Chapter 01
Betting on the Odds
Now—
"Did we have to do this in my office, Kurosaki?" His voice was rasped from the recent hour of activities he shared with the man. "You know I don't approve of being in working facilities where we can be caught."
The carrot top looked at him with a slight goofy grin as he gently shifted the white strands out of the little one's face. "You locked the door, I placed up a barrier, Rangiku-san is out somewhere getting drunk."
"That's not the point. When I say 'no' to doing this sort of thing in an inappropriate area, I mean it—" he was then kissed on the forehead to settle him down, but he tried to stay mad. "That's not going to work!"
"Well, this 'sort of thing' is called 'sex,' Toushirou. Or, in our case, it's 'making love,' okay—" his face was impaled with a small sandal, causing a red print on his face. "Besides, you needed to loosen up a bit."
"I don't have time to for it Kurosaki, I have a pile of work to do." He got up and began getting his clothes back on. "Can't you wait until we both finish our paperwork?" After he was clothed, he sat at his desk.
Kurosaki got dressed casually before leaning over the desk. "Toushirou, if you don't want to sleep with me, you can tell me." Turquoise looked at him guiltily. "Am I putting too much pressure on you? I can—"
"Kuro—" he paused, and started over again. "Ichigo," Hitsugaya Toushirou tried to think properly on his words. "You're not pressuring me, I agreed to it. Recently though, you've been wanting a lot more than normal. Is there something that you're not telling me?" He then smirked cockily to show that he was fine with things. "Or are you just using me to get away from your own paperwork, Kurosaki-taichou?"
Ichigo grinned widely, "no, but I would rather see your cute face over paperwork any day."
"Either way, would you mind giving me a break?" He sighed heavily. "I can't recover so quickly."
"Yeah, sorry, I understand. I'll restrain myself a little bit." The man stretched his body to get the kinks out.
Three years ago, Kurosaki Ichigo made a deal with the Commanding-General; he sacrificed his human life to become Kurosaki Ichigo, Captain of the Fifth Squad. In return, he was allowed to have a relationship with his favorite cranky little man, Hitsugaya Toushirou, Captain of the Tenth Squad. It had been roughly eight years now since the war with Aizen Sousuke ended, and it finally allowed Ichigo to explore his orientation without having to deal with someone trying to come after him. He went out with a few girls in thought that it was natural, but the two that he dated were the two he always had to save from danger, and he did not want to risk becoming a Hollow again. This led him to believe that he had to be with a person who could actually take care of themselves, so he went in search of other woman—which… was not safe on his part. Eventually he received a small case of puppy love with a man who could take care of himself, and it felt more appropriate, but he was very clinging… like the next two he dated.
In the end, he did not know what he wanted, but found himself staring at the grouchy little captain.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Toushirou glared with anger.
He blinked for a second before flashing a smile. "Nothing, just thinking."
"If it's perverse, get out." His attention went to his work again. "I need to—"
A large callused hand grabbed his small petite wrist that carried the hand with the utensil, bringing it up to his lips to kiss as if it were a fairytale story. This flustered the smaller captain who then ripped his hand away from his grasp; teasing was not something he enjoyed all that often. Turquoise hues watched the man walk around the desk to his side, and gave him a soft peck on the cheek to signal his defeat. When a kiss on the cheek was received, it meant that the giver was going to leave and attend to needed matters.
"Hitsugaya-taichou!" A loud scratchy tone called, flinging the screen door open. "I'm sorry to intrude b—" It was the redhead, Abarai Renji, Lieutenant of the Sixth Squad. "I've been looking for you everywhere Ichigo!" He somewhat ignored the fact Ichigo was kissing the little man. "Did you forget or something!"
"No… I know that Momo told me to come look for you at sunset, but you were too busy with Byakuya." The carrot top smirked devilish as he began to tease the other male. "Renji, I had no idea you wanted—"
"It's not like that!" The lieutenant's face turned three shades red. "We had a deal you idiot, remember! You stay out of my love life, I'll stay out of yours!" It was an actual deal that they made a few years ago.
"Abarai, as friendly as you two are—and have been, you still need to address him by his title." Toushirou stated icily; mainly to hide his jealousy over the relationship these two had before they broke up.
"Alright, alright, calm down everyone. Renji, Toushirou's right, you know you should call me by my title unless we're off duty. Toushirou, Renji's has reason to be angry with me, I should have at least sent a Hell Butterfly to say that I would be running late. Now then, has everyone calmed down a little bit now?" Ichigo watched the two exchange glances before they both looked in opposite directions from each other. He gave Toushirou another quick peck on the cheek before heading out of the office while waving to him. "Try not to work yourself too hard, and make sure you lock the doors all the way next time Toushirou—"
"Out!" The little captain roared, causing the other two to flee.
In the end, Toushirou smiled at the fool who ran away.
Matsumoto Rangiku, the large busty Lieutenant of the Tenth Squad, walked the nightly streets of the quiet Seireitei as drunkenly as possible. She heard voices creeping up around the corner, so she stopped in order to figure out who it was until they began to bicker and argue without restraint. Her head was sadly enough buzzing loud enough to disrupt her dysfunctional drunk fantasy of imagination she listened to.
"So why did you have to go bother Toushirou? You know you're still on our bad side." Ichigo stated with annoying lingering in his voice. "Coming in unannounced like that, what the Hell were you thinking Renji?"
"I have no interest in you anymore, believe me. Hitsugaya-taichou has nothing to worry about." The loud redhead huffed with equal annoyance. "Anyway, we have to hurry up and go before we're in trouble."
"Hey, if you weren't in Byakuya's corridor doing the dirty deed, I would've come, and we'd be on time." His hands went up behind his head. "Honestly, you two go at it like wild rabbits without a mating season."
Renji pointed accusingly at him for his smart remarks at him. "Look who's talking, you took advantage of my time alone with taichou and went to your own boyfriend, which makes it what, four times in six days?"
"Five times in seven days, and who are you two talk? You and Byakuya do it at least three times every other day, and more than that when you're off duty." It was his turn to sigh now. "You're a sex addict."
"I am not!" He blushed for being called this; mainly because it was probably true.
Ichigo's eyes rolled. "Yeah, I know what Byakuya looks like, Renji. He doesn't exactly fit the bill like I did."
"S-Shut up! That's none of your business anymore!" The lieutenant began to storm away. "This is why—"
"It isn't why we broke up and you know it." Things then became quieter suddenly.
Ichigo continued to speak, "you and I both know why we really separated, if you are going to lie, don't lie to me… and don't lie to yourself." He casually walked passed him since the other froze. "Remember that."
Renji rolled his eyes after recovering from the words from the captain; he knew that he was right though he did not want to admit it. As dominate as he was, the people he ended up with were people he really respected and looked up to, that… and they did not let weaker people dominate. With Ichigo about four years ago for about seven months, it was exploratory for him since Kuchiki Rukia was off limits or else his head would be chopped off his shoulders. Some things happened between them and he ended up with his own superior, Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain of the Sixth Squad. No matter how much he wanted to be the one who made the rules and took command for one night, Renji had been taught to stay submissive…
Only to Kuchiki Byakuya, and Kurosaki Ichigo.
"What are we needed for anyway? I'm sure you'd rather be playing—" Ichigo's teasing was cut short.
"Damn you Ichigo, can't you shut up for five minutes! I bet I can go without sex longer than you can!"
He turned to the redhead, a brow raised curiously. "Rather be playing karaoke and getting drunk…"
"O-Oh…" the lieutenant thought he was going to be perverse towards him. "N-No, that's tomorrow."
"But, since you made a bet, I just can't refuse it." His hands left his head to cross his arms. "Well?"
"I… I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't say anything!" He covered his ears to ignore him.
"Toushirou believes that I've been a little demanding recently, so this would give me the perfect excuse to be more flexible to his needs." Ichigo gave a captain-like grin that made inferior Shinigami cry in fear. "So, what should the time limit be… a day, a week, how about a month? Whoever can go without intercourse until the next full moon, wins. Winner gets privilege to tease and mock as much as they want without having to put up with the loser telling them to stop." He tried to think for whoever would lose this little bet.
"Loser has to walk around all of Seireitei, naked—no wait…" Renji had to rethink that; Ichigo could care less if he was nude or not. "Loser has to…" it then came to him, "break up with their relationship."
"Deal." Ichigo agreed and walked off. "Too bad, you said nothing about hooking up with them afterwards."
His jaw dropped, completely forgetting about it. "It has to be public I'll have you know! A public break up!"
"Yeah, yeah!" The captain began to mock him. "Kuchiki-taichou, I lost to Kurosaki-taichou, I have to leave you! It's only for a day! Please let me back into your bed tomorrow!" He laughed and began running off.
"Y-You bastard, get back here!" Renji chased him all the way to the office where they were needed.
"I tell taichou… Ichi's cheating…" Rangiku slurred, taking another gulp of sake.
She heard most of it, but she convinced herself that she heard everything as if they were lovebirds, which was far from the truth. Hinamori Momo, Lieutenant of the Fifth Squad, appeared from outside the shadows with Kuchiki Rukia, watching the two men headed towards the office of the Commanding-General. When they heard Rangiku saying that she was going to tell her captain false accusations, they quickly followed her to the administrative office. She only had a chance to blurt out his title before the two tackled her into the office by accident, causing the two smaller women to fall over her in pain.
"Ow… that hurt." Momo rubbed her bottom in hopes of relieving the pain she had.
"Taichou! Ichi—cheat… Cheating—go!" Rangiku groaned with her face impaled into the flooring.
"He is not, I was watching myself!" Rukia defended the carrot top protectively.
Toushirou blinked at the three females, wondering one thing. "What is going on here?"
"Ichigo's cheating!" The busty lieutenant proclaimed before flipping over to breathe. "…I need a drink."
Rukia glared at the woman for saying this. "He was not! I saw them, and Ichigo was furious with Renji!"
"That's right Rangiku-san! Taichou loves Shirou-chan! Ow…" Momo's bottom still hurt from the fall.
Toushirou gazed at the three women; one defended because she was Ichigo's lieutenant, one defended because they were an ex-lover, one claiming he was guilty because she was drunk. His head shook so he would not visibly roll his eyes at the scenery—Rangiku would say something like this every time she was drunk and happened upon seeing Ichigo with someone else. He was thankfully used to it though since it made him weary the first few months she started saying things like cheating, affairs, not loyal. The little captain learned the hard way that Kurosaki Ichigo would never cheat on him no matter what anyone would tell him. Literally though, he had secretly followed him one day to watch as someone attempted to hit on Ichigo one day, and they were unconscious for a little over a month from the man's fist.
"That's very nice Matsumoto, go to bed." He returned to filling out the rest of his reports. However, once he noticed that she was passed out, he looked to the other two. "Can you take her to the corridors?"
"Of course, Hitsugaya-taichou." Rukia picked up the large woman on one side. "Please excuse us."
"Aww… Rangiku-san is heavy though!" Momo picked the woman up on the other side. "Bye Shirou-chan!"
Toushirou sighed exasperatedly. "It's Hitsugaya-taichou to you, Hinamori." With them out of his office, he returned to his work while he could before someone else decided to interrupt him before he could finish.
Hour after hour, it was nearing midnight and his candle light was getting lower and lower while he was getting tired and exhausted. The door to his office slid open soft and quietly to the point where if it was not in front of him, he might not have realized that someone was coming in. Toushirou looked up to see the tall male carrot top smiling gently while almost tiptoeing over to stand behind the seat he was in. He had expected Ichigo to wrap his arms around his shoulders as he always would when overworking, but this time he gently massaged his shoulders. His large turquoise hues glanced up to see passed the gentle smile; it was to hide the disappointment Ichigo did not want him to see. This made him brush the callused hands from his shoulders to turn around in his chair to look at him face to face worriedly. After being with him for a little more than three years, he was lucky enough to understand all of these little hints he gave.
"Did something happen between you and Abarai?" After all, the two left together.
He rustled the small one's hair. "We're teamed up for the next few weeks, I have extra work now."
Toushirou knew that he did not like extra work. "Why are you together? To do what exactly?"
"Jii-san told me I need help teaching at the Academy. Since Renji sucked too, we both are going."
"Ah," the captain smiled with a little relief. "You're going to teach while being taught?"
"Pretty much," Ichigo grumbled before turning the other around to face his paperwork. "Come on, get your work done so you can go to the corridors and get some rest." When Toushirou began to do as told, he decided now was the best time to tell him. "There's something else, you see, Renji and I decided to—"
Renji poked his head in. "Kurosaki-taichou, can I have a word with you!" The lieutenant sounded furious.
Said captain glared at him. "Can it wait? I want to explain to him that—" Again, he was interrupted.
"No, you can't! It's an emergency!" He crossed his arms as if it would make him seem scary.
Sighing softly, he leaned over and gave the small one a peck on the cheek. "Sorry."
"It's alright Kurosaki, you can tell me later on tonight." Toushirou assumed they would go to his lodge.
"I can't tonight, I need all the sleep I can get." He smiled teasingly. "With you, I won't get any sleep at all."
Turquoise liquid orbs rolled at this while resisting the heat in his cheeks. "Get out of here, both of you."
"Hey—what I say goes, get some rest soon. I don't want to see bags under your eyes." Ichigo demanded.
Muttering a bored 'goodnight' to his obsessive boyfriend, he returned to work as the two left the office while closing the door behind them, and they began to argue in whispers outside the room. Toushirou could not make out the words that they were exchanging, but he knew by the tone that neither of them were pleased about it. Suddenly, a loud thud was heard out in the hallway, so the little captain got up to check on them in case Ichigo decided to kill the lieutenant. It was not like that captain would, but, he would most likely do a lot of damage if Renji managed to say something about his partner he did not like.
Toushirou slid the door open to see Ichigo standing aggressively tall while Renji on the floor in pain. "I know you have more privileges than most of us, but you can't keep attacking other Shinigami like this."
"Don't worry, he deserved it." The carrot top brought his angry-now-gentle brown hues towards him. "Goodnight Toushirou, get some rest when you can," he grabbed Renji by the hem of his clothes. "I'll take this little puppy to his owner before I go to bed. Luckily my lodge isn't that far." He then left…
Dragging the lieutenant without mercy…
Toushirou watched them turn the corner before briefly sighing as he returned to his office to finish up.
"So Ichigo and Renji are going to see who can last the longest without sex for a month, huh?" Rukia thought aloud as she walked next to the lieutenant her size. "I bet Ichigo will be winning that bet for sure."
"I agree," Momo smiled happily, not minding the game or the fact that the conversation involved her tall captain. "Abarai-kun has been acting a little girly around taichou and Kuchiki-taichou, it's really funny."
"What's this I hear about Kurosaki-taichou and Abarai going on a bet for sex?" A man asked from behind. The two jolted in fear when they looked to see Hisagi Shuuhei, Lieutenant of the Ninth Squad. "Well?"
"I-It's not what it seems like Hisagi-san!" Momo clasped her hands together. "Taichou and Abarai-kun are seeing who can survive without sleeping with their partners the longest! It's completely innocent!"
He turned his attention away, scratching the back of his head while he blushing at the images passing in his mind. "O-Oh, w-well good. I-I thought you meant Kurosaki-taichou was cheating on Hitsugaya-taichou. Not that it's really possible. But, uh…" he glanced at the two ladies. "I'll bid ¥20,000 that says Kurosaki-taichou will definitely win." Shuuhei then paused. "I-If you're taking bets on the challenge that is…"
Rukia peered over at Momo with a grin, "yes, as a matter of fact, we are!"
"What are you doing?" A voice called out in annoyance.
The three jumped out of their skin when they heard this voice, it was one of the two men in their topic that they were talking about. As soon as the three turned to look at the man, they realized that the captain was dragging a nearly lifeless carcass of a lieutenant. With them all giving their attention to Ichigo, his own attention went to Shuuhei before tossing Renji at him, which the former lieutenant almost dropped.
"I punched him earlier before dragging him out of the administration office in the Tenth Division, but then he wouldn't shut up and gave me a headache, so I might have kicked him once or twice." As he stated what happened, the three were trying to remain calm. "Would you mind taking him to his corridors? The last thing I need is a lecture from Byakuya saying that I shouldn't bully another's underlings."
"Y-Yes, of course Kurosaki-taichou!" In a flash, Shuuhei left the scene while hobbling Renji on a shoulder.
Now he was out of the line of fire of getting into any trouble.
"Now then, as for my own little underling, and friend." He looked at both little ladies separately. "Neither of you wouldn't mind telling me what mischief you're trying to cause, right?" They looked at one another.
Rukia knew he was onto her, so she had to make something up. "I… was… telling Hinamori-fukutaichou, a-about the karaoke tomorrow night! Hisagi-fukutaichou over heard us and began talking about it!"
"Yes taichou! I'm thinking about participating in the karaoke party tomorrow night!" Momo smiled happily at the man, hopefully not to be caught. "Will you be joining us too? I would like to hear your singing!"
"Unfortunately, I have no time. Momo, please do at least a quarter of my share of paperwork. I have to attend the Shinigami Academy to teach." He began walking passed the two to go to the lodge nearby.
"Oh… okay! I'll do however much I can!" She then paused to look at the sky to see how late it is, then pondered on something. "I thought you sleep in Shirou-chan's corridors on Thursday nights… are you—"
"I need to sleep." Ichigo turned to the two, mainly for Momo. "Come along, I'll escort you to your room." The lieutenant came over and clung to his arm. "Oh… and Rukia?" He called with a curious tone of voice.
"Y-Yes?" Said woman knew that he did not want her to follow because they were not in a relationship; they have not been in one for almost seven years. "C-Can I help you with something? I can go check—"
"You know I don't like when lied to my face." Ichigo stated firmly before becoming soft. "Goodnight Rukia."
It felt like her soul was stabbed five times in one thrust; knowing he knew she lied. "Goodnight…"
When they were in the division of the Fifth Squad, Momo looked at her captain. "Are you mad at us?"
"If someone lies, then they want to keep it a secret." He replied. "Who am I to judge someone for it?"
"Because… it might be about you?" The reason itself was logical; her captain always confused her.
His head shook. "Either way, if I needed to know, I would've been told." He stopped at her corridor.
She bowed to him gratefully, "thank you for taking me all the way to my room Kurosaki-taichou."
"Of course," Ichigo bowed his head to the small lieutenant before walking to his own room. "Night."
"Goodnight taichou," Momo looked to the ground with guilt before going into her room.
Was it really okay to bid on something that was none of their business?
"Ahem," the redhead cleared his throat in front of the large class of perhaps a little over one hundred or so students. "For the meantime, Kurosaki-taichou and I will be your training instructors for the field. There will be times where you'll encounter a Hollow, and you all need to be prepared for when that time comes."
When they heard that Captain Kurosaki Ichigo would be one of the instructors for field training, almost every student was filled with excitement. However, much to everyone's dismay, they did not see the tall orange-haired captain, all they saw was a redheaded lieutenant with an orange cat on his shoulder. As there were no sign of the captain there, there was no reason to be excited anymore, he was not there.
"It would seem they're not interested in your speeches, should we skip to the lesson then?" The orange feline called, startling every student there as he jumped down from Renji's shoulder. "For now, I will not even allow you to touch your Zanpakutou, shinai will be the only weapon you can use." It was Ichigo…
"But first, there is one thing that everyone needs to be able to do. Like taichou said, you won't use a real weapon, we won't let you even look at a shinai until you can tell us what's the most important thing to us."
Everyone looked at one another.
"Um… strength?" One called, and a few nodded.
Another spoke out. "Being smart enough to quit while you're ahead?"
"You'll be dead before you know it." Ichigo growled. "I might do you the honor even."
Renji sighed and hoped he could keep things safe. "Alright, any other suggestions?" Silence. "None?"
"For thousands of years, the one thing that Shinigami lacked in, was trust." Ichigo stated before jumping on top of a large boulder. "The lack of trust and understanding within one another is what caused the fall of Seireitei years ago." He watched the students become intense, and he then saw a young boy in the mist of the class. "You all must learn to rely on others, remember your training as a unit, and individually."
The boy that looked at him, short raven-haired that was spiky and bright grayish-blue hues that showed promise that he would be a good Shinigami in the future. Renji saw the look in Ichigo's eyes, knowing that he picked a student that he would work well with while they subbed for this drill. As the captain's words started to embed within everyone's mind, Ichigo finally decided to tell them one last thing before starting.
"Whomever I choose to be successful in their take, will come to Seireitei with me. Until then, however, all of you will learn everything there is to know about one another. The faster this goes, the sooner you fight."
"YEAH!" They all cheered with excitement fueling them.