"Hanging up now. Have fun. I know I will."
"Go ahead," I replied and the communicator clicked dead. I slowed my breathing and calmed my pulse as best as I could. Damn – Gin did have a silver tongue in his mouth. "That wasn't very nice, listening into my conversation."
"Wasn't very nice? You were having phone sex in my damn house." He removed his hat and slammed the door shut behind him. "What's this? Flaunting your unavailability? Last night wasn't enough?"
I narrowed my eyes. "You were listening in last night?"
"Yeah, I was," he finally admitted after a long pause, then called up enough bravado to add, "If you wanna get it on with your pretty boy, get out of my house. I don't need reminders of what I no longer have – I've far too many of those little reminders in my daily life."
"He's not a boy," I corrected Urahara. "And besides, what you no longer have is no longer my concern."
Out of the blue he pounced me, his arms pinning my shoulders to the wall. I scoffed. "Jumping my bones now? Never thought of you as the initiator."
"Shut up," he breathed heavily. "You have no idea how difficult it was. You always, always wanted me to choose when you knew damn well I couldn't."
"Get off me," I said quietly and shook him aside. "I need the bathroom."
He sat up. "You don't care, do you? You don't understand why I did what I did back then."
"All I understand is that I need some time to myself right now," I gritted the words out. Damn. Gin, I just needed a little motivation and you send me straight to the edge. I'm going to have to teach you temperance.
Urahara stepped in front of me and reached down. I couldn't suppress the shudder and took a faltering step back. He smirked humorlessly. "That used to be mine alone."
"You flatter yourself," I snapped.
He stepped closer. "I knew you want revenge. And so you're doing this to me now, now that I can't have you, that I can't touch you the way I used to and get the response I used to elicit from your body. This is some sick revenge scenario you're playing out."
"Ever figured out what I'm revenging myself on?" I breathed out, locking my gaze with his. "You thought I hated Yoruichi, and for a time I thought so too. But I was angrier with your indecisiveness."
He was very close to me now, pressing his advantage. "Indecisiveness?"
"Just because you couldn't choose between pussy and cock, you played both of us against each other," I sneered. Urahara jolted back when I hissed the words out of my mouth. I never enjoyed using coarse language, and very seldom did I enjoy hearing them. Save when it was dripping like unrefined honey from Gin's lips, when it was his entrancing voice, and his eyes flickering beneath long lashes...
"I didn't choose because I didn't want to hurt either of you." Urahara looked hurt himself; lost, bewildered, all beneath the veneer of angered indignation.
I forced a chuckle. "Yoruichi was smart; she left you hanging. I was the stupid one, waiting for you, pining after you, always accepting you back in my bed. No more, Urahara. Don't force me to fight you, because you can't beat me."
"No. No I can't." He backed off. Then a smirk fluttered onto his lips. "But I know you'll still fuck me tonight."
Shaking my head, I snorted and headed for the bathroom. The imagery of Gin cursing as we twined together ensured I was still in the mood. As I passed him he asked softly, "You keep your promises, Aizen?"
I stopped. "Yes. Unlike a certain blond former captain right here in this room."
"Then I'm cashing in one of the two favors you owe me." He glared right into my face as he pressed himself against my body, his hand daring between my legs. "You'll stay here and fuck me until I'm satisfied. And I'm very difficult to satisfy, as you well know."
"Son of a bitch," I swore and glared back at him, hiding my inner jubilation. Too easy to read, Urahara. "You're a damn manipulative bastard."
"Or you can break your promise," he licked along my jaw. I turned away. "And that, I know, is something so fundamentally against your nature that you'd rather die than break your word."
"So you do still remember what I'm like." I inhaled as he continues to grope and kiss, hunting out familiar sensitive spots. My body responded far easier than my brain, which was still preoccupied with the image of my silver-haired lieutenant with only a towel around his hips.
"I also remember what you like me to do," he challenged, his warm breath ghosting over my skin. I closed my eyes, picturing pale silver hair glimmering in the light, cool skin becoming hotter with every passing second- He grabbed my jaw and dove into my mouth. "No. Me. Focus on me."
"You wish," I muttered. "I'm no longer the fifty-year-old student you twisted around your finger, Urahara. I'll damn well play your little 'get-your-rocks-off' game, but what goes on in my head is my own business."
"I can read you like a book, Aizen," he mocked. "'Oh, is Urahara gonna make me scream? Is it gonna hurt? I haven't let anyone top me since he left! How long before he's satisfied and I can get back to my pretty boy so he can be my bitch?'"
I grabbed his throat and squeezed, just a little too hard. "Don't. Ever. Insult. Gin. Because I just might get angry for real." I let go. "If you wanna fuck, let's do it now while I'm still interested."
A small muscle twitched beneath his left eye. I could feel his frustration. His devoted lover, now someone else's loyal defender; his mind games no longer working to quite the same effect; his apparent cool and malicious humor ripped to shreds by someone he used to distress.
How could he be Urahara Kisuke when he could not manipulate others, when his motives could be read, when every single word he uttered is thrown back in his face?
I shrugged out of my haori and yanked his face to mine, crushing his lips with a hard kiss. His arms came up to my shoulders again. I felt his fingers dig into the flesh and press into the bone, and then he was responding to the kiss with equal ferocity.
We broke apart, blood on our lips.
"Bastard," he swore quietly. "You're a total bastard for doing this."
"You invited me to use your place as a base of operations, so don't get all high-and-mighty on me." I spat out the blood that pooled between my lower teeth and lip. "You've been planning to cash in this 'favor' since the night I dropped by to see you – and left the second I knew Gin was heading home."
We breathed heavily. Then he shoved me into the wall and began attacking my mouth with tongue and teeth and lips. Rasping against my skin, he muttered, "If I can't have her, I'll have you."
I pushed him off. "I'm not your standby bed-warmer. Have me because you want me, not because she's not here."
Urahara stared at me as if I had grown a second head. Then a small smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. "I'm right; you still want me."
"I don't."
"You do," he slunk over and removed my askew glasses. "That's why you're jealous and flaunting your new lover before me."
As his hands reached below the belt I stuttered my protest. "I-I don't. I'm not j-jealous... Ura-hara. Ki. Kisuke."
"Please." His hands paused in the process of pumping me. "You were never good at lying, Sou."
My gaze bore down on his triumphant smile, before I tore at his shirt and we collapsed on the ground.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
I woke up, nose pressed against a warm neck. "Mm... new fragrance?" I rumbled slowly. "I like."
Gin's hands slid over my ribs and then pulled my arms closer. I inhaled again, relaxing my limbs as the caresses grew more intimate. Then he kissed my forehead and said, "I like that you like."
That's not Gin's voice.
I blinked open one eye, got my bearings, and got off the futon we found our way to last night. Urahara sat up and watched me pull on my clothes.
"Not gonna cuddle?" he asked with a lazy smile. As I tied on my hakama he yanked me into his embrace again. "You were all snuggly just now."
"I thought you were Gin," I snapped and shook him off.
His eyes clouded over. "You can't say you didn't enjoy what we did last night. You responded beautifully."
"I keep my promises and I keep them well, Urahara. Now you're down to one favor." I found my glasses in one corner of the room, thankfully still in one piece. "Now I have work to do, if you'll excuse me."
I heard a smothered curse when I entered the bathroom, but I didn't care. The teams should be getting a lock on the vizards' location by now.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The second team indicated the granary that caught their attention. I was pleased. "Good catch, Jiro."
The shinigami team leader beamed. "How should we proceed, Aizen-taichou?"
"Are all the teams here?"
"Yes Aizen-taichou."
I studied the reiatsu flow around the shielded building. The barrier was well-constructed, with triple-layer shield spells and double-cloaking. If not for a sparrow that flew around the construct the team wouldn't have caught it, Jiro had said sheepishly, but I waved it aside. If he hadn't paid attention to the surrounds he couldn't have seen a sparrow detouring around the building.
"Pattern G. Team leaders to arrange front, flank and back. I'll take down the shields." Gingerly my hand hovered before the barrier's surface. It thrummed.
Urahara and Tessai materialized by my side as Jiro sprinted away. Urahara grabbed my wrist. "Don't do this, Sou."
"Are you impeding me in my duties, Urahara-san?" I asked courteously. He knew the warning for what it was – many of our worst fights had begun with my words in that tone of voice.
He released his grip. "You can't defeat them alone."
"I'm not alone. I have thirty-nine competent shinigami behind me ready to make the capture."
"Each of them can wipe out a squad. I'm not kidding, Sousuke. You can't defeat them alone."
Tessai merely waited like a statue while Urahara and I tried to outstare each other. Finally he took three steps back and drew out Benihime. I studied his calm expression. "Are you for them or for me?"
"Yes."
Figuring that would be the only response he would give, I flattened both palms on the first layer. The cloaking was easily removed. The second one was a shield barrier, the one I was using on the house in Rukongai, allowing only Gin and myself to lead people into and out of the mansion. It was a self-sustaining spell if the reiatsu density of the atmosphere was high enough, and here clearly wasn't it. I smiled grimly as I punched through it, knowing that the barrier architect would feel the backlash in about ten seconds.
"Team leaders. Ten seconds to contact."
"Roger."
I stepped back and released Kyoka Suigetsu. I knew I was a match for them; the fact that I could fight Zaraki Kenpachi without needing to release my zanpakuto was indication enough.
Five, four, three, two, one.
"My my my... when had you two reconciled, neh?"
I looked up and smiled at Hirako Shinji. "We haven't. I'm here for you."
"Oh? To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, hmm? And you brought us a party too!" Hirako looked casual, but I felt the force of his reiatsu washing over me. I clamped down my own, not challenging his current dominance. "Thirty-nine comrades."
"You know the drill, Hirako. Come back to Seireitei. You and yours have to face the 46."
"Go back and be slaughtered?" His snigger had been replaced by a chilly tone. "Me and mine, as you so eloquently put it, are no longer shinigami. We're not subject to shinigami rules."
"You call yourselves vizards now," I said. "But your hands still hold a zanpakuto, and you were from Soul Society."
He grinned, his very white teeth glinting. "How are you gonna bring me in, Sousuke-kun?"
"By force if necessary."
He gave a signal and the shields fell. In a flash the other vizards were ranged in front of me.
Kensei was pissed, but he always looked pissed. "Aizen. Leave, please. I'm not the only one here who doesn't want to take you down."
"Duty, Kensei. You remember that? You were the one who taught me the importance of duty." I shifted my stance. "Hiyori. They need you back in Seireitei. Everyone is becoming stuffy and arrogant without you."
"You can get Kenpachi or his pink brat to do my job," she snarled. "We here ain't budging. Now we can do this the hard way, or the hard way."
Hirako landed lightly before his gang. "Easy there, Hiyori," he warned. Then he turned back to me. "Aizen. Please. We're all friends here."
"Except me," Lisa raised her hand, her glasses glinting in the afternoon light. "He's never shown me how he kisses Kisuke."
"Except Lisa," conceded Hirako. "And I don't want your men to get hurt."
I held my ground. "Then we do this the easy way. Come back to Seireitei, face the Central 46."
"Hell no." Hiyori sauntered up to me, her freckled face serious now. "We go back, all we're gonna get is locked away in the maggot hole or the fucking Soukyoku. It's certain death."
"Then I have to use force, Hiyori," I said regretfully.
"Step back, Hiyori. I will fight him." Hirako drew his zanpakuto.
The area silenced. Urahara cleared his throat. "Um, do we have to do this?"
"He has his zanpakuto, I have mine, lessee who's the stronger, eh?" Hirako flashed a grin again. "I've been wanting to spar with ya since I witnessed your fight with Zaraki."
I stood with my left foot leading. "I've already removed the limiter."
"I won't hold back then." With a quick glance at his ranks, Hirako pulled a hideous mask from his left hand over his face.
So I was right. I smiled humorlessly. Urahara is the cause of your mass rebellion then. No wonder you're all wearing untraceable gigai.
I learn more everyday.
