I DON'T OWN BLEACH or Brick by Boring Brick by Paramore
I didn't send this to my beta cuz the chapter is waaaay late. Please forgive any mistakes and enjoy^^
"Well, if it's not real
You can't hold it in your hand
You can't feel it with your heart
And I won't believe it
But if it's true
You can see it with your eyes
Oh, even in the dark
And that's where I want to be, yeah
Go get your shovel
And we'll dig a deep hole
To bury the castle, bury the castle..."
A Different Kind of Favor
Chapter 25; Hang on
"She was happy here..." Ichigo lays down on the bed resting his short spiky hair on the small pillow. "with you."
"S-She was?" Kisuke swallows a knot in his throat watching Kurosaki's eyes slip shut.
"Urahara-san."
"Yes?" His voice comes out a low whisper for fear of breaking.
"I have been wondering why would she want me to have these precious memories?" Ichigo turns his head toward the door lifting open his eyes to Kisuke's downcast face. "What is it about you she wants me to know?" Ichigo stands up tilting his head to the right as he takes a step toward Urahara. "I think I figured it out, after seeing this room." He watches the blonde-haired man's eyes flick up to his.
"What's that?"
"She is asking me to love you in her place."
"Hehe." Kisuke laughs nervously, his balance suddenly feeling wobbly. "Kurosaki-san, you don't need to say such things." He opens the door behind him poking his head out to leave.
"Don't you dare chuckle and walk away from me. " He lifts up from the small bed grabbing Kisuke's hand before he can dart away. The green and white hat falls to the floor as the door shuts.
"About time." Yoruichi smiles watching the door open again and a long arm reach out grabbing the hat and slamming the door. "Yo! Tessai let's take the kids to and stay at Orihime's old apartment this weekend!"
"No running away, Kisuke." Ichigo says twirling the green and white hat around on the tip of his finger as he guards the door. "You think I would say this to just anyone?"
"K-Kurosaki-san you have been through so much. I believe you are acting too rash."
"So it's only ok if you are the one falling all over me?" Ichigo narrows his gaze aware he is pushing Kisuke for a reaction. "Are you really going to stand there with that sad face and tell me you aren't miserable sleeping all alone in this room..." He waves his hands at the large empty space. "or just staring at the ceiling until a new way to get my attention crosses your mind?"
"I-Is it hot in here?"
"You told me once, not all change is bad!" His brown eyes watch Kisuke's eyes tilt down to the ground. "Fine! I'm out of here." Ichigo shoves open the double doors darting for the exit when Urahara catches up with him tackling him to the ground. "Oi!"
"I'm always watching you." Kisuke lifts up so Ichigo can roll over to look at him. "You blow through my shop oblivious to the effect you have on me. I keep watching and waiting for you to notice."
"I'm noticing now." Ichigo gives Urahara a stubborn look undaunted by the serious green eyes piercing and smoldering with emotions.
"I need to know you are serious."
"I'm all in." Ichigo Kurosaki wraps his fingertips around Kisuke's black haori pulling his lips against his. "This feels right. This feels... good to me."
Sweetly caressing mouths open up moving languidly against each other. It's gentle between them, tan skin yielding to pale as velvety pink lips become wet and hungry. Their hands begin to travel searching for the warmth hidden under clothes, finding skin burning with passion.
"Kurosaki-san." Kisuke gasps as strong hands explore his chest and slip down his sides. His breathing becomes labored, his left hand tugging away the black robe to expose Ichigo's neck. "You are always so unpredictable with your feelings."
"You think too much Kisuke." Ichigo's lips move next to Urahara's. "Just feel." The breathy moan from his blonde hoverer in response is enough to make Ichigo chuckle. He is doing a fine job of seducing. It worried him for a few minutes if he could pull it off but, he realized Kisuke is part pervert and it shouldn't take much to persuade him into... Ichigo senses a flaw in his plan right about the time Kisuke's erection pokes at his thigh. "Damn it! I seduced him too far!"
"Oh I do like this side of you Kurosaki-san." Kisuke doesn't waste anymore time on second thoughts. With Ichigo's neck on full display his mouth waters. The faint sighs only feed his lust for more. He wants to feel and touch and lick Ichigo until he can't remember a time without being next to him. Leaning over Ichigo he wraps his lips around his neck and begins to lightly suck.
Ichigo feels like his world is on fire. Turning his neck to allow Kisuke more room to travel, he senses himself falling deeper into the easy rhythm the man above him moves with. "W-We are in the middle of the store."
"Scene change!" Urahara grabs Ichigo by the hand leading him into his room and pushing him onto the futon.
~/~
Two Days later in Soul Society...
The shadow of the sunny day casts a relaxing mood over Ichigo as her feet prop up on a tree. Her hair is down around her face as she lays on her back, her face tilted up to the sky counting clouds. "Hehe, that one looks like Yoruichi!"
"Where is she?"
"There!" She points up as the long shadow of Byakuya leans over her face upside down with a grin on his face. "What are you so happy about?" She grins back at him. "I still have my clothes on."
"I am not smiling. You are upside down." He tosses a blanket on the ground next to her careful to stay under the shade of the large Sakura tree. "I thought we agreed you would not lay on the ground without a blanket underneath you?"
"No, you agreed. I just smiled cause you look cute when you are annoyed at me." She rolls over on top of the blanket tucking her hands behind her head. "Oh that's the face!" Her finger points up at him with a wiggle. "There is a spot here just for you." She grabs a hold of his pant leg with her fingertips.
"Are you flirting with me?" Byakuya kneels down on the blanket placing his hands on each side of her waist. "Answer."
"N-Not really..." She mutters, but it is too late Byakuya grabs her around the waist and carries her toward their bedroom. "Oi! I can walk!"
"HAHAHA! Acting like quite caveman Bya-Boo!"
"Yoruichi Shihoin why are you here?" Byakuya gently sets Ichigo's feet on the ground glaring at the small black cat whipping it's tail around like she owns the ground she is trespassing on.
"I have a wedding present for Ichigo."
"We politely refuse." Byakuya replies turning Ichigo's shoulders away from the small black cat toward the bedroom.
"Oi!" Ichigo steps away from his grip with a pissy look on her face. "You can't refuse a gift for me." walking over to Yoruichi she takes a look around the short haired cat for a card. "Where is it?"
"Oh! It's here." Yoruichi swiftly morphs into her human form, standing there stark naked in front of everyone.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Ichigo tries to cover Byakuya's eyes with her hand only to find him staring blank faced at the wall behind him. "Yoruichi-san, I'm starting to feel something I haven't quite felt before." Her fist clenching tightly raises up in the air. "There is a special place in hell for home wreckers. I can help you get there really quick."
"HAHAHA!" Yourichi grabs the blanket off the ground and wraps it around her body. "You hear that Bya-Boo? Ichigo is jealous of our special bond."
Ichigo sees Byakuya practically shiver.
"Anyway." Yoruichi whistles loudly summoning Hanatarou to her from around the corner.
"H-Hai Yoruichi-san, I have brought the box for you." Hanatarou sets the slender violin case in Ichigo arms then promptly bows before leaving.
"This is from you know and Kisuke." Yourichi flash steps away leaving the blanket to settle on the ground in her dust wake. "Looks like both Ichi's are Uke~!"
"Ichi...UKE?" Ichigo exclaims with a crimson face. Opening the case she finds a pure white violin inside with a note under the velvet lining.
"Kuchiki-san, Ichigo-san, this is for what you lack."
"My violin from... oh that's right it's white now." Ichigo recalls the violin turning white just before she fought Gin.
"Absurd, we lack nothing." Byakuya watches Ichigo lift the violin from the case, she immediate drops to her knees. "Shit." He frowns deeply as Ichigo's reiatsu surges creating a mist around her body. "Urahara Kisuke... I may kill you yet."
Ichigo walks up the long stairwell of the building gathering the fabric of her white gown in her hands so she can continue up. The endless steps never give her a moment of rest.
"There is no place for you here!" The twisted voice comes at her again saying things she knew as truth. "Who are you?" "Why have YOU come here?" Leave... at once." "Where do you belong?"
She doesn't know how to answer.
"You are unwanted." "Get out!" "Not needed!" "You don't deserve to even exist." "HE did everything. YOU nothing!"
More haunting words she agrees with. Her feet stop moving, her head lowering. "You are right! All the same I'm still here!" What should she do? Clamor and crawl like a fool to prove her value? Hell no. "I'm still here damn it!" It begins to rain heavily the drops echoing off the surface of the stairs. Ichigo grabs onto the guard rail to keep from slipping as the wind tries to blow her down. Her eyes grow wide realizing the water has no where to go in the enclosed space. The rapidly rising waters surge up to her level within a minute."Throw whatever you want at me I'm not moving from this spot!" She sits down on the stairs with a determined look on her face.
"Kekeke~!" A child's voice bounces happily around Ichigo. "Momma is so stubborn."
"What?" Her head lifts up to see a small butterfly the color of Byakuya's eyes fluttering above her head. "M-momma?"
"Not to bright though... teehee!" The butterfly's wings spread out giving Ichigo shelter from the rain. "Would you please make the rain stop? Only you can make the rain go away."
"I don't know how." Ichigo feels a wet drop on her hand and looks up with a gasp. "The rain is hurting you?" She watches in horror as the wings start to dissolve.
"This place is rejecting me. I won't be able to be with you for much longer."
"What do I do! You're my baby. I should be protecting you, not the other way around!" Ichigo stands up with a grief stricken expression, her amber eyes blazing with anger and desperation. "I can't escape here."
"Hang on..."
The butterfly vanishes as the water over takes Ichigo. Her body is rocked back and forth by the force. Looping her arm around the banister she holds her breath only able to hear the beating of her own heart.
"No one acknowledges you. He belongs in this place not you..."
"Hang on..." Her child's voice reaches her making her eyes shut and hold tighter.. "Hang on, My beautiful heart." Byakuya's voice in her mind fills her with hope.
"Those people are his, not yours... You are alone. You are only a remnant. Not even human. Just a MOD SOUL!"
"I'm... a modified soul?" She wants to swim away and breathe in. To escape these harsh words that resonate with her soul.
"HAHAHA! You know it's true. That body isn't yours. You are fake! Nothing more than an abomination."
"But, Byakuya..."
"Shinigami's kill them... the modified ones are just empty shells. Byakuya will kill you when he finds out. Just die mod soul... No one wants you."
Everything turns dark. The water feels heavy. She can only hear the beating of her heart. Drumming, pulsating, over and over in her mind. The faces of the captains, her friends, her comrades and people with a desire to protect flash before her eyes. Cagoon, cagoon, cagoon... Her hands drop away to her sides. "No! I'm real!" Her eyes flash blue, her hands clinch into fists. "I have feelings! I have a heart!" The shock wave from her hands splits the stairwell in half exposing the bright sunlight.
"You will never be him..."
"I just wanna be me." Ichigo says, feeling her body settle on a smooth surface. Her eyes quickly adjust seeing the vastness of Soul Society in front of her. Looking down she sees the Kuchiki manor and Byakuya standing above her with an umbrella in his hand to block her from the sun. "I see now." Her clothes change back into shinigami robes."My place is here. This city is mine to protect."
"Do ya finally get it?"
"Yeah..." She turns to Kamen-chan with a grin. "Kurosaki's power is connected to Karakurra Town, and mine is to Soul Society."
"You can't let Aizen have his way with Mini-Ichi. It'll destroy both worlds then we are all fucked." Kamen folds her hands in front of her chest. "I miss the little brat's singing."
"Oi! That's my kid you are talking about."
"Here!" The white-haired woman tosses a long white blade into Ichigo's hands. "A gift from Zangetsu an me."
"A zanpaktou?" She looks a the long narrow blade in shock. "It's just like Tensa Zangetsu but white."
"Yeah, he wanted to say hi but he is shy."
"Oh, really?" Ichigo lifts an eyebrow up. "Somehow I doubt that's true."
"Hey! Calling me a liar ain't cool!" Kamen moves quickly kicking Ichigo in the ass sending her flying do to the ground in a thud.
"You bitch!" Ichigo's eyes open to Byakuya closing an umbrella and walking away without a word. "Oh shit! I-I didn't mean you Byakuya." She chases after him pleading only to be given a cold glare from the corner of his eye. "I'm really sorry."
"How sorry?" Byakuya asks in a very serious tone.
"U-Um, very sorry. You tell me how to make it up to you, and I will."
"Very well." A thin smile stretches across Byakuya's lips as he jerks her by the belt into the bath house.
"Eeeek!"
~/~
"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki and there are two of me. One died and I was born from his heart that still beats in my chest. I belong to one place while he belongs to another. I protect and he protects. He and I have both lost things... important things, but hang on my other self. Hang on to the people who are important to you. Hang on to the places which gives us strength. Hang on to the power inside our hearts." Shutting the diary she walks out of the Kuchiki vault to find Byakuya, Kisuke, and Kurosaki waiting for her.
"Hey Kurosaki, did you know your heart never stopped beating? Even when it left your body waiting for mine to grow, the beating continued. It was you Kurosaki who gave birth to me... willing me to live. Thank you."
"Eh?" Kurosaki scratches his head. "Well, you gotta keep that one beating. You have a family to think about. Including mine." He furrows his eyebrows together leaning into her forehead. "So don't go moaping around anymore!"
"Alright fine!" She leans right back at him with her face contorted in irritation. "I'm over it!"
"Good! And another thing! A girl? Boys are born first damn it!" Kurosaki turns away from her with his hands on his hips. "Who will look out for her when she is old enough to go to school?"
"Excuse the shit outta me for another missing chromosome. It's not like I can tell the baby... Oi be a boy to make Kurosaki happy!"
"Tch, I guess I'll have to-"
"Kurosaki..." Byakuya glares at the two with a fierce but polite anger. "I will look out for MY child. I do not NEED your help."
Urahara flips open his fan with a grin. "What a wonderful family this little one is getting. So exciting! It's like she is getting two moms and two dads!"
"A child only needs two parents." Byakuya nudges his wife to walk next to him as they exit the caves.
"Hey? Who would be the second Mom?" Kurosaki rubs his chin when a peal of laughter erupts from Ichigo.
"HAHAHA! It's you! HAHAHA!" She leans on Byakuya laughing her ass off. "Kurosaki is the second Momma."
"LIKE HELL I AM!"
"Yo!" Yoruichi appears as the group heads for division two. "I thought I'd go with you to see Ichimaru. I have a few things to take care of at the maggot's nest."
"I thought you might." Kisuke says giving her a silent but, knowing look. "Let's all think of names for the baby~!"
"Your input is unwanted." Byakuya replies glancing at the way the two Ichigo's are teasing each other. "My wife and I will choose the name of the twenty-ninth heir of the Kuchiki clan."
"He called me his wife in public... awwwwe~!" Ichigo walks over next to him with a blushing face. Looping her arm inside his she looks up at him with a big smile.
"He is a smooth talker." The three onlookers cackle. "Ichigo is a girl after all."
"Of course I am a girl!"
Here we have a very very late chapter! Life got busy for me and I well got writer's block on how to handle this chapter. I got so many negative reviews that became more and more personal I had to start deleting them. Oh well... I guess being negative is what people wanna do. But I wanna thank everyone who has supported this story and understands it's not about people being perfect or a fairytale of happiness. It's about knowing your place and being ok with who you are despite the circumstances or the pain you have inside. No matter how others see these characters, this is how I see them. We are all free to see them in the pov of our own hearts. Ichigo (female) has struggled with her place in the world from the very first chapter, and Byakuya has struggled with expressing his emotions. I thought it important for them to accept and move forward. Making both Ichigo's Yin and Yang male and female gives a sense of completeness to the story. The cycle of heaven and earth and the emotions that go with both sides of the spheres are mirrored in the fic. That is why the characters act in certain ways at certain times.
Why no Yaoi lemon? It didn't seem to fit. I couldn't find a way to make it work so I pushed forward rather than delay the chapter even longer. Sorry if you are disappointed. I just followed my instincts^^.
Byakuya is so Occ? This is a gray area really. We do know he has a slight sense of humor with Renji. Logic would say that his personal contact with Ichigo would also reveal more of that side of him. I do think and stand by that he has a slight pervy side. Plus OMG it's so fun^^
Ichigo is Occ? Here I have to say my female Ichi is a mixture of all side of his personality. She is a broody type when someone she cares about is hurt but also responds to the needs around her to push through the pain and hang on. Plus I made it clear in the beginning that she struggles with the knowledge that she is in fact created from another being who is awfully hard to stack up too. It's a lot of pressure to be Ichigo and I think I did the best I could with expressing her gradual change. She is finally ok with being herself, and that's something I certainly struggle with myself. You see she lacked the confidence that Kurosaki had. But now she is ok. She has a purpose and people who are depending on her to live.
Giving characters flaws is always a tricky thing in FF. Some people embrace the ideas and look at the characters with an open mind. Others see it as occ. That's ok^^ I simply say I drew out certain personality flaws in Ichigo and created a stressful situation... a human situation to make her rise up and hang on. WOW what a long note.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the finale coming soon. One final note. Any comments directed at me personally will be removed. I have no problem with people not liking the fic. it's certainly not something everyone can enjoy. But let's be nice ne? HUGS YOU ALL Fuzzi