Title: D is for Degenerate
Series: Let Me Count The Ways
Author: Acmarache
Rating: K
Pairing: Urahara/Ichigo
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: Urahara explains why he and Ichigo belong together by way of discussing the downfalls of the people of Soul Society and the human world.
Word from Kerumica
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They fit together perfectly. Really, they did. No matter what anyone said. Sure, he was technically already dead. Yeah, there was a few century long age gap between them. And there was the little fact that Ichigo was still a minor. But, none of that mattered when you really got down to the grit of their relationship. Not really. Not to them.
The fact of the matter was that they were meant for each other. Like puzzle pieces. There weren't any other pieces or, in this case, people they could fit with. When you looked at their lives and ignored all of the reasons why they shouldn't be together, then you could really see why they deserved each other.
They were both the degenerates of their generations. Ichigo with his unacceptably orange hair and vizard abilities. Him with his questionable inventions and intelligence. Ichigo was forced to constantly defend himself against punks trying to prove something here in the human world. And, if it hadn't been for Kuchiki-taicho, he probably would have had to flee from persecution and execution because of the powers he hadn't asked for. All of this because of his need to protect people. What was so wrong about wanting to protect people?
And then there was him. He'd always been intelligent. A genius even. But, no one had accepted his intelligence as a way to better Soul Society as it was. They'd been certain that he wanted to overthrow the King given time and power. As if he wanted that much responsibility. Do you have any idea how much paperwork is involved with that? So, he'd had to settle with dinking around in his lab performing tasks far under his ability level. This had unfortunately resulted in the creation of the Houguko. Who would have thought that the most powerful and dangerous creation turned weapon would have come to be as a result of extreme boredom? And then, because of his invention, he was forced to flee Soul Society. No one would have understood.
Really, how could anyone think that they didn't belong together? Only they could understand the persecution they'd both faced because of circumstances beyond their control. Believe him, if he could have given Ichigo his shinigami powers back any other way, then he would have. Going through day after day and watching his lover suffer through not only the pain of his rebellious hollow but also the pain of friends turning their backs on him after everything he had done for them because of his hollow half was probably the second hardest thing he'd had to face in his life. This hardest thing was realizing that even knowing that he had inadvertently been responsible for the war, Ichigo never did and never would blame him.
He wasn't as immoral as everyone seemed to believe he was. When he had been caught in the girls' dorms that had been Shunsui's idea all the way. He'd just been fulfilling his promise to Jyuushiro and trying to coax the then boy back to their own dorms. Honestly, if the idiots that caught them had half a brain, then they would have realized that he wasn't even moderately interested in girls. Maybe they should have been worried about him being in the boys' dorms. Even then he had preferred boys. He hadn't created the Hougoku to take over Soul Society as many people seemed to think. He had just been really bored. If he'd known that Aizen would steal it in the future in an attempt to become King, then he would have taken Isshin up on his offer that day to sneak into the human world.
People just didn't understand. They always managed to label the real heroes (I.e. Ichigo) as degenerates while they labeled the real degenerates (I.e. Aizen) as the saviors. Not to say that he thought that he was a hero. Far from it. But, he didn't claim to be free from blame either. And Ichigo didn't see himself as a hero. But, that didn't stop him from picking up his zanpuckto day after day to protect people he didn't know. And, it was for this reason, that they weren't the degenerates of their generations.
And they belonged together. Don't forget that.
And if Isshin asks, he and Ichigo haven't slept together yet. Ichigo just has really vivid wet dreams.
