Beautiful
Chapter 1
Yumichika was sitting around outside the seireitei when he felt Zaraki's spirit energy returning and he blinked in surprise when he felt the multitude of changes that had taken place, he grinned a bit hopelessly and looked back towards the sunrise as he mulled over his captain's steady progress and his own brick wall. He sighed and leaned his chin on his upraised knees and decided it didn't matter, right now all he could do was push himself to be better in any way he could. If all he ever did was try to catch up with Zaraki he'd be chasing the man his entire life, and Zaraki while strong was decidedly not Yumichika's type at all. He glanced up and saw Ukitake approaching, truly a changed man if ever Yumichika had seen one; his appearance was more wild now, closer to Renji if Yumichika had to pick a man to compare him to, and yet he retained his kind and gentle heart despite the crazy changes that had been taking place in the last year. The 13th squad captain landed next to Yumichika with a step as light as a cat's and smiled down at him before offering him his hand
"Captain Yamamoto wants to talk with you," he said and Yumichika frowned, not taking the offered hand despite the fact that he knew it was rude
"The last several people he called in all went through the same transformation as you, so I'm sure that you'll forgive me if I'm reluctant to take this as good news," Ukitake's smile took on a bit of a resigned edge as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and admitted
"Well, honestly the change was inside all of us before he ever had a chance to talk to us, and that's why he needs to talk to you," his face became serious "you've done something or had something done to you in your past which means that you are at risk of changing the same as we did; we all have one common thread and that's Sousuke Aizen," Yumichika met his gaze squarely and immediately realized why Ukitake had phrased that the way he had when he saw a flash of pain in the man's eyes, Yumichika looked away and muttered
"He never raped me," he said, not sure why he felt the need to tell Ukitake this but he supposed that if it ever got out some day he'd know who to kill "I did some things, and some people, that I'm not proud of when I was younger and fighting to survive," Ukitake shifted his weight to his other foot and when Yumichika glanced up he saw that he'd evidently said something interesting because Ukitake had taken on a pensive look
"And this was many years ago by now, am I right?" Yumichika nodded and Ukitake's face hardened before he reached down and hauled Yumichika up, not giving him a choice but to stand on his feet "You need to speak with Yamamoto, if we can look through his research back closer to the beginning then we might be able to find out more about what was done to us," Yumichika sighed and flicked his hair back but he walked with Ukitake to the head captain's office anyway
"I swear this right now; if I become any less beautiful because of some mysterious change then I am going to kill you in the ugliest way I can find," Ukitake smiled a bit ironically
"Noted,"
Ikkaku had just gotten out of bed and was yawning and stretching as he left his room when his eyes caught on a familiar orange scarf and the soul reaper who was wearing it, the sun had risen a little while ago and Ikkaku knew Yumichika liked to watch it rise but it was the soul reaper that Yumichika was following after that made Ikkaku curious. Ukitake was leading the pair of them towards the inner city… Ikkaku's eyes widened and he rushed forward, worry filling him, but when they rounded a corner he lost sight of them. He looked around quickly then cursed and made his way towards Yamamoto's office; he might not know where they were but he knew where they were going. He knew about Yumichika's past, after all the day they'd met Yumichika had just been leaving a particularly rough customer's room, and Ikkaku was one of the few that could see through Yumichika's bull down to the shame he felt inside himself
'I had to eat,' Yumichika was fond of saying whenever the subject came up 'but in order to eat I had to swallow a lot of stuff I didn't like the taste of like my pride and my dignity,' to hear him talk about it one would think he had a blasé attitude towards it, a kind of 'it's in the past, let's move on' sort of attitude, but Ikkaku knew that a lot of Yumichika's issues with himself came from his past. His obsession with being beautiful was definitely one of them, after all an ugly companion was a hungry companion, but thankfully Yumichika didn't seem to have any scars when it came to sex and in fact had come on to Ikkaku more than once usually after a cup too many of sake. Ikkaku stopped outside the head captain's office where the large doors were shut and he stormed forward and kicked them open to find Yumichika kneeling on the ground in front of Yamamoto and the 5th seat looked like he'd just said something he now regretted. Yumichika looked up quickly at the sound of the door then away when he saw who it was and when Ikkaku took a step forward with the intent of defending him he was surprised when Yumichika said softly
"Ikkaku, I don't want you here," Ikkaku stopped and frowned down at his long time friend
"If this is about your past-"
"That's exactly why I don't want you here," Yumichika broke in and Ikkaku heard his voice crack, something Ikkaku didn't think he'd ever heard before, and he took another step forward instinctively only to be met by the tip of Yumichika's zanpakuto in his face. Ikkaku looked up at Yumichika's face and he felt something go cold inside when he saw the pain mixed with resolve in his friend's face "Get out," Yumichika said in a low voice then added in a bit of a whisper "please," Ikkaku frowned and shook his head
"Not until you tell me what's going on, first Ukitake then Renji then our captain and now you? I don't understand any of this, I want to help you!"
"Well then it looks like you have found the perfect person to go with you," Yamamoto said suddenly and because Ikkaku was watching Yumichika's face he saw the other man's face pale before he turned to face Yamamoto in what Ikkaku could only call a panic
"No!" Yumichika said, a note of hysteria in his voice, and Ikkaku stepped around his friend's zanpakuto before knocking it away with his forearm and fisting the front of Yumichika's shihakusho to haul him up into his face
"Next time you point your weapon at me, you'd better be prepared to kill me," he growled and Yumichika shoved at his chest, effectively freeing himself since Ikkaku had only been making a point and not trying to actually hold him, then Ikkaku turned to face the head captain who looked notably annoyed "When are we leaving and what's our purpose?" he asked and Yumichika fixed his shihakusho and retrieved his weapon before replying
"I'm not going," in a low voice and Yamamoto's spirit energy flared powerfully
"You dare defy a direct order?" Yumichika stood up a bit straighter and barked back
"Kill me if you must, but I'm not going back to that place!" Ikkaku cracked his knuckles and looked to Yamamoto who seemed to get the hint because he sighed
"I suppose we have no other choice," he nodded at Ikkaku and before Yumichika could even think of fighting back Ikkaku flash stepped behind him and knocked him out with a solid chop to the back of his neck, catching him to keep Yumichika from falling to the ground then Ikkaku carefully bound Yumichika's wrists in case he woke up and tossed the unconscious man over his shoulder in a fireman's carry
"Ukitake, care to walk with us and gimme the details I need?" Ikkaku asked the 13th squad captain who nodded with a sigh as Ikkaku mentally prepared himself for the world class fit that was in his near future.
"Of all the ugly, disrespectful, HUMILIATING ways you could have chosen to drag me here you had to choose hauling me around like a sack of grain?! Ikkaku, I am going to kill you!" Yumichika practically screeched when they arrived and Ikkaku tossed him onto the ground with a glare
"If you had come willingly like the old man ordered then I wouldn't have had to haul your ass here myself!" Yumichika managed to gain his feet, though with his wrists bound it was a bit awkward, and the smaller man was flushed with rage when he finally faced him squarely; Ikkaku had to admit, he could see why men had come from neighboring villages just for a night with this particular man. Even pissed off he had a certain something to the way he moved that told of years of experience, something that Ikkaku wouldn't lie about being curious about himself. He stalked forward, mostly testing the waters with no real intent behind his steps, but when he got close enough Yumichika ducked low in a sweeping kick designed to take him off his feet. Ikkaku hopped easily over the attempt and planted a foot in the middle of Yumichika's chest to send him sprawling onto his back which made him growl as he attempted to gain his feet again. Ikkaku was surprised to see his pupils dilate then elongate in the middle to form cat-like pupils, though he wasn't afraid because of the things Ukitake had told him on the way to the senkaimon, and when Yumichika gained his feet again Ikkaku watched in awe as Yumichika's zanpakuto shattered and several spots appeared across Yumichika's nose and cheekbones in markings that were almost like freckles
"You're dead," Yumichika hissed then his face froze and he shook his head and fell to his knees, shuddering and shaking his head from side to side "No, no, no," he whispered so softly Ikkaku barely heard him "No, I can't…" Ikkaku watched his jaw clench hard enough that he thought he heard teeth cracking and he stalked forward and knelt in front of the shaking 5th seat before slapping his cheek lightly which made his eyes pop open but they were still cat-like and his face was still dusted with freckles "Don't look at me," Yumichika panted and turned his face away as Ikkaku rolled his eyes with a sigh
"You look fine," he said and Yumichika shook his head
"I can feel something spreading on my face," Ikkaku took his chin between his thumb and fore finger before tracing the path of the small marks which he noticed darkened as Yumichika's pupils went narrow again
"They look like freckles," Ikkaku said "It's no big-"
"My face!" Yumichika wailed in despair and Ikkaku leaned forward to get a better look at them, noting that they appeared more like cheetah spots than freckles just on a much smaller scale, and he noticed Yumichika's pupils sharpen further before he pulled his chin free "I-I want to go home; whatever Yamamoto wanted to happen has obviously happened because I've changed and I want to go back right now. I hate it here," Ikkaku noticed that Yumichika's gaze darted around erratically until it landed on the sand outside and Yumichika's fangs and claws lengthened as he shuddered. Ikkaku touched his shoulder to gain his attention and Yumichika shook his head and looked back at Ikkaku before looking away again "We're done here right? We can go now?" Ikkaku sighed and stood, moving behind Yumichika to cut his wrists free, and when he straightened and Yumichika stood to his feet he turned and punched Ikkaku square in the jaw making the 3rd seat see stars. He growled and started to retaliate but Yumichika was already stalking towards the senkaimon. Ikkaku followed as he rubbed at his jaw with a smirk; Yumichika was pretty but he had a mean punch. It wasn't until they were back in the seireitei and walking down the main road towards the squad 11 barracks that Ikkaku realized that Yumichika hadn't said a word the entire trip back; on the way there he'd been unconscious but now that he was awake and moving Ikkaku had expected a bit more of an ass chewing for basically kidnapping the other man
"We need to report in," Ikkaku said, not liking the paperwork that would no doubt be involved but knowing that it was best to get it out of the way, but Yumichika didn't respond and Ikkaku grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to bark "If you think I'm gonna do your paperwork again-" Yumichika lashed out and Ikkaku felt his face split open, apparently from Yumichika's claws which the 5th seat was staring at in horror before he looked at the spot Ikkaku was clutching which bled steadily through his fingers "Fuck, I was just-" Yumichika shook his head and backed off a step when Ikkaku took a step forward and Ikkaku frowned when he saw the fear in Yumichika's eyes "I'm not mad, so just calm down would ya?" he said in exasperation and Yumichika took another several steps back and Ikkaku barely heard him whisper
"Ugly and out of control, I-I cannot be here," he said and flash stepped away and Ikkaku growled and was about to follow when he felt an arm on his shoulder, he spun around and immediately lowered his gaze with a sigh when he saw Unohana standing there
"Let me treat those, Yumichika will need a little while to learn to cope," Ikkaku shook his head and would have gone after Yumichika immediately but Unohana's hold on his shoulder didn't let up
"I need to-"
"You need to come with me and give him a little while to calm down," she insisted and he nodded and looked back towards the forest where he thought he'd last sensed Yumichika
'Don't do anything stupid,' he projected to the other man, though he knew he wouldn't hear him, and turned to follow after Unohana.