Chapter 6 – Lovers and Friends
The next thing I remember is Shiro kissing along my neck and his hands were running through my hair. I traced along his nose, then his cheek and finally down his jaw. I felt the muscles pull around his jaw line and I knew that he knew that I was awake.
"Morning, Snow White," I grumbled after a quick kiss. "I could get used to this. It feels good but in the wrong kind of way."
"Morning to you, too, Field Mouse. What can we do with our day today?"
"You could show me around the city for starters. It's usually a good idea for people like you to show people like me around places like the Soul Society. I promise to be good, Shiro. Please?"
"Yeah, sure," he muttered, sniffing the air. "I need to finish that paperwork from last night like I promised Rangiku or I'll never hear the end of it. There's coffee and bagels in the kitchen. Momo used to leave me breakfast after I became Captain. She must have seen us together last night. She didn't go all out like she used to though. Meet me in the kitchen in an hour."
That was the most I heard him talk apart from the night before when he told me about himself. The muscles in his back rippled as he laced his fingers above his head and stretched, knuckles and vertebrae cracking loudly in the silence. I wanted to reach out and touch those rippling muscles, but Shiro stepped out reach before I could.
"Paperwork can wait, Shiro," I told him, stubbornly. "Why can't that Matsumoto girl finish it? She seems capable enough. I'm not trying to bad mouth her but you look like you could use a day or two off. When was the last time you had fun, Shiro?"
He grunted before pulling a ragged looking shirt on over his head. I took it as a It's been too long so why bother? kind of grunt. I shook my head and scratched at my left eyebrow absentmindedly before getting out of bed myself. I angrily yanked on the rest of my uniform before sniffing my way to the coffee.
An hour, two cups of coffee and three bagels later, Shiro stumbled into the kitchen and very nearly hit his head on the counter edge. I stood and speed stepped to his side so as to avoid it.
"Shiro! What happened? You look like you ran into a gang or something. Please tell me what happened, baby."
I helped him to sit down in a nearby chair as I took his face in my palms. That's when I noticed the cut above his right eyebrow and the hurt look in his ice-green eyes. Tears were building up in his bottom lid and were threatening to fall before I pulled him close to me. I ignored the blood leaking from his cut as I simply held my lover close to me. I felt him trembling as he cried.
"I had to come back," he stuttered. "After I found out that Rangiku had finished the paperwork, I decided to check up on Kon and the rest. When they told me that HE was there looking for you, I had to come back to make sure that you were still here and not lying dead on the table. I can't lose you now that I had only just found you."
"Who is coming for me? You aren't making any sense, Snow White."
"Aizen is coming, Mouse. He's after you. I will teach you how to fight him and his Zanpakuto. Promise me that you will fight him when the time comes. You are so precious to me, my Field Mouse."
Whoever this Aizen guy was, I promised him that I would fight. I sat him down in his chair before making my way to the kitchen for a clean damp clothe to get all the blood off of my lover. I heard shuffling footsteps behind me stop at the doorway. I glanced over my shoulder to see Shiro standing there with more tears in his eyes and pressing a sleeve to the open wound above his eyebrow. I turned around and pointed at his seat. He immediately went to it and sat down looking even more hurt than when he came in. I squatted in front of him, pressing the damp clothe against the deep cut. The sharp intake of breathe and the firm grip on my wrist told me that he needed a second to get over the initial pain. My free hand cupped his cheek and I pulled him to me for a kiss.
"Whoever this Aizen guy is, we will defeat him when he comes for me, TOGETHER, baby. Our love for each other will protect us. It is our bond to one another. Just try not to die on me between now and the time that he comes for me. I promise that we will make it through anything, so long as we have each other."
The corner of his mouth twitched in a sorry attempt at a smile. I began to softly rub the clothe over the cut, the thought of having that vice-like grip on my wrist still fresh in my memory. By the time I was done, Shiro had almost fallen asleep. I handed him a cup of coffee and he straightened up a little. I had to smile at his simple childlike innocence before his first cup of coffee in the morning. I let him finish half of the black liquid before asking him to explain what he heard about Aizen coming for me.
"From what I got off of Kon, Abarai and Ichigo, it's not much more than what Yama-Ji's sources told us. All I know is that Aizen originally sent Gin Ichimaru, formerly third division captain, to spy on you, so that he could know all of your daily habits. After I came to look after you, Kaname Tosen, formerly the ninth division captain, took over for Gin because Aizen thought that Tosen would fit in better with his dark complexion. After Tosen confirmed what Gin was reporting about your daily routines, Aizen pulled him back. Especially after he somehow got news of me being there and hearing that Abarai was to come and serve as backup incase I either died or was deemed incapable of defending you. Are we done here? I think that it's time for us to tour the city before meeting up with Yama-Ji for your training."
"Tosen wouldn't happen to look like a dirt biker with dreadlocks and white eyes would he? We talked a little. By that I mean we talked about small stuff like old friends, politics and favorite foods. I always felt like he was looking right at me when we were talking even though he was blind."
"Tosen never really cared for politics from what I remember. That was before he followed Aizen to Hueco Mundo with Gin. I'll never forgive those three for what they did to Momo, Matsumoto, and Komamura. All three will pay for their actions. I swear it on my life as both Captain and Soul Reaper."
The deathly gleam in his eyes worried me, so I tried calming him down as much as I could. I had to grab him hard by the shoulders and kiss him to get him out of his I WANT TO KILL funk.