Chapter 24

Drown in Me

~.~

Shirosaki's P.O.V.:

The rest of the night, as you could guess, was rather uneventful so to speak. Which is why I, Shirosaki Hichigo, am going to take over this chapter. Damn right, stupid author, you cannot keep me constrained any longer. (Fuck you, Shirosaki.)

Anyway, as expected, everyone went to bed and aibou forced marvellous moi to sleep in his goddamn wardrobe saying something like 'you idiot, you want us to get caught?' then proceeded to push me inside the wardrobe of doom. I'm telling you, as soon as I get out of this faux body, I am never ever stepping near that thing again. In fact, if I am to be honest, I will torch that piece of furniture down.

But until then, I have another pressing matter at hand, namely I am really, really thirsty and hungry. Heh. Who would have known that exiting Ichigo's body would turn me in such a wuss? If only I could go back inside. Or at least I wish I had my powers. Then maybe I'd stand a chance at running away from Soul Society once the found out about my existence outside Ichigo's mind.

I was on the verge of silently exiting Ichigo's thoroughly locked room when I heard voices coming from downstairs and I stopped dead in my tracks, back pressed against the outer wall of Ichigo's wardrobe, ears alert.

"All I'm saying is that we're taking things too far," Ishida's voice muffled by the distance and the walls of Kurosaki Residence, travelled far enough for me to hear. "I hate to say this, but Kurosaki is our friend and we're not treating him right. So he has something to hide. So what?"

Someone sighed. "Yes, but you're forgetting something," Rukia pressed. "It wasn't our idea to spy him. It was his," said Rukia with emphasis on the last word and I suddenly wished I could have seen her face or at least her figure. Could it be that she was pointing at someone? Who would that be? Urahara? I think she is talking about him.

"Yes, that may be true. But still, that doesn't give us the right to butt in his business. Kurosaki has proven loyal to us so far. Why are we suspecting him of anything in the first place? He's not much a planner," Ishida argued.

"I agree," Chad's low baritone voice announced. "Ichigo is not our enemy."

Someone scoffs. "See? Even Chad says so. Kurosaki might be a bit depressed. You know how he gets when people get targeted as bait to lure him out. He always blames himself. And maybe that hollow of his still gives him trouble. You never know. Maybe the guy wants some privacy."

There was a long silence after that. I don't particularly like Ishida very much, in fact I find the brat rather annoying, but right then I felt like sprinting downstairs and shaking his hand. Still, to blame me for Ichigo's depressed mood, the nerve this guy had.

"Well, you're right," surprisingly Renji said, of all people. Apparently I wasn't the only one surprised because I could hear a couple of soft gaps. I think. My hearing is not that good. "I mean, what could he be possibly hiding anyway? The dude isn't one for subterfuge. He's crap at lying, so whatever he's hiding is probably not a big deal. If it was a big deal, he'd be far more skittish."

"I'm sorry, Urahara-san, but I agree with Renji," Rukia's voice came in a defeated tone. "I can't go on with this mission this way any further."

Yoruichi, however didn't seem to agree with her. "Ichigo shouldn't be left alone. And before you say anything, it's the shadows I am more concerned about. We don't know their nature. We don't know their abilities and even more, they successfully broke in Soul Society and did some good damage. Granted, we were unprepared, they had the element of surprise. But Ichigo, with his current power, cannot take them on if they decide to battle him."

"Then we stay with him. But I am not spying on him anymore," Renji stated firmly. I couldn't believe my ears, for once Renji treated Ichigo like an actual friend.

I was not sure whether I should be suspicious of his motives or not. Maybe Renji was mooning over my Ichigo, after all. Or maybe he liked Byakuya better, my conscience provided and I snickered softly at the thought. For his own sake, Renji should keep those hands away from Ichigo really or I won't be held responsible for my actions.

"Neither am I," Rukia stated and was followed by Chad and Ishida.

Urahara, I suppose, sighed. "Alright then. I won't accompany you though. If things do get out of hand, call me. I shall be there," Urahara said in the end, in a slightly defeated tone. "Don't forget though, it's not me who suspected Ichigo in the first place," and with that last warning, I could hear the front door close.

Well, this can't be good. If it wasn't Urahara who suspected Ichigo, then who? I was sure the man was the source of the problem.

"Well, I'm beat. I'm going bed," Renji announced and soon the crew was finally making their way to their rooms, hopefully for real this time. I was really hungry. And thirsty.

Twenty minutes later of utter silence save for Renji's, I think, loud snoring, I could finally open the door as little as needed for me to sneak out. The way to Ichigo's fridge was the most unnerving experience I had ever had the displeasure of living and I couldn't help but briefly wish everyone was a normal person, like Ichigo's dad for example. Actually scratch that, not like Ichigo's dad, the dude was crazy.

At some point I could swear I could hear a door open upstairs and to say that I panicked and that my heart made the somersault of the century, it would have been an understatement. But nothing happened in the end and I came to the conclusion that it must have been my imagination, so I kept tiptoeing to the fridge. Once there, I grabbed as many things as I could carry without tipping over and quickly, but silently tiptoed back to Ichigo's room.

But, as I entered the room, another brilliant idea popped into my mind and after quickly scribbling on a piece of paper, I grabbed my food once again and left for the attic. I'd be damned if I spent one more minute in that wardrobe, thank you very much. After much struggle and a lot of jumping, I managed to get the staircase down and taking my belongings, I climbed upstairs and closed the ceiling door after me.

The room was dusty and clustered with all sorts of things that needed exploring, but not now. I was so going to look through all these things when everyone left in the morning. Damn right. Dirty lil' secrets, here I come.

I liked the attic so far. It was way better than the wardrobe. I even found a fairly decent mattress in a corner. It was a bit dusty, but a bit of dust never killed anyone. Eyes cast at the wooden ceiling, I couldn't help but wish that aibou was here too. Idiotic me, we were in the same house, why was I complaining?

I never pegged myself for the emotional type, damn.

~.~

""The waves suck you in and you drown

If like you'd just stay down with me

I'll swim way down with you, you"

-Cherry Waves, Deftones

~.~

Third person's P.O.V.

The whole house was asleep when the first rays of dawn rose from behind hills and buildings into the rosy sky of morning. The world was slowly waking up from its dreamless sleep and even the sun looked like a red disk trying to wake itself up for a new day. It seemed like a morning full of promises and the inhabitants of Kurosaki Residence slowly rose from their deep slumber only to groan at the thought of leaving the bed and be active for a couple of hours.

The day before had been exhausting, to say the very least and Renji and Rukia were equally glad they had to break in their friend's room no more. Saying that, Renji couldn't help but wonder, was Kurosaki really hiding something? Well, either way, he no longer wanted to know. He'd probably find out later and, depending on what it was, he could tease him senseless about it later too.

Ichigo woke up to a relatively cold bed and he vaguely noted that his private space was strangely not cramped and invaded. Rubbing his eyes vigorously, but somewhat sluggishly, he finally got an outline of his surroundings and had been surprised when a certain person was not there, clinging up to him for dear life as it tended to happened as of late.

Strange. He usually cuddles up to me even if I explicitly tell him to stay put. Don't tell me he got caught. Or worse, he behaved himself.

What was the world coming to? Nice hollows? Non-gropey, non-cuddly and behaving Shirosaki? What would come next? He'd stop trying to sleep with Ichigo? Surely that couldn't be an option. And besides, Ichigo could have used the heat, he felt a bit chilly that morning. Maybe I'm coming down with something. Otherwise he wouldn't be thinking about sharing beds with Shirosaki.

Pushing himself out of the bed, Ichigo absentmindedly padded to his wardrobe thinking about sneaking the guy some breakfast before he went off to school, if the guy felt like it, but as soon as he slid the door open, there was nothing but a pile of blankets in there. And a note.

Oh no. Please tell me no one kidnapped him.

As he unfolded the note, he couldn't help but feel his pulse quicken with dread and horror. However, the note once unfolded showed no blood, no vaguely misplaced organs and no cryptic messages that supposedly lead him to his hollow counterpart into an inevitable trap. No, instead there was a message telling him the following:

I figured I'd go to the attic in case anyone felt adventurous at night. Have fun masturbatin' in yer room. I can hear everythin' by the way.

P.S. I know ye'll be thinking of me. So do me a favour 'n' imagine me in skin tight leather pants, shirtless and wearin' the blackest, slickest, biggest stilettos ya can imagine. And pole dancin', I'm good at that shit too.

Tootles~

Shiro 3

Oh. My God. And there he was, worrying about him when that dirty little fucker left him a note not containing his imminent execution, but fucking sex talk. Ichigo was so done with his shit. He was about to tear the note apart, but soon, he spotted more scribbling.

Oh, by the way. I'd have longer hair and I'd also give ya a lap dance. My eyes would never stray from yers, but ya wouldn't be allowed to touch. Just look. Look at me while I debauch myself for ya 'n' ya only.

He couldn't help it, Shirosaki had effectively made what would normally be a morning wood grow painfully awake and aware and Ichigo wished no one had been inside his house so he could go and give Shirosaki a piece of his mind. Or a piece of himself, his mind provided, not helping his current situation very much.

Ichigo sighed, he was going to have a very long day at this rate.

Fifteen minutes later and the coldest shower in the history of cold showers, Ichigo unabashedly yelled 'wake up, goddamned freeloaders' around the house, getting the attention of said freeloaders, who were, depending on the person, already a little bit busy doing something else. Like sleeping, eating or some other rather unsavoury things Ichigo was not aware of, but if he were, he wouldn't have wanted to anyway. Let's just say that Renji and lube in the same sentence was not something Ichigo would have liked to hear.

At all.

An hour and much bickering, yelling and insults later, the lively group was finally leaving the house, uniforms on and bags in hands. Ichigo was not ready for school. He felt already exhausted and he randomly wondered what his hollow counterpart was up to, as they made their way through the sunlit streets of Karakura, and if the guy torched down the house shortly after Ichigo and Co.'s departure.

He hoped not. He couldn't possibly explain to his father that his supposedly evil, monstrous alter ego burned down the house while Ichigo was away. Right. He'd be stuck in a padded cell and straitjacket for the rest of his life, while Shirosaki would taunt him senseless, the bastard.

School was, indeed, the longest torture he had ever had the displeasure to endure. The classes dragged slowly, Ochi-sensei kept admonishing him for sighing and Ichigo could see Rukia throwing him concerned glances with the corner of his eye while Renji just smirked and Ishida remained oblivious of the rest of the class, as always. The breaks didn't seem long enough.

And the worst part of all, Ichigo knew that once he got home, away from all the ruckus at school, he'd have to deal with Shirosaki and his restless ass. Best case scenario. Worst case scenario, they'd be in the middle of more, um, anatomy lessons, yeah, when the front door would magically burst open revealing a happy-go-lucky Isshin and Ichigo's sisters, who'd freeze in horror at the definitely not sexual scene before them. Right. That was a disgusting thought, Ichigo noted with a grimace.

Shirosaki's perviness must be rubbing off on him.

Thankfully, no such thing happened and after many hours of useless rant about subjects Ichigo mostly didn't care about, the carrot top was allowed to finally go home and no one even followed him either! Looks like today is maybe not such a bad day.

Having arrived home- and mind you, the building was still in perfect condition, surprisingly- the teen tossed his school bag on the floor and plopped himself down the sofa, bag of Doritos in his hands ready to be devoured. That's exactly when Shirosaki decided to descend from his safe haven and throw himself near the teen, stealing his bag of awesomeness.

"Hey, give it back!" Ichigo protested and leaned forward to grab his food back, but Shirosaki was faster and he pulled away before the ginger teen could capture his bag back. "Oi. Don't be dick."

At that Shirosaki grinned. "Well, ya started this," was all he said.

Ichigo could already feel the headaches of the century starting to get a hold of him as he frowned. "How so?" he demanded.

"Ya were the one who ignored me. Now I ignore ya."

"What kind of cryptic bullshit is this? When did I ignore you?" Ichigo snapped, throwing his hands in the air. The world was plotting against him, of that he was sure.

Shirosaki placed his finger on his pale chin thoughtfully and pretended to look at the ceiling in a meaningful way. "Let's see…" he dragged. "Oh, yes, how about that note I wrote ya?"

Ichigo's frown deepened. "What about it?"

"Well, I think ya completely ignored it, it's what I'm sayin'. It's rude to do that. I thought about ya when I wrote it and you simply dismissed it. I told ya I could hear what happens downstairs. Did ya even read it?" Shirosaki enquired and Ichigo nodded, suddenly remembering what exactly Shirosaki had written. He even thought about me, while doing so. I wonder if he meant that he pictured my reactions to his, um, pole dancing sessions. "Well, if ya read it then surely ya can tell me what it was in it. Yanno, just to freshen up my memory 'n' stuff," Shirosaki said all of the sudden.

Ichigo felt his cheeks heat up. Oh boy, Shirosaki could be so merciless at times. Gulping down, Ichigo thought he really needed to stop thinking about the guy in a sexual way. He needed to come up with a pertinent answer, a proper answer that would send Shirosaki a message, namely Ichigo did not, under any circumstances, want to have sex him Shirosaki. Never, ever. "Can you, can you really walk in stilettos?" Right. His mouth was the biggest traitor in the history of traitors, he'd decided.

Shirosaki's grin, as impossible as that sounded, widened considerable revealing perfect, sharp white teeth. "Oh, I can really dance in them, not just walk" he provided.

Ichigo nodded softly, his mind filled with all sorts of images that contained a certain pale man and sensual, provocative moves. "H-how about pole dancing?" He licked his lips, his throat suddenly going dry.

Sometime between questions, scowling and dirty thoughts, the space between the two males mysteriously shortened and now Shirosaki was just a couple of centimetres away from the blushing teen, in a distance that would be considered not too far, but not too invading of personal space. "Of course I can."

However, Ichigo was already flustered and the sudden proximity to the object of his darkest desires made him snap, closing the distance so fiercely even Shirosaki was a bit taken aback when Ichigo's hungry lips pressed against his. He had nearly melted then and there, but soon Shirosaki was retaliating and the room was filled with moans, pants and grunts and hands were everywhere, grabbing, scratching, wanting, demanding.

"Let's take this upstairs," Ichigo's voice was almost a whisper as the two of them, already half naked stumbled around trying to get more of the other. Shirosaki nodded and they wrestled on the stairs, too stubborn too just climb the stairs like normal people would. "Ah, yes, Shirosaki, mark me just like that," Ichigo encouraged, ass on the bed and in mid-fall against the mattress as Shirosaki's sinful lips trailed kisses in the space between his neck and shoulder, scrapping those white teeth against his skin playfully but not fully giving the teen what he wanted. "Please," he pleaded, seeing as the other refused to comply.

Smirking mischievously, Shirosaki nibbled at the flesh before he took it in his hot, wet mouth and sucked the skin, carefully playing with it between his teeth, eliciting a half a groan, half a moan from Ichigo's throat.

"More. More. I'm not made of porcelain, you can be rougher," he groaned as his fingers grabbed Shirosaki's mane of white hair and tugged hard, trapping Shirosaki between pain and pleasure and gaining a moan of his own from those pale lisp. "See? Like that." He thought he'd just show Shirosaki what he had wanted, but now that he saw the male's expression of extreme pleasure, mixed with a little bit of pain, Ichigo couldn't really stop himself and lunged himself at Shirosaki, sending the both of them on the floor.

Dismissing that fact and taking advantage of the situation, Ichigo swiftly and effortlessly placed himself on top of the albino, lips on his neck as he languidly caressed the skin with his tongue, then to have his teeth nibble the flesh for a brief moment to then bite the bit of flesh between his teeth harder than Shirosaki had, but not too hard either.

"Ah," a low, baritone moan escaped his throat and Shirosaki grabbed Ichigo's ass without second thought and pressed their bodies together as he grinded against him. "Yer such a tease, Ichi. Didn't know ya were such a masochist."

Ichigo, annoyed by the useless rant Shirosaki kept going on, pulled away for a bit. "I don't think it's your teeth on me. No offence or anything, but you bite like a kitten," he provoked, smirk curling his lips at Shirosaki's raised eyebrows. "And it'd not like you don't enjoy being handled roughly."

Taking advantage of the distraction, Shirosaki flipped them over, legs spread on each side of Ichigo's body, as he firmly planted his ass on Ichigo's clad erection and grinded his hips powerfully, before he lowered himself and bit Ichigo's shoulder, sucking the skin fiercely, like Ichigo claimed he wanted Shirosaki. "Ya love being handled roughly just as much I do, even more maybe," he whispered in his ear to then kiss it softly, then nibble it and lick his ear.

"Fuck." His ears were one of his biggest weaknesses and he barely registered when his hands abandoned their post at Shirosaki's back and made their way southwards to then sneakily slip between fabrics and seize Shirosaki erect and throbbing penis. Shirosaki moaned. "Do you like that?" he asked, knowing fully well he did and, to retaliate, Shirosaki too took Ichigo's erection in his hand and soon both of their members were touching ever so slightly now and then as they pumped each other's firmly.

"Ffff…" Shirosaki wanted to say 'fuck' but didn't really succeed.

"Yes, ah, Sh-Shiro…saki. Yeah, like that," Ichigo directed, eyes closed, face contorted in pleasure and need. "Ah, faster."

"Nghh, Ichi. Ichi, yes. Yes!"

The two of them were loud enough for the neighbours to hear if they really wanted to, as Ichigo had forgotten to close his windows before things got messy. Either way, none of them cared as they screamed in ecstasy as they came, Ichigo first, then Shirosaki; parted only by a few moments.

Ichigo opened his eyes halfway and stared, dazed, at the ceiling.

The rest of the day was uneventful, mostly. Shirosaki kept pestering Ichigo with innuendos and dirty, suggestive looks which Ichigo firmly ignored. Ichigo really needed to do something about Shirosaki, the guy was too distracting. He keeps giving me those bedroom looks every now and then and I always give in. I need to stop that. He really needed to, but when he looked at Shirosaki fooling around in his house and being a moron in general, he just couldn't be mean to him.

I can't tell him no. Look at him, now he's wearing a pair of pants and he claims he's a beautiful mermaid. Who can hate this guy? Ichigo surely couldn't. He wasn't even sure when it happened, when the shift between hatred and whatever it was Ichigo was feeling towards Shirosaki happened. And it happened stupidly fast too. Who just stops hating someone after a few days spent with them? Apparently, Ichigo does.

Maybe he had Stockholm's syndrome?

The ginger couldn't deny it. Shirosaki was a pain in the ass, but somehow it was relaxing to see him so casual around Ichigo, so startlingly human. Ichigo was vaguely aware that Shirosaki was an exceptionally good liar, but a part of him was thoroughly convinced the guy wasn't playing tricks on his mind. Another part, however, was still not entirely sure of it all, which is why he thought he needed to stop those sexual encounters immediately.

Shirosaki, on the other hand, could tell Ichigo had something on his mind and was about to ask him, when someone knocked at Ichigo's front door. Damn it, not again! Despite his mental protests, Renji's voice came from the other end, telling Ichigo to 'goddamn open the door already'. Panicking, Ichigo hurried Shirosaki in the attic and then proceeded to open the door. He had had a feeling his friends would be back that night, but still he had hoped…

Never mind.

To be continued…

A.N. Hello there, huns! I'm sorry for the super late update. The past two weeks were a total disaster. My laptop charger broke so I couldn't write the chapter on time and I only got at new one yesterday.

I'm also sorry that the chapter is so short compared to the others. This is what I wrote before my charger died. In the mean time a lot of shit happened. Remember when I said I had no friends? Well, my relationship with my boyfriend is a bit wobbly at the minute. He's going through some stuff and says he needs some time alone.

We haven't broken up, we haven't even taken a break, though I suggested the latter to him, if he really wanted it. I'm back at my mum's for babysitting for a few days and then I'm going Ireland. Problem is when I come back I don't know how I will find him. I worry. Last Monday when I met him after 4 days spent at my mum's was… well he wasn't well.

I don't want to live with the knowledge that I had such an amazing boyfriend and lost him for no real reason either. I mean, you guys probably know that I don't have the pinkest past because of how much I complained about it and for once I was really happy to have met such an amazing person whom I understood and cared for and he cared back.

And if things weren't bad enough, I really hate being alone. If we split up, I sure as hell wouldn't go around trying to enter some other relationship. It would be disrespectful, but most importantly I can't imagine loving another human. Can't imagine trusting them, caring for them, dedicating a big deal of my time to them. I couldn't.

Call me pathetic, whiny or whatever.

He said he loves me. He said he doesn't want to leave me. And I know that, I believe him. I know it really isn't me why he wants to be alone. He has his troubles. We decided we'll see this through together. I can wait. I'm patient and anyway I'd do anything for this man. (I'd never thought I'd actually ever say this and mean it so much, but here I am). I made it clear for him that no matter what I am not abandoning him. I know he's trying to be strong too.

I'm just worried about those days when I am not there and he gets lonely and does stupid things, like getting drunk then getting depressed because of it. Like he did tonight.

Which is why I can't write for a while. My mind is all over the place. I think that even my Author's Note right now doesn't make much sense or as much sense as I would want it to. I am really sorry. I will hopefully be back after the 29th of August after I am back from Ireland or after the 4th of September after I am back from Scotland.

Let's just hope that things will be alright. Otherwise I might be gone for far much longer.

Andi

P.S. The lyrics quoted above are supposed to mirror the insane desire they both feel for each other and yet again Ichigo falling (in love, like an angel for his devilish mister, that kinda deal). This time the fall is different. It's like drowning, it feels more consistent and it's supposed to signify some sort of progress regarding their relationship.