Warnings/Disclaimer: I own nothing. Mild language, soft yaoi fluff between Ichigo and Hanatarou. I think this pairing is cute :3 though I probably won't write more of it because I wrote this a long time ago and kinda lost the way for it. Though I do have a threeway with Hana… I'll post that up later too :3 Anyways, enjoy

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My Hana

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"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Hanatarou cried over and over again from his awkward position from the ground where he had landed in a tangled heap after bumping into (quite literally in his case) several members of the 11th squad.

"Hey!" The apparent leader of the group suddenly exclaimed, recognizing the shinigami apologizing profusely to him and his buddies. "You're from the 4th squad ain't ya?"

"Hai. Ano, … I'm sorry." Hanatarou apologized yet again. He just couldn't seem to stop himself. He looked up into the faces of the fight loving maniacs in front of him and immediately wished he hadn't. Each and every one of them wore an insane grin. Hanatarou swallowed nervously and tried to subtly move back. But it was Hanatarou and his attempted escape immediately became noticed.

"He's trying to escape!" One wild haired man shouted. "Get him!"

Hanatarou gave a frightened squeak and scrambled to his feet, stumbling a little before gaining his footing and running back down the street from which he had initially come from. The 11th squad members gave a wild cry and pounded after him.

'Why me? Why me?' Hana thought desperately as he ran clumsily through the streets; apologizing as he bumped into people even as he ran from the maniacs trying to beat him up. Hanatarou loved being in the 4th squad. Why did everyone else hate him for it?

Hanatarou was getting really tired. He wasn't really fit in the first place and running around doing chores all day for several days had already made him weary. Why oh why did he have to run into the hotheaded members of Zaraki-taicho's squad? Life just wasn't fair. Panting heavily, Hana sharply turned a corner and squeaked shrilly when he ran into someone, hard, bouncing off them like he would a solid wall and falling to the ground. Or he would have if he hadn't been caught by a pair of strong arms.

"Whoa! Easy there Hana! What's the matter?"

Instantly recognizing the deep smooth voice of Kurosaki Ichigo, and the nickname that only Ichigo used to call him, Hanatarou looked up into that kind concerned face and for a brief second noticed how attractive the substitute Shinigami really was.

He blushed and mentally slapped himself. Now was not the time to be thinking like that. Now he had to escape the hoard of angry blood seeking maniacs on his heels. "Sorry, Ichigo-san!" Hanatarou said quickly, the always present slight tremble in his voice a little exaggerated as it always was in the orange head's presence. He tried to slide out of Ichigo's grasp but was only hugged closer against a broad chest.

"What's wrong Hana? " Ichigo asked again. "Why were you running so hard?" He gave the small shinigami's shoulders a gentle squeeze at his words.

Trying not to melt into the embrace, Hanatarou focused on forming words. Before he could however, his pursuers finally caught up to him.

"Ha! There he is!" The apparent leader crowed triumphantly. "Thanks for you're help, boy. Now hand him over."

"Eh?" Ichigo made the noise, sounding a little confused and slightly angry, though Hanatarou couldn't figure out why exactly Ichigo be angry, "Hand who over?"

The man snorted. "You're dense, boy. That weedy little runt in your arms! Who else?" The idiots behind him laughed and sniggered; a few others joining in with a few mocking insults.

"Yeah hand 'im over carrot-top! We wanna have some fun!"

"Fun?" Now Ichigo sounded plain out angry and he hugged Hanatarou to him even closer. Hanatarou never felt so safe in his entire life. It was oddly comforting being held in Ichigo's arms, feeling protected and cared for. It was something he hadn't ever really felt before in all his time as a shinigami. Hanatarou was so distracted with those wonderful feelings that he almost missed the next thing Ichigo said.

"Why would you guys wanna hurt Hana?" Ichigo's voice was dangerously low and anyone who had any sense of him would know to back down immediately and hide in a corner. These shinigami didn't know him and so they persisted, much to Ichigo's annoyance.

The group leader guffawed loudly. "Cause he's a wimpy little coward and the only thing he's good for is taking out the trash!" The men behind the beefy man jeered in agreement.

Hanatarou squeaked as Ichigo's grip tightened painfully around his shoulders. Noticing this, Ichigo immediately loosened his embrace into a warm cradling hold and apologized to the shorter man, now ignoring the 11th squad members, much to their chagrin. "Sorry, Hana. Are you okay?"

Hanatarou swallowed nervously, trying (and failing) to stop the blush on his cheeks from the look of concern radiating from those beautiful bronze eyes. Concern for him. It made his knees weak and he clung to Ichigo unconsciously to stay standing.

"H-Hai, Ichigo-san." He said shakily, noticing the stutter at the beginning of his reassurance and Ichigo's answering relieved smile that came close to buckling his knees altogether.

"Hey!" The 11th squad Shinigami yelled to them, irked that they had been so easily ignored. "Enough with the flirting and hand 'im over already carrot-top!"

Hanatarou's face blushed out right and Ichigo's flushed slightly before tightening his grip on Hanatarou's shoulders by a fraction again.

"No." Ichigo growled. Hanatarou looked up at him in surprise. Then berated himself. Of course Ichigo would never just 'hand him over' to a bunch of thugs to get beaten up. It was just the way Ichigo had said it. He sounded … possessive.

Zaraki's squad members yelled angrily at this. The leader of this particular band waved his hand for silence before speaking. "What?" He also growled, though it sounded a whole lot less threatening coming from him than it did the orange head.

"I said no. I'm not 'handing' Hana over to anyone."

Hanatarou blushed yet again at Ichigo's words. The way he made it sound … it made the sudden butterflies in his stomach flap wildly and made him a little dizzy. Or maybe that was the lack of oxygen.

Hanatarou quickly sucked in a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding and was startled at the wonderful scent that he smelled. He focused on it. It smelled light and airy, like he was standing on a mountain looking over the countryside. After a moment, Hanatarou realized just where the scent was coming from.

Ichigo. It was wafting off the orange head in comforting waves that engulfed Hanatarou and brought layers of comfort with it to settle over the stressed Shinigami. He breathed it in unthinkingly, practically inhaling it.

Ichigo noticed this as well and he smiled, running a hand through Hanatarou's hair briefly, bringing yet another sense of protectiveness, possessiveness, and comfort to the shorter man in his arms.

The men yet again yelled to get the two's attention back to the present situation. "Don't ignore us carrot-top! Now hand over the midget or we'll be forced to take him from your cold dead hands." They smirked and tried to appear threatening.

Ichigo's reitsu spiked dangerously, causing them to visibly flinch and some even went so far as to stagger. The orange head breathed in and out deeply a few times to calm himself. He had promised Unohana-san not to send anymore shinigami to the infirmary. They were stretched and stressed enough as it is. Hanatarou was proof of that.

The 7th seat was trying to stave off the fatigue that assaulted him ever since he had been comforted in Ichigo's embrace. Since he felt so safe, his body thought it was time to rest and was trying to shut down on him. His legs finally buckled and he collapsed into Ichigo who gave a small noise of concern before hooking one of his arms under Hanatarou's legs and picking the shinigami up in his arms, bridal style.

Hanatarou squeaked at the sudden feeling of being airborne and his natural unbalanced nature swamped him and he wrapped his arms around Ichigo's neck in an attempt to keep from falling. Ichigo seemed pleased by the action and nuzzled Hanatarou's hair that was tucked just under his head. "Sleep Hana. You're tired. I'll keep you safe." He murmured softly to his secret love, encouraging him to give into the weariness and trust him.

Hanatarou was all too willing to follow his advice. He trusted Ichigo with all his heart anyways and he knew the substitute Shinigami would protect him from harm. Before he knew it, he was asleep, his face pushed into Ichigo's chest as the orange head's scent wreathed around him comfortingly. Ichigo turned and began to walk away, murmuring soft words of comfort to the sleeping Hanatarou in his arms, now having completely forgotten about the raging men behind him.

Even though they spluttered and hissed angrily among themselves, they knew they had no chance of doing anything against Kurosaki Ichigo. He could kick all their asses without even putting Hanatarou down or drawing his sword. And as much as it pained their pride to do so, they let him go.

Ichigo smiled softly at Hanatarou's sleeping face. It was cuter than his shy face. Ichigo again nuzzled the shinigami's hair. "Sleep my Hana. I'll keep you safe."

Sorry I know the ending's kinda abrupt but I didn't know how to really progress this and was stuck on how to finish it so I just had to end it here. Sorry! Again, I'll have kind-of a sequel (but can be read alone) up later ^^ review if you'd like!