Not long after their talk, Toshinori could tell that her heat was starting to bother her some. She kept shifting herself around, and her face was flushed and she was starting to sweat a little bit.

So he collected her and then headed up to the studio apartment that he kept on the top floor of Might Tower. He usually kept it for instances when he was injured and needed a place to lie low and rest while he healed. Or even when he was overwhelmed by paper work and needed a place to crash.

It wasn't anyplace special, really. At least not to him. But he tended to keep it clean and the fridge fully stocked with foods and stuff, just in case. Which meant that it would suffice for the moment.

Once he stepped through the door, he carefully set Ichigo down while he locked the place up behind them and figured that since she was still a little bit uneasy about letting herself go. So he figured that he'd give her a little bit to explore the place before her heat became totally unbearable.

While she did that, he went about checking the fridge and a few other things to make sure that they had everything that they would need for however long that they were there.

And once he was sure that they had everything, he grabbed a couple of bottled waters and five boxes of protein bars and quickly went to the bedroom to stock them close to the bed. Just in case either of them were too weak later to even bother getting up and going very far to get anything.

Once that was done, he started to straighten his spine so that he could go and check on Ichigo. She was being oddly quiet, and to be perfectly honest, it was kind of starting to freak him out a bit. After all, for all he knew she had collapsed somewhere.

Walking out of the bedroom, he searched the bathroom, the kitchen and then finally found her in the living room. She wasn't doing anything. She was just flopped over onto his couch, lying there, staring blankly towards the TV.

"Ichigo?"

"I feel like my insides are boiling." She muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

He inwardly cringed in sympathy and moved to sit down beside where her head was on one of the cushions. Once he was situated comfortably he reached out and started to run his fingers through her dark hair. Paying careful attention to her cute little ears, and smiled a little bit when she leaned into his touch some.

A faint purr leaving her throat at his touch as she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly in a silent indication of where she wanted his hand.

Smiling a little as he continued to give her ears his undivided attention, he was startled a little bit when she finally pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and abruptly crawled into his lap. Letting his hand dropped from her head, he focused his eyes on her face as she settled herself so that she was straddling his hips.

"I-Ichigo?" He said her name questioningly as she leaned in and buried her face against his throat.

He twitched. He couldn't help himself, he could feel her warm breath on his skin. And it made him feel twitchy while simultaneously sending chills down his spine as she pressed her body completely flush against of his own.

Her tongue snaked out of her mouth and licked along his jugular before she gently nipped at the sensitive skin. Eliciting a low groan from him as his hands came up to grab her shoulders in a firm grip. His mind was torn between pushing her away and crushing her against his chest.

However he managed to hold himself perfectly still so that she could have free reign for the moment because he was curious about how far she was willing to take things here.

He knew that her heat had to be bothering her if she was resorting to this, but he was uncertain as to how badly it was hurting her. Or if she was simply trying to seduce him to make things easier on them both.

He might have tried to ask her. If he hadn't been so startled by her grabbing his shirt and suddenly ripping it open, sending the buttons flying in several different directions as she toppled the two of them over onto the couch.

He on his back. And she sitting where she felt the most comfortable.

Her small hands skimmed over his stomach and chest. Her fingertips tracing the dips and hollows of his frail body while he watched her face with keen interest. He kept expecting her expression to show disgust or disappointment that he wasn't more attractive in his current form.

But her expression never changed. Not even once.

There was no flicker of disappointment. No disgust. No lips peeling back from her teeth in a hurtful sneer. There was nothing there but...genuine want and hunger? For him? As he currently was?

It was mindboggling to believe.

Don't get too excited, Toshinori. She's just reacting to her heat and you're the closest male available. She doesn't really want you. No one in their right mind would. Some dark part of his mind hissed when he felt one of her small hands move up his chest and neck to lightly cup one of his cheeks. She brushed her thumb along his sharp cheekbone as she said in a trembling voice. "Stop thinking like that."

He blinked at her.

Not sure what she meant as she sighed and removed herself from him and stood up. Her tail was twitching in agitation, as she ran her fingers through her dark hair as if she were frustrated and then looked at him with some undecipherable emotion- vexation? Anger?- shining in her garnet colored eyes.

"Ichigo?"

"You need to stop thinking of yourself like that," She finally said. He slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows as he studied her for a moment. His heart thudded against his chest as if it were trying to escape his ribs as he swallowed past the lump in his throat as she said fiercely. "There's absolutely nothing fucking wrong with you. So stop thinking that there is."

"I-I'm sorry." He said, uncertain about what else there was to say. He hadn't known that his thoughts were quite so transparent. It's not like he'd spoken such negative and belittling words aloud right?

"Don't be sorry, just...stop thinking of yourself as if you're unlovable or undesirable or unworthy in some way or another. Because I can tell you with absolute certainty after knowing you since yesterday- that all of that negativity and shit- is wrong. Dead wrong."

He opened his mouth to ask her how she could be so sure, but she literally hissed at him and then stormed off. Leaving him sitting there wondering just what the hell had happened.