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The Heart in My Hand	By : chayron Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 10028 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. It belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.

Chapter List
- 1-Part 1
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Part 13
- 14-Part 14
- 15-Part 15
- 16-Part 16
- 17-Part 17
- 18-Part 18
- 19-Part 19
- 20-Part 20
- 21-Part 21
- 22-Part 22
- 23-Part 23
- 24-Part 24
- 25-Part 25
- 26-Part 26
- 27-Part 27
- 7
- 8
- 9
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach – it belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.
Warnings:
1. Yaoi (male x male). Ulquiorra x Ichigo and vice versa. Other pairings?
2. Ichigo – almost 19 years old; Ulquiorra – probably a few hundred as a Hollow and about a decade or so as an Arrancar?
3. Post anime (haven’t read the manga).
4. Alternate Universe.
5. I’m not a native speaker, thus expect various language oddities.
6. I’m not very familiar with all the details in the anime, and I am also new to Bleach fandom, so I will be straying away from the canon quite frequently. I do my research but Bleach is a vast universe that is not so easy to grasp. I must admit, though, that there are also things in the anime that don’t make sense to me and I take the liberty of recreating certain parts of this universe as I see fit.
The Heart in My Hand
by chayron (lttomb@yahoo.com), beta-read by Ash
Part 8
When Ichigo woke up, his sisters were already gone, on their way to school. He dressed and went downstairs. The kitchen smelled like sandwiches and butter. He opened the fridge and found a plate of sandwiches. On the lowest shelf, there were also several bundles wrapped in dark clothing. Two bundles were missing. Grimacing, Ichigo closed the fridge. He never would have expected that he would keep a Hollow carcass in his fridge.
Still frowning, the red-head turned the kettle on and carried the plate of sandwiches to the table. The most interesting thing was that his sisters didn’t mind. They had said that this was better than having Ulquiorra try and find something edible again. He knew they were right.
It all felt surreal. Ichigo chewed his sandwich numbly. He still had some time until the start of his first lecture. Neither father nor Orihime were coming before 6pm, and he was positive that by that time he would already be home. Leaving Ulquiorra alone in the house bothered him somewhat, but he had to opt out taking him to Kisuke’s since he had the feeling that Ulquiorra would simply leave.
Ichigo turned his head towards the door, where Kon appeared. The plush bear stretched its arms and yawned. It crossed the kitchen and hopped onto the chair next to Ichigo.
“Where were you yesterday?” the red-head asked. The kettle started whistling and he got up to make himself some tea. “I didn’t see you.”
Kon grinned slyly. “That’s my little secret.”
Ichigo poured himself some tea and carried it to the table. He sat down and continued eating his sandwiches. Seeing that the red-head paid no heed to his words, Kon squirmed. Didn’t Ichigo want to know?
“I came back today.”
“Mhm.”
“In the morning, a few minutes ago.”
“Yeah.”
“Since you’re so curious about where I’ve been, I’ll tell you,” Kon chirped excitedly. “I was waiting for my princess in the train station. And then I spent the night in her room!”
“Awesome,” Ichigo said. He lifted the teacup and blew at it to cool his tea. At this rate, he was going to be late. “Did she hug you like she hugs the giraffe she always sleeps with?”
“Screw you!” Kon yelled, pointing at him with a stuffed paw. “Our love transcends all material boundaries!”
“Of course, it does,” Ichigo agreed. “All logical boundaries, too.”
“You’re jealous!”
“And you’re so deep in the friend zone that I can’t even see your ears,” Ichigo said, snatching up Kon by the ear and standing up. With Kon trapped under his arm, he ran upstairs to his room to grab his bag. Awakened, Ulquiorra gave them a discontent look then fell back asleep. Stuffing Kon into his bag, Ichigo ran back downstairs and into the kitchen where he grabbed his tea and tried to empty the cup in a few big gulps. He nearly scalded his throat.
Cursing, with his tongue lolling out and tears in his eyes, Ichigo ran out of the house and towards the train station. At full speed, he crossed a few streets and was just in time to catch the train. Breathless, the red-head jumped inside. He took an empty seat near the window, lowered the bag onto his knees, and pulled his phone out. He fished his earphones out from the side pocket.
To get to Kagamino University, he had to take the train and travel east for about thirty minutes to Kagamino City, then walk for about fifteen minutes to reach the building itself. Today he didn’t have the first lecture, so he had been able to sleep in; normally, he had to get up at about the same time as his sisters.
In about half an hour they reached their destination and Ichigo felt Kon moving around in the bag, trying to get more comfortable. He thought that maybe he should have left the Modified Soul at home to watch over Ulquiorra. There was, however, the matter of the strange reiatsu everyone had felt two days ago and then, knowing how Kon and Ulquiorra worked on each other’s nerves, it was probably a good thing that Kon was with him.
Things had been relatively peaceful lately, with only one or two stray Hollow attacks per week that usually were taken care of by Thirteenth or Tenth Divisions, and Ichigo had time to make a few friends at University. When he entered the lecture hall, he was met with friendly greetings.
“So where did you go on Friday?” a big, tall guy named Timothy asked, motioning to the free seat next to him.
Ichigo approached him and lowered his bag onto the empty seat. Timothy was a large guy, on the brink of being called fat. He wore glasses and was a studious type that reminded Ichigo of Uryu. That, however, was the only thing that he had in common with Uryu, since, when it came to perversity, Timothy was the type of a guy that could put Kon to shame. There was something strange about Timothy’s name too, but that obviously had something to do with his foreign heritage and blond hair, and Ichigo never pried into it.
“My sister was sick and there was no one else to take care of her,” Ichigo explained.
“Is she hot?”
“She’s underage, you twit. And I’d rather have…”
“Yo, Ichi!”
Ichigo turned his head to answer the enthusiastic greeting from a short freshman with chestnut-colored hair. “Hello, Akio.”
“Why were you absent on Friday?” Akio asked. “I thought we agreed on karaoke.”
“He says his sister was sick,” Timothy explained, turning sideways and leaning against the windowsill. He crossed his arms. “There will be no excuses today.”
“Ahh…” Ichigo drawled, thinking frantically.
“Oo, look who’s here,” Timothy whispered. Ichigo and Akio turned to see Mizuka entering the auditorium. She greeted the people at the door then went to her usual group of friends. “We’ve definitely got to invite her!” Timothy demanded.
Ichigo felt his scalp burning from intent stares and turned back to his friends. “Why are you looking at me?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?” Akio sputtered. “You promised us you’d invite her!”
“I did? Really?”
The enthusiastically repetitive nod of Timothy’s head for yes didn’t entirely convince Ichigo, but he thought that he just might have during one of their drunken outings. The problem with his friends was that while they constantly talked about girls, the two were scaredy-cats when it came to real interaction. Last time Akio tried to invite one of the freshmen from another group, he ended up blushing and stammering and, instead, asked her what time it was.
“Look at that majestic chest,” Timothy babbled in ecstasy.
“Stop staring at her like that,” Akio admonished. “She’ll never go anywhere with us if she notices!”
Ichigo was almost certain that she would find an excuse not to hang out with them anyway, but, in case of a miracle, he needed to find two more girls. The lecture was about to start and he lifted his bag off the seat, sitting down. He scanned the hall and was quickly rewarded with the sight of two girls at the front of the auditorium. They didn’t boast of majestic accessories like Mizuka, but they seemed to be more down to earth and were probably going to be much easier to convince to go to karaoke than her.
“How about them?” Ichigo whispered, discreetly pointing at the girls. “Those two at the front.”
Timothy squinted and took off his glasses to clean them with his shirt, then put them back on and took another look. He seemed to be quite disappointed, but Akio nodded.
“Yeah, I think Hisako is attractive in her own way,” he agreed. “And she always lends her notes to me. What’s the name of the other one?”
“Fumiko,” Timothy said mournfully. “Two weeks ago, I invited her to have lunch with me in the cafeteria and she refused.”
Ichigo gave his friend a surprised look. “Why I haven’t heard anything about that?” he wondered. This seemed like a case of a bitter crush. Timothy never told him about this since he had obviously felt embarrassed. Maybe that was why he had been acting like a douche recently.
“Did she tell you why?” Akio questioned, interested.
Timothy rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes. She said something about her cat having had kitties at night and that she couldn’t look at food.”
“You know,” Akio said, “that might have been the truth.”
Ichigo gave him a skeptical look.
Timothy snorted. “Yeah, or maybe aliens kidnapped her grandmother and she had to rush to save her.”
“A Hollow would be more likely.”
“A what?”
“Never mind,” Ichigo said. The professor entered the hall and he straightened in his seat while trying to find a notebook in his bag. “I’ll talk to them after the lecture.”
- - -
To Ichigo’s surprise, Mizuka appeared to be quite interested in the small karaoke party of theirs. That was until Ichigo pointed at Akio and Timothy standing further away, eagerly awaiting the outcome of the conversation. Her face fell a little, she turned to look at her friends, and suddenly it appeared that they all had very busy schedules for today, the rest of the month and probably next year too. Ichigo was smart enough not to ask her what they entailed.
When Mizuka, surrounded by her three giggling and chattering friends, left, Ichigo cast a regretful look to the guys. He didn’t blame Mizuka or her friends. If he were a girl and saw those hungry and fervent expressions on the guys’ faces, he’d have doubts too.
“Compose yourself!” Ichigo hissed. “Don’t look so desperate!”
“Easy for you to say!” Timothy grunted. “You’ve been having fun with that Ori…” He fell silent when Akio elbowed him. “Right,” Timothy said. “Don’t look desperate. Got it.” He turned to Akio. “What about now? Less desperate?”
“Now you look like you gotta go to the bathroom.”
Ichigo rolled his eyes at both Timothy’s antics and their pitiful attempts not to hurt his feelings. He had never told them about his past relationship with Orihime, but somehow they had found out. They also knew that their love story didn’t have a fairy tale ending, had never even come close.
“Well?” Akio asked, turning around to look at the other two girls, who were their backup plan. “Should we try a more realistic approach to our karaoke problem?”
“We should have gone for this kind of approach from the start,” Ichigo said.
“At least we tried,” Timothy said with mournful bitterness.
This time, since Fumiko and Hisako looked less intimidating and more approachable, they all went to talk to the girls. To Timothy’s honest surprise, the girls appeared to be free this afternoon and gladly agreed to go right after the lectures. Giddy with excitement, Akio nudged Ichigo in the side.
“We’re still missing one,” Timothy said when they returned to their desks.
“Oh, I can just go home,” Ichigo said. Tonight was going to be spiced with his father’s return and Orihime’s visit. He still had no idea how he was going to explain to his father that there was a fugitive Arrancar staying with them.
“No way,” Akio protested. “You’re coming with us!”
“Ugh.” Ichigo frowned. “Why are you so insistent?”
“Umm…” a shy feminine voice interrupted them. “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. Err…”
The three of them turned to their right. It was Kana, a quiet girl who was mostly invisible in their group. She had just recently joined the group and wasn’t quite able to fit into any of the already formed social circles.
“Umm…” Kana hummed, her embarrassment obvious. “I see you’re missing one person. I wouldn’t mind going.”
“Sure,” Ichigo said at once. “Right after the lectures.” He couldn’t help but smile at the way her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Way to go!” Timothy saluted Ichigo with an imaginary glass when they sat back down at their desks.
Ichigo wondered why he had agreed so readily. Maybe it was because she had seemed enthusiastic, courageous and a bit pitiful all at once? Or maybe it was due to the dread of going home and facing the mess in the evening.
- - -
Ichigo and his friends had decided that they’d be most comfortable in a familiar environment and chose the karaoke café that they usually went to. Kana seemed to get along with the other two girls and Ichigo thought that he had made the right decision – if nothing else, she would at least make two friends. They rented a karaoke box for one hour and soon were sitting down at the table, soft music playing in the background.
After the excitement over the food they were eating and the helpful exchange of today’s weather reports, the conversation dried up. Everyone looked at each other, squirmed uncomfortably and looked back at their food. Ichigo smiled at Kana, intending to ask where she lived and why she had come to study at Kagamino University.
“So how’s your cat?” Timothy asked.
Startled, Ichigo looked at Fumiko. Timothy, obviously, couldn’t let it go. Ichigo sipped his strawberry milkshake to hide his frown.
“She’s already fine,” Fumiko said, smiling. “The first few days were rough, but now she and the kittens are great.”
Hisako chuckled. “She took that cat off the street and it came with a surprise.”
“Ugh,” Timothy grunted awkwardly. “That’s great. I mean that she and the kittens are fine.” He gave an apologetic look to Ichigo, who glared at him.
“Umm…” Fumiko drawled, embarrassed. “Do any of you need a kitten? They’re still little and we’ve already found a home for two of them, but I have my hands full with the other three. I really can’t keep more than one cat.”
Timothy and Akio met each other’s eyes and their gazes drifted to Ichigo. To their surprise, it seemed that the red-head was actually considering the offer.
“Mmm…” Ichigo drawled. Yuzu had been talking about a cat for a few months now. It would be nice to have a pet. Even if Yuzu had to leave for a university or college far away from home someday, his dad could take care of the cat – he would probably feel less lonely that way. Ichigo wasn’t certain what his dad’s opinion on cats was, though; he seemed more like a dog person. Or maybe the cat would never live that long and, if it did, maybe Yuzu would have the option of taking it with her.
“We live pretty close to the street, though,” Ichigo said uncertainly.
Akio rolled his eyes. “If two cars pass that road per day, it’s considered heavy traffic.” He was giving Ichigo all possible signs with his eyes and mouth that it would be very bad idea to refuse a kitten when this could be a perfect excuse for Timothy and Fumiko to occasionally meet at Ichigo’s house.
“Well, I’ll ask my sister first,” Ichigo said. “Maybe she’s already changed her mind.”
The talk about kittens warmed up the atmosphere considerably. Timothy soon expressed a wish to see them, and it was agreed that they would all go to Fumiko’s to help Ichigo pick out a kitten. Ichigo’s meek protests about not being certain that he was really getting a kitten were ignored.
Akio had a pretty good voice when it came to singing. Soon he was joined by Hisako and the two of them sang a few songs in a row. Ichigo had to agree that, alone, Akio had sounded better. Opposite the table, Kana laughed softly and Ichigo understood that his verdict was clearly displayed on his grimacing face.
“It’s not that bad,” she whispered.
“No, it’s not,” Ichigo agreed. “Wait till you hear <i>me</i> sing.”
“I’m no good at singing either.”
The red-head laughed. “That’s a relief – then I don’t need to worry much about making a bad impression.”
Kana chuckled and turned back to Akio and Hisako. She still looked somewhat tense, though. She probably wasn’t used to hanging out with friends like this. Secretly, Ichigo gave Kana a closer look. He was by no means an expert in women’s appearances or clothing, but even he could tell that, at first glance, she looked quite plain. Shoulder-length black hair, oval face, blue jeans and a white and black blouse attracted no attention. She was quite tall, though, and there was something appealing about her perceptive brown eyes.
Ichigo had to wait to demonstrate his singing skills because Timothy took the scene next. Urged by the girls, he chose a romantic song. It required a high-pitched voice, and Timothy didn’t have that. He tortured the song from beginning to end until he finally killed it with a bout of coughing. Dying with laughter, the girls applauded him loudly. Bowing left and right, Timothy returned to the table and soothed his raw throat with apple juice.
“How about we give it a go?” Ichigo asked Kana, motioning to the microphones.
They found a song that they both were familiar with and started singing. The first few lines showed that Kana wasn’t as bad as she had said she was. Ichigo let her sing and only joined in during the chorus.
“Perfect,” Timothy said when they took their places back at the table. “Would have been even better if you didn’t sing at all,” he told Ichigo.
Akio rolled his eyes. “Look who’s taking.”
“Go on, sing something,” Hisako said, nudging Akio in the side.
“Yeah, go on,” Ichigo encouraged. “You’re nice to listen to.”
“Well, of course,” Akio said, striking a pose.
Like this, the hour passed unnoticed, and no one wanted to leave.
“I’ll go ask for one more hour and get more drinks,” Ichigo said, standing up. “Anyone want anything?” He looked at the girls opposite him, then at his singing friends and was suddenly overtaken by a very strange and unsettling feeling. Abruptly, everything stopped: the people weren’t moving, Akio with his mouth open, frozen in front of the microphone; Timothy staring at the karaoke screen, his hands parted in some kind of a gesture, unmoving; the girls sitting at the table, one of them with a glass pressed to her mouth, another’s hands frozen in the middle of an applause. All of this was permeated with a Fullbringer’s energy.
“It didn’t seem like we were going to have some private time,” Kana explained calmly when Ichigo’s eyes snapped to her.
“What did you do?” the red-head asked warily. Not letting her out of his sight, he cast a look around the karaoke box again. Everything was still in a frozen stupor.
“I created a loophole in time.”
“Why?” Ichigo demanded.
Sighing, Kana rolled her eyes. “I’ve just explained.”
“You’re a Fullbringer, aren’t you?” Ichigo snapped. “Xcution is back, isn’t it? What do you, people, want from me?”
Kana grinned. “You’re smarter than you look.”
“What do you want?” Ichigo repeated, ignoring her taunts.
“What we want is for you to help us out.”
“Of course,” Ichigo snarled. “And since you’re asking for help so nicely, I’m going to rush into whatever you want me to.”
The girl shook her finger at him reproachfully. “Tsk, tsk… You haven’t heard what kind of help we want.”
“Let me guess,” Ichigo hissed, getting more and more irritated. “Your kitten got stuck in a tree?”
Kana shook her head. “No, Ichigo, no kitties are involved in this. Your power, we want all of it,” she said, her eyes sparkling with fervor.
Ichigo stared at her, old memories resurfacing, bringing back the painful moments of helplessness, of being useless. “No!” he hissed. “Never again.”
“Well, we figured that might be your answer,” Kana said with a sigh, “so we took some preventive measures against that.” She raised her hand and pushed her sleeve aside to look at her watch. “At about this time your sisters should already be home and…”
Ichigo’s hand reached for his Substitute Shinigami Badge before Kana had even finished talking. And then he froze too. She tsked in that excited voice again.
“How rude. Don’t think I’ll let yo-”
Kon flew out of the bag like a bullet. The soft plushy body hit Kana in the face and the environment sped up suddenly. Ichigo’s hand closed around the badge. He felt Kana trying to slow down time again, but the change didn’t affect him anymore – he was already in Bankai. It had been a mistake for those damned Fullbringers to believe that his Shinigami and lost Fullbringer powers were similar.
Ichigo’s soul hadn’t completely left his body, but his spiritual leg hit Kana in the chin so hard that she hit the wall behind her and slumped down motionlessly. Kon looked around wildly when Ichigo’s friends suddenly came back to life and started clamoring over Kana’s and Ichigo’s unmoving bodies. Ichigo grabbed Kon, stuck his fingers down his throat, pulled the pill out, leaned down to his motionless body on the floor, and forced it to swallow the pill.
“Do whatever you want but make sure you don’t let her out of your sight!” the red-head shouted while tearing through the door.
It took him a few seconds to figure out which direction his home was in, then he jumped into the air. He gritted his teeth in anger helplessly. It was just like them to use underhanded tricks like these. Were his sisters still at home? Did they do something to them? What would he do if he was already too late?
The red-head was flitting from one roof to another so fast that he slipped and rolled down the tiles. Cursing under his breath, he stood up again. Ichigo’s heart was hammering in his chest wildly, a panicky hum filling his ears. He regretfully thought that maybe he should have used his phone to call Orihime, whose part-time job was close to their house, and ask her to help. On the other hand, maybe it was good that he hadn’t since he neither knew how strong the enemy was nor how many of them there were; she might have become an unnecessary victim. Or maybe she had left work early and was already at his house.
There was Ulquiorra, too. Ichigo’s state of mind was chaotic and he didn’t know what to expect from the Arrancar. He was probably still too weak to fight, and even if he wasn’t, would he even do anything about the situation? None of this concerned him, and he might not even think to interfere.
The way home had never seemed so endless. His Bankai form already allowed for incredibly fast travel, but those few minutes in the air, jumping from one rooftop to another, were excruciating. When he was closer to the area, he could feel the same peculiar energy he had felt a few days ago. Now he could clearly tell that it was a Fullbringer. He could also feel Ulquiorra there, his reiatsu calm and stable.
When Ichigo saw his house, the scene that unfolded before his eyes made him waver. His sisters and Ulquiorra were standing in the middle of the street, which now looked like a crater. They had their backs turned to the house. His sisters were behind Ulquiorra while he faced the intruder. Karin was gripping a baseball bat, but she had already seen what Fullbringers were capable of and was staring at the enemy anxiously. No one was moving. Ulquiorra’s helmet was cracked, small pieces of it missing, and Ichigo knew that he had to act quickly before it got even worse.
Ichigo’s eyes caught sight of a body nailed to the neighbor’s stone fence. A green Zanpakuto was protruding from its chest. While the red-head was hovering above, his and Ulquiorra’s eyes met and the Arrancar motioned to the girls behind him. Wordlessly, Ichigo swooped down and grabbed both of them under each arm. He jumped into the air again and started distancing himself from the danger.
“You can’t just leave him there!” Karin yelled in a shuddery voice. Her grip on the baseball bat suddenly turned lax and it slipped through her fingers, plummeting down through the air. She watched it fall and hit the sidewalk. “That freak’s got a strange whip that can reach from afar.”
“I don’t think he’d want me to interfere,” Ichigo muttered. “Are you two alright?”
There was a pause then Karin nodded. “I think so.”
Ichigo gave a questioning look to the back of Yuzu’s head. “Yuzu?”
“What’s this about?” she muttered softly. “What do they want? Why did they come?”
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ichigo said abruptly, landing in front of Urahara Shop. “Now get inside and stay there,” he told his sisters, letting go of them.
Yuzu was about to say something, but looked up to see her brother’s speedily receding back. It was always like this.
TBC
- 7
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The Heart in My Hand