A/N: Alright all! I'm working on a broken computer (my puppy ate seven of my keys) so I'm sorry if this has been slow coming!

Goal Announcement: Deeper Care has received alert status for 55 readers and The Shopping Agenda has received 51! Thank you all so much for reading my stories. I wouldn't have tried to complete them without your enthusiasm!

This has been reposted because of grammatical mistakes. Oopsies!

Total Surrender: Part 1


Rukia listened as crickets began to chirp in the hills beyond the city, happy for the night that blanketed the world around them. She could feel a whimsical breeze flutter in from the window, a carefree type of cool that soothed her heated flesh. She snuggled farther into Ichigo's pillow and inhaled his spicy scent. Most men that had attempted to get close to her over the years had been earthy, the metallic twinge of battle a permanent aroma on their skin which she could never quite allow to get too close to her exposed inner self. That smell, the stench of blood and guilt, had always been something that she was wary of, a type of reminder of all the suffering and pain the Shinigami subjected themselves to whether through battling Hollows or battling each other.

Ichigo's spice was different. Reserved and hard to catch, but young and lively. Though death was on him, he barely smelled of the fear, the greed. There was no guilt attached to his actions, because every fight for Ichigo was a fight to protect someone, not to gain something. She inhaled the scent once again, letting it pull her away from the smell of the dirt in Soul Society, where even crickets were afraid to chirp for the coming nightfall.

Rukia caught a silhouette in the doorway and jumped, her spine jamming painfully at the small of her back with a mixture of adrenaline and fear. Ichigo's figure remained still as she let out a sigh of relief, recognizing his shimmering amber orbs in the pale wash of the moon. He held her eyes to his with an undeniably fierce gaze, the glint in his stare more wild than his normal scowl would permit. He walked slowly to the bed and sat next to her as she raised herself up on her elbows, their eyes never leaving the other, never blinking.

"How do you feel?" Ichigo asked after a longer silence. Rukia noted that he wore a plain white undershirt and flannel pajama pants, which Rukia assumed he'd found in Yuzu's laundry pile. The definition of his muscular frame beneath his shirt made her blush, recalling that he had held her so close only hours ago. His golden embers turned away as he looked up at the bright orb in the skies, its silver light pooling generously upon his features. Rukia glanced at his neck, strong and lean, the curve of his throat a most enthralling arc. She swallowed with some difficultly and licked her lips, watching his expression.

"I'm fine. You're the one to worry about." She tried in vain to sound scolding, but her words came feebly to her lips, a whisper of her worries. Ichigo smiled, his eyes unnervingly steady, his expression a mask of suppressed feral nature. He shook his head and turned back to her.

"I was afraid I had upset you," he said, his voice deep and tender. Rukia blinked away from him, raven locks sheltering her face from the moon's graceful sheen.

"I…wasn't upset. I was…unprepared," Rukia said carefully, selecting her words with great caution. The sound of the crickets seemed too distant now to be comforting anymore.

Rukia kept herself restrained as silence settled over the room like a fine dust. She itched to touch his skin, to feel his hair, his lips. As she raised her hand to brush against his, she forced herself to rub her arm instead, a weak gesture, but the only alternative she had. She looked away from him again, his eyes boring deep, fiery holes in her mind as he read her without bias or scorn, but with something far more intimidating.

"Are you cold?" he asked. She shook her head, letting her hand drop limply into her lap. He nodded and looked away, that fine dust of quietness becoming thicker and more difficult to penetrate by the moment. As he pulled his hard gaze to the window, the ghostly outline of the mountains beyond the city acting as some sort of screen from the rest of the world, from everything outside his room. He felt his chest with a thoughtful hand.

"Would you be able to heal me once more, Rukia? I think maybe that would be all I need," he said softly, his voice burdened with the guilt of asking her the favor. She looked at him and nodded, a small, encouraging smile on her face. He shouldn't ever feel guilty for depending on her. In truth, she secretly enjoyed being needed.

Ichigo turned to her, his unblinking gaze holding hers with such commanding force, she couldn't look away as he lifted his shirt away from his body, letting it fall to the floor. She hesitated as the moon abandoned his crumpled piece of clothing and doted upon his skin, his collarbone sinking with the light into his shoulder as he moved to sit in front of her. Rukia let a little sigh escape her throat as she reached her finger forward towards his wounds. The gruesome reminders splayed across his torso like matted spider webs, mauling his beautiful, smooth skin. She may have thought him so beautifully sculpted that he was demi-god, unable to blemish, scar or age with skin as enchanting as his. Or perhaps he was a dream, cruelly unattainable, but so striking she couldn't help but feel her breath catch. She bit her lip as her fingers touched the heat of his heartbeat, pulsing against her palm like an affectionate animal.

Ichigo let his body melt into her hot magic, though his gaze penetrated her soft features with a raging sense of need. She was so beautiful when she let herself feel uncertain, when she let herself be protected and taken care of. He was there to take the weight of her life for her, so she could let herself go. In truth, he secretly enjoyed being needed.

It was hard for him to stay calm as the heat of her energy filled his body, much more tender than she had ever let it feel before. He could snse her reiatsu climbing his throat, his jaw, feeling his skin in ways she wouldn't allow her fingers to touch him. He wanted to purr so badly. It frustrated him, made his body tense and ready to spring, not being able to purr. A small moan escaped his lungs in a low hum instead, releasing some of the pressure in his mind. Rukia looked at him with an apprehensive eye, but his intense stare softened when she continued to heal him, despite his obvious, guilty enjoyment.

"You were right. You seem to be nearly healed," Rukia said quietly, trying to break the tension between them. Ichigo nodded, afraid that his words would betray his sense of loss as her heat was pulled slowly from his chest, her healing energy fading away. He felt alone somehow, trapped within his own form.

As she began to withdraw her hand from his skin, Ichigo captured her wrist in his gentle grip, his eyes flickering with what Rukia would have interpreted as fear before he quickly returned to his calm but stormy expression. Their bodies seemed suspended, his hand wrapped warmly around her delicate wrist, eyes locked in a questioning, anxious stare. Slowly, Ichigo's fingers became animate once again, running along Rukia's palm, her arm, her fingers. His gesture became more confident as Rukia let the feeling engulf her senses, the sound of skin brushing against skin, the heat of his breath against her palm as her shaky fingers felt his cheek, his jaw, his brow. She could barely contain herself as such nervous energy and excitement pulsed from her heart and spread through her blood like a prickling tingle.

"Rukia…" Ichigo's voice broke her enchantment and she let her thumb come to a stop on his lips, barely parted with the hope that his eyes revealed. She looked up at his golden gaze, her brow furrowed with confusion. A tear pooled upon her lashes as she shook her head.

"Why can't you just push me away?" she asked as she fought with herself to break their contact, physically incapable of removing her thumb from his lips. He looked at her with large, honest eyes and placed his hand on her collar, running his fingers across her throat as he steadied her nervous form.

"I've never wanted to push you away," he whispered, his voice so deep it felt like an oblivion of sweet fantasies finally realized, dreams that had often vexed her sleeping mind. Rukia let her tear go with a rickety breath and Ichigo felt his body crawl forward to pull her into a tenderly commanding kiss, forceful enough to encourage her, but sweet enough to make the movement seem thoughtful and soft.

Rukia could sense so much of her defense evaporate from her body that she felt naked and fragile. Ichigo's mouth traveled down her neck, shocking her skin with a climbing, electric heat. Rukia's gaze drifted to the moon, lounging seductively on its blanket of stars as if mimicking her form upon Ichigo's sheets. She felt her own voice escape her lips, a deep, sensual vibration let loose from the depths of her body. She ran a hand through Ichigo's hair and felt his neck bristle with goose bumps as he shuddered.

Her body calm under his scrutiny, her resolve shimmering in her violet pools, Rukia pushed her small hands against Ichigo's chest. He gently pulled away from her voluptuous taste, afraid she may leave him, but ready to withstand that pain for her sake. His forearms held him aloft with a sturdy strength as he implored Rukia with his eyes, begging her to tell him what was the matter.

Nothing was the matter. Rukia kept his gaze this time, encouraging him to stay still. After a moment to settle their breath, she let her hands fall like rose petals in the snow and slowly, with an encouraging twinge of surrender, pulled the buttons of her pajamas from their confines. Ichigo's breath caught as more or her milky skin was revealed. He closed his eyes briefly to calm his shaking body, the release of the bonds of their relationship falling away with every button.

"You don't have to close your eyes anymore, Ichigo," Rukia said quietly, her voice sounding peculiarly alive, rather than the hollow echo her gigai often produced. He opened his eyes and smiled, his expression for once happy and sincere.

"I wasn't closing them to look away," he whispered, a small laugh flowing from his breath. His hand stroked her arm, sliding tenderly across her flesh. She beamed softly, like a polished ray of sunshine or perhaps living white gold, Ichigo mused. As his fingers glided across her collarbone, across her sternum, he never looked away from those eyes, glistening like diamonds. The suppleness of her breasts teased his wrist as he navigated her skin. Her hands responded to his touch, allowing her fingers travel his lean stomach, much in the way her reiatsu had seeped into his body, full of tender caring. Neither feeling the urgency they had felt moments before, let their lips met in an almost painfully slow, passionate embrace, savoring the taste of each other's desires.

Gaining more confidence, Ichigo pushed away the sheets that created the barrier between them and let his thumb brush against the hard peeks of Rukia's chest. She pushed herself deeper into his hands and he supported her weight in his palm, so slight and delicate as she was. The warmth of her body against his became almost like a kind of itch, their clothes preventing them from holding each other as close as they so desperately needed. Ichigo broke their kiss, his breath falling like a weight from his lungs, shallow and heavy.

Rukia wrapped her fingers around his and pulled them across her stomach, placing them on her hip at the drawstring of her pink pajamas, the soft cotton feeling rough in comparison to her milky skin. Ichigo looked down at her blushing face, so beautiful and innocent. His hand caressed her waist, a part of her he was sure no man had ever touched.

"Rukia…" She silenced his hesitancy with one faint nod, her eyes wide and trusting as her hand slid up his arm and pulled him back down upon her. She nibbled lightly on his lower lip and massaged the back of his neck with as much encouragement as she could muster, putting herself completely in his hands.

"I can be yours, Ichigo," she whispered in his ear. He froze, listening to her sweet voice. With a territorial determination, he let his fingers hook over her drawstring and slowly pull away her last bit of clothing, revealing everything she was to him.


A/N: Sorry! Had to make it a two parter! I didn't want it to be insanely long in comparison to every other chapter. I'm writing the second part as we speak! I'd like some feedback before I post the second half to make sure I'm on the right track.

TGK