Vulnerability
By: eternalsailorsolarwind AKA youkai_girl
Disclaimer: Bleach and all of its characters are owned by Tite Kubo, his Japanese publishers, and Viz. I only play with them for grins and giggles.
A/N: Set post-war, Byakuya only allows Ichigo to see him at his worst – and vice versa. Byakuya/Ichigo.
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The final step of shun-po nearly finished him. Entering the mansion's genkan, he barely missed stumbling into the wall. Kuchiki Byakuya pulled himself together; for once glad his servants were not attentively waiting for his appearance. The noble wanted no one to see his exhaustion; his weakness after being injured in a meaningless skirmish with a Hollow.
No longer able to stand, the weary captain sat to take off his sandals. All he wanted right now was a hot bath and several uninterrupted hours of sleep.
The slap of running feet against wood made the raven-haired man look up just in time to see Ichigo slide into the room – nearly into the very wall he had just avoided – and stare at him, ashen-faced.
For a few moments, the two men merely gazed wordlessly at each other. Then the substitute Soul Reaper launched himself at Byakuya, the sudden onslaught of 150 or so pounds of human male bowling the overextended noble right over.
Blinking in weary astonishment at the ceiling from his position under his younger lover, the captain became aware of the words that the Vaizard chanted low into his ear.
"They told me you were dead."
Finally understanding, Byakuya stroked his tired fingers through the spiky orange hair, making a mental note to do something unspeakably violent to the person who worried Ichigo this much. From things that both Rukia and Ichigo himself had said, he knew that his lover dealt badly with loss. As an apology for worrying the former ryoka, he offered to let Ichigo tend to his remaining wounds and scrub his back in the bath. The offer was accepted by the younger man; quickly helping Byakuya up from his position on the floor.
Grimacing at the effort it cost to regain his feet, the injured and weary captain took shameless advantage of Ichigo's need to help, allowing his lover to help him out to the bathhouse to spend some quality time together healing from all sorts of wounds.
Only with Ichigo was the noble comfortable showing the man behind the stoic mask; the only one he allowed to see him when less than perfect. And the Vaizard was comfortable allowing Byakuya behind the walls of his own damaged heart. They trusted each other implicitly – body, soul, and with the aching places inside them.