Disclaimer: This pairing might very well be cannon, if I owned Bleach. But it isn't so...
A/N: Thanks to... vampire13princess for reviewing Phileo. Also, thanks to the 59 readers of Phileo. You guys make me smile too!
Strangely enough the hardest one to start and finish. I mean, I like romance and yet...
But finally the muse cooperated and I got myself the 'ship I needed for this little thing. Ichigo of course, because he's the main and always will be my fav character – what can I say, I'm a sucker for the hero.
Also, if you can't figure out the pairing before the end, for shame! Go and re-read/watch Bleach cause your memory has just been severely damaged.
So, anyways, here is Part Three of the Four Loves Quartet: Eros – Romantic Love.
-start-
Eros
Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart. ~Author Unknown
It's stupid.
That is Ichigo's first thought, followed quickly by it can't be, I'm delusional and I don't...
He can't finish that sentence, because that would be a lie. And he is always honest, at least to himself.
So he takes a deep breath, kicks Kon out of his room by handing him to Yuzu to play with, and then sits on his bed, arms on his knees and head in his hands.
And he thinks.
Thinking will never be his strong suit – he is an action guy, he likes to get up and do something, preferably punch something because dammit things are just so stressful already and then along comes this realization.
But there are times he knows he has to think – like with school work – and so he sits and concentrates.
Frankly, no matter how much he thinks about it, he can't really figure out when it started. Was it the first – brief – meeting, when he and Rukia protected Kon that it happened. During that stupid Kanonji incident – and dammit, it would be easier if Kanonji would stop coming over – did he do something when he released his soul? Was it when he let him, even if it was to teach a lesson, go and try to save Rukia that night? Or was it when he woke up and he was there and promised to help him save Rukia and regain his Shinigami powers? And helped him succeed.
If he goes through all the times he's been there, he's going to automatically scowl, because he is just...so exasperating. He's been scared – of him, for him – angry, mostly with him, happy and irritated.
But mostly exasperated.
Was that how it happened? He wonders. Was that how he...
He can't finish the thought, because he's staying away from that word as long as possible.
That stupid hat – he wants to burn it and shred it to nothing. Along with that damn fan, now that he thinks of it.
He also wants to kiss him fiercely afterwards, which makes him go practically red as an tomato at that thought.
Ichigo grabs and tugs at locks of his hair, using the pain to derail him from that train of thought. No, no, not thinking like that, nope!
Okay he admits to being at least a little...fond of him. Frankly the pervert grew on him. More often than not, he's dropping by for some tea – not made by him, ugh, Ichigo risks his life enough as is – and talk, nothing really important but just to relax and calm down.
Damn Aizen. Damn Arrancar and Hollows. Damn Winter War. Things are so freakin' stressful, it's no wonder he looks to anything for relaxation.
Either way, he understood. Probably because he, when he dropped the damn fan and smile, could be just as driven, just as stubborn, just as dangerous.
Okay, he still wanted to hit him for the Visored thing, but it saved his life so many damn times he doesn't have much reason to, despite how freakin' annoying his pale copy is.
Especially if those instinct things are real, cause his comments freakin' disturbing nowadays. Hearing him go on and on over taking over his body and killing people is much easier to handle than...that.
Ichigo goes brilliant red and the damn thing laughs before he growls and pushes him back. Not needed dammit!
Anyways, that guy wasn't all that bad. He was generally weird, but in his life what wasn't? And...he was a good person. He might have his own plans, be in some ways as manipulative as Aizen can be, but he never really did anything for less than good reasons. His intentions were always good, though they didn't always work out.
Actually...Ichigo had to consider that. The only time his plans really worked out was when Ichigo was truly involved, which was kinda funny actually. Maybe his spontaneity and random actions actually helped?
He lifted his head and had to grin.
The guy made him happy, even though he mostly didn't show it. He felt, for once in a long time, safe with him. He was himself around him, and stopped trying to put up images 24/7, though he didn't immediately drop them.
That was okay though – he didn't drop them either.
But he could be more than the stubborn Substitute Shinigami, more than the punk student, the orange-haired boy with a constant scowl.
Frankly, around him he wanted to push harder than usual – he wanted to see his eyes when he surprised him with just how fast he could learn, how strong he could get, how much he could push and grow. He wanted to just talk to him, be with him, do anything with him...and he would be happy. Just from that.
So yeah...he was...
...in love.
A grin broke out and he fell backwards onto the bed. 'Man...what a rush...'
He laid there for a moment, staring up a the ceiling and grinning like a fool. But who could blame him?
He suddenly stood and grabbed his badge, pressing it to his chest and ejecting his Shinigami form from his body. He grabs and arranges his body on his bed so it looks like he is asleep. He then opens the window and launches himself out into the now night air.
It takes only a few moments of rooftop hopping to get there, and even though the lights are off, he can still pick up his wide awake reiatsu – when was he the easiest of his friends to pick out? – and knocked on the door.
And the door opens and he's there.
"Why...Kurosaki-kun!" Grey eyes shaded by (a very stupid) hat peer over a fan to look at him. "Why are you out so late?"
Ichigo shrugs. "Can't sleep. Thought I might get some training in." He tilts his head and looks at him challengingly. "You up for it, geta-bōshi?"
Urahara Kisuke considers the teenager before him, something briefly flickering in his gaze. He then snaps the fan shut and beams. "Of course. I always have time for you."
Ichigo smirks and follows him to the training ground.
The problem, he reflects as they get into fighting positions, is that he can't count on Urahara ever notices him that way or if he ever spoke up about it he would reciprocate.
But, Ichigo dodges his attacks and practically cartwheels out of the way of a now release Benihime, Ichigo never counted on that. Love is never easy, first love even more so. He is most likely doomed to failure. Once someone slips through your defences, it doesn't matter how or why. It is and you are so damn vulnerable to being hurt by them by a mere word or glance. In situation like that, most would keep quiet or dither, do their best to pretend it is not so, or even fool themselves to believing it will pass or means nothing really. When there is a such a gap between, not many would risk jumping it.
But then...
Ichigo grins, a small cut dripping blood into his eye. "Bankai!"
The (stupid, ugly) hat goes (yes!) flying.
But he is Kurosaki Ichigo and he never gives in. He never truly gives up, just spits the dirt from his teeth and stands once more. Impossible means nothing to him, he who stopped the Sōkyoku with his blade in shikai mode. He who mastered Bankai in less than three days and beat a seasoned taichō before that (though that's only from the taichō's point of view – Ichigo considers it a loss as well, which technically makes it a draw).
Ichigo is a Human. A Shinigami and a Visored. But he isn't, and never will be, a loser.
He presses his Zanpakutō to Urahara's and grins in his face, lost in the adrenaline rush.
'Now...how to play this?'
-end-
A/N: I liked how this came out. I think I managed Ichigo pretty well, though I can't be certain as he never canonically fell in love.
But I think this is how he would take it. It's Ichigo after all – takes a lot to keep him down and maybe not even then. Falling in love would push him back, but he's the kind to go after it no matter what once he grounded himself enough and admitted it.
Though, since it is Urahara, Ichigo is going to be...quieter about it than most things. When you like someone that way, the last thing you want to be is a fool or idiot. So Ichigo is going to send out feelers and play it by the ear. Urahara is a smart man – he will need to be careful if he doesn't want to crash and burn.
But...I like happy endings...that tells you a lot, doesn't it? -grins-
The exasperated thing came from Patricia C. Wrede's Mairelon the Magician and Magician's Ward duology. In the second one, Kim, the main character, realizes quite suddenly that she has fallen for her guardian Mairelon/Richard Merrill and wonders how that happened. As she goes through her past feelings, she finds that exasperation is the main key emotion and wonders if that is how one fall in love. Maybe not always, but Urahara has that in common with that guy, so it makes sense to me that would be how one would grow that fond of him.
Both of them drive you nuts, I swear.
But...
It's like Sohma Kagura said – "Caring for someone isn't based on logic. You can't really rationalize emotions. Once I think 'I like him.' ...it's all over." (Vol. 12, ch. 69) So that might have influenced me (but Furuba influences everything romance/wisdom wise for me anyways! -smiles-).
Thank you for reading this. Everyone gets a special magic holiday cupcake as you leave.
You guys always make me smile and those reviews pump my Muse up.
~Love Psycho
P.S – The next one, thanks to my muse, will be SPOILERIFIC! If you haven't watched all twelve episodes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I suggest you do it now, before going on to Agape. Yes, Bleach still plays a part, but BIG spoilers for Madoka. Which makes sense, as she's currently the best example of Agape in Anime right now that I can think of...