Carpe Diem

Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference. - Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook

A/N: I've gotten a beta, Chain of Fate (thanks!). There have been a couple of non-plot related changes in past chapters correcting grammar and making things a little clearer. Also, sorry for the delay, but real life is being way to engaging lately. I have no excuse but to say that I've been working hard and having a lot of fun. Also, I will be eventually filling in the details about Renji's disappearance/reappearance but this is Ichigo and Byakuya's chapter.

Ichigo didn't really hear much of what went on after Byakuya left. The confession from Jushiro and Shunsui that Byakuya had liked him…actually more than just liked him…for quite some time had really thrown him for a loop.

He had decided to spend time in Byakuya's garden. Despite whatever Byakuya might think, it wasn't that Ichigo didn't know that it was Byakuya's private garden; it was just that Ichigo liked it because it was Byakuya's garden. At first he had done it just to subtly annoy the noble, but then he grew to enjoy the brief conversations that spawned from them running into each other while wandering around the overgrown place. Everything else in the whole estate was trimmed and gardened to perfection, but this one spot had attracted Ichigo because it was the only thing vaguely wild about the entire yard. Wildflowers and mossy rocks, a slow moving stream accented with an old wooden bridge, and low hanging trees providing shade were the drawing factors to Ichigo.

He sat with his back to a weeping willow, chewing on a piece of long grass he had picked. It was getting dark though, and the air was beginning to chill. With a sigh he stood up, squared his shoulders and marched into the house.

It wasn't like he had never thought of Byakuya that way, it was just that he never thought that he had a right to think of him that way. Any thoughts had just been pure fantasy, sprung up just because of the growing closeness of the two men and the admission from Byakuya that he liked men as well as women. Ichigo had attributed any time he got turned on or a little flushed in Byakuya's presence simply as hormones. That wasn't really the case though, now that Ichigo looked at it. If that was the case, then he would have thought of Renji like that sometimes. After all, they even shared the same bed on occasion, before Ichigo had gotten his lieutenant's quarters.

Byakuya always seemed kind of like an ideal, far away and impossible to touch. Now that he was touchable, did Ichigo really want him?

The answer was actually easy, but Ichigo wrestled with it for some time before giving in, because it was giving in to something that would be hard and in the end, painful. But Ichigo had long outgrown trying to run away from problems. He knew from experience that it only made things worse, and in this case time was of the essence.

'How often have I imagined him knocking on my door like this? But now that I don't want to face him is when he finally comes,' Byakuya thought to himself. He could easily feel the agitated presence on the other side of the door, even before Ichigo had gotten the courage to knock. 'I could pretend I went to bed early,' Byakuya considered. But he doubt that Ichigo would be deterred that easy.

"Yes?" he asked, opening his door.

Ichigo didn't say anything, but came in. Byakuya moved aside and let him. The two men faced each other in the dim orange light of the fire that was warming Byakuya's sitting room. Neither one of them would look each other in the eye; both were at a loss for words. Talking about emotions and feelings was foreign to both of them. So, Ichigo just stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Byakuya's shoulders, and kissed him.

The first time he had been a little too startled to register much aside from the fact that Byakuya was kissing him. This time he noticed the smoothness of Byakuya's lips against his own torn ones, how he had caught up to Byakuya's height during his last growth spurt, and that he tasted of the tea that he had most likely just been drinking. Ichigo hadn't really had a lot of experience kissing people, but he tried to convey everything he wanted to say into the action, longing and hope and a little bit of apology.

When he pulled away, his eyes finally met Byakuya's gray ones.

"You are foolish," Byakuya said.

"As always," Ichigo admitted with a small smile.

"You should go," Byakuya told the boy in his arms, although he made no attempt to untangle himself.

"I usually don't do what I should do," Ichigo replied. "Besides, I'm not sure that it's really what is right."

"Right? All of sudden now you are considered with what is right?" Byakuya said harshly.

Ichigo winced a little. "I get it, you're mad. You have every right to be. However, that doesn't mean I'm wrong about this."

"What is 'this'?" Byakuya questioned.

"Us," Ichigo said simply. "Us being together," he elaborated.

"You are foolish."

"And you're repeating yourself," Ichigo grinned. He ran his fingers through Byakuya's hair, which was for once free of the kenseikan. "A lot softer than I thought it would be," he said out loud.

"Oh, and do you spend a large amount of time considering my hair's properties?" Byakuya asked archly.

"Now isn't the time to play dumb," Ichigo chided the nobleman.

There was a pause and then he felt Byakuya's hands at his head, running through his hair. He couldn't help but close his eyes and enjoy the sensation.

"So it's naturally just spiked?" Byakuya asked. He too found Ichigo's hair soft to the touch but didn't mention it since he had just made fun of Ichigo for doing so.

"You think I'd spend the time to make it look like this deliberately?" Ichigo laughed.

'He's so close,' Byakuya thought, reveling a little in the warmth of Ichigo's embrace. Before he noticed what he was doing, he had pulled Ichigo in for another kiss.

This time Ichigo allowed himself to be led, melting a little into Byakuya. His eyes widened as he felt Byakuya's tongue slip into his mouth. His heart began to speed up and he felt hot all over as Byakuya's tongue encouraged his own to move.

"Wow," Ichigo said as the kiss ended.

Byakuya leaned his forehead onto Ichigo's. "You don't know what you're doing, do you?" Byakuya asked.

Ichigo blushed deeply. "I-I I'm not very experienced but I…"

He was surprised to hear a low chuckle from Byakuya. "That's not what I meant," Byakuya told him. "Although, I find your admission a little endearing."

"In the world of the living, in my area at least, being gay is still kind of a big deal," Ichigo said.

"How childish."

"I agree. I assumed it would be better to come out in college and stuff, but then I wound up here, so I haven't really…done anything…"

"You are gay and not bisexual?" Byakuya queried.

"I almost died when Rukia was giving birth," Ichigo admitted.

Byakuya smiled. He wouldn't admit to how petrified he had been himself during the whole process out loud, but he did sympathize with Ichigo. "I meant, you don't know what you're doing by coming here," Byakuya clarified his earlier statement.

"Oh. Yes, I do," Ichigo replied. "I thought about it all afternoon. If you have to get married in a year, then that means we have a year to be together. I figured we should get a jump start on it right away."

Byakuya blinked. "What?"

"Look, I've decided. And so did you, when you kissed me," Ichigo stated. "You could have just kept your secret, but you decided to act on it while there still was a chance. Well, we do still have a chance. It's only a year, but I don't see why we should be alone during that year."

"Ichigo…"

"If you already love me, then it's not like things can get any worse, and if I love you it's the same for me," Ichigo explained.

"Do you love me?" Byakuya asked.

"Technically, you haven't even admitted to having a crush on me," Ichigo pressed.

There was a pause before Byakuya quietly stated, "I love you, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"I..I'm pretty sure I love you, Byakuya," Ichigo said.

"Pretty sure?" Byakuya questioned.

"I…no, I'm sure."

"Then say it again."

"So demanding," Ichigo joked. He knew that Byakuya was serious though. "I love you, Byakuya." Byakuya pulled him into a tender kiss, his lips just barely caressing Ichigo's own. Ichigo softly moaned.

"You should still leave," Byakuya pointed out.

"Why?"

"You've just admitted to me that you have no experience, and I'm not sure how able I will be to restrain myself if you continue to make noises like that and keep saying things like you love me."

"Didn't I just say we only had a year? I don't see any point in waiting for anything. Haven't you been waiting for years?" Ichigo asked.

"That certainly doesn't mean we should rush things," Byakuya said.

"Well, as of now I'm moving into your room."

"Smart mouth," Byakuya responded. "Besides, what will we tell the staff?"

"That you're taking me as a lover until you get married. Your family is already getting what they want; they'll just wait it out."

"Fine."

"Really?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes, I will allow you to sleep in my bed tonight, but nothing more than that."

"That's good enough for me," Ichigo said.

(Lemon Warning)

Byakuya had one of "those" dreams again. Ichigo was in his bed and rubbing against him. It took a few moments for him to realize that it wasn't a dream and that he was that one pushing himself along Ichigo's body. Not that Ichigo really seemed to mind.

Ichigo's face was flushed and he was gasping. "Byakuya," he called out, holding the other man tightly.

"Sorry, I…" Byakuya didn't know what excuse he would have given, but it didn't matter because Ichigo was having none of it. Ichigo simply kissed Byakuya to stop him from talking.

Lying in bed, Ichigo's bare chest rubbing against him, feeling Ichigo's arousal pressing into his hip, Byakuya knew that even if there was a way to slow things down he wouldn't. 'I don't have to go all the way with him,' he assured himself. 'I'll just…I just need…need…" Ichigo's hand had gone to Byakuya's clothed erection and Byakuya could do nothing but jut into Ichigo's encircling hand.

Byakuya was kissing at Ichigo's chest passionately, removing the boy's sleeping pants with one hand while already exploring Ichigo's newly naked ass with his other. Ichigo's flush was now covered almost his whole body, his chest tinged pink. Byakuya removed his hands only to quickly remove his own clothing.

Both men moaned loudly as their now naked bodies pressed up against each other for the first time. For a couple of moments they did nothing but rut into each other, enjoying the friction and the fresh sensation of hot skin that was quickly becoming slick with a layer of sweat. Byakuya began to suck on Ichigo's neck, and Ichigo gasped and clutched at Byakuya's back, his fingers roughly traveling along the nobleman's tensed muscles, pulling him closer.

Suddenly, Byakuya was on top of him, looking down at him intensely, hungrily. Ichigo shuddered as he watched the emotions swirling through his lovers' slate gray eyes.

"Byakuya?" Ichigo didn't know what he was asking, but it didn't matter because Byakuya started to kiss down his chest.

Ichigo was panting as Byakuya's lips ghosted along his stomach, the nobleman pausing to suck gently at his hip bone. "You…you…" Ichigo gasped. He felt hot breath flow over his erection, and he twitched as he felt a velvety tongue lick across the tip of it. "Byakuya…" Ichigo breathed.

Byakuya changed his position so that he could clearly look up at Ichigo. "You could always beg me to stop," Byakuya said with a glint in his eyes.

"Don't you dare!" Ichigo replied.

Byakuya chuckled and then, with a suddenness that Ichigo didn't expect, wrapped that haughty mouth of his around Ichigo's cock. Byakuya already had his hands at Ichigo's hips, preventing him from bucking up into his mouth, which was good because Ichigo was losing all control, wildly thrusting as he felt Byakuya's hot mouth surround him.

"It's so…it feels so…" Ichigo couldn't complete his sentences because he wasn't even completely his thoughts. He placed a hand at Byakuya's head, never imagining he'd be feeling it bob up on down on him like this; the other hand was digging into the pad they were laying on.

One part of Ichigo wanted to close his eyes to full enjoy what he was feeling, but the other part of him never wanted to forget what Byakuya Kuchiki looked like while he was pleasuring him.

Byakuya moved his hands away from Ichigo's hips and grabbed around him, massaging at his ass while taking more of Ichigo into his mouth and down his throat.

"Fuck!" Ichigo yelled, knowing that Byakuya didn't really appreciate cursing but not able to stop it. He felt helpless in the best of possible ways, completely at the mercy of his lover. "Too much…" Ichigo got out. "Going to…"

Byakuya didn't stop though, merely increasing his speed.

"Byakuya!" Ichigo practically yelled as he came. Even as the world temporarily went out of focus, Ichigo still kept his eyes on the beautiful man that was now drinking him down, seemingly swallowing Ichigo's entire being with just a simple sex act.

Then wonder of all wonders, but he finally got to get a good look at Byakuya's very red, very aroused cock. It took Ichigo a moment to realize what Byakuya was doing. His eyes widened as he watched the normally untouchable captain grab himself and pull in long strokes.

"Beautiful," Ichigo said out loud as he regained his senses. As much as he was enjoying this normally hidden side of Byakuya, he wanted to be touching him more. He wanted to at least give the man a fraction of the pleasure that he had just been granted.

Ichigo took a couple more gasps of air and then sat up, pushing Byakuya's hand aside. He wasn't quite sure of his abilities but he at least wanted to kiss…he bent over and took Byakuya's cock into his mouth, at least as much of it as he could. He could feel the man over him shudder in pleasure. Ichigo pulled back, removing his mouth, but having sufficiently wetted it, wrapped his hand around Byakuya and began to finish the job that Byakuya had started.

He felt Byakuya's hand along his jaw and allowed his head to be lifted up, sharing a passionate and messy kiss with Byakuya as he continued to pump him. Byakuya pulled away and leaned on Ichigo, resting his head on his shoulder as he moaned in pleasure. Ichigo felt the man's hands at his back suddenly tense. "I love you," Ichigo said, just as he pushed Byakuya into orgasm.

The two of them sat, holding each other as Byakuya gathered himself.

"I think we could use a shower," Byakuya said, his noble nose wrinkled slightly.

"Ah come on, that's just the smell of a job well done," Ichigo teased.

"I can shower alone," Byakuya said over his shoulder as he wandered to his private bathroom.

"Wait…so I can come?" Ichigo quickly followed him.

(End Lemon)

"Do you think that they won't come?" Rukia wondered.

"I doubt the Captain would hide out from Ichigo," Renji said, not bothering to wait to begin eating breakfast.

If their little family hadn't been relocated to a more remote location on the estate they would have known why the two men were late. As it was, when Ichigo and Byakuya walked into the room together, joined at the hands, Rukia almost fainted and Renji choked a little on his eggs.

"Uh, hi," Renji offered.

"Hey, don't eat all the eggs!" Ichigo said, quickly sitting down and setting food onto his plate.

"So…" Rukia wasn't sure how to start to conversation.

"What?" Byakuya asked cooly.

"Nothing!" Both Rukia and Renji said at the same time.

Ichigo just laughed. He would answer any questions they had in private, but for now he was going to make his friends sweat it out.