I DON'T OWN BLEACH
As a reminder... Ichigo is the female and Kurosaki is the male!
Special Thanks to Tommo, Bleachfan78, Bonnenuit, and Chillyraven for reading it over before I post it.
A Different Kind of favor
We
As one:
are not intertwined
As two:
do not share the same form
Of the third:
we simply don't have eyes
Of the fourth:
we have no hope in that direction
At the fifth
therein lies the heart Tite Kubo
Chapter 21; "To Be or Not To be?"
They were all there; Urahara, Kurosaki, and the other Captain's of the Gotei watching Byakuya sliding open the large partition revealing Ichigo laying on a small white futon. Not a sound is heard until Urahara steps up and begins to explain.
"Good morning everyone!" Urahara bows tapping his cane to the ground. "I suppose you are wondering why you are all here?"
"I really hate that man." Soi Fon grumbles and starts to walk away when he continues to speak.
"Congratulations on no longer being under Aizen's control. Everyone please say thank you to Ichigo-san." He motions to the sleeping woman drawing a glare from Byakuya.
The captain's glance at the woman and then Kurosaki totally confused.
"You should also say thank you, Kurosaki-san." Kisuke walks over tugging Ichigo in front of the group. "It was Ichigo-san who resurrected you from the dead.
"Her name is Ichigo Kuchiki, my wife." Byakuya speaks up causing a gasp of surprise among the captain's. He walks over to Kurosaki and grabs his black uniform. "The price she paid for your resurrection was too high."
"B-Byakuya, I don't understand." Kurosaki drops to his feet next to the orange-haired woman in disbelief. "What the hell happened to her? What happened to me?"
"To break the hypnosis over all of you. She used the forbidden spell ARK. This woman Ichigo Kuchiki used her own mind to store vast amounts of spiritual energy. She even exchanged memories of her past and present to make sure it would be enough. By stuffing her reiatsu into spirit particles and creating a pretty feather-like technique."
"Ark can only be used on one person. How did she manage to free us all?" Kyoraku asks taking his hat off.
Kisuke lifts up her mp3 player twirling it in his hand. "Through this device. She mastered the spell and made it her own. By taking the music in here and giving every tone a spirit particle from her memory. She figured out Aizen's method of illusion." He points at his chest with a wide grin. "He is able to trick the mind by stopping the flow of reiatsu to the heart. Unohana-san, please tell us what happens when blood stops flowing to the heart."
"Cardic arrest. The heart stops beating." She answer calmly as if she understands everything Urahara is saying.
"Bingo! So Aizen tricks the heart into thinking it's in arrest and uses a split second to feed fake memories and thoughts into your hearts. Ichigo-san figured that out and created a massive defibrillator made from her spiritual energy. Bang!" He taps his cane loudly on the ground. "The hypnosis is over and the heartbeats again."
"Why don't I remember her?" Ukitake steps up with a stricken face darting his eyes from Ichigo to Kurosaki. "I only remember..." He points at Kurosaki shaking his finger.
"You haven't met her before. The only ones who remember her are the ones who have personal contact with her." Kisuke nods to Byakuya and watches him beginning to shut the door. "Any questions?"
"Rewind the part where I died!" Kurosaki stands up walking outside. "I don't remem-" He tilts his head feeling suddenly faint. He drops toward the ground only to be caught my Kisuke.
"You will remember, and sooner than you are ready." Kisuke pulls him back inside the building laying him next to Ichigo. "She even thought enough to give you back what she lost." Urahara returns to the door to see Ukitake's face peering through.
"I have a few questions." He flicks his eyes from each tan face. "Are they twins?"
"No, Aizen took out Kurosaki-san's heart and created her from him." Urahara removes his hat with a serious expression on his pale face. "Ichigo-san is an exact copy just a female version. You know the power of the heart as much as I do."
"You are saying that his heart and his soul is within that woman?"
"Her name is Ichigo Kuchiki." Byakuya interrupts feeling irritated at why she hasn't woken up yet, and anxious for these people to leave his home.
"Yes, Pardon me Byakuya-kun." Juushiro smiles warmly at Byakuya before looking at Urahara. "How did... Ichigo-san manage to revive Kurosaki-kun? The soul is one thing how did it become two?"
"Ichigo-san's soul is vast. Large enough that she split it in half and gave him part and left herself part." Kisuke steps next to Kurosaki and pulls his robes apart exposing his chest. "She used Ark on him also... but instead of a burst of reiatsu- filled spirit particles she forced her soul to return to him."
"She took a big chance. She could have very well lost her own soul." Juushiro hears Byakuya clear his throat and decides to leave that topic alone. He leans forward whispering in Kisuke's ear. "What about the side effects? That kidou is forbidden for a reason!"
"We can only hope that both our orange-haired shinigami representatives will be able to remember who they are and grow the missing half of their souls." Urahara walks back over to the exit with Juushiro to leave until Kurosaki wakes up when Byakuya steps in front of him.
"Urahara Kisuke I also have a question for you."
"O-Of course." He waves goodbye to Ukitake smiling nervously at the brooding noble. "How can I help you?"
"What was taken from her... is it-"
"Yours Kuchiki-san, totally one hundred percent!" He bumps into the door behind him. "I was... considerate of her." He blushes light pink sliding open the door and ducking out.
Byakuya breathes a sigh of relief seeing the room finally empty accept for his wife and Kurosaki laying down next to her. Sitting down on the small blue pillow next to Ichigo he takes her hand carefully in his. The irony of the scene was not lost on him. He had done this before with Hisana. Held on as long as possible and hoped against hope that his strength would be enough to cure her illness. Ichigo isn't Hisana though. He knows that very well. They are totally different women who love him completely opposite ways. Is dark eyes study her face willing her lashes to move against her cheek and give him a sign she is still with him.
"Nii-sama."
Byakuya wakes feeling Rukia's hand on his shoulder his eyes dart to the bed finding Ichigo and Kurosaki still resting. "Yes, Rukia?" His voice comes out strained despite the effort he makes to show a calm facade.
"Go rest, I will stay with... them." Rukia sets down next to Ichigo and takes her hand. "If she moves at all, I will call for you."
"Thank you, Rukia." He stands up and walks slowly into the next room where a servant has prepared a modest meal and place for him to sleep. Waiting until the servant slides the door shut, he lays down on the bed vowing not to eat until he has seen Ichigo's amber eyes looking up at him.
Sometime later he wakes. His eyes popping open to a dark room. Byakuya returns to Ichigo's room only to find Rukia asleep against a wall and Ichigo's bed occupied by Urahara Kisuke. Kurosaki is asleep with Kisuke's body curled against his. His panic is immediate. He steps inside the dimly lit room finding the outer door cracked open.
Byakuya quickly walks through the room and slides the partitions wide with both his hands. His eyes bulge for a moment seeing Ichigo rising from a seated position. "Will she remember me? Remember us? Will she hate me for-"
"Byakuya?"
"Good evening Ichigo." Byakuya manages to say. "I want to hold you. Will you let me?"
"Of course." She holds her arms up to him.
He stands there for a moment in shock, not quite sure if she was actually responding to his thoughts.
"What are you waiting for?" She pokes a finger at his chest. "Oi! I'm just standing here waiting. Do you really gotta ask to hug me? I mean I am kinda your wife."
"Ichigo." He gasps dropping to his knees and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You are still mine?"
"Only me." She whispers sliding her fingers into his hair and lifting his head to look at her.
"Only you, always." He whispers then watches her smile. He didn't have all the answers, and didn't know how they will face the coming hardships. When he saw her smile though, he knew they would make it. Whatever appears trying to separate them he will push aside, he will destroy, he will crush it to dust, and build a tower over her. "I love you." He presses his face between her breasts and curls his fingers around her waist.
"I love you." She drops to her knees pressing her lips to his feeling his mouth trembling slightly as his hands tighten around her sides. She felt relieved and torn at the same time. She has survived when she thought she would die but lost something in the process. "Byakuya is still here with me even in this new unknown place." That alone is a miracle worth preserving to her. So she tilts into his kiss tugging gently at his soft hair. Content for now just being loved and loving him with equal abandon. Her eyes slip shut as his mouth travels down to her neck. She lifts her head toward the star-filled sky as his teeth graze her damp skin.
Kurosaki watches them through narrow slits. His eyes taking in the strangest sight he could possibly imagine. The woman so much like his mother yet like him kissing Byakuya passionately, holding him close, treating him preciously. When he saw her face tilt up to the sky he could have sworn he felt lips gliding against his neck.
He swallows a tight knot in his throat secretly envious of them. Of the bond that he can practically see wrapped around them with a red string from her soul to Byakuya's. He could remember kissing Byakuya that night under the shoten in the brightly lit underground training room. He didn't think it compared to those two. Bathed in the moonlight clinging to each other like it's all a fading dream. Kurosaki wanted something like that. Heated affection and someone to belong. He could see it then, just a brief flash of someone above him. Someone special calling his name and sliding his hands down his chest.
He hears the woman moaning softly drawing his attention then watches as Byakuya turns his eyes toward him. He thought he would die painfully cut into a million pieces. Panicking Kurosaki starts to open his mouth and apologize only to see Byakuya pointing a long finger next to him, smiling then flash stepping away with her. He looks to where Byakuya was pointing to find Urahara's head against his hip, arm wrapped around his leg. "WHAT THE HELL!"
"Kurosaki-san. Why are you so loud?"
"You scared the SHIT out of me!" Rukia stomps on Kurosaki's back before kicking them both out of the house.
"I lost my comfy bed in there." Kisuke yawns draping his body over Kurosaki's.
"No you haven't it's standing right here!" He tries to swipe a fist at Kisuke only to stop when he hears the blonde snoring against him. "Tch." Picking him up piggyback style he flash steps toward the senkaimon gate to return to the real world.
"Time moves so fast for humans' Kurosaki-san."
"Urahara-san?" He feels Kisuke mouth nuzzle closer to his neck murmuring in his sleep.
"You are important and irreplaceable to me."
"I am?" Kurosaki is about to elbow the blonde awake when he feels a mouth sliding down his neck. He shivers as Kisuke's teeth rub against his collarbone. Cold chills run up his spine and every hair on his head feels like it's electrified. "U-Urah-ah!" His brown eyes widen when a hand slides down his chest just like in the odd flash he experienced a few minutes earlier.
"Y-You are going to hit me, aren't you?"
"No, you just surprised me." Kurosaki answers and continues flash stepping toward the gate. "I-I think I might be a little gay."
"Kurosaki-san.... Hyuu~."
"Or maybe I'm just gay for Urahara-san?" He shakes his orange head realizing Urahara is still talking in his sleep. "Either way, I think Urahara-san has a crush on me. Can this get any stranger?"
"MY SON HAS COME HOME!"
Ichigo feels a swift kick to his gut knocking him and Kisuke to the ground. "Is that any way to greet your son after he has been dead for three years!"
"Did you see her?" Isshin asks helping his son from the ground.
"Yeah, she looks like Mom but younger and tanner, and orange-er" He rolls his eyes. "Did you know she is married to Byakuya?!"
"Yeah, that gonna be a problem for you?"
Kurosaki thinks for a moment, his eyes flicking to Kisuke walking toward the ladder. "Nah, somehow I think I'll manage. Besides they look... really happy."
"Good." Isshin puts his arm around Ichigo. "Come by a see your sisters, then we gotta come up with a plan to get my beloved daughter's child back."
"Ok..." He stops for a minute with his mouth dropping open. "WHAT!? HOW?! Who had a baby?!"
"Hmm, well technically you could say it's Ichigo Kurosaki's child."
Kurosaki drops to the ground in shock. "Who's the father?" He mutters staring up at the fake blue sky.
"Kuchiki. HAHAHA!" Isshin smiles wide laughing.
"I knew you were gonna say that."
Hey all! Here is this week update sorry it's late. Thanks for all the support and wonderful reviews on this fic! I'm soooo tired today. Makes droopy face ; ; Grad school is sucking the life from me =( Review please? THANKS!
Special Note; If my feedback declines rapidly or is all negative I will re-write this chapter. I had asked before if people minded a small Yaoi Plot and Only one person mentioned not liking that idea. I really wished people had responded in the previous chapter to not liking the Yaoi plot. I spent a lot of time on this fic and I want it to be enjoyable to everyone. If it's really important I can just remove the Kurosaki side pairing. But I need feedback for everyone to know what to do. So please review;D hugs Fuzzi