Ichigo thought he was in the clear until about a week later, he received a text message from Shinji. It was three words. "This isn't over."
The message came during dinner and he checked it without thinking, even though he knew his father disapproved of using electronics at the table. With a grumble, he flipped his phone shut again.
"What's the matter?" Ishin asked. He was about to scold his son for disobeying his no electronics request until he saw how distressed he was by the message.
"It's nothing," the young man dismissed.
"Was it Shinji?" Karin carefully pressed.
"Yeah," Ichigo sighed and looked away, poking at his food.
"Haven't seen him around in a while. Something happen between the two of you?" Ishin asked, obviously concerned.
"You could say that," he muttered. He didn't really want to talk about it, but he wasn't up for lying either.
Karin nodded. She had been wondering why her brother had been so depressed lately. Other than that, they let it go, that is, until after dinner. Ishin followed his son out when he was taking out the garbage so they could speak privately.
"What happened?" he asked. "Did he break up with you?" he cautiously presumed.
"Not quite," Ichigo laughed sadly. "I broke up with him."
It took everything Ishin had not to smile at that. He wanted to tell Ichigo that he'd made the right decision. "How come?"
"I did something stupid. I hurt him," he admitted shamefully.
Ishin's suppressed smile turned into a grim frown. It was not like his son to hurt others. "What happened?"
"I don't really wanna talk about it. Let's just say it was something that we can't just get over," he tried.
"So...if that message was from him, can I assume that he disagrees?" he presumed.
"He's not ready to see me again yet, but he just told me that it's not over," the son informed in a quite voice. "Dad, how am I going to be able to face him? He shouldn't even be able to face me after what I did," he added with a grumble.
"Would you like me to talk to him?" he offered, then wondered if he would have kept his ignorant facade a little stronger by offering to speak with the boy's parents. It didn't seem to phase his son, so he pushed that thought aside.
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that. I feel like this is sort of something that I have to handle on my own. I was sort of the one who insisted that we were dating," he admitted.
Ishin gave a wry grin. He'd had the feeling that was the case. "Alright, but the offer stands, okay?" he tried, patting his son on the shoulder.
"Thanks, dad," Ichigo sighed. His father's hand was heavy but it felt good, secure somehow.
After that, they went back inside and retired for the evening. When he was sure his children wouldn't overhear, Ishin made a phone call to someone he usually regretted calling.
"Hello?" Kisuke answered pleasantly.
"Hi, it's Ishin," the father grumbled.
"Ah, hello. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, forcing the pleasantry in his voice to the point where it was mocking.
Ishin grumbled. He was hoping not to play these games. "It's Ichigo...and Shinji," he had to practically spit the other former captain's name out.
"What about them?" the shopkeeper asked, the amusement fading from his tone.
"I don't know what Ichigo did, and I'm not sure I want to, but Shinji needs to leave him alone. He's just a boy, and he needs to be allowed to move on. He doesn't have the time or the energy to waste on this kind of drama," he nearly blurted out.
"Why are you telling me this?" the blond almost growled with annoyance.
"Because I want you to relay a message. Tell Shinji to leave my son alone," he threateningly ordered.
"Why not tell him that yourself?" Kisuke countered.
"Because if I see him, I'll probably do something I'd regret," he admitted bitterly.
The shopkeeper laughed a little. "Fine. I will pass along your message. Anything else?"
"No. Good night," the father curtly replied before hanging up.
It was several months before Ichigo saw or heard from Shinji again, giving him time to start the healing process without interruption. Even when he was contacted, it wasn't directly and he still had to take care of himself in the meantime.
A several months later...
"Ah, Kurosaki, what a surprise," Kisuke wryly greeted when the feverish teen entered his shop one hot summer afternoon. He had a feeling he would be the outlet of the young man's first episode after encountering the espada.
"Uh, yeah, hi," the teen replied nervously.
The blonde man confidently strode up to his guest and took a moment to look him over and feel him out. "Once again, it appears that you've waited longer than you should to take care of yourself," he scolded.
"I-I know. I'm sorry. Please help me," he pleaded a little more desperately than he intended.
Kisuke made a tisk-tisk sound. He tried to sound playful but he was actually quite annoyed. "I will help you," he agreed.
Ichigo sighed with relief. "Thank you so much," he nearly hugged the older man. "You won't have to do much," he assured.
The blond cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that? You are usually quite intensive," he teased.
The teen pursed his lips and looked away shamefully. "I-I want to use that device, the one you put on me last time to make the hollow go away."
With a disappointed frown, the other man replied, "That is not a possibility."
"Why not?" Ichigo's head snapped back up to look at his friend with disbelief. "I didn't break it, did I?"
Kisuke chuckled. "You underestimate the quality of my craftsmanship. I won't let you use it because that is not what it is for. I won't allow it to be used to avoid the deep connection that you make with others during this time," he informed seriously. "I understand it's very tempting, but it is the beginning of a very dangerous path. I know you tend to err on the side of being self-destructive, but that would be too much."
That made Ichigo angry and he nearly lashed out at the older man. "Just this once. I want to let go without worrying about hurting anyone else." He practically shook the blond.
"I won't let you hurt anyone," the shopkeeper assured as he tried to lead the young man back to his bedroom. "Come along. We really don't have time to waste."
Ichigo wanted to argue but the way the older blond was looking at him made his feet move without consulting his overheated brain. He even breathed a sigh of relief when he entered the bedroom and felt the rush of cool air from the air conditioner. It pushed some of the haze from his thoughts. "Please reconsider. Just this once. I don't think I'm ready to go back to the way things were," he begged, then grumbled, "if that's even possible."
"Now you're underestimating yourself," he praised, closing the distance between their bodies as he closed the door behind them. He could feel heat and raietsu radiating from his young friend. "And if you continue to press this issue, I will bind you again."
Ichigo swallowed hard. That was not his favorite idea. "Perhaps that would be best," he regretfully conceded.
Kisuke gave a sigh of exasperation but pulled his young friend in for a passionate kiss just the same. "If you can't trust yourself, trust me," he ordered between kisses.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," the teen snapped and when he saw the exasperated look on his old friend's face, he gave a grumble of frustration before pushing him down onto the bed and climbing on top of him. He was done talking, at least for the time being. The shopkeeper's verbal traps were more than enough for him when he was in his right mind. In a state like this, they were impossible to deal with.
The blond gave a startled sound as his back bounced on his soft mattress, but it was quickly muffled when strong young lips crashed down against his own. There was no fighting this young man, not that he wanted to, rather he was interested to see what Ichigo would do when left to act on his own will and instincts.
Had Ichigo been in the mind to consider how things were happening, he would have thanked Kisuke for letting go of the games for even just a little while, but as usual, he was too stuck in his own head for that. So, instead he said, "I'm sorry that I only ever come to you as a last resort," he apologized as he pulled away the older man's shirt to nip at his neck.
Kisuke shuddered not only because it felt sinfully good but because it was so easy to allow himself to give in to those feelings. "It's quite alright."
The assurance caught Ichigo off guard, and he pulled back just a bit to look his friend in the eye. "You're just saying that. I know that at the very least I'm an inconvenience for you."
That was an understatement. Ishin wouldn't think twice before trying to kill him for messing around with his son. He told himself later that he would have put a stop to the young man's antics if he considered Ichigo any less of a friend than his father, which was not the case. "Don't be like that. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it. You know I greatly value our time together," he half-scolded but Ichigo didn't resume. "Why are you hesitating?"
Ichigo looked away. There had been something else on his mind. He chuckled a little when he realized that he should have known his distraction would be noticed by this man. "What's your hurry? You always want to take your time," he teased, gently rubbing his hand up the older man's thigh but never quite making it between his legs.
Kisuke gave his guest a sly look. "You were thinking about him, weren't you?" he accused playfully as he reached a hand down to carefully rub the young vizard's hardness through his strained slacks.
The teen quirked an odd look as he groaned from the forward physical contact. It took him a moment to he realize who the shopkeeper was talking about. Even after that, he took several more seconds to respond as he came to terms with the fact that he hadn't thought seriously about Shinji for probably a couple of days now, not to mention while someone else was rubbing his cock. He gave a nervous laugh. "Ah-ha well, no not really."
That response earned a pause of it's own because while the blond was expecting a denial, he was not expecting a genuine one. "I'm sorry I brought it up," he half muttered with an odd tone of astonishment. "So what's on your mind?" He questioned as his hand maintained enough pressure to assure his partner that though he wasn't going to continue just yet, he also wasn't going to back off.
"I-I was wondering if it would be rude to ask you a favor at this point," he admitted bashfully.
Kisuke had no idea what was about to be asked of him, but the slight air of embarrassment that lit up his young friend's features made his cock twitch in his pants, something that Ichigo, thankfully, didn't seem to notice. "You can ask for whatever you like. It's only rude to get upset if I cannot oblige you," he managed.
"I was hoping you'd help me get rid of this extra hollow energy," he replied as confidently as he could manage.
Kisuke smiled. It pleased him that the orange-haired boy before him seemed to finally be able to pick up on these things on his own. "Naturally," he replied easily as he finally pulled away in such a slow, sly way that Ichigo's body strained to follow him. Before the younger man knew what was happening, the blonde had slipped away and was headed for the door. Just when he saw that the vizard was about to follow him off the bed he stopped. "Why don't you strip down while I get a few things?"
Ichigo's heart skipped a beat. He was torn between the instinct to follow the older man and possibly pin him to the ground to prevent further separation and doing as he was told out of a sense of guilt for asking the favor in the first place. When he saw the twinkle in the shopkeeper's eye, the mischievous one that usually signaled that he was being toyed with, at least a little, something in him snapped.
Before either of them knew what happened, Urahara was face down on the hard wood floor of his bedroom with a very determined young man settling in behind him. He opened his mouth to speak but whatever words were about to come out turned into a gasp as his pants and underwear were roughly pulled down to his knees. Only when the force behind him relented, so that Ichigo could remove enough of his own clothing to proceed, did he gather enough breath to speak.
"Ichigo," he interjected but was cut off.
"No talking unless you're going to tell me no, okay?" he requested in a husky voice.
Kisuke looked over his shoulder to get a better look at his partner, and seeing how much rosier his skin had become, the sweat running from his brow, and that apologetically lustful face, he gave in. He gave a simple nod of confident agreement before turn back around, accepting that he was going to be at the brunt of the previously mentioned hollow energy before being given a chance to extract it properly.
Ichigo shuddered in awe at the older man's willing submission and then again when he pressed his length against the puckered opening that practically called to him. However, much to the shopkeeper's surprise, the younger man didn't force himself in. Rather, he took his own length into hand and started rubbing the head of his cock into the other man's skin, using the rivulets of precum as starter lubrication.
The shopkeeper barely suppressed the moan that the rough but minimal attention stirred in him. In fact, he was concentrating so hard on that act of will power that there was none left over for when Ichigo suddenly grabbed his erection. His uncontrolled reaction caused a pleased growl from the vizard behind him and a moment later, he felt the length teasing between his cheeks convulse and a warm goo splatter all over his backside.
That was when Ichigo did something neither of them expected and had he not just decided to let go of his remaining inhibitions, he might have been able to stop himself. Regardless, a moment later, he pulled his hips back.
At the seemingly sudden withdrawl, Kisuke felt a flash of worry and craned his neck to see what was the matter. His eyes grew wide with shock as Ichigo, with an almost mindless determination, bend over and start licking the cum from his skin. Unable to believe his eyes, the shopkeeper felt his whole body flush even more deeply and before he knew it, he was again moaning the young man's name.
Hearing his own name, the orange-haired teen looked up. He was dying to see the kind of expression that accompanied someone saying his name is such a lustful way and he wasn't disappointed. The blonde man before him was on his elbows and knees, jaw slackened, and with a slight knit in his eyebrows. It seemed the older man could barely keep his eyes from rolling back. That look stirred something that was already bubbling within him and put him back into action.
Ichigo gave another soft growl and sunk his teeth in the fair skin before him. His partner only saw a brief flash of white teeth before yelping in pain. His eyes grew wide as he looked back in disbelief, that look intensified when the young vizard pulled away with a definite, 'This is mine,' look in his eyes as he stared down at the angry red mark he'd just made.
That look made the older man hesitate. As hot as all this was, he was beginning to worry. "Ichigo," he said again, this time with a different kind of conviction but he was ignored. The vizard was too busy admiring his own work so he tried again. "This was sort of why I didn't think you'd want to wait to take care of that hollow energy," he informed.
Ichigo's face darkened a bit and he started to jerk the length that he'd been fondling for the past few minutes. "Are you telling me to back off?"
To his surprise, the young man actually sounded put off. "Uh..." he tried to reply but it quickly turned into another moan. Again, he found himself giving in to the feverish vizard, only vaguely wondering if it was a mistake.
Feeling the fiery haze overtake his senses, the teen went back to rubbing himself on his friends backside, cumming a couple more times like that before suddenly pushing himself in. After that, he sort of blacked out. His hollow didn't emerge, but he didn't seem to have much control over himself either.
Neither of them could keep track of how long they were at it. The only indicator of the passing of time was the fading light coming through the bedroom window. Ichigo's hips didn't stop moving until well after the light was gone and when they finally did, he withdrew, wobbled a bit on his knees, and passed out, landing heavily on the worn body beneath him.
Kisuke breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the young man now laying on him was rather heavy, he was also completely limp, enabling him to slip out from beneath him and carry him to the bed without waking him. Then, he decided to push his luck by undressing the vizard and was reminded of how difficult it is to dress a rag doll. At least this one had a cute little snore to listen to while he wiggled the teen's shirt up over his head.
Once his guest was nude, he folded the only slightly soiled clothes and proceeded to remove his own, doing the same before slipping into the bed with his young companion. So much of him wanted to take advantage of the reprieve and use it to do a couple things for himself like making tea or starting a load of laundry, but he knew better. Even though Ichigo was unconscious, he was most likely not completely unaware, and he was unwilling to risk having the young man awake, even just a little, while he was out of the room.
Ichigo was slow in waking a couple hours later. The speed of his awakening was impeded by the protective feeling of the warm body snuggled up against his back. Normally, he preferred to be the big spoon, but during times like these, it was worth it to make an exception. When he shifted to look Kisuke in the eye, he noticed that they were both naked.
"You old perv," he teased as he rolled over in the other man's arms. He didn't want to break physical contact but he did want eye contact.
"Don't be like that," the blond muttered. He could tell that the orange-haired teen was trying to break him out of whatever sort of revere he was indulging in, and it saddened him a little.
Ichigo frowned a little bit. "How do you feel?" he asked with almost bated breath.
"Aren't I usually asking that question?" the older man teased.
The young man's frown deepened at the teasing but in his heart he knew that it meant that his older friend wasn't hurt.
"Are you going to let me take care of that hollow energy now? Or are you going to jump me again?" the shopkeeper proposed as though he didn't want to have to choose between two preferable options.
"You didn't seem to mind," Ichigo teased.
Kisuke just smiled knowingly for a moment before returning to the matter at hand. "Actually, I find you quite interesting this way. Perhaps you'd rather burn off the rest of that energy naturally. It is likely to hurt less that way," he proposed.
"What do you mean 'interesting'?" the teen tried not to snap. He knew that his friend was messing with him, but with this man there was always an unnerving, and often annoying, kernel of truth at the root of the teasing.
"You bit me. You never bite me," he pointed out.
Ichigo felt a sudden rush of warmth in his face, a flush of embarrassment that quickly spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. We winced, wanting to apologize but at the same time, wasn't sure if it would be well received. "So, you didn't mention that getting rid of the hollow energy would hurt last time," he tried.
"Well, the extraction itself won't. Sure, it's uncomfortable but never exactly painful. You've experienced that before so you know I'm not lying. The reason it was so easy for me to perform the extraction is that you had wounds from which to pull the poison. It would have been even easier if they weren't almost completely healed. This time, you have no infected wounds which means I have nowhere to focus on. I would have to hurt you in order to do what you want me to," he explained, "either by trying to draw it out from your whole body or from giving you a wound sufficient to extract the energy."
Ichigo frowned deeply. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" he wondered.
"I was about to when you jumped me and all but told me to shut up," the older man playfully replied but then his face turned serious. "I probably shouldn't have let you do that, but I wanted to see what would happen."
The orange-haired teen was obviously put off by that. "So, what, like I'm some kind of experiment?"
"Now, now don't be like that. You know I'm a very curious person. Honestly, I didn't think there was another option earier...but leave it to you to prove me wrong," he admitted, then after a thoughtful moment of silence, said, "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to wound you just to take care of the problem, a problem that now seems to be taking care of itself."
Because those last words were spoken with such seriousness and real emotion, Ichigo had to look away. He was always uncomfortable when others were looking out for him. He knew that was a part of friendship, but he preferred to be the one looking out for others. Shifting awkwardly out of the older man's arms, he eventually managed to slip out of the bed.
"Where are you going?" Kisuke asked curiously, somehow managing to keep any trance of accusation from his tone, however playful.
"To the bathroom," he replied evenly.
"Should I find Kon and toss him in there with you again?" the shopkeeper couldn't help a little teasing as the young man walked out of the room. He watched the teen visibly tense and then realize it was a joke before making it down the hall.
Ichigo did his business and then went to clean up a bit in the sink, making sure to splash cold water on his face to help keep him cooled down long enough to think straight. Was he behaving differently? He didn't think so, but Kisuke was rarely wrong about these things. He did feel a little different, but not necessarily bad until his reflection started to fade to black and white. Then he felt a little sick to his stomach. A moment later, his inner-hollow was staring back at him.
"What do you want?" the vizard griped.
The hollow smirked. "Let'em cut you. I like when you bleed unnecessarily."
Ichigo glared.
"Besides, it's what you want, right? You want him to hurt you because it easies the guilt and shame that you feel when you're like this. You still can't accept what you are. And if you ask me that's really why you lost Blondie," he blithely replied.
"You are the reason I lost him. What I don't get is why you did it. I thought you liked him in your own sick, twisted little way," the orange-haired young man protested.
"I still like him. He wasn't going to let a little thing like that get between you," he mocked.
"A little thing?" Ichigo nearly screamed. "You raped him in public!"
The hollow made a small sound of dismissal. "He liked it."
"He didn't fight you because he didn't want you attacking anybody else," the teen harshly reasoned.
"He didn't fight me because he liked it," he reasserted.
Ichigo felt his rage start to bubble. It'd been months since his hollow saw fit to grace him with it's presence and now he would be pestered by it? He almost stormed out of the bathroom, but then realized that a scene like that would only earn him a chance to explain himself, something he really wasn't keen on doing at this point. "Is there a reason you're bothering me?" he tried.
"You are acting different," the hollow noted. "You never bargain with me."
"I just want you to go away quietly," the young man reasoned, "or at least keep quiet."
"Okay. Promise me that you will go see Shinji when he tells you he's ready," it haggled.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Fine. Now go away," he shooed.
The creature in the mirror gave a long, thoughtful pause. "You are handling the hollow energy better than the old pervert is letting on. It's making you act a little weird, but you're not really any more dangerous now than you would normally be," he informed both as a thank you and to further mess with his host's head.
"What do you mean different?" he demanded.
The hollow smirked. "More like one of us. You know, now that I think about it, I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't happen upon Grimmjaw again this time. He would surely love this side of you."
"Go away!" the teen growled and to his surprise, the hollow faded away. He would like to have thought he was the one who willed the creature back, but he knew better. It was too easy for that. Either the hollow thought it didn't have enough of a foothold to make it worth trying to take control or, and worse yet, it could have approved of what was happening, which didn't happen very often but was always unnerving.
After about another minute of collecting his thoughts, he went back to the bedroom. Kisuke looked concerned right up until they made eye contact, then his lips turned up into a welcoming smile.
"What would you rather do? What is easier for you?" the vizard almost demanded as he took a seat on the edge of the bed, hardly aware that he was still naked.
"I already said that I would rather not hurt you," the older man chided.
"Do you think it's safe? I would rather hurt a little than risk having my hollow take control again," he reasoned.
Kisuke gave his guest a gentle pat on the thigh. "You have thus far been quite good to me. I would prefer not to do anything to change that."
"But it's my choice, right?" the young vizard pressed. He tried to sound willful but it just didn't come out that way.
"Only if you want the choice," the shopkeeper teased. "You could always relinquish control and allow me to decide for you. I know how you hate to worry about making decisions at times like this."
The teen appeared pensive. There were things about both options that appealed to him. As he considered those things, he surprised himself a bit. They weren't exactly the things he was expecting.
On the one hand he had the option to burn out the remainder of the hollow energy he'd acquired from his last encounter. It was making him aggressive. He didn't want to talk or play. He wanted to get what he needed from this person and do it with minimal distractions. It was a very exciting feeling, and it made him very nervous.
On the other, he could do what he'd decided was the right thing to do before his hormones took over. It seemed like the kind of decision a responsible person would make. Now it almost seemed like the kinkier choice because it involved pain and he wasn't completely opposed to that. He would justify it by saying that it was a minor act of repentance but deep down, he knew it was because he'd been shown how hot a little pain could be, especially during his episodes.
"Well?" Kisuke prompted somewhat impatiently.