Cee: Written for Kira Izuru's birthday this year (27/03/09). It was something quick I threw together the night before, was a lot of fun to write.
Involves Hisagi Shuuhei x Kira Izuru

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The busy city lives of tens, maybe hundreds passed by Kira Izuru's bright blue eyes as he sat in a small café, gazing out the window out of pure human nature. Blurred outlines of people walked in and out of his sight but he didn't pay any of them much mind, in fact if one chose to stop in front of him and start dancing like a madman, he probably still wouldn't have noticed.

It was rare for Izuru to zone out like this, but it was even rarer that he would get a day off to visit the Transient world. So when he got some time to himself, where he couldn't train with Wabisuke, he chose to zone out and allow his mind to wander off on its own. Izuru was watching his own reflection more than anything else. Half ignoring it, half studying the blank look that was staring back at him.

His mind was suddenly sent hurtling back into his body when another reflection joined him in the glass.

"Hey honey," the deep voice of Hisagi Shuuhei said softly in Izuru's ear.

"Shuuhei!" Izuru chimed, his voice suddenly full of energy. He whirled around and received a small peck on the lips as his partner greeted him, and sat down across the table.

"Sorry I'm late," Shuuhei said, half wincing, putting his hands in front of his face in apology. He eyed Izuru with caution.

"You are forgiven," Izuru replied with a smile.

Shuuhei let out an exaggerated sigh of relief and the two men laughed together for a moment before falling into each other's eyes. Shuuhei had twisted his fingers into Izuru's before either of them had even noticed the contact, Izuru's smile only grew wider.

"So," Izuru said. "Honey again?"

"Ah right! I forgot you think that's too corny." Shuuhei said, releasing one of his hands to wave it around his head. "Sorry, your hair was doing that, catching the sun just at the right angle and making you look like an angel dipped in honey thing again! It came out before I could stop myself."

Izuru was chuckling from 'catching the sun' and by the end of Shuuhei's long excuse his shoulders were shaking uncontrollably and he was doing everything in his power to not burst out laughing. Shuuhei smirked at the sight of the blonde laughing so honestly in front of him.

"You are so dramatic," Izuru laughed.

"You know you love it," Shuuhei retorted.

"Yes, yes, I love it." Izuru said, rolling his eyes.

Shuuhei playfully reached over the table to push Izuru's shoulders for making him sound like such a burden to be in love with. Izuru only laughed more.

In the years that two had been together, Shuuhei had never stopped treasuring Izuru's smile, because he could never forget the decades he went through completely deprived of the face of the young and happy first year that Shuuhei had met in his 6th year at the Academy. After Izuru joined the 3rd Division, the smile on his face became more and more rare, until eventually it was as if it had never existed.

But those days were long over. The war was over, and everyone had closed that chapter of their lives. That included the two betrayed Lieutenants that sat across from each other now. Shuuhei had made it his mission in life to make sure the happy Izuru he loved never disappeared from the world again.

A waitress soon came over to take their orders. Shuuhei ordered a strong cup of black coffee and Izuru chose the ice milk tea.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't meet up with you any earlier today, I wanted us to spend all day together." Shuuhei said.

"It's alright, Abarai-kun would complain about it later on anyway. He thinks you are hogging me."

"Abarai," Shuuhei shook his head. "He's going to have to fight a lot harder if he wants to get you away from me."

"I don't think you have to be so protective Shuuhei, Abarai-kun and I are just friends."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what you say." Shuuhei said with a dramatic pout and suspicious eyes.

"Oh stop it," Izuru laughed.

Shuuhei did as told and cupped Izuru's hands in his own.

"So how has your day been?" He asked.

"It's been good, I went to see Hinamori-kun this morning. She sends her regards."

Shuuhei nodded happily and waited for Izuru to continue.

"Abarai-kun punched me 20 times, saying I should consider myself lucky he doesn't follow human tradition and actually punch me for how many years I've lived. Theoretically."

"Abarai," Shuuhei hissed this time. "I'll show him what a punch is next time I see him."

"Shuuhei," Izuru said as if he were a parent warning a child.

"Alright alright, I won't." Shuuhei sighed. "How many years have you lived now anyway? I've lost count."

Izuru's eyes widened slightly at the question, he pondered for a second and shook his head. "Classified."

Shuuhei's chin dropped onto the table as he pushed his lower lip forward, making a loud groaning sound. Izuru shook his head and tugged Shuuhei's arms to get him to sit up as the waitress brought over their drinks.

Reluctantly, Shuuhei let go of Izuru's hands to add some sugar to his coffee while Izuru added some sweetener. There a moment of silence as the two stirred their drinks, then Izuru was first to speak again.

"So do I get my present now?" Izuru smiled.

Shuuhei made a small 'pfft' sound as he took a sip of his coffee, only to have half of it come flying back out.

"Forward, aren't we?" Shuuhei said, lowering his cup.

"You know you want to give it to me," Izuru smirked.

Shuuhei shrugged and sighed in defeat as he dug his hand into his back pants pocket and pulled out a small rectangular package wrapped in plain white paper.

"Thank you," Izuru said with a small voice.

Izuru couldn't hide his excitement, anything, big or small from Shuuhei meant the world to him. His voice dropped to prevent from getting too excited in a public area. His smile stretched wide across his face.

"What is it?" Izuru shook the package next to his ear.

"Traditionally, you open the present to find out what it is, Zu." Shuuhei laughed, taking a proper sip of his hot beverage.

"Alright, fine, I'll just open it then." Izuru rolled his eyes.

Shuuhei laughed every time Izuru was dramatic like he usually was. Not because the blonde was a particularly good comedic actor, but because he wasn't. Because it was so obvious when Izuru wanted to play. The poor boy could hardly hint anything dirty, and every time he tried his words would get tangled up in his mouth and his face would flush red.

But it was still fun to watch him try.

Izuru's thin fingers carefully peeled back the white paper until he a small book was revealed. He turned it over to look at the cover.

The book was a pocket sized, hard cover book. The cover has a title written in elegant Japanese. Izuru slowly flicked through the pages, thin paper caressed his finger tips as they passed, his eyes briefly scanning the black text printed neatly on the white paper. A red ribbon was in the middle acting as a book mark.

Closing the book Izuru examined the cover a little more closely. The book's exterior was a deep crimson red, and beautiful golden letters stood out on the cover. In the corner of the front cover lay the image of a single yellow ribbon.

"Shi no shi?" Izuru read the kanji. "A poetry book?"

"Yeah I know, a poetry book written by some woman with the name poem? It's weird, but the poems aren't half bad!" Shuuhei said quickly.

"It may just be her name, simply a coincidence."

"I think it's some publicity scam or something personally. Or some bad joke."

"It sounds like the kind of pun you would come up with Shuuhei," Izuru smiled.

Shuuhei's eyed widened and he looked away, lifting his nose into the air. "Well I am offended!"

"And that's why I love it!" Izuru quickly added. "Really, I love it, thank you so much Shuuhei."

Shuuhei turned to meet Izuru's eyes and he leaned close enough for their lips to meet. The mix of black coffee and milk tea merged as their lips pressed against each other, their tongues stirring the contrasting flavours together until finally they parted.

"Happy Birthday, Izuru."

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Cee: "Shi no Shi" is an inside joke, because the first "shi" written in kanji can be romanised as "Cee" a.k.a. the kanji for my name, which means poem or poetry.