Kingdom for a Heart
Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach, Sonata Arctica owns the song.
Author's note: Hey hey, nice to see ya! In this chapter there is more Ichi and Hichi. I'm not entirely sure if there will be lemons... do you think it fits? Stay tuned, and remember to review!
Part II
There were indeed many thinks to say about Kurosaki Ichigo. He was brave, somewhat charismatic character with nice looks. His face had almost always frowning expression on them, and his orange hair and strong bone structure were fascinating to look at, even if a bit too exotic to be called classically handsome.
"Hey Shiro! If you got nothing better to do, could you read this book and then refer it to me? Just this once?"
Unfortunately, he wasn't too smart. Not too stupid, either, but definitely not smart. Yes, this once for a seventeenth time.
Shirosaki had many times wondered where this difference in their learning habits arouse from. Was it his yearning for information about the world, that he only now could see around him? Where did waves come from? Why the sky was blue? Why were there so many colors?
"Pretty please?" Ichigo turned around in his chair, showing his partner a grin that was same time annoying, cute and perverted. The three most visible characteristics of Kurosaki Ichigo. No many of shinigami's friends believed that teen could be cute in any situation, but if he tried really hard...
Aww. Just like a puppy. Evil, wicked and calculating puppy.
"Give it here. And just this once, okay? They are your studies, not mine." And neither of them believed that.
Ichigo stood up and sat behind his lover, throwing the book into some dark corner. Hopefully he would find it later.
Orange haired one threw his arms around his replica and kissed his neck lovingly. "You sure? Maybe you should take the final exams instead of me. I could sleep long, while you are studying till your eyes drop off."
Shiro rolled his eyes and snuggled closer to his partner's chest. "That wouldn't work. Someone could just a little wonder why you had turned albino in only one day."
Ichigo laughed and rolled on his back, pulling Shiro on top of him. "I could say that all the stress has just finally gotten into me and made me a little bit pale. And mind you, no one has ever noticed anything special when you have been out."
- Flashback -
Shiro looked at the mirror and turned around couple of times, trying to find any amusing details on his costume. He saw nothing out of normal.
Then what the heck was making his colorful koibito laugh like a madman?
Ichigo was standing back against the door, gasping for breath. He tried to gather himself up, but only one glance of his over send him to another uncontrollable laughing fit.
Shiro walked calmly next to him and kicked his ankle. Hard.
"What is so god damn funny?!"
The mocker, now sitting on the floor and rubbing his ankle, wiped some tears of laughter from a corner of his eye. "Nothing in particular, baby. You just look really cute like that."
The hollow looked at his reflection with a critical eye. He was wearing a warm, black sweatshirt with two cat ears attached to it's hood. A muffler with black and red stripes was covering a half of his face, leaving only the eyes visible.
The white one glared daggers to his partners direction. "I'm not cute."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"This is going nowhere." The cat ears where flat against his head, only boosting the annoyed impression.
"I know." Ichigo straightened the fake ears and took his beloved's hand. "Shall we go out, then? I want you to see sunset. In autumn, the evening sky may be the same color as the leaves."
Hollow smiled, even if it couldn't be seen because of the scarf.
"Yup!"
- End flashback -
"That is because of the clothes. I can't go to the lessons hood in my head and scarf on my face", Shirosaki turned around and poked Ichigo's nose, "baka".
The orange haired shinigami caught the finger and bid it playfully. "Damn, that's right. But don't get too cocky, aibou. You may be really smart, but you also have your weak spots..."
"No, you're not gonna..."
Ichigo threw his arms around his partner, silencing the 'bitchy whining' as he preferred to call it. With couple of strong and fast movements, poor Shiro was now laying on his bank against the mattress, his partner sitting on top of him. There was pure evil in his smirk, as he began The Ultimate Torture.
"Aah! No! Please! No tickling!"
Ichigo smiled. He loved when his partner made such happy faces. Laughing, almost giggling like a little girl, his adorable lover squirmed inside his loving arms.
Such a peaceful feeling.
It was already months ago when Grimmjow had let them go. Shiro hadn't yet realised it, but Ichigo had known from the start. And why, he couldn't understand.
The world wasn't black and white, like it was in storybooks. In science, in knowledge there was also facts, something that was sure and true. Somethings that no one never questioned. The absolute truth.
Ichigo had wandered in that world for a long time, too. But now, after leaving Grimmjow's arms, everything was starting to become blurry. What was white? What was black? What if another was nothing on itself, only empty space where another wasn't?
Grimmjow. That man had broken boundaries and reshaped colors. Not only that, along with Ichigo's mind he had broken his body, too. Bruises did heal, but in some deeper level, where even his partner didn't see, he would always feel dirty.
Waiting for my saviour
my world is flooding over
there is no room for air
I can't breath
I would give a kingdom
for one more day
"Ichigo? Are you alright?"
Black and yellow eyes stared questioningly into Ichigo's brown ones. Shiro always noticed when he was sad or drifting away from his normal mental course, which had been very often lately.
White arms curled possessively around the other. "I have read those psychology books that you gave me", Shiro murmured to his partner's ear, "and I know you are not, that you can't be alright right now. If you want to talk about it, when you want to talk about it... please do so, okay? To me and to someone professional. Because otherwise something terrible will happen to your mind."
Ichigo brushed his hair. "Yeah. Thanks that you understand."
But in reality, he didn't feel that bad about it. Not like he knew he should feel. It was like this was more pain to Shiro than it was so him.
"I'm sorry."
Arms tightened around him. "Don't be sorry. Particularly don't be sorry." Ichigo didn't see it, but he felt that his partner was ready to cry.
It was peace that they had found, but it was sad and undeserved peace. Something that was started wasn't yet come to it's end.
That was when the doorbell rang. It might have been a coincidence, but when thinking about it later, Shiro suspected that Ichigo somehow knew that it was going to happen.
In downstairs Kurosaki Yuzu opened the door. He was rather surprised to see a huge lump of red roses, hold by a man with unusually blue hair.
Author's note: Whee! I liked this chapter. -- (huge fan of fluff)
The costume that Shiro wears for going outside actually exists. Thanks to Kii-chan for inspiration!
