Kira sat at his desk and pressed on through his own paperwork. He dealt with all the enquiries that came into the third division and sent runners back and forth with completed paperwork, orders and supplies requests. After working steadily all morning he frowned at the closed door of his Taicho and wondered why Ichigo had been so quiet since the captains meeting this morning. Usually there was some drama or at least noise as the hyperactive man raised his voice at the injustice of all the paperwork. He'd usually fight his way out of his room and the million piles of paper just to put some poor passing squad member through his paces and vent his need for some action.
Of course since Kuchiki Taicho had been injured, Ichigo was more out than in and when he was in he was usually busy yelling for strong coffee to keep him awake whilst he battled with the previously mentioned paperwork mountains that were building up considerably. He hardly had chance to battle with his division members or oversee the training schedules and recruit reviews.
It had only got worse since the also previously mentioned captain had been sent home. Ichigo had taken piles of work home with him each time he disappeared, but it hardly made any dent in the piles left behind. Pile. Piles. Piles. There certainly seemed to be a lot of piles today.
Kira with hot steaming thick and potent coffee in hand, he knocked gently on the door of his captain. He heard no reply and slid the door open, stood to walk in and knelt again to shut it. All a feat of mastery with one hand so the coffee didn't spill.
Kira sighed as he approached the desk and tipped his head sideways to see the sleeping Taicho more clearly. Ichigo was leant forward on his desk, his head resting on a soggy wet patch of ink from where he had drooled on the inky documents. Soft deep breaths were passing his lips and he was out for the count.
Kira placed the coffee down and reach over to shake Ichigo on the shoulder. Several shakes that had become increasingly harder, later and Ichigo stirred with slight alarm and sat sleepily upright.
"Bakki!" He startled. Kira noted the ink had transferred from the document to his captains cheek.
"Oh...Ermm Taicho?" Kira, tapped his own cheek. "Ink on your face sir."
"What?" Ichigo was still not quite functioning at an awake speed and had to sit a moment watching Kira's strange hand gestures until finally he woke enough to understand but quite frankly he didn't care.
"Sorry I thought you might need some coffee sir." Kira handed the hot cup forward and Ichigo took it gratefully.
"Oh God I'm sorry Kira, I can't shift his tiredness." Ichigo took the coffee but not before scrubbing his hair with his hands and letting out a sigh.
"I think that's because you are burning the candle at both ends sir." Kira could see the pressure of trying to be all things to all men and being in twelve places at the same time.
"You make it sound like I'm enjoying all of this." He tutted and sipped the coffee. "If I could wish for anything now, it would be for a quite room to get a nights sleep. Its not very restful sleeping next to a man who sounds like he's a trying to swallow a mouth organ." He snorted at his joke and shook his head. "Its not funny, I shouldn't joke, but bloody hell... I just want some sleep!" He banged his head against the desk top repeatedly.
"Oi, that's my job!" Rukia's voice slid into the room along with her petite little figure and Ichigo looked up at her with a manic grin.
"If you've come to beat me up, just make sure you knock me unconscious for at least a day please!"
"Baka!" She tutted and looked to Kira. "What up with the idiot?"
"Sleep deprivation."
"Now Rukia, do it now!" Ichigo knelt at her feet with his hands praying up at her and she eyed him with some suspicion.
"Is Nii-sama being difficult?"
"Not really." Ichigo shook his head. "Just noisy!" He tugged as his hair and shook his head looking defeated to the ground.
"He can't talk you idiot how is he noisy?"
"I tell you what you go and sit with him and listen. He grunts and groans and wheezes. He snores like a fat old man and I just can't sleep without waking every five minutes to see if he's stopped damn well breathing and died on me. I'm knackered!"
"Might I suggest the Captains quarters are never used?" Kira added hoping it was a helpful suggestion.
"Who'd sit with him, he's sending Ugi round the bend, I don't know where the man gets his patience from. I don't know where I get mine from either." He sat on his heels and mocked sobbed, he really did feel shitty he was that tired. "If he wasn't so ill, I'd kill him!"
"Go and sleep in the captains quarters you dumbass and I'll go and sit with him." She just had to have a word with her captain, but he was bound to agree.
Ichigo found that the captains rooms were quite unremarkable but that was exactly what he needed. No distractions or stimulation of any sort. He laid on the futon and closed his eyes. Just moments from the point he was going to doze off a rukus outside had him scrambling to his feet and flying open the window and looking down at the gathered squad members ready for an afternoons worth of training.
"If any of you dumb fucks makes so much as another pissing squeak I will personally come down there and gut every single one of you!" Ichigo full rage and most penetrative scowl had every single man running for his life within a nanosecond. Ukitake Jūshirō also hesitated from stepping a foot further into the courtyard. He wasn't one usually afraid of anything, but he looked up at Ichigo scrubbing his hair with his hands and slip away out of sight and he was truly afraid of something. Rukia couldn't have asked for an afternoon off too soon it seemed.
Instead of stopping at Ichigo's office for a tea, he'd make a call on the 'Old Man.'
...
Byakuya leant heavily against the wall on hand keeping him barely on his feet the other holding a cotton handkerchief to his mouth. He tried to draw in breath but all his lungs seemed to want to do was force another batch of sickly looking blood from him. Finally he dragged in gulps of air and looked back to the bed. For once, he regretted his room being the largest. It was no good though, he was going to have to get to the bathroom. His bladder was also insistent it needed relief. The bathroom was even further than the bed.
He cursed his own damn pride for insisting he would not use one of those 'pans' in bed ever again. It was so undignified and humiliating. He now realised however that also sending Ugi away because of his temper tantrum was not in hindsight not a good idea; although communicating his displeasure in just grunts and the odd word were an achievement. His voice was returning albeit very slowly and quietly, but the odd word or two did not ache and sting quite the way it had before.
From his semi-crouched position, with a grunt of frustration, he made himself stand erect, still holding onto the wall and steadied his shaking legs. This was most definitely something he should not have completed doing, but Kuniki's do not stand down in the face of adversity and he wasn't going to now. The bedroom had just become his battlefield.
He made another three or so steps with the wall providing stability, but the strain was too much and his panting state brought on more coughing. His legs were threatening to give way and the tiredness was enough to bowl him over onto the ground if he'd let it.
"Oi, oi, oi!" Ichigo bounded into the room rushing to Byakuya. "What the hell are you doing there?" The noble was bent double coughing and Ichigo rubbed his hand over the sky-blue silk sleeping robe. In just doing that he could feel the strength of the coughs racking at his lover. He waited patiently until he was finished and helped him stand upright. "So?"
"My…body…has…needs." He panted out his voice still only at a whisper from behind his hanky.
"Bathroom?" Ichigo asked and the noble nodded.
Taking most of his weight, Ichigo got Byakuya to the bathroom and sat him upon the 'throne'. The panting alarmed Ichigo and he opened Byakuya's hand with the screwed up handkerchief in its palm. "This is going to be your life if you don't take it easy Bakki." Ichigo looked at the hanky the red stain making his point.
"Don't...lec...ture...me."
"Where is Ugi or Rukia?" The frown that appeared on Byakuya's face told Ichigo all he needed to know. "Promise me not to give any more trouble?"
"Ichigo." The tone was one to rebuke him, but Ichigo raised an eyebrow at him and shook his head.
"Don't you remember the time we had together when I was ill? We made the most of it didn't we? There wasn't any of this being a pain stuff. Let me indulge you just a bit hey?" Ichigo looked at his lover and sighed. "Just think logically here. A few months, God even 6 more months of just letting us do our job and you'll be back on your feet. One month of you forcing yourself and thinking you can override the pain and struggles and you'll either set yourself back months or worse still, you won't actually recover at all." They locked eyes and Ichigo hoped Byakuya would respond to his honesty. "Imagine being like Jūshirō? Often bedridden and unable to work. It just scares me okay?" Ichigo leant forward and kissed Byakuya softly on the lips. "Please."
The pleading in Ichigo's voice carried through to the soft hold he hand of his husbands hands, the dampness to his eyes and sincerity that emanated from them.
Byakuya went to speak, but Ichigo stopped him shaking his head. "No excuses. Pride, duty, honour or whatever, its all a load of crap." The anger inside him only just tinged his words, but it cut through Byakuya like a hot blade through butter and he nodded. His hands squeezed around Ichigo's and he tipped his head to rest it against his lovers.
"Tired." Byakuya whispered.
Ichigo nodded and hauled the man to his feet. Whilst he was there, he made use of the toothbrush, wash cloth and a quick shave with a western shaver from the real world and then went to assist Byakuya back to bed.
Byakuya's hand raised to stop Ichigo moving him and Ichigo frowned at the face he adored. "I..." He looked as if he was struggling to say something and Ichigo waited, giving him the time he needed. "Stay." He admitted with a defeated look. "You look...tired."
Ichigo smiled and shrugged. "I am. The old man even visited me at the division." Ichigo began to throw off his uniform and let it drop down onto the floor. "Told me to take some time off." Byakuya looked at him as he slid into the blankets with him. "I don't know why who or how, but fuck I'm glad he did... Now if you start with your snoring, ill or not, I'm going to slap you!" He chortled.
...
Time jump a month.
Unohana followed a servant girl through the mansion and smiled at her as she paused at a door and slid it open. Unohana heard the sound of laughter and held her hand up to stop the girl from intruding the peace.
"Thank you. I will introduce myself." She smiled at the girl who bowed and went back to her duties. Unohana walked slowly into the beautifully tended lush garden and walked along the wooden walkway through the maples, flowering shrubs and delicate grasses. The laughing had stopped a minute ago and as she rounded a bushy Fatsia the sight before her made her stop and retreat to hide in the foliage.
The garden opened out to a vibrant bright green lawn with several sizeable established trees dotted throughout the large open space. In the shade of the largest tree, a tea tray sat made for two and, a pair of elegant men relaxed. Two pairs of sandals sat neatly beside each other, a mix of beautiful satin cushions and throws softened the hard ground. Ichigo sat leaning against a fat cushion which in turn leant against the tree's broad trunk; his were feet crossed at the ankles and in his hands a book. Byakuya lay on his side with his head on Ichigo's lap, his glossy black hair fanning out over Ichigo's thighs and knees; his hand tucked inside his husbands green robe and more laughter began to echo around the space.
"You have to stop doing that!" Ichigo slapped Byakuya's playful fingers. "Its enough that your hair is driving me mad. Do you want me to read or not?" He playfully tapped the book on Byakuya's head and protectively reached down to adjust the throw that was covering the convalescing man.
"Read on." The smiling noble said in his weak voice and rolled onto his back closing his eyes as Ichigo's voice crept in silken waves over the silence. Ichigo raised the book with one hand to find his place and drew his fingers through the black locks beneath him.
"...They ran from whence they came, finding nothing they hoped to. Despair and anguish gripped at their hearts fearing they were too late. 'Luther, what if?' His face looked so full of regret and bitterness, Matthew was moved to place his hands on his brothers shoulder. 'No we shall not give up my brother. Not whilst there is still breath within us, we will find them.' The brothers gave some moments though to their next action and both seemed to alight upon an idea at the same moment. 'The Docks' They both said together and with a nod of affirmation, ran from the dank building into the thick of the night." Ichigo flipped the page and returned his hand to Byakuya's hair. "Meanwhile the spite of Gunville grew as he spied the twins running to their fate." Ichigo smiled with mischief and as he spoke, turned his voice into a high pitched crones voice. "At last I shall be granted my wish. I will grind them to dust and take back what is rightfully mine!" He added a sinister laugh and looked down at Byakuya doing his best not to laugh. He shook his head waving his hand in front of his face and let out a croaked cry.
"Don't...You'll make...me cough..." He rolled onto his side listening to Ichigo give another wail of sinister laugh and let a burst of laugher fall from his lips. He pushed up to a kneel and fished inside the sleeve of his red robe as his cough threatened.
Ichigo drew up his knees and knelt as his lover began to cough. It didn't sound so menacing these days, just as if he had a bad cold. The white hanky revealed only the smallest splattering of blood. Ichigo took the hanky and wiped Byakuya's lips. "You're getting much better." He commented as they stared into each others eyes. "This past week, You've hardly passed any blood." He again pulled the fallen throw back over his lovers shoulders and smoothed down the creases over his back.
"Because you...force me...to get well." Ichigo moved to bring his lover onto his lap and cradle him within his arms; the tree offered its trunk as support. The throw now covering them both.
"And you know why that is do you?" Ichigo smiled in a way that Unohana could see the love radiating off him towards Byakuya. The gesture of stroking the hair from his face didn't need to confirm it, but the touching gesture was so delicate and soft, her own heart melted at the sight. "Because you are a man of your word."
"I try to be."
"No you are. Sometimes when you promise to skin Renji within a inch of his life..." They laughed. "Okay bad example." Ichigo smiled and leaned in to give his lover a soft kiss on his lips. "You promised me an eternity. Two years is way short on that promise." He clarified before leaning in again and letting his parted lips kiss at the side of his lovers mouth. His tongue ran along Byakuya's velvet bottom lip and dip in to savour the taste of exotic warmth. Byakuya's tongue teased him with Jasmine tea and the faintest hint of metallic blood. Everywhere that his tongue caressed, the sensitive flesh flooded Byakuya with delight reminding him just how much he needed to be with Ichigo.
"I thought that...I was going...to die..." Byakuya began to talk and Ichigo looked at the serious face his lover held him with.
"Byakuya, you shouldn't be talking so much. I know all this without you telling me."
"Please." Byakuya touched Ichigo on the lips to quieten him. "I..waited...for you." He paused to get enough air before he continued. "I wanted...to see you...one more...time...it felt like... the night...you wanted to see...the stars...when you were dy...ing." He touched Ichigo's cheek. "Every...thing...was so special...then..." He panted now from the effort of talking so much and Ichigo understood how powerfully laced with love their time was back then, and it felt no less now on the other side of the coin. "The fear...of leaving...without seeing you...scared...me." His finger ran alone Ichigo jaw and traced the outline of his lips. "Love you." He said with the last sounds his voice could manage.
"Love you." Ichigo whispered and kissed the fingers still resting on his lips. "Tired?"
Byakuya nodded. Ichigo reached for a pair of the sandals and slid then in turn onto Byakuya's feet. He flourished the throw out and tucked it around the far too frail frame of his husband.
Ichigo slid his arm underneath the long slender legs that draped over his own and lifted the man with ease. Byakuya slid his arms around Ichigo's neck saving his protest that he could walk for another day. Right now, it felt good to be so looked after; it was such a rarity in his life, that holding onto it a bit longer didn't seem so bad.
Unohana watched Ichigo walk towards what must have been their bedroom and she smiled before turning to leave. There was no point in disturbing them, she could tell everything about his condition from her observation. Byakuya was getting the care he required and for once submitting to it with ease. She left feeling that she had been privileged to witness these two men interact, it would do everyone a power of good to fall in love. Byakuya Kuchiki was testament to that.