Adelene900: Thank you always for your uplifting comments! And sorry for the late update and therefore – the late feedback. I was thinking about your encouragements about "fully relaxing" and not "rushing things out" while writing the chapter and it really made me feel better and get through. I'm rather fond of that "usual" commentary on Shinji's part myself. (Something that just sprang up unexpectedly as I wrote.) You're right! Aizen left marks on Shinji that lasted for a while. Thank goodness for shihakusho and Shinji's long hair, eh? As for the ones on Shinji's throat – Aizen *may* have been a bit zealous there. It was less a case of 'Oho, someone got lucky last night! *wink, wink*' and more of: 'Whoa, did you get mauled by a wild beast?!' :D Glad that the scene made you blush. Goal accomplished! (Imagine how much of a perve I'd be, then, since I actually wrote the scene. XD)

Guest: I was so happy when I read your review since you've stated exactly what I've been aiming for! (about the 'emotional smut') Thank you so much!

Guest: Thank you for reading and for encouraging comment!

Guest: Comments about writing style and character portrayals always make me blush in the best ways. Thank you.

Guest: Glad you found it awesome. Thank you!

The AcidBunny: It really cheered me up to read both of your reviews. Especially since you said you "usually don't review until the most current chapter" and are "not usually a Shinji fan" I'm so honored! I'm glad that you enjoy how I write Shinji. Yes, 'tasteful' smut was the direction I was going for and I'm really gratified that you said it! And here is the next chapter that hopefully you'd be able to enjoy it, too. Thank you for reading, as well as for bookmarking and marking as Favorite!

Fractoluminescence: Glad you came to read the chapter and didn't miss it. Thank you so much!

Notes: All right, apparently I've gotten bold since the last chapter. Because here is another chapter that involves... intimacies... between the two main characters. Therefore: *Sexual Content Warning*

*As with all the chapters with sexual content, unedited version is available at AO3 under same username and under the title "Our Time Carved into Our Flesh"

I considered just titling the chapter 'Hanami' – which means 'flower viewing' in Japanese. But considering the nature of Shinji and Aizen's… activity, 'picnic' might be more appropriate.

The grafting procedure and plant breeding in reality is very different from the one mentioned here. (For one thing, they don't involve kido.)

I'm quite surprised at the continued appearances of Shinji's former superior and Fifth Division's Third Seat. They were supposed to be one-time characters but the former turned out to be useful as a framing device since he's so oblivious and vain. As for old man Third Seat, I hope I'm setting him up nicely for his canon ending. (Because we know how Third Seat of the Fifth Division made his exit, to make room for wee Gin.)

The heavy layers of flowers sucked in the sounds of their footsteps.

There had been a light drizzle, and it squelched underfoot. Shinji felt as if the soft heap was pulling at him each step. That if he faltered, he might sink under, to be buried under the corpses of cherry blossoms.

Shinji tried not to think of corpses. Tried to avoid looking down.

Tenjou Soichiro kicked up small storms of wet petals, laughing and talking to his Third Seat animatedly.

"I was worried if the rain might ruin this, but the blossoms are still intact, Mei. See, that's the one."

The young captain pointed to a giant tree that rose above all its siblings. When the three of them were right underneath its looming branches - barely visible under the pouring pink blossoms – they could see the night sky filtered through translucent petals like veins under slices of pale skin. Looking up felt like falling upwards, drowning among that fluttering cold. Like being swallowed up into luminous bowels of some unlikely creature.

Mei gave a little gasp, eyes widening with a child's wonder. The captain looked at her with a pleased grin.

"The biggest tree here. It's even taller than you, Mei."

The wind sent the branches stirring, surrounding them in a flurry of glowing petals.

"What do you think, Shinji? It's awfully pretty, isn't it?"

Yes, it's awful. Shinji thought.

Mei's huge fingers reached out for a branch. Then she halted, hesitant fingertips just short of brushing the lowest-hanging branches. Suddenly, Captain Tenjou jumped, one hand outstretched. The snap of the branch rang simultaneously with Mei's cry of dismay. The captain landed with a large bough that sagged with plump blossoms.

"It's just a branch, Mei."

He broke it in front of his distraught subordinate and handed out the larger piece to her.

"And one of many, you needn't be so careful,"

That's what ya never got to learn, captain. Ya don't know how to be careful with life.

After Mei gingerly accepted the gift, Captain Tenjou approached Shinji, the smaller piece twirling in his fingers. Shinji stood impassively as his captain stuck the bundle of flowers under the red ribbon that held his hair. Tenjou Soichiro absently took hold of a yellow lock and twirled it around his fingers as he'd been doing with the bough. At any other time, Shinji would've shaken the flower off his hair, would've made remarks about his captain's silly antics. But now, Shinji let his captain do as he pleased.

Captain Tenjou stepped back. He still held the lock of hair, trailing it loose and long between them.

"You look fey like that, Shinji, amid all these flowers, like some sort of spirit,"

Shinji looked straight at his captain for the first time since they'd come here. A few petals had landed on the younger man's face. For one moment, they looked like splotches of blood.

And in his mind's eye, Shinji saw bloody bodies strewn under them. Dead, pale hands reaching, rolling heads with mouths open in silent screams, broken limbs and shattered bones, all entangled in the fleshy carpet.

His captain stood amidst the field of corpses, wearing that child's smile.

"Can we come here tomorrow, too?"

Mei's voice broke through the illusion. Tenjou Soichiro slowly let the strands slip through his fingers as he turned towards Mei.

"Sorry Mei. We're busy tomorrow. Besides, it's prettiest tonight. These flowers are fleeting, after all. But we'll come again next year. We'll have a proper picnic and everything. Won't we, Shinji?"

Shinji looked at the two of them. With the same innocent, expectant look. At the two children.

I'm sorry. Shinji thought the words he'd repeat over and over down the years.

"I'd like to."

It wasn't a lie. He truly would've liked to. But he couldn't.

This was the last time the three of them would come here, looking up at the devouring flowers.

"The mind is a strange creature, Captain Hirako. One can never guess what measures it'll take to protect its master,"

So had Captain Unohana explained regarding Mei's condition. Back when Shinji still flinched at being addressed as 'captain'.

"Her memory has regressed. A form of amnesia. Her mind had shut down and during that time of unconsciousness, it had whisked her back to past – to a time where she could survive."

"Survive,"

"Yes, because the world where you killed her captain is not the world she could survive in."

Captain Unohana's tone was not unkind. But she wasn't the one to mince words. Both knew Hirako Shinji was more comfortable with directness than any consolation.

Any attempt to bring Mei to the present had been futile. If anyone told her what had happened, she'd just black out for days. Then she'd wake up with her memory in the past, prior to Tenjou Soichiro's death. To a time where she wouldn't have to deal with the conflict of seeking revenge for her captain's death, and never being able to kill her friend.

"Will she ever recover?"

"If by 'recover', you mean regaining her memories - I do not see the possibility. I admit I fail to see how it would benefit her – as it'll only bring her pain, whereas she's free from it now."

Ironically, Mei's condition had been helpful in gaining approval that she'd be allowed to live in Seireitei, provided she'd be under constant supervision, cut off from the Tenjou family. But nothing could remove Mei from the Tenjou House, despite Shinji's continued efforts.

"The best thing for her is to gain new memories, Captain Hirako. So that she'd have more than just shards of the past to live on."

New memories. Impossible in that house of decay.

So Mei stayed in the Tenjou House, a prisoner of her own mind. Living through flickers of repeated pasts in the drowning sea of darkness.

Sometimes, during her 'waking' hours, Mei would be compelled to find her way back to the old division barracks in Seireitei, where death sentence awaited her as long as she was still of the Tenjou House. When Mei's servant failed to coax her back, she'd ask for help from the one who could.

Mei always greeted her old friend as if they'd never been apart. To her, they never really had been.

What a sneaky bastard ye're, Hirako Shinji. He thought. To get away with killin' her captain, destroyin' her world and her mind, all without losin' her friendship.

"When are we going to see the flowers again?"

Shinji turned to his friend. He was, once again, guiding her back to the Tenjou House. They had taken a detour to give Mei more time to calm down - walking up a forest path lined with towering trees breaking out in heavy shoots, signaling the change in the season. The place was only just littered with occasional flowers but perhaps those sparse colors had caused that particular memory to resurface.

"The Captain promised he'd take us again to see the cherry blossoms, and have a picnic together,"

Then Mei guiltily hunched her shoulders.

"I hope he doesn't hurt the tree again. I didn't like it when he broke that branch. Don't tell him though, Shinji, okay?"

Shinji smiled.

"I won't, Mei."

Shinji felt the woman's hopeful gaze on him, and he finally managed to rasp out a few more words.

"'tis a bit early fer cherry blossoms yet. Perhaps later."

Repeated promises, never to be kept.

"When we go, don't bring him over, Shinji."

"Him?"

"The one with the glasses. I don't like him."

Shinji laughed. "Fer sure."

It still surprised him that Mei actually remembered that encounter. But Mei talking about something other than their shared past was somehow – uplifting.

New memories.

That was when Shinji thought of Sousuke's cherry blossoms.

…Which were really Shinji's former superior's.

The man had always been a better – certainly more eager – horticulturalist than a shinigami. His garden was one of the few places where he spared no expenses, and possibly the only thing he valued more than his reputation.

His latest obsession was developing a new breed of cherry blossom trees.

Shinji knew this because his former superior had paid a visit and gushed about his pet project, nearly putting him to sleep. After much passionate (and agonizing) speech, he finally got to the point: He was attempting to utilize kido to bolster the plant's unique characteristics. Which meant he needed a deft hand at kido. So if Captain Hirako would be obliged to persuade Lieutenant Aizen…?

Shinji was mildly surprised that Sousuke had briskly accepted the task when asked. Perhaps because it'd piqued his own curiosity.

Shinji didn't think much of it until, during one of his visits, Mei first mentioned their belated flower picnic.

Although Shinji had been in a near-comatose state during his former superior's lecture, some details had stuck: "…size of bonsai trees, these miniature saplings… rapid growth… can be grafted onto most trees so that you'd have a full-blown cherry blossom tree in just a couple of months…."

Sousuke had confirmed the man's boasts: A couple of months was an exaggeration - may take as long as half a year, but possibly faster during spring. Yes, they can be grafted successfully onto most fruit-bearing trees to achieve the look of a mature cherry blossom tree.

Shinji checked that there were a few old plum trees in the back forest of the Wailing Alley that might suffice. All in all, it seemed a stroke of luck.

However, when Shinji had requested for a few saplings, his former superior hemmed and hawed: Well, there are so few of them, without careful procedure, they'd die and it'd be a waste. They are so sensitive… Besides, they were meant for public services, donations to the Academy, the public square at the heart of Seireitei, the joint training fields and such, not for personal uses…

Frankly, they weren't for sale.

"Perhaps ya'd be so good as to consider giving them freely to an old acquaintance?" Shinji had said, words and the accompanying smile dripping with sarcasm that passed right over his former superior. So he had been left with only the assurance of 'will think about it'.

But the last meeting with Mei had strengthened his resolve. He was brewing up another approach when he came back to his quarters.

Then Sousuke knocked on his door.

After that night, things were different. Subtly so, but different. Largely because Sousuke made sure that it was.

For example: Sousuke was always wont to touch him more than necessary. A brush of thumb over the wrist, a fingertip lingering over the back of hand. But a day after that night, Sousuke did something else when he handed over the day's reports. As Shinji clutched the papers, his lieutenant's hands swept underneath his sleeves, rubbing up to the soft inner elbows. Smiling and looking directly at Shinji's startled face the entire time, reminding him. Yes, that happened. We did that. We are that, now.

However, they hadn't seen much of each other for the past week. Sousuke had been dispatched with other officers for a Hollow-hunting expedition. When Sousuke returned, Shinji was gone on an excursion to the Human world.

And when Shinji came back, there had been a familiar Hell Butterfly waiting for him and he had to shed his captain's haori for the orange yukata.

Now, a familiar voice called from outside. "May I come in, captain?"

Shinji answered yes as he put on his haori. Sousuke entered wearing an expression that others would have described as neutral but to Shinji, almost looked… forlorn.

"Good call knowin' I was back,"

"Yes. You returned later than expected, captain."

Something about the way he said it was rather unsettling. Shinji warily sat behind his low desk, expecting the piled-up work report. But Sousuke walked right past him to sit right behind, a hand coming around to dip into the brush holder. Shinji had given up convincing his lieutenant that this was not his office. The argument suffered in the light of the fact that Sousuke was the one who always knew where things were – papers, brushes, and other things that Shinji had misplaced. It was as if the lost items were determined to taunt their original owner by magically materializing whenever Sousuke was present. Even now – when Sousuke's hand came up, it held the comb that Shinji had given up on a week ago. How the hell had it gotten itself lodged there?

The comb alighted on his head. There were tangles in his hair from being tied back with the ribbon. The comb went through them, undoing each. Slowly and meticulously.

"Ya don't have to do that."

"I want to."

Something too warm and soft be the legs of a comb pressed against his scalp, dragging a line all the way down to the nape. The fingers picked up a bundle of hair. Shinji felt lightest thumps as the long locks fell from the hold to land on his back.

"Sousuke,"

Shinji half-regretted calling out. Not now. His instinct told him. The air around them felt taut, sharp. But - it'd be the same as now or later. Besides, he might not get a chance for personal conversation for several days – as their busy week wasn't over yet.

"Those cherry blossoms ya've been workin' on, are they finished?"

"Yes. I did not think the time I spent on it had any bearing on division work but – "

"No, no, 'tis fine. I just – Do ya think ya can get some of those trees fer… personal keepin'?"

There was a pause. The comb stilled in his hair. Shinji was about ask again when his lieutenant spoke: "For you?"

The first impulse was to say yes. To lie. Except the lie would be evident. They lived in the same division. It wasn't as if Sousuke wouldn't notice the absence of those cherry blossoms around his personal quarters. The next thought was to give any random name. But Shinji just couldn't picture himself giving such a gift to any of his friends. At least, not those in Seireitei.

And there was the simple fact that he didn't want to lie. Not after what happened between them. Not with Sousuke's fingers in his hair.

So Shinji replied with curt truth.

"No."

Silence. From the edge of his vision, Shinji sighted the comb being gently placed on the desk. There was a rustle as the presence behind him stood up. Then Sousuke was sitting down composedly in front of him, the picture of a proper subordinate.

"Sousuke-"

"The reports from the expedition to the 80th district,"

Shinji's mouth stayed open as Sousuke serenely continued.

"- Ten Menos. Which is no more than the past Hollow activity witnessed in that area. By the way, I've taken the liberty of commending the Fifth Seat of the Seventh Division since –"

And the ten-year old strikes again. "Sousuke-"

"Captain, lieutenant,"

They both turned at the voice, which barked for a permission to enter. As Shinji replied, the owner of the gruff voice roughly slid the door open, revealing the equally gruff face of Third Seat. He conceded to a brief bow towards Shinji before addressing Sousuke.

"I see you caught the captain just in time, lieutenant. Although I'm surprised that you convinced him to stay for work instead of going off again to the Alley,"

Shinji looked at Sousuke, and back to the old man standing at the door. Ah.

"Captain Hirako was already like this when I arrived, Third Seat,"

"Ah, my mistake, then. It is difficult to tell whether he's coming or going just by the state of his attire, you understand,"

"If ya two are finished pretending that yer captain ain't here –"

The two made a show of bowing simultaneously towards their captain. Shinji snorted.

"What's this 'bout, Third Seat?"

"There was an invitation, captain, lieutenant."

The old man rolled out a scroll for them to read. It was from Shinji's former superior, inviting both Shinji and Sousuke to his courtyard that afternoon for the inauguration ceremony of his special cherry blossoms.

"Ah, your supposedly fast-growing, parasitic flowers," – a hiss, like an inward spitting – "Unnatural,"

Third Seat thrust his chin towards the younger man.

"You do like to tinker, don't you, lieutenant? Almost as much as our captain cannot well let alone."

Aizen Sousuke gave one of his rare, knife-thin smiles.

"Well, one is allowed some indulgences. You, of all people, should understand, Third Seat."

"The trick is, lieutenant, to know where to draw the line."

With the brief 'captain' accompanied by a jerk of a nod, Third Seat excused himself. Shinji was sure that the old man's parting remark was directed at him as well.

When the old officer was well out of earshot, Sousuke turned to Shinji with a rueful expression.

"Couldn't you have said something in our defense?"

Shinji huffed.

"Why? It ain't like what he said was wrong."

Three hours later, Shinji found himself perching irritably on an artistically twisted tree root that served as benches in his former superior's courtyard. Timing-wise, it wasn't turning out to be his day. Answering the invitation hadn't even occurred to him but the moment he stepped out of the division barracks for a respite from his officers, he'd been assailed by his former superior. The latter had practically dragged the unfortunate captain to the ceremony.

Shinji was bewildered at the amount of horticultural passion dwelling in Seireitei. There was quite a crowd - apparently excited about the event. (It was strangely understandable to see Lieutenant Sasakibe there.) Shinji maneuvered to the very back, trying to hide among the drooping sleeves of blossoms.

His former superior launched into speech that, if carved in stone, could probably pave a handful of districts in Rukongai. Shinji tuned out the words as he glanced about. He had been impressed with the garden the moment he'd stepped into it, despite himself. What made it more than merely beautiful was that, according to the proud proprietor, most trees here had not started out as cherry blossom trees. Shinji wouldn't have noticed at all apart from the fact that they bloomed in full while their more 'natural' brethren elsewhere still politely waited for the proper announcement of spring.

Shinji looked up. The overhanging canopy of delicate, pinkish white cast a dappled shade over him, dotted with patches of sunlight that dripped through gaps between the piled-up petals. He would ask his former superior again. The man would eventually cave, although it'd be a right bother till then…

Shinji didn't turn when a familiar presence sat down beside him.

"Ye're late than expected."

"I had to finish up a week's worth of paperwork. Because a certain captain left without doing his part."

"Yeah, well, ya can see I'm sufferin' fer it,"

Shinji folded his arms, still not looking at his lieutenant.

Shinji let his mind wander again. So old man Third Seat had seen him coming back from the Wailing Alley and told Sousuke. Which… explained the latter's peculiar state. How Sousuke had made the connection between his request and Mei was a no-brainer, really.

What Shinji wasn't sure about was that Sousuke seemed to go out of his way to pry into the past when any mention of it seemed to tick him off. Shinji was aware of what Sousuke had been doing, even before Hiyori attempted giving him a subtle hint. Except subtlety and Hiyori were mythical beings to each other. Hiyori's effort largely consisted of tossing names and words haphazardly like a child tossing pebbles into water, hoping the next one would skip just a little further. In the end, Hiyori resorted to the tried-and-true method of kicking her friend – it was all his fault for making things awkward, and for making his officers weird.

Shinji felt that it was a little unfair of Sousuke to present it as if Shinji was the one unwilling to divulge the past. After all, Sousuke had never asked him.

And if he did, what would ya tell him?

A hand tugged at his obi.

Shinji frowned. It was one thing for his lieutenant to tidy up his clothing. But no-one adjusted anyone's obi unless one was their mother. Shinji was about to let Sousuke have it when he felt that hand slip under the obi, pushing aside the clothing to slide inside his hakama.

Shinji couldn't react because of sheer incredulity.

In fact, he tried to find a reasonable explanation for his lieutenant's hand rubbing up his thigh. The only one he could come up with was that he'd dozed off and was dreaming. Shinji surreptitiously pinched his arm. The pain didn't convince him as much as the feeling that shot up to his spine when that hand palmed him over the undergarment.

Shinji barely managed to not jump, biting down the gasp. There was no escaping the fact: Aizen Sousuke, the irreproachable officer, was groping his captain in public.

The blond whipped his head to glare at his officer, who was a picture of calm as he kept his gaze forward, as if his whole attention were on the speaker. Except the errant hand kept moving. Stroked gently over that sensitive spot. Tremulous sensation spread over Shinji's body, thinning out to a tickle inside his stomach.

What the Hell do ya think ye're doin', Shinji was about to say. But they were too close. His nose almost grazed Sousuke's neck. When Shinji opened his mouth, the latter's warmth invaded in, snuffing out his furious words. Sousuke's fingers strayed over to where the thigh began, carefully going over that fold of skin. Shinji had to stifle a yelp behind his hand when one finger slipped inside the undergarment and brushed over his throbbing flesh. He was now leaning on Sousuke, his body too taut to support itself, toes curling, breathing in deeply.

He sensed Sousuke lower his head, mouth touching his earlobe. He rolled his eyes to the side. Caught the blurry sight of brown curls, edge of glasses. A whisper trickled into his ear.

"… Let's get out of here."

Shinji felt a tinge of satisfaction that the younger man's breath felt hotter than usual, a bit hoarse.

The speaker had turned to address the screen of cherry blossoms behind him. The hand retreated and Sousuke pulled him up. Shinji wobbled as the latter whirled him around. Shinji felt heavy below his abdomen, as if filled with liquid that pulled him down each step and the rest of his body floated shakily upon it.

The walk began slow and silent, so that no-one would notice two stooping backs getting away. But once they had ducked under cover of lined trees, they broke into a trot. Sousuke kept a firm grip on Shinji's wrist and Shinji was reminded of a certain night, years ago. Except that time, when they were running down the Wailing Alley, their positions were reversed…

Sousuke led him to what Shinji assumed to be the back corner of the courtyard. There was a walled-off area, through which Sousuke went in without stopping, a brief light flashing by as he made a gesture with his hand, a kido lock deactivating.

If someone had looked down from above, it'd have been as if some giant had rolled up a ball of cherry blossoms and the two had plunged inside it.

Shinji blinked and tried to shake the too-bright colors out of his eyes. Cherry blossoms enveloped them - up over and all around – blotting out the sky itself. Shinji gave into a cough fit. It felt as if an invisible fist made of distilled fragrance was shoved into his throat and nostrils. He stumbled and thought he'd stepped over a pit. Then he realized that their feet sank into layered piles of fallen petals, like trudging through thick snow.

The garden they left behind – it'd been carefully sculpted, each branch immaculately groomed, flawlessly set up like demure May brides. This was nothing like it. There was too much to be beautiful. Overhanging branches frothed in all shades of white and pink. Fluttering blossoms rubbed and piled up over each other obscenely. Shinji was reminded of a summer fireworks festival he'd once attended. Near the end, the staff had dispensed with the elaborate performance and had thrown every remaining firework all at once – lighting up the night sky. Unpretentious, uncoordinated and monstrous. The lights had exploded all around Shinji, sparks smashing into his very body.

"Wha – " Shinji barely managed to sound out. His lieutenant actually graced it with a slightly breathless reply: "Tree nursery, doubling as an experiment field,"

Sure enough, Shinji could see here and there, glimpses of dark trees limbs. Many unfortunate trunks barely held their ground, creaking under the weight of many-blossomed branches, looking like a victim of multiple stabbing twisting in the throes of pain. While their torturers siphoned the bleeding sap and squirted out gouts of congealed fragrance.

Broken bodies speared to the wall, slippery with red flow -

"Yes, it's awful."

With that, Sousuke abruptly halted and spun his captain around, crushing their mouths together. The rim of the glasses pressed into those of their eyelids. There was fumbling and the glasses dropped unceremoniously among the flower-heap.

They only had a moment's respite to take a brief, wet breath. Then their mouths closed upon each other again, as if that hair's breadth of space between them were a coiled spring drawing them violently back together. Shinji gripped Sousuke hard to support both of them. He had to, for Sousuke was too busy undoing his captain's obi. When the kosode fell open, Sousuke's hand traveled up to Shinji's chest, palm flattening over the spider-web scar. Long fingers pressed hard as if to stretch out the scrunched-up skin. Sousuke's mouth released Shinji's to trail down the chin, the throat, down to the nipple between the veins of hardened tissues. Shinji breathed in a moan at the feel of hot tongue, the bud stiffening at the hint of teeth, flinched as the other nipple was pinched. Then that hand snaked downwards. Shinji shuddered at the feel of hakama sliding down his legs along with his undergarment. Sousuke didn't bother with the upper clothing. Perhaps intentionally. For the hem of kosode brushing against Shinji's naked thigh only emphasized how bare he was, how exposed.

Sousuke's hand roughly rubbed down Shinji's stomach, to his hips, until it cupped the hardness between his legs. Then Sousuke tugged Shinji close to him so that the latter could feel the other's arousal against his stomach.

Sousuke brought them down on their knees. The heap under them was damp with dew and sap. Sousuke kept Shinji's legs apart and Shinji shivered as petals licked at the sensitive flesh like thousands of ghostly tongues.

Sousuke pulled off his captain's sandals, the tabi. Kissed the ankles, pressing a little painfully on the jutting bones. He then pushed Shinji onto his back, arranging his body like a sacrifice, upper clothing riding up so that the lower body was in direct contact with the flowers underneath.

Shinji had read the phrase 'tumble-among-the-flowers' in a book – Thank you, Lisa – but he'd never imagined he'd ever participate in it. He might die of shame later on. But right now -

Sousuke's hands dug deep into the heap below to lift Shinji's hips, together with flowers. Parting the cheeks of his buttocks so that the petals rubbed intimately into that area hidden inside the crease. As he twitched and moaned, Shinji wondered if some of the petals actually got inside of him.

Sousuke bit the quivering flesh of the belly. His nails scratched the hair at the junction of thighs that he spread wider. Shinji's pants changed to a shout of surprise as his legs were suddenly lifted, draped over the other's shoulders. Then he felt wet heat along his inner thighs, up to the base of his erection, over his heavy balls, just tantalizingly avoiding that part that begged for stimulation. Just the sight of that brown-curled head buried between his legs was enough to tip Shinji over the edge. Shinji groaned and pushed the back of his head into the soft heap, fingers squeezing juices out of flower-flesh as his body moved helplessly.

"Ah!"

Shinji couldn't help the unbidden exclamation when Sousuke's mouth engulfed him fully. His pelvis was off the ground and he couldn't even thrust properly while his body was wrecked with assaulting sensations. It wasn't exactly as Lisa's lewd books had described the act. It seemed less about causing pleasure as it was tasting the other's body, trying to sate one's hunger through this mock-act of devouring.

Shinji's arms wildly flailed about, unable to find an anchor, and fell fist-down, frustrated. "Sousuke – ha, ah-" Shinji managed in between labored breaths, "Sousuke-!"

A heel sharply kicking the broad back finally warranted attention. Dangerous, for he'd felt his lieutenant's teeth upon him at that moment.

The ruffled brown head came up. Glazed eyes rested over Shinji's. It was an infuriatingly childlike expression. Then a tongue ran over glistening lips, marring the picture.

"Sousuke, I don't want to,"

A puzzled look flitted over that visage, to soon gave way to that of impending disappointment. Similar to the expression Shinji had seen before on another face, years ago. Shinji quickly scrambled up and cupped his lieutenant's head in his hands, kissing him to dispel the wrong assumption. "Not all over yer face," he whisper-laughed over the mouth that tasted of him, felt those lips loosen into a smile.

When Shinji was sure the other was assuaged, he pulled back to prop himself up on his elbows. Cold rushed in between his legs. Shinji twisted his hips, burrowing into the flower heap to cover his moistened flesh under. Or perhaps it was a flight response. After all, that particular part of him had just possibly escaped being eaten. Sousuke watched him with amusement.

"You look like some wild spirit," Sousuke spoke as he draped himself over Shinji again, "luring hapless victims to devour them,"

Shinji tutted. It really was an unfounded accusation. He wasn't the one doing the devouring just now.

But as long as his impertinent subordinate had said it –

Shinji slid his legs up the other's. Wound it over his waist to thrust up at him. Sousuke readily ground down as Shinji wrapped his arms around Sousuke's neck as if to kiss him again.

Then he locked his limbs tight and flipped them both around.

-he might as well live up to it.

Sousuke seemed genuinely surprised at the sudden change in their positions. Shinji grinned as he settled comfortably atop the younger man. He stroked the brown curls, mussing them further before sweeping them up the brow, the other hand untying the knot of the shihakusho.

"Ya know, fer such a diligent officer who's so quick with his hands…"

Shinji nuzzled at the other's neck, whose deep breathing vibrated up his hips.

"…ye're remarkably negligent regardin' yer own state of undress."

Shinji pushed the garment aside, ran his hands slowly over the revealed flesh. He already knew this body to be unblemished and smooth. It still unnerved him. Shinji was used to people carrying evidences of their past on their bodies. Himself with his scars. Hiyori with that white mark on her left shin, remnant of a nasty fall from the olden days. Kensei with his angry welt on his right shoulder from a Hollow bite that he claimed still ached on rainy days. Tenjou Soichiro, with red lashes across his back, that knotted flesh across his stomach -

It was as if Aizen Sousuke was molded in a vacuum, without any past, brought to a perfect existence at a certain point in time. Shinji never remembered him to take injury or bleed. He wondered if that slash caused by his own zanpakuto on that night was the first wound he'd ever suffered –

He knew it couldn't be true. But the thought caused a twinge in his gut.

Shinji bent over and licked a line down across the other's chest, went down until his chin came against the edge of Sousuke's hakama. Shinji pulled at it. Sousuke helped, hastily pushing down his hakama until it bunched off messily at his ankles. Scandalous for such an impeccable officer. But Sousuke didn't seem to care as he reached up to draw his captain's long hair around them. His hands swept under Shinji's remaining clothing to run down his back, descending each bump of the spine, the dip at the waist, kneading his buttocks.

Shinji slowly slipped down along those nimble hands, down to the pelvis and licked an agonizingly slow line along the hard length, firmly pressing down the convulsing hips. Then he flopped down with his cheek against the other's erection. He felt the frustrated shift of the body below and grinned, determined to take his time.

Shinji let his hand wander between those legs - poking at the folds of responsive skin underneath while he nibbled at the soft hair that tickled his face, enjoying the feel of desperate movement beneath him, the deep groans that seeped directly into his bones, the pulse that beat through the swollen length pressed flush against his face. Shinji drank in the warm smell, salty and raw, a piercing note amidst the cold sweetness that permeated the air. His fingers traced along that hot, silky flesh, kissing the wet tip. He pressed closer, so that his own hardness was against Sousuke's leg. He moved along with Sousuke. Flowers crushed to a mulch between their undulating bodies.

Shinji then closed his mouth over the other's arousal. Sucking experimentally –

The reaction was immediate. There was a sharp heave, and the hard tip hit the back of his throat. There was a growl and Shinji felt hands grasp at his hair. At the same time, the pressure inside his mouth receded as Sousuke shifted his hips down. When Shinji was sure he was no longer gagging, he drew back a little but didn't let go. There was a slight pull at his scalp and Sousuke let out a shuddering breath.

"Captain, Captain... Hirako, I want to see your face,"

Shinji hummed as if considering, fully knowing that Sousuke was trembling with the effort of trying to not thrust deep into his mouth and choke him.

After one hard suck that caused another harsh jerk of hips, Shinji complied. He brought himself up, as slow as he went down. Making sure Sousuke's soaked arousal trailed all over his body – rubbing against his hardened nipple, pressing into his navel, pushing against his own painful erection.

Sousuke seized Shinji to draw him into another hungry kiss. They writhed together, their heat mingling. There was a sheen of sweat all over Sousuke now, gathered thick along the dip of his collarbone and lines of muscles. The tang of it stung Shinji's tongue as he mouthed down his lieutenant's chest.

Shinji sat up to straddle his lieutenant. Planted his knees on either side of the younger man's hips, balancing on them, capturing the latter's swollen length between his inner thighs.

Then Shinji began to move earnestly. The other's moist and hard flesh clenched fast one moment, then released with just enough give for sliding through the tightness of his thighs. Repeat. In and out, in and out. Sometimes it chafed unbearably against the underside of his own arousal. Shinji could feel Sousuke's hoarse voice and the beat of his heart directly shooting up between his legs, setting his whole nerves a-thrumming. Soon their panting breaths were in sync as was the up-and-down movement of their bodies.

Shinji shifted a few times so that that the other's heat pushed between his buttocks. That near-penetration set his insides on fire, made his bones ache. Judging by how Sousuke nearly lifted Shinji along with his thrusts, he wasn't wholly unaffected.

Shinji flicked a glance to see his lieutenant's rare flushed face. Eyes shimmering with something like ravenous urgency. The look pinned him. A mixture of fascination, fear, and desire ramming through. Too much, too much. He needed to do something to break from its hold.

He put a finger on the head of the thrusting length. He poked at the dip in the center and the viscous fluid flooded the empty crescent between his fingertip and the nail -

Shinji raked his nail down.

Sousuke snapped his head back, gave a loud groan, body arching so that Shinji could see skin stretching taut over the ribcage. Then liquid heat splattered all over Shinji's thighs. It sent such a flash of ecstasy throughout the whole of his body that Shinji bent over, overwhelmed.

Shinji didn't see Sousuke surging up to take him.

Shinji was suddenly thrown against Sousuke – now sitting up – nose pressed painfully into the other's collarbone. His own neglected hardness– almost to the point of bursting – was wrapped in Sousuke's hand. Sousuke's other hand ran over Shinji's legs, smearing his own seed, reaching behind.

Sousuke's hand started moving, and Shinji helplessly thrust into the hole of his fist. Muffling cries on the other's throat as the cruel hand pumped, tightened, or a finger rubbed just roughly enough. The fingers behind him probed into the cleft of his buttocks, just short of breaching. Shinji could feel them spread the slickness over the folded skin inside. And the memory of how it felt when Sousuke had first entered him rushed in – the burn of it -

Sousuke's mouth dipped down to swallow Shinji's cry as he came.

They sat leaning against each other, sure that they'd collapse otherwise. Getting their breaths back even as their bodies gave off little spasms as the remnant of lust still buzzed along their skin.

Sousuke stroked Shinji's hair that hung heavily around them, sticking to their skin. He was the first one to speak.

"It's a pity that this place mutes your own scent,"

"…Hmm?"

Sousuke held Shinji a little apart so the confused captain could see his smile.

"That sweetness, it thickens when you're like this,"

Shinji didn't dare ask what 'this' referred to, exactly. Sousuke peeled a petal off Shinji's inner thigh and licked it off his finger like one would sweet-crumbs.

"I can almost taste it off your skin, like nectar,"

Shinji blinked, not knowing what to say. He wondered whether his previous lovers were just too polite or too embarrassed to ever mention this fact, or whether Sousuke (Hell, perhaps Sakanade) was just messing with him.

Fortunately, Shinji didn't have to respond because Sousuke turned him so that he was hugging Shinji from the back. Sousuke adjusted Shinji's clothes over them to reclaim some semblance of respectability. But Sousuke didn't bother to tidy up his own uniform. Instead using Shinji's body as his cover. So beneath the volume of clothes, Shinji's behind was against Sousuke's groin. And Sousuke's hands were between Shinji's spread legs, caressing the tender area.

Shinji sighed and settled back. The blossom-bed they sat on was now warm. He'd have to upturn the area they had their little 'tumble' over before they left, so that the… unsullied petals covered the evidence. Because while he didn't have much warm feelings towards his former superior, the poor unsuspecting man didn't deserve to walk over this.

Breath from the back tickled Shinji's ear.

"You can take as many saplings as you want from here. I'll give you instructions for them,"

And I suppose the best time to make the offer was while fondlin' my balls. Thought Shinji, perhaps a tad ungraciously.

"…Thanks," muttered Shinji in a low voice, "won't the man –"

"I'll tell him later on. I have this much privilege over these plants, anyway,"

Shinji made a noncommittal noise. He was glad he wasn't facing his lieutenant, and that his hair hid the blush that shot up to his ear. He realized just what these blossoms would remind him of from now on.

Just to let off a bit of steam, Shinji drawled: "So, did ya just coerce me into usin' sex to pay ya back?"

Shinji yelped when the large hand squeezed. He turned to scowl at his subordinate, who returned the look with an utterly peaceful one. After a futile moment of glowering, Shinji turned away.

"Suppose I deserved that,"

A breeze set up a tornado petals dancing around them. Some latched onto their already petal-smudged forms.

"I hear ya've been doing some diggin' for old stories,"

The presence at his back said nothing.

"Hadn't taken ya fer the type to pick at scabs,"

"Is it a scab to you, captain?"

Sousuke's hand brushed just above the scar they both knew.

Silence reigned for a minute. Then Shinji spoke, a little hesitant than he'd have liked.

"I thought ya didn't care to know,"

"I want to know, it's just – "

Shinji felt Sousuke bury his face in the long locks. The next words were spoken against his nape, through wisps of hair.

"I don't want to hear it from you."

Shinji blinked again. Opened his mouth, shut it, and managed: "Ya know, most people mean it the other way 'round?"

There was a chuckle. The next words were pressed more firmly into his skin.

"When I hear about it from you, that'd make it a part of you, and –"

Sousuke broke off. Shinji was sure this was the first time he heard his lieutenant fail to finish a sentence, outside of the times Shinji had interrupted him. Too bad the atmosphere didn't lend itself to teasing.

So instead, Shinji took Sousuke's hand in his. Stroked it as Sousuke had done – days ago, hands riding up under his sleeves.

For long minutes, no words were exchanged. Only the slow movements of their touches rippled along the stillness.

When the next gust of wind set the trees singing, Shinji shook himself from near-doze.

"We should get goin'. Now, those saplin's –"

"First, we should look for my glasses."

"'We?' Ye're the one that tossed 'em away so carelessly!"

"I'm sure you knocked them off, captain."

In the end, they managed to find the glasses buried quite deep right under them, miraculously unscathed. It provided an excuse for their less-than-commendable appearance when they made it back to the Fifth Division barracks.

Unfortunately, Mashiro and Kensei were there to fix the joint training schedule. And their eyes widened as they took in the flower-drenched state of their colleagues. Before either Shinji or Sousuke could offer explanation, the green-haired shinigami shouted just where had they managed to find cherry blossoms this early in the season, and how dare they have that much fun without inviting them.

It was just as well that Shinji's face was hidden behind an armful of blossoms.

Whew! Barely managed to complete this chapter before the cherry blossoms are all gone. :)

About the summer festival fireworks part, that's actually from my own experience. Still the best fireworks I've ever seen.