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A Shifting of Life	By : Strailo Category: Bleach > General Views: 20784 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters. Tite Kobe does. I make absolutely no money from this or any fanfiction I write.

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Title: A Shifting of Life

Fandom: Bleach

Part: 21

Series: A Shifting World

Characters/Pairings: Ichigo, Byakuya, Renji, Rukia, Ulquiorra, Hanataro, Kira

Warnings: Verbal smackdown/sparring

Word count: 1,471

AN: You know what? I have just realized how much my sentence structure sucks if I don't take the time to rewrite in some places. Not to mention the missing apostrophes. Seriously.

But all of this rewriting is making the story smoother, easier to read (I Hope!) and look so much better, so it's all worth it in the end.

Still going to be a while before I post the sequel to this and my Naruto/Ibiki story, Finding a Bit of Trust. I'm only like 2 chapters (maybe) into A Shifting of Perspective, and only like 2 chapters (I think) into Finding a Bit of Happiness. So much to write.

So little time. But don't worry, I have a LOT of other stories to fill in that gap. Let's see what I get done first yes?

For now, enjoy this repost!

*~*~*~*

After they had eaten their snacks, the two men and their companion moved on to start to play the games around the festival, Ichigo adding another stuffed animal to her ever growing collection. They soon found the rest of their group easily, Kira and Ulquiorra apparently being the only ones to be hiding away from the rest of the group. Mom snorted and said that they had been making goo-goo eyes at each other for the last hour or so.

“Goo-goo eyes? Really? Ulquiorra does not make ‘goo-goo eyes’. He leers at you without even trying,” Ichigo snorted as she settled onto the blanket that Baykuya had laid out for them. Byakuya raised an eyebrow at her, a blush spreading over her cheeks as he and Renji sat on either side of her. “What? You both know that it’s true. Don’t think that I didn’t see him looking over Kira like he was his next five course meal plus dessert,” she snorted. “I’m not that blind.”

“So we have been learning,” Byakuya hummed as he shook his head with a smile on his lips. “Do you think that they will make it in time for the fireworks?” he asked as a Kuchiki servant placed several baskets near them before leaving for the rest of the night.

“I do think so. Ulquiorra is hardly the type to do anything outside of a bedroom if he does do anything at all,” Ichigo said. “At least when there’s so many people running around. He and Kira are either making out as a prequel to what they’re going to do later, or they just haven’t arrived yet.”

“We had arrived but Kira-san was kind enough to show me where I could buy something that is non-alcoholic for you since the bottles that held your drink were somehow destroyed,” Ulquiorra stated.

Ichigo looked at him and a slightly mussed Kira walked up to them, raising an eyebrow before he looked over to where Kira pointed. He found another Kuchiki servant shaking out a blanket, a dark spot showing where the bottles had been resting and broken against.

“Well now, that’s not good,” Ichigo said, frowning as she leant into Byakuya’s warmth, a slight breeze playing around them. The nobel frowned as he pulled a larger blanket out of one of the baskets as Ulquiorra found their own seats, their friends scattering about them with their own picnic baskets and stall bought dinners. Wrapping the blanket around the smaller red head, the group settled in, chatting and enjoying their free time as they pulled out plates of finger foods, passing them back and forth.

Byakuya, Renji, Ulquiorra, and Kira all shared bottles of sake, Ichigo taking over serving after Renji showed himself incompetent, in her words, to do so. Ichigo on the other hand settled in to drink warmed apple cider. Occasionally though, she would turn to stare at Rukia or Momo, think that she had seen something before she brushed it off. It wasn’t exactly her business what they got up to after all, despite the fact that she was still unhappy with how Rukia had acted towards Ulquiorra.

Or with how Momo was acting in regards to Aizen.

“I wonder if Aizen didn’t leave mostly because of Momo, no matter what he said,” she suddenly said, turning to the other four who were giving her surprised looks. “Look, we all know that she’s psycho about him. Actually, she’s obsessed with him to the point of danger and it’s kind of worrying me just thinking about what she would do to get him back to the Seireitei. Or even get to him in Los Noches.”

“No need to worry, Ichigo-chan. We have her a very tight watch at the moment and she’s got a kido on her that she can’t get around right now,” Renji said, shrugging as he eyed the two women. They sent glares at them. “Okay, so maybe there should be some worry. Byakuya-san, do you think we should tell Unohana-sou-taicho about her current behavior?”

“The taichos are having a meeting to discuss her and tomorrow afternoon, remember?” Byakuya reminded his lover, reaching up to smooth a bit of Ichigo’s hair down. He was surprised at the fact that it had gotten so much longer in the weeks that she had returned from Hueco Mundo, making it brush her neck in an appealing way.

“Oh yeah. Hey, what about Rukia’s behavior? Will you be bringing her up or will you keep it as clan business?” Renji asked. He turned and smiled, watching as Byakuya gently played with a bit of his date’s hair, Ichigo allowing him to do so with a smile on her lips.

Ulquiorra hummed softly and kept a close eye on the two for a few moments before he turned back to Kira, smiling as the lovely blond blushed lightly under his gaze.

“I will be having a discussion about her actions with the sou-taicho during the meeting and I will be discussing it with the elders of our clan later in the day,” Byakuya stated. He frowned slightly as he turned to look at his sister. She quickly looked away from him, playing with what looked to be a sake bottle and a small plate of sushi. “She will be learning the hard way that one does not conduct oneself in such a way, especially when it comes to an ally or a friend. It is not how the Kuchiki’s work,” he continued, turning back to Renji and Ichigo.

Ichigo looked up at him and smiled slightly. “It sounds like she’s in a shit load of trouble. I know though that I’m not going to be able to forgive her so easily. Will you be too upset with me if I don’t really talk with her and tend to ignore her very presence for a while?” Ichigo asked him, the two men curious as to why she would do such a thing.

“Why would you want to ignore her?” Renji asked her. Ichigo shifted slightly and looked up at him, frowning as her eyebrows drew together, a look that everyone was well acquainted with, having seen it often when she had still been a he.

“It’s because I’m rather liable to attack her in some way. Either I’ll do it with my words or with my zanpakuto. What she did to me and said to Ulquiorra was really fucked up. I mean, not giving me my invitations and letters? That’s just mean,” she snorted, shaking her head before downing the last of her drink. She put the cup to the side and stood up with a moan. “If you’ll excuse me though, I’ll be right back.” She turned on the balls of one foot and headed for the bathrooms.

She needed to get away for a moment from the glares that she could feel coming from Rukia and to use the bathroom. She blushed at feeling the heated stares that came from Byakuya and Renji, sending shivers up and down her back before heat curled low in her gut.

Once she had calmed down in the bathroom, she came back out and took a seat just in time to watch as Ulquiorra finally made a move, kissing a happily willing Kira heatedly. The soft sounds of the kiss was enough to once more make Ichigo blush, hiding her face in her hands as the two pulled apart after several long moments. Kira cleared his throat as he caught sight of Ichigo, the young woman turning to hide her face in Renji’s chest, seeing as he was the one who was closest to her.

“Sorry about that, but that was so worth it,” Kira said, his voice husky. Ulquiorra just laughed lowly and pressed a kiss to his cheek as the fireworks started to fill the sky. Peeking, Ichigo gasped and looked up as the colors created beautiful designs against the darkened sky. Byakuya and Renji altered between watching the fireworks display and turning to watch the amazed Ichigo and all of her expressions.

One of the fireworks display, that of a winding dragon, made Ichigo sigh wistfully at the sight of it, remembering the first time she had seen such a firework. It brought up memories of the days just before her mother’s death, when she had been a he, and so very young. It was one of her clearest and fondest memories that she would always carry.

The warm arms that wrapped around her waist and pulled her back to rest against the strong chest just added to the happiness of the moment. She smiled and wiggled slightly so she could rest fully in Byakuya’s arms, hearing him chuckle softly.

She felt warm and safe.
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A Shifting of Life