I hate summer Toushirou Hitsugaya, Captain of the tenth division thought as he struggled to cope with the unrelenting heat that summer had brought. The last couple of days had been almost unbearable for the tiny captain. Unable to sleep because of both the monstrous amount of paper work and the god forsaken heat Toushriou hadn't had a decent night's rest for at least three days now. He was sticky from the sweat which seeped from his pores and soaked his clothing and hair. On top of that Toushriou was beginning to feel the affects of the lack of food he had eaten over the course of three days, the head had caused him to loss any amount of appetite he might have once had.
Closing his eyes the poor captain rested his pounding head on the desk. I haven't seen Ichigo in a while either, he thought dully, I thought his school got out for the summer around this time...his eyes flew open as a horrible thought struck him. What if he doesn't want to see me? After all I'm not a very good boyfriend, I acted cold and unfeeling, I won't show affection in public ad I never have time to go visit him.
To his surprise a few tears began to well up in his large, teal eyes. The heated tended to do things like this to him, it was always best to stay clear of the tenth division office during the summer, you never knew what would set off a tirade.
Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat Toushriou struggled to get himself under control only to find that to be next to imposable. The tears pored out as he buried his head in his arms, to be honest he didn't know why he was crying, except for that he was tired, hot, sticky, and missing a certain strawberry so much his heart ached.
This is absolutely pathetic, he thought as he fought to get himself under control. Finally Toushirou managed to pull some form of control over himself
But that control was tentative at best, he felt as if the smallest most insignificant thing would destroy the carefully controlled mask and cause the tears he held back by sheer will to come poring out.
With a trembling hand he grasped the forgotten brush and started once more to fill out one of many reports on his desk, hoping that if he finished all of the work he had due he might be allowed to at least visit his boyfriend, if he still was his boyfriend that is, for a few hours.
Toushirou was so intent on completing his work and on holding himself together that he didn't even notice that the door to his office had opened and a slim figure had slipped inside. In fact it wasn't until the figure spoke that he even realized someone was there.
"Seriously, I come all the way here and you don't even say hello to me, you just sit there and do your stupid paperwork."
Toushirou froze at the sound of Ichigo's voice, even though there was no real anger in the strawberry's voice, only slight irritation, he felt as if his fears and insecurities had just been shoved in his face and made true.
The brush fell from his hands as he let out an absolutely pitiful sob and stood up so quickly that the chair he had been sitting on fell over with a loud crash.
His careful control shattered and the tears streamed down his face as he made to rush out of the room only to be caught and held in a pair of strong arms.
"Toushirou!" Ichigo cried out in alarm of his lover's sudden out burst of tears.
"I'm sorry!" Toushirou gasped in between the pitiful sobs.
Quickly Ichigo gathered the prodigy up in his arms and carried him over to the couch that Toushirou's vice-captain usually occupied. The strawberry cuddled the crying boy to his chest, trying to figure out what had caused the normally cold, calm and collected captain's onslaught of tears.
"Toushirou, baby, whats wrong? I've never seen you cry this much before! Did something happen?" he asked as he rubbed Toushirou's back in soothing circles. Still sobbing uncontrollably Toushirou shook his head which was buried into Ichigo's chest.
"I don't know whats wrong with me!" he sobbed and Ichigo simply held him closer, murmuring soothingly in the smaller male's ear as he continued to gently rub Toushirou's back. Finally after a few minutes of senseless crying Toushirou manged to calm himself down enough to get control over his tears. He sat up slowly in Ichigo's arms, carefully not looking the strawberry in the eye, Toushirou couldn't believe he had gone to pieces like that.
He felt a hand gently reach over and encouraged him to look up. Slowly Toushirou raised his head and his met Ichigo's. The strawberry's amber eyes brimmed with concern as he gently reached up and brushed away the tears that lingered in Toushirou's eyes.
"What's wrong Yukihime? Something must have happened for you to be so upset."
Toushriou closed his eyes and nuzzled Ichigo's palm.
"It's stupid." Toushirou whispered, after all he wasn't one to usually complain about what life through at him.
"Tell me anyway."
Toushirou bit his lip before answering in a sudden rush of words.
"Its just, I'm hot sweaty, tired and afraid you're going to leave me."
A frown came over Ichigo's face at his words.
"I can understand the first three but not the last, Toushirou what reason could you possible have to think I'm going to leave you?"
The teal eyes slid away form Ichigo's as the young captain spoke.
"Isn't obvious? I'm a terrible boyfriend, I'm never around, you always have to come to me and when you do I'm always busy, I never have time for you and when I do I act like I don't even care. Why would anyone want to date someone like me?"
"Because you're smart, beautiful and incredibly strong, because you look cute when you sleep, because you're an absolute workaholic, because when you really smile it lights you up your whole face."
Toushirou's eyes went back to Ichigo's in surprise at the strawberry's words, but Ichigo wasn't done.
"Toushirou, I love you because you're you."
"Really?"
Ichigo nodded "Really, I love you, all of you."
"I-I don't know what to say except that I love all of you as well."
The strawberry smiled, leaning forward he gently kissed the prodigy on the lips, they broke apart inches for each other.
"Thank you." Toushirou whispered
"For what?" Ichgio asked in an equally quite voice.
"For loving me because I'm me."
Ichigo laughed softly as he pulled Toushirou back into another, more passionate kiss.
While Toushirou might still have been hot, sticky and tired at the very least he knew that Ichigo loved him for no other reason then because he was himself and for some reason that made a world of difference.
Author's note
So corny...sigh, oh well,
Any way next week I will begin posting the sequel to Attention to Detail, I guess I'm going to need to figure out a title for it before then. Thank you to all who have read and review this story, it really means a lot of me.