Hey, yeah...sorry for the long wait between chapters. Since school's started I've been swamped! (3 writing classes lots of portfolio projects) However, it has been nice to sit down and finish this chapter. I hope it's worth the wait.

Warning: Mega-cliffhanger!! evil laugh

please enjoy!

"That was quite a turn-about," Urahara teased as he closed the bathroom door and took in the sight of the naked and aroused young vizard before him.

Ichigo glared, as it was all he could manage. There were so many thoughts and feelings rushing through his being, some of which he wasn't sure were his, that forming any sort of verbal parry was beyond him.

"Don't worry. I won't make you talk about it." When the young soul reaper gave a sigh of relief, he continued. "If curiosity gets the better of me, I can always just scan his memories."

The teen sighed again, this time in exasperation. "What now?" he asked nervously. He was already shaking again.

"My dear boy, that's up to you. I think I've made enough decisions for you today. Why don't you do what you like for a while?"

Without skipping a beat, his first thought was, "Go find Shinji." his inner monologue in stereo with that of the hollow. He shook his head 'no', "I can't go outside like this…even if it is to find him," he mentally argued.

The hollow growled and tried to take control but to no avail. "Then get his ass over here!" it demanded.

Ichigo shook his head again, not really realizing how it would look if he kept shaking his head like that, but before he could continue the argument, the older man spoke again.

"You seem to have a strange habit of coming to my home to do naughty things with other people," he pointed out, sporting the same sly and mildly jealous look he wore earlier, when they were 'sipping tea'.

The orange-haired vizard paused for half a moment while he made eye contact, just to make sure he really wanted to do what he was about to do. When Urahara's lips parted to speak again, no doubt something that was worded to sound like he was trying to be helpful but was really meant to rile him up, he grabbed the green collar and shoved the older man into the wall.

The former captain made a small sound of surprise before giving into the lips that were quickly descending upon his own. He felt more than heard the teen growl as he pressed their bodies together.

A few minutes later, Ichigo had to pull away so that he could catch his breath, having already come once from just rubbing their bodies together and staining the older man's clothes, not that he cared. After such a display, he couldn't bring himself to look anyone in the eye, let alone this man, so he buried his face in the crook of the shopkeeper's neck and continued his affections there, kissing, nuzzling, even biting a little.

"Perhaps we could take this back to the bedroom? It is much more comfortable there," he suggested, his tone only slightly chiding as he tried to lead them back down the hallway.

Ichigo, however, had other plans and stopped him by pressed him even more harshly into the wall, "No. I'm not gunna let you tease me anymore," the teen informed, his tone eerily even all things considered.

"Why, I haven't been teasing you," the former captain argued, unable to hide the amusement in his tone as he, once again, tried to maneuver them back to his room.

"You are a terrible liar, Shinji was right," Ichigo mused while trying to hold the man in place while stripping him, a difficult task in itself.

"There you go, talking about him again…"

Ichigo growled again for being called out. "The way you keep saying that makes me think that I do need him to get over this."

"Oh? Perhaps you only need him because you think you do," he suggested.



That's when the teen gave a dark chuckle and dragged the man to the ground while pulling his pants down, "We're gunna find out." He grabbed Urahara beneath his knees and tried to push himself inside.

In an act of greater desperation than he's like to admit, Urahara grabbed his cane and used it to strike the young man. He didn't hit him very hard, but it was between the eyes and enough to cause him to pause. However it wasn't long enough to really do anything. Actually, once the teen regained his bearings, he only became more aggressive, forcing him to take more drastic action. "Ichigo!" he scolded as he rolled them over, pinning the young man in the corner where the floor and wall met.

Ichigo fought him with every fiber of his being. "I can't take it anymore! Stop teasing me!" Now, he sounded as angry as he was desperate.

The shopkeeper had to use a significant amount of his strength to keep his guest in place. "I'm not teasing you," he repeated this time with actual conviction.

"Then why aren't we…?" Ichigo trailed off when his writhing body finished the sentence for him.

"If you finally think you have the balls to stick it to me, I'm not gunna let you do it without lube," he informed while grabbing the young vizard by the wrists and starting to drag him down the hall.

That was all Ichigo needed to hear, jerking himself free only to grab the shopkeeper and finish the job for him, but at a much greater speed. He didn't bother closing the door before throwing the older man onto the bed. To the blonde's surprise, the teen made for the bedside stand, where the lubricant had been pulled from the last time.

"Turn over," Ichigo ordered as he popped the cap.

"You are so bossy!" Urahara mock-complained, trying to reach for his cane once again.

Ichigo immediately stopped him and turned him over himself. Then, he took the cane and slid it under the bed.

"She's not gunna like that," Urahara warned.

"She can punish me later," he sneered. "She's not a part of this." He had no more words after that as he was positioning himself to find release within another once again.

Urahara, on the other hand, always had more words but his were cut off as he was impaled without any real warning. Instead, he simply started moaning and groaning but when Ichigo reached for his erection, long neglected, he had to say something. "No, don't touch me there," he slapped the hand away, "my fun will end too soon."

The orange-haired teen moved his hand back to the man's hips, "You've already had too much fun," he informed through gritted teeth as he used all his strength to burry himself over and over again. "U-Urah…" he mumbled as he came.

"Please, call me Kisuke," the blonde panted.

Somehow, Ichigo managed to flip the man beneath him over without withdrawing completely. He could finally stand to face him. "Thank you, K-K-ah…Ki-Kisu…," he whined, barely able to hold onto the other man as his eyes rolled back and he bucked even harder.

"Kisu works too…actually, I like that better." Ever since his adolescence, when Yuroichi pointed it out to him, he always like that the shortened version of his name sounded like kissy sounds.

That was it, there were no more coherent thoughts, let alone words, after that point, only cries of pleasure, pleas for more. Urahara held back as best he could but the young vizard's relentless pace forced him over the edge, dragging Ichigo into his fourth orgasm as he came, his 

erection untouched. The pressure was so great that some even splattered onto his chest and the teen was quick to lean over and lap up the bits he could get to without stopping.

The shopkeeper gave a surprised look at the way the young man hungrily lapped up the cum decorating his heated skin.

Ichigo saw the look and gave a reply that would have made the older man hard if he hadn't just had an enormous release, "I like the way you taste." It was said with such genuine and effortless affection that he was allowed to come one more time inside the blonde before he was forced to stop. Not that it required much force, simply drawing the young man into an inescapably warm embrace, preventing him from further thrusting.

"That was amazing." He kissed Ichigo on the lips for emphasis.

The teen gave a stupid smile in response before growing awkward. "More…" he barely said.

"Excuse me?" the shopkeeper asked with both disbelief and knowing.

"More," he repeated more forcefully, "I need more!" He tried to pull away so that he could continue and when he was prohibited from doing so, he balled his hand up into a fist and aimed it at the man's temple.

The blow was easily deflected. "Ichigo!" Urahara didn't really want to raise his voice but he was getting the impression it was necessary.

Ichigo froze.

"Are you really willing to resort to violence for this?" he demanded, forcing eye contact.

The teen began to shake. "You're gunna have to stop me then," he tried again and was again easily stopped.

The shopkeeper gave a sigh of exasperation before flitting to the other side of the room, leaving Ichigo with nothing to lean on.

Ichigo would have fallen on his face if he hadn't already started toward the man.

As quickly as he could, Urahara pulled a length of rope from his closet. He turned back just in time to catch the feverish young vizard, trip him, and pin him well enough to tie his wrists to his ankles.

"Oh god, no! What are you doing! Stop! This isn't funny! Stop messing around!" Ichigo panicked and tried to thrash about. His strength was beginning to wane even if his arousal was not.

Once the young man was firmly bound, he tossed him onto the bed where he continued to struggle, yell, and swear. This was no deterrent, as the blonde cleaned up his guest and then himself. Ichigo struggled but was afraid to yell too much for fear he would be gagged. It was only a few minutes later that Urahara was no longer cleaning. Instead, he was distracted by the countless marks that marred the young soul reaper's flesh.

Ichigo wanted to ask not to be scrutinized so closely but he was afraid of what would happen if he did. There was no telling what the shopkeeper would do. His breathing actually began to level out a little until the blonde's fingers traced the mark on his inner thigh. Then he tried to pull away but because of his bindings, it did no good.

"You lied to me, Kurosaki-kun," he pointed out with a mocking grin. When he didn't receive a reply, he took the teen's chin in one hand and forced eye contact.

"So?" Ichigo finally snarled.

"I don't appreciate that you know," he chided.

"I don't appreciate being tied up," he shot back.



"Fair enough," the shopkeeper shrugged, letting go of the young man's face to focus his attention on the mark again.

"Besides, it's got nothing to do with you."

Urahara didn't reply to that until after he moved behind Ichigo to look at the mark on his shoulder blade. "These are both hollow bites but they aren't from the same hollow."

Then, it was Ichigo's turn to not say anything.

"But they mean the same thing, don't they?" Urahara continued, his lips only millimeters from Grimmjaw's mark. Where Shinji had mistaken that one for a fight-bite, Urahara deduced the truth.

"They don't mean anything," Ichigo finally said through gritted teeth.

"You mean they didn't tell you?" for once the older man sounded surprised.

"They told me what it meant to them…" the teen managed. His erection was throbbing madly with ever beat of his heart. "This torture, I fucking hate you!"

"I see," the shopkepper gave an impressed nod that went unappreciated. "Who were they?" he pressed, letting his curiosity and advantage over the young soul reaper get the better of his compassion.

Ichigo simply shook his head 'no'.

"If you tell me," he reached an arm around the teen's waist and threatened to touch his erection, "I'll make you come again."

The hollow raging within Ichigo responded immediately to that, "Surrender their names, now!" it ordered and became more enraged when the teen remained silent, aside from whimpers of denied pleasure.

"You'll try to force yourself on me violently but you won't tell me two little names? You do know their names, right?"

Ichigo nodded in affirmation, hoping that small truth would earn him some sort of reward, but it did not.

"Were they male or female?"

"Don't make me talk about this!" Ichigo suddenly began to struggle frantically again.

Urahara turned the young man around in his lap so as to look him in the eyes while posing his next question, "Would you like me to heal them for you?"

At that, there was an eerie moment of clarity for Ichigo. "Would you do that for me?" His voice was meek, his eyes held the slightest hint of lucidness, and he seemed to be practically holding his breath waiting for a response.

"Would you tell me who took your innocence in exchange?"

"I don't see what it matters! Isn't there anything else?" Ichigo pleaded as he wiggled helplessly in the former captain's grasp.

As much as he wanted to know who had marred his young friend, the soul reaper was quickly losing his sense of self once again. "Would you allow me to leave a mark of my own in the place of my choosing?"

"You'd really want to do that?" he mumbled, too dazed to realize that the shopkeeper had already started healing the scar on his shoulder.

"I'll admit, just this once," because he knew at this point, it was very likely the teen would not be able to remember much, if any, of what was said during their exchanges, "that there is a certain draw to leaving a small mark on a lover for them to remember you by."



"Of course I'd let you. I'd rather that to these ugly reminders," Ichigo felt himself regaining his sense bit by bit. It wasn't enough to relieve him of his 'condition' but he would take whatever he could get at this point.

Urahara didn't make the young man speak any more after that, already quite impressed with how well he was responding to his desperate situation. He didn't bother telling Ichigo that the marks on his skin weren't healing because they were infected and not with bacteria, with hollow energy. He simply used kido to clean and mend the skin to its former perfection. When he was satisfied, he crawled back round his captive. He wanted to tell the orange-haired vizard wriggling on his bed that his hollow's raietsu was most likely being augmented by the hollow energy that festered in the wounds but he needed to know for sure first.

The mark on his thigh tingled and burned as the energy was extracted. "Thank you, Kisuke…" he mumbled, his head rolling back and forth as he came.

Urahara gave the restored patch of skin a tender kiss and then, he turned to leave.

"Where are you going? Don't leave me, please!" Ichigo pleaded.

"I don't have your stamina. I need a break and I don't think I'll get one if I don't leave you alone for a few minutes. There's no need to worry, I'll return shortly," he said sweetly before retreating from view. As he suspected, the teen continued his protests but only for so long.

Seeing that Kon was finished with the bathroom, and apparently took the time to clean it up a bit, a much appreciated gesture, he ducked in there to catch his breath and clean himself up. After that, he went looking for the mod soul and was pleased to see that he didn't decide to stay. He made a mental note to 'borrow' the mod soul in order to scan his memories as he'd threatened.

He stopped a moment to listen and after hearing no fuss, he decided to clear his tea table and actually start a load of laundry before returning to the young man.

Shinji's day wasn't as active but almost as stressful. After a night of pleasingly erotic dreams he awoke to the sensation of someone rudely prodding at his cock. He gave an indignant whine and cracked an eye before nearly jumping out of his skin. Quickly, he covered his lap, more for protection than decency, "What do you want?" he glared at the short blonde girl sneering down at him.

"Oohh, Ichi!" she mocked, "Ichi! Ichi!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Don' blame me, they were just tired of listin' to ya," She motioned in the general direction of the others.

Shinji frowned. "Sorry…"

"Don't be such a bitch. You gunna go get 'em?" She asked with marked interest.

"No." he answered firmly.

"What if he finds you?"

"I don't know…" he grumbled.

"Heh, I know what that means."

"Hyori, please, don't do this right now."

She managed not to laugh at him. "No, you need to hear this. You won't be able to put up a fight. You'll just let him fuck you stupid and leave you even worse off without saying a 

fucking word," she spat. His obviously guilty speechlessness annoyed her so much that she left without so much as a backward glance.

Immediately, he rolled onto his side and started regretfully touching himself, as visions of a certain orange-haired vizard still danced (at times, quite literally) through his head. He longed to see that perfectly handsome face taut with pleasure. He desperately wanted to hear Ichigo's voice cry out for him. But more than anything he craved the intoxicating feeling of the other vizard's raietsu wilding mixing with his own.

A couple hours later, he joined his comrades for lunch. "Where's Hyori?" he asked suspiciously.

"She left just a little bit ago," Love answered as he dished up a plate for his blonde friend.

Shinji frowned.

"What?" the larger man prompted.

"Did she say where she was going?"

That was when Lisa decided to butt in, "She didn't say where she was going but she did leave right after we talked about Ichigo…"

Shinji winced.

Seeing the myriad of emotions plaguing his long-time friend, Kensai decided to say something. "We talked it over and if what you said about him is true, he should be fine. As long as he doesn't come looking for you, this should all blow over without incident. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you; Hyori is probably just going to keep an eye on him. You know how she is."

"You're probably right," Shinji sighed, slightly relieved by his friend's reassurances until that friend's former lieutenant started speaking.

"What's so great about Berry-tan anyway?" Moshiro half-teased, but only because she was half-paying attention.

Shinji let his mind go back to Ichigo. Even his name was adorable. He was the only person Shinji had ever met that had as much kindness in his heart as he did strength in his soul, if not more. Of course, that wasn't something he was about to share. "He may be somewhat inexperienced but don't let him fool you. That kid knows what he's doing."

"Really?" Lisa queried with an evil glint in her eye.

"Wouldn't you like to know," the blonde sniped in as snotty a tone as he could manage.

"Perhaps I'll go find out for myself…" the spectacled woman continued to taunt and then giggled when the former captain visibly tensed.

"Knock it off, Lisa," Kensei ordered in a threatening tone.

They were just starting the dishes from lunch when Hyori finally returned. She looked much less sure of herself than when she left but at the same time, she appeared somewhat relieved.

"Well?" Lisa demanded as soon as the short-tempered young girl approached.

Hyori made sure to take in the faces of her comrades before answering. Of course, there was one in particular that she was really interested in. "Well what?" she finally replied.

"You know what," Moshiro teasingly prompted, "How's Berry-tan doing?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I went out for ice cream 'cause Love's cookin' makes me gag." She made an expression of distaste for emphasis. Hyori disliked lying to her friends like that 

but, over time, she'd come to learn that there were certain things best discussed in private, no matter how closely knit their group happened to be. However, having to wait to give her friend the update was almost more than she could bear, as she had been chomping at the bit all the way back to the warehouse.

Hyori ended up having to wait over an hour to talk to Shinji. She sat down next to him on a large boulder. They bullshitted for quite some time before Hyori broached the subject. Sure, she had been anxious to tell her friend what he so badly wanted to know, but she wanted to have a real conversation with him first. She knew it was selfish, but she didn't really care. As far as she was concerned they were all pretty selfish and he all but avoided her when he was like this. "You wanna know how that orange-haired retard is doin'?" It was as much a statement as it was a question when she finally spoke it.

He didn't look at her, he couldn't. "What do you think…" he grumbled.

"You were right; he's fine," she informed with as even a tone as possible, knowing that it was something of a double-edged sword.

Shinji gave a bitter smile, "I'm happy to hear that." As much as it was a relief to know that Ichigo wasn't going to suffer the way they had, there was a pang in his heart that he recognized as festering unrequited feelings. He could hardly admit it to himself, which made telling anyone else impossible, but there was a portion of him that wanted Ichigo to feel the way that he did and it only added to the guilt that already weighed on him.

"He's still thinking about you though," she added carefully and was rewarded when her friend's smile turned from bitter into something more genuine.

"Really?"

She gave a wicked little chuckle, "Yeah. I saw his thing move in his pants when I said your name."

"Really?" he blushed.

"Is that all you can say?"

"What did you expect?" he pushed off the rock and landed several feet away.

She was quick to join him. "You said you were gunna tell'em," she grabbed his arm and pull him around to face her.

"I reconsidered." The taller blonde jerked away.

"He should know," the shorter insisted, a little louder than she intended.

"Not if it doesn't affect him," he continued to defend.

"Well, I think it does," she had more but was cut off.

"As do I," Kensei agreed suddenly.

"K-Kensei," Shinji shifted, even more nervous than before. The sight of his previous lover disturbed him almost as much as the absences of his current infatuation.

"Back off, Hyori," the white-haired man orderd.

She stood her ground.

"You did good, now let me take it from here," he gave her a look that left no room for arguments, one that she'd learned from experience not to challenge.

"I was done with this asshole anyway," she stormed off.

When she was gone, Kensei turned to Shinji. "You need to tell him."

"But what if it doesn't affect him? I don't really feel like explaining myself to him if he's not gunna understand." Shinji picked up a rock and threw it as far as he could. "Besides, Hyori said he's still thinking about me but that he's got plans with someone else. Showing up and making him worry about it will probably only make it worse, ya know?"



Kensei, though reluctant, understood his friend's point of view. "At least go check on him. He should have started to get better by now." He looked down at his watch for emphasis. It was already past the end of the school day and if the young vizard really did have plans, they should have started already.

Shinji rolled his eyes.

"You could always ask someone else to do it," he reminded in a chiding voice, "if you don't think you could keep your hands off him."

Shinji sneered.

"I don't know if you're aware, but there's no shortage of volunteers," he taunted, moving a little closer. "I even considered sitting the young man down for a nice…heart-to-heart."

"I'm sure," he turned away.

"Does that mean you'll do it?" the white-haired man quickly closed the gap between their bodies and reveled in his blonde comrade's nearly shaking form.

"This isn't fair!" Shinji whined. These things usually seemed to have the worst effects on him out of all of them and it wasn't uncommon for the others to take advantage of that.

"Hey, you're the one who went to him, right?" Kensei reminded bitterly. "Shouldn't you at least go and make sure you didn't cause any real damage?"

That was what caused Shinji to push away, a sad sort of chuckle bubbling up from him as he did. "Kensei, my dear, that 'young man' was already quite damaged when I found him."

"That doesn't give you the excuse to ignore him. We've learned to deal with you being all hot-and-cold. He barely knows you." That wasn't to say that those that he was intimately involved with didn't still suffer because of it. They just learned to accept it as they had many other things.

Shinji gave a sigh of resignation because he knew his friend was right. "It's funny that you're the one telling me this," he commented.

"Actually, they sent me over here to distract you while Lisa goes to check on your little boyfriend. You see, she won the rock-paper-scissors tournament." He closed the gaps between their bodies and nuzzled Shinji's neck. "Is it working?"