"Well kids, we made it!" Isshin exclaimed, standing confidently with his hands on his hips, grinning from ear to ear. "Ah! It's been too long since we last came to the beach!"
"Come on dad, it's not like what we're doing is dangerous," Karin grumbled.
"And it's not like it was hard to get here," Ichigo said exasperatedly.
"None the less, this is going to be an adventure for all of us!"
"I am seriously considering burying him neck deep in sand so that he can't bother us," Ichigo growled quietly.
"Don't be like that. I've never been to a beach before," Yumichika said happily.
"Really?" Ichigo said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. We don't have beaches in the Soul Society, and I can't remember whether or not I ever went to a beach when I was alive."
"Wow. The Soul Society doesn't seem to have a lot of things that we have here."
"I know. But we do have some things that you don't have here."
"Like what?"
"Swords. Magic. You know."
"Yeah...I forgot," Ichigo said quietly, looking away slightly. Yumichika instantly felt bad that he had reminded Ichigo about what he had lost in return for defeating Aizen.
"Ichigo, I-."
"Come on kids! Frisbee!" Isshin yelled, throwing the frisbee at them. Ichigo wasn't paying attention and the toy hit him in the side of the head.
"God damn it old man! You are being buried up to your neck! And I'm going to leave you there!" Ichigo roared, clutching his head.
"Have to catch me first!" Isshin yelled. Seconds later he was being beaten into the sand by his son.
Sighing, but still smiling, Yumichika carried the esky down to where Yuzu and Karin were setting up an umbrella. He set the box in the shade and brushed his hair behind his ear, then looked out at the water. It was a beautiful sight, he had to admit. While he had seen the sun reflecting on rippling water before, he had never seen it on this scale. None of the rivers in the Soul Society could ever compare to the size of the sea.
He heard a shriek and looked over to see that Ichigo had successfully dug a big hold and was currently drowning his father in sand. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, the glare on the sand was almost blinding and he was squinting through the tinted glass.
When his father was completely buried up to his neck, Ichigo stamped down the sand around him a few times then walked calmly back to the umbrella as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. While to him and his family it was true, to the many other people on the beach, it was a bazaar thing to have witnessed.
"Better?" Yumichika asked with a smirk, leaning towards him as he sat himself down on the sand.
Ichigo nodded, a small grin on his face. The dark haired man sighed, shaking his head. No matter how long he stayed with them, he would probably never understand Ichigo's strange family. Or at least most of it. He understood his sisters just fine.
He was pulled from his thoughts by Isshin's loud whining about how hot it was and he would probably die of dehydration. Karin walked over to him put a hat on him to shut him up. It didn't work however, as moments later he was crying about how his kids didn't care for him at all and were more than willing to watch him die right there in front of them. Of course, no one was listening to him.
After she had finished setting everything up, Yuzu picked up a bucket and ran off to make a sand castle, dragging her less than enthusiastic cousin with her. Finally alone, Ichigo scooted closer to Yumichika and draped an arm around his shoulder. Pleased and slightly embarrassed by the gesture, Yumichika leaned into it, resting his head on the teen's shouler.
"You know you could have done this with your sisters here," he said softly.
"Yeah," Ichigo said softly, gently brushing his thumb along Yumichika's pale skin. "But this way it doesn't have to get awkward."
"My beautiful son! Why do want to keep us out of your love life when you know you have our full support?" Isshin wailed, currently trying to dig himself out of the ground with his chin.
"Aaaaand the moments gone," Ichigo growled, getting back to his feet. "Let's go swimming and ditch goat-face."
"But won't the water ruin my hair?" Yumichika said apprehensively as he was pulled to his feet.
"Not if you only go in up to your waist," Ichigo said. "Come one. It's fun," he smiled, almost completely losing his scowl and he entwined their fingers and gently tugged him in the direction of the water.
When they reached the damp sand Ichigo let his hand go and sprinted into the water, diving under a wave when he was only a few feet in. He broke the surface seconds after the wave had passed, his orange spikes damp and dripping. He flashed Yumichika a smile and started paddling out into slightly deeper water, floating on his face with his eyes closed. He was relaxed enough to not notice another wave behind him. When the water dumped on top of him he yelped and got back to his feet, glancing around warily for more stray waves.
Giggling, Yumichika took a few steps into the water, his toes sinking into the water clogged sand. The water was cool, but not chilling, and he ventured in up to his hips, following Ichigo's advice so his hair wouldn't get wet. He waited for a wave to pas and then sunk down onto his knees, allowing the water to cool his chest and back without him having to go out too deep. As another wave approached he moved to stand up, but strong hands pushed him directly into the oncoming water.
He let out an indignant squawk as he unexpectedly pitched forward, and without enough time to regain his balance, he went head first into the wave. The water hit him like a bucket of ice water. Luckily he had enough sense to not open his eyes or his mouth as the water covered him, otherwise he would have had a really bad time. Bad hair he could deal with, but it didn't mean he was happy about it.
Yumichika stood, wiping the salt water away from his eyes, coughing slightly. Behind him, he could hear Ichigo laughing. A vein popped in his forehead. So, he thought that this was funny, did he?
The Soul Reaper spun and leapt on top of the teen, making him lose his balance and fall backwards, with the other man sitting on top of him. Ichigo surfaced once again, spluttering and shook his head, causing a fine spray of water to fill the air around him.
"Not so nice, is it?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and standing in a pose of mock anger, and elegant eyebrow arched, staring down his nose.
"I don't know. Is it?" Ichigo asked, lunging forward and grabbing him around the middle. The both fell backwards with a loud splash, but stayed above the water, both laughing their heads off.
"I'm still not happy that you got my hair wet," Yumichika said, flicking the wet strands angrily as if to prove his point.
"Yeah well, you can wash it back at home," Ichigo replied, wrapping his arms around Yumichika from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder.
"Would you like to help me?" the older man said, pretending to be seductive.
"Only if you want me to," Ichigo whispered, his voice husky. They both looked at each other again for a few seconds before laughing again.
"On that topic though -," Ichigo started, but then two girls approached them and he went quiet.
"Um, sorry if this seems rude, but are you two, like, together?" one of them asked while the other giggled next to her.
"Uhh..."
"Yes!" Yumichika said, lifting his arms to wrap around Ichigo, a huge, glowing smile plastered on his face.
"Oh my god! You guys are so cute!"
"I've never actually seen a gay couple before!"
"I told Tomoko! I said they were together!"
"Good luck you guys!"
And with that the two girls left. Yumichika dropped his smile and let his arms fall away from around Ichigo, instead holding the hands around his waist.
"That was weird," he said.
"Yeah."
"Are there not many homosexual relationships in the World of the Living?"
"Well...there are, but society doesn't really approve of them," Ichigo said, giving his boyfriend a gently squeeze.
"Really? They're fine in the Soul Society. Or if they're not, no one cares because they're scared of the Captain-Class that are in gay relationships."
"What? Are there gay couples in the Soul Society?"
"Yup. Some of them are really obvious, like Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyoraku, while others try to keep it a bit more of a secret, like Shuhei and Izuru."
Ichigo hummed into his shoulder. "We should learn from them. It's like when people were fighting for interracial marriage. Its gonna happen, and some people just need to learn to get over it."
"You know," Yumichika said, turning in Ichigo's arms so that they were facing each other. "You really are wise beyond your years."
"Only in front of people I want to impress," Ichigo said with a smirk, leaning down and kissing his nose. Yumichika lifted his chin and the teen moved his attention down, pecking him lightly on the lips.
"Anyway, just before, you were going to ask me something," Yumichika said, pulling away slightly.
"Yeah. I was going to ask about...you know..." he trailed off.
Yumichika studied his face for a few seconds before realising what the teen was trying to say. "Are you talking about sex?"
The teen turned bright red and nodded. After a few seconds, he calmed himself down enough to continue with what he was saying. "It's just that, it's been over a month, and I just sometimes...uhhh...I don't know how to explain this."
"Don't worry about it. I know what you're getting at."
"Oh, okay. So..."
Yumichika silenced him with a quick kiss. He knew exactly how the teen felt – he felt that way right now. In past years, sex hadn't been on the top of his favourite things-to-do list, and he had never really had any good experiences with it, but seeing how nervous Ichigo was getting about the subject made something inside him say that if he did this, it would be different from all those other times.
"If..." he took a deep breath, his mind made up. "If you think that you're ready to try, then...next time your family isn't home?" he said softly.
"You...if you don't want to you don't have to force yourself to make me happy!" Ichigo exclaimed.
"No! No it's not that I don't want to, it's more like, I think this will be different. And not in a bad way," he added sternly when he saw the teen's doubtful look.
"Okay," Ichigo said in a small voice, looking away to hide him smile.
"And you can show me exactly what condoms are for."
"Why would you bring that up and spoil the moment?"
"It seemed appropriate considering the topic and what you told me about them."
"Yes. Right. But don't say stuff like that in public!"
"Stuff like what?"
The two men jumped, glancing around to see a sand-covered Isshin standing in the water a few feet away. From the look on his face, he hadn't heard the rest of their conversation, something which both of them were glad about.
"None of your business, old man," Ichigo growled.
"Are you having relationship issues? Let daddy help!"
"Get lost you pervert!"
"Is that anyway to speak to your father?"
"I am seriously going to get blood tests one day, just to prove that there is no way that we are related!"
"But you got your Soul Reaper powers from me!"
"Coincidence!"
"Or is it fate?"
"By saying that you're basically telling me we're not related!"
"That's not true!"
Giggling, Yumichika left the two to their argument, swimming back to the beach to help Yuzu with her sandcastle. Yeah. He would never get used to this family.
