Title: 31 Stories in 31 Days
Day: 2
Fandom: Bleach/Kuroshitsuji
Prompt: The distant sound of rustling is out of place. Why?
Characters: Ichigo, Aliester Chambers, Ciel, Sebastian, Undertaker
Story World: A Drop in Time (WIP story)
Word count: 1092
Warnings: canon typical violence
AN: I am just posting these to get them started. Please enjoy the stories while I get them set up and going.
Pausing as he came to a standstill in his garden, Ichigo frowned, tilting his head as his hand slipped into the sleeves of his kimono. He had just finished sending off his guests from his ball to their homes, having placed one couple into a bedroom to keep them until the next morning when a carriage could come to them since their own was down a wheel. The fact that a plant had rustled at him as he walked near it shouldn't have happened at all. Especially since that particular plant was an especially thorny one that he had shipped over, wanting to have a piece of home with him.
Clicking his tongue, Ichigo carefully reached out and pushed the plants aside, raising an eyebrow at the blond haired man that looked as if he was trying to get out of the barberry shrub, wincing as the barbed thorns tugged and tore at his skin. "why are you in my shrub?" he drawled. The tilt to his words deepened as the man went still hearing his words. "I could have sworn that you had left."
"Uh...that is..." the man started. He turned to look over his shoulder.
"Chamber-san, did you by any chance sneak back with someone?" Ichigo asked, blowing out a breath before he slammed his elbow back into the gut of the man that had been sneaking up behind him. He smirked at the gagging that came from him, spinning on the ball of his foot and slammed the palm of his hand into the guys face. He made sure to pull the power of his hit, not wanting to drive the bone into his brain and accidently drive bone into his brain and kill him. That would just be no fun after all. "I did leave many a warning to anyone who thought that it would be a good idea to try to attack me, but if you did not think to find them..."
"Why are you able to hurt another in such a manner?" Chambers asked, staring at the man after he had gotten free of the bush. He had thought that Ichigo was gentle and sweet. Nothing like Ciel and his partner, Sebastian.
Ichigo snorted. "Training. That and it seems that you think that I am some kind of innocent damsel in distress when I am not," Ichigo purred, smiling down at him, raising an eyebrow before he shook his head. "I am not. I will defend my home against anyone who comes against me and it," he stated, looking down at the man at his feet. "You really should have just left when I showed you out earlier. Then this wouldn't have to happen."
Ichigo smiled and Chambers whimpered.
When he was next seen, he was moving rather gingerly. Under his clothes, he hid a collection of bruising that had come from the taps of the heavy fan in Ichigo's hand as the male had interrogated him. He knew that the red head knew all about his plans and thoughts on certain things. Knew all about what he wanted to do and would do. Needed to do in some cases but would, for the time being, ignore him as long as he kept out of Ichigo's face.
His assistant though had ended up being picked up by the police and Ichigo had admitted that the man had tried to grab him. And that his father had made sure that he could protect himself that he was considered pretty instead of handsome even in Japan. Which was rather on the dangerous side if one wasn't careful and couldn't protect himself. Seeing as the man's nose was broken and his cheekbones cracked, Ciel had told the police that it was lucky that Ichigo didn't have the power to shove the broken shards of his face into the man's brain.
Sebastian just found that amusing and had gone to visit Ichigo with Undertaker and Ciel to speak with the younger male.
"Tell us, how did you know that someone was there that night?" Undertaker asked, leering at Ichigo. The young male sipped his tea and smiled sweetly.
"Oh, really, it's not that hard when a bush that shouldn't rustle did rustle," Ichigo stated. He looked to where they could see his barberry bush from their table. He had to have it trimmed a little to fix the damage done to it that Chambers had done to it when he had fallen into it. "That and the idiot stepped onto a trip cobblestone. It wiggles just enough to make a sound if you know what to look for. It wasn't that hard to figure out where he was behind me. It really was a bad idea for them to try for me or anyone in my house. I did not lie when I said that my father made sure that I was able to protect myself. Just not the real reason why or how."
"I admit that I am rather curious as to how your father trained you and why you had to learn it at all," Ciel admitted, stirring his tea before he placed his spoon down onto the small plate that had been set out just for that purpose.
Ichigo smiled sweetly at him. "He would wake me up with flying kicks. At first, he would just toss pillows at me, raise my situational awareness while I was awake until it was second nature to catalog things and recognize when things are off. But the reason why is because of who my family was. They were targeted at one time before things came out so we had to make sure that we knew what to do even when we were in court," he told them. He crossed his legs, his smile softening.
Undertaker watched the movement behind silver bangs, lips quirking up behind his tea cup. "So you knew that he was there and where to hit without killing him. Could you have shoved his facial bone into his brain?"
"Now why would I do that?" Ichigo asked as he picked up a small cookie from the plate of them. "That would mean that he would be dead adn wouldn't be able to find a jail buddy after all," he said sweetly before he bit into the cookie, his eyes sparkling.
Ciel coughed into one hand, highly amused by Ichigo and shaking his head. "Only you, Ichigo, only you," he drawled.
"Of course," Ichigo chuckled as the conversation turned to the newest case that Ciel was working on.
