Entwined – Secrets

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any Bleach character. I make no money with this fiction. No need to sue.

Warnings: This is Yaoi, which is malexmale love. Don't like it? Don't read! Also language.

Author's Note: This story will be very angsty. I have so many sour/sad ideas that I really think I have to find a way to tone it down a bit, maybe lemons will do it. But it will take a while for that. I like my yaoi with plot, so lemons will come at their time. Also this will be a long, long, loooong story. (in theory, at least)

I want to thank those who put this story in their alerts. I'm glad you are interested, I hope this won't disappoint you^^'

I apologize for any grammar mistakes. Hope you enjoy. =)

Chapter 1: Secrets

Kira

There was an unwritten rule in Seireitei. Some people labeled it as "Golden rule" others labeled it as the "men's law". But the main name that rule was known for was simply by "The Code."

The Code was a norm that the Shinigami Male Association created to combat gossip, that was always created by their arch-enemies the Shinigami Female Association. Since the extinction of gossip was something impossible, because women would never give up their favorite hobby, the men decided to fight such annoying act by not giving them a reason to gossip.

That was what the code was about. 'If you have a secret or a shameful problem, don't tell anyone. No exceptions.' This code was something every men knew in the Gotei 13, from Soutaichou, to all male Taichous (including Kurotsuchi Mayuri), to all male Fukutaichous, to all seated and unseated male Shinigami. The women didn't know about this code, but that didn't make them not realize things were awfully quiet, lately. Something was wrong, the men were behaving too good, and that infuriated them. So now the Shinigami Female Association members were being an annoyance by their meticulous approach in every move that was happening in the whole Seireitei.

Kira Izuru knew about the Golden Rule, and he knew that the main person he should be careful with was Matsumoto Rangiku. The beautiful voluptuous woman was always trying to get some dirty secret from him or Hisagi-san or Abarai. Kira actually suspected that she was assigned to dig information from them. Of course, by the code all men wouldn't reveal anything. Men wouldn't even reveal to each other things, in case some information leaked. Well, for Kira and his two best friends it wasn't the case. Kira, Hisagi and Abarai were pretty close and told everything to each other, because they trusted each others. They knew that the others wouldn't sell their friendship, and that was the real golden rule within the trio. There were no secrets. No hiding, no omissions from each others.

However, Kira was hiding something from the other two, something he knew he should never tell anyone. Not because of gossiping, but because it would destroy him, his reputation, his sanity. Kira had two major secrets that if it was known it would affect his rank, his friendships and possibly his life.

One belonged to the past. The Third Division Fukutaichou swore to himself he would never reveal it to anyone. It was something that was buried inside him, and he had no intentions to re-live that part of his life again. The only other person that was involved had passed away a few months ago, so if he kept his mouth shut, that secret would never be discovered.

Nevertheless, Kira had another secret – He was gay, not only that but he loved his best friend Hisagi Shuuhei. Now, for some people in the human world this would seem an innocent thing, everybody loved and deserved to be loved, but in Soul Society being gay was seen as taboo. Especially in the Seireitei. If a Shinigami was openly gay, he would somehow be sent to a very dangerous mission where he would unfortunately be killed or disappear in action. So if someone was gay, he had to be a closeted gay.

So that's why Kira replied to Matsumoto, that was drinking tea with him in her office, the words. "No, I don't have feelings for Hisagi-san."

Matsumoto was acting strange in the past couple of months. Kira knew the death of his former Taichou affected her, but he wasn't expecting that the woman would invite him for tea at her office in the Tenth Division to hear her asking the worst possible question she could ask. She didn't even ask him if he was gay, simply if he had feelings for Hisagi. Kira tried not to sulk, for this kind of thing. Probably she didn't ask him about his sexual orientation because she only wanted to know the extent of his relationship with the tattooed man, not because he might in some point looked suspiciously gay... right?

"Hmm..." she was thoughtful, "But you two are really close."

"I'm close to Abarai-kun too. It's not love, Matsumoto-san, it's friendship," he said trying to sound as firm as possible. Kira was a great liar, even if everybody thought he was the worst liar possible, they were wrong. He made them think that, in reality he was an impressive liar, all because in the past he had too. His acting skills were beyond good, it disgusted him to know that he had become the type of person he hated the most. A manipulative lying bastard, but all the times he lied to his friends were for their own good, to avoid worthless issues. Some things belonged to the past, and even though certain events were still so alive within people, for others it was time to move on. This was his case.

Matsumoto kept looking at him carefully. Her shiny blue eyes looked different. Kira could sense she wasn't her usual self, no matter how much she tried to act cool and all, there was something wrong with her.

"Are you okay, Matsumoto-san?"

She frowned as she opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then changed her mind and closed it, then opened again.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be? Taichou didn't leave me any work, I bought some new shoes... Everything is marvelous!" she said with her beautiful smile. Kira smiled too. No matter what happen in his life he never hated this woman. Even if almost every heartbreak he had was because of her, he couldn't hate Matsumoto. She could be loud, a first class gossiper, but she was loyal too. The kind of loyal that you can trust your life in her hands.

"Was that question the reason you invited me for tea? To get some dirt from me?" Kira asked also drinking his tea.

"Of course! Why would I spike your tea with a truth serum, if not?" she said wickedly smiling. Kira raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"You're lying," he said. Noticing her amused expression, he realized that she caught him on a trap.

"How do you know I'm lying? Maybe you didn't answer truthfully to that question if you are so sure I didn't put anything in your drink," she said, her eyes sparkling like the old Matsumoto he knew.

"Because I know you wouldn't do such a dirty act to me. You wouldn't break the trust we have between us, Matsumoto-san. That's why I will always drink the tea you will offer me, because I trust you." Throwing the guilt card always worked on the strawberry blonde. He knew that, and he could see her face changing from maliciously curious to flattered.

"What about if it is sake?" She asked laughing.

"Especially sake," He equally laughed.

0000000000

The Third Division was one of the most affected divisions, after the Fifth, with what everybody called the Taichou Betrayal. It took a long time for Kira to win everybody's respect again. There were some people, in the beginning that accused him of being part of the traitors. But he kept his head high, and continued with his division's work. Even when he felt alone, or when he felt it was a never-ending road he kept going on.

Abarai helped him a lot. Mentally and socially. Even though, he was always busy, with his missions in the human world or with his demanding Taichou, every free time he had he would come to see how the blond was.

Kira had just finished the last reports and just gave his last orders of the day for the Division, when a Hell Butterfly came to him.

It was Matsumoto again, telling him everybody was meeting at the usual bar, and that Abarai had returned from the human world. Trying not to think too much about the misused Hell Butterfly – it was forbidden to use it for personal matters – Kira decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to the bar. Hisagi-san would probably be there, and the fact Abarai-kun was back was enough reason for him to go.

It was already late, the sky was dark. Kira knew the other Fukutaichous stopped working a while ago, but being him responsible for his role and for the Taichou's role of his division, it led him to overworking hours. He was used to it, but still he found himself extremely tired sometimes. If it wasn't for Abarai or Hisagi he wouldn't go to the bar.

The bar was half-full, and it didn't take long for the blond to recognize his group of friends. Matsumoto's loud voice could be heard from across the bar. Hisagi was there sitting next to Madarame and Ayasegawa. Next to Matsumoto was Iba. Abarai was no where in sight. It wasn't long before the voluptuous woman noticed the blond.

"Kira! Over here!" she yelled. Everybody looked at him, as he walked to them. Hisagi smiled to him, making Kira's heartbeat growing faster, no matter how much time passed the brunet still had that effect on him.

"You guys are back," Kira greeted the 11th Division's dynamic duo who also came back with Abarai from the human world. He sat in the spot available next to Hisagi.

"It was so boring, seriously what's with Zaraki-Taichou to send us to such a lame mission," Ayasegawa said rolling a lock of hair around his finger.

"That's not what you said before we returned," Madarame said drinking from a small cup.

"That's because it was fun when we all went out."

Kira didn't pay too much attention to the auto-proclaimed beautiful man, when the waitress came to take his order.

"You look like you came directly from your office," Hisagi said lowly.

"I did," Kira confessed.

"Did you eat dinner?"

"Yes," The blond lied. He didn't have time. The older man narrowed slightly his eyes and smirked.

"Liar."

Kira chuckled. Hisagi had the strange power to see through him sometimes, no matter how much he tried to lie, Hisagi seemed to caught him too often for his taste. It was a weird feeling, but Kira enjoyed to have someone who cared about these kind of things, especially when that someone was him.

"Where's Abarai?" Iba asked.

"Probably still reporting to his Taichou," the bald man said nonchalantly. "Someone decided wisely to talk about the fact he we all went out in front of Kuchiki-Taichou," he said obviously accusing his partner.

"It's not my fault. I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret," Ayasegawa said defending himself.

"Yumi, you didn't care about it," The bald man spoke.

"Ikkaku you are freaking mean."

Kira observed the fight between both men. Part of him envied them. Ayasegawa Yumichika and Madarame Ikkaku were known to be a couple. The only (at least open) homosexual couple in the Seireitei. Madarame was reserved in what came to his private life, but Ayasegawa was the opposite. In fact Ayasegawa's way of living and being, screamed GAY with capital letters. The reason why no one ever said anything about it was because everybody knew that they had Kenpachi's support, not only that, but the whole 11th Division were at their side. There was also the fact that Ikkaku was known to be strong, and Yumichika too smart, together they were a great combo, and the few shinigami that decided to tease them or tried to bully them, had unluckily spent months in the 4th Division to recover from severe injuries. Their relationship lasted for decades, and Kira couldn't help but be jealous. He wished he could be open about it, he wish he had someone for so long at his side. That was the kind of love, that he wished for. A love that was reciprocated, that survived through many decades.

But life was unfair. Some had luck, others hadn't. The blond looked at Hisagi at his side, that seemed amused with the couple's fight. It wasn't really a fight, but Kira could agree with the 9th Division Fukutaichou, it was funny seeing Ayasegawa getting mad with the bald man, when he was the one at fault.

"Shut up, Ikkaku. It was fun, and let me tell you all, that Abarai was the one that enjoyed the most his time in the human world," the beautiful man said with a mischievous smile.

"No way, something happened?" Matsumoto asked.

Remember about The Code? Well, Ayasegawa Yumichika was the only man who didn't follow it. He loved gossip, and he was more dangerous with it than a lot of women. So when he and the strawberry blonde Fukutaichou were together, chaos would form.

The waitress brought more sake, and Kira took his first sip. He was listening carefully, because even though he didn't care about gossip, he was interested about what happened to his friend. His attention, like the others too was drawn to a promising story.

"So here's the situation," Ayasegawa started. "This guy, Keigo, who is a friend of Kurosaki's, and normally let's us stay at his place, took us, plus Abarai, Kuchiki and the Kurosaki gang to a bar. You know how bars are in the real world, right? With the loud music and the flashy lights, flashy drinks, and flashy people."

"I think you are talking about clubs, nightclubs," The voluptuous woman corrected.

"Nightclubs or bars, it's the same thing."

"No, it's not."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ayasegawa replied quickly annoyed. "Moving on, so Keigo took us to this club... and just let me tell you first that I was having a bad feeling about this."

"You say that now, at the time you were the most excited to go," Madarame said.

"Oh God, today you are impossible..." Ayasegawa grumbled. He sighed and continued. "So we were at the club, Kuchiki and Orihime-chan were dancing, the rest of us were at the bar drinking. Then the mighty Abarai Renji discovered an alcoholic beverage called Black Vodka. And then, he found out – thanks to Kurosaki – that you can drink shots of Black Vodka," He paused. "And of course, like everything else between them, they turned it to a drinking competition."

"That's plausible. Abarai does that often," Iba said. Kira couldn't agree more, he himself being part of many Abarai's drinking contests.

"But that's not the point. Since Kurosaki isn't used to drink, he got drunk pretty quickly and Abarai to not stay behind drank more than he normally would.

"So in less than 20 minutes, they were wasted in the middle of the dance floor, dancing like crazy butterflies. That's when Ikkaku got my attention and pointed to them, they were actually grinding each other."

Everybody was looking at the beautiful man in awe. Kira didn't understand, or at least he thought he didn't.

"What do you mean by grinding?" he asked. Everybody looked at him raising an eyebrow. He ended up feeling stupid asking that.

"Kira, you're kidding right?" Matsumoto asked pouring some tea in to her cup. Why the hell was she drinking tea again? Confused, he tried to say something.

"Hmm..."

Hisagi chuckled. Kira felt really stupid now.

"Kira, you know... Grinding... dancing and grinding their bodies together..." he explained.

"But isn't that how people dance?" Kira asked, and once again regretting asking another stupid question.

"Kira..." Hisagi started.

"Hisagi, you're so slow to explain!" Yumichika said, "Grinding, like intimate parts touching? Like Abarai grinding Kurosaki's ass?"

"Oh!" Kira blushed a bit. He did understood well after all; but it was so strange, Abarai acting so...

"Kira, I can't believe you don't know what grinding is," Matsumoto said again.

"Rangiku-san, Kira is just innocent," Hisagi said trying to defend his friend.

'Innocent?'

That hurt. Kira felt a bit frustrated. Was this how Hisagi saw him? An innocent and fragile guy? Kira gulped and spoke.

"I know what grinding is, I just didn't expect Abarai-kun doing that with another guy."

"Eh? Of course he wo-" Hisagi was cut by Ayasegawa,

"Can I continue or not?" Everybody nodded. "So they were there dancing and grinding, when suddenly appears a Hollow."

Everybody's eyes widen.

"Wait. A Hollow? Inside the club?" Hisagi asked making sure he heard right.

"I know it's unbelievable, but I swear it's true! The hollow just appeared on top of them on the dance floor, and they were so into it, that they didn't even notice the damn Hollow. So..." he turned to the voluptuous woman, "I won the bet."

"No way. That doesn't prove anything, it's all too vague," Matsumoto replied frowning.

"What is this bet Yumi? I never heard anything about it," Madarame asked cautiously.

"Matsumoto and I bet that Renji wants to eat Kurosaki," Ayasegawa replied smiling.

"I don't think he will make it. Ichigo is not gay. He probably doesn't even know what a gay is, he's just only 16 years old," the woman replied.

Kira tried not to look too eager while listening to them. They were all talking about being gay or not in such an easy way, like there wasn't anything wrong with it. Kira was glad that at least some of his friends didn't judge that. Still he would never tell anyone he himself didn't like women. But Abarai... that was something he wasn't expecting, and honestly he didn't believe in it.

"Well I think he will make it," Ayasegawa said, "Kurosaki has, clearly, a thing for guys."

"You're crazy! Doesn't he like Rukia?" she asked.

"Ayasegawa, for you all men are gay," Iba said, as he was now in his 5th little bottle of sake? Kira tried not to laugh at what he said. Indeed, Ayasegawa tended to make everyone around him gay.

"Of course not. But I know who likes guys and who doesn't. And Kurosaki is gay, not bi. Gay!" Ayasegawa stated and drank from his cup.

"How are you so sure?" Madarame asked.

"Yumichika knows everything about everyone. It's scary," Hisagi said laughing. Kira wasn't sure if the sake was making effect already since his stomach was empty, but wasn't Hisagi's voice a bit husky?

"Are you afraid that I know your secret?" the 5th seat asked. Hisagi laughed loudly.

"I don't have any secrets. My life is an open book."

"Yes, especially when you drink," Kira replied without even thinking, then he chuckled.

"Look who's talking, Kira," He teased him.

"Oh yes, you have a secret, Hisagi Shuuhei. You just didn't realize yet," Ayasegawa said with a devilish smile. Kira hated it for some reason. Both men staring at each other, like they were talking with their eyes only. Hisagi had a secret? What would Ayasegawa know that, and he didn't? And what was with those looks? They were acting in such an intimate way.

"I didn't realize yet that I have a secret? What the hell?" Hisagi seemed thoughtful, his gaze went to the ceiling, making him look like he was thinking what could be his secret Ayasegawa was talking about. "I think everything that can possibly be considered a secret, everybody knows. Unlike certain people," His eyes went back to the other man. Ayasegawa looked defeated for a second, trying not to look too obvious he pretended to talk with Matsumoto again.

"Anyway, Matsumoto you lost."

"No, I didn't. I want evidence, at least a kiss."

"It's not pretty running away, I will hold a grudge."

"What will you do? Blackmail me with the things you know about me?"

"I don't do that kind of thing anymore. Ikkaku doesn't like it."

"It goes against the 11th Division ideals," His partner replied.

"I know. But it's not fun to know certain things about people and doing nothing about it."

Kira felt nervous. As much as he tried to hide his personal life, he feared Yumichika. This one had the natural talent to read people and pick up subtle things no one else could. And as much as Kira was subtle, there was someone who could make him lose any kind of reasoning he had. That person being sit right next to him. Hisagi was his first love. An unrequited love, a secret love. Though, he disguised it as friendship.

They were both close, and that was enough for him. The blond rather had an eternal friendship with him, than nothing at all. He could had tried and tell him he loved him, but the risk of losing him was too much. And Kira knew that since, he was abandoned by Ichimaru, that if he lost his friendship with Hisagi, he wouldn't be able to live anymore. Hisagi kept him together.

Yumichika and Matsumoto continued discussing, but Kira's ears didn't listen to them. The thought of his former Taichou was still a sensitive subject, and the thought of losing the love of his life, was even more depressing.

"Kira, are you fine?" the tattooed man asked, noticing how quiet he was.

"Hm? Yes, I'm fine! What happened to the Hollow?"

"Ishida killed him," said a voice coming from behind him. Everybody turned around seeing a tanned Abarai followed by an also tanned Kuchiki Rukia. Kira looked at the man who just arrived. Abarai looked so much bigger, his sun bathed skin made him so much sexier than he was. Kira always found his friend attractive, but now he was glowing. The human world did him good.

"Renji!" Matsumoto yelled, "And Kuchiki! Wow you guys look good! All tanned."

"It's this guy's fault" the small woman said as she kicked the redhead, "He had the amazing idea of going to the beach without gigais. I had sunburns all over my back, I couldn't even lay down."

"But you look nice."

"Of course, it paid off. By the way, thanks a lot Yumichika. Because of you I have to do an essay about Hollows in social places in the human world!" Abarai said grabbing one of the bottles in the table and drinking it.

"It's not my fault, you have such a difficult Taichou. Zaraki-Taichou would probably punish us if we didn't have fun."

"Yeah, I miss those days in the 11th," Abaraidrank from the bottle like it was water, "I can't believe you guys were talking about the Hollow thing."

"I can't believe you are after that guy's ass," Iba said with a monotone voice. Hisagi burst into laughter.

"Eh? Who's ass?"

"Ichigo's," Matsumoto said. Abarai's face turned into bright red.

"What the hell? What the fuck are you guys talking about? Yumichika!"

"Me?"

"Who else could it be?" Abarai spat.

"What the hell Renji, Ichigo is not gay!" Kuchiki said elbowing her childhood friend.

"See, Yumi?" Matsumoto said.

"Yes, he is gay! Let me tell you even more, he's a seme!" Ayasegawa said.

"That's kind of obvious," Madarame replied.

"Don't you guys have anything else to talk about?" Abarai sulked.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Hisagi teased him. Kira could swear Abarai's neck vein was twitching.

"Yumichika was talking about people's secrets, and since you weren't here, we were talking about yours," Matsumoto said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"That's not my secret," the redhead replied, as he drank more sake. Kira could preview a wasted Abarai in less than 1 hour.

"It's one of your secrets."

"No, it's not. My secrets are way darker," he said grinning

"I think Yumichika's idea of secrets, it's dark secrets," Hisagi said.

"Of course! Dark secrets that torment minds. Secrets that make beautiful people... fugly."

"Yumi, not everybody is like that," his lover said said.

"Everybody is like that, Ikkaku. I will even tell you this, everybody in this table has a big secret, and I know all of them," Yumichika said proud pointing at the table. Everybody stared at the man, Kira felt like he was going to faint from anxiety.

"That reminded me, of one thing I did in the living world a few months ago," the small Kuchiki said. "It was in one of Ichigo's class. We did an exercise to relieve our minds and free some stress. We had to write one of our greatest secrets and then burn the paper, with that the secret that was in our consciousness wouldn't have such an impact in our lives. We let it go, and not let it dominate us."

"Secrets can't be resolved with burning a piece of paper," Abarai said.

"Of course not. But the idea was to free the fear that was making us keeping that secret."

"What was your secret?" the other woman asked.

"I'm afraid of losing someone else I love," she replied.

"Wow, you really had not problem saying it."

"What was Ichigo's secret?" Abarai asked, receiving a slap and some commentaries and whistles.

0000000000

As Kira predicted, Abarai had drunk a lot, and now he and Hisagi were taking his unconscious body to the Sixth Division, where the redhead's quarters were. Hisagi carried his drunk body in a piggyback ride, as Kira walked by his side.

"Rangiku-san looked beautiful today, didn't she?" Hisagi said. Kira could feel his heart constrict itself. He was used to hear Hisagi talk about girls, but when he talked about Matsumoto it was different.

Recently, his senpai started to show more interest towards her. No doubt, he had a crush on her, like many other men had, but still Kira felt extremely insecure. As any best friend would do, he would smile and agree with whatever his love was saying. But it was getting harder to pretend everything was fine, to hide his hurt feelings.

This was the main effect of his unrequited love, jealousy and sorrow. He covered himself with the ideals that he could survive only with that friendship, but whenever Hisagi talked like that about women, part of Kira's believes died. Especially, when it came to Matsumoto.

The poor woman didn't know, but she was always the cause of his sadness. Of course, she didn't know the pain Kira suffered, and he never blamed her for anything; but being always her the reason the ones he was close with, never returned his feelings was slowly killing him inside.

"She always looks beautiful," he simply replied.

"Yeah, you're right," Hisagi said flashing his smile, making the blond curl his lips too. How much he loved that smile, that expression that soften his heavy expressions so well. Too bad that smile wasn't because of him.

Soon they arrived at the 6th Division barracks.

"We have to careful. Control your reiatsu levels, Hisagi-san."

"I know."

They carefully walked towards the Fukutaichou's quarters. The Squad barracks were empty, Kira knew Abarai must have told Rikichi to make sure no one was around when he came back.

It was quite common for the trio to do this. When one of them passed out drunk, the other two would take him to his quarters without their Taichou's knowing. Hisagi and Kira didn't have to worry about it anymore, since they had no longer captains, but Renji was another story. And the worst story too, because the two Shinigamis had to avoid Kuchiki-Taichou, the most intolerant person in Soul Society. Fortunately, the 6th Division leader lived in his Mansion far from Abarai's quarters.

Nonetheless, they needed to be careful, if a subordinate decided to tell Kuchiki Byakuya that his lieutenant arrived completely wasted, Renji was screwed.

Kira stayed alert while Hisagi took Abarai to his room. In less than 2 minutes they were away from the 6th.

"Damn, my neck hurts. Abarai is too heavy to be carried," Hisagi said touching the back of his neck.

"He was always a big guy."

"True, and he keeps getting bigger, lately. Must want to impress someone," Hisagi said murmuring.

Kira stayed silent, he agreed with Hisagi, Abarai was working out a lot in the past months, his body definitely increased size.

'Must want to impress someone'

Maybe it was Kurosaki Ichigo... Kira's eyes widen. Maybe this was a good opportunity to know what Hisagi really thought about homosexuality.

"Hisagi-san? Do you think what Ayasegawa-san said is true? About Abarai-kun being interested in Kurosaki-san?" he asked with confidence, in reality he was trying not to shake.

"It's possible. Renji likes anything that has two legs," Hisagi said.

"Is he gay?" Kira was shocked. Renji was a womanizer for him, the type that eats but doesn't settle. Kira was pretty sure he dated more girls than all the other Fukutaichous combined together.

"He's bi," Hisagi said. "You didn't know that?" Hisagi stopped on his track staring at the blond. Hisagi's eyes pierced through Kira like sharp needles. Kira felt his face getting warmer, he was blushing for sure.

"N-no. I know he had a lot of girls, but I never thought he would... go that way too," He watched his senpai's expression. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth, after a few seconds he lightly smiled.

"Well, he goes both ways," His smile grew a bit bigger, Kira melted at that sight. Hisagi didn't mind about Renji being interested in men, maybe he wouldn't mind to know that Kira was gay. Of course Kira would omit that he dreamed every night with him, that he was his love since he knew what being in love was.

"Do you think Kurosaki-san is gay?" the blond asked.

"I'm not sure about that. I haven't spent enough time with him to figure about that. But Rangiku-san may be right, after all he's just a kid. Renji should be cautious about that. For Ichigo he must be an old man," he chuckled.

"That's not fair to compare. Age is meaningless in here, and if we were about to convert, Abarai-kun wouldn't be that much older," Kira said.

"True, true. And Ichigo seems wise, and let's face it if he is old enough to fight and risk his life, he's also for love matters."

Kira smiled at those last words. "Love?" They stopped walking, when they reached the crossroad that lead them to different ways.

"Do you think Abarai-kun loves him?"

"Dunno," Hisagi replied. He crossed his arms and looked somewhere away not focusing in anything. The younger man loved when he did that. Showing off those long muscular arms was a beautiful sin.

"Do you believe in love Hisagi-san? True love?" Kira asked. The brunet looked at him, his eyes looking softly.

"I like to believe I do, even if true love doesn't exist, I believe in soul-mates, we all have another half somewhere. What about you Kira? Do you believe in true love?"

"I do," he replied quick and firmly. Hisagi flinched in surprise, he wasn't expecting something like that. Normally Kira was quite pessimistic, but this was a new side of him. He saw Kira's pale cheeks blushing.

"Are... Are you blushing Kira?" Kira blushed even more, Hisagi's eyes widen. "You are blushing. Talking about love and blushing... looks like you love someone..." Hisagi teased, only to realize Kira was now bright red. He was teasing but it looked like his kohai really liked someone.

"W-what? N-no..."

"Come on, tell me who is the lucky lady?" he teased some more.

"N-no one!" Great now, Kira wouldn't tell him for sure about his orientation.

"Is it Hinamori?" Hisagi asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, it's not her."

"Oh, so you DO love someone!"

"N-Nooo... I mean... I-I..." Kira was panicking, so much Hisagi found it cute. He chuckled. He knew the blond was too shy to say anything about this. Kira was a reserved person.

"Relax, Kira! If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. But you will eventually tell me, you hear me?" he ruffled Kira's hair. Him still speechless.

"I'm gonna go now, I have to wake up early. Divisions don't take care of themselves alone. Go get some sleep too, Kira. And eat something!" He said starting to walk away.

"You too, Hisagi-san."

"Ja'ne."

Kira watched him walk away, and then turned around to his destination too.

Should he have told Hisagi that he was into guys too? He felt like he just missed the opportunity. Hisagi automatically thought he was interested in a girl, that's what he was expecting from him. He was expecting Kira to like girls.

Kira felt so coward, he didn't want to be rejected by him, though. Yeah sure, Hisagi didn't mind about Abarai, but Abarai also liked women. He could hide himself behind the bi label, like many others did; but Kira didn't have any interest in women, at all.

To not forget the fact that Abarai had a manly visual. Kira not so much. He was so self-conscious about about his lean physic. No matter how much he ate or worked out, he was still the smallest man among the Fukutaichous. Hisagi was also lean, but he had muscles and was nicely tall. He was lusciously fit, and he looked good in any type of uniform or yukata.

Damned, how much Kira desired him. Hisagi Shuuhei was a god walking between souls. He knew it, Kira knew it and the whole Seireitei knew it. Kira's competition was enormous, girls truly wanted a piece of Hisagi, and the blond felt powerless comparing himself to them.

Yeah, he did right not telling him. Hisagi trusted him, and counted with him as friend. Kira couldn't be selfish and spoil it with his unrequited feelings. He had to keep it a secret, like he did for the past half century.

To be continued...

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