Help

Summary: Ichigo is tiered of the death and misery that comes with his unwanted job. Shiro is the light of escape when the world becomes too much. HichiIchi. Rating may rise.

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me.

Warning: Yaoi inside. If it's not your cup of tea then why did you click on it?

A/N:To help with some confusion. Yes, Ichigo may be a little out of character, but think about what he's been through. He's gone just a liiiiitle bit crazy. Yeah. Hichigo (sometimes referred to as Shiro) feels protective of Ichigo. He knows what will happen to Ichigo if he acts to abnormal, so he pushes Ichigo to get good grades and spend at least some time in his families presence. The Soul Society paid Ichigo's hospital bill because he is the best soldier they have and they want him back. To clarify about Rukia, her gigai (I think that's right, correct me if I'm wrong) was killed, but her soul was relatively unharmed, and she has come back to the high school in a different gigai.

If anyone feels that this story is worth their time, and wants to beta for this, or one of my other stories, please PM me.

X~X~X

Ichigo walked down the school hallway, headed for seventh period. He sneered as another student brushed against him, trying to make it to his class on time. They were all idiots. He shouldn't have to be here with them. He was already so tired of all this! It was amazing how the fast paced human world could seem so dull compared to the sideway's world inside his head. Only another hour and he would be able to go back. Hichigo was always there, waiting for him. They couldn't talk much during the school day because it distracted Ichigo and he would completely zone out in the middle of a lecture. Sometimes they would exchange a few quick words in the hallway's but mostly, Hichigo slept and remained a silent, comforting presence in the back of his mind, a cold riatsu enveloping Ichigo constantly.

The one upside to school was that every single one of his old friends thought he was mad. Apparently, Orohime had spilled the beans last Friday about his weird behavior. Now the students were avoiding him and the teachers were leaving him alone, preferring to call on the "normal" teenagers for answers. With no one to talk to and nothing better to do, Ichigo was already almost done with his homework. It was amazing how much time he had now that he was relaxed and free to do whatever he wanted without worrying about chasing hollows or appeasing his "friends". Rukia had already rushed out of one class with a hurried excuse about her sister falling down the stairs and needing to go home right away. Ichigo snorted as he slid into his seat. If that was what he had been acting like it was no wonder he had been failing school. Ichigo had promised Shiro that would do his best to get good grades, even if it meant *shudder* asking for help.

So far everything was going exactly how Ichigo had expected. Miserable, boring, and lonely.

Ichigo found that the less time he was able to spend with Shiro, the more time he spent thinking about what he used to do. He hated those memories. There was the blood and death and screams. Hichigo was coolness and freedom and light. There was pain and fear and panic. Hichigo was peace and love and acceptance. Hichigo didn't care how he dressed or what he acted like. He just loved Ichigo for what he was, just as Ichigo loved him. Taking out his Shakespeare book and turning to the back, Ichigo reviewed the words he already knew. Hichigo had gently badgered him into completing all the makeup work and he had finished the assigned reading for the week during lunch. The workload seemed incredibly light when you had this much time on your hands.

The red-head waited out the hour as patiently as he could and was the first one out of the door when the bell rang. The other kids exchanged whispers on how strange it was that the emotionless kid with the weird hair was so wired up to leave. Ichigo didn't care, he was out and home free. One mile home and he could lie down and retreat to Hichigo.

X~X~X~

" Hello King! Miss me?" Hichigo materialized behind Ichigo's shoulder.

"Shiro! Mmmm!" Ichigo tackled his hollow, forcing him to stumble back a few steps to keep his balance. He purred like a cat while nuzzling his face into Shiro's shoulder, ecstatic to be back with his beloved hollow. Shiro chuckled and pulled Ichigo's head us, kissing the mop of red fondly.

"Question still stands, did 'ja miss me?"

"Every second! Ichigo promised fervently. "Talking to you in my head just isn't the same. I don't wanna have to go to school!" he whined, squeezing Hichigo tighter around the waist.

"Awwww!" Hichigo crooned, pulling Ichigo up onto the bed that he had created there a few weeks ago. "I miss you too, but you still have to go. It keeps you out of the reach of the Soul Society for half the day and helps convince your father that you're still sane, even though we both know you're not." He teased.

"So mean." Ichigo said mournfully. His tone turned suggestive as he pushed himself up so that he was just millimeters away from his hollow's lips. "Make it up to me?" he breathed lightly.

Shiro attacked Ichigo's mouth willingly, focused solely on Ichigo's taste and the way that his groin was already beginning to ache. He had missed this, going without Ichigo for nine hours a day was going to be a challenge. Feeling Ichigo tugging on the bottom of his shirt, the hollow stood up impatiently to undress. The decorative clothes seemed cumbersome now as he fumbled with the straps on his pants. By the time all his clothes were in a pile on the floor, Ichigo had long since finished pulling off his simple shorts and T-shirt. Climbing up his partners body, Ichigo hungrily licked and bit at the pale skin. When he reached Shiro' s erection, he teased him by licking gently around the base and kissing the bulging head.

Panting, Shiro dragged Ichigo up and threw him down on the bed, positioning him so that they would be free to sixty-nine. Knowing from experience that Shiro would give as good as he got, Ichigo eagerly dew as much of Hichigo's erection as he could into his mouth, sucking eagerly. Shiro groaned as he returned the favor. Ichigo had definitely improved since his first time. The two of them stayed locked in that position for what felt like an eternity, but in reality couldn't have been more than a minute, before Ichigo drew back to pant. Shiro was waaaay to good at this. After a few more seconds of spoiling his partner, Shiro drew back as well.

"Had enough, King?" Hichigo teased, giving Ichigo's member one last lick before turning around so that he could look him in the face.

"Shirooooooooooooo!" The red-head whined, bucking his hips up. Hichigo laughed before leaning back down.

"I love you Ichigo."

Kurosaki Sr. puzzled when his son didn't come down for dinner, but when he saw him sleeping with such a happy smile on his face he left him alone till morning.

X~X~X~

Briiiiing!

"Stupid bell." Ichigo muttered, picking up his pace, he had woken up late that morning and was going to be late to class if he didn't hurry up. Sliding into his seat seconds before the final bell, Ichigo robotically began to take out his homework, binders, and pens, as he had every day for the past two weeks. He was beginning to get more used to school now, though not having Shiro around still made him moody and reclusive.

Amazingly enough, Ichigo had not yet been approached by the Soul Society. Shiro said that they were kindly giving him a chance to "recover" from his "episode" and would be around soon to bug him about not doing his duty. Ichigo had decided to just enjoy it while it lasted. The two didn't really have a solid plan for what they would do when Rukia or another shinigami tried to talk them into going back to work, but they were confident that they would figure something out. Ichigo had already done more than enough for that team of hypocritical assholes. As if reading his thoughts, Rukia slipped him a note as she walked past his desk, late as usual.

Meet us on the roof during lunch.

Ichigo snorted. As if. He had better things to do with that time. Crumpling up the note, Ichigo made sure that Rukia was looking when he tossed it into the trash bin behind his chair, enjoying the look of frustration on her face. Annoying shinigami was fun, Ichigo decided to make a habit of doing it more often. Turning to his warm up, Ichigo applied himself dutifully to the lesson.

Rukia and the rest of the Shinigami made repeated and ever more frantic attempts to get Ichigo to meet them in private. Every time, the ex-fighter would take great pleasure in yawning and looking away. Once, just for shits and giggles, he had made out like Renji had been mugging him for his wallet, just as a teacher walked by. He was a very convincing actor. Renji had detention now.

Finally, just as Ichigo knew they would, the group became fed up with him and simply dragged him into an empty classroom.

"Why are you avoiding us?!?"

"I thought that would have been obvious." Ichigo sneered as he brushed away imaginary dust from his body, shuddering at the memory of the shinigami's hands. Orohime, who's presence had suppressed Ichigo, he thought he had scared her off, bravely stepped forward.

"I-Ichigo, why won't you come back? We n-need you!"

"Yeah right!" Ichigo scoffed, picking up his bag. "Aizen is dead, and you were doing just fine without me before he came along. You don't need me, you just want me to do your dirty work." Renji stepped forward in frustration.

"You were enjoying it! Sure you were a little stressed, but everything was-"

"Everything was not fine!" The group of shinigami took a nervous step back at the look on the red-heads face. "Don't any of you pay attention to anything!? Let's name off a few reasons why it is not "fine" shall we!" Ichigo stalked forward furiously, enjoying the look of fear on their faces. They knew he was more powerful than all of them combined, but they had never really appreciated it till now. "Blood, gore, death, Byakuya, blood, gore, death, harassment, blood, gore, death! Do you want me to go on? I can you know." The group of shinigami was silent, watching Ichigo with morbid fascination. "I miss Shiro. I'm going home."

In a last move of desperation, Renji lunged out and grabbed Ichigo's wrist. "Look, just forget about your imaginary Shiro for a second and-"

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!!!" Renji was hurled across the room in an amazing display of brute strength. He smashed into the wall and slumped over dizzily. Running over to him in panic, Ruki and Orohime ran their hands over his body worriedly, asking him frantic questions in hushed voices. All three of them tried their best to sink into the wall when Shiro moved began to move towards them. He had taken over Ichigo's body as soon as Renji's fingers had dared to defile Ichigo's hands. The hollow had turned the body's pupils gold, and the iris's black. With his red hair tousled, his face stark white and his chest heaving from exertion, he looked like the devil himself. "If you so much as breath on him again, shinigami scum, Aizen will seem like a mosquito compared to the horrors I will inflict on the Soul Society. Ichigo is mine! You treated him like shit for too long, giving him all the hard jobs and standing in the sidelines to watch. The one time you actually stepped in to try and "help" him, you got yourselves killed, and almost killed him! He is mine to care for now, you ruined your chance. Now pass my message on, and leave us alone!" Shiro locked the door from the outside on the way out. He knew it wouldn't really deter the cowards, but hey he wasn't above petty revenge.

"So you two have finally come to a peace?" Ishida melted out of the shadows where he had been hiding and listening to the conversation.

"What do you want Quincy?"

"Nothing. In fact I'm happy for you. Ichigo deserves better than those idiots. Tell him good luck from me, will you?" Shiro looked pensive for a moment before nodding his head, a short jerky movement.

"King says thanks. He's glad you haven't changed." Ichida chuckled.

"No, I suppose I haven't. After you get past Ichigo's arrogant attitude, he really isn't that bad, as I'm sure you know, and he has improved drastically after his "illness". I do hope to spend more time with him during school. Maybe if I'm seen more around him, the shinigami will avoid me as well." Shiro laughed.

"I like you, Quincy. And I suppose that I wouldn't mind to much if you spent more time with King, so long as you don't interrupt our alone time. We need to go, We'll see you tomorrow." Shiro walked down the hallway without further comment. The Quincy would be a good friend to Ichigo, he could act as intervention when Shiro was unable to physically do so himself.

"Are you ok, King?" Shiro asked anxiously in his head. He had been so furious when the filthy shinigami had touched his Ichigo that he had pushed his love's soul aside without thought.

"I'll be fine, Shiro, I love you. Thank you." In the upside down world, Ichigo lay on their bed, smiling, waiting for Shiro to join him.