A/N: Sorry for the slight delay, but I had a few days worth of writer's block with part of this chapter being really annoying to write and although the chapter is shorter than usual I think it turned out pretty well. Thanks as always to all my amazing reviewers, you continue to inspire me to keep writing!

Disclaimer: Everything Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.


Chapter 10- A Little R&R

The Kurosaki house was a busy place to be as almost everyone was running around trying to get ready for whatever it was they had planned for the day. Both Karin and Yuzu were getting ready for school; it was after all the last week before school got out for winter break. Ichigo was attempting to cram in as much studying as he could before he had to leave for school as well to take some of his remaining final exams. Even Isshin was rushing around the house trying to collect anything and everything he thought might prove useful during the day because today he had decided to go and try to find a job and wasn't quite sure what he would need for the day's events.

"Big brother!" Yuzu called from the other side of the house.

"What is it, Yuzu? I'm trying to study, remember…?" Ichigo asked while still trying to concentrate on some of the notes he had borrowed from his genius boyfriend.

"Rangiku's here! She says she wanted to walk with you and Toshirou to school today!"

"Just send her in the living room, okay?" Ichigo finally yelled back.

"Kay!"

Yuzu quickly returned to her breakfast and right as she did so, Rangiku entered the living room to see Ichigo still hunched over the pages of notes that were currently spread across the small coffee table.

"Good Morning, Ichigo!" Rangiku squealed excitedly as she started to engulf said male in a large hug.

"Not now, Rangiku. I'm trying to cram as much as I can into my head before we have to leave for school." The strawberry mumbled as he still refused to move his eyes from the scattered papers in front of him. Rangiku looked at her friend with a confused look on her face until he finally tore his eyes from the pages and decided to further explain himself.

"My dad explained everything to the administrators at the high school and they said that I would be able to make up the exams I missed today because originally I didn't have anything until tomorrow." The strawberry sighed as he returned his gaze to the notes. "We originally asked for more time because of what happened, but they said that it was either this or take an incomplete for the semester. I was going to have Toshirou help me study like he did for our math final, but the best he could do was to give me his notes."

Rangiku let out a quiet, 'oh' of understanding. She simply watched her friend frantically pour through the notes in front of him before they were again interrupted, this time by Ichigo's other sister, Karin.

"Ichigo! Yuzu and I have to go and I think dad just left so don't flake out on your exams or you're gonna be in for it tonite!" She yelled and before Ichigo would have even thought to come up with any type of comeback there was the distinct sound of the front door closing and not long after Rangiku found herself looking at the clock on the wall wondering where the youngest member of their group was.

"Toshirou better get down here soon or we're gonna be late to school." She muttered to herself.

"Toshirou is still sleeping off his migraine and not to mention everything else from last night." Ichigo replied absentmindedly as he started to gather all the papers together into one neat stack. "He's not coming with us to school today."

"Oh…" Rangiku frowned. "How is he? I heard it was pretty bad…"

Ichigo looked up to finally meet the gaze of the strawberry blonde, "It was… but my dad was able to help him through it and like I said before, he's upstairs right now sleeping it off."

Rangiku's face considerably lightened at this revelation. "Well, if Toshirou isn't coming, then I guess we should head out; exam week is the one time we really can't afford to be late."

"Right." Ichigo nodded. "Lemme just run up to my room for a sec… I need to grab my backpack really quick." The strawberry got up from where he had been sitting and was just about to head off towards the stairs when he stopped in his tracks, because right at the foot of the stairs was a very sleepy and confused looking Toshirou.

"Ichigo…?" He asked groggily as the he let out a particularly large yawn. Ichigo closed the small distance between him and Toshirou almost instantly.

"Sorry, did we wake you?" The strawberry apologized as he lightly kissed his younger boyfriend on his forehead.

Toshirou slowly shook his head. "No, I was just uh- wondering where you were…" He finished slowly.

"Well, cause of what happened the other day, I need to go makeup all the exams I missed." Ichigo couldn't help but laugh. "Remember? You gave me your notes to study earlier."

Toshirou thought about it for a moment before proceeding to slowly nod his head, his body may have been waking up, but his brain was still fast asleep. "Right…" he replied slowly as if he wasn't even sure of what he was saying at that moment, which probably had a lot more truth to it than he realized.

Sensing his small lover's confusion, Ichigo decided to guide the tired genius back towards his room so he could continue getting the rest his body was surely still in serious need of. "I'll be right down, Rangiku. Just gimme a few minutes." The strawberry smiled as he left the room, making sure that Toshirou didn't stumble or trip on any of the stairs as they continued to make their way back towards Ichigo's bedroom.

Ichigo's room wasn't particularly big, but for the record it was still a lot bigger than the one he had back in the city. His desk was pretty bare, it didn't see much use and there were only a few scattered clothes thrown haphazardly on the floor. The messiest thing in the room had to be the bed, its covers thrown off from when Toshirou had woken up only a few minutes ago.

Ichigo rushed around the room quickly gathering a few things before shoving them randomly into his backpack. Toshirou watched the strawberry with a blank expression and heavy lidded eyes for a few moments before something in his brain finally decided to click and his eyes shot wide open. "Wait…!" the young genius exclaimed suddenly causing the strawberry to jump several feet into the air.

"What?" Ichigo asked breathlessly.

"You're going to take you're exams today right?"

"Yea… and?"

"I should go as well… I have exams to take too, you know." Toshirou grunted as he quickly pushed himself up off the bed, obviously forgetting the fact that his body was still recovering from the events of the previous few days and before he could do or say anything a sudden dizzy spell came over him and he nearly toppled to the floor before being caught by the strawberry.

"And this is exactly why you're not going anywhere." Ichigo chuckled as he swiftly guided his young boyfriend back towards his bed.

"I have to…" a large yawn interrupted Toshirou before he was able to even finish his sentence.

"No. You don't." The strawberry said firmly, making sure Toshirou remained where he was. He could see his lover getting closer and closer to the brink of sleep every second, but if his brain wasn't at peace, it wouldn't do him any good. "You stay here and get some more sleep," Ichigo saw Toshirou's eyes glance up at his momentarily before he decided to finish. "If it makes you feel any better, my dad has already explained our situation to the administrators and after school today one of the senior teachers is going to come and proctor your exams here… but only," Ichigo raised his finger right in front of the young prodigy's nose. "Only, if you're feeling up to it."

Toshirou nodded sleepily. "Fine…" he muttered as he laid back against the pillow while Ichigo bent down so that he could pull the covers up to cover they boy, before running his hand through his fluffy white locks until Toshirou's breathing evened out and he was fast asleep.

"Sleep tight, Shirou." Ichigo whispered into the slumbering boy's ear before lightly placing a tender kiss on the younger male's cheek. The strawberry stood up, but otherwise remained rooted to the spot watching his small lover sleep peacefully. If anyone deserved a good sleep right now, it was definitely Toshirou. He had been through so much lately and to be honest, Ichigo still felt it was his fault because he had been unable to protect the young genius. In the end, it had all worked out though, right? I mean, Toshirou was here with him, safe and sound surrounded by people who cared about him. Though, after what just happened there's no-way I'm taking even one eye off him… of course except for the next day or two while I have to go to school to take my finals. Ichigo thought, still unable to pull his eyes away from the sight that was his beloved Toshirou. It was only when he remembered he had left Rangiku waiting downstairs was he able to finally able to pull himself out of his room and down the stairs to his awaiting classmate who had undoubtedly been wondering what had taken him so long.

"There you are, Ichigo!" Rangiku exclaimed when she finally saw her friend descend the small staircase. "I was beginning to get worried!"

"Sorry 'bout that, Rangiku." Ichigo apologized quickly. "When I went up to grab my bag, Toshirou tried saying something about coming with us to school, but that's not an option so I helped him get back to sleep and then well…" A slight blush started to creep onto the strawberry's face and luckily at that moment Rangiku decided to glance at the digital clock on her cell phone and suddenly let out a quick gasp.

"Oh my god! We are so going to be late if we don't leave like this second… let's go!" the strawberry blonde-haired girl grabbed an unsuspecting Ichigo's arm and started dragging him out the door and in the direction of the high school.


Ichigo as always, couldn't seem to concentrate on anything during school to save his life. It didn't help that he couldn't stop worrying about his petite boyfriend for more than a few minutes at a time. Though, when one takes into account everything that had happened recently it's not like it was all that uncalled for.

Rangiku had done her best to keep the strawberry distracted throughout the day and for the most part it worked, that was until Ichigo left for his last final for the day before he could return home. The exam went as well as he could have expected and the second he finished he practically sprinted to his locker. Luckily, earlier that day Rangiku had suggested leaving a note in his locker so that he didn't forget to go to the office to meet the teacher that was supposed to go to his house to help Toshirou make up his missed exams. Right… Ichigo thought to himself as he ran as fast as he could towards the main office.

The office was surprisingly empty when the strawberry arrived and he wasn't exactly sure when he was supposed meet up with this teacher or even if this was actually where they would meet… both of the secretaries were inexplicably absent and he couldn't think of anything else to do other than to just wait where he was and hope that the teacher in question would show up sometime soon. In the meanwhile, Ichigo decided to take a seat in one of the more comfortable looking chairs and was just about to pull out his backpack to see if he had anything he could use to keep him occupied when he heard a familiar voice from over his shoulder.

"Ah, Ichigo-kun!" The friendly white-haired man exclaimed as he entered the office.

"Hello, Ukitake-sensei." Ichigo smiled as he stood up from where he was sitting and shook hands with the white-haired teacher.

"School is over for the day Ichigo; you can feel free to just call me Jushiro." The man said as he returned a smile as well as the handshake.

"Uh- okay; if that's okay with you." Ichigo couldn't deny that it felt awkward addressing one of his teachers by their first name, but he wasn't necessarily going to argue.

"Of course!" Ukitake exclaimed happily. "How have your exams been going? Good I hope."

"They haven't been terrible…" The strawberry shrugged. "I've only got one more left that I have to take tomorrow, so I'm pretty happy about that."

"Well, that's good to hear." Ukitake smiled before looking over towards the empty secretaries' desks and looking back towards Ichigo.

"Do you know where either of the secretaries are?" Ukitake asked, but even before Ichigo had the chance to reply a lady interrupted the two males, walking straight over to the pair of them before stopping what seemed like less than a foot for both Ichigo and Ukitake.

"Ukitake-sensei." She said coldly, obviously not thrilled in the least bit to still be cramped up into a small office after school.

"Yes?" he replied.

"This," she said as she handed out a large manila folder that had been clutched at her side, "Contains everything thing you will need for this afternoon. May I remind you that you are required not to reveal the contents of this folder until right before the examination. Failure to do so could potentially result in termination of your contract and we will be expecting everything to be completed and returned by tomorrow before the end of the school day." Her voice sounded so painfully rehearsed, as though she said this thousands of times before and knew what to say down to the smallest syllable and it was pretty obvious that it was true.

"Are you taking some sort of test today?" Ichigo asked as Ukitake turned to face the strawberry once again.

"Nope, but if I'm correct I believe Toshirou is." The man grinned as he watched the sudden understanding of the situation dawn on the strawberry.

Ichigo gasped and couldn't help but smack his forehead. "You're the teacher that's coming over to my house to proctor Toshirou's exams?" The strawberry was honestly confused as to why this came as such a huge surprise to him. It wasn't that he wasn't happy about it… actually this was a really good thing because Ukitake was more informed about the whole situation, so they wouldn't have to worry about any misunderstanding.

"Yup." Ukitake replied. "I heard about what happened from some of the administrators and they felt since I already have a previous relationship with him, I would be the best teacher for the job.

"Awesome. So…" Ichigo started. "Are we about ready to head out?"

"Yeah, I have all the paperwork and all the exams, so I think we are good to go." Ichigo nodded before making sure he had everything and exiting the office right behind Ukitake.


Toshirou couldn't remember the last day that he had been able to just relax all day and not have to worry about where he would sleep or if he would be able to eat, or even where he would hide next to avoid running into any of the thugs that were always so incessantly looking for him. Especially now, there seemed to be something even bigger going on than ever… before whenever the thugs would come after him it would only be about one or two guys that beat on him for awhile before leaving him in whatever alleyway they had found him; but recently… they seemed to have upped their game considerably. If it hadn't been for Toshirou meeting Ichigo there's no telling where he would be right now or even if he would be alive… he was truly in Ichigo's debt, there was no doubt about it.

After Toshirou had awoken a few hours after Ichigo had gone to school, the young prodigy found that he was all alone in the house and when he finally got enough energy to get out of the bed, Toshirou decided to head downstairs and see if he could make himself something light to eat. The rest of the day moved by pretty quickly with Toshirou doing whatever he felt like, it was a weird feeling, but a good feeling all the same. The young genius started out reading, then his attention migrated towards the TV for a few hours, before finally falling asleep again curled up underneath a large blanket that he had brought down from Ichigo's room.

When Toshirou woke up again a few hours later he noticed that Ichigo still hadn't come home… as a matter of fact, none of the Kurosaki's had returned home yet for the day. Slowly, Toshirou rubbed his eyes before glancing quickly at the wall to see that it was already 2:30pm. Ichigo should be back by now… I wonder what's keeping him… and then what seemed like the second the white-haired boy finished his thought; he heard muffled noises coming from right outside the front doors. The door opened and soon enough Ichigo entered the living room quietly, being unsure of whether his boyfriend was sleeping or not and when the strawberry saw that Toshirou was indeed awake a huge smile grew on his face before almost instantly engulfing the smaller male in a tender hug and capturing the younger's lips in a quick kiss.

"How's your day been, Toshirou?" Ichigo asked honestly. "I hope you didn't try and do anything too strenuous…" The strawberry wasn't surprised when he got an 'are you serious?' glare from the young genius. "Yes I am." Ichigo chuckled, "My dad said that he wants you resting for at least a few days, just to make sure that you're okay."

As if on cue, Ukitake decided to walk into the room and it was definitely an understatement to say that his sudden appearance surprised the younger white-haired male.

"J-Jushiro…" Toshirou stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

Ukitake merely chuckled at his young friend's reaction before greeting him. "It's good to see you are doing better, Shirou-chan; I heard that you got yourself into quite the situation and I'm glad that things were eventually resolved."

"Resolved isn't quite the word I would use…" Ichigo muttered quietly to himself, but before he could correct the older male, Toshirou beat him to it.

"Things were only resolved as you say, because of Ichigo." Toshirou declared in a tone as though it was obvious and said strawberry couldn't help but blush as he took hold of his boyfriend's hand and squeezed it softly. Toshirou simply smiled before returning the gesture and continuing, "I was lucky enough to run into him while I was trying to escape and we only got away in the end because Ichigo was able to take charge of the situation and make the right decisions."

"Well regardless, I'm glad you're feeling better." Ukitake finished and then he remembered why exactly he had come to the Kurosaki house. "Oh! Shirou-chan, we should probably get started with your exams if that's okay with you."

Ichigo looked towards the young genius hopefully, "Are you feeling okay, Shirou? Cause you know you don't have to do this if you're not feeling up to it."

Toshirou shook his head, "It's okay, I'm feeling much better than I was this morning." Toshirou smiled encouragingly in Ichigo's direction and then sat back down motioning for Ukitake to sit beside him. "So, how exactly is this going to work, Jushiro?"

The two white haired males spent the next couple hours going through all the exams that Toshirou had missed while he and Ichigo had been preoccupied in Karakura Park and even any exams that Toshirou had left for the rest of the week which actually wasn't too many. Ichigo made sure that he was given frequent breaks to be that he wouldn't overdue it, but usually that just served to irritate the boy.

"Okay," Toshirou said as he let out a huge sigh of relief. "I'm finished."

"Good job." Ukitake congratulated Toshirou, even though he knew that they had probably been pretty easy for him, it didn't stop Ukitake from offering as much congratulations and support as he would with any other student. "I'm going to finish up some paperwork on this tonight and have it turned into the main office tomorrow morning. If you want to know your scores, the office should have them ready by the end of the week." Ukitake finished as he gathered all the papers and tucked them all away in the manila folder they had arrived in.

Toshirou stood up while Ukitake was gathering his things and walked over towards the couch where Ichigo had fallen asleep in the middle of Toshirou's last exam. "Hey, baka. I'm done, wake up." Toshirou said casually as he attempted to rouse the larger male.

"Mhmm… five m're min'tes…" The strawberry muttered as the stubbornly refused to get up off the couch, being perfectly comfortable with his situation… except for one thing…. "Mh… Shirou join me…" Ichigo muttered as he extended his large arms and caught Toshirou unawares when he wrapped his arms around the smaller's waist and pulled him off his feet and onto the couch he was currently occupying.

"I-Ichigo!" Toshirou gasped in surprise as he attempted to get untangled from his still half-asleep boyfriend. "Get up. I'm finished, so we should be good hosts and show Jushiro to the door…"

Throughout the events of the brief encounter, Ukitake stood quietly where he was, quite entertained at the sight of the two teenagers before him. It was when he decided to let out a soft chuckle that Ichigo was alerted to the fact that he and Toshirou were indeed not the only people in the room. The strawberry quickly released his struggling boyfriend and just as quickly sat up on the couch, a tinge of red decorating his cheeks. "Oh sorry, Jushiro… I didn't realize you were still here." He said quietly as he let out a nervous laugh.

"Don't worry about it, Ichigo." Ukitake smiled. "Well, like I said to Toshirou, I should probably be getting home; it's getting late and I still need to finalize everything so that I can turn these in tomorrow." The man finished as he motioned to the folder in his right hand.

"Thanks for coming today… really." Ichigo said with Toshirou merely nodding in agreement when they finally reached the front door.

"Of course, goodnight boys… oh, and try not to cause too much trouble over break." Ukitake chuckled as he waved goodbye and exited the door firmly closing it behind him.

After Ukitake left, the rest of the night went on without too much excitement. Yuzu and Karin had called not long after Ukitake's departure saying that a couple of friends had decided to have a group study session for a big test they had the next day, even though they didn't have exams that didn't mean they had an easy week at school before winter break. They hadn't heard anything from Isshin, but he was expected to show up at some point during the evening. Ichigo passed the time mostly studying for his last exam the next day, while Toshirou spent most of the night on the couch half-helping Ichigo and half lying on the couch reading.

It wasn't till just almost midnight that Isshin managed to return home and when he trudged into the living room, he couldn't help but smile seeing both teenagers fast asleep and cuddled in each other's arms. Toshirou's body was curled in towards the strawberry's chest, while Ichigo had his arms wrapped protectively around Toshirou, making sure the boy would not be taken from his side while he was sleeping.

"Ichigoooo…" Isshin whispered playfully as he neared the slumbering pair. When Isshin was close enough he lightly prodded the strawberry just hard enough so that Ichigo stirred without having to wake the white-haired boy in his arms.

"What was that for…?" Ichigo grunted, clearly not appreciative of being woken up by his father when he had been having a particularly nice nap.

"It's almost midnight. Don't you think that you two should be getting to bed? You have one more final tomorrow and Toshirou's still recovering, so he needs all the rest he can get." Isshin stated matter of factly. "And on that note…" Isshin continued while attempting to stifle a large yawn. "I am going to head to bed myself, I'm exhausted… goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Isshin slowly exited the room, leaving Ichigo alone once more with his petite boyfriend, still fast asleep in his arms. Ichigo could already feel his body wanting to go back to sleep, but like his dad said, both he and Toshirou needed to sleep so the best thing to do at this point would be to head up to his bedroom before giving in to his body's desires. Trying to disturb Toshirou as little as possible, Ichigo lifted the slumbering boy gently as he rose gradually to his feet. Ichigo was able to make it just inside his bedroom until the boy in his arms began to stir.

"Ichigo… what's going on?" The young prodigy muttered sleepily.

"We fell asleep on the couch and I thought that since I was up, we might as well get a little more comfortable in an actual bed for the rest of the night." Ichigo whispered as he set Toshirou down lightly on his bed.

"M'kay… sounds good to me."

"Oh, Shirou?" Ichigo started rather uncertainly.

"What? Can't it wait till tomorrow, Ichi…?"

"No, it can't."

"Wha- is it then…?" Although Toshirou's body wanted to pull him back to sleep, his mind was as always, curious. What could possibly be important enough that Ichigo couldn't wait until the morning…?

"Well, I've been thinking a lot today about what's happened recently… and well… I think the best way to keep you safe and out of the sight of those bastards would be to well… have you hideout here at my place." Ichigo finished before starting to stare nervously at the floor.

"Well, I kinda already figured that…" Toshirou sighed.

"Well, when I mean hide here, I really mean hide here; like I don't want you leaving… at all."

"Hmm… yea okay…" Toshirou replied casually as he buried his head in Ichigo's pillow.

At first Ichigo was caught off-guard when Toshirou agreed so easily to his request; but then he realized that the boy was half-asleep. Maybe somewhere deep down in his subconscious the strawberry knew that the only way that he would be able to get Toshirou to agree to such a plea would be to ask him at this point when he would be caught unawares. Now the only thing he had to worry about was if the stubborn Toshirou Hitsugaya would still agree to his plan tomorrow when he would be fully conscious to realize what exactly Ichigo's request truly entailed.


A/N: What else is there now to say except for please review! :D