Home is Where the Heart Is

Summary: Ichigo is tired 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: I have a beta! TealEyedBeing, one of the most amazing Bleach Fanfic writers to grace this site, in my opinion, has lowered herself to my humble level and will be reviewing my chapters. If you see any marked improvement, it's her. I know my updating is slow, but in my defense, I really do try and make the chapters good before I post them. I review them at least three times myself before I even send them to my beta. You could also try to factor in the fact that I'm taking two AP classes, a foreign language, and playing the harp for practice, lessons, and performances. I do write… when I have time. Anyway, enjoy, and if you do review, which I would love, please thank TealEyedBeing! I'll be forwarding them to her so that she can see the rewards of her labor! Read her stories too… freaking amazing stuff, I'm telling you.

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"Ichigo!" Today, for the first time since Ichigo had gotten back from the hospital, Isshin was feeling optimistic. He had just made a deal that would be sure to improve the family's financial status. Karin hadn't been in a fight at school for a week, and Yuzu was making the most amazing dinner since… last week! Which was pretty darn amazing since last week had been this amazing homemade fried sushi with this sauce that Isshin could never remember the name of but he knew that he loved. To put the icing on the already fabulous cake, Ichigo's grades had improved immensely since the accident, and even though his son didn't have any friends, he had seemed happier over the past few weeks.

Waving enthusiastically at his son who was just walking in the door, (Ichigo still didn't like surprises, loud noises, or touching) Isshin smiled happily. Maybe with a little bit of luck and a miracle from God, his family would be somewhat normal, something he had been aiming for since he had retired from his position as Captain of the Tenth Division. He knew that his rather eccentric personality didn't really let him succeed, but hey, he tried. Now that he was, with a little difficulty, preventing himself from attacking Ichigo every time the boy walked into a room, his normality level was up a few notches! Looking at the portrait of Masaki with happy sparkles in his eyes, Isshin blew the picture a kiss and skipped away to work on his next patient, a girl with a twisted knee. Life was wonderful.

-

Ichigo nodded to his father with a small smile. His home life had been improving lately, what with his father finally getting the idea that his "surprise attacks" were not appreciated, and his sisters accepting his new, more withdrawn attitude. Hanging up his coat and kicking off his shoes, Ichigo padded up to his room to drop off his backpack. He hardly ever had any homework; today there was only a permission slip for a biology lab that they were doing next week that he had to get his father to sign. They were going to be dissecting a series of bugs and animals, starting with giant grasshoppers and ending with frogs. Deciding that the form could wait, Ichigo lay down on his bed for a short talk with his favorite Hollow.

"Shiro?"

"Hell-o!" The hollow replied, breaking the word up into two syllables.

Ichigo closed his eyes and slid into the sideways world. Sighing in contentment, he rubbed himself up against Shiro's chest. "Thank you for earlier."

"Eh, I promised ya I would take care of ya. Ya'll never have t' go back t' th' bastards again. Ya will never have t' remember them again." There was a brief lull in the conversation for a short kiss and a period of silent snuggling before Shiro spoke again. "Ya don' mind me takin' over yer body t' speak t' them do ya? I know I didn' give ya a warnin' today, but I was jus' tryin' t' get th' assholes out of yer face."

Ichigo looked up, surprised. "Not at all! You can have the shell anytime you like, well, except during class I guess, that would be bad. But I don't mind the rest of the time. You could even do it in front of my family if you want. I don't care."

"Such a generous King!" Shiro cooed, cuddling his lover tightly. "I knew there was a reason I love ya." Leaning down to kiss Ichigo, who murmured happily against his lips, Shiro sighed blissfully. This was the life. Ichigo loved Shiro's touch; having been starved of it for so long he now craved it whenever possible. "Do ya have anythin' else t' do b'fore supper?" White fingers were already trailing to the hem of Ichigo's shirt. Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows in thought, trying to concentrate through the fog that Shiro's touch created.

"There's a…form…Dad has to sign…a …shower…I think-!" Ichigo cut off, gasping as Shiro twisted his nipple and suckled on his neck.

"Hmmm. We'll hafta be quick then." Shiro mused, slipping Ichigo's shirt off his body and returning to worshipping his chest. Aligning their legs so that each of them had the other's right leg pushed up against each other's crotch; Shiro began to rock his lower body gently, hissing at the feeling.

"Shiro!" Ichigo reached up and took Shiro's head in his hands, tugging him down for a kiss and rocking his hip's harder, begging for more friction, uncaring of the fact that when he returned to the real world he knew he would have a mess in his pants. The two continued to move together.

Shiro refrained from actually entering his strawberry, but he did finger and fondle him to a climax. Ichigo finished him off with his mouth as a reward. They made excellent lovers, perfect for each other, and always attuned to the others wants and needs. Ichigo gave Shiro one last passionate kiss and a whispered "See you tonight." as a goodbye before drifting back into the real world.

Groaning at his aches, Ichigo sat up and glared at the mess on his pants. His orgasms in his inner world always transferred over to the real world, which sucked, as he was almost never prepared had to have to wash his clothes several times a week.

Throwing his pants in his hamper, Ichigo hurriedly pulled on another pair and grabbing the form, he stomped down the stairs, giving a smile and a wave to his sisters in the kitchen before walking into the clinic area.

"Ok then, you won't be able to walk on it for a while, so use these crutches for the next two weeks, and then come back for a checkup and I'll see if it'll be alright to walk on then ok?" The girl on the bed nodded shyly as her mother thanked Isshin profusely for his help. Ichigo watched fondly as his father brushed off the thanks and laughed with his patient as they walked out the door.

"Shiro?"

"Yeah King?"

"I'd like to do that… someday. Help people like that."

"Ya want t' be a doctor? Tha'd be cool."

"To help people without having to kill; that's what I want."

"Hi, Dad." Ichigo said quietly to his father.

"Ichigo! How nice of you to come visit me! You leave me all aloooooooooone!" Ichigo ignored his father's antics.

"I need you to sign a form for me, it's for Biology, and we're starting dissections."

"Of course! Nothing more fun than dissecting fetal pigs! I'm so proud of you!"

"Its frogs and bugs, not fetal pigs, but thank you." Handing his father a pen and the form, Ichigo stared around the office as his father signed the form.

"Will you be home this Friday night? I wanted to take everyone out to dinner to celebrate my raise!"

"Dad, I'm always home on Friday nights."

"Ah, I know, just thought I'd ask!"

"Thanks Dad." Ichigo said, taking the form back. He was just about to walk out of the room when his father's next customers walked in. "Excuse me." he muttered awkwardly, trying to edge around them.

"Kurosaki, perhaps you would care to explain your words to my soldiers earlier today?"

Ichigo froze and started backing away into a corner.

"Shiro?" Ichigo's mental voice was trembling.

"Shhhh King, I'll take care of it, relax, lemme help you. Relaaaaaax."

Byakuya was ignoring Ichigo, focusing instead on Isshin. "Captain Kurosaki, I'm surprised you have let your son stray so far off of the straight and narrow path."

"Captain?" Ichigo didn't turn around, but he was listening closely.

"I gave up that post long ago Captain Kuchiki. And you promised to leave me alone."

"I am afraid that I was ordered to come to see just what is wrong with your son. Apparently, he's gone crazy, he attacked Renji this morning."

"Ichigo, is that true?" To his credit, Isshin's voice was steady.

"He touched my King, and he's a shinigami. Did I need another reason to hit him. You 're lucky he isn't dead." Byakuya was still calm.

"I heard about you too, Shiro. You are Kurosaki's hollow, correct?"

"I prefer t' think of m'self as his protector. He certainly does."

"You will tell me what happened. It is undermining the effectiveness of our work."

"Yer mom undermines th' effectiveness of yer work." Byakuya looked at Shiro oddly.

"I fail to see what my mother has to do with this problem. You are altering Kurosaki's perspective on life, and his effectiveness as a shinigami is being compromised. Therefore, you need to be disposed of."

Finally, Shiro turned around. Isshin paled at the difference in his son, but did not turn away.

"I compromise him? How 'bout you? Did ya not compromise his effectiveness when ya sent him on so called suicide missions, tryin' to get him killed? How 'bout th' time when ya tried t' poison his food, an' it was m' senses tha' saved his life? Wha' 'bout then? Wha' 'bout th' time tha' ya used you reitsu t' subdue an' bent him over t' rape him an' then ordered him not t' speak of it again? How am I worse than you? I protect Ichigo wit' m' life. It is because of me tha' his continued existence is assured, because you see Captain," Shiro pulsed his reitsu and flashed across the room, pinning a still calm Byakuya to the wall, "T'gether, we are stronger than we are alone. You are th' strongest Captain in the Soul Society tha' will willingly compromise our happiness, an' we can subdue ya easily. We will let ya go this time, we don' want a death sentence on our heads yet, but ya will leave us alone, or tha' will no longer be an issue."

Now Byakuya was very pale. Shiro threw him across the room and turned his back on him, not even really caring when the man created a portal and stepped through it to the Soul Society. Hopefully, the message would get through this time. Shiro and his King could kick any of their asses, so leave them the hell alone.

"Kurosaki-san?" Shiro asked quietly. He knew that Ichigo still harbored some affection for his family and would be greatly hurt if his father rejected him.

"You are called Shiro then?" Isshin asked softly.

"It started out as a joke. Shirosaki Hichigo, the opposite of King. Somewhere along the road it became my actual name. I like it."

"Was what you said true, the things the Soul Society did to him?"

"I would not lie about things like that."