Title: Hanabi-taikai

Author: Evil Day

Rating: PG-13, language and boys touching.

Series: BLEACH

Pairing: Ichigo x Uryuu

Summary: Urahara forces Ichigo to invite Uryuu to the fireworks show, with less than desirable results.

Spoilers: Everything up to right after Soul Society.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, least of all BLEACH. Kubo-sensei has that distinct pleasure.

All submissions from Evil Day are works of fiction. All characters mentioned are of legal age of consent in the state of California, regardless of the canon age given in the original work. This includes the work itself and any comments posted afterward.

Now I know that you know I…

You don't need the light on to guide you through the Southern Lands

Say it.

"…And?"

Uryuu somehow hovered over Ichigo, which Ichigo thought odd since he was on the other side of the table. Uryuu waited silently, watching Ichigo take his first taste of dinner with unblinking eyes that betrayed very little.

Ichigo hadn't had a clue what to expect, especially when Uryuu called him earlier in the afternoon to ask him if he liked Italian food. He had said yes, mostly due to his love affair with spaghetti, and partially because he couldn't ever remember eating anything that he hadn't liked.

Ichigo had never heard of Eggplant Parmesan. It sounded less complicated than it looked close up, but the smell of it made up for the looks and sound of it combined.

"It's…probably the best thing I've ever tasted." Ichigo didn't spare another glance up to Uryuu as he tore through his plate, and he missed the tepid smile that briefly crossed the Quincy's features.

The exchanges between the two of them remained brief for an uncomfortable amount of time. Ichigo, or sometimes Uryuu would make a small comment, and then the other would agree or disagree as was appropriate. Ichigo found this tiresome after a few minutes, intent on making the connection with Uryuu that he had come here to make. There had to be something between the two of them that was more than just mere acquaintance, and he was determined to find out what it was.

"So…" Ichigo spoke around of mouthful of food, reaching out to help himself to another serving. Uryuu had been thinking ahead, he noticed, seeing that enough food had been prepared to feed a group of five or more. Smiling inwardly, he took another stab in the dark, hoping to hook the other boy's interest.

"Hm?" Uryuu glanced up briefly, waiting for Ichigo to continue.

"It's kind of strange, but…I miss being in Soul Society."

Uryuu nodded slightly and kept eating.

"I know we weren't there very long, but I feel like I've lived a lifetime over there."

That brought Uryuu's eyes back up to Ichigo's, and he paused for a moment, setting his fork back on his plate.

"It's because so much happened in such a short amount of time. I do regret not being able to become better acquainted with some of the people there, but we had to come back."

Ichigo grinned satisfactorily across the table. "Oh? I thought you hated all Shinigami?"

Uryuu exhaled sharply through his nose. "I do. I just…hate some less than others." He scrunched his nose up in a sort of fake sneer, and Ichigo made the same face right back, causing Uryuu to laugh out loud.

The sound of it shocked Uryuu probably twice as much as it did Ichigo, but Ichigo didn't give him a hard time for it. He wasn't expecting it, but at the same time it was a pleasant surprise, and instantly he knew he wanted to hear it again. He hoped it wouldn't take nearly as long for the second one to come around as the first had.

"I kind of miss Hanatorou. Oh, and Yoruichi-san."

"Do you miss Rukia?"

That particular question hung in the air longer than it should, and when Ichigo looked up from his plate he found Uryuu pointed gaze searching out his answer before he could even try to offer one. It wasn't so much the question itself as the shadowed emotion behind it. The words felt stale, as though Uryuu had been holding onto them for an awfully long time.

"Of course I do. She gave me so much…she showed me who I really was. I can't ever repay her enough for that. But…" Ichigo dug around in his skull, seeking out what he really felt, rather than what he felt he ought to say. "But I don't think I ever planned on actually bringing her back here. I mean, she can't live in my closet forever. She can't build a life here, and she wouldn't even want to. She lives there…and I live here. And that's the way it ought to be."

Uryuu had stopped eating again to watch Ichigo speak, and by the time he was done his expression had softened from tense expectation to hopeful understanding.

"I think I understand. If I knew that someone was in trouble, even if I hadn't known them very long…I would have done the same."

"Haven't you already?"

Looking honestly confused, Uryuu paused mid-bite.

"Well, just tell me if I'm wrong, but…" Ichigo brushed his hand over the skin of the back of his neck, placing his words in a line very carefully. "Isn't that why you went to Soul Society in the first place? You didn't know her very well, but you still went to help her."

Uryuu's eyes drifted back down to his plate, and he continued his slow, precise way of eating, choosing not to speak for a few moments. When the words finally came, they were soft but resolute.

"You're right…but I didn't do it for her."

"What?" Ichigo thought that perhaps he'd lost his footing in the conversation. "Why did you go?"

"Uh…" Pressing his hand to his forehead, Uryuu made an exasperated face. "Look." He set his hands on the table palm down and watched the remainder of his dinner as though it might take off if he looked away. "I went to Soul Society because…because I knew that you were going. And you're right, I didn't know you very well, but I went anyway. I knew that you would need help…well, I thought you would." He broke off just long enough to put on a strained smile. "Turns out, the rest of us were the ones that needed the help. I underestimated you." He brought his line of vision back up to match Ichigo's. "And I overestimated myself."

Stunned at the admission, all Ichigo could do for a moment was shake his head. "Uryuu-"

"No…it's okay. You don't have to say it. I deserve it." A look of pure agony crossed his features. "I'm sure you've noticed that I've lost my powers." Uryuu spared a quick glance at Ichigo, but the expression he wore kept Ichigo's silence firm. "I suppose it's true what they say. Pride cometh before the fall." Chuckling to himself miserably, he leaned back in his chair and sullenly glared to the side at absolutely nothing. "I deserved to lose them. I followed you there with nothing but selfish pride. And I lost everything. But you…you went there with intentions that I couldn't fathom at the time, but I understand now. And now you're something…completely unattainable to me. But you earned it. We both got exactly what we deserved."

Uryuu stood up from the table and took his plate into the tiny kitchen mere feet away from the table. Turning on the tap, he proceeded to wash the plate, and then he began working on the rest of the dishes he used in preparation, leaving Ichigo to absorb everything alone.

Cheeks burning in unwarranted embarrassment, Ichigo stared at the tabletop with glazed eyes. He wasn't fully aware of why, exactly, but he was suddenly incredibly angry. It wasn't just anger, it was a hideous cocktail of shock, fury, and a few rather unsightly emotions, but the one that lay underneath them all was fear. Or worry, rather. No…helplessness? That was more like it. He felt at a loss to say or do anything to change the facts for Uryuu, but he knew just as well as Uryuu did that it was true, to a certain extent.

That thought incited action, and he pushed his chair out suddenly and stood up, marching right into the kitchen without a second glance. He reached out and shut off the water, interrupting Uryuu who was busy rinsing a dish with soap still running off in streams towards the bottom of the sink. Bubbles clung to his hands and he stared at Ichigo, opening his mouth to speak but quickly silencing himself when he noticed the look that Ichigo wore.

"I knew you lost you powers."

"…Why didn't you ask me about it?" Uryuu set the plate down in the bottom of the sink and wiped his hands on a rag.

Leaning back on the edge of the kitchen counter, Ichigo watched the other boy closely as he spoke.

"I wanted to, but it didn't seem like a good idea. It kind of seemed like the sort of thing I would normally do, so I just didn't do it." A small smile crept out and laced his lips for a moment, but the intensity of his gaze didn't waver for a moment. "Maybe you're right. Maybe you deserved it."

Uryuu's eyes widened, but he didn't reply. Ichigo continued, never moving his attention from Uryuu's face.

"Do you think that changes anything? What did you think I would do once you told me all that? That you followed me because you thought I wasn't good enough. Did you think I would hate you?"

"Well, I…I don't…I-" Uryuu stumbled with his words, but Ichigo grabbed his hand and forced the sentence out. "I thought you should know…because it was too hard not to say. I'm…I'm sorry."

Ichigo couldn't remember a time when his face was so close to Uryuu's. He knew that Uryuu was apologizing and he wanted to pay attention, but the effects of being in such proximity were hypnotic. Combined with the alarmingly real feeling of his hand closed over someone else's, all of the heaviness of the subject matter went right out the window, and Ichigo busied himself with studying the intricacies of Uryuu's features. From so close, he looked like someone else. At a normal range he was Uryuu, the Quincy, the class genius, the rude, obnoxious little cur that drove him crazy with his melodrama and his witty remarks that Ichigo could only halfway understand.

Yet somehow, from where Ichigo now stood, Uryuu looked like some strange, exotic creature that Ichigo wanted to devour. He looked like the new Uryuu, the one that Ichigo had seen just a handful of days ago in the light of the fire-filled sky and been captivated by. What was it about Uryuu that had changed? Was it the loss of his powers that made him so much more vulnerable? Was it his regret? Maybe. Or maybe it was Ichigo that had changed. He didn't care, either way.

"…Kurosaki…" Uryuu made a meager attempt to communicate, but he didn't move or even try to. Ichigo could hear a hint of fear in his voice, but it barely even registered in his mind, and moments later it was lost forever.

The first touch of lips on lips startled Ichigo right back into reality. He felt Uryuu jump slightly, as well, but he didn't try to move away. It wasn't at all like Ichigo thought it might be, for those previous kisses were dreams and as such were intangible and feather-light in his mind. Uryuu's lips was quite real, and the way it felt when Ichigo brushed his own lips against them was like a cool, dry spark that he was certain would grow into an untamable wildfire, should he give it the chance.

He was just about to pull away when Uryuu finally responded, after standing stiff and silent, unsure of what to do. It wasn't much, but hesitantly he added pressure to Ichigo's searching mouth. Feeling this, Ichigo threw out any reason he might have had to second-guess himself and kissed Uryuu insistently.

Things fell into place. Ichigo knew they would have, eventually, but there was so much in the way that he hadn't let himself believe that it was guaranteed. By now, at least, he knew much better than that. But right now, a question was running back and forth inside his mind.

He's not stopping me?!

Any coherent thought beyond that point was arrested, and Ichigo pulled on the hand that he held and moved Uryuu towards himself. He leaned forward, pressing Uryuu backwards into the edge of the kitchen counter. Satisfied with that, he let go of Uryuu's hand and let his own wandering fingers seek out and settle on a gorgeous curve that Ichigo recognized seconds later as the small of the other boy's back.

In that exact moment, when Ichigo's tongue ran lightly across Uryuu's bottom lip in a dragging question, the Quincy froze.

"…Kurosaki, what…" Uryuu put his hands up on Ichigo's chest and pushed, not roughly, but with enough pressure to hold Ichigo back. "What do you…you…" He blinked rapidly a few times, the confusion in his eyes finally breaking through the haze that clouded them.

Whatever it was in Ichigo's mind that had prevented him from doing this any earlier had snapped the moment his lips met Uryuu's, and he grabbed the other boy at the shoulders and gripped him tightly. Too stunned to do anything other than stare, Uryuu looked at Ichigo with questioning eyes, waiting and watching.

"Uryuu…I don't care why you followed me. I know who you were then…" He bit his lip, feeling the pull of Uryuu's gaze but resisting long enough to speak his mind. "I don't care if you have powers or not. I don't care about any of that. I just want to know…if I was the one you were looking at, when you came to see the fireworks."

Narrowing his eyes, Uryuu's shoulders slumped and he glared off to the side in irritation. "Idiot. I already told you it was you."

Uryuu deserved either a punch in the stomach or a kiss on the lips, and Ichigo decided on the latter. Moments in, he felt Uryuu smiling against him, and Ichigo pulled back a few inches to give a silent stare.

"Do you mind?" Uryuu asked, his voice tinted with annoyance.

"…What?"

Uryuu smiled off to the side, with an almost prideful gleam that radiated superiority.

"Your reiatsu. Since you stated...kissing me, it's gone off like a bonfire. You're going to attract every hollow for miles."

Tasty. Uryuu is so overdramatic, I think he would drive me crazy. XD The music quotes at the beginnings of all the chapters are, in order:

Chapter 1: Sowelu "Rainbow"

Chapter 2: Kate Bush "Running up that Hill" although the Placebo version makes a wonderful substitute

Chapter 3: Field of View "Kawaita Sakebi"

Chapter 4: Yu-Gi-Oh OP 4 "Warriors"

Chapter 5: Tori Amos "Siren"

Yes, my fic has a soundtrack. That's how cool it is, lol. Anyway, thank you very much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed yourself! That's why we do this!