Chapter 10

Twenty minutes later, Orihime's golden magic subsided. The group watched and waited. Ichigo sat quietly with his eyes closed, his breathing steady and slow. They watched him expectantly. He was immobile for several minutes. No one made a sound.

Byakuya rose. Ichigo had been silent too long. He was almost in front of the orange haired substitute, when his eyes finally opened.

"Kurosaki, do you remember anything?" The Captain asked, mentally smacking himself when he realized he had reverted to calling him by his last name.

Ichigo stared at him. His honey, brown eyes were locked on his metal grey ones. He seemed to be trying to read Byakuya.

"Kurosaki?" Orihime asked.

"Sorry, nothing new comes to mind," Ichigo finally broke eye contact and looked around at his friends, "Thanks for trying though."

A collective groan was heard. Rukia forced a smile, "It's okay, Ichigo. It was worth a shot."

Renji hated this tension and he was all fired in a hurry to play Cupid. He clapped his best friend on the back, "Let's have some fun. Why don't we all go get a bite and a drink?"

Ichigo's face lit up, "Cool. Sounds like fun."

"Same place as last time?" Uruyu asked.

"Why not? You wanna make this a real party?" Renji wiggled his thick eyebrows and grinned.

"Ooh, we can get the others to come. Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumi and Izuru." Orihime suggested excitedly.

"Is that really necessary?" Ishida groaned.

"Aww...Uruyu..."

"I'm just saying...last time things got out of hand," Ishida reminded her.

"It'll be alright. This is a long time coming. It's been a while since Ichigo was in the Soul Society. Everyone has been worried about him. I'm sure they'll tone it down."

They stood and started down the porch. As they walked away, "Make sure you don't cause trouble." Byakuya warned.

Ichigo spun around so fast that he almost toppled over, "You're not coming?"

Byakuya looked at his pleading eyes, "You want me to participate?"

Ichigo frowned, "You said we could be friends now. This is a friendly get together."

Byakuya thought a moment. He nodded, "You're right. You go on ahead. I'll be there shortly, I promise."

Ichigo nodded. Renji wrapped an arm around the substitute. He didn't miss the glare Byakuya sent his way at the action.

"We'll be in West Rukon, the Slayers Tavern."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow at the name. Renji grinned, "Blame Kukaku and Ganju. It's where they took us the first night after Ichigo saved Rukia to celebrate."

"I'll be there."

"Let's go Ichigo. We're all gonna change first. It's best to be comfortable when partying. I think some of your clothes are still at my place."

An hour later, the friends has convened at the Slayers Tavern. More people ended up going than they anticipated. They invited Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Izuru, but they in turn invited others. It was getting rather rowdy in the Slayers Tavern.

Ichigo was having a good time, but he kept watching the door. Byakuya had yet to arrive. His friends kept an eye on him. They could see the anxiety in his face. He really wanted Byakuya to be there with him. It seemed that in his current state, he couldn't hide his true feelings as well as he did before this whole mess started. Everyone at the party was giggling behind their hands and whispering to each other and pointing at their very oblivious friend.

Finally, after another thirty minutes, the door opened to reveal the missing Captain. Byakuya walked toward the group, looking very uncomfortable. Renji took a swig of his beer and spun around to see what everyone was pointing at. He sputtered and spat out the mouthful of alcohol.

He leaned into Rukia, "I don't believe it. He is late cuz he was trying to figure out what to wear?"

Rukia laughed. Ichigo was stunned. He had never seen Byakuya in human clothes before. At the moment, Byakuya was in dark, easy fit jeans and belt. He had a navy tee under a casual, white button down shirt. Over that was a navy, light weight blazer. His kensaiken were gone, leaving his dark tresses to fall loose.

Byakuya allowed himself to enjoy Ichigo's casual look. Ichigo was dressed in black, slightly baggy jeans, an interesting silver chain hanging from one pocket. He wore a solid black, collared, button down shirt. He had left the top three buttons undone, revealing his tone chest. The black allowed his brilliant orange hair to stand out more than ever before.

Ichigo rose and moved to Byakuya, "Bout time you showed up. I thought maybe you weren't going to show up."

"I said I would be here. I never break a promise."

Ichigo grinned and grabbed Byakuya's hand. He pulled him over to the bar, giving Byakuya his empty stool. Kuchiki didn't expect Ichigo to be so forward. He ordered a drink and the party continued.

Byakuya spent the entire night watching Ichigo. The substitute stayed close to him all night, but he was having a good time talking to just about everyone there. He had tried to pull Byakuya into a few of the converstations, but the Captain was never good at small talk. He spent most of his time listening. He learned some things about Ichigo he hadn't known before.

Ichigo didn't drink as much as his best friends tried to make him. He always took the glasses handed to him, but he then either set them down or offered them to another person who hadn't been paying attention when he received the drink. It turned out that Ichigo was very intelligent. They had somehow gotten on the subject of school. They had brought up a mission to the World of the Living, which Ichigo didn't remember, but they fought about grades. He never would have guessed that Ichigo was third in his class. Apparently, it was a fact that had annoyed Uruyu Ishida, him being first in their class, before they became good friends.

Byakuya knew that Ichigo had two twin sisters and the three of them lived with their father. They didn't talk about a mother. Byakuya assumed she had either left or died. He spoke of his sisters like they were precious. He smiles when talking about them. Turned out they did a majority of the housework, while Ichigo helped out in his father's clinic. They were a tight knit family.

"My family is going to freak sooner or later. How am I going to explain my being away so long?" Ichigo asked, exasperated.

"Don't worry about it Ichigo. Urahara has sent word to your family. They are not overly worried about you. They know that you are safe." Rukia said.

"Yeah right. What did hat and clogs tell them this time? That I'm off in some arctic country studying for school? He always comes up with the stupidest shit." Ichigo said, slamming his hand on the bar in annoyance.

The group stared at him, and he stared back, obviously unaware of what he'd said, "What?"

"You called Urahara hat and clogs. Ichigo, you gained another of your memories back." Chad said.

"Oh yeah? That's a good thing right."

"Your damn right it's a good thing. We all want you back to normal." Renji said.

Everyone had a celebratory drink for the regained memory and then the chatter continued. After about an hour, Ichigo started nodding off while listening to his friends gossip. Byakuya needed to get him bed.

"Why don't we head home, Ichigo?" He asked, taking hold of his arm before he slid off his barstool.

"Um, yeah. I am kinda tired."

The pair excused themselves and walked back to the manor. Byakuya saw him to his room and was about to turn to leave. Ichigo opened the door to his room once more. He barely waited for Byakuya to turn around and face him before he wrapped his arms around the Captain.

Stunned and at a complete loss of what to do, Byakuya froze. Ichigo had hugged him. He was hugging him.

"Thank you, Byakuya. Thank you for coming with us tonight. It wouldn't have been the same without you."

One more squeeze and Ichigo bolted back inside his room. Byakuya stood there, staring after him. What had possessed the substitute to do that? Perhaps getting closer to the boy wouldn't be as hard as he originally thought. He was open enough and affectionate enough. He seemed to trust Byakuya completely. Even he hadn't missed the way that he always looked to Byakuya for an answer when he wasn't sure.

Byakuya made his way back to his own quarters, his head all light and fuzzy with love and tenderness. He had been hugged by the one he desired. It was heaven. Strong arms that he wished he could feel around him all the time. What he wouldn't do to feel that again. But then what would happen when Ichigo's memory returned in full? What if after his memories returned he no longer remembered everything that happened while he was out of it?

He lie down and closed his eyes. His mind was full of Ichigo. His dreams were his fantasies. He allowed sleep to take him and prayed he would never wake.