put the mug on the coffee table.

Ichigo looked down at him, opening his mouth to ask a question, but before he cold Yumichika had wrapped his arms around the teen's waist and buried his face in his chest. Smiling softly to himself, he put an arm around the dark haired man's shoulder and gently ran the fingers of his other hand through the smooth locks.

"Sorry," Yumichika mumbled after a while.

"For what?" Ichigo asked quietly.

"For this. For being weak," he replied, swallowing a sob.

"This isn't weakness," Ichigo said firmly, giving him a squeeze. "No one would react well to what happened."

"But this is different. Usually I'm fine but-."

"What do you mean usually?" the red head growled, moving his hand to pull Yumichika's chin up to face him.

Yumichika averted his eyes. "I mean I can usually just fight them off, but sometimes I...I just freeze and...my mind just goes blank and...and..." tears began to roll down his cheeks and Ichigo instantly regretted his words.

"Sorry," he whispered, pulling the man closer to his chest, rubbing his back and rocking slowly. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."

Yumichika sat up and looked at him, his face tear streaked and his hair messy. Ichigo lifted a hand to wipe the tears away and brushed hair away before resting his hand on the damp cheek.

It wasn't clear who moved first. Maybe neither did. Perhaps it was just a mutual, silent agreement. All that they knew was that after staring at each other for a few moments, their lips were pressed lightly together, eyes closed.

Ichigo brought a hand up and laced his fingers through the soft black hair, cupping the back of Yumichika's head gently. In return, hands gently caressed his cheeks. The gentle touch of lips against lips was intimate and loving.

Eyes still closed, Yumichika tilted his head slightly to the side and let his lips fall slightly open. The teen copied him and they wordlessly deepened the kiss. Tongues found their way into each others' mouth, twisting around and exploring gently. Ichigo wrapped his arm around Yumichika's thin waist and pulled him closer. In return, arms wound around his neck and delicate fingers twisted their way into his hair.

They broke apart after a while, their faces a few centimetres away from each other. Going red, Yumichika looked down. Smirking slightly, Ichigo planted a soft kiss on his forehead before pulling him close to his chest and resting his chin on top of his head.

Blushing furiously, the Soul Reaper hid his face in the teenager's shirt. Never had he been kissed gently before. It had always been rough, forceful, and he'd have no say in the matter. This had been mutual – no one had tried to make it more than it needed to be. The kiss had been soft, kind, welcoming. It had made him feel safe.

Snuggling closer to the red headed boy, he allowed himself a small smile. Not that he would ever admit it, but that was the first time he had enjoyed a kiss. And he felt just a little bit happy about it.

The next morning, Yumichika woke early. He glanced over at the closed curtain and could see the beginnings of sunlight peeking through the gap. Sighing, he threw his blanket off and sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

His back and shoulder ached from when he had been slammed into the ground the night before. Sighing again, he crawled to the foot of his futon and rummaged through the box that he kept his clothes in. Finding himself a pair of shorts and a plain shirt, he grabbed them along with clean underwear, got to his feet and padded silently to the bathroom.

Once inside, he tossed his clothes onto the sink and locked the door. Still half asleep, he turned on the hot tap in the shower and stripped while waiting for the water to heat up. When he stepped in front of the mirror, he frowned, seeing a purplish bruise on his shoulder.

"Damn," he muttered, turning to see the damage on his back. The bruise extended across his back from his spine to his side. He reached up and touched it tenderly, wincing at light contact.

Shaking his head, he looked away and stepped into the shower. Scalding water pelted his body, relaxing his tense muscles. His hair became soaked quickly, sticking to his face and the back if his neck. This was what he needed. Actually, he needed a bug bubble bath with lots of smelling salts and maybe some incense. But this was fine too.

After just standing under the water for a while, he began his daily ritual of carefully washing his hair, face and body, being gentle when he was cleaning near his injury. He started humming contently as he lathered shampoo into his scalp, carefully combing it through with his fingers.

After repeating the process with more shampoo then conditioner, he thoroughly rinsed his hair before turning off the water and stepping out. After wrapping a towel securely around his waist he pulled his hairdryer out of the bathroom cupboard and proceeded to continue his preening – drying his hair, moisturising his skin and lastly applying his feathers. Satisfied, he dried himself and got dressed, throwing his dirty clothes and the towel he used into the hamper to be washed.

Checking himself in the mirror one last time, he nodded and stepped out of the bathroom and headed downstairs to the kitchen. He skipped towards the fridge, hoping that there was still some leftover pizza. He stopped suddenly when he saw the fridge door open with Ichigo staring absently inside.

Somewhat nervously, he stepped closer and poked his head around the teen, trying to see what food there was. Ichigo jumped, not having noticed him until then, and took a step back so he could see inside.

Yumichika shot him a smile and reached in for the plate that had the pizza on it. He took a large bite and turned to see Ichigo staring at him, a slight blush on his cheeks. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he closed the fridge, swallowed his food and stared back.

"What?" he asked.

"Uh..." Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "About last night...I'm sorry. Given the situation, what I did was really inappropriate, so-."

"Stop," Yumichika said firmly, raising a hand to silence him. "Don't worry about it. I...uh...ItwasokayIlikedit," he said under his breather, looking away, a blush rising on his cheeks.

Ichigo blinked. "Pardon?" he asked weakly.

Taking a deep breath and putting down his plate of pizza, Yumichika answered again, but far more slowly this time. "It...it was okay...I...liked it," as he spoke, his voice grew softer until it was barely more than a whisper, but the teen heard anyway.

"Really?" Yumichika looked at him. Ichigo's face had lit up, his scowl gone and a smile on his lips.

Not trusting his voice, the Soul Reaper nodded.

"Then," Ichigo took a step closer. "Can I do it again?"

Yumichika's blush deepened. No one had ever asked if they could kiss him. Still not trusting his voice, which he was sure would be as high-pitched as a child's, he nodded again.

A hand gently caressed his cheek, moving down slightly to lift his chin. At the same time, an arm was looped around his waist, pulling him closer to the orange haired teen. The hand moved back to his cheek as a pair of lips descended on his own.

His eyes drifted closed at the feeling of soft lips pressed against his own. He lifted his hands from his sides and wrapped his arms around Ichigo's back. They pulled away from the soft kiss for a moment, then moved back together, kissing with more vigour this time.

Ichigo opened his mouth slightly to allow his tongue to run across the others lips. He was responded to in kind when he was allowed access to the moist cavern. Yumichika's tongue delved into his own mouth, exploring gently.

He soon took over, being far more experienced at kissing than the orange haired teen. Both of Ichigo's hands moved to rest on the small of the shorter man's back, his thumbs gently massaging the area.

Yumichika moaned slightly and twisted his fingers into the back of the teen's shirt. This kiss was far better than the one they had shared last night. He pushed himself closer to the teen, grinding their hips together. At the same time, Ichigo moved his hands lower, giving his ass a gentle squeeze. Both men moaned, the sound muffled due to the fact that they were still locked together at the lips.

"Ahem."

The two instantly broke apart at the sound, jumping away from each other as though they had been stung. Blushing furiously, the slighter man turned to the fridge and promptly opened it, hiding his face inside. His face equally as red, Ichigo looked over to the doorway to see Karin looking at him smugly.

"Oh…uh…good morning," he said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding looking her in the eye.

"Right," she said in reply, he tone clearly showing how much she didn't believe him.

Grinning happily to herself, the dark haired girl walked into the kitchen, reaching past Yumichika to get herself a tub of yoghurt from the fridge. The man squeaked and stepped away, grabbing his plate and walking hurriedly into the living room.

Ignoring him, Karin closed the fridge and stepped past her brother so that she could get a spoon. She didn't look at him until she was once again at the doorway. Turning slightly, she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Don't worry, I won't tell dad," she said smugly before disappearing around the corner.

A sigh escaping his lips, Ichigo lent back on the counter top, resting on his elbows. When he had kissed his friend last night, he hadn't known what he was doing. He had never thought that he was in any way attracted to the man, but when he woke up this morning, he had a strong desire to feel those lips against his own once again.

He lifted a hand and brushed his own lips thoughtfully. Both kisses had been pleasant. Exciting. A smile appeared on his face remembering what Yumichika had told him earlier. That he enjoyed it too.

The smile still in place, he walked over to where Yumichika was sitting. While his sister had been in the kitchen, the man had situated himself in the middle of the couch and had the TV on, showing a children's anime. He had his knees tucked up to his chest, and had the plate of pizza balanced on top.

The teen sat down next to him and after a pause, he reached over and tried to grab one of the pizza slices. Yumichika glared at him darkly and pulled the plate closer to him. Smirking widely. Ichigo leaned towards him, so that his lips brushed against the shell of his ear.

"So," he said quietly. "Does this mean we're a couple?"

Blushing again, the Soul Reaper turned to face him. Although he looked thoroughly embarrassed, he had a warm smile on his face. He leaned forward, closing the gap between them and pressing their lips together.

"Yeah," he said in a whisper, pulling away. "It might mean just that."

He turned his head away to look at the TV, but in the same movement, lowered his head onto Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo shifted slightly so that he could wrap his arm around the slender shoulders before resting his head on his boyfriend's.

_Boyfriend_.

The word sounded slightly foreign to him, but he accepted it all the same. Although he had never really felt any attraction towards girls, he had never thought that he might in fact be attracted to guys. But he had never really felt the way he did when he was around other guys either.

Brushing the though aside, he picked up the remote and changed the channel. There was no point in him thinking about pointless stuff like that. It wasn't important that he didn't like anyone in the past. He liked Yumichika right now, and that was all that mattered.

As he began to think about what type of relationship he had just started, the dark haired man moved slightly and he lifted his head so he could get comfortable. After a few seconds of squirming, the man decided just to stretch out across the rest of the couch and rest his head on Ichigo's thigh.

As he absently stroked the dark hair on his leg, he decided that at the moment, it didn't matter. Both of them had what they wanted. They didn't need anything else.

Ichigo had someone to protect.

Yumichika had someone he felt completely safe with.

Glancing down, he saw that Yumichika's attention was solely focused on the TV, so he snaked his hand around behind his head and tried to grab a piece of pizza from the plate, which was now resting on Yumichika's chest. As his fingers neared it however, a pale hand shot up and slapped him away.

Pouting, he looked down. The Soul Reaper was grinning up at him, a smug expression on his face.

"Can I please have some?" he asked.

Giggling, Yumichika lifted the plate and held it near his face. "Of course. All you had to do was ask, silly boy."

Trying not to smile himself, Ichigo took a slice of pizza. Before he took a bite, he lent down and placed a gentle kiss on Yumichika's forehead.

"Thank you," he said softly, before returning his attention to his food and the TV.


	7. Chapter 7

Isshin was currently sitting in his chair in his clinic, one arm crossed over his chest, the other positioned so that he could stroke his chin thoughtfully. He had noticed a very subtle change in the way his son and the Soul Reaper reacted around each other. Most noticeably, the sideways glances and lingering touches. Second to that was the way Ichigo would sometimes fix the smaller man's hair, or give him compliments on how he looked. He also seemed to be smiling more – that almost permanent scowl of his seen less frequently.

He let out a sigh and lent back on his chair, linking his fingers behind his head as he gazed up at the ceiling. If he really thought about it, he wasn't troubled by the thought of them possibly being in a relationship. So long as the two were happy together and made each other smile, then he was fine with them being together.

From what he had seen over the years, Ichigo had never been in a relationship with anyone before, least of all with a man. He had never really shown interest in anyone, although he did remember that Orihime girl from his class had always seemed to have feelings for his oblivious and idiotic son.

There was a knock at his door and he got to his feet. His next patient must be here. As he reached the door he paused, making a decision. He wouldn't interfere with them unless they asked him about anything. He would not meddle.

He grinned as he opened the door.

Yeah. Right.

* * *

It was an unusually quiet Friday night in the Kurosaki household. Yuzu and Karin were at a sleepover and Isshin had been called in for a late shift at the hospital. Ichigo and Yumichika had decided to rent a bunch of movies and spend the night at home.

At the moment, Ichigo was setting up the first movie in the living room while Yumichika was in the kitchen, organising their food and drink so that it would last. He currently had two bags of chips in a large bowl, two glasses and a bottle of soda under his arm.

He looked around the kitchen one last time to make sure he had everything, then spotted the block of chocolate he had left near the sink. He put down the chips and tossed the chocolate into the bowl with them. He gathered everything into his arms and walking into the living room. When he got there, he frowned.

Ichigo was sprawled across the entire couch, the cushions all piled up under his head. Pouting, he put the food on the coffee table and stood in front of the teen, arms crossed over his chest, feathered eyebrow raised.

"What?" said Ichigo when he saw how the man was glaring at him.

"Where am I supposed to sit?" he asked.

Smirking, Ichigo gestured at himself. Frowning, the dark haired man turned and sat down on the teen's chest, landing on him as heavily as he could. Ichigo grunted at the sudden weight on his chest. A small smile forming on Yumichika's lips, he squirmed around, trying to make himself comfortable.

"Fine, fine, I'll make room," Ichigo muttered, shifting underneath him. He rolled onto his side and pushed the soul Reaper off him, onto the now empty space at the edge of the couch. Yumichika rolled onto his side and the teen pulled him close, so that they were lying back to chest on the couch.

"Thank you," Yumichika said happily, looking over his shoulder and giving him a kiss on the chin.

As he turned back to face the TV the teen planted a kiss on the top of his head and picked up the remote to start the movie. As the credits rolled onto the screen, Yumichika leant forward to open the two bags of chips and tipped them into the bowl. He lifted it onto the couch in front of him, snuggled himself into Ichigo's chest and turned his attention to the movie.

About half way through however, neither was paying much attention to anything but each other. The bowl of chips had been moved to the table for safety and Ichigo had instantly rolled him over before straddling him and covering his face with kisses.

Yumichika smirked and wrapped his arms around the teen's soulders, pulling him down closer. He wrapped his arms around the orange haired teens shoulders, digging his fingers into the firm muscles on his back. Ichigo moaned into his mouth and gripped Yumichika's hips with one hand, running the other one all over his chest. Their tongues danced together, exploring each others mouths while hands blindly explored bodies.

When the dark haored man bucked his hips suddenly, the teen smirked and pressed his body down so that their chests were flush against one another. When Yumichika attempted to buck again he ground his hips down, making the man gasp and moan loudly. Happy with his result he slid his hands down the lithe man's sides, rubbing his thumbs into the edges of his hips before moving them lower.

At the feel of fingers caressing his thighs, Yumichika squirmed, trying to free his legs so he could move them. Ichigo didn't seem to understand what he was doing though, and it took a great amount of effort to get one leg out from underneath the teen. He wrapped that leg around Ichigo's waist and dug his fingers into the spiky orange locks above him.

Groaning, Ichigo pulled his mouth away. Just as Yumichika was about to protests, he felt his mouth press against his neck, teeth scraping at his skin lightly. He bucked his hips again and gasped at the feeling of Ichigo attacking his neck, stopping sometimes to bite him gently or leave his mark.

His breath now becoming somewhat labored, he pulled the teen away from his neck and back up to his face, allowing him to nip at his jaw and lick his way back to his mouth. Ichigo moaned at the feeling, and pulled his body away from the one underneath him slightly, allowing for him to run a hand over the flat, slightly toned stomach.

As their mouths were once again connected, he slid his fingers under the shirt and up to his chest. At the same time, his other hand was squeezing the thigh wrapped around him. Not to be out done, Yumichika fisted the back of Ichigo's shirt, pulling it up slightly, allowing him to grip the hard muscles in the teen's lower back.

When Ichgio's fingers reached his nipples he pinched them sharply, making Yumichika gasp and his eyes snap open. Moments later he felt the hand on his tight move down. Knowing where this was going, he pulled away and pushed Ichigo off him.

Both men looked at each other, panting slightly, their faces flushed and their lips slightly swolen from the intense kissing session. Ichigo was staring at him, a slightly confused look on his face.

"Did...did I do something wrong?" Ichigo asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

"What?"

"Well...I mean..." he looked away and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I...I've never actually kissed anyone before you, so I might not be that good at it," he said quietly.

Yumichika stared at him, a stunned expression on his face. "Really? You think that?"

The teen nodded and Yumichika couldn't help it. He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach, tears in the corners of his eyes. Ichigo's head snapped up, his bush deepening as his scowl appeared with full force.

"Hey, it's not funny!" he growled.

"I'm sorry, but you just...ha hah haa!" he said, trying his best to stop laughing, at which he was failing miserably. "You just looked so cute saying that!" He grabbed the back of Ichigo's neck and pulled his forward, planting a kiss on his frehead.

"I'm not cute," Ichigo muttered.

Still giggling, the dark haired man pulled the boy against his chest, hugging him tightly and rocking from side to side stupidly. "Yes you are. You're cute and adorable and you're all mine."

"Whatever," Ichigo said into his chest, his embarassment obvious in his voice.

They stayed the way they were for a few minutes before Ichigo stood up, mumbing somehting about changing the movie. A smirk still evident on his face, Yumichika sat up, leaning towards the coffee table so that he could pour himself a glass of soda and put the bowl of chips back in his lap. Ichigo turned towards him, holding up two DVDs.

"Paranormal Activity or Monty Python?" he asked, shaking each movie as he mentioned it.

"The first one. Sounds more exciting," he replied, taking a sip of his drink.

"Okay, but it's scary."

"Seriously. I'm a Soul Reaper. I've seen my fair share of scares and I doubt some movie will make me frightened," Yumichika scoffed.

"Suit yourself. Just don't cry about it to me when you're shitting yourself," Ichigo said, turning back to the TV to start the movie.

He sat down on the couch next to Yumichika, causing it to dip slightly with the added weight. Yumichika leaned into him and he wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Glancing down at the smaller man, he saw that he had a happy smile on his face. Smirking, he picked up the remote to start the next movie. He guessed that his smile wouldn't be there for much longer.

And his guess was correct.

No less than thirty minutes into the movie and Yumichika was practically curled up in his lap, his face turned away from the screen, refusing to watch. Ichigo has seen the movie before and therefore he knew when all the scary moments were. And after all the horros he had seen, watching it a second time did nothing to faze him.

Sighing, he pulled Yumichika into a tight hug, rocking him back and forth soothingly. Yumchika only wimpered and curled himself into a ball.

"I don't want to watch this movie anymore," he muttered.

"Yeah, I thought as much," Ichigo said softly, kissing the top of his head and rubbing circles on his back. "Want me to change it?"

"Yes."

Chuckling, he slid out from under the trembling Soul Reaper and changed the movie to Monty Python. And the Holy Grail. It wasn't long before a smile had returned to his face and he was laughing at the classic English comedy.

It was growing late by the time they put on the next movie. It was Titanic, because Yumichika had insitsted on seeing it, saying that he heard it was a classic. Ichigo had grudginly agreed and got it, simply because he didn't want to put up with Yumichika complaining about it. He seemed to make quite a few descisions based on that.

They were laying on the couch, back to chest once again, Ichigo's arm wrapped around his waist, the other resting under his head. As he watched, Ichigo felt Yumichika relax in his arms. Yawning, he looked down to discover that he had fallen asleep. Smiling, he nuzzled his face into the soft black hair, and it wasn't long before he was asleep too.

* * *

It was well past midnight when Isshin got back from his shift at the hospital. He truely wished that he didn't have to go, but sometimes the hospital really needed his help, like they had tonight. Still, it wasn't like he needed the extra work.

Sleep itching behind his eyes, he slid off his shoes and dumped them by the door, too tired to put them away neatly. He dropped his stuff next to them and walked slowly into the house, dragging his feet and trying not to yawn.

When he heard noise from the living room, he raised an eyebrow and walked towards it, poking his head through the door to see what was going on. What he saw made both his eyebrows lift closer to his hairline. On the TV, Titanic was playing, somewhere near the beginning. It must have run all the way through and then started again, because no one was watching it.

As quielty as he could, he walked into the room, his eyes fixed on the orange hair visible over the back of the couch. When he reached the side, his eyebrows relaxed and he smiled softly as what was revealed.

Ichigo was asleep, lying curled around Yumichika who was equally unconscious. His son had his face buried in the Soul Reaper's hair, mumbling happy nonsense as his arms wrapped tighter around the lithe body in front of him. Yumichika tried to turn in his arms, as if wanting to face the teenager.

"Don't they look happy," Isshin said quiely to himself.

A small smile on his face, he left the room, coming back a few moments later with a blanket. He gently covered them both with it before turning to leave the room again. When he reached the doorway, he paused, turning to take one last look at the two sleeping boys. He sighed, shook his head and then dissapeared to his bedroom.

At least they were happy. That was all he could ask for.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello readers! I'm just writing here that I'm very happy that you have been reading my story up till now, and that I'm sorry for my inconsistant uploads. I add a new chapter whenever I manage to finish it, and sometimes it takes a while because of my school work.**

**So thanks again for reading and leave reviews! Honestly, they make my day!**

**Now, on with the story!**

Yumichika woke up late the next morning. He knew this because of the bright light that was attempting to make him open his eyes. But he didn't, choosing instead to wiggle around, tyring to get himself comfortable so he could fall asleep again. Even if he didn't fall asleep, he was warm and content enough to just stay where he was for the rest of the day.

He would have done so, if not for the clattering of someone moving things around in the kitchen. He frowned. Whoever it was must be doing something incredibly loud for him to be able to hear it from his room. Then he felt his source of warmth move behind him his eyes snapped open and he remembered that he was on the couch.

Blinking to clear his eyes of sleep, he pushed himslef onto his elbow and felt weight around his middle. He looked down and saw that he was covered with a blanket and Ichigo was lying behind him with an arm wrapped around his waist. As he moved, his arm tightened and he nuzzled his face into Yumichika's shoulder.

For a moment, Yumichika could only stare. Even in his sleep, the teen proved to be quite protective. A smile crossed his face and he lay back down, allowing Ichigo to pull him closer while he murmured incoherintly in his sleep.

"Um, Mr Ayasegawa? Are you awake?" said a quiet voice from behind the couch. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Yuzu standing behind them, her eyes wide as she took in the sight in front of her.

Crap.

"Uhh...yeah...I'm awake..." he said slowly.

"That's good. I was worried that you would sleep through lunch. It will be ready soon, so can you wake up Ichigo?"

"Yeah, sure," he said quickly. This conversation was getting very awkward for him.

"Thanks. And..." she smiled happily. "Thank you for making my brother smile again."

Yumichika blinked. What did that mean?

"Anyway, I made sushi, so hurry up or dad will eat it all!" she said sternly before marching away to set the table.

Frowning slightly, Yumichika lay back down for a moment, thinking about what she had just said. Had Ichigo really not been smiling? When he thought about it, Ichigo had been smiling a lot while he had been staying here, but he didn't know how he acted before he arrived. Had he made that much of a difference in teh short time he'd been here?

His thoughts were broken when Ichigo nuzzled into his hair and he remembered what Yuzu had told him. He attempted to sit up, but the arm around his waist tightened and pulled him back down. Sighing, he reached over his shoulder and poked the teen square between the eyes. Ichigo yelped and jumped almost violently, throwing Yumichika off the couch in the process.

As he hit the floor he yelped loudly. His feet tangled in the blanket, which was also twisted around Ichigo's feet. The tangled fabric pulled tight and Ichigo was pulled off the couch and he landed on top of Yumichika.

"Get off me you buffoon!"

"Hey! You're the one who dragged me down here!"

"But it's your fault for not letting me go!"

"It was you who jabbed me in the face!"

"You wouldn't wake up!"

"It's not like you tried anything else!"

"Shut up both of you!"

They both looked up to see Karin standing above them, a scowl that could rival her brothers plastered on her face. It was then that both of them realised the position they were in. There was a moment of pause before they leapt away from each other, ending up on opposite sides of the living room, refusing to look at each other.

Karin looked from one to the other several times and shook her head. "You guys are too obvious. We all know that you like each ohter so stop trying to hide it!"

When both men blushed furiously she started laughing histerically, clutching her stomach as she struggled to get her breath back. When she had regained her composure, she crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at them.

"We don't mind, now hurry up or dad will eat all the sushi!" she snapped, turning on her heel and stomping towards the table.

Ichigo swallowed and looked after her. She was probably right. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. If they all knew then there was no point in trying to hide it. Knowing that he was still red as his namesake he walked over to Yumichika, who was chewing the inside of his lip nervously.

This was bad. This was very, very bad. He was in a relationship with someone at least a century younger than him and everyone of his family members knew. It was only know beginning to register that this might not have been a good idea. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he jumped and turned to see a blushing Ichigo smiling at him awkwardly.

"Come on, lunch," he said quietly.

"Yeah," he said back, turning to walk to the dining table, but was stopped by a hand gently wrapping around his wrist. As he turned to see what the problem was Ichigo leaned in and kissed him gently on the nose. He drew back slightly, smiled and pecked him on the lips.

Yumichika looked at him, an eyebrow raised. The teen just smiled again and tugged on his sleeve, leading him towards the table. They sat down next to each other and started choosing the types of sushi they wanted, pretending to be unaware that the three other people sitting at the table were staring at them.

No one mentioned anything until everyone had finished eating, and Ichigo was washing the dishes while Yumichika put them away. Isshin was standing on the other side of the counter, his arms crossed over his chest, watching them thoughtfully. Yuzu and Karin were sitting on teh couch, pretneding not to be paying attention to what was about to be said,

"So," Isshin said as Ichigo pulled the plug out of the sink and let the water drain away. "You two are going out are you?"

"Uhh...well dad, it kinda just-," Ichigo began, but he was cut off when Isshin leapt at him, hugging him tightly while bawling.

"I'm so proud of you my son! You are no longer alone in this cruel world!" he wailed, dragging a growling Ichigo towards his Masaki poster. "Mother! Our son has found true love! I'm so happy I could die!"

"Then die already old man!" Ichigo yelled, throwing his father off. Clenching his fists, he glared at his idiotic father and stomped out of the room, grabbing Yumichika as he passed him.

"Make sure you use protection!" Isshin yelled after them.

In reply, he heard a door slam.

Ichigo dropped down onto his bed, rubbing his face, fuming. He couldn't believe that his old man could be so embarrassing. At least his outburst had told him that he accepted their relationship, and that was really all that mattered. He sighed, and looked up at Yumichika, who was trying his best not to laugh.

"...it looks like he took it well," the teen said slowly.

"Your dad is hilarious," Yumichika said, a giggle escaping his lips. "And what does 'use protection' mean?"

"Nothing you need to know right now," Ichigo growled.

"Why not?"

"It's just...not important at the moment."

"Your dad though it was important."

"Can we please stop talking about this?"

Yumichika took a step closer and leaned down, so that their faces were close. "Are you embarrassed?" he asked quietly.

"No," Ichigo replied firmly.

A seductive smile spreading across his face, Yumichika leant closer, placing a hand on either side of Ichigo's hips, his lips ghosting against the teen's ear. "I don't believe you," he breathed, his voice husky.

Ichigo turned his head slightly, bringing his hand up to brush against the cheek that was close to his own. "Really?" he asked moving a bit closer.

"Really."

They were so close now that their noses were touching and Yumichika was practically stradling his hips. "Well I'm not," Ichigo murmured, moving in to kiss him.

"Ichigo!" the door banged open and they leapt away from each other. Going red again, Ichigo looked towards the door and saw both of his sisters standing at the threshold.

He clesared his throat nervously. "Yeah?"

"Just ignor old goat-face. We really are happy for you, both of you," Karin said, looking between the two of them, a slight smile on her face.

"Yeah. And dad said it was about time you got with someone," Yuzu said happily.

"Stupid goat-face," Ichigo growled under his breath.

"And you!" Karin said firmly, pointing at Yumichika, who jumped at being addressed so suddenly. "If you hurt my brother, I will kill you."

"Got it," Yumichika said meekly. Ichigo's sister was terrifying.

"Leave him alone Karin," Ichigo said, pulling Yumichika down onto the bed next to him. The dark haired man squawked at the sudden movement and promptly fell into his lap. "He wouldn't do that."

"He'd better not," Karin said, glaring at Yumichika, who smiled back weakly. Definitely the most frightening person he had met.

"Well I was thinking of pizza for dinner, and everyone can make their own, so can you two tell me what you want on yours so that dad and I can get everything we need?" Yuzu said sweetly, her words instantly lightening the mood.

"Sure be down in a minute," Ichigo said.

With one last glare at the Soul Reaper, Karin turned on her heel and strode out of the room, yelling at her father when he started crying about how mean his son was to him. Yuzu smiled and took a few steps into the room, reaching into her pocket.

"Anyway, dad told me to give this to you," she said, handing the object in her hand to her brother. Then she skipped out of the room, muttering something about food.

Ichigo blinked. That had been...sudden.

"What did she give you?" Yumichika asked, pulling himself out of Ichigo's lap and pointing at his hand.

"Oh right. Its..." a vien popped in his forehead. His moronic father was going to die. He had given Yuzu a box of condoms for him. "Never mind," he mutterd, throwing the box across the room.

"But what was it?"

"Nothing."

"Its not nothing, I saw it."

"It doesn't matter."

"Fine," the man huffed, standing and flicking his hair over his shoulder. "I'll just look for myself."

"Don't."

Yumichika flashed him a smile. "Try and stop me."

In an instant he was across the room, picking the box up off the floor. Ichigo darted after him, grabbin his wrist before he could see what was written on the box. Yumichika flicked his wrist and tossed the box into his other hand, which he held out of the teen's reach. Giggling at Ichigo's struggles, he looked at the box.

"What are condoms?"

"They're...uh..."

"Used during sex?"

"...Yes..."

"Hmm. We don't have anything like this in the Soul Society," Yumichika said, taking a closer look at the box now that Ichigo was given up fighting him. "What are they for?"

"They're so women don't get pregnant, and they also help prevent infections and diseases that are transmitted during...you know..."

"Oh. Why did your dad give these to us?"

"I don't know. But I am going to kill him."


	9. Chapter 9

"Well kids, we made it!" Isshin exclaimed, standing confidently with his hands on his hips, grinning from ear to ear. "Ah! It's been too long since we last came to the beach!"

"Come on dad, it's not like what we're doing is dangerous," Karin grumbled.

"And it's not like it was hard to get here," Ichigo said exasperatedly.

"None the less, this is going to be an adventure for all of us!"

"I am seriously considering burying him neck deep in sand so that he can't bother us," Ichigo growled quietly.

"Don't be like that. I've never been to a beach before," Yumichika said happily.

"Really?" Ichigo said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We don't have beaches in the Soul Society, and I can't remember whether or not I ever went to a beach when I was alive."

"Wow. The Soul Society doesn't seem to have a lot of things that we have here."

"I know. But we do have some things that you don't have here."

"Like what?"

"Swords. Magic. You know."

"Yeah...I forgot," Ichigo said quietly, looking away slightly. Yumichika instantly felt bad that he had reminded Ichigo about what he had lost in return for defeating Aizen.

"Ichigo, I-."

"Come on kids! Frisbee!" Isshin yelled, throwing the frisbee at them. Ichigo wasn't paying attention and the toy hit him in the side of the head.

"God damn it old man! You are being buried up to your neck! And I'm going to leave you there!" Ichigo roared, clutching his head.

"Have to catch me first!" Isshin yelled. Seconds later he was being beaten into the sand by his son.

Sighing, but still smiling, Yumichika carried the esky down to where Yuzu and Karin were setting up an umbrella. He set the box in the shade and brushed his hair behind his ear, then looked out at the water. It was a beautiful sight, he had to admit. While he had seen the sun reflecting on rippling water before, he had never seen it on this scale. None of the rivers in the Soul Society could ever compare to the size of the sea.

He heard a shriek and looked over to see that Ichigo had successfully dug a big hold and was currently drowning his father in sand. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, the glare on the sand was almost blinding and he was squinting through the tinted glass.

When his father was completely buried up to his neck, Ichigo stamped down the sand around him a few times then walked calmly back to the umbrella as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. While to him and his family it was true, to the many other people on the beach, it was a bazaar thing to have witnessed.

"Better?" Yumichika asked with a smirk, leaning towards him as he sat himself down on the sand.

Ichigo nodded, a small grin on his face. The dark haired man sighed, shaking his head. No matter how long he stayed with them, he would probably never understand Ichigo's strange family. Or at least most of it. He understood his sisters just fine.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Isshin's loud whining about how hot it was and he would probably die of dehydration. Karin walked over to him put a hat on him to shut him up. It didn't work however, as moments later he was crying about how his kids didn't care for him at all and were more than willing to watch him die right there in front of them. Of course, no one was listening to him.

After she had finished setting everything up, Yuzu picked up a bucket and ran off to make a sand castle, dragging her less than enthusiastic cousin with her. Finally alone, Ichigo scooted closer to Yumichika and draped an arm around his shoulder. Pleased and slightly embarrassed by the gesture, Yumichika leaned into it, resting his head on the teen's shouler.

"You know you could have done this with your sisters here," he said softly.

"Yeah," Ichigo said softly, gently brushing his thumb along Yumichika's pale skin. "But this way it doesn't have to get awkward."

"My beautiful son! Why do want to keep us out of your love life when you know you have our full support?" Isshin wailed, currently trying to dig himself out of the ground with his chin.

"Aaaaand the moments gone," Ichigo growled, getting back to his feet. "Let's go swimming and ditch goat-face."

"But won't the water ruin my hair?" Yumichika said apprehensively as he was pulled to his feet.

"Not if you only go in up to your waist," Ichigo said. "Come one. It's fun," he smiled, almost completely losing his scowl and he entwined their fingers and gently tugged him in the direction of the water.

When they reached the damp sand Ichigo let his hand go and sprinted into the water, diving under a wave when he was only a few feet in. He broke the surface seconds after the wave had passed, his orange spikes damp and dripping. He flashed Yumichika a smile and started paddling out into slightly deeper water, floating on his face with his eyes closed. He was relaxed enough to not notice another wave behind him. When the water dumped on top of him he yelped and got back to his feet, glancing around warily for more stray waves.

Giggling, Yumichika took a few steps into the water, his toes sinking into the water clogged sand. The water was cool, but not chilling, and he ventured in up to his hips, following Ichigo's advice so his hair wouldn't get wet. He waited for a wave to pas and then sunk down onto his knees, allowing the water to cool his chest and back without him having to go out too deep. As another wave approached he moved to stand up, but strong hands pushed him directly into the oncoming water.

He let out an indignant squawk as he unexpectedly pitched forward, and without enough time to regain his balance, he went head first into the wave. The water hit him like a bucket of ice water. Luckily he had enough sense to not open his eyes or his mouth as the water covered him, otherwise he would have had a really bad time. Bad hair he could deal with, but it didn't mean he was happy about it.

Yumichika stood, wiping the salt water away from his eyes, coughing slightly. Behind him, he could hear Ichigo laughing. A vein popped in his forehead. So, he thought that this was funny, did he?

The Soul Reaper spun and leapt on top of the teen, making him lose his balance and fall backwards, with the other man sitting on top of him. Ichigo surfaced once again, spluttering and shook his head, causing a fine spray of water to fill the air around him.

"Not so nice, is it?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and standing in a pose of mock anger, and elegant eyebrow arched, staring down his nose.

"I don't know. Is it?" Ichigo asked, lunging forward and grabbing him around the middle. The both fell backwards with a loud splash, but stayed above the water, both laughing their heads off.

"I'm still not happy that you got my hair wet," Yumichika said, flicking the wet strands angrily as if to prove his point.

"Yeah well, you can wash it back at home," Ichigo replied, wrapping his arms around Yumichika from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder.

"Would you like to help me?" the older man said, pretending to be seductive.

"Only if you want me to," Ichigo whispered, his voice husky. They both looked at each other again for a few seconds before laughing again.

"On that topic though -," Ichigo started, but then two girls approached them and he went quiet.

"Um, sorry if this seems rude, but are you two, like, together?" one of them asked while the other giggled next to her.

"Uhh..."

"Yes!" Yumichika said, lifting his arms to wrap around Ichigo, a huge, glowing smile plastered on his face.

"Oh my god! You guys are so cute!"

"I've never actually seen a gay couple before!"

"I told Tomoko! I said they were together!"

"Good luck you guys!"

And with that the two girls left. Yumichika dropped his smile and let his arms fall away from around Ichigo, instead holding the hands around his waist.

"That was weird," he said.

"Yeah."

"Are there not many homosexual relationships in the World of the Living?"

"Well...there are, but society doesn't really approve of them," Ichigo said, giving his boyfriend a gently squeeze.

"Really? They're fine in the Soul Society. Or if they're not, no one cares because they're scared of the Captain-Class that are in gay relationships."

"What? Are there gay couples in the Soul Society?"

"Yup. Some of them are really obvious, like Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyoraku, while others try to keep it a bit more of a secret, like Shuhei and Izuru."

Ichigo hummed into his shoulder. "We should learn from them. It's like when people were fighting for interracial marriage. Its gonna happen, and some people just need to learn to get over it."

"You know," Yumichika said, turning in Ichigo's arms so that they were facing each other. "You really are wise beyond your years."

"Only in front of people I want to impress," Ichigo said with a smirk, leaning down and kissing his nose. Yumichika lifted his chin and the teen moved his attention down, pecking him lightly on the lips.

"Anyway, just before, you were going to ask me something," Yumichika said, pulling away slightly.

"Yeah. I was going to ask about...you know..." he trailed off.

Yumichika studied his face for a few seconds before realising what the teen was trying to say. "Are you talking about sex?"

The teen turned bright red and nodded. After a few seconds, he calmed himself down enough to continue with what he was saying. "It's just that, it's been over a month, and I just sometimes...uhhh...I don't know how to explain this."

"Don't worry about it. I know what you're getting at."

"Oh, okay. So..."

Yumichika silenced him with a quick kiss. He knew exactly how the teen felt – he felt that way right now. In past years, sex hadn't been on the top of his favourite things-to-do list, and he had never really had any good experiences with it, but seeing how nervous Ichigo was getting about the subject made something inside him say that if he did this, it would be different from all those other times.

"If..." he took a deep breath, his mind made up. "If you think that you're ready to try, then...next time your family isn't home?" he said softly.

"You...if you don't want to you don't have to force yourself to make me happy!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"No! No it's not that I don't want to, it's more like, I think this will be different. And not in a bad way," he added sternly when he saw the teen's doubtful look.

"Okay," Ichigo said in a small voice, looking away to hide him smile.

"And you can show me exactly what condoms are for."

"Why would you bring that up and spoil the moment?"

"It seemed appropriate considering the topic and what you told me about them."

"Yes. Right. But don't say stuff like that in public!"

"Stuff like what?"

The two men jumped, glancing around to see a sand-covered Isshin standing in the water a few feet away. From the look on his face, he hadn't heard the rest of their conversation, something which both of them were glad about.

"None of your business, old man," Ichigo growled.

"Are you having relationship issues? Let daddy help!"

"Get lost you pervert!"

"Is that anyway to speak to your father?"

"I am seriously going to get blood tests one day, just to prove that there is no way that we are related!"

"But you got your Soul Reaper powers from me!"

"Coincidence!"

"Or is it fate?"

"By saying that you're basically telling me we're not related!"

"That's not true!"

Giggling, Yumichika left the two to their argument, swimming back to the beach to help Yuzu with her sandcastle. Yeah. He would never get used to this family.


	10. Chapter 10

"This sunburn hurts like a bitch!" Ichigo whined, standing with his back to the mirror, trying to assess the damage.

"Well I did tell you to let me put more sun screen on your back after we got out of the water, but you were all 'No need, I've got tough skin, I'll be fine!' Not so fine now, are you?" Yumichika said to him sarcastically. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest, an amused smile on his face. The teen turned to glare at him, angry that his boyfriend was getting so much enjoyment out of this.

"Shut up, I'm not a beauty queen like you. I didn't think it would be this bad!" he growled.

"You think I'm beautiful?" Yumichika squealed, jumping up excitedly.

"I know you're beautiful, but that's not the issue here," Ichigo said, pulling him into a hug.

"Then what is it about?" the dark haired man asked, resting his hands on Ichigo's hips so that he wouldn't aggravate the sunburn.

"You were right. I was wrong. End of story," Ichigo said quickly, kissing him on the forehead before spinning them and striding down the hallway to the stairs.

"What was that? I didn't hear you!" Yumichika said in a sing-song voice, skipping after him.

"I said end of story," the teen yelled back from the bottom of the stairs.

"But you said it so quickly that I didn't hear the rest of it," he said, pouting when he caught up to the teen.

"Yes you did. Otherwise you wouldn't be bugging me now," Ichigo grumbled, searching through a cupboard in the kitchen. "Where the hell is it..." he muttered, reaching as far as he could into the depths of the dark cupboard.

"What have you lost?"

"Aloe Vera. It's good for sunburn," he replied, standing on his toes as he looked into another cupboard.

"Oh, right. Yuzu told me to tell you that there was none left, and that she went out to get some. She should be back soon," Yumichika said, taking half a step back.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Ichigo moaned, shutting the cupboard and turning to face him.

Yumichika shrugged. "I didn't know you were looking for it."

"Damn. Why can't she be back now," Ichigo muttered.

"Ichigo! We're home my son!" Isshin yelled, suddenly having appeared in the kitchen behind his son, smacking him on the back in greeting. The teen squawked as the hand came down hard on his sunburn and he arched away from it.

"You're dead old man!" he roared, spinning and kicking his father in the face, sending him flying though the window. Fuming, Ichigo stomped after him and proceeded to pound his father into the ground.

"What's up with Ichigo?" Yuzu asked, several large bags in her hands.

"His dad slapped his sunburn," Yumichika said dully, taking the bags from her and putting them on the counter. "Did you get the Aloe Vera?"

"Yes. It should be in that one," the girl said, pointing at the bag in the middle as she grabbed a stool and started the sort out the shopping.

Yumichika rummaged through the indicated bag, sorting things out as he removed them and found the tube he was looking for. Setting it aside, he helped the small brunette girl put the shopping away before grabbing it again and walking over to Ichigo, who was currently standing over the unmoving body of his father, making sure he didn't start moving again. The teen didn't notice him until he felt the cool gel being carefully rubbed into his raw, red skin. He hummed happily and looked over his shoulder, leaning back slightly so that he could give the dark haired man a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," he said softly as Yumichika continued to massage to gel into his back.

"You're welcome," he said back, kissing his shoulder and rubbing the excess gel onto Ichigo's stomach.

"Was that necessary?" Ichigo muttered, turning to face him.

"Of course it was. Isn't your stomach cooler now?"

"You just wanted to touch my abs."

"No. I needed to clean my hands."

"And touch my abs."

"...No..."

Ichigo chuckled and grabbed his hand, pulling him back into the house though the broken window. "You're not very convincing," he whispered, his breath tickling his boyfriend's ear.

"Ichigo...what about me...and the window?" Isshin said weakly, trying to pull himself out of the wreckage.

"You can stay there, and I'll let you fix the window."

"But-."

"I'll need to put on more aloe in a few minutes, once what I just put on has been absorbed completely. That way it will heal faster," Yumichika said, cutting him off.

"I have taught you well," Ichigo said with a laugh.

"Hey Yuzu, what ice cream did you buy?" asked Karin, who had just come into the room, completely undeterred by the hole in the wall where the window used to be.

"Yuzu bought ice cream?" Ichigo said, his head snapping towards where his sister was standing in the kitchen.

"Yep. I got chocolate, Karin," she said. "And you can't have any until after dinner Ichigo," she said sternly as her brother attempted to sneak past her and get to the freezer.

Pouting, the teen walked away, grumbling to himself. "Why would she say that when she knows chocolate is my favourite," he mumbled, dropping down heavily on the edge of the couch and picking up the remote. Yumichika sighed and stood behind him, opening the tube of Aloe Vera and starting to rub more into his burnt skin.

"You know, I won't be able to fix the window Ichigo," Isshin said, having finally got back to his feet and climbed back into the house.

"Huh? Why not?" the orange headed boy asked, not looking away from the television.

"I'm taking your sisters to the movies this afternoon."

"What? Why didn't you say anything earlier?" the teen growled, looking over at him.

"Slipped my mind?" Isshin offered, smiling widely. Ichigo threw his shoe at his face. "Besides, we're seeing something I'm sure you're not interested in seeing," he continued, blood dripping though his fingers that were clamped over his face.

"What is it?"

"Well, because the new movie is coming out soon, they're doing screenings of the Twilight movies and-."

"Enough! I'm not going."

"You were never invited," Karin said darkly from the doorway.

"And so we will be gone most of the afternoon and won't be back until dinner, and I know that you can fix a broken window, so I'll just leave it to you!" Isshin said quickly, ducking as a second shoe was thrown at him. "Come on girls, let's go!" he said, ushering his two daughters out of the room.

"But dad, you're bleeding!"

"Nothing an old shirt can't fix!"

"Don't worry about him Yuzu. Some blood loss might be good for him."

"But-."

"Onward! To the cinema!"

They heard the door shut and the house was suddenly quiet.

"Did that really just happen?" Yumichika asked quietly.

"Yeah, I think it did," Ichigo said slowly. "That bastard is making me fix the damn window!"

"Well you did break it," Yumichika said, moving to the kitchen and puting the rest of the groceries away.

"Not helping," Ichigo growled.

"Well if you want me to I will," Yumichika said.

"Nah, I've done it before. I only broke one pane of glass, and I know there are spares in one of the cupboards in the hall."

"Okay. I'll make some lunch."

Nodding, Ichigo disappeared down the hallway. When he was sure he was gone, Yumichika checked his pockets and rushed upstairs, yelling something about the bathroom. He dashed into the small tiled room and locked the door behind him. He then grabbed the Soul Candy dispenser out of his pocket and popped one of the pills into his mouth. A second later he was out of his gigai and brushing down his shihakshou.

"Stay here, and stay quiet," he said sternly to the gigai, which nodded and he opened the window, using his flashstep to get across town in a matter of seconds, stopping in front of a small candy shop in the middle of nowhere.

"My my, Mr Ayasegawa, I didn't expect to see you here," said a mocking voice from inside the store.

"Not now Urahara. I just came to buy something," he sighed, stepping into the cool shade inside the shop.

"Oh! And what can I do for you?" he said, stepping into view with his face hidden behind his fan.

"I want some chocolate. _Normal_ chocolate," he added, seeing a large grim peeking out from behind the fan.

"You're no fun."

"No, I just don't want you poisoning Ichigo," Yumichika said and the man in green walked over to one of his displays and started looking through it.

"So, it's for Ichigo is it?" he asked, unable to hide the excited tone in his voice.

"Yes," Yumichika said flatly.

"Ah, it's been so long since I last saw him. He was so much fun to have around," Urahara said with a sigh, looking absently up at the ceiling.

"Can you hurry up and give me what I asked for?" Yumichika said angrily. He honestly didn't know how Renji had put up with living with the man.

"Of course, of course. I'm just an old man reminiscing about the old days," he said, waving the dark haired man off with his fan. "Here you go. Just chocolate, like you wanted."

Yumichika took the block from him and smiled, tossing him some money and flashstepping off as the man opened his mouth to speak again. The moment he was back in the bathroom he slipped back into his gigai, spitting the Soul Candy out into the sink. He then flushed the toilet, splashed some water on his face and dashed back down the stairs. Ichigo turned as he came in and he hid the chocolate behind his leg.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked, stepping into the kitchen and quickly hiding the chocolate behind the toaster.

"Uh...something spicy," he said, turning back to his task. He had already cleaned up the broken glass and was getting ready to lift the new pane into place.

"Well that's helpful," Yumichika said under his breath. Sighing, he began searching through the cupboards, hoping that he could find something simple to cook. Luckily he quickly came across a spicy noodle soup base that he could add things to. After quickly checking the fridge, he had everything he needed and started cooking.

By the time he had two bowls of soup on the table, Ichigo had finished putting the new glass in place and the window looked like nothing had ever happened.

"Man, I can't believe that Yuzu would buy chocolate ice cream and not let me have any. That's basically torture for me," Ichigo whined, dropping into his chair and picking up his spoon.

"Just eat and stop complaining," Yumichika said, waving him off as he started to eat.

"But you don't get it! Chocolate is my favourite and for Yuzu to not let me-."

"Look. I just _might_ have some of my own, but if you don't eat, then you won't find out, okay? Good? Now eat," the Soul Reaper snapped, arching an elegant eyebrow. Ichigo stared at him for a moment before diving into his meal. Smirking, Yumichika did the same, although not at the same speed that the teenager did.

When both bowls were empty Yumichika stacked them together and carried them into the kitchen to clean them. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the eager look on Ichigo's face as he waited for him to finish. Smirking, he turned his attention to washing the dishes at a purposefully slow pace. He could hear Ichigo shuffling around behind him impatiently and his smirk grew wider. As he began drying the bowls he felt arms circle his waist and pull him against a strong chest.

"Yu~mi," Ichigo whined, rocking him from side to side and resting his chin on his shoulder. "You said that you might have something for me."

"Did I?" Yumichika asked, turning his head slightly and gazing at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I don't remember."

"You did. And you said it was chocolate," the teen said, kissing along his jaw up to his ear and nipping the lobe.

"Really?" he put down the bowl and turned in Ichigo's arms to face him.

"Yes."

"Well, I might just have to look for it," the dark haired man said, but didn't move away from the embrace.

"Please," Ichigo said, pouting.

Yumichika sighed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. "O~kay. Go stand at the door and don't you look!" he said threateningly, pushing Ichigo away and wagging his finger at the teen.

Smiling, Ichigo turned and walked to the door with his hands up in the air as though in surrender. He looked over his shoulder and Yumichika crossed his arms defiantly, glaring at the teen until he laughed and looked away. The dark haired man waited a few seconds then leaned across the counter and grabbed the chocolate from its hiding place. Hiding it behind his back he crept towards Ichigo and tapped him on the shoulder.

Ichigo turned with a large grin on his face and tried to grab the chocolate from Yumichika's hands when he saw it, but the dark haired man jumped back, waving the sweet in front of his boyfriend's face.

"Are you flirting?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow as he attempted to snatch the chocolate out of the air again.

"Maybe..." Yumichika said in a low voice. "Do you like it?"

"I might," Ichigo said in a similar tone. "And I might be remembering what we were talking about yesterday."

"Oh?" the smaller man stepped forward, looking up at the teen in a way that made his hair fall over his face.

"And I might just want to go through with it," Ichigo whispered, pressing his lips against Yumichika's ear.

"Yeah...that sounds like fun," he said, his voice husky.

The younger man raised his hand to gently run his fingers through the fine black hair covering the others face, brushing it out of the way so he could see his whole face. Yumichika leaned into the touch, reaching up to cover Ichigo's hand with his own. The two leaned towards each other and their lips met gently, eyes fluttering shut at the sensation. Ichigo's other hand snaked around his waist and pulled him closer, while he blindly reached back and dropped the chocolate, now forgotten, on the counter.

Without breaking the kiss Ichigo pulled them out of the kitchen, stopping in the hallway as his partner pushed him against the wall. He turned his head sideways and opened his mouth, running his tongue along the taller youth's lips. His silent plea was answered when he was allowed access, and Ichigo moved his hands down to his hips, running his thumbs along his hips bones.

Ichigo groaned when delicate hands wound around his back, pulling him closer still and grinding their hips together. He slid his hands further back, gripping his backside and lifting him off the ground. Yumichika wrapped his legs around the teen's waist and gripped his shoulders tightly.

Breaking out of the kiss, Yumichika made a trail of wet kissed along the teens jaw and down his neck, stopping at the junction of his shoulder to bite at the hot skin in front of him. The teen groaned again and moved away from the wall, carrying the smaller man up the stairs and into his bedroom. He kicked the door shut behind him and strode across the room, carefully laying his lover on his bed and crawling on top of him, laying kisses across his collar while his hands reached blindly for the bottom of Yumichika's shirt.

When his fingers found what he was looking for he lifted his head so he could pull the shirt off and attacked the newly shown skin as soon as the fabric was gone. Yumichika gasped when he felt hot breath on his chest, followed instantly by even hotter lips that seemed determined to cover every inch if bare skin. He looked down at Ichigo and whined when he saw that he still had his shirt on. Frowning, he grabbed at his collar and tugged at it, forcing the teen to sit up and the shirt was wrenched from his body and tossed carelessly to the other side of the room.

Both men now shirtless, wet, open mouth kisses littered each other's faces as hands explored each other's body. When Ichigo's calloused fingers brushed against one of Yumichika's nipples he hissed, arching his back and involuntarily grinding their hips together, both noticing the others obvious arousal. They both moaned at the contact and hands instantly moved to fumble with each other's pants and try and pull them away.

Growling at unsuccessful attempts to remove his lover's pants the teen pulled away to look down and managed to tear the pants away, taking his boxers with them. Yumichika gasped as his erection was freed, rolling his head back, his eyes lidded and glazed with lust. Ichigo swallowed when he saw his partner's member. Although he really wanted to go through with this, actually seeing another man's arousal made his throat go dry. Nervously, he reached down to wrap a hand tentatively around the hot flash in front of him.

"Oh god...Ichigo..." Yumichika moaned, his own hands still weakly trying to get rid of Ichigo's pants.

"You're amazing, Yumichika...so beautiful," the teen breathed, using his free hand to help the dark haired man drag his pants away and free his own arousal. The moment he kicked his pants away he felt slender fingers grip his member. He groaned leaned down to kiss Yumichika hard.

He ran his other hand over the pale skin below him, sliding it down between his legs, searching between the crevice of his backside until he felt what he was looking for. He slowly pressed his finger down, but Yumichika gasped and pushed him away, breathing heavily and not looking at him. Ichigo felt his heart skip, thinking that he'd hurt him somehow or made him afraid of something.

"Yumichika, shit! Sorry! What did I do? I didn't mean to-." The dark haired man lifted a hand and covered his mouth. He took a few deep breaths, then looked up at the wide eyed, apologetic looking teen.

"You didn't do anything wrong Ichigo. It's just...you need to put something on your fingers before you do that...otherwise you'll hurt me,' he said breathily, moving his hand to stoke the teen's cheek. "In the top drawer...of your desk...I have some moisturizer you can use."

Nodding, Ichigo stepped off the bed and opened the drawer, instantly seeing what he was looking for. As he picked it up, he saw a box of condoms that his father must have put there while he wasn't in the room. Sighing he flicked the box open and grabbed one of them before returning to the bed. Yumichika reached up and tangled his fingers through the orange spikes, dragging him down and connecting their lips gently.

Ichigo crawled on top of him, running his empty hand across Yumichika's toned stomach, wiping away the thin layer of sweat on his skin. He dropped the rubber on the pillow next to the silky black hair and popped open the cap on the moisturizer, squirting some on his fingers and looking up at Yumichika nervously. The older man gave him a small smile and moved himself slightly further down the mattress, spreading his legs on either side of the teen and lifting his hips slightly.

"Just go slow, and everything will be fine," Yumichika said, his voice breathless, running both his hands across Ichigo's neck and shoulders. Truth be told, that was more of a reassurance for himself than his nervous partner. While he trusted Ichigo completely, he was still frightened to the core as he remembered his past experiences. He tensed slightly when he felt the first cold, slick finger probed at his entrance, and Ichigo leaned forward, planting soft kisses on his cheeks as he pushed the digit inside.

After a while of moving his finger in and out, he moved his kisses to his partner's neck and stayed there, nipping at the pale skin hard enough to leave a mark. Yumichika moaned, throwing his head back and grinding his hips down, pushing Ichigo's finger deeper inside him. The teen took this as an indication to go further and slid a second finger into his lover.

Another wonton moan escaped his lips at the feeling. This was so vastly different from every other time he had been with someone. Ichigo was so gentle, trying so hard not to hurt him. He loved it, with every fibre of his being. This was what it was supposed to feel like when two people had sex.

Ichigo spread his fingers as he slipped in a third finger. His entire body felt hot, his mind was hazy and he was having trouble focusing in anything but the beautiful man writhing underneath him. Even though he was flushed and sweaty, Ichigo could saw without a doubt that he was completely stunning.

"Is...is it okay now?" he breathed, resting his forehead on Yumichika's.

"Yes," Yumichika breathed, wrapping his arms around the teen's shoulders.

He let out a small gasp as the fingers were removed, missing the feeling slightly. Ichigo picked up the condom from where he'd put it earlier, tore it open and slowly rolled it down over his erection. Yumichika turned his head sideways, watching him with a curious, lustful expression on his face.

"So that's what it's for," he murmured, rolling his hips slightly as Ichigo lined himself up with his entrance.

"Ready?" Ichigo asked softly.

"Yeah...but go slow...just a bit at a time..." the older man said. Ichigo nodded, leaned forward and slowly eased his throbbing member into the tight heat below him.

Yumichika hissed at the initial feeling of being penetrated. It had been a while since he had done anything, but it wasn't as bad as usual. He supposed it was because of the lubricated condom the teen was wearing. At the sound of discomfort Ichigo froze, but the slender fingers pulling at his shoulders, encouraging him to continue made him press forward again. He stopped every few seconds, rolling his hips slightly to get his lover used to the feeling. It wasn't long before he was fully seated inside Yumichika, whose face showed slight discomfort.

"You okay?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair out of his face. His breathing was laboured and heavy, his eyes lidded with a lusty haze. He felt amazing, better than he had ever felt before in his life.

"Yeah," Yumichika said, rolling his hips upwards, making the teen above him moan and shudder. "You can move now. But...slowly."

Nodding, Ichigo slowly pushed his hips forward, holding onto his lover's hips as he pulled put halfway, before pushing back in, a slight bit more forcefully. The other man moaned and wrapped his arms around the teen's shoulders, pulling him closer as he gradually began to move faster. When his prostate was brushed, he gasped loudly, arching his back and wrapping his legs around Ichigo's waist.

Smirking, the teen buried his face in the crook of his lover's neck, kissing and sucking at the sweaty, sweet flesh. Not wanting to be out done, Yumichika ground his hips upwards and tightened his legs, pulling him closer. Ichigo hit his pleasure spot again and he cried out, throwing his head back and digging his fingers into his muscular back. Ichigo growled, gritting his teeth when Yumichika tightened around him.

"God...Yumi...you're amazing..." he moaned, running his hands along Yumichika's hips, nuzzling his forehead under his chin.

"Ichigo...touch me...please..." Yumichika murmured, arching his spine and brushing his own aching arousal against his lover's muscular stomach. His plea was answered almost instantly by strong, calloused fingers wrapping around his length and stroking it in time with the thrusts.

It wasn't long before the room was filled with the sound wonton moans and pleasured cries as the two moved in time with each other, caressing and touching gently, sharing kisses and soft words every so often. Yumichika could feel the coil of pleasure pooling in his groin getting close to breaking. He reached up and grabbed Ichigo by the hair, pulling him down and kissing him, hard. Ichigo gave a particularly powerful thrust and the coil snapped.

A loud, wordless cry escaped him as he climaxed, throwing his head back against the pillow and releasing his essence over his stomach and Ichigo's hand. Feeling the walls around him tighten and he let himself go, groaning loudly. He continued rolling his hips lazily as he rode out his orgasm, pulling out completely and rolling to lie at Yumichika's side.

They lay together for a while, the silence of the room broken only by the sounds of heavy breaths. As he felt the pleasurable haze fade from his mind to be replaced with a sleepy one, Ichigo leaned back and grabbed a handful of tissues from his desk and used them to clean up his dozing partner. He rolled onto his back and tossed them into the bin. He then peeled the used condom off his now flaccid member, tied a knot in it and threw it into the bin as well.

Rolling back onto his side, he saw that Yumichika's breathing had evened out and that he was nor sleeping contently. A small smile flashing across his lips, Ichigo pulled the blanket out from underneath them and threw it over their bodies, wrapping an arm around Yumichika. At the new feeling of warmth the dark haired man nuzzled his face into the teen's chest, murmuring incoherently. Slipping his other arm under the lithe body against him, Ichigo pulled him close, kissed the top of his head and soon followed him into the world of slumber.


	11. Chapter 11

That had to be the most boring afternoon of Isshin's life so far. He would never tell his daughters, but those movies had been awful. In truth, only Yuzu actually liked the films – Karin just watched them to laugh at how stupid the plot was, and how the main character was choosing between necrophilia and bestiality. Both concepts were completely disturbing and just plain weird.

It was a relief when it was all finally over and they were headed back home. The sun was close to setting, and he decided that it was too much effort for them to make dinner when they got home, so instead he dragged the two girls into a pizza shop and ordered four, knowing that there were two boys back at home, and that they could both easily consume an entire pizza each by themself.

By the time they reached home, the sun was no longer visible above the horizon, and street lamps had begun to flicker and spark to life along the road, guiding them on their way home with the steaming boxes of pizza. As they approached the door, Isshin noticed with a frown that no lights were on anywhere inside the house and that when he tried the door, he found it locked. That meant that the boys hadn't been out of the house since they'd left. Frown deepening, he awkwardly fished his keys out of his back pocket, trying not to drop the four large square boxes in his arms.

He stepped over the threshold and his two daughters rushed past him, Yuzu flicking on the lights as she went in after slipping off her shoes. Grumbling, Isshin lent against the wall as he took off his own shoes using only his feet as his hands were otherwise occupied.

"Yuzu! Get some plates ready!" he called down towards the kitchen where he knew his lovely daughter would be. "Karin! Go find your brother!"

"You find him!" Karin yelled back from the living room.

"But I'm holding the food!" he whined, walking into the kitchen and pouting.

"Then put it down and go find him yourself," the raven haired girl growled, picking up the remote and flicking on the television, without turning to look at her father.

"Why don't you love your daddy?" Isshin sobbed, putting the pizza down in the bench and gazing at the back of his daughter's head, his face one of mock distress.

"Because you're an ass. Now go find Ichigo so we can eat!"

Grumbling nonsense about being unloved he turned around and walked out of the kitchen, purposely making himself walk slowly just to rile up his daughter. When she threw the remote at him he sped up and dashed out of the room to locate his son.

Seeing as there was no light on anywhere in the house, back yard included, he came to the conclusion that either they had gone out, or they had been kidnapped. A bit drastic yes, but that was just the way his mind worked. He walked over to the phone in the hallway and dialled Ichigo's phone, holding the receiver up to his ear. He needn't have bothered though, as moments later he heard the ringtone going off in the living room. Hanging up, he made his way to the stairs, walking up them slowly as thoughts raced though his head. Maybe they really had been kidnapped?

When he reached the room marked with the number fifteen he paused and leaned towards the wood, pressing his ear against it. Hearing no sounds coming from inside the room he grabbed the handle and eased the door open a fraction, peeking inside. He could see almost nothing inside the room, mainly because the room was dark and he was standing in a well lit hallway. He quickly walked back down the hall and switched the light off before hurrying back to the door.

When he stepped inside again, he was greeted with a sight he had not been expecting. The room was lit with a pale glow from the moon light that was filtering in through the window, illuminating the two figures lying curled around each other on the bed. Ichigo had his back to the door, and was both arms wrapped almost protectively around the smaller man, who had his face buried against the teen's chest, leaving only his hair visible. He could also see their entangled feet at the other end of the bed.

A small smile forming on his lips Isshin stepped out of the room, closing the door gently behind him. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he made his way back down the stairs, pondering the current situation. While it would be perfectly fine for the two boys to wake up later and eat their food then, he knew that would mean that they wouldn't go back to bed until quite a bit later, and therefore would be up late the next day. As he had made plans to persuade the two to help him weed the garden in the morning, then sleeping in would not play into in hands.

That meant that he had to wake them up.

While it would be hilarious fun to barge into their room and wake them from their content, happy slumber, he didn't want to embarrass his son to that extent. Not yet anyway. That meant that he needed to work out some solution that would wake them, but not involve any direct contact. He needed to make enough noise downstairs so that they wouldn't get suspicious of him, and discover that he had walked in on them in their sleeping embrace.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, a plan formed in his mind, and a wicked grin spread across his face. He knew the _perfect_ way to cause enough commotion to wake them up, but it would probably cause him injury. Still, if this plan worked, then he would have the wonderful opportunity to give the boys knowing glances across the table while they ate. Now _that_ would make Ichigo squirm.

His mind made up, Isshin marched back into the kitchen, a determined expression on his face. Both daughters looked up at him as he stepped into the room; Yuzu from setting the table, Karin from where she still hadn't moved from the couch. Karin gave him a sideways look and frowned.

"Hey goat-face, where the hell's Ichigo?" Karin growled at him.

Isshin took a deep breath and launched himself at her. "Darling daughter, why must you be so cruel to your one and only father!" he cried loudly, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her into a bear hug.

"Get off me you perverted freak!" Karin yelled, freeing one of her arms and punching him in the face.

"Beautiful child! Why would you beat me! I am only showing you my love!"

"You're such a weirdo!"

Isshin was thrown off his daughter and crashed into the wall, sliding down it to land on his head. Somewhere on the floor above him he heard hurried voices and loud footsteps rushing about. So, his plan had succeeded, and those two were finally awake.

"Darling daughter, why must you be so cruel to your one and only father!"

Ichigo's eyes snapped open the moment he heard his father's words. He lifted his head and glanced out the window. The sky was dark and the street lights were on. Looking back over his shoulder he saw the time illuminated on his clock. It was after seven. His family was home.

"Damn," he muttered, sitting up. He felt a weight on his chest move and looked down, seeing Yumichika frowning up at him.

"Why did you wake me up?" the raven haired man asked sleepily.

"They're back. We need to get up," Ichigo said, leaning down to kiss Yumichika's forehead.

"What time is it?" Yumichika asked, sitting up and stretching his back, groaning as tension in his muscles was released.

"After seven."

"We slept for a while."

"Yeah," Ichigo smiled and pulled the blanket off their bodies, swinging his feet over the edge to rest flat on the floor.

Yawning slightly, Yumichika crawled to the end of the bed and reached down, groping blindly in the dark room for his bag of clothes. He found a pair of light trousers and pulled them on without bothering to put on underwear. At the same time Ichigo was on the other side of the room, rifling through his drawers in search of something to wear. When they heard a loud thud below them they both froze and looked down for a few seconds before continuing to look for clothes, only much faster than before.

Ichigo was only just pulling a shirt over his head when the door opened and light poured into the room. Both boys blinked and looked over, unable to see the face of whoever had opened the door. The figure standing on front of them was unmistakeable however, and as usual, Ichigo stepped sideways as his father came flying towards him, landing in a heap on the other side of the room.

"What the hell dad?" Ichigo growled, glaring at him.

"Dinner is ready..." Isshin said, trying to pick himself up from the floor, only to be kicked down again by his son.

"Thanks for telling me that. Now I can eat all of your food too!"

"No! Don't eat my food! I need to eat too!"

"Too bad!"

Yumichika sighed and walked past them, shrugging at Yuzu when she popped her head inside the room to see what was going on. The smell of food hitting his nose he perked up and skipped down the stairs towards the kitchen, ignoring the pain in his lower back. He saw Karin picking up slices of pizza from one of the boxes on the bench. Humming happily to no one in particular, he grabbed a plate for himself, picket out a few different slices and raced Karin back to the couch.

When the other three family members made their way back into the kitchen, they saw the two raven haired individuals taking up as much space on the couch as they could. Grumbling, Ichigo grabbed himself some food and marched over to the couch. He looked at Yumichika with a serious expression for a few moments before sitting down on his legs.

Yumichika squealed and tucked his legs up to his chest, glaring at the teen who just smiled smugly back at him. Seconds later, Yumichika made a small whining noise as he felt something pull in his back painfully. Ichigo stopped smiling and reached an arm around behind him, rubbing small circles into the area in what he hoped was a soothing manner. The dark haired man smiled up at him gratefully and gave him a peck on the cheek

Yuzu and Karin gave them both a weird look, but Isshin completely ignored the exchange, sitting on the floor since there was no more room on the couch. He grabbed the remote and switched the T.V station to the news and started eating. None of the others payed any attention to him, except for Karin who stole the remote off him and changed it back to the anime she had been watching before. When her father tried to get the remote back the dark haired girl kicked him in the face and held it out of his reach. He eventually gave up and went back to his food, giving sideways glances towards the two young men sitting nearby.

"So, what did you two get up to today?" he asked slyly, leaning towards them and raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

They both swallowed and looked at each other nervously.

"Uhh...you know..." Ichigo said slowly.

"Well we...uh..." Yumichika continued, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, why were you sleeping in the afternoon?" Yuzu asked, looking at them with a confused expression on her face.

"We were...we went on a run to the park and just messed around," Ichigo said, trying his best to sound convincing. It didn't fool Yumichika, but the other three seemed convinced.

"Yeah, and I haven't done anything physical like that in a while, so I was completely worn out and I also sprained my ankle and Ichigo had to carry me home," Yumichika added, giving the teen a meaningful look.

"Oh, so that's why you were limping," Karin said, glancing over at him.

"Yeah...that's why I was limping," Yumichika said, trying not to smirk when Ichigo choked on his food, coughing violently. The raven haired man patted him on the back and giggled.

Isshin raised an eyebrow at them, but said nothing, only making a swipe at his daughter in an effort to get the remote off her. By doing so, the girl kicked him again and he crashed into Ichigo, knocking his food to the floor. The teen growled and kicked him in the back, throwing him to the other side of the room. He leaned down and handed the remote back to his sister before standing, picking up his now inedible food and going into the kitchen to throw it away and get more.

Still giggling, and now no longer noticing the dull throbbing in his back Yumichika leaned back into the cushions behind him and sighed. He definitely enjoyed being here in the World of the Living, and especially loved being with Ichigo's family. He couldn't remember laughing this much in a long time, and then at those times he had usually been drunk, or somewhat tipsy. He didn't need that to laugh in this house. Everything here was absolutely perfect, just the way it was.


	12. Chapter 12

Perhaps it was because they had been together for so long, but now that Yumichika wasn't within arm's length, Ikkaku realised how boring his life actually was without the flamboyant man. All he ever seemed to do was wander around aimlessly, looking for someone to fight or getting drunk with the other Lieutenants. While he would admit that his life with Yumichika wasn't that much different, when he was there they had at least had somewhat intellectual conversations and thoroughly enjoyable fights. Now all he was left with were rookies fresh from the Academy who couldn't hope to beat him at any point within the next several decades.

Sighing, he took a swig from his bottle of sake and rested his chin on the wooden table he was sitting at. His life was boring. There was nothing more to it. Yumichika at least made him do stuff, even if he didn't enjoy the stuff they were doing, like shopping or going to tea houses. On rare occasions Yumichika would even take him to natural hot springs that he had found and they would bath in the hot water without the having to worry about someone bothering them. Once or twice Ikkaku had tried to go back by himself, but for some reason he could never find them without the dark haired man.

"What has you so depressed?" Rangiku asked, slapping him on the back and pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ikkaku asked glumly, not bothering to raise his head off the table as he looked up at her.

"Seriously? You've been sighing for the past ten minutes," Renji said, grabbing a new bottle of sake.

"S~o, what's on your mind?" Rangiku asked, leaning towards him with a big grin plastered to her face. The woman always was one for gossip, no matter what the topic was or who the story concerned.

"Nothing," Ikkaku said grumpily.

"Well it has to be something," said Iba.

"Yeah, so spill it. What's eating you – woman troubles? Squad issues? What is it?" Shuhei asked.

"None of the above," Ikkaku growled, straightening his back and allowing his head to loll back over his shoulders. He didn't want to talk about this. It was a stupid topic, one that wasn't worth words. "And it ain't any of your business, so just shut up and leave me alone."

"Nuh uh," Rangiku pressed, leaning into him and resting her head on his chest. "You're gonna tell us what's bothering you."

"You're way too drunk to talk to," Ikkaku told her.

"No I'm not," she said, before starting to draw nonsense patterns on his chest.

"Yes you are," Ikkaku said, pushing her off him and into Izuru, who fell off his chair with her on top of him, not expecting the sudden weight to be dumped on him. As he tried vainly to push her off him, Rangiku giggled at his befuddled expression.

"Stop being mean," Shuhei said, stumbling to his feet to help Izuru.

"I'm not. I just want you to leave me alone."

"Now now now, let's all just be friends here, okay?" a hand slapped Ikkaku's shoulder making him jump and whirl around. "Good evening to ya. Mind if I join?" asked Captain Kyoraku, waving at the group.

"Of course you can Captain!" said Renji, raising his drink in greeting.

There were a few seconds of commotion as everyone at the table shuffled around to accommodate the newcomer. After everyone had settled there was a round of 'cheers' and the table went quiet as the Soul Reapers downed their drinks. Not feeling in the mood, Ikkaku didn't join, choosing instead to stare blankly at his bottle of sake. The happy moods surrounding him weren't doing anything to improve his own mood, and if anything it just made him feel more depressed and lonely.

"So, Madarame, what's got you in such a foul mood this fine evening?" the Captain asked him, setting his drink down in front of him so he could get a better look at the third seat.

"He won't tell us," Rangiku whined, having pulled herself off the floor to move around the table and drape herself over the captain sleepily. "He's being a big meany!"

"Aw, come on now, you can tell me, can't you?" Shunsui asked, smiling broadly and tilting his head sideways.

"No way," Ikkaku growled.

"I will pull rank on you," the captain said, suddenly serious.

A nerve twitching in his forehead, Ikkaku glared at the Squad 9 Captain. "You guys are all assholes, you know that?"

"Just tell us and we'll leave you alone," Renji hissed, throwing a toothpick at him, which missed by a few inches in his inebriated state.

"Fine! I miss Yumichika and I'm fucking bored without him around! Happy?" he growled, jumping to his feet. Before anyone at the table had a chance to say anything he pulled a handful of coins out of his pocket, even though it wasn't his turn to pay the tab, tossed them onto the table and stormed out of the bar.

The moment he stepped over the threshold he was soaked. It had been so loud inside that he hadn't heard the thunder or the rain. Grumbling, he wrapped his arms tightly around himself and started jogging back to his barracks, now eager for a hot shower and perhaps depletion of his personal supply of sake. That did seem to be what this night wanted him to do, but not in the company of others. He frowned as he ducked under a wide awning as the wind began to pick up, making his already cold body shiver. The nerve of those guys. He thought that they would at least have the decency to respect the fact that he didn't want to talk about something so stupid.

There was a crack of thunder followed seconds later by a sharp bolt of lightning that illuminated the street for a brief instant before it was once again plunged into darkness. Pulling the collar of his uniform up closer around his neck he hurried off again, now very keen for that shower. It had been a while since he'd had a proper soak. The last time had been…in South Rukon with Yumichika. The flamboyant man had once again taken him to a tea house and then a hot spring to appease him. Ikkaku sighed at the thought. Yumichika always seemed to know how to make it up to him or make him feel better if he was upset. Usually with hot springs but sometimes with surprises like sake or hollow hunts.

He could really use one of the man's surprises now.

Fuck, now he sounded like a woman.

Cursing silently at himself for being so weak he hurried back to his house. Numb fingers made him fumble with his keys as he tried to get the right one in the lock and he swore again, this time audibly. This night really had something against him. He finally got the key into the lock and he shoved the door open not bothering to kick his sandals off as he marched inside, locking the door behind him before heading into the kitchen. As he rifled around in the cupboard he paused and looked at his feet. A small pool of water had gathered around his feet and as he looked back he could see a trail of water leading to him from the door.

_Don't you come marching in here with your clothes like that! You'll make the floor filthy and have you ever tried getting water out of tatami mats?_

Ikkaku chucked at the memory. His friend had smacked him over the head for that before forcing him to strip where he stood and immediately mop the floor. He glanced down at his wet clothes for a moment before untying his obi and peeling his wet clothes off his body. Not bothering about his nakedness he hurried to the laundry and dumped his clothes in the washer, grabbing a yukata from his bedroom on the way back. He then grabbed the mop and started cleaning up his mess.

When he was done he was no longer thinking about food. Instead he trudged to the bathroom and turned the shower on as hot as it would go, pulled off his yukata and stepped under the scolding stream of water. He didn't bother trying to decipher the mass of coloured bottles that Yumichika kept on a rack on the back wall of the shower and was content with simply standing in the water, letting the heat flow over him, relaxing tense muscles in his back and shoulders.

A sigh escaping him, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against the cool, tiled wall of the shower. He had realised that since Yumichika had been gone he's thought about him a hell of a lot more. Either that or he always thought about him this much but never noticed it before. Maybe in the morning he would ask his Captain if he knew when Yumichika would be getting back. Although if he did, then his Captain would probably think he was being weak and then beat him into the ground. He wasn't in the mood to have his ass handed to him.

Thinking that he should actually wash properly she lifted his head and stared at the coloured bottles on the wall. He had no idea which one was soap, and Yumichika had thrown out his simple bar of soap, claiming that it 'wasn't beautiful enough to be in his bathroom'. They had gotten into quite an argument over it. Smirking at the memory he rifled through them, finding one that actually had the word soap on it, poured a good amount onto his hand and lathered his body in what he found to be cinnamon scented soap. Not something that Ikkaku was terribly fond of.

After he had rid his body of the odd smelling bubbles, Ikkaku turned off the stream of water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing one of the fluffy towels that Yumichika kept in a pile next to the sink. Ikkaku paused and looked down at the towel in his hand. He was beginning to realise how much the dark haired man did for him. He did the cooking, a majority of the cleaning and overall he kept the house in order.

What if he never came back?

The thought came out of nowhere and the concept shocked him of course Yumichika was going to come back. He had to. It was his duty as a Soul Reaper. No one had ever mentioned that he was going to be gone for good, so there was absolutely no reason for him to have any thoughts along those lines. He was just being stupid.

Now angry at himself, he dried off and pulled his yukata back on before storming back into the kitchen to get his sake. He wrenched the cupboard open and reached into the back corner, pulling out two bottles of sake and slamming the cupboard shut after. He carried the two bottles into the living room and dumped them on the table before going back into the kitchen to get something to eat. As he walked back into the living room, he heard a distinct knocking noise that wasn't from the thunder.

Raising an eyebrow, he walked over to the front door, noticing that the knocking got louder. Coming to the conclusion that someone was outside, he unlocked the door and saw to his surprise and annoyance that a soaked Renji was grinning at him from his porch.

"Yo!" the red head said happily.

"What do you want?" Ikkaku growled.

"Can I come in?"

Ikkaku glared at him for a few seconds before sighing. "Stay here. I'll get you a towel and something dry to wear."

"Thanks."

The bald man went back into the house to grab the towel and one of his yukata's before walking back to the door. He didn't make a hurry out of it, making sure that Renji had to wait longer in the rain than was necessary. Without saying anything he held the towel up for the lieutenant who stepped inside and quickly removed his clothes as Ikkaku closed the door behind him. Once Renji was out of his wet clothes and they were in the wash they found themselves sitting awkwardly opposite each other in the living room.

"So, what do you want?" Ikkaku growled after a few minutes of silence.

"I…uh…I just wanted to say sorry for earlier. It wasn't any of my business and I didn't help the situation," Renji said, scratching the back of his neck, embarrassed.

Ikkaku wasn't convinced. "That could have waited for tomorrow. What do you really want?"

"Uh…" Renji looked away for a moment, trying to get the right words. "I just wanted to…see…uh…"

"Hurry up."

"Right. Look, I was just thinking that maybe there was a reason why you got so defensive earlier, you know, about Yumichika?"

"Yeah? What of it?" Ikkaku was getting impatient.

Renji swallowed and looked up at his sempai. "Are you in love with Yumichika?"


	13. Chapter 13

Yumichika liked the roof of the Kurosaki household. Mainly because the roof was on the perfect angle for him to be able to lie on it without sliding off while he sunbathed. Although he knew the possible risks that came with tanning, he rarely got the chance to do something as relaxing. He didn't go up to the roof with the intention of tanning, but instead he did it so that he could have some quiet time to himself. As much as he loved being considered a part of the Kurosaki family, there were times when he found being inside the house to be to chaotic. So when it got like this, he escaped to relax on the roof.

He found himself up there currently. Lunch had been less than an hour ago and during the meal Isshin had brought up the fact that Karin was much less feminine than her sister. Being the man that he was, Isshin had insisted that she needed to wear more skirts and start doing what he considered to be girly things. Karin of course had snapped at him, saying that she didn't care but her father refused to listen. A full blown argument had started and when Ichigo had joined in to try and silence them, Yumichika had slipped away, not wanting to get involved. It was only a stupid argument, but that didn't mean he wanted to get caught up in it if he didn't need to.

The sun was warm enough that he felt comfortable lying on the roof without his shirt on, but not so that hot that is made the metal roof below him too hot to lie on. He was loving the sunglasses that he had sneakily bought when he went out shopping with Ichigo. The best thing about them was that they made the area over his eyes dark enough that he didn't feel the need to open his eyes and squint past the glare. He was so content and comfortable that he was considering taking a nap, but before he could allow himself to drift off he heard the telltale clatter of a window opening below him. A few seconds later he could hear someone climbing onto the roof and a shadow passed over him making him frown, but he didn't open his eyes. The person sat down next to him and he felt fingers running casually through his hair.

"What you doing up here?" Ichigo asked in a voice that wasn't loud enough to break the tranquillity of the moment.

"Thinking about taking a nap," he murmured, opening his eyes and tilting his head to the side so he could look at the teen. "Everything okay down there?"

Ichigo chuckled and lay down next to him. "Yeah. We locked the old man in the downstairs closet and Karin has the key. He won't be getting out any time soon."

"Your dad's nice, but also a bit eccentric," Yumichika said with a giggle.

"Don't I know it," the teen turned to face him, reaching forward to kiss his forehead. "Do you want to go out and do something?"

"Like what?" the raven haired man asked, snuggling closer so he could rest his head on Ichigo's chest.

"I don't know…something," Ichigo said.

Yumichika smiled. "Sure."

Twenty minutes later they had both changed and were out of the house, having decided that they were going to the movies to see if anything good was playing. They walked holding hands, with Yumichika talking about how much he loved the outfit he had chosen. Ichigo decided that it would be easier and safer for him to simply listen instead of trying to add any input. It was impossible for him to know what might set the man off so it was always best to say nothing and only ever agree that he looked brilliant. Not that Ichigo was lying whenever he said it.

The moment they entered the shopping district however, the older man was gone from his side in an instant. Blinking in confusion, Ichigo looked around, trying to see where his boyfriend had gone and unsurprisingly saw him with his face glued to a shop window, staring happily at whatever was on the other side of the glass. Sighing the teen strode over to him, shaking his head with a smile on his face. He stopped directly behind him, wrapping his arms around the other man's waist and resting his chin on top of his head.

"What have you found?" he asked with a smile.

"Look! Isn't it pretty?" Yumichika said excitedly, pointing at a silver pendant that was resting on a blue cushion. When Ichigo looked closer he saw that it was a very delicate looking tree that had been made out of carefully spun wire.

"It is," Ichigo said, completely truthfully.

They stayed looking into the shop window for a few more minutes as Yumichika admired the other pieces of jewellery before he reluctantly pulled away. Making pretend sympathetic faces, Ichigo kissed him on the cheek and pulled him close, muttering fake condolences at having to leave the shop. Yumichika smacked him playfully and tried to run off, but the teen grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, laughing. When he tried to kiss him Yumichika leaned away from, a smirk on his face. They continued their silly little battle until Yumichika managed to slip out of his grip and ran down the street with Ichigo close behind. Both men were laughing, not caring about the strange looks people were giving them. They were having too much fun.

When they neared the cinema Yumichika slowed down to let his boyfriend catch up. The teen in question ran into him, pulling him into a hug. Laughing happily the dark haired man reached up and kissed him on the nose, chin and cheeks before finally on the lips. Ichigo kissed back in appreciation, adding his tongue into the mix. Humming happily Yumichika lifted one foot off the ground stupidly and swayed slightly in the teen's hug, both arms wrapped around his neck.

They broke apart when they realised that they actually did need to breathe, smiles on their faces. Giggling Yumichika kissed the taller teen on the nose one more time before grabbing his wrist and pulling him into the cinema. As they walked, Ichigo manoeuvred his hand so that their fingers were linked. It seemed to be something that the teen enjoyed holding hands, and the other man had no objections.

There were no big crowds inside the movie theatre, which both of them were grateful for. As much as society was becoming more accepting of homosexual couples, some people were still vehemently against it, and weren't afraid to be abusive to them in public. Their hands stayed linked as they stopped in front of the large screen that was displaying a list of movies that were playing, and what time the screenings were. The dark haired man rested his head on Ichigo's shoulder as the list scrolled down to show more movies, a pout on his face because they couldn't agree on a movie to watch.

"We should totally see Paranormal Activity 4," Ichigo said, looking down at his boyfriend with a smirk on his face.

"We totally should not see that," Yumichika said darkly making the teen chuckle.

"I was kidding. What about Dredd?"

"I don't want to see something like that," Yumichika pouted. "What about Frankenweenie?"

"Isn't that for kids?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah but it still looks good."

"Then we'll go see that."

"Yay! Can I have popcorn?" Yumichika asked as the teen pulled him towards the ticket counter.

"Popcorn is mandatory," Ichigo said firmly.

"Brilliant! I wish we had popcorn in the Soul Society," the dark haired man said, lowering his gaze.

"Well, you'll just have to bring it back with you when you go…home…" Ichigo said, his voice faltering.

Both of them fell silent, realising that the conversation had become depressing rather suddenly. Ichigo frowned slightly, unlinking his fingers from Yumichika's so that he could put an arm around his waist. The shorter man did the same and rested his head on the taller one's shoulder. They moved up in the line quickly, and were almost at the head of the queue when someone bumped into Yumichika with enough force to make him stumble backwards.

"Watch yourself," the guy grumbled, turning to leave with his friends.

"You watch yourself. You're the one that bumped into me you arrogant vagrant," Yumichika snapped, turning to face him with a glare on his elegant face.

"The fuck…I thought you were a fucking girl," the guy said, stopping to face him. The guys behind him looked at him as well.

"Yes, well I'm not, so you might want to go and get our eyes checked."

"Shut your face you fuckin' fag," one of the other men said.

"Yumichika," Ichigo said quietly, grabbing his hand. "Come on love, just leave it."

"So you're queer too! Fuck of you dick lovers!" said a third man, stepping forward with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yumi, let's go," Ichigo insisted. This was getting bad, and quick. Yumichika nodded at him, but as they turned towards the door the group stepped in front of them, blocking the exit. Now that they were all standing together, the teen could tell that there were six of them. The one who had bumped into Yumichika stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

"Look you guys, we just want to leave now, okay?" Ichigo said calmly.

"We're not gonna let two fags like you to run around makin' other people gay," the guy said, sneering.

"Tch, yeah right. You only say that because you are a closet gay, and you a desperate to get with the blondie behind you," Yumichika said spitefully, raising a feathered eyebrow.

"Get fucked!" the man roared, launching himself at the couple, fist clenched. Smirking Yumichika easily dodged the punch, returning with one of his own which of course met its mark. The man's head snapped backwards with a crack and he barely managed to stay on his feet. Seconds later, a full on brawl had started between the two groups.

Ichigo sidestepped a punch and ducked past a kick that was aimed at his head, not wanting to get into the fight that he was already involved in. Glancing at Yumichika he saw that man had a small, content smile gracing his features. He sighed. If the man had wanted to get into a fight then the teen would have taken him to Tatsuki's dojo. Another punch was thrown at his face, which he blocked with his hand. He then twisted the man's wrist and flipped him over his shoulder in one smooth motion.

When a second person started attacking the teen, he realised that while he was facing two of the aggressors, Yumichika was facing off against the other four. He dodged another attack and started to move towards his boyfriend, but a hand grabbed his ankle and pulled him onto the floor. His breath escaped from his lungs as he thudded into the floor, grazing his chin on the carpeted floor. Growling, he rolled over and kicked the guy who was holding his ankle in the face. He heard a yell above him and saw the second man standing above him, preparing to slam his foot onto Ichigo's face. Eyed widening, he rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the boot that thudded into the ground near his head.

Yumichika was too absorbed in his fight to notice what was happening with Ichigo. He had already taken out two of the men attacking him; one was unconscious while the other was clutching at his groin, moaning in pain. While he was is no way an inadequate fighter, the damn gigai that he was wearing slowed down his movements, weakened his attacks and seriously lowered his stamina. He probably should have spent more time in the World of the Living trying to get the damn faux body up to strength. When he received a kick to the stomach, he stumbled backwards a few feet, almost completely winded. This fight wasn't going as well as his fights normally did.

As another attack came at him, he ducked sideways and kicked upwards at his attacker. His heel connected with a chin with a loud crack and the man tumbled over, landing heavily on his back. Before he had a chance to recover, another man was behind him, wrapping his arm around Yumichika's neck to hold him in a headlock. With his air supply having been suddenly cut off, the dark haired man didn't notice the man in front of him until he felt a fist connect with his face. It was soon followed by dozens of other powerful hits, breaking both his skin and his nose.

"This is what you deserve you fucking faggot!" the man holding him growled in his ear.

"Go screw yourself!" Yumichika hissed, elbowing the man behind him in the gut. The man grunted and his grip loosened, allowing the dark haired man to slip free of his hold. But before he could get back to his feet properly, a steel capped boot connected his chin, sending him sprawling across the floor. Head spinning, he struggled to focus his gaze on his attacker, who was laughing as he kicked him again, this time in the chest.

Yumichika felt one of his ribs crack and he cried out, clutching his side. The man laughed again and stamped his foot down on the hand that was supporting Yumichika's weight. Feeling more bones break, his elbow buckled and he fell onto his side, whimpering. He hadn't been beaten this badly in a fight for at least ninety years. Still disoriented, he didn't do anything when he felt hands grab the front of his shirt and lift him off the floor.

Ichigo had beaten both of his opponents, and was getting back to his feet when he saw Yumichika being held up by the man who had started the fight. He bared his teeth and was about to move towards him and help, but flashing lights outside the cinema drew his attention. There were two police cars sitting on the road outside, with four officers now hurrying inside. Even though he knew that the cops were there to help, he took a few steps towards his unmoving boyfriend.

"Put the man down!" one of the police officers yelled as he ran inside.

The guy who was holding Yumichika looked over his shoulder and growled before dropping the dark haired man and stepping away. Ichigo dashed forward to catch him, resting on his knees as he gently cradled Yumichika against his chest. The dark haired man whimpered and Ichigo kissed him gently on the temple for reassurance. One of the police officers rushed over to them as the other three proceeded to put the men who had attacked them in handcuffs. After seeing the condition that Yumichika was in, she radioed for an ambulance.

When it arrived Ichigo didn't let the paramedics help them. Instead he picked Yumichika up bridal-style and carried him into the back of the ambulance. He was allowed to ride with him to the hospital, where they were greeted by Uryu's father, who said nothing but guided them into a private room on the top floor. Before anyone could say different, he had sent all of the nurses and the police officer who had gone with them out of the room. He locked the door behind them and turned to glare at the two other people in the room.

"There is no point in me or my staff wasting their time treating your injuries, Soul Reaper. I'll have Kisuke Urahara come here and repair your gigai," he said coldly to Yumichika. Then he turned on Ichigo. "I've contacted your father – he will be here in ten minutes. Once Urahara has taken care of him," he nodded at Yumichika. "Then he will take the two of you home."

"Thank you Mr Ishida," Ichigo said, rubbing circles on Yumichika's back.

"Don't thank me – then I'll feel like you owe me something," the doctor said, looking away from them.

"Can't I at least have some painkillers?" Yumichika asked quietly, sniffing.

The white haired man said nothing but he did produce a needle from somewhere inside his doctors coat. He crossed the room to stand above the dark haired man, rolled up his sleeve and carefully pressed the needle into his skin. He thumbed the plunger, held it in for a few seconds and then withdrew the needle. As he crossed back to the door he tossed it into a sharps bin, unlocked the door and left, but not before locking the door behind him.


	14. Chapter 14

Once Ryūken had left the two of them alone in the bland hospital room, Ichigo pulled Yumichika close to him, wrapping both arms around the slighter man, who instantly buried his face in the teen's chest. Ichigo rocked him gently, laying small, light kisses on the top of his head, and although Yumichika didn't cry, he did sob quietly, fisting the back of Ichigo's shirt with his unbroken hand. They stayed holding each other for a while before the door was unlocked and three people stepped inside – Ryūken, Isshin and Urahara. Feeling somewhat self-conscious, the couple moved away from each other slightly, but didn't move their arms away from being wrapped around each other.

"I'll leave them to you now. And be quick about it – I don't need you having this room for any longer than is necessary," the white haired doctor said expressionlessly. Without saying another word he left the room again, once more locking the door behind him.

"Well now, what seems to be the problem here?" Urahara said, waving his fan casually in front of his face.

"We got caught up in a fight," Ichigo said, brushing his fingers through his boyfriend's silky black hair.

"May I assess the damage?" the shopkeeper asked, leaning closer towards them.

"Yeah…" Yumichika said, sniffing and pulling away from Ichigo so that he could stand. Urahara moved closer, still hiding his face behind his fan, prodding at Yumichika's injured side, making him hiss in pain. Not minding that he was causing the dark haired man grief, he grabbed the wrist connected to the broken hand, jerking it up so that he could examine it more closely. He glanced up at Yumichika's bloodied face and stepped back, dropping his wrist while he fanned himself casually.

"You have two broken ribs, three fractured, seven bones broken in your hand and of course the broken nose," Urahara said, pointing at each of his injuries as he said them. "I can repair your gigai here in about thirty minutes, and you'll probably be more comfortable if you're not in the gigai while I do it."

Yumichika nodded in reply and turned to face Ichigo, but didn't look at him, choosing instead to stare at him feet. "Could you…um…you know, sit out while this happens. I don't want…you to see my body like that, even if it is only a gigai," he said quietly.

Ichigo swallowed dryly and nodded slowly. "Uh…yeah, yeah…of course…if you want me to. I'll just be…" he waved absently at a chair in the corner of the room. "Over there."

"Okay," Yumichika mumbled, turning away from him and moving to lie down on the bed. Once both men were seated, the curtain was drawn around the bed, and Ichigo could no longer see his raven haired lover.

A depressed sigh escaped him as he reflected back on what had occurred earlier. Although there wasn't really anyway that the fight could have been avoided, he should have been able to do more to help Yumichika. Instead of doing anything useful, he had only succeeded in allowing someone important to him get hurt. He was supposed to protect the people he cared about, he had always believed that. And now he had failed the person who probably meant the most to him at the current time. He heard the curtain move and looked up at it, but didn't see anyone coming through. He did however see Yumichika's feet at the end of the bed for a few seconds before the curtain fell closed again.

Ichigo swallowed dryly and stared at his hands. Even though in his head he knew that what he had seen wasn't really Yumichika, his heart still ached. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, making him start and look around, but there was no one else on this side of the curtain. When he felt the touch again he looked down at where he could feel it. There was a slight indentation on his jumper, and when he felt the touch move so did the indent.

"Yumi?" he breathed, feeling the invisible hand move up to gently touch his face. His question was answered when another hand joined the first, this one brushing fingers through his hair. He leant back into the touches, his eyes drifting closed. The back of his head connected with something solid, but soft, and he guessed it was Yumichika's chest. The hands slowly moved away from his face, never breaking contact, until he felt strong, nimble arms wrap around his chest and a cheek rest gently on his shoulder. Ichigo opened his eyes and started at the ceiling.

Slowly, he looked down at himself, trying vainly to see the invisible person who was wrapped around him, even though he knew that it was impossible. He felt tears sting at the corners of his eyes and his bottom lip shook. He lifted his hands and felt his way to the slim arms that were holding him. Gripping them tightly, he allowed the tears to flow silently for the first time in years. It was also the first time in a lifetime of wishing he couldn't, that he could see ghosts.

* * *

Urahara did as promised and after thirty minutes Yumichika was called back behind the curtain so that he could return to the gigai. In the few moments he now had to himself, Ichigo cleaned up his face and got to his feet. Seconds later the curtain was pulled open and he could see Yumichika sitting on the bed. His shirt was off and the teen could see bandaged wrapped around his middle. There were more bandages on his hand and his face had a nasty bruise covering his nose.

"There are no remaining injuries, I just had to make it look like they were still there so that when the policeman comes back, then it looks legitimate," Urahara explained upon seeing Ichigo's puzzled expression.

"As much as we would like to avoid it, you will need to talk to the police about what happened, but we'll work something out so that you don't have to go to court if anything happens. The men that did this to you should be charged without you needing to go to court," Isshin said.

Ichigo didn't pay much attention, choosing instead to walk past the two adults so that he could sit next to Yumichika on the bed and pull him into a hug. Smirking knowingly at each other, Isshin and Urahara crept out of the room to go find Ryūken and give the two others some space.

"It looks painful," Ichigo said softly, gently running hid thumb over Yumichika's nose.

"It's not real, Ichigo. It doesn't hurt at all," Yumichika said, smiling.

"I know but still…" the teen trailed off, looking at the other with a sad expression.

"Ichigo, its-," Yumichika began, but was cut off when the door opened and the white haired doctor walked inside, followed closely by the policeman who had been with them earlier.

"I have x-rays and photos that the police may use, and I hope that you understand the reason why I didn't allow you in here while I patched him up was because of his insecurities around strangers. After today especially, I hope that his progress doesn't go backwards," Ryūken drawled to the officer. His words made Ichigo and Yumichika frown – what kind of story had he made up so that the policeman wouldn't be in the room?

"Now then Mr Ayasegawa, please don't worry, this man only wants to ask you some questions," Ryūken said slowly, turning towards the pair wearing an expression that clearly said 'play along'. He turned back to the policeman. "You see the man that abused him was a police officer, so he is never comfortable around strangers who wear that uniform."

_So it seems that he made up some story about past abuse by a police officer. I can play along with that_, Yumichika thought dryly.

Ichigo seemed to have caught on with the farce too, because he angled himself so that he was slightly in front of the dark haired man, and gently patted his hair. "See? The doctor said it was okay. This man isn't like before. He wants to help, okay? Will you let him do that?" Ichigo asked in a voice just loud enough for the policeman to hear him.

Going along with it, Yumichika nodded slowly, but stayed close to the orange haired teen. The policeman cleared his throat and approached the huddled pair slowly an open friendly expression on his face. When he spoke, he did so as if he was talking to a child. The questions didn't go for very long, and when they were done, Ryūken handed the officer a file which he said had photos and x-rays in them which Urahara must have gotten while he fixed the gigai. Once the man had left, Yumichika giggled.

"I feel bad for lying and all, but that was still pretty funny," he said smugly.

"Yes, very funny. Now then, you no longer need to hold up this room," the doctor said coldly. "You may go."

And they did just that. Isshin was waiting for them when they reached the hospital entrance. He led them to a taxi that took them home. Isshin rode in the front, while Ichigo sat next to Yumichika in the back. Even though they were sitting on opposite sides of the taxi, they had their fingers entwined, resting on the middle seat. It didn't take at all long for them to get back to the Kurosaki Clinic, and as Isshin payed the driver, the couple went into the house, where they were immediately swamped by Ichigo's sisters.

"I heard you two got into a fight! Are you okay? Oh no! Your face is all bruised! And your hand! Ichigo you should have done more to help!" Yuzu said with stopping to draw Ichigo looked at her he saw that she was on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry Yuzu, I'm fine now," said Yumichika, smiling at her.

"I'll make you gyoza tonight! That should help you feel better!" the girl said sniffing before dashing off into the kitchen to start cooking.

"You dumbass! Who the hell lets their boyfriend get beat up like that! Karin roared, kicking her brother in the face.

"I was fighting people too you know!" Ichigo growled back, rubbing his forehead where she had kicked him.

"So what! He got hurt and you didn't so it's your fault!" the girl stated firmly before storming off to help her sister.

"You okay?" Yumichika asked, turning to face Ichigo, who was still rubbing his forehead and grumbling angrily.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered darkly.

Smiling at him gently, Yumichika pulled his hand away from his face, stood on his toes and kissed the spot on the teen's forehead that was beginning the bruise. When he moved away Ichigo smiled at him sadly and returned the favour with a gently kiss to the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry."

"Don't be," the dark haired man said softly, pulling the teen into a hug. In return he felt strong arms wrap tightly around his back and pull him close. Ichigo rested his forehead on Yumichika's shoulder, while the smaller man buried his face in the crook of the orange haired teen's neck.

They stayed in their embrace for a long time, only breaking apart when Isshin sprinted past them, yelling some nonsense at them about getting a room. Angered by his father's words, Ichigo stuck out his leg, causing the man to trip and fall face first into the wooden floor. The moment he started whining the two stepped past him and wandered into the living room so that they could watch TV. As they went through the kitchen Yumichika paused to ask the girls if they wanted any help, but Yuzu sternly refused, stating that he was injured and needed to rest. So with a sigh the dark haired man sat on the couch next to Ichigo as he turned on the TV.

As they flicked through the channels trying to find something decent to watch, Ichigo casually put an arm around the other mans shoulders. Taking this as an invitation, Yumichika leant sideways and rested his head on Ichigo's shoulder. Once something decent was on, Ichigo put down the remote and held Yumichika's hand in his lap, gently stroking his knuckles with his thumb. Yumichika hummed contently, nuzzling into the teen's shoulder as they settled in to watch the movie that had recently started on the TV. A while later they were called to the table after Karin announced that dinner was ready.

Yumichika, who had been snoozing due to the after effects of the painkillers he'd had earlier, was gently shaken awake by Ichigo, who smiled at him gently before helping him to his feet. Still a bit drowsy, Yumichika yawned when he sat at the table, but perked up almost instantly when the smell of the gyoza Yuzu and Karin had made reached his nose. Grinning happily at the plate of dumplings that was set down in front of him, the dark haired man thanked the girls for the meal and started eating. He was still rather sleepy after he had finished eating, and leaned into Ichigo so that he could nap. The teen smirked at him and stood, making him sit up again, grumbling.

Laughing softly, Ichigo kissed him gently on the cheek and lifted him out of his chair, wishing his family good night as he carried the dark haired man out of the room. Once inside the warm, comfortable embrace, Yumichika closed his eyes and nuzzled into the teen's chest. Chuckling to himself, Ichigo climbed the stairs holding his lover close to his chest, littering the top of his head with light kisses. He carefully nudged his bedroom door open with his shoulder and strode inside, kicking it shut behind him. He stopped at his bed so that he could gently lay Yumichika on the mattress. When Ichigo let go of him, Yumichika whined at the loss of warmth and opened his eyes to glare at the teen, but his fierce gaze instantly softened when he saw the sad look in the teen's eyes.

"Ichigo?" he said softly, sitting up and cupping the side of said boy's face. "Ichi, what's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath, Ichigo sat down next to Yumichika, wrapping both arms around him and pressing his face into his chest. "I'm so sorry," he muttered, giving the other man a squeeze. "I'm sorry that this happened to you while you were here."

Yumichika's brow furrowed at the teen's words. "What?" he asked shakily. "Do you think this is your fault?"

Although Ichigo said nothing, he did nod in reply.

"But this isn't your fault! It's those guys who confronted us! And me! I'm more at fault than you!" Yumichika said his words, Ichigo only tightened his grip on the dark haired man. Raising a hand, Yumichika gently ran his fingers through the spiky orange hairs below him, leaning down to kiss him. "So please, don't blame yourself for this," he said softly.

Ichigo lifted his head to look at Yumichika, his eyes red and he looked to be on the brink of tears. Smiling at him, Yumichika pulled him up to eyes level, leaning in to kiss him lovingly. Ichigo took a little while to respond, but soon he was responding with equal force, adding his tongue to the mix moments after Yumichika had added his own. The teen pushed his partner onto the bed and crawled on top of him, not breaking the kiss as he did. He wound his fingers into Yumichika's raven locks, pulling his face closer. Yumichika moaned and grabbed Ichigo's hips, pulling him down and grinding their growing arousals together.

They both gasped, breaking the kiss at the sudden feeling. Ichigo took the opportunity to latch his mouth onto a spot on the other's neck that he knew would make him writhe. And writhe he did, whining when the teen bit down on his pulse point. He retaliated by pulling Ichigo's hair, something he knew the teen enjoyed, hard enough to make him growl, but not so much that he would pull him away from his neck. Arching his neck, Yumichika leaned down and bit the outer shell of Ichigo's ear. It wasn't long before they were both fully aroused and red kiss marks littered Yumichika's neck and collarbone.

Ichigo had crawled further down his body and lifted the dark haired man's shirt, lifting it over his head as he began another kiss attack on the pale chest before him. Wanting to be able to see what his boyfriend was doing to him, Yumichika grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, tossing it carelessly across the room. He then grabbed the collar of Ichigo's shirt and tugged, making Ichigo lift his head from his chest as he pulled it off and threw it away to join his own. Before Ichigo had a chance to move back down to his chest, Yumichika tugged on his hair, bringing their faces close so that he could kiss him again. They rolled their hips together, groaning into each other's mouth at the feeling. Hands made their way down bodies, stopping when they reached the waistband of trousers.

They broke the kiss and looked at each other for a few seconds. A mutual agreement was met in their lust filled eyes and they started kissing again as their fingers reached into the others pants, below the underwear. They both groaned, the sound muffled by the kiss, as they grasped each other's member. As they began to pleasure each other, they fumbled with getting rid of their pants and getting their boxers around their knees. With their erect members free from their confines they were able to pleasure each other more freely, using their other hand to touch and grope every part of their partner's body that they could. As the pleasure increased, their kiss became messy with teeth clashing and tongues being bitten, but neither cared as they got closer to bringing their significant other to their climax.

Muffled moans filled the room, sometimes punctuated by a hiss or groan, and it wasn't long before they were both stifling their cries as they released into each other's hand. Slightly out of breath, Ichigo reached past Yumichika to grab a handful of tissues from his desk, cleaned them both up and tossed them in the bin which he had moved closer to his bed. Smiling sleepily, Yumichika kissed him on the chin and pulled up their underwear, tugging the bedcovers out from under them as they moved to get comfortable.

Before Ichigo lay down, he leaned over the bed to pull the curtain open slightly, allowing a cool breeze to blow into the room from the half open window. He then lay down behind Yumichika, pulling his back against his chest, effectively spooning him and burying his nose in Yumichika's soft hair.

Ichigo fell asleep quite quickly, but Yumichika stayed in a situation where he was somewhere between being asleep and being awake. It was annoying him to no end, and he knew that the reason he was in this state was because his mind was reeling about what had occurred earlier in the day. He was upset that Ichigo felt responsible for what happened, even though there was nothing he could have done. He sighed and snuggled back into the teen's embrace, enjoying the feeling of safety and comfort it gave him.

He was on the verge of falling asleep when he heard a light flutter and a stronger breeze hit his face. He opened his eyes and looked up at the window. His eyes widened when he saw a Hell Butterfly fly into the room. He lifted a hand from under the covers and it landed on his finger, wings flapping a few times before it stilled and relayed its message to him.

_Yumichika Ayasegawa has been deemed fit to return to active duty one week from the time he receives this message. He will be met at Urahra's shop by a Captain Class escort and be taken back to the Soul Society. That is all._

The butterfly, having delivered its message, fluttered its wings and left the room through the window. Yumichika could only stare after it, a shocked expression on his face. That had been so sudden, and he had been having such a good time that he had not thought about returning to his role as a Soul Reaper. The sudden realisation hit him, hard. He didn't know if he actually wanted to leave. His inner conflict increased when he felt Ichigo's arms tighten around him, pulling him closer into their loving embrace.


	15. Chapter 15

The news that he had been gifted with last night plagued Yumichika's mind the moment that he began to wake up the next morning. He was so troubled by it that he completely forgot about the lingering ache that he felt from yesterdays fight. When he felt Ichigo start waking up behind him his brow furrowed and his heart sank. How was he going to tell Ichigo? And his family, how would he tell them? Everyone in the Kurosaki household had been to kind and welcoming to him, and he had no way of repaying them for everything they had done for him.

"This is total bullcrap," he muttered, sniffing slightly.

"Morning sunshine," Ichigo said softly, his breath ghosting over his ear.

"Hi," Yumichika said quietly in reply, rolling over in his embrace so that they were facing each other.

"Feeling better?" the teen asked, raising a hand to gently touch the bruise that covered the raven's nose.

"You know it doesn't really hurt right?" he said with a small laugh. "Besides the bruise should fade in a few days, and I can always wear make-up over it so that people won't see, okay?"

Ichigo smiled warmly and kissed the tip of his nose. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right. Wisdom comes with age."

"Are you admitting that you're old?"

"No, just older than you."

"But you are old."

"By human standards yes. By Soul Reaper standards, I'd probably be in my mid to late twenties," when he mentioned Soul Reapers, his voice caught in his throat and he swallowed nervously, hoping the teen hadn't noticed.

Ichigo however did notice, and he frowned slightly. "What's wrong?"

"I…uh," Yumichika took a deep breath and looked his worried boyfriend in the eye. "I have to go back to the Soul Society in a week."

As he had thought, the teen's face fell the moment he heard those words. He opened and closed his mouth slightly several times, not sure about how he should react to the news. Yumichika watched him nervously, and he had to suppress a gasp when Ichigo looked away from him and sat up. There were a few more moments of tense silence, then Ichigo looked back down at him, a sad smile on his face.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to make this last week really special, won't we?" he said softly, reaching towards him to brush some stray black hairs behind his ear. Yumichika's eyes widened momentarily, and he smiled back softly.

"Yeah, I guess so." The dark haired man sat up and Ichigo pulled him close, so that his head was resting in the crook of his neck. For a while they just sat in bed like that, Ichigo lazily rubbing circles on Yumichika's shoulder with his thumb. They didn't start making any move to get up properly until they heard movement in the rest of the house and decided that they might as well get out of bed.

They moved quietly around the room, searching for clothes that had been tossed around at random the night before to toss in the wash once they were dressed. Being quite lazy and slow with their movements it took them a while before they were both fully clothed and had deposited their dirty clothes in the wash. Ichigo grabbed Yumichika's hand as they went down the stairs, pulling them closer together. Smiling, Yumichika leaned towards him and gave him a gently kiss on the lips before continuing down into the kitchen.

The welcoming smell of waffles wafted towards them as they entered the kitchen. Ichigo sighed happily at the smell. This was why he loved Sundays, and his sister. Yuzu waved at them with the spatula when she saw them, a wide smile on her face. A few moments later she turned back to her cooking, making sure that she didn't burn the waffles she was currently cooking.

"I love Sundays at your house," Yumichika said happily, dropping himself down on the couch and snatching the remote off the table before the teen could reach it.

"Me too," Ichigo said, sitting next to him and lazily draping his arm across the other man's shoulder. When the dark haired man switched the TV on Ichigo frowned and looked at him. "Please don't tell me you're going to watch that stupid kids anime you've been obsessed with lately?"

"Why not? I like it," Yumichika said with a pout.

"And besides, I'm not going to be able to watch it for much longer."

"Oh yeah…fine, watch your stupid show."

"Yay!"

"Why won't he be able to watch to show?" Karin asked as she walked into the room.

"Uh…" Ichigo said nervously, glancing at Yumichika.

"I…I'm going home at the end of the week," he said sadly.

"What! Why?" Yuzu said loudly from the kitchen.

"Because I have to. I'm not against it!" Yumichika said hurriedly when he saw Yuzu's expression.

"Will you visit?" she asked quietly, her bottom lip trembling.

"I'll try," Yumichika said, smiling warmly.

"Yumichika, your show is starting. And Yuzu, watch the waffles will you? I don't like them burned," Karin said lazily, not bothering to look up from her manga.

Yuzu gasped loudly and instantly returned her attention to the food. At the same time Yumichika squealed happily and leaned closer to the TV. Ichigo smiled and kissed Yumichika on the cheek and leaned back into the couch to watch the stupid show. Everyone settled into a comfortable silence, well at least until Yuzu called out that the food was ready and Isshin seemingly materialised out of nowhere, loud and obnoxious as always.

"My beautiful children! How are you this morning?" he cried happily, clasping his hands in front of him dramatically.

In response Ichigo, Yumichika and Karin grunted in reply, all too absorbed in whatever they were doing. Yuzu however responded warmly, stating that she had slept well and that it was time to eat. Everyone eventually migrated to the table, Yumichika being the last to move as he was waiting for an ad break so he could look away from the TV. He also chose a seat that allowed him to see the screen while he was eating, just so that he didn't miss anything. Ichigo could only shake his head happily.

The breakfast seemed to be going calmly and quietly, until Yuzu mentioned that Yumichika was leaving. The instant that happened, Isshin was on the other side of the table his arms wrapped around a rather disgruntled Yumichika, wailing about a tragedy. Annoyed that he could hear his show over Isshin's ranting, he flipped the doctor over his shoulder and sent him crashing into the back of the couch. He remained there, completely dazed. Karin glanced from Yumichika to Isshin and back again several times before nodding and looking up at him.

"Alright, you now have my approval to date my brother and come back to see him."

* * *

Somehow Ichigo's friends had found out about Yumichika's near departure (the orange haired teen suspected his moronic father) and had decided to throw him a going away party in two days time. Tatsuki had also discovered that a carnival was coming to town, and that it would be there before Yumichika left. On his own, Ichigo decided that he was going to take his raven haired boyfriend there the day before he had to leave. The party was being organised at Mizuiro's apartment, seeing as his parents were never home, and he also had access to alcohol through all of the older girls that he knew.

Being the old fashioned prude that he was, Ichigo was going to protest, but then he remembered that he and Yumichika had snuck into a night club with fake IDs, so he kept his mouth shut. Although he wasn't overly keen about going to a party, Yumichika was quite excited, if his continuous rambling had anything to do with it. Because of this Ichigo was actually glad when they finally arrived at the party, despite how awkward he was feeling about the whole thing. Everyone else was already there when they arrived, including a few faces that the teen didn't recognise. He supposed that they were people that Mizuiro knew or they were from his class and he just never payed enough attention to notice them.

The boy in question welcomed them at the door and ushered them inside. Upon further inspection of the room, he smirked when he saw Keigo failing miserably at flirting with a group of older girls on the far side of the room. Tatsuki was talking with Orihime and Chad, while Chizuru was currently suffering severe blood loss due to extreme nose bleeds. It was easy to see why. Many of the girls at the party were wearing next to nothing and dancing in what was probably a very inappropriate manner.

"Mizuiro, who are these people?" Ichigo said in a low voice as they stepped inside.

"Oh, you know, just some people from class and some other people I know who I thought might liven the place up a bit," the black haired teen said with a smile.

"I don't know most of them," he said sullenly.

"Well…that doesn't mean you can't have fun," Mizuiro said happily.

"There are drinks in the fridge and there are also some in the tub over there," he pointed at a large green tub on the far side of the room. "There's also food in the kitchen and the bathroom is through there," he pointed at a hallway near the kitchen door. "Have whatever you want and just have a good time. After all Yumichika isn't going to be here for much longer."

Ichigo sighed sadly at his last words. "Yeah, I know."

"Speaking of Yumichika, where'd he go?"

"Huh?" Ichigo spun around to look behind him where Yumichika had been standing when they came in, but the flamboyant, raven haired man was no longer standing there. He sighed again. "Great, now I need to find him before he gets into trouble."

Nodding at Mizuiro he walked into the room, trying to see around everyone and locate his troublesome boyfriend. He felt exceedingly awkward when a small group of girls approached him and tried to convince him to dance with them, but he only smiled nervously and told them he was here with someone and hurried away from them, still looking around for a head of black hair tinged with purple. As it turned out, Yumichika found him. The dark haired man basically ran into his back and wrapped his arms around him, trying to give him a hug even though his hands were full of drinks. When he pulled away the teen turned to face him. He didn't know why, but the other man had a smug grin on his face.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked.

"I got you a drink," he said with a giggle, pushing one of the bottles into Ichigo's hands.

"Yumi I don't really want to drink," Ichigo began to say, but Yumichika cut him off.

"I do. I want to have fun, and I want you to have fun too. At least have one, please?" he said, pouting and looking up at the teen with wide eyes.

"Fine," Ichigo said, sighing yet again and lifting the bottle to his lips to have a sip. To his surprise the drink was sweet, but also had a slightly bitter taste the seemed to linger on his tongue. When he took another sip of the drink, Yumichika smiled widely and pulled him across the room so that they could talk without having to raise their voices over the music.

As the night progressed, Ichigo consumed several more drinks, making him quite tipsy when someone announced loudly that they should play truth or dare. With his slightly muddled thought process the orange haired teen somehow managed to get dragged onto the floor in the circle where they were playing. He looked around the circle, trying to spot Yumichika, but he was standing on the other side of the room, talking happily with Chad, Orihime and Uryu, who had turned up a short while after they had.

"I pick they guy with the orange hair!" someone across the circle said loudly, drawing Ichigo's attention back to the game.

"Wah? Me?" the teen said.

"Yeah. Truth or dare?"

"Uh…truth?" he said uncertainly.

"Have you ever watched porn?"

"No."

"Damn it!" That reaction made several people in the circle laugh, and then it was Ichigo's turn to pick someone. The game continued like this for a while, Ichigo having several more turns and choosing truth for each one. After a while the questions that everyone seemed to be getting for truth started to get repeated, so when the teen's turn came around again he decided to choose dare.

"I dare you to kiss one of the boys here for more than a minute," the blonde girl said, giggling madly. There was a chorus of 'oohs' from the rest of the circle and laughter from most of the boys, who at the same time looked nervous, hoping he didn't choose them.

"Easy," Ichigo scoffed, getting to his feet and stumbling across the room to where Yumichika was still talking with his friends.

The dark haired man had his back to him, and didn't notice the teen's approach. Grinning stupidly he tapped Yumichika on the shoulder and as soon as he had turned around Ichigo leaned forward and captured his lips in a kiss.

Yumichika squeaked, not having expected the sudden kiss, but when he felt a tongue press against his lips he relaxed and allowed the teen to kiss him. He lazily wrapped his arms around Ichigo's neck, and in return strong arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him close. The kiss didn't last as long as he would have liked, but when they broke apart, Ichigo was smirking and he leaned back in to give him another quick kiss on the nose.

"Thanks," he said quietly before wobbling back across the room to rejoin the circle and continue the game. After a while everyone got bored of truth or dare and started arguing about which game to play next, but Ichigo wasn't really very interested. That and the fact that he had never heard of any of the games they were talking about. So instead of waiting for the next game to begin, whatever it may be, he got back to his feet and went back over to Yumichika, who was now getting comfortable on the couch. He dropped down next to him and rested his head on the other's shoulder.

"Comfortable?" Yumichika asked softly. Ichigo mumbled back incoherently and nodded, wrapping both arms around his boyfriend and pulling him close.

Giggling, Yumichika repositioned himself so that they were both lying on the couch, him being slightly on top of the intoxicated teen. They spent the rest of the evening talking to each other while tracing nonsense patterns on random parts of each other's bodies. As the party began to wind down, people started looking for places to sleep, and the couple on the couch fell asleep where they were, comfortable and happy in each other's embrace.


	16. Chapter 16

Although he'd had plenty of fun the night before, when he woke up, Ichigo was regretting having as much alcohol as he did, especially since he had the sun on his face and he had a splitting headache. He lifted his head to look around, but let it drop down again with a groan as sharp pain ricocheted through his skull. Only now was he thinking that it would probably have been a good idea to stop drinking when he was having trouble walking in a straight line. Hopefully next time he decided to go out and get as drunk as he did he would remember that.

Groaning again, he buried his face in Yumichika's sweet smelling hair, enjoying how the sun was blocked out when he did this. When he felt Yumichika start to wake up in front of him he grumbled in annoyance and squeezed him around the middle in an attempt to make him stop moving. When this only made the dark haired man squirm more, he pulled his arm out from underneath him and rolled over, grabbing a cushion from the back of the couch and pulling it over his face.

"Hungover?" Yumichika asked, his smirk obvious in his voice even though the teen couldn't see him.

"Go away," he groaned, pulling the cushion tighter over his face and drawing his knees up to his chest as best he could with the little space he had on the couch.

Behind him he heard his boyfriend laughing as he got off the couch and disappeared somewhere into the apartment. When the sound of muffled footsteps on carpet faded away into the depths of the apartment, Ichigo sighed in contentment and made an effort to try and fall asleep again. That way he couldn't have to deal with the throbbing headache that was steadily growing stronger in his head. When he heard the footsteps coming back his groaned again, the slight noise making his head ache further.

"I got you something to help," Yumichika said softly. Ichigo ignored him. Sighing, the dark haired man sat on the couch behind the teen, who blindly tried to smack him when he felt the couch dip under his weight. "Hey. Come on. Stop sulking," Yumichika said, poking the teen repeatedly in the side.

"Leave me alone…headache…" Ichigo muttered still trying to smack Yumichika away from him.

"I know you have a headache," Yumichika said quietly. "I have water and painkillers."

Still grumbling the teen slowly sat up, but didn't take the cushion away from his face. He could hear Yumichika giggling at him, but he couldn't be bothered snapping at him because his headache was making him suffer. Tentatively he lowered the cushion from his face, groaning and squinting when the bright light of the sun hit his face.

"Stop pouting and take this. Trust me, you'll feel better," Yumichika cooed, holding the water and pills in front of him with a warm smile. Sighing unhappily, Ichigo took the water and swallowed the tablets, furrowing his brow in pain when he tipped his head back slightly. He handed the water back to Yumichika who leaned forward to kiss him softly on the forehead. He put the glass on the floor and crawled into the empty space next to the teen, wrapping an arm around him. Ichigo took the opportunity to snuggle into his chest and try to take a nap.

Content in his current position, the dark haired man lifted his other hand and began to gently run his fingers through the orange spiky hair resting against his chest. When the teen nuzzled against him, he felt his heart clench, knowing that in a few days they would be separated for what would probably be a very long time. As much as he missed his home in the Soul Society, he had found himself a new home here in Karakura with Ichigo and his family.

Swallowing thickly, he lowered his face so that he was resting his nose on Ichigo's head, the hair tickling his forehead and closed eyelids. He felt the teen shift against him and then a calloused hand was stroking his cheek gently. He opened his eyes and saw Ichigo looking up at him, a drowsy smile on his face.

"You shouldn't look sad," he said quietly. "You're too pretty to look sad." Yumichika looked at him in surprise for a few seconds before his expression softened and a small smile graced his lips.

"Thank you," he murmured. Ichigo grinned widely and arched his neck so that he could kiss him on the chin. Smiling more widely Yumichika leant down so that their lips met for a light, yet loving kiss.

"You're welcome," Ichigo mumbled, his sleepy voice muffled due to the fact that it was still buried in the front of Yumichika's shirt.

"So what else have you got planned for today and tomorrow?" Yumichika said in a low voice so as not to disturb his hungover boyfriend. And so that they didn't wake up the rest of the people sleeping in the room.

"Well," Ichigo said lazily, shifting slightly in Yumichika's lap. "I thought that we could go to that carnival tonight, even if I'm not feeling well. You want to go and that's the important thing at the moment. As for tomorrow, well that's a surprise."

"What kind of surprise?" Yumichika said happily, his face lighting up at the idea. He simply loved surprises.

"One that will remain a surprise until tomorrow," the teen said with a grin.

"Hmph," Yumichika huffed, pouting and poking Ichigo hard on the forehead. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten you those painkillers."

"Ouch! Don't be mean!" Ichigo whined, rubbing the spot on his forehead with a scowl on his face.

"Aww. Want me to kiss it better?"

"Stop being patronising!"

"You know you want me to."

"That's beside the point."

"…So you _don't_ want me to kiss it better?"

Ichigo didn't reply, instead looking away and grumbling under his breath. When a slight blush dusted his cheeks Yumichika giggled and leaned down to gently press his lips against the small red mark on the teen's forehead. As he pulled back, a hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him down again, crashing his and Ichigo's lips together.

He squealed at the sudden movement, but relaxed moments later when the teen ran his free hand down his side, resting it in the gap between his ribs and hip. In turn he ran both hands up Ichigo's toned chest, enjoying the feeling of solid, firm muscle beneath his fingertips.

"You know you probably shouldn't do that in public. People might stare."

At the sound of a voice they jumped apart so quickly that it looked like something had zapped them. Both of them were blushing madly under Tatsuki's smug grin as she stood above them, hands on hips. She raised an eyebrow at their behaviour and sighed, sitting herself down between the two of them.

"Uh, Tatsuki..um…that was…" Ichigo started but the dark haired girl cut him off with a sharp elbow to the gut. Ichigo groaned, wrapping both arms around his belly and leaning forward, whimpering.

"I know exactly what that was. I'm not blind you know," she growled, digging her elbow into the back of his head. "And you!" she turned on Yumichika who squeaked and slid a bit further away from her.

"Yes?" he said timidly.

"I've known this guy since he was a quivering little snot who couldn't hold his own in a fight against anyone. So you better believe me when I say if you hurt him, I don't care where you go, I'll hunt you down and destroy you," she said sternly, jabbing him in the chest a few times for good measure.

"Okay," Yumichika said quietly. "Although you're not the first to issue death threats."

"I should hope not," Tatsuki said light heartedly, getting back to her feet to head towards the kitchen. Before she rounded the corner, she looked back at them. "And I meant it when I said you shouldn't do that in public. Some people might not like the idea of you being in a relationship with someone else," she said seriously before rounding the corner and vanishing into the kitchen.

The two of them stared after her for a few seconds before slowly sliding back across the couch so they were once again sitting next to each other.

"What was that about?" Yumichika asked quietly.

"I'm more interested to know who she was talking about," said Ichigo with a frown.

* * *

Although Ichigo still wasn't feeling his best, he did as promised and took Yumichika to the carnival that evening, much to the raven haired man's delight. While they did have festivals back in the Soul Society, they didn't have many of the games and none of the rides that could be found in the World of the Living.

And as usual, Yumichika was determined to have a go at everything that he could see from the moment they entered the carnival grounds. The teen had to grab his sleeve from the get go when he instantly tried to race off towards a ride that was lit up with dozens upon dozens of bright, colourful lights.

"Hold up there tiger. We have plenty of time to try everything, but let's try not to lose each other while we're here?" Ichigo said, grinning.

"I want to go on that one!" Yumichika said, seemingly not having paid attention to what his boyfriend had just said, jumping around excitedly and pointing at the ride he had been heading towards.

"Okay we'll go on that one," Ichigo sighed, knowing that sometimes there was no point trying to talk to the dark haired man.

"Yay! Let's go now!" Yumichika said, pulling Ichigo's hand off his sleeve and instead started dragging the teen towards the ride.

They spent the rest of the evening moving from ride to ride, stopping for a while to eat and have a go at the sideshow games. Though they lost most of the time, getting dummy prizes that they both laughed at when they showed off to each other, Yumichika surprised the orange haired teen immensely when he won the largest plushie toy when they were trying their hand at darts. He smugly carried around the stuffed shark toy that was almost three feet long, laughing when Ichigo failed miserably at trying to win a giant toy for himself.

The evening wore on until Ichigo glanced at his watch and pulled Yumichika towards the Ferris Wheel that stood above the rest of the carnival, on the furthest side from the way they had come in. He had timed their arrival at the ride perfectly; not long after they got in the line a good two dozen people started lining up behind them, mainly couples, all chattering happily.

"Do you have something planned?" Yumichika asked suspiciously, seeing the smug grin on the teen's face.

"Of course I do. And no I'm not telling," he said, seeing that Yumichika was beginning to pout. "But trust me, you'll like it."

"I'd better," Yumichika said grumpily, trying and failing to cross his arms while still trying to keep a hold on the shark toy. It was all Ichigo could do not to laugh.

Yumichika didn't stop pouting, even when they had been settled into their seats on the giant wheel and it had started up, only going a little way so that more people could get on after them. He shrugged Ichigo's arm off when he tried to lay is casually over his shoulders, but he could see that Yumichika was trying his hardest not to smile.

That only encouraged the teen, who leaned towards him, and started playing with his hair. Yumichika swatted his hand away and he grinned, leaning closer and kissing his neck softly. When he got no reaction he started kissing up and along his jaw line, as well as putting his arm around his shoulders.

He could tell that his boyfriend was trying his hardest to show no reaction to what the teen was doing to him, but Ichigo could feel him squirming slightly in his seat. When the ride jerked into motion fully, he moved away, grinning when he saw the somewhat disappointed look on Yumichika's face when he did so.

"Just wait," he said quietly. "Trust me, it'll be worth it."

"And if it's not?" Yumichika asked seductively.

"I guess I'll have to find some way to make it up to you."

Yumichika hummed happily at his words and relaxed back into the seat, looking out over the landscape as the Ferris Wheel reached its peak before the sight was once again lost behind the trees. This happened several times before the ride began to slow, coming to an eventual stop with them not quite at the top, but close enough that they would be able to enjoy what Ichigo had planned.

"Why'd it stop?" Yumichika asked with a frown, looking out over the edge as if hoping to find an explanation.

"You'll see," Ichigo said knowingly, linking their fingers together and pulling their joined hands into his lap.

As the dark haired man opened his mouth to demand an explanation, there was a loud bang and the sky was lit up by blue fireworks, followed moments later by purple and yellow, with small red and white fireworks in between. Yumichika's face lit up at the sight of the colourful explosions in the sky, his mouth hanging slightly open. Although Ichigo wanted to watch the fireworks with him, he couldn't bring himself to look away from Yumichika's beautiful face.

The fireworks show lasted for about ten minutes, with different patterns and combinations of colours that made one look on them in awe. The silence that followed seemed almost eerie, before the crowds started talking again, and the Ferris Wheel slowly started moving again.

Neither of them spoke as the rise carried them back to the ground, both feeling far too content to disrupt the happy, peaceful silence between them. They mutually decided that it was time to go home, even without saying anything, and they strode hand in hand put of the carnival, not at all bothered by the stares that people were giving them.

They were still silent when they got back to the Kurosaki household, though this time it was because the rest of the house was sleeping and they didn't want to wake them up. Slipping off their shoes, they hurried upstairs in their socks, being careful not to fall as they slid around on the smooth surface.

They fumbled around in the dark bedroom for a few moments as they blindly searched for the bed. When they found it, Ichigo tripped, landing on top of Yumichika, who handed on top of his plush toy. The situation made them both giggle, the sounds of which they tried to stifle, which only made them giggle more. In order to quiet the other, Ichigo rolled him over and covered Yumichika's mouth with his.

Still giggling, Yumichika wrapped his arms around the teen's back, rolling them both so that he was on top, kicking the plushie off the bed as his hands began to explore. Taking the hint, Ichigo slid his fingers under Yumichika's shirt, pulling it up. They broke apart so that the offending item could be tossed aside, taking the opportunity to rid Ichigo of his shirt as well.

Both men now topless, they resumed their kiss, which grew more heated as their hands roamed freely, touching and exploring as much as their desired. Soon enough, hands were fiddling with jeans and boxers, desperately trying to get rid of them without breaking the kiss. Their desire for their partner's nakedness won out though, and it wasn't long before Yumichika was kissing his way down Ichigo's chest, biting gently at his nipples on his way down.

Nimble fingers pried open the button on his jeans, and once that was out of the way, both his jeans and boxers were pulled down past his hips in one go. He hissed as cold air hit his stiffening member, and he had to stifle a loud moan when Yumichika smiled up at him before swallowing more than half of him in one go.

"Oh god," he breathed, feeling Yumichika's hot mouth around him. He looked down and felt himself grow hotter at the sight of the dark haired man bobbing up and down on him, swirling his tongue around and grazing his teeth against his erection. Everything he did made Ichigo gasp and writhe on the bed, whining quietly when Yumichika grabbed his hips and held him down.

After a while the teen couldn't take it anymore. He reached down and gently pulled Yumichika off him, leaning down to pry off the raven haired beauty's pants as he carefully slid out of his own, which were sitting uncomfortably around his knees. He only managed to get Yumichika's pants barely passed his bum when he was pushed off.

Ichigo frowned for a moment before he saw that Yumichika was pulling off his own pants and had pushed him closer to the desk. Understanding what he wanted, Ichigo leaned towards the desk, pulling the bottom drawer open and fishing out the box of condoms and a tube of lubricant that he had brought after the first time they'd done it.

As he pulled himself back onto the bed, he saw that Yumichika was now completely naked and had thrown their clothes off the bed. He smiled and crawled across the teen to straddle him, kissing Ichigo hard on the mouth and taking the lube from his hand. He got himself onto his knees and squirted some of the lube onto his fingers before dropping the tube onto Ichigo's stomach.

It didn't take long for Ichigo to realise what the dark haired man was doing, and he groaned at the idea. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from moaning loudly as he watched Yumichika reach around behind himself with his lube covered fingers and began to prepare himself.

"Yumi, you're driving me insane," he whispered, seeing the look of bliss on his partner's face.

"Put that on," Yumichika said breathlessly, nodding at the foil packet that Ichigo was still holding. "And then don't move."

The teen did as asked, nodding as he tore open the condom packet and rolled the rubber over his throbbing member. When he was done, Yumichika pulled his fingers out and picked up the lube again, this time covering Ichigo's member, before shuffling forward on his knees to position himself over Ichigo's erection.

"Remember," he murmured. "Don't move," and with that he lowered himself onto Ichigo's member, gasping at the feeling. It took all of Ichigo's willpower not to start moving until Yumichika told him to do so, even though the sight of his member sinking into Yumichika's tight heat was possibly making him harder still. It took a few moments for Yumichika to lower himself fully, and when he had, he stayed still for a while, taking deep breaths as he adjusted to the feeling.

"You're so beautiful," Ichigo said, reaching up to gently caress the dark haired man on the cheek.

"You can move now," Yumichika said with a weak smile, rolling his hips forward slight, making them both moan.

With no more incentive than that, Ichigo raised his hips off the bed slightly before dropping back down. A gasp left Yumichika's lips, and he continued the steady movement, grabbing Yumichika's hips and helping to manoeuvre him around on his lip. Yumichika moaned quietly, rolling his hips in time with Ichigo's thrust, helping him to hit that special place inside him every time.

Their pace grew steadily faster until it reached the point where they could barely keep themselves quiet and they were both nearing completion. Ichigo reached forward, grasping Yumichika's member and beginning to stroke it in time with their movements. Yumichika cried out loudly at the contact, and it wasn't long before he released over Ichigo's hand and stomach, moaning his name at the feeling.

Yumichika tightened around Ichigo as he came and that sudden tightening spurred the teen on to his own climax, which he rode out, groaning loudly. He rolled his hips a few more times before the dark haired man collapsed forward onto him, panting against his shoulder. They stayed as they were for a few minutes until they had regained their breath before they moved around a bit, getting comfortable.

Ichigo pulled the spent condom off his now flaccid member, tied it off and dropped it into the bin next to his bed. He then rolled onto his side and pulled Yumichika close, chest to back, planting loving, tender kisses along his shoulders and neck until they both drifted off to sleep, not really wanting to think about what the coming days would bring.


	17. Chapter 17

Breakfast the next morning was a quiet, gloomy affair. Everyone was fully aware that Yumichika was leaving the next day, and no one seemed to want to start a conversation in case that topic came up. So instead they sat in silence, munching on toast and cereal. They were having a simple breakfast today because Yuzu had planned a big, special breakfast for tomorrow when they saw Yumichika off.

She was also preparing a dinner for him that consisted of all his favourite foods – dumplings, pork fried rice, lemon chicken and vegetable stir-fry, with chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. Due to the fact that this was going to take most of the day to prepare, Ichigo had been given the task of distracting the one they were going to surprise. Not that he had much of an issue with it. He too had something planned.

First he took him to the movies again, only this time they went to the swanky cinema across town that was far more expensive, but was completely worth the extra cash. The seats were huge and soft, and set into pairs near the front so that couples could sit together comfortably. Each set of seats had a small table on the outside edge so that they could put their food and drinks somewhere out of the way. Because Ichigo had booked ahead, they also had a small, heart shaped cupcake set next to a white rose surrounded by heart shaped chocolates on one of the tables. Yumichika smiled at that, giving Ichigo a kiss on the cheek as they sat down.

The movie that Ichigo had picked was one that Yumichika had seen trailers for on TV and desperately wanted to see. Unfortunately the movie wasn't being released until the day he left, so there was no chance he could see it. However, after much hunting on the internet, Ichigo had found that this cinema was having an advanced screening today. That bumped the price up a bit more, but Ichigo felt that it was completely worth it.

As the cinema lights dimmed, Yumichika slid closer so him and leaned close, asking in a low voice what movie they were seeing. The teen only smiled knowingly and kissed him on the mouth to keep him quiet. The dark haired man rolled his eyes and snuggled into his chest, unwrapping one of the chocolates as he got comfortable. Ichigo smiled happily and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, grabbing a handful of popcorn as the pre-show ads started.

As soon as the lights had dimmed completely and the credits for the film started rolling, Yumichika gasped, knowing instantly what movie they were seeing. He sat up slightly and kissed Ichigo's chin. He entwined their fingers together, rubbing his thumb over the back of Ichigo's hand.

"Thank you," he said in a whisper, kissing his chin again.

"You're welcome," he replied, equally as quiet, before they both returned their attention to the movie.

Ichigo hadn't been completely sure of what the movie was about when he booked the tickets for it, but he didn't mind as it was for Yumichika, not him. Still, he enjoyed the movie quite a lot, liking the subtle plot turns and the inner conflict that the main character was fighting through as he struggled to choose which life he wanted to continue being a part of.

Yumichika took the rose with him when they left the cinema. The pair walked with their elbows linked, the dark haired man resting his head on the teen's shoulder, rambling excitedly about how much he enjoyed the movie and how grateful he was to Ichigo for taking him. Ichigo only smiled down at him happily, letting him talk as much as he wanted while they walked to where they would be having lunch.

He had once again called ahead and booked them a table at a small but nice Italian restaurant that Ichigo and his family had eaten at before. They had a table near the back, but that had a window that looked towards where he planned to go to next – the traditional Japanese garden at the foot of the hills that lead up to the temple. He knew that this was something that Yumichika was probably quite used to, but he still wanted to take him.

Yumichika giggled happily as they walked hand in hand towards the shrine that lead into the garden. As it turned out, the only truly traditional garden in the Seireitei was part of the Kuchiki estate, and that was only open for public viewing in the spring when the sakura trees were in bloom, and then it was only one part of the garden. So this was special for him, because it meant that he could so the whole garden without having to worry about going somewhere he wasn't supposed to.

The garden was mostly empty, probably because it was the middle of the day and everyone who was likely to visit was probably working. Ichigo was grateful for that, as he assumed that most people wouldn't approve of the way he and Yumichika were around each other. People might be slowly becoming more accepting of same-sex couples, but many more of them were still engrained in their ways, and refused to accept them. He knew firsthand how people reacted to them after all.

He shook his head slightly, brushing those thoughts aside. Today was for Yumichika, and him thinking about how stubborn society was would only serve to make him upset and angry. When Yumichika saw the koi pond he gasped happily and dashed over to it, leaning over the rock lines edge of the pool to get a closer look. It would seem that Byakuya's koi pond was off limits to the public.

When Yumichika laughed softly he hurried over to him, and saw that the dark haired man had put one of his fingers in the pond and the fish were nibbling on it out of curiosity. The teen smirked happily and crouched next to him, lowering his own finger into the pool and laughing when more fish swarmed towards it, seeing if it was food.

"This is nice," Yumichika said softly, sitting back on his heels and folding his hands in his lap. Ichigo looked up at him, seeing a small, content smile on his face.

"It is, isn't it?" he said, in an equally low voice, slowly getting to his feet and looking out over the pond. It had been here in years, and he was glad to have chosen to take Yumichika here. "Come on, let's go explore," he said happily, looking down at the dark haired man and extending his hand.

Yumichika looked at him for a few seconds, before his face broke out in a wide smile and he grabbed Ichigo's hand. "Yeah, let's have fun!"

They spent most of the afternoon wandering aimlessly around the large gardens, getting lost several times and ending up back where they were before. The two laughed it off, both of them far too relaxed to be bothered with something as stupid as getting annoyed over getting lost. After a few hours, Ichigo took them to the traditional teahouse near the main entrance to the gardens to enjoy tea and sweets before starting a leisurely walk home, once again with their hands entwined.

They got quite a few stares as they walked, mostly of shock or disgust, but there were some that gave them looks of warmth or simply smiled at them. Even when a group of men threw cat-calls in their direction, Ichigo only flipped them off and continued walking. He didn't want anything to ruin what had been a wonderful day, and he wasn't going to let a few assholes on a street corner get to him.

It was almost dark when the Kurosaki Clinic came into view; the sun had barely started falling below the horizon and the sky was cast in different shades of pink, yellow and orange. On the other side of the sky, where it was almost already night, starts were beginning to sparkle into life.

They were met at the door by Isshin, who wrenched it open before Ichigo had even touched the handle. His face was overly serious, and they both instantly knew that he was up to something. Therefore it was no surprise when he grabbed them both by the fronts of their shirts, yanked them inside and dragged them up the stairs without saying a word. He then pushed them into Ichigo's room and slammed the door shut behind them.

"Now! You are not to leave this room until I say so! Are we clear!" he boomed through the door, his voice muffled slightly by the wood between them.

"But-," Ichigo started, but was cut off almost instantaneously.

"No buts! You are not leaving this room without my say-so! So there! Ha ha!" and then they heard heavy footsteps retreating quickly down the hall and disappearing down the staircase, followed the entire way by Isshin's manic laughing.

"Are you two really related? I mean, really, he has the mentality if what? A five year old?" Yumichika said dully.

Ichigo looked at him blankly for a few seconds before he started laughing. Yumichika raised an eyebrow at him, shrugged and walked across the room to plonk himself down on the bed. He grabbed a random manga from the small stack on the desk and started reading from somewhere in the middle.

"Hey, why are you sulking all of a sudden? What did I do?" Ichigo said, genuinely confused by the other man's actions. Yumichika's reply was to lift the manga higher and cover more of his face. The teen couldn't see it from where he was, but the dark haired man was hiding his smirk, a sign that he was _not _smirking. Ichigo hurried over to him and slid casually onto the bed in front of him, trying to see over the book.

Yumichika giggled and launched himself forward, wrapping both arms around Ichigo, who fell back under the sudden onslaught. He squawked and stared down at his boyfriend, completely perplexed by his strange behaviour, even more so when he started laughing happily and rubbing his face against his chest. Shaking his head and sighing, he sat up, wrapping both arms around Yumichika so that they were sitting with him basically straddling the teen's lap.

"You're so confusing," he grumbled.

"Yeah but you like me too much to care," Yumichika said with a sweet smile.

"Hmm…I _suppose_ you're right," Ichigo said with an over-the-top sigh and rolling his eyes in a very obvious way. "I might need some convincing."

"Want me to kiss it better?" the dark haired man cooed, making silly kissing noises.

"Maybe," Ichigo grinned, leaning down to connect their lips in a heated kiss.

Yumichika hummed happily and manoeuvred his legs around so that he could wrap them around his partner's waist. The teen groaned in appreciation, running his hands down Yumichika's sides, coming to rest on his hips. He let his fingers creep further until he was groping his boyfriend's backside appreciatively. Yumichika squeaked and the younger man took the opportunity to slip his tongue into his mouth.

Gasping happily he returned the gesture, letting their tongues dance together, but not fight for dominance. Their hands gently caressed each other, tugging softly at hair or stopping in places every so often, but none of their moves suggested that they wanted to do anything sexual, at least not at the moment.

They had been making out for a while and were far too absorbed in each other and the moment to hear the knock at Ichigo's door. When the knock came a second time, louder and harder, they still didn't notice. However they _did_ notice when the door was thrown open with enough force that it hit the wall and bounced back slightly. Both of them gasped and they broke off their kiss, but didn't move away from each other.

"You guys are gross. What were you doing, trying to suck each other's faces' off?" Karin asked darkly, her arms crossed over her chest and an indifferent look on her face.

"No," they both answered quickly. Karin raised an eyebrow at them, but didn't say anything.

"Whatever. Dinner's ready, so you guys can come down now." And with that she turned and walked silently back down the hallway.

"Well…I am kinda hungry," Ichigo said after a few moments of silence.

"Me too," Yumichika said, sliding off his lap to stand next to the bed.

"Okay, let's go eat," Ichigo said enthusiastically, jumping off the bed and grabbing Yumichika's hand to pull him out the room.

"Whoa, slow down! What's the rush?" Yumichika exclaimed, raising an eyebrow as he was practically dragged towards the kitchen by the teen.

"I'm just really hungry."

Yeah, that was obviously a lie. Shaking his head, he allowed himself to be pulled to the kitchen, but was stopped before they went inside. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ichigo quickly turned him around and covered his eyes with his hands. Realising that the Kurosaki's must have planned something, he smiled and allowed himself to be guided blindly into the main living room. He giggle when he was awkwardly placed in a chair, hearing hurried whispers behind him and the scraping of chairs from other places around the table while Ichigo was still keeping him blindfolded.

"Surprise," Ichigo said quietly, kissing the top of his head before slowly pulling his hands away to reveal the spread presented on the table in front of him.

"You made all my favourites!" he squealed happily, leaning over to where Yuzu was standing next to him so he could hug her tightly around the middle.

"Well you're going home tomorrow and…well…you care for Ichigo and because of that…we…we consider you part of the family," she said nervously, but with a big smile on her face as she completed the sentence.

Yumichika's eyes widened slightly for a moment, then his expression softened and he gave her a squeeze. "Thank you," he said quietly before letting go and turning back to the food. "Where do I start?"

"Wherever you want! It's all for you after all!" Isshin said jovially.

"You guys are too good to me," Yumichika said happily before immediately focusing his attention on the plate of lemon chicken in front of him.

Smiling, Ichigo and Yuzu sat down at the empty chairs on the table and started digging into the food. Once everyone had some of everything on their plate there was no more talking and only the sounds of people happily munching on food and the clattering of cutlery as it hit plates.

He had to admit to himself that one of the things he was going to miss most when he went home would be Yuzu's cooking. The food that they ate back in the Seireitei wouldn't compare, unless it was the food that they ate at the Kuchiki estate when the sakura were in bloom, and that was only once a year. He wasn't putting the food that the squads got down, it's just that it was far more simple and generic than this food because it had to be made in a hurry for the masses of Soul Reapers that needed to be fed on a daily basis.

Regardless, Yuzu's cooking was probably some of the best he'd ever had and it would be sorely missed. In fact, he would miss almost everything about being part of the Kurosaki household. It was rarely quiet, although not in the same way that it was loud back in Squad 11. He wasn't being rudely awoken or interrupted by random fights or yelling that was a part of everyday life in the squad of rough men.

Here he usually woke up when his body wanted to, or by Ichigo snuggling up against him after a good night's sleep. Every so often they were woken up by Isshin being annoying and attempting to attack Ichigo in his sleep, but that had only happened once since they had started sharing a bed.

Realising that he was starting to get depressed by his thoughts, he focused on the glorious food in front of him, knowing that it would probably be a while before he got to eat like this again. Everything in front of him was absolutely glorious; there wasn't really any other way to explain it. The food was just that good.

When everyone had eaten their fill, they sat at the table for a few minutes in silence, before Yuzu stood and started clearing the table. Yumichika started to get to his feet in order to help, but Ichigo grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. Instead, Karin stood and helped her sister move the used dishes into the kitchen.

When they came back a few minutes later, they were carrying dessert – a large chocolate cake and a big tub of vanilla ice cream, along with more plates and cutlery. Yuzu dished it up, serving Yumichika first as well as giving him the biggest slice of cake. Even though he was quite full from all the food he had eaten earlier, he still managed to scoff down all his cake and ice cream. He wasn't surprised at how good it tasted, and would have had seconds if he didn't feel like doing so would make him explode.

Once the table had been cleared completely and everyone had moved to sit in front of the TV, Yumichika relaxed into the sofa and rested his head on Ichigo's shoulder. Eating so much food had made him sleepy, and he wasn't opposed to letting himself rest for a while, especially when Ichigo put an arm around his shoulder in order to pull him closer.

It was a while later, after much watching of lame TV shows that 'good nights' were said and everyone disappeared into their rooms for the night. Ichigo linked their fingers together as they slowly walked up the stairs and into his bedroom. He sat down in the middle of the bed and pulled Yumichika down to sit between his legs. He gently placed both hands on the dark haired man's shoulders and looked up at him, a nervous expression on his face.

"I have one more thing to give you. Although really I'm asking you to do something for me," he said quietly, his anxiety clear in his voice. "What is it?" Yumichika asked softly, raising a hand to brush his cheek gently.

"What do you want me to do?" Ichigo looked down for a moment, took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye, his face now determined.

"I want you to make love to me."


	18. Chapter 18

"What the hell is with this rain? I thought it was supposed to be summer?" Ikkaku muttered to himself as he stood in the doorway of his quarters, staring out over the Squad 11 training field. It had been raining nonstop for over a week now and the miserable weather was starting to wear everyone down.

At the moment, he was contemplating as to whether or not he should bother going out into the rain to meet up with the lieutenants who had invited him out drinking. It was that or stay home and get drunk by himself. Although he wasn't terribly keen on getting soaked through, which was going to happen as soon as he stepped outside, the idea of drinking alone was actually just depressing. And since he was already in a depressed mood, he might as well drown himself in his misery in a place where someone could at least make sure he wouldn't drown in his own vomit or something stupid like that.

Sighing loudly he grabbed an umbrella from inside the threshold and opened it as he stepped through the door. The rain pounded loudly down onto the material that was only going to keep part of him dry, and he awkwardly tried to tuck his arms in close to his body once he had locked the door. As soon as he started walking towards where everyone was meeting his feet were soaked through and the bottom half of his uniform was weighed down heavily with water.

Already regretting his decision Ikkaku grumbled the whole way, kicking at walls as he passed them, always regretting it when pain laced through his toes and into his feet. That in turn made walking painful and he chose to punch the next wall he passed. Needless to say, after that he stopped hitting things as he passed them.

The rain was not only depressing, it was also reminding him of the last time he went out drinking, and the crap that had followed after. He felt the urge to hit something again as the memory came rushing back, but resisted, knowing that he would hurt himself if he did. That damn Renji, thinking he knew shit when he really didn't. He groaned loudly at the memory of what had happened, wishing that he had been too drunk to remember.

"_Are you in love with Yumichika?"_

_Ikkaku stared at him blankly for a few seconds, an eyebrow raised and his mouth hanging slightly open. "What?"_

_Renji swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Please don't act like you didn't hear me. Are you in love with him?"_

"_Fuck yeah I love him. I have almost the whole time we've been friends. Oi! Don't go letting your mind wander!" he growled as he saw Renji's expression changed. "I love him, but I'm not _in_ love with him. There's a big difference."_

"_Are you sure? I mean, everyone thinks that-."_

"_I don't give a shit what everyone else thinks and neither does Yumichika. We know what people think when they look at us, but it isn't true. He's like a brother, nothing more, so shut the fuck up."_

"_But-."_

"_I told you to shut up!" Ikkaku yelled, getting to his feet and grabbing Renji by the collar of his borrowed clothes. Without saying anything else he dragged the red head across the floor and threw him against the front door. He then stomped into his room, grabbed one of his spare uniforms and marched back to where Renji was getting to his feet._

"_We're the same size, so you take this and get the hell out!" he growled, tossing the uniform at the lieutenant. He unlocked the door, slid it open and shoved Renji out before he could say anything, kicking his shoes out after him and slamming the door shut behind him._

Eventually he arrived outside the brightly lit bar, soaking wet and with aching hands and feet, and hurried inside. He paused when he stepped in, shaking out his umbrella and vainly trying to kick some of the water out of his shoes and uniform. Then arching his neck, looking around for where everyone else was sitting. He spotted them (or more like heard them) sitting in a corner near the back away from any windows, and, thankfully, close to the hearth that was filled with a roaring fire, warming the large space inside the building.

Grinning, he tucked his umbrella under his arm and hurried across the room, weaving between tables and chairs as he went. When he reached his destination he tossed the umbrella into the corner and slid onto the bench next to Iba, noticing the disappointed look on a certain red head lieutenant's face as he did. He didn't care though, that Renji was upset. The guy deserved it after sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. He leaned across the table to swipe a bottle of sake from Rangiku and took a large swig, deciding that he was going to do his best to forget his discussion with the man by consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

The night progressed steadily, with more and more sake being consumed as the time passed. The table was soon littered with empty bottles, making it a difficult task trying to find a bottle that still had alcohol in it. Rangiku was trying to crawl across the table to steal Shuhei's choker while next to him Izuru was snoozing, using his forearm as a pillow and drooling slightly. Iba had gone off somewhere to get more drinks and at some point Renji had sidled over and was now sitting next to him.

"What the hell do you want?" Ikkaku growled, not looking at the red head while he searched through the pile of empty bottles in front of him.

"I wanted to say sorry," Renji said lamely, looking at the floor.

"For what? Shovin' your face in where it doesn't belong?"

"Yeah, that…sorry," Renji muttered, fiddling with the hem of his sleeve.

Ikkaku glared at him for a few moments before punching him square in the face. The lieutenant went down hard, ending up with his feet on the chair, flat on his back on the floor. Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and stared at him, waiting with baited breath to see what he would do next.

"Apology accepted. You okay down there?"

Renji's reply was to shakily raise a hand in thumbs-up before groaning and pulling himself into a sitting position. Chuckling, Ikkaku offered him a hand and pulled him back onto the seat. After a moment the rest of their group went back to what they were doing before and as Iba came back carrying half a dozen bottles in his hands he stole two of them, handing one to Renji. He gave him a nod before tossing his head back and swallowing half the bottle in one go.

After that he lent back against the smooth wall behind him, nursing his drink and only sipping from it occasionally until it was empty. A content smile was one his face and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to sit lazily in the comfortable warmth of the room. He was happily buzzed, and was just beginning to contemplate having another when there was an appreciative roar from the others sitting at the table, and he cracked open an eye so see what the commotion was about.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was because someone had just brought more alcohol to the table, that someone being Captain Kyoraku. What was surprising was that Captain Ukitake was with him, a nervous smile on his face. Ikkaku could only remember a handful of occasions that the Captain of Squad 13 had come out drinking, and when he had it was only so that he could help carry Shunsui home after he got completely drunk.

"Evening," Shunsui said, tipping his hat as he slid onto the seat next to Shuhei.

"Heyyy Captains! Wass up?" Rangiku said loudly, waving het bottle of sake in the air and spilling it all over herself in the process.

"All's good, except that Nanao turned down my invitation to come out tonight," he said with a happy smile. "I'm quite well myself, at least, as well as I can be," Juushiro said with a small smile, sitting down next to Izuru. The blond jerked awake, looking around with wide, shocked eyes and almost falling off his chair. Shuhei caught him before he did and wrapped both arms around him, hugging him close to his chest. They stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

The two Captains handed out the bottles they had brought with them and soon the table was a buzz of noise. Juushiro wasn't drinking, so he busied himself with organising the empty bottles at one end of the table, then waving at the bar. A few moments later a man stopped at their table and put all the empty bottles into a crate that he had brought with him. When he left there were almost no bottles left on the table.

Seemingly outraged by the lack of alcohol on the table, Rangiku stumbled to her feet, determined to fix this problem. Laughing loudly at her struggle, Shunsui helped her walk to the bar, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and sauntering across the room towards the bar. While they were busy buying alcohol, Juushiro stood and walked around the table and sat down next to Ikkaku, who was currently cheering at an arm wrestle between Iba and Renji. He had no idea who he was cheering for, but he was having fun watching.

"Ikkaku, would you mind if I could have a word?" the Captain said quietly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah sure," Ikkaku said, turning in his seat to face the kinda-hearted Captain.

"I have some news, and I thought that you might like to hear it first," he said with a kind smile.

"Oh yeah? What is it? Has my Captain gotten married?" He snorted at his joke and the idea of his Captain in a relationship with someone. Nope, he couldn't picture it.

Juushiro laughed heartedly, shaking his head. "No, nothing as drastic as that, though that would be something to try and explain," he said through his laughter. He chuckled a few more times before calming down enough the talk properly. "My news is something that I think you will enjoy. Yumichika has been reinstated and will be back in the Soul Society tomorrow morning."

Ikkaku sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, before he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and turned his head to see Renji grinning at him."Tha's great news! It means that nooone of us have to carry you home anymore when you're tooootally shit faced!"

"Yumichika's coming home?" he said, a grin breaking out across his face. "Oh fuck yeah! I'll drink to that!"

"Drink! Where? I want some!" Shuhei said, leaning across the table to see if he was hiding anything from him.

At that point Rangiku and Shunsui came back with even more sake, making everyone roar in appreciation. Once everyone had grabbed a drink, they said cheers and drank as quickly as they could. Tonight was now for celebration, and none of them were going to miss out. Even Juushiro had a mouthful of sake at Shunsui's insistence, and for the first time in a while, Ikkaku was happy to spend the night drinking amongst friends, knowing that in the coming days they would be joined by Yumichika. The thought alone made him smile.


	19. Chapter 19

**How many people were disappointed by the last chapter? (I know I was…) The reason for that was I was getting stuck on this chapter and I also wanted to be a bit of a dick and tease you. **

**Please don't hate me, because I now bring you this! **

**I hope you like it… If you have the time or just want to please review. If not, just keep reading and stick with me! This story is far from over… ;P**

Yumichika frowned slightly and leaned back so he could see Ichigo properly.

"But we've already done that, so I don't understand why you're asking me-," Ichigo cut him off by pressing a finger over his lips.

"No that's not what I'm asking. I want _you_ to make love to me. As in…" the teen trailed off nervously.

"You want me to be the top," Yumichika finished slowly, realisation dawning on him. "You trust me that much?"

"You trusted me," Ichigo replied softly, smiling slightly.

"I…no one's ever wanted me to top them before. No doubt because of my appearance they assumed I always want to be on the receiving end," the dark haired man admitted quietly.

"Do you want to? I mean, well…you always seem to enjoy it so much and I wanted to know what it's like."

To Ichigo's surprise and embarrassment Yumichika started giggling. His cheeks heated up and he turned to move off the bed, but a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and held him where he was. He pouted and stared down into his lap, refusing to look at his boyfriend.

"Hey now, come on I didn't mean it like that," Yumichika said, gently grabbing chin and pulling his face up so they were looking at each other. "I just thought it was cute that's all. I didn't mean to laugh, so don't be like that."

"I'm not cute," Ichigo grumbled.

"You're my boyfriend. I'm allowed to call you cute," Yumichika said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding.

His silly little show of stubbornness made the teen smile, which had been his goal. Smirking, he leaned forward and kissed Ichigo on the end of his nose, giggled and then kissed him on the lips. Ichigo responded wholeheartedly, eagerly wrapping his arms loosely around Yumichika's waist and pulling him further onto his lap.

As they kissed their hands gently explored each other, caressing and touching as many places as possible lovingly and with the utmost care. At some point they had both lost their shirts and Ichigo was lying on his back, Yumichika spread out across him. The dark haired man started rubbing his hips down against his lover's, making the younger man groan happily into his mouth.

Yumichika broke their kiss and started nipping along his jaw, stopping when he reached his ear, breathing heavily against his hair. "I accept, and will gladly make love to you, whenever you desire."

He felt the arms around him tighten slightly as Ichigo pressed his face into the crook of his neck. "Thank you," he said softly, turning his head slightly to kiss Yumichika's neck.

The dark haired man smiled into the spiky orange hair next to his face, allowing the teen to have the moment while he gently caressed Ichigo's naked chest with his hands. After a few long seconds Ichigo rubbed his hands down Yumichika's back to rest on his hips and started kissing along Yumichika's collar bone, pausing at his throat so he could leave a mark.

Humming happily, Yumichika rolled them over, making the teen straddle his hips. Ichigo reached down to kiss him while the older man started rubbing his nipples. Ichigo groaned into his mouth, tangling their tongues together and grinding his hips down. Leaving one hand to continue the assault on the teen's chest, Yumichika grabbed Ichigo's hip and pulled him down at the same time that he bucked his hips upwards. The sweet friction made both of them moan. Y

umichika broke the kiss and started to make a wet trail with his tongue down Ichigo's neck, across his collar bone and stopping to pay attention to Ichigo's nipples again. Ichigo groaned, looking down at the dark haired man with lidded eyes. He threaded his fingers through the silky black locks, cupping the back of Yumichika's head, gently stroking his cheek with his other hand. Yumichika teased his nipple for a while longer before kissing his way across Ichigo's chest to so the same to the other.

A pair of soft, strong hands caressed the teen's lower back, deft fingers eventually slipping under the waistband of his pants. Yumichika smirked at the realisation that the teen wasn't wearing any underwear. He lay back on the bed and pulled Ichigo so that he was sitting on his chest. He slid his hands out of Ichigo's pants, instead resting them on the teen's backside while arching his neck to mouth his partner through his pants.

Ichigo gasped when he felt the light pressure of teeth against his member through the fabric of his pants. That coupled with the hands that were now massaging his backside soon had him completely hard. He was sitting hunched over, his hands on either side of Yumichika's head, moaning and trying his best not to writhe or buck his hips.

When the hands moved away he made an unhappy noise, but they returned a few moments later, fingers hooking in the waistband of his pants and slowly pulling them down. The teen got the idea and sat up on his knees so that the pants could be dragged off his hips and down his legs. Yumichika left them in a bunch halfway down his thighs and smirked when he saw Ichigo's impressive erection.

"Do you trust me?" he asked softly, looking up at the teen through his bangs.

Ichigo merely nodded, lust beginning to cloud his senses. Then, before he knew what was happening Yumichika's mouth was on him. He barely managed to stifle the cry of pleasure he so desperately wanted to let out, but he had enough sense at least to remember that his family was home. So instead he bit his lip hard as his partner swallowed around him, head bobbing up and down slowly in an effort to draw out his pleasure.

It took the teen a few moments to realise that there was a slick finger slowly moving in and out of his entrance, a second one joining it soon after. Ichigo didn't know whether to groan in pleasure or hiss in pain. The things Yumichika was doing with his tongue sent bolts of pleasure through his body, but the scissoring of the fingers in his backside stung as they stretched. Somehow in his incoherent mind he settled on a guttural moan. That seemed to be the right thing to do because Yumichika sucked on him harder and raised his free hand to start toying with the teen's nipples.

Unable to help himself Ichigo bucked his hips forward, gasping when the tip of his member hit the back of the older man's throat. Yumichika swallowed around him and ran his tongue along the teen's length as he slowly pulled off. At the same time he spread his fingers and slipped in a third. Above him he heard a sharp intake of breath, and, understanding that the teen was probably feeling pain, he deep-throated his partner again, while pushing his fingers in deeper. He knew he found what he was looking for when his fingers brushed over a spot inside Ichigo that made him gasp and push back against his fingers.

Smiling, Yumichika gave the teen one more long suck before pulling off him. When Ichigo made a disappointed sound he smirked, turned his head to the side and gently sank his teeth into Ichigo's thigh. The orange haired teen gave a small yelp of surprise which quickly turned into a low moan when Yumichika swiped his tongue soothingly over the mark he made. He continued to nip at Ichigo's muscular thighs for a few more minutes as he stretched him further, wanting to make sure that he would feel as little discomfort as possible.

When he felt that Ichigo was feeling pretty much like a pile of lust filled goo he removed his fingers and gently rolled the teen off him. He sat up and moved onto his knees, crawling on top of Ichigo and kissing him deeply. Ichigo moaned and instantly curled his fingers through Yumichika's dark locks, trying to pull him impossibly closer. When they broke apart, both breathing heavily, Yumichika gently rolled Ichigo onto his stomach and pulled him onto his hands and knees.

"It will be easier this way," he whispered in Ichigo's ear, moving into position behind him. He quickly grabbed the condom and small tube of slick he had next to the pillow, rolling the rubber over his own hard member the second he ripped the foil off. Even though he knew that neither of them would get anything from the other the gesture seemed to comfort the teen, so he did it without fuss. He then squirted some of the lube into his hand and coated his member before lining himself up behind Ichigo. Leaning forward, he moulded his chest against Ichigo's back, kissing his shoulder and neck as he slowly pushed inside.

Ichigo did his best to relax as he felt Yumichika slowly pushing into him, pausing frequently so that he could get used to the feeling. Regardless of how gentle he was being and how much Yumichika had stretched him, he was curling his fingers into the sheets and clenching his teeth at the pain of the stretch. Somehow Yumichika seemed to realise his discomfort, as moments later kisses were being peppered along his back and shoulders, one hand covering one of his own and the other was slowly stroking his member.

He shivered and arched his back, the sudden move pushing Yumichika further into him. A blissful groan slipped past his lips, and he pushed back, wanting to feel everything his older partner could give him. Regardless of that, he was grateful that Yumichika kept moving slowly with him, gently rocking his hips as he seated himself fully inside the teen.

They both moaned happily at the feeling of being joined as they were, neither moving for a few moments while Ichigo got used to the feeling. When he felt ready enough, Ichigo rocked back against Yumichika, signalling that it was okay for him to move. Yumichika did so carefully, moving both hands to brace himself on the bed, then pulling out slowly before thrusting back in. He kept the pace steady for a while until he brushed the teen's prostate and he moaned loudly.

"Turn me over," Ichigo gasped when his prostate was hit again.

"Huh?" Yumichika said breathlessly, leaning down closer so him.

"I wanna…wanna see you," he moaned, arching his back and bucking his hips.

"Uh huh," Yumichika groaned, pulling out of him completely and rolling teen over. Not giving him any time to gain his bearings Yumichika pushed back into him, bottoming out in a single thrust. Ichigo cried out and thrust his hips up, wrapping his legs around his lover's waist when he started moving again.

Yumichika leaned forward and mashed his mouth down on Ichigo's. Their teeth clashed and the kiss was sloppy, but full of passion. It wasn't long after that when they lost all inhibitions and any lingering sense of pain was long gone. Although they did still have enough sense between them to keep quiet enough to not disturb the rest of the house.

When he felt that the teen was getting close, Yumichika picked up the pace, moving harder and faster than what Ichigo could ever have been expecting. Unable to stop himself he cried out loudly, and was quickly silenced by soft lips against his. A hand wormed its way between them and latched itself onto Ichigo's leaking member. The teen moaned loudly into his partner's mouth, gasping when the hand stroked his length, bringing him blissfully to his climax.

Ichigo tightened around his member at the same time that his warm seed spilled onto his hand and moments later he felt his own release. Yumichika groaned loudly into his lover's mouth, rolling his hips as they both rode out their orgasms together. Ichigo mumbled wordlessly when Yumichika practically collapsed on top of him, humming contently. The teen wrapped his arms around the smaller man's shoulders when he went to move.

"You're not heavy," he mumbled into Yumichika's hair. "And you're warm."

"We have a blanket," Yumichika said sleepily.

"Yeah, but you smell nice too," Ichigo said with a yawn.

"Hmm, I see your point but my back is getting cold," Yumichika said stubbornly, nuzzling his face into the muscled chest below him.

Ichigo laughed softly and rolled them over, pulling the blanket out from beneath them, but not immediately covering them with it. He lazily reached towards his desk and grabbed a handful of tissues, cleaning them up. At the same time Yumichika peeled the spent condom off, tied it in a knot and tossed it into the bin along with the dirty tissues.

Only after that did Ichigo cover them both with the blanket and snuggle before falling asleep. However, Ichigo stayed awake for a while after Yumichika had drifted off. He was studying the peaceful look on the beautiful, delicate face pressed up against his chest. And while he knew there was no helping the matter, his heart ached at the knowledge of Yumichika's departure in the morning.


End file.
