Once Miracle, Twice Fate

Chapter Three – Twice Holding

When Rukia arrived the hut, carrying the goods she could salvage, the Russian was brushing her horse.

"Please go inside and lie down, you're not fully healed yet."

He obeyed her and watched her in silence, as she kept organizing items around the shelter, seeming to avoid looking at him. After a while, he sat up and decided to ask the questions that were burning inside his mind, to the woman that stood with her back turned to him, busy with her crafting.

"You're sad, aren't you?" Rukia just turned her face to the side slightly, but resumed focusing on her herb mixture soon afterwards. "How can I feel what you feel? Like earlier, I knew you were in danger and where to find you, why can I do that?"

Rukia answered without facing him, crushing leaves inside a small bowl. "I infused you with my own spirit, because yours was too worn out to regenerate on its own. It's a temporary secondary effect, while my spirit energy remains inside your body. Rest, you might not be feeling any pain, but if the recovery isn't consistent, your body will keep permanent flaws."

He laid back down, but rested his shoulders against the wall, so he could still keep an almost sitting straight position. "But how can you manipulate spirits?"

"I'm a witch. A spirit master. I was born with the ability to manipulate elements and spirit forces. It runs on my bloodline, though it also takes a lot of learning." Given he seemed to be on a chatty mood, Rukia felt like not being the only one giving answers. "How come you're fluent in Japanese?"

He stared at his hands for a while. "I worked in Dejima, for some years."

So, the Dutch actually kept him for long, instead of sending him back with the first ship… Rukia stopped the crushing, to ask him the question she had given up asking fifteen years ago. "And… do you mind telling me your name?..."

Even though she couldn't see it, that question made the Russian grin widely, and he was still smirking as he replied "Kurosaki…" Rukia resumed the mixing. "… Ichigo." She stopped and stared back at him with shocked eyes. His amused expression persuaded her to quickly collect herself and face the bowl again, gripping it tightly.

"… That's a Japanese name."

"It was given to me by a Japanese girl." Again, she couldn't see it, but he was standing up. "Why did you save me?"

"I'm a witch, it's my job to heal people after battles."

"Even killing one of your own to do it?"

"He was not from my clan and it's my business to save whoever I choose."

"And it's not even the first time you save me, is it…" she could listen to his voice growing closer and the last word was whispered right above her ear "… Rukia."

Startled by the proximity, instinct took the best of her and with one swift move, she had her dagger pointing underneath his chin. His body was so close his warmth seemed to circle her whole, and his face, towering above her, was intoxicating her breath with his own, while his eyes mesmerized hers with a heat that melted her core. Ichigo slowly, but steadily, lowered his lips to hers, unabated by the dash the sharp blade was drawing underneath his chin, until Rukia dropped the dagger and accepted his kiss with a soft whimper, surrendering to their passion.

While their tongues dueled, it felt like heaven had open up. Ichigo was hungry, hungry for her, hungry by her. Rukia's scent of wild gardens, Rukia's taste of exotic spices, Rukia's skin of warm silk, the way she was molding against him, the way she was breathing enrolled on his kiss, everything about her was making his head spin and his body crave for more. He lifted her, while her arms circled around his neck, and sat her over the counter, her legs around his sides, the need to have him closer latent on their grip.

Rukia had all that was womanly on her screaming for Ichigo. Her knees were rubbing their way up the sides of his firm torso, her body trying to grip him closer to her core with a will of its own. She couldn't think anymore, she just wanted to feel. Feel him on her, around her, within her. Even the way his muscles tensed everywhere she touched was intoxicating.

Ichigo parted their kiss, and they regarded each other, in between racing breaths. He caressed Rukia's swollen lips with his thumb, but she parted her folds to hold it captive in between her teeth and taste it with her welcoming appendage. She shivered when his warm breath followed by his fiery tongue traveled across her cheek to her ear and gasped when he softly bit the lobule. He tasted her ear lastingly, letting his thumb play inside Rukia's mouth.

When the hunger for her kiss made him replace his thumb with his tongue again, he made his moistened finger slid down her chin, her neck, her collarbone, and inside her dress, to circle around a pert nipple, while his palm gently held the mound. The way Rukia moaned against his mouth and tensed her body towards his caress made his arousal twitch and nearly sent him over the edge. He softly sucked on her lower lip, as she ripped the top of her own dress out from the ivory buttons, to grant her chest the full access to the warmth and touch it was craving for.

Not believing the beauty before his eyes, Ichigo first embraced Rukia tightly, yearning to feel her body against his own. He ran his fingertips across her bare back and nuzzled among her raven hair, while she gripped his firm backside and indulged her mouth with eagerness all over his pectorals, licking their underline and tasting his nipples, leaving Ichigo's mind numb, shattered in between the ticklish and the electrical sensations.

When her fingers ran from his back and up his heaving torso, searching to entwine around his neck in thirst of his kiss, Ichigo assaulted Rukia with the longing of a madman. His kiss was liquid fire wanting to burn into her very soul. He gripped the back of her head with one hand, while the other grabbed her backside pressing her strongly against his manhood. Rukia's hips were running amok, her thighs cuffing Ichigo's lower abs for all they're worth, her pelvis overlapping along the length of his arousal.

He couldn't even see straight anymore, when he released her mouth to pant a whisper against her ear. "You're making me crazy, Rukia, hold still."

"I can't!" and she followed her whisper with the sucking of his ear, making him hiss in between teeth.

He ran a hand down the side of her leg and up her inner thigh, making it tense and raise in anticipation. His fingers hadn't yet reached her folds and they were already damp on her juices. He suckled on her neck, while he probed around the entrance to her core and slowly slid his index over the tensed nub, making her slightly bite his shoulder while whimpering his name. Her legs were already trembling, one wrapped tightly around his waist and the other entangled with his own. And he too, couldn't bare it any longer.

Lifting her up from the counter, he carried her wrapped around him to the mat. He kept kissing her while unbuttoning his trousers and Rukia used her own feet to pull them down his toned legs. As he stood above her, supporting his weight on his forearms, he kissed her again, while feeling his length slide down her folds and start sheathing itself within her. They both gasped a moan, feeling one for the first time. Ichigo rested his head on her shoulder, panting, and Rukia raised her hips to sheath him completely, making him gasp again, before she started undulating her pelvis to revel in the pleasure of his length.

"Be still." he whispered to her again.

"Can't."

"Just for a bit... please... be still." and he lowered his body to pin her down and limit the range of motion for her hips. She whimpered softly and ran one hand down his side, to grip his tensing backside, while the other caressed his mane, behind his neck. He looked at her through half closed lids for a moment, before closing his eyes to rub his nose on hers and stealing her breath again with a deep kiss.

He started moving against her, slowly, but with a constant pace. Rukia felt too good for words and Ichigo fitted on her as if the gods themselves had deliberately made him to that purpose. The rest of the world seemed to disappear, and all they could feel was each other. He caressed her breast and tasted all the contours of her ear, with Rukia's fingertips running errant all over his body and taking him further away from whatever notion of control he once had.

Their rhythm accelerated without their notice. Rukia was moaning with every breath, with her arms up so her hands could hold his as if she would break apart without him to hang on to, and Ichigo was hissing against her neck, eyes shut from any light and his brain getting shut from anything other than the woman that had him and the growing blooming from his manhood, that was at the verge of exploding.

The pressure on Rukia's core sprawled, making her arch her back and her legs tremble, with the spasms of the strong waves of pleasure, that made her almost scream. But Ichigo couldn't tell her spasms from his own, when the sudden twitching on Rukia's body made him come hard and soundly, filling Rukia with his climax and smothering his own scream against her shoulder.

Rukia was still feeling the last few waves flow through her body, when a panting Ichigo kissed her lips sweetly and traced small kisses back to her ear again, whispering pleasantly "Are you an angel? Am I dead?"

Rukia frowned and smiled at the same time. "Silly Russian!"

He grinned, rolling on the mat to lie on his back and pulling Rukia on top of him, covering them both with the blanket. Before falling asleep, his were the last words she heard. "My angel." But hers were the last words she remembered. "I promise, Nii-sama."

When she woke up, the next day, rolled like a cat on top of Ichigo, she inhaled his scent close to his collarbone and scanned his spirit with her senses. This was her last day with him, she thought, feeling a grip on her throat, so she had to make sure to restore him completely. Foremost, he needed to rest, and she chanted a spell of deep sleep, the same her brother had bestowed upon him, years ago. She brushed her lips in between his defined pectorals for a long moment, before getting up to get herself and the items she needed ready to conclude his healing.

For hours she worked, surrounding him with crystals made with spiritual arts, summoning the ancients to chant for his soul, binding the power of the elements to strengthen his vitals under mystic symbols drawn with sacred balms, and finally washing all his body with an infusion of rare roots, nourishing him through the skin. She took longer to finish these procedures than she would normally need, because, all the while, looking at his perfect features, she couldn't escape the remembrance of what it felt like to be embraced by that body. Of what it felt like to own those lips, what it tasted like to moist those nipples, what it burned like to be touched by those hands and how it fulfilled her to sheath his whole length.

After she was done, she covered him with the blanket and went outside to cool herself with the evening breeze, trying to steady her pounding heart. She watched the torches of Rukongai at the distance, trying to distract herself from the aching on her chest. Cold drops started splashing over her, and she welcomed the rain to cool her head and wash her thoughts.

But suddenly she gasped, when two strong arms wrapped themselves around her, pulling her back from the rain to under the sheltering eaves.

Ichigo was amused with having startled her. "Don't have the dagger to point at me this time?"

"Ichigo!"

He looked at the rain, brushing his chin on her hair. "You know… I was sheltering you from the rain, almost like this, when you gave me that name."

"Do you really wear it?" Ichigo nodded over her head. "Why?"

"I liked the way you said it. … Well, next to yours, of course…" and he lowered his head to whisper to her ear "Rukia." making her shiver.

She leaned against him, closing her eyes. "How did you know it was me?"

Ichigo nuzzled on her neck warming the wet skin with his breath. "… When I saw you running on the hills, when you looked at me… it was the same as when you were trying to pull me away from those men, back then. … That's when I knew who you were." And he licked the raindrops from her neck, making her moan and press her back against his arousal, running her fingers up the sides of his legs in tempting suggestion. With a grunt, Ichigo slid back into the hut, holding Rukia's body captive to his.

She tilted her head to the side, searching his lips with hers and making his manhood twitch with the raw voracity with which she claimed purchase of his tongue. She had spent the whole day yearning to taste him and her instincts were numbing all her senses with need. Ichigo had just pulled the top of her robes down, to feel her back against his abs and fill his palms with her breasts, when she turned her body towards him, pulling the knot that released her waist from the bottom portion of her robes. Holding his backside with conquering fingers, her spare hand grabbed hold of his virility, circling a thumb oiled by his own juices around the tip.

"Rukia!" His knees bent to the floor but his panting whimper only inflamed her more. She used her weight to lie him down, but he grabbed her hands to escape from drowning in the whirlpool played by her fingers. But her thirst was not quenched and she sucked his tongue while rubbing her arousal on his own. He opened his mouth to groan and released one of her hands to lift her hips from his throbbing member. But his feeble cling on control only made her wish to steal it from him. She drew soft bites across his jawbone, savoring his panting and the near helplessness on his clouded eyes when faced with the raw desire of her own. She took the hand that was holding her hip and she lowered herself down to kiss its palm. Ichigo's fingers caressed her face and played with the wet locks of her hair, until suddenly Rukia locked her fingers firmly in between his own and strayed her face away from his caress, to hungrily taste his manhood.

Fueled by the bolt that seemed to have run through Ichigo's whole being, as he cried her name again in between hisses, erratically clenching and extending his fingers under the grip of her small hands, Rukia licked, sucked, explored with her tongue, every inch of skin, every pulsing vein, every underline of his masculinity, reveling on every twitch, every clench, every desperate gasp that Ichigo was producing under the tick of her hunger.

The same hunger that won the battle within Ichigo's senses, as he released his hands from Rukia's and pulled her up under her shoulders with an animal growl, holding her hips on top of his face, as he ravaged her folds with the whims of starvation. The taste of her juices flooded his brain, to the music of her moans and her gripping of his chest. With his folds brushing her own and his tongue drinking the bundle of nerves within them, he ran a palm across her backside and dipped two fingers slightly inside her entrance, circling around the slickness. He moaned together with her, feeling her thighs tighten over his shoulders and released her hip to caress her core, while the other hand left her valley to travel up her side, trailing her juice to damp her breast and moist a pink nipple, electrifying Rukia's spine.

Her hips were running wild, enhancing the pleasure of Ichigo's motions with their own. Under the ministry of his appendages and with his raised hand now holding her other breast, Rukia felt the pressure inside her core tuck and splash all over her body, not holding a cry and clawing his chest as he drank her orgasm with the thirst of desire. Feeling the room run around her, she felt two fingers trace a path up her neck, lowering her chin and intruding on her panting folds to play with her tongue. She could still taste herself on them and she opened her eyes to meet Ichigo's gaze underneath her. The desire on his brown orbs was as primal as it was helpless. Seeing her come on top of him had intoxicated his nerves and locked his brain to anything beyond his need of her. Just looking at him made Rukia's insides burn up in anticipation, and he didn't let her stay in wanting for longer.

He took her down, to lie on top of her and as soon as he raised himself to capture her lips, he was already sheathed to the hilt inside her, the kiss stroking their moan. For a moment he stood still, but Rukia could feel him slightly shudder inside her. She raised her knees and hooked her legs around his waist, levering her hips up and closer to him, wanting to drive him deeper. She parted their kiss to softly bite his ear, using the strength in her legs to raise and lower herself across his length. "Don't you dare holding me still now."

Tossing control out the window, Ichigo lifted himself to sit on his heels with Rukia still wrapped around him and started to rock against her in blissful abandon. He embraced her tightly, showering her neck with wet kisses, as their heartbeats entwined and their pants mixed. Overrun by the desire of going deeper inside of her, Ichigo distanced her upper body from him, craning his torso to meet the contours of her breasts with his tongue and softly suckle on her hirsute nipples. Rukia was drunk with pleasure, feeling his shaft reaching deeper with each pound and his mouth setting her chest on fire.

He released her mounds to lower her torso even more, making her back rest against his upper legs while her head was tousling the raven locks on the mat, his hands firmly gripping her hips to heave himself in and out of her. Not only was he aflame with madness with how far he was reaching inside of her, but the full sight of Rukia, arching and meandering below him, assaulted his brain like an overpowering predator flying swift to reach his climax. One hand released her hip, to slide the thumb on her sensitive erect flesh, while the other hand shook her hips against him to a vertiginous pace.

She was already loosing the strength on her legs, feeling her thighs tremble and biting her own clenched finger to repress the scream of her impending orgasm, when Ichigo lost himself on his release, his warm jolts meeting her spasmodic inner walls. She mewled in between pants, carried by the waves bathing her whole body and slowly washing away, while Ichigo was moaning with his eyes firmly shut and clenched teeth, feeling every convulsion on his pelvis invade his veins with pleasure.

He caressed her sides, before dragging his knees away from her and laying down, resting his face on her stomach. Rukia buried her fingers amidst his bright orange scalp, reality slowly returning to her brain.

He brushed his nose on her bellybutton, waiting for both their breaths to recover a steadier pace. His voice came low and husky. "… You know… I keep feeling like sooner or later, I'm going to wake up on a Dutch caravan again and wonder if you're real."

Rukia took a long while to reply, almost with a whisper. "I'm real."

That wasn't the part of the sentence to which Ichigo needed an answer to. And he gained the certainty that his time with Rukia was going to reach an abrupt end beyond his power to avoid. He held her tighter, sharing the sadness that her spirit kept revealing within him, now understanding its cause.

"I promise, Nii-sama."

I'm sorry, Ichigo.