A/N: Written for Lucinda the Maid for a drabble challenge on my journal. This will not be updated or expanded, ever, as it was intend to be this short.
Prompt: Chad/Ichigo, 'muscle.'
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Wordless
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The Ichigo in Chad's memory was not the same as the one who stood before him, draped in black and hard-faced.
When he closed his eyes, he saw the Ichigo from the beginning-- grinning with the exhilaration of the fight, eyes bright and skinny body sheened with sweat. That Ichigo made his way through by being faster and more flexible than anyone he picked a fight with, though he wasn't physically very strong.
The muscles he left to Chad after they met, trusting him to be there when walls needed shattering and doors needed breaking down and skulls needed thumping. Chad had been only too happy to stand beside him, because Ichigo was a person worth following no matter how painful the path.
This Ichigo was also worth following, but at the same time he was so different. There was no place for Chad at Ichigo's side now-- if he was lucky he might still find a place behind him, cleaning up the rear as Ichigo ploughed through the obstacles before him.
He had his own muscles now, not great and beautiful like Chad's, but functional and just as strong. Thinking about that made Chad's spine ache.
So, the next time Ichigo was home and had a minute, Chad pulled him aside and hugged him ferociously, not saying a word but speaking his thoughts very clearly nonetheless.
There was no one else Chad would rather follow.
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