The Unexpected

It had been almost a year since Shuuhei and Ichigo had started dating. Rukia and Toshiro broke up, got together again, broke up, and now were in some sort weird nebulous state so their friends just stopped asking about it.

Byakuya and Renji's relationship had become pretty common knowledge. Byakuya had shown a surprising tendency to get very bitchy when they were out together in public that had caused some problems at first, until Renji figured out it was because he drew so many stares from women (and men) because of his tattoos and hair. He had no idea how Byakuya seemed to miss all the attention that he himself received, but he found the idea of Byakuya actually being jealous of him adorable. Ok, adorable would be the wrong word. The fact that his former captain loved him and got pissy when others looked at him made him eager to run back to a private place and explain in very physical terms exactly why anyone else didn't even have a chance.

Shunsui and Jushiro had a lot of fans because of Shunsui's very open view on public displays of affection, occasionally picking up Jushiro and showering him with kisses no matter where they were. He would swing by the Squad 13 office almost every day with some lunch and the two would eat in the garden area, cuddling under a tree. Jushiro had been relatively healthy and Shunsui only got drunk "for special occasions" and seemed to be keeping his hands to himself (under the very watchful eye of Nanao who had very seriously threatened castration if she caught him doing anything untoward).

As far as Ichigo and Shuuhei were concerned, if Ichigo was completely honest with himself he wasn't 100% happy with their relationship. Both had a tendency to keep things bottled up and it had been hard trying to be completely open with each other.

It had taken a long time for Shuuhei to even call him his boyfriend. Shuuhei assured him this wasn't at all because he was ashamed of Ichigo, or of being with a man, but just because he had always been uncomfortable with calling anyone his girlfriend either. Sure, it was just a word, but it was a big relief to Ichigo when Shuuhei finally got over his commitment issues and could easily introduce Ichigo as his boyfriend without hesitation. Not that Ichigo didn't have his own problems.

As was evitable, someone on one of Ichigo's teams was killed in action. It was a tough lesson to learn, for anyone. For someone as protective as Ichigo was, it was worse. He blamed himself and felt the loss deeply, ignoring his friends and Shuuhei. Shuuhei gave him a little time to himself until it looked like Ichigo was just slipping deeper into his stupor and depression, then he showed up at Ichigo's quarters and threatened to kick in his door if he didn't let him in. He had ignored anything Ichigo was saying (mostly it was "leave me alone") and scooped him up in his arms and taken him to bed, not doing or saying anything, just holding him. Eventually Ichigo wrapped his arms around him and buried his head in Shuuhei's chest. He didn't cry, but his body was practically vibrating with emotion. After that he started to get a little better, but the healing process had seemed torturous to Shuuhei.

The biggest issue between them was that Shuuhei had never said "I love you" to Ichigo. Shuuhei had never said it to anyone; he said that to him it was not something to be said casually. He had explained that in his mind love wasn't something that ever went away. To say that you loved someone meant that you wanted to be with them forever, it was almost an oath. Ichigo could deal with all of that interpretation, but even with those stipulations he could say the words to Shuuhei. In his mind, he did want to be with Shuuhei his whole life. On the one hand, he felt like he should just be happy that he was with Shuuhei, and that they really got along and sincerely made their lives better by just being in them. On the other, he felt like he was owed a little bit more than he was getting. It wasn't something that he could force though, and he privately wondered if he was just being too needy. Then again, Byakuya and Renji didn't have the same problem, and if cold blooded Byakuya could do it, then why couldn't Shuuhei?

That wasn't to say that their relationship was problematic, it was just a relationship, with ups and downs, mostly all ups and they worked through the downs.

Shuuhei had been acting strange and distant the last week, and Ichigo was hoping that going out with the gang on Friday night would get him out of his bad mood. Ichigo still wasn't really a drinker but he'd nurse his one or two drinks as his friends drank themselves under the table and then help them all home.

"Lieutenant Kurosaki! I didn't think I'd see you in a place like this," a cheery voice said from the end of the table.

"Oh, hey," Ichigo said, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember the person's name.

"Riku Komatsu," the young man said, nervously laughing. "Don't worry about not knowing my name; I just joined the squad at the last academy recruitment and I'm not seated or anything."

"Oh yeah, you and your sister both joined the squad at the same time, right?" Ichigo said, happy that he actually remembered something about the kid so that he didn't feel bad.

"I can't believe that you remembered!" Riku said with a big smile.

They talked for a couple of minutes before Riku made a nervous good-bye and left.

Shuuhei was frowning and had his arm around Ichigo's waist.

"What's your problem?" Ichigo asked bluntly.

"At least give the kid a clue to shove off," Shuuhei replied.

"What?"

"He obviously has a crush on you, you should have shut him down," Shuuhei said.

"Oh come on, I doubt that he thinks about me like that. He was just nervous because he was talking to his superior."

"Yumichika," Shuuhei looked over at him. "What do you think?"

"I think that I'm far too smart to get caught up in anything," Yumichika said wisely.

"He was totally in to Ichigo," Ikkaku drunkenly answered.

Yumichika sighed at him.

"See?" Shuuhei said.

"It's not like he'd hit on me in front of my boyfriend," Ichigo insisted. The rest of the night Shuuhei was acted vaguely upset, but Ichigo tried to ignore it.

The walk home was cold. Ichigo huddled towards Shuuhei for warmth.

"Hey, Ichigo, I'm sorry for being on edge all this week and kind of being an ass about it," Shuuhei apologized.

"You better make up for it then."

"Anything you want," Shuuhei agreed.

Ichigo leaned in and whispered into Shuuhei's ear, "Come while screaming my name."

Shuuhei shivered a bit. "Absolutely," he said, picking up Ichigo in his arms and darting to his place.

"Hm, this seems familiar," Ichigo teased from Shuuhei's arms, the cold air whipping around him.

"What? Like the first time we ever got together?" Shuuhei grinned.

Like any couple, they had on again and off again ruts, but this was not one of those nights. Sometimes it seemed so good that Ichigo felt that Shuuhei was psychic, knowing exactly where to touch him, exactly when he wanted to be teased and when he was past teasing and needed it, now. It was exactly the kind of sex both of them desperately wanted.

"You seem a little clingy tonight," Ichigo said, after they had both dozed and woken up again.

"I wonder why?"

"I'm not going to be gone for that long," Ichigo replied. "It'll just be a couple of weeks, maybe a month."

"Last time you were gone that long I felt like I wasn't going to make it and we weren't even dating."

"Oh, you big baby," Ichigo said, pulling Shuuhei closer. He was teasing Shuuhei, but it wasn't something that he was looking forward to either. They would be in the world of the living but not near his family so he wouldn't even have them to distract him. Just Renji. He sighed.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh no, I'm looking forward to a month without my boyfriend and twenty four hours a day of Renji instead."

"Well, we still have the rest of the night," Shuuhei said, kissing Ichigo slowly. He pulled back when Ichigo started pressing into him though. "Actually, there was something I wanted to talk about first."

Ichigo had no idea why he always assumed that "we should talk" meant something bad, but he always started freaking out a little when he heard it. Shuuhei knew that and laughed as he felt Ichigo get a little tense in his arms.

"I was thinking that maybe you could move in," Shuuhei said.

"What?" Ichigo asked. "But you said that…"

"Pretty much everything I said stands. You'd have to at least occasionally live in your quarters, but a lot of the captains don't keep their squad quarters as their main residence. There's no reason that you have to as well."

"I thought that you didn't think you could live with anyone."

"No, I said I didn't think I could live with anyone without driving them crazy. If you can deal with me, then we're set," Shuuhei grinned.

Ichigo was smiling. He would've moved in after the first week of dating, and Shuuhei knew it. It was another one of those things that Ichigo had tried to cut Shuuhei a little slack with though. "Why not my place though? Why am I moving in here?" Ichigo asked.

"Exactly how much money are you willing to pay to upgrade your piece of crap kitchen to something more modern?"

"Er…yeah," Ichigo laughed. "I was just kidding anyways. At least this way it will be harder for Renji to come over in the middle of the night wanting me to drink with him."

"No, not really. He comes here too," Shuuhei responded with a smile.

"Why now?" Ichigo asked. "What changed your mind?"

"Honestly, I was going to wait until our one year anniversary, but since you might be gone…"

"I promise I'll be here for it," Ichigo assured him. "Even if a senkaimon accidentally opens up and I fall through it and wind up ditching Renji, I'll be here."

Ichigo and Shuuhei were holding on to each other tightly as they waited for Renji to show up. Byakuya came by first; alone, surprisingly. He looked away from the couple with a slight blush.

"We won't look if you want to give him a good-bye kiss!" Ichigo said cheekily.

"Renji needed to pick something up from the office, he will be here shortly," Byakuya said, ignoring Ichigo's remark.

In the end, Byakuya didn't give Renji a kiss, but he did give him a lingering hug as he and Shuuhei sent their lovers off to the land of the living for a month.

"So, does the entire Kuchiki counsel hate your guts or what?" Ichigo asked Renji as they traveled in the dangai.

"Oh, they all got really happy when they heard that Byakuya had finally found someone, and they all got really unhappy when they found out it wasn't someone that could pop out lots of little Kuchikis."

"Does Byakuya even want children?" Ichigo questioned.

"Doesn't matter, he's the heir. They pretty much expect it of him."

"Well, there's an easy solution to that problem."

"There is?" Renji asked.

"You just have to get pregnant!"

Renji hit him in the arm. "Dumbass. Besides, why would it be me getting pregnant?"

"Haha, can you imagine a pregnant Byakuya, all huge with his feet up, eating ice cream?"

"Oh my god!" Renji was giggling. "I should tell him that you said that just to see what he'd do to you."

"I'd tell him how hard you laughed at it and you wouldn't get any for a week."

"I doubt it, he can't without for a week," Renji grinned.

"Oh god, I didn't need to hear that."

"Like you can talk. It's not like you don't have sex in the closet behind my office ALL the time."

"What?" Ichigo paled.

"You think I can't hear that? What the hell do you two do to each other?"

"Er…"

"Byakuya even said…"

"WHOA…please don't tell me Byakuya heard us!"

Renji just laughed at him. Ichigo buried his face in his hands.

Shuuhei was woken up by loud knocking on his door. Go away, he said to himself, through his pillow over his head.

"Shuuhei!" Kisuke yelled through the door.

Captain? Shuuhei looked over at his phone. It was on, it just hadn't gone off. He frowned. Throwing on a robe, he walked to the door. Any private misgivings he might have had about getting up disappeared when he saw the look on his captain's face.

"Captain, what's wrong?"

"Come with me, I'll explain on the way," Kisuke directed. Shuuhei briefly considered throwing on more clothes, but Kisuke was wearing only his pajamas as well so he imagined it was urgent.

As he followed Kisuke, Kisuke began to talk.

"You know that I have a hard time sleeping. Sometimes I listen to all of the squad channels to see what's going on. Usually it's utterly boring and helps me get to sleep," Kisuke said.

Shuuhei didn't say anything. He was getting a very bad feeling. They were heading towards Squad 5.

"We're going to meet with Renji," Kisuke said over his shoulder.

"And Ichigo?" Shuuhei forced himself to ask.

"I…it was a little confusing over the channels, but…I think they took him," Kisuke said, his voice low.

"…took him…" Shuuhei repeated. "He's not…dead though?"

"Not yet," Kisuke replied.

If Shuuhei didn't know his captain well enough by now to know that Kisuke was honestly worried about Ichigo, he would have hit him. Then his mind was completely blank. He almost would have preferred to be panicking, but instead there was just nothing; he felt like a void.

They felt Renji's presence flicker into existence, obviously having just come through the senkaimon. When they got to the room he was in, he was barking orders out to frightened looking squad members. He looked up. "Shuuhei…" he said, his face pained.

"What happened?" Kisuke asked.

"It was some sort of trap. It had to have been set up specifically for him, because I walked over the same area and nothing happened. Once it was sprung…I don't even know…it drained him of his spiritual pressure in like a minute. There were arrancar there…I killed them all but it didn't matter, they still got him. They had one of those beams and I couldn't get him out," Renji's story was slightly garbled but it relayed the basic facts. "He wasn't dead though," Renji insisted. "He was still ok, just drained. We can get him."

"I have a spiritual pressure tracker already set to his unique signature. Actually, I have about half a dozen, but it'll take me maybe an hour to program the rest," Kisuke said, handing the device to Renji.

"I'll get him back," Renji swore to Shuuhei.

Shuuhei didn't say anything.