Unforgiven | By : phoenixreal Category: Bleach > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1764 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach, don't make money. |
Chapter Four
Death’s Door and Truth in Hearts
The next weekend found Ichigo in a quite mischievous mood. He was not going to let his Daddy get the upper hand as quickly as he usually did. As soon as he got into the door, Byakuya knew that something was different. For one thing, Ichigo’s outfit gave him a clue. Ichigo was wearing what looked like some sort of plaid skirt and a halter top. He’d put on a pair of flat Mary Jane style shoes and had socks that went up to his knees. Byakuya tilted his head to the side.
“I thought you didn’t do skirts, little boy,” Byakuya asked with a smirk. Ichigo had been very adamant that even though he took it up the ass, he was not a girl.
“Well, I thought this one was nice, huh Daddy?” he asked with a smirk as he came over to the table and sat down.
Ichigo, as usual, dove into his food, but before they were done, he jumped up and ran out of the room. Byakuya growled under his breath because when he got up, he got a flash of his bare ass. He wasn’t wearing anything under that skirt. He found him sitting on the bed with his legs crossed and bouncing his foot.
“Daddy, I think I should be in charge today,” he said with a look from under hooded eyes at him.
Byakuya arched a brow at him. “Oh, is that a fact?”
“Um hum, you’re going to do what I say. And I say you have to lick my cunt,” he said with a smirk. “Cuz I’m a little whore, but I’m your little whore, right Daddy?”
Byakuya felt every bit of blood rush to his cock. Ichigo was even wearing make up with this get up. “Did your little friend Luppi help you get dressed?” he asked as he moved forward slowly.
“Yup, and I let him suck my cock, too, Daddy,” he said with a flush rising to his cheeks. “I’m sorry, though, I know Daddy doesn’t like that,” he said, looking away.
Ichigo wasn’t lying, they’d had a game this week. Ichigo won, and Luppi ended up having to give him a blow job. Luppi had won against one of the girls, and got to fuck her. They always had those sort of games, practice, of a sort. Some of the others didn’t play, but Ichigo didn’t mind.
“You let someone else touch you?” Byakuya asked slowly. “I think that deserves quite a spanking, don’t you?”
“Nope, you’re going to lick my cunt. Because I’m in charge,” Ichigo said with a smirk. Byakuya growled as he undid his tie and tossed wrapped it around his hand.
“Oh?” Byakuya asked. “You say I’m going to lick your cunt, huh? What did I say about that rude language?”
Ichigo looked away and smirked again. “I’ll say what I want. I’m a big enough boy, so I will use fuck as much as I want. So you need to…”
Ichigo didn’t finish that sentence because Byakuya grabbed his hands and quickly tied the tie around his wrists. Ichigo gasped, surprised that he was acting so quickly. Before Ichigo could say anything, he’d been flipped on his stomach, and Byakuya had him gagged. When the hell had he gotten that out? Ichigo yelled against it, but it was the one that had a piece that went into his mouth and almost down his throat. Ichigo felt Byakuya pull his hips up and the skirt flipped up.
“Now, what a naughty little boy, telling me what to do after you were so bad this week. I’m disappointed in you, little boy,” Byakuya said and Ichigo jumped with the paddle hit him square across his ass.
Ichigo whined as he felt Byakuya put both hands on his hips. “You want me to lick your cunt?” he asked and Ichigo thought he was going to regret that. He was entirely correct.
Ichigo always prepared before he went out on a job, and he always was clean for Byakuya since he liked to bareback. However, when he tongue swirled around his entrance and then pushed inside, he was surprised by it. He whimpered as Byakuya took a few minutes to work Ichigo into a state of high arousal with his tongue. He then reached around and slipped the cock ring on him, but this one was different. Ichigo groaned because it vibrated just slightly. When Byakuya leaned back he put a generous amount of lube on his fingers before he worked them into him.
“So, such a naughty little boy, you know what I’m going to do?” he asked and Ichigo gasped as he felt himself being stretched further as Byakuya slipped his pinky into him. Oh shit, Ichigo thought. He wasn’t sure about this…but then he felt his thumb work into him and he hit the soft bundle of nerves.
“Hmm, you are such a good little whore for Daddy, can you take more?” he asked and ran his hand down Ichigo’s hip.
Ichigo panted around the gag but he didn’t do anything else. All he had to do was signal him, and he’d stop, he knew that. But he really didn’t want him to stop. Byakuya smirked, watching as he spread his fingers and worked Ichigo open wider. Ichigo was in a constant state of whining and whimpering. Byakuya was interested in this, of course. He was interested in most things. He slid his hand further, watching curiously as his fingers delved further into him, down to the knuckles. Ichigo was trembling but dripping like mad on the bed. Byakuya smiled working his hand deeper and over the widest part, the thumb knuckle. He felt Ichigo’s body contracting on him. He felt the soft folds of tissue and the he was surprised at how pleasant it was for him. He twisted his hand in a circle, his entire hand encased inside Ichigo’s body. It was quivering and contracting. The heat was more than he expected, and he felt Ichigo’s body react every time he moved his fingers to stroke him inside.
Ichigo had never had someone do this in a way that he enjoyed it. There’d been several times he’d had this done, but they didn’t care about anything except their own pleasure at causing him pain. He sucked in a deep breath, feeling Byakuya pull back and slide forward again and he swore if he wasn’t wearing the ring, he would have exploded right then.
“Hmm, my little boy likes that?” Byakuya asked, twisting his hand again as Ichigo groaned against the gag again. “This is supposed to be punishment, not pleasure,” he commented as he started carefully working his hand back out of him. The process in reverse was almost as long as forward, and he didn’t want to hurt his little boy.
Ichigo couldn’t breathe for the sensations running through him as he felt the slow emptiness. He didn’t have time to think more about it though, because Byakuya’s hand was replaced with something thick and hard sliding into him. He felt it filling him and he couldn’t stop the pleasured mumbling that came from him.
“Now for the rest of your punishment, my slutty little boy. Ten swats for being so mouthy. Twenty for letting someone other than me touch your cock. That belongs to me and I’m the only one who can give you permission to cum,” he said as he swung the paddle hard.
Ichigo felt the strangest sensation of at the same time being pleasured and punished in a way he liked more than he ever thought. When Byakuya was done he felt him slide the plug out of him and replace it with his cock.
“Ah, my little boy, you did a good job, so I’ll let you cum, perhaps,” he said and Ichigo thought he really was going to come apart as he fucked him in that position.
His bound hands were nearly between his knees and his face was almost buried in the covers. The position left him completely exposed and he had no idea why he was okay with it. Byakuya slid his hand under Ichigo from behind and teased his cock for a long time, stroking it with his thrusts. Ichigo was sobbing now, though, his head floating somewhere between consciousness and trance. Byakuya slowly slid the vibrating ring down him and he felt his body tense from holding back.
“Alright, little boy, enough punishment, cum for Daddy,” he whispered. Ichigo went over without another second. Byakuya smiled, stroking him through it and following him a second later.
He once again quickly buried them in the covers and rocked him as he cried and mumbled. Once Ichigo had fallen asleep, Byakuya cleaned him up and fell asleep as well. That had been an exhausting bit of fun, he thought to himself.
The next morning, Byakuya got a business call. He was annoyed at it because it was Sunday, and he had instructed them not to call him unless it was an emergency. He growled as he sat at the desk beside the bed. He then felt something thump into his back. He turned around to see Ichigo had woken up, and was kneeling on the bed trying to get his attention. Byakuya made a motion with his hand and shook his head.
Ichigo made a face and tossed another pillow at him. Byakuya turned back and glared at him again. Ichigo had the gall to stick his tongue out at him as he jumped up and swung himself around the post of the bed. He smirked at Byakuya and lifted his skirt up to wiggle his ass at him. Byakuya was going to give him the biggest spanking in existence for this, he thought.
“Yes, I’m here. I understand that the account is…” he started before he got hit with one of the bigger pillows. He turned and glared at Ichigo who proceeded to hang onto the post of the bed and pretend he was a stripper or something. Byakuya growled. “No, nothing, just remembered something I have to do in a little bit.”
Ichigo grinned and tossed three of the small pillows at him in quick succession, nearly making him drop the phone. Byakuya glared at him and turned his back while he continued to talk. However, he couldn’t keep the smile off his lips when he did. He liked the fact that Ichigo would do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Especially since he was going to turn him over his lap and spank him terribly before he tied him up and made him wait with the cock ring on for a while. He had quite the punishment ready for him after this…
“Goddammit!” Byakuya exclaimed as something heavier than a pillow hit him in the back. He turned and glared at Ichigo who was looking shocked.
“Sir, sir?” the man on the other end said. “Something wrong, sir?”
“No, no, stubbed my toe…” he said, glancing down to see that Ichigo had tossed the pillow that had the heavy beaded filling at him. “Yes, fine, do whatever you need to do. I’ll be there early tomorrow.”
Byakuya put the phone down and turned back to see Ichigo was standing on the bed, clutching the post and trying to not laugh. He didn’t succeed, and Byakuya tried not to smile as Ichigo jumped down and tried to avoid him.
“Sorry! I didn’t know it was that heavy!” he said as he tried to get past Byakuya into the other room.
Byakuya was faster than he anticipated, though, and snatched the far lighter boy up in his arms easily. Ichigo shrieked in laugher as Byakuya tossed him into the bed. Ichigo was laughing so hard that he couldn’t get the wits to crawl away as Byakuya proceeded to paddle him red and follow through on his punishment…
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
“I found him,” the blond said man, shoving a green and white striped hat on his head as he entered the room.
“What?” asked his partner, a buxom woman with purple hair. “The Kurosaki kid? Seriously?”
He stopped and tossed a handful of photos at her. He’d taken them the night before after he’d stopped to confirm it was him. Photos of him leaning into a car, standing on the corner with the other man, and then some where he was just walking around outside the Las Noches brothel that morning. He’d gone and printed them off when he’d left the area a couple hours ago.
“Holy shit, Kisuke, he’s a prostitute? For Las Noches?” she gasped. “Have you told Isshin?”
He hung his head. “Not yet. I’m torn, because he said something that I’m scared to even think about.”
“What could be worse than finding out he’s a prostitute?” she asked, eyes wide.
Kisuke swallowed. “When I knew his name, they asked me what I’d seen him in his kiddie porn or the teen porn he’d done. What happened, Yoruichi? He ran away. He’s been on the streets, we guessed that, but what if he wasn’t?”
She sighed. “First step, call the local cops and see if they’ve got anything on this, shouldn’t be too hard to find out if they’ve had hits on an orange haired kid showing up in their raids for child pornography. Man, this is what I left the Shinigami to avoid…”
She walked out of the room and Kisuke stared at the pictures of the young man who used to be a child he knew. He remembered those big brown eyes, and how happy he had been when he came to visit Masaki, his younger sister. That little boy had loved his mom, and it had been tragic when she was murdered. Poor Isshin, he was overseas with no means to help, and Kisuke had not been contacted because he’d been in the Brazilian rain forest at the time. By the time he found out, the kids were in the foster system. Isshin had little choice but to allow it; Masaki had never been claimed by the Urahara family officially so there was no proof he was the kids’ uncle at all. When Isshin got back, Ichigo was missing, his foster parents saying he’d run away. He’d been ten at the time, and only a year after his mother’s death.
The investigation had stalled almost a hundred miles away, and almost eight years ago. At the time, Kisuke Urahara and his partner Yoruichi Shihōin had been members of one of INTERPOL’s elite strike forces, the Shinigami. The Shinigami were primarily concerned with a huge, international crime syndicate called the Messer and its arm that controlled most of Japan, called the Arrancar. Kisuke had been in Brazil on a research mission for the division he ran, the research and forensics division, and Yoruichi had been the head of the espionage division. By the time everything was said and done, the Shinigami had launched an investigation because Ichigo’s father, who had been away, was a Shinigami member, the head of the Terrorism division in fact.
Unfortunately, the division that handled kidnappings was run by Sōsuke Aizen. Sōsuke Aizen who currently ruled over the Arrancar, and who for some reason had made sure that the case got buried until he finally disappeared and showed himself a traitor. None of the old files existed, and all the trails had gone cold. That had been eight years ago. Eight long years.
Isshin had moved away to New Zealand with his two daughters after spending four years searching nonstop. With the death of his wife, and his son’s disappearance, he couldn’t take remaining in Japan. Recently, he had returned to Japan with his now sixteen-year-old daughters. Time had tempered his sadness and his anger at his son’s disappearance and he’d bought a house in a small Tokyo suburb named Karakura Town and opened up a medical clinic.
Kisuke had gotten a call from an informant on the local vice squad. It had been about a orange haired male sex worker. It seemed he offered good blow jobs in exchange for staying away from the Las Noches area and instead busting the other brothel to the north of them.
Urahara found his shaking hand picking up the phone.
“Hello?” came a familiar voice.
“Isshin, its Kisuke. I’ve found him. Come to my office, but don’t bring the girls, whatever you do, please don’t bring them,” he said, resting his head in his hand.
There was a long pause. “What aren’t you telling me? Why shouldn’t I bring the girls?”
“Please, I don’t want to talk on the phone, just get over here, okay?”
He hung up the phone as Yoruichi entered. “I’m going down to pick up the files. Turns out there’s a lot the cops weren’t telling you.”
He sat there alone, waiting; it would be an hour before Isshin got there, so Yoruichi might come back first. He was exhausted already, and was just starting the day. The key in the lock woke him as he sat up, nearly falling off the couch. He straightened his hat, and pulled down the green jacket he wore. Yoruichi walked in and dropped a file on the table, a CD slipping out of it.
“I couldn’t look past the first few pages, Kisuke, I don’t know…” she said as the knocking sounded on the door.
She went to get it and the tall, dark haired Isshin entered. He looked between them and then sat down beside Kisuke, and before he could stop him, the man grabbed the folder from his hands. He tried to grab it back, but he didn’t have to, the file fell to his lap, pictures and stills from videos spreading out all over his lap and the floor. Kisuke, who hadn’t even opened it, closed his eyes, his heart in his throat. Isshin was shaking beside him, and they both saw the face, the young innocent face that had smiled up at him so often, but in pictures that he should never have been in. Almost woodenly, Isshin went through the evidence photos, snapshots from confiscated material in raids. And he picked up the CD, labeled Evidence Case 15765. He glanced at Yoruichi.
“It’s a copy of the videos that were trafficked from the time he was 10 until he was 17,” she said softly. “They knew his name was Ichigo, and that was it. Because the files from Ichigo’s case never reached local police…they never had anything to connect him to the kidnapping case. It was as though Ichigo Kurosaki and his kidnapping never happened.”
Kisuke felt heavy. “You said you found him?” the man beside him said quietly. “He’s here?”
Kisuke stood despite the heaviness and retrieved the stack of photos and handed them to the man who now wore a deadpan expression. He watched as he touched the picture, a particular close shot of the boy’s face. It was aged, but there was no mistaking the child he hadn’t seen in over ten years. Before long he was crying, and Kisuke held him close.
“I’ll call the old man in the morning,” Kisuke commented. “Go home, rest, and meet me at the Seireitei tomorrow.”
Isshin nodded, thanking him and leaving slowly. After everything, was this better than him having died? Isshin wasn’t sure if that would even be his son anymore. There was a really good chance it wasn’t.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
The light had been filtered in softly from the windows, just as Hisana liked to have it. She had always loved the soft light when the evening sun began to set outside their bedroom. Byakuya sat beside her holding onto her hand tightly. Her breathing had become erratic and jagged, stopping altogether at some points. The light in her beautiful eyes, though, was still vivid and bright like a moon at the apex.
“I don’t know what I will do without you,” he said quietly to her, his eyes already welled with tears.
Hisana, gentle Hisana, he thought, staring at her. She smiled.
“Byakuya, you know I’ve always loved you with all my heart,” she said hoarsely, stopping to take breaths now and then.
The doctors had said it close to the end. She knew so as well, as she was more than ready for the end. She never spoke of her pain, and her constant malaise. She didn’t want to worry her sweet Byakuya. The morphine wasn’t killing the pain in her head anymore, and she felt like she was in a constant state somewhere between life and death. The world would spin, and the lights would flicker. She saw things in her vision she knew weren’t there. She’d started hearing noises as well, even though she knew they were not there.
Byakuya noticed that she was already speaking as though she had already passed. “You are the only one to pierce my stone, my dear Hisana. I have loved you with every piece of me that I was able.”
Her hand shook as she pulled it from his face and took his. “My time is come, my love. Now, I have two requests.”
Byakuya smiled gently. “Anything,” he said quietly.
“Take care of my dear sister Rukia, and find someone that you can love. Perhaps that boy you’ve been taking to the penthouse,” she said, smiling.
Byakuya nodded. “He is not…appropriate…for my family,” he said softly. “It won’t ever be more than it is. He gives me the things I desire and need, but that is all. He will never leave the life he’s in. I cannot head this company and be with someone like him in the public eye.”
“Make my sister and her betrothed your heir, and pursue your happiness, it doesn’t matter where he has come from, he has earned his way into your heart, and even this dying shell can see that clearly. You say you have a heart of stone, yet I know it is a heart of glass, and it shall shatter if you do not find comfort in another. It doesn’t matter if his past is one that is dark as night, he needs someone to show him the light of day,” she said. “So promise me.”
Byakuya nodded as he watched the light fade from her eyes. “I promise, Hisana, I promise,” he whispered as her head turned gently and her hand went lax in his. The moon had finally faded from his sky for the last time.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
It was Saturday well past noon and Byakuya hadn’t called. For the first time in over three months, Ichigo was scared. He knew that it might have to do with his ailing wife. He knew that, but he couldn’t help but thinking maybe he’d abandoned him after all. Ichigo couldn’t do this, he couldn’t go on without his Daddy. He’d come to depend on him, he’d come to…need him.
His head snapped up to see Yammy in the doorway to the rooms. His face was a mask of fury.
“Your fucking sugar daddy didn’t call, slut,” he growled out.
“His wife, she was sick, and it might…” he tried to explain but Yammy was on him already.
Yammy grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up off the floor at least a foot. Ichigo tried not to cry out but he couldn’t help the yell that escaped his lips.
“You dumb ass fucking cock-slut. How did you fuck up the easiest fucking job in the world? Did you do something stupid? Did you let that dumb mouth of yours overrun your ass? Huh?” Yammy said, and Ichigo was sure he couldn’t stand it much more. His hands were intertwined in his hair as Yammy clenched it tighter and he felt stands pulling out of his scalp.
“Yammy! He’s…he’s not going to stop calling…he just…” he tried to explain, anything to get him to let go of him. He growled, dropping Ichigo to his feet, but before he could recover he slammed a fist into his ribs hard.
Ichigo gasped and fell to his knees, knowing another hit was going to come. He winced as two kicks landed into his sides hard. He knew something snapped and pain shot through him like crazy. He did scream then. Yammy growled and kneed him right in the face, throwing him backward into the hall this time. Ichigo had no idea how he’d ended up on the other side of Yammy.
“I fucking depend on your income, you fucking shit. You can’t fuck up something this good and not suffer for it! I’ll fucking beat you to death if I have to!” Yammy growled out.
“Yammy!” came a voice from the other stairwell. “What are you doing?”
Ichigo looked up with watering eyes to see the tall, dark haired Dordoni. He was one of the male courtesans from upstairs. Ichigo had met him a few times, but he usually stayed upstairs. He had quite a steady string of rich, older women that he enjoyed servicing. He was a kind man, too.
Ichigo was having trouble catching his breath a bit and he felt blood running down his face from several cuts. “Beating the fuck out of this worthless fucking slut for losing the best goddamn client he’s ever had!”
“Wait, what good is that? If you injure him, he cannot work, yes?” Dordoni asked, frowning deeply.
Yammy stopped as he was pulling back his fist. “Yeah, true. If I kill this bitch, Aizen will be pissed. Alright, slut. You go on the corner tonight, and if you don’t fucking show up with a grand by morning, you’ve had it. They won’t find your fucking body, got it?”
Ichigo watched him leave and took a shaky breath. “Thanks…”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he whispered and helped him up the stairs to his personal room. Dordoni knew the downstairs baths would not have any first aid equipment.
Dordoni got Ichigo into his room and sat him on the end of his bed. He disappeared into the bathroom and Ichigo looked around. He’d never been in this room. It was very nice, though. It had a large bed with four posters and a heavy head and footboard. The windows were curtained with rich red material that matched the covers and pillows on the bed. There was a vanity nearby but Ichigo couldn’t see further.
“Sweetheart, you poor thing,” Dordoni muttered as he began cleaning the cuts on Ichigo’s face. “What happened?”
“My exclusive, he didn’t call, but…but his wife was dying…she must have gotten worse…or something…” he managed to gasp out despite the crushing pain in his ribs.
Dordoni sighed. Things like this were the part of working with Las Noches he disliked more than anything. These boys and girls were so often mistreated by them. He did what he could, though, like some of the other Courtesans. The least they could do was help the others get by. He grabbed some tape and had Ichigo lift his arms.
Ichigo winced as he started to tape his ribs and tried not to whimper from the pin. “Ah, oh, gods, that hurts,” he said, leaning over when Dordoni was done. “How’d you learn to tape ribs?” he finally asked when he realized that Dordoni had done it properly and quickly.
“I was a nurse, an age ago,” he said with a smile as he picked up the well-stocked first aid kit and took it back to the bathroom.
Ichigo thanked him and left without another word. It hurt, but he had to bring in a grand. Or else.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
“My condolences,” a man with a stiffly starched black suit said as he bowed to Byakuya Kuchiki.
Byakuya stood in the room where his beloved Hisana lay. She had passed the night before as he sat with her. The cancer in her brain finally reached the point that she could no longer sustain her own breathing. She had insisted that no life support be given to her when things got to that point. She had been adamant that her ten-year long fight with the disease was quite enough. Despite Byakuya’s stoic expression, he kept replaying watching his beloved Hisana die before him. He was glad, though, that he had been with her at the end.
Byakuya felt Rukia elbow him in the ribs and he blinked and started to see a family waiting for him to respond.
“My apologies, my thoughts were on my departed Hisana,” he said giving a slight bow to the Ashikawas, a family nearly as old as the Kuchikis who specialized in real estate businesses.
The family was well known, especially in the high society circles. Unfortunately, the males were also known as serial adulterers. This couple was the current head of the family and ran the company that their collected holdings were under. Both were dressed in fine clothing, as were their two children, and another man who was with them. Byakuya couldn’t at the moment remember the names of their children. He was honestly doing well to think of people he saw on a daily basis at the moment.
“Condolences, Kuchiki-sama,” the father spoke and smiled. “I’m sure you remember my family, my lovely wife, and my daughter, Natsuko,” he said, motioning first to the black kimono clad woman and then the little girl beside her that looked to be around eight or so. “And I’m sure you remember our son, Shinobu,” he said, gesturing to the young man beside them with long black hair cascading down his back. He wore a black kimono very similar to his mothers. He was also curiously barefoot. Beside him was a slightly taller young man with trim black hair and black framed glasses. “And his partner, Uryū Ishida,” he continued, gesturing to him.
“Thank you all for coming,” Byakuya said, nodding to them each in turn.
Rukia nodded. “Thank you, Ashikawas-shachō,” she bowed slightly to the taller man. “Ashikawas-sama,” she acknowledged, bowing toward the prim woman. “And young Natsuko-kun,” she said smiling at the little girl.
She arched a brow at the barefoot guest. “And to you as well, Ashikawas-san, and Ishida-san,” she said bowing in turn to each one.
Just then, the door opened and Rukia groaned out loud by accident. Byakuya’s shoulders sagged. He’d hoped that the office hadn’t heard of Hisana’s death, as he had specifically chosen not to inform them. Byakuya led a somewhat double life, that of the head of the Kuchiki clan and businesses and a member of the Shinigami organization. He preferred to keep those two lives as separate from each other as he possibly could. He thought that if he didn’t mention the wake and funeral, they would miss it. He had, of course, been wrong.
“Byakuya-kun!” came the voice of one of Byakuya’s fellows at the Shinigami. “I’m so sorry!”
Byakuya didn’t move at all as the large breasted Rangiku Matsumoto practically smothered him in a hug. He sighed deeply. “Thank you for coming by, Matsumoto, but things are fine. Now, did anyone else come from…” he started as he sighed as he realized that her fiancé, Gin Ichimaru, had come with her. Gin gave him a sly smile and nodded.
“The guests are being seated,” Byakuya said, hoping to avoid any other discussion.
Rangiku looked like she wanted to say something, but Gin pulled her away.
Shinobu and Uryū stayed at the back of the guest area and sat near the door as the formal ceremony began. Shinobu shifted uncomfortably against Uryū, glad to at least be able to sit down. His ear was killing him and throwing off his balance. In addition to being barefoot, he imagined that he looked drunk as well. It wasn’t only that, of course. He hated funeral rites with a passion, mostly because of all the times he came far too close to death. Even just thinking about how Hisana Kuchiki had suffered made him remember vividly several times when he was younger and completely bedridden or stuck in a hospital.
“Are you fretting over things, Shin?” Uryū asked gently beside him. Uryū worried nonstop about his slightly younger partner. Shinobu had suffered from a relatively rare immunodeficiency generically called hypocomplementemia, which basically meant he was incredibly susceptible to every infection and issue around him. He was constantly coming down with ear and throat issues, and sometimes it seemed he was constantly sick.
“My ear is bothering me,” he rasped. His throat was getting sore again.
Uryū squeezed his shoulders. “I worry so much about you when I’m gone, you know. Are you sure you don’t mind me finishing this job?” he asked. Uryū always asked, even though he knew he really didn’t have an option. He was contractually obligated to finish the assignment he was on.
“I’m fine; I’ve got my parents, my birds, and my business to keep me busy. Fashions don’t design themselves, you know,” he said, smiling at Uryū. His gray eyes twinkled a little bit at the mention of his career.
Shinobu was somewhat avant garde and was a very popular designer in some circles. Uryū, while he was currently working in something completely different, had met him in a sewing circle when they were both still in school. They both loved fashion, and Uryū had been completing a business degree for his current job, but felt that it would help him run a fashion business in the future. They’d curiously hit it off very well, even though both were incredibly awkward and inexperienced when it came to romantic attachments. It didn’t take long for them to become a couple, though. Shinobu’s family often worried about Uryū’s continued absences, but Shinobu constantly told them not to worry. With a family that had a history of adulterers, their first thought was that any man gone for so long at a time must be unfaithful. Shinobu knew better than that.
“I know you hate funerals, your mother said you didn’t need to come,” Uryū said quietly as the last of the guests sat down. He pulled out the black and silver envelope of condolence money and waited.
“I know,” Shinobu said as the Buddhist priest moved to chant the sutra. “I have a great deal of respect for Kuchiki-sama, though. He is extremely intelligent, you know. And the level of emotional detachment he has attained is enviable,” he said with a smile as he watched the Kuchiki head.
Byakuya stood impassively at the front, and went through the motions for the tsuya. He really hated this, and a part of him wished they could skip the formality and get things over with quicker. Tomorrow would be the funeral and cremation, and then he could make his announcement of making Rukia the Kuchiki heir. With both his father and grandfather now dead, there was no one in the family that could dictate what he could do.
He was going to do this right this time. He had missed his appointment with Ichigo this week because of Hisana’s condition. He would not miss the next one, and he would ask him to stay with him instead of going back. He wanted to be the only one to touch him. He knew that no one save Hisana and Rukia understood how far he had fallen in love with the feisty, foul mouthed escort, and even Rukia thought it was merely lust. Only they saw the changes, the life that had returned to Byakuya’s face. The young man was his exact opposite in everything, and he had no problem telling Byakuya exactly what to do and how to do it. Of course, Byakuya then gave him a stiff punishment. Even thinking of him, standing up on the side of the canopied bed, holding onto the pillar and throwing pillows at him while Byakuya was trying to answer some important business questions on the phone. His laughter was infectious, and more than anything, Byakuya knew that he needed him, Ichigo needed his help.
Everyone filed out, leaving only Byakuya and a few others in the room. He walked up to the coffin and stared at Hisana for a long time. Her face was slack in endless sleep and he smiled at her. Ever his first love, nothing would change that for him.
“You knew my heart, didn’t you?” he whispered to her inert form.
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