-Alright biffles; I'm back! And just in time for the last ten minutes of Valentine's Day! No, seriously; I'm posting these at ten minutes to midnight my time. I just thought that if you were either swept off your feet by the romance or totally disappointed, your day could be made just a bit sweeter by some plotless fluff. In any case, this set is from a lovely new reviewer, stephvamp25! I'm sorry these took so long; I was informed a few weeks ago that I am going to be absconded with in April and sent to Seattle for SakuraCon. Oh darn, I know. But I also realized then that I wanted to go in some manner of cosplay outfit, and going in my BLEACH one would just be too damn easy. So, I've taken on the massive project of fashioning my own modification of an Assassin's Creed costume. Fun stuff; lots of work. That stacked on top of school on top of life makes for a very busy crypto. So, I will be trying to get drabbles up weekly, more on that on the bottom, and I guarantee B2B will be updated at least monthly, so be sure to be on the lookout for that before the 28th. See you on the bottom for more notes biffles!
1: Innocence
"Akira, calm down," her Captain ordered over the delicate china teacup he held in his hands. He blew a cool breath over the top of the tea, cooling it slightly. He seemed wholeheartedly calm about the entire matter, though how or why she would never, ever be able to understand.
"I don't want to calm down," she grit out from her place on his couch. She was quite literally bristling at the thought of having to stay where she was and not protect the child that was romping around the house with her father. Or, rather, the half of her father that was very much a Hollow, and yet who still seemed bent and totally able to be gentle enough to play with his own progeny.
Toshiro just rolled his eyes, seeming wholeheartedly amused by the fact that Mikan was riding around on her Daddy's shoulders like he was a horsie, pointing to where she wanted him to go and giggling as they romped around. Ogichi seemed to also be enjoying himself inherently, having first wisely asked Toshiro's permission to do anything around the child lest the snowy dragon accidentally murder both of them on instinct. "Just drink your tea, Akira. Then you're welcome to leave; I don't want to have to turn you over to Captain Unohana for being overworked."
Obviously, Akira on the other hand was still fighting that instinct rather avidly as she clung to her teacup like it was a lifeline. The simple fact was that she still wasn't used to the other half of the jovial Captain, much less used to the fact that it wanted to interact with the little girl. "Yessir," she growled, taking another sip along with a deep breath in through her nose.
At that point, the vagabond tag team of Hollow and baby returned to the living room where the more peaceable two were seated. The Hollow, surprisingly, handed over the cooing baby girl quite willingly, apparently sensing that Toshiro was about to inform him of his expired time with her. But he did so with a smirk on his uncharacteristically white face, glancing over at Akira with a scandalous look on its face.
"Don't look so glum," his distorted voice teased, his grin taking on a lecherous little curl. "You want me to play with you next?"
"Sir?" Akira growled, setting her teacup down as calmly as she could as the Hollow looked on in confusion between them.
"Now you can beat him up, Akira. Just remember it's Ichigo's body; I can't have you breaking him completely," Toshiro responded naturally, brushing a strand of orange hair away from his little girl's face as she pointed and laughed as Akira sprung up from the couch, fists ready, and promptly chased the Hollow around the house through which he had been just gallivanting.
Good innocent fun could only be allowed to go so far in the presence of a child, after all.
2: Eternity
Ichigo pressed their foreheads together, warm meeting cool as he tried to recapture the breath that had been stolen from him. If that was what kissing really meant, he would never belittle it again.
"Ichigo," he felt Toshiro breathe out against his lips, and then felt the shift of the other's body beneath his.
He wrapped his arm around the pale shoulders, keeping their faces close and their bodies closer as he clung desperately to the fading fire that still danced through his fingers.
"Just an eternity more," he whispered back, leaning back down for another dose of the heaven he'd captured in his open hands.
3: Pressure
"It's so… melodic," he said, his voice filled with wonder as his fingers danced along the ivory keys of the Fazioli piano. With only the slightest undulating pressure on the tips of his fingers, he could draw forth this beautiful swirl of thrumming sound. No… this wasn't just sound. This instrument, it was music. The wood, the strings, the keys, the pedals, every facet and screw was built for the sake of things beautiful and aurally connective. Its music struck deeper than his extensive vocabulary had words for, and brought out something in his body he couldn't control.
He only realized that he'd been letting the music completely take him when he felt the faintest pressure of lips against his chin. He opened his eyes, feeling his fingers actually still. He hadn't realized they'd even been moving. All he'd known was that there was music playing for his ears what he heard in his head, and it was the intoxicating joy of pure composition and creation that made every fiber of his body tingle with life.
"Play me a song, maestro," Ichigo whispered in his ears. So he closed his eyes as the pressure of another body settled by his side, and let his hands take to the keys once more, uncaring of where they took him, so long as they appeased his audience's, and his own thirsty ears.
4: Nimble
"Do you really think you can get through there?" Ichigo asked uncertainly, looking through the mesh of iron supports and bars skeptically. He knew he himself was far too large to fit those gaps, but was doubting even Toshiro's slight frame could fit through all of them without trouble.
"Watch me."
So, he did. With quite a bit of fascination, he would add, seeing as Toshiro then proceeded to not only squeeze himself through spaces that would have been a claustrophobe's worst nightmare, but also managed to turn himself at so many odd angles in order to fit himself through that he would have given any professional contortionist a run for their money. When he reached the other side of the maze of steel, he looked back at his companion.
"Now wait here; I'll come back around and get you out from the other side."
"Good. Because there's no way in hell I'm half as nimble as you are, Toshiro."
"I know."
5: Joy
"Come on, boy, cut me!" Kenpachi howled as he tore across the battlefield towards Toshiro. Ichigo would have been much more concerned for the other man's safety if he wasn't under the strict knowledge that this was only practice. And even though he knew the term "practice" in reference to Kenpachi was something entirely inhuman, he also knew that Toshiro was a good bit smarter than Kenpachi. And even if Kenpachi himself was by no means a dull bulb, it would only make the challenge more interesting for Toshiro to try and outsmart him.
Hence why he was currently quite literally running circles around Kenpachi in an attempt to make the other angry. It was working, and from what Ichigo could see from his position next to Captain Ukitake, who had made a picnic event out of the entire ordeal, Toshiro was having a ball. He could also tell that he had no intention of touching Kenpachi, and the fact that seemed to drive the larger Captain up the wall only served to make his amusement all the more joyous, for having so quickly and subtly worked past Kenpachi's exterior of manic calm.
6: Faith
"Give it up, kid. He's not out there. You're over a barrel and you know it," the man's gruff voice intoned humorlessly. Toshiro only cast him a furtive glance over his shoulder, before looking back out over the sea that was slowly fading into the flaming colored fog of the day's end. He took in one breath of the ocean's sharp brine, before looking back at the faithless schooner's captain. The shadow of the vaulting bridge passed over them as they trundled along beneath it, remaining swathed in darkness as the sun gave up its own hopes of fading glory.
"Yes he is."
He heard the unsavory snort without having to watch the other man's face contort in an unattractive expression. The chuffing engine quieted as they slunk into the bay, a haunting wind whistling up along the shore as they came to the dock. "You're just begging for the bitter end," the old man growled, hauling himself off and threshing his boat to the dock as Toshiro got off.
"No," he replied sternly, making the seaman look up at him with curiosity in his dingy eyes. A flicker of recognition passed through them, and an understanding passed between them for a split second. The strength of a Captain settled the unsteady ground between them, and Toshiro knew the man would doubt him no more. But that did not mean he was not going to at least explain himself.
"I'm living by faith. Don't let the sea or the world make you forget how to do that, Captain, or they will consume you," he advised, slinging his bag over his shoulder before walking down the dock slowly. He felt the old wood sway beneath his feet as his weight rocked it against the waves already rolling against the floating supports. But the sensation was strangely calming; it was about the only thing in the situation that was.
"It's between the devil and the deep blue sea for you, isn't it, boy?" he heard the ship captain call, and he turned for a moment, gauging the other man's almost pitying expression now. It was so strange, so see that worried twinkling in the aged eyes, but then, Toshiro supposed, that humans always had that surprising capability; to care about those whom they choose to on a whim, with only their own rationale needed to support it.
"By and large," he replied back shortly, and he saw the scruffy old man smile, before the two parted ways at last. Or at least Toshiro thought, the ship's captain called out to him one more time.
"Oi!" he'd called, and just after Toshiro had turned, a small leather pouch of coins had sailed through the air into his outstretched hands. The white haired man looked back, puzzled at the man's sudden show of kindness. "Can't leave you all standing when you're tryin' ta run the gauntlet, can I? Go on, boy, take 'em hand over fist," he said, and Toshiro smiled back this time, saluting to the man before trotting off at a hopeful pace.
As it seemed, having faith, giving faith, and receiving faith, wall came together like the fates when for a cause they favored.
7: Tattoo
"Ichigo, technically I would have to check "yes" because I do have a tattoo."
"Toshiro, first of all, there's no way they're going to see it. They're examining your head for a concussion because our bus wrecked; not your back for skin cancer. Second of all, if they do find it, I'm going to kill them for taking your shirt off."
"Glad to know I've got you looking out for my health."
"Always."
8: Breathless
"I think you have finally managed to scare the shit out of my inner Hollow, Toshiro," Ichigo said, his voice breathy as he lay propped on one elbow on their bed. His pupils were dilated, and Toshio could practically hear his heart thundering in his chest. He himself blinked groggily, not able to quite follow how he could have done that while very much asleep.
"What?" he'd mumbled unintelligently, reaching up to rub the sleep away from his eyes.
But before his hand could even get to his own face, Ichigo's shaking one had snatched it away, cradling it as he kissed the knuckles almost in an attempt to calm himself more than Toshiro. "I don't know what he wanted to do," Ichigo admitted, closing his eyes as if still fighting off the nightmare. "But he wanted to get into my body. Bad. But…"
Now at least intrigued enough to be marginally cognizant, Toshiro looked up at him curiously, brushing his thumb over the back of Ichigo's hand as the other's breathing remained shallow and rather panicked. "But what, Ichigo?" he asked gently, hoping to soothe the other a bit. Obviously Ogichi had been in control of Ichigo's body when he'd been frightened, leaving Ichigo to stave off the lingering effects of that fear.
"But Hyorinmaru came in and scared him away before he could do anything," Ichigo continued, opening his eyes to look down at Toshiro thankfully. The small Captain felt the dragon's pleased rumble deep within the recesses of his mind, and he smiled back gently. "Thank you, Toshiro."
9: Fear
"I don't understand, Captain Kurosaki," one of his lower ranking seated officers admitted to him one day. The fiery Captain had looked up from his preliminary report across the office where the young man stood wavering, apparently uncertain of the words he was about to speak. "How you could have had the courage to ever even approach Captain Hitsugaya… let alone romance him."
Ichigo would have been much more offended by the matter if the young man didn't sound so desperately lost. He was young; and full of potential. But he was just as full of uncertainty and fear over himself and his mistakes as any person that age was. He had merely smiled gently, knowing how frightened he would have been at the prospect himself had he not been centuries beyond it.
"Let me give you some advice," he said, and the young man stood in rapt attention as the elder Soul Reaper rested his elbows against his desk. "Don't look at someone you're interested in as a key to romance, or to salvation. Don't walk in with ulterior motives, or rush them into decisions."
The young man seemed not to understand, so Ichigo leaned back in his chair, trying to think of a way to rephrase his true sentiments.
"Treat them like people," he said, keeping his auburn eyes on the deep green ones that stared back at him. "Be their friend; understand that they are human like the rest of us. They're not treasures to be hoarded, they're not messiahs to be worshipped, they're people looking for companionship, just like you. And only if that companionship spreads beyond something you can define should you start to think about love or romance."
He chuckled ruefully to himself, and the younger officer seemed surprised. "That's how I even got to know Toshiro in the first place, was when I realized he was as human, and as hurt as I was. That's when I stopped being afraid of him… and also myself."
The young man seemed calmed, somewhat, though still uncertain. Ichigo knew he couldn't really define it for the young man; not when he had yet to experience it for himself. "Just don't be afraid. Humanity isn't as scary as you might think."
"If anything, it's the most rewarding thing in your life when you find it in the right person."
10: Protection
"Look, I know you two have explained this before. But what the hell was that out there?" Logan growled at the two as they secluded themselves into a corner of the massive system of bunkers beneath the school. For now they were keeping the entire student population down there; having already planned on moving them back out tomorrow into the building again. But for now they were re-fortifying their outer defenses, and making sure the last of their opponents had been removed from the grounds.
Which wasn't too difficult, considering almost all entrances and exits into the school were blocked with towering walls of ice, and the security cameras strewn about the grounds could see every nook and cranny, down to the rabbit's burrow on the north side glen.
He glared over at Toshiro from their seated position on the floor. The young man's fake body, which he was back into now, was garnering a rather nasty bullet wound (admittedly one that would have killed the average person), but the young man seemed not even to notice. "I mean, your sword summoned a fucking dragon made of ice out of the damn sky. You failed to mention that when you explaining the Soul Society to us," he griped, settling himself a little bit. He knew that if he let himself get worked up, Toshiro would just turn his emotions on him and give him a well deserved verbal slap in the face. "Can all the Captains do that?"
The young man's snowy head shook. "No," he said, leaning back against the wall in an attempt to get more comfortable. "Every Soul Reaper in the Soul Society has a unique sword, or zanpakuto. Each sword's abilities are different based on the personality and disposition of their wielder. Thus, no two are alike. So, the Captains are on a comparable level of power to mine, but each of their swords is capable of different things."
The mutant then glanced over at Ichigo rather accusingly. "Then yours fucking fits, doesn't it?" he teased rather petulantly. "That butcher knife matches your ego just right."
The punch to his arm as a response was a pretty damn good one, even he had to admit.
"Shut up," the young Japanese man growled, blushing a bit. "It's big because of how much spiritual pressure I have. And I didn't pick the way it was shaped, so back off!"
Logan rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. You two are both hellishly strong; that much I could feel. So why is his so much smaller and more refined than yours?" He looked at the two expectantly, but realize that Ichigo actually didn't know the answer. But he was already beginning to get the feeling that Ichigo was one massive glaring exception in whatever rules the Soul Society had.
"Ichigo is a special instance," Toshiro said, voicing Logan's very thoughts almost too coincidentally. "He has had Captain Level spiritual pressure for a long time; and yet is not a Captain himself at this point. However, most trained Captain Class Soul Reapers are capable of controlling their power well enough to keep it from reflecting in the size of their zanpakuto. Otherwise we'd all be walking around with swords as big as sky scrapers, which would be highly inconvenient since there are now over twenty beings with Captain Class power and zanpakuto."
Logan snorted. "So pretty much, yours is a fucking claymore because you haven't got any control, is that what I'm supposed to understand?"
Ichigo just rolled his eyes, obviously not willing to rise to the other man's bait anymore. "No," he said. "It's this big because I want it to be so I can protect the people I care about in whatever way I can. I'm not about to complain about the tool that lets me do that."
Logan wasn't going to contend with him on that one.
11: Toy
"I told you, it's the best damn toy you could ever give a kid!"
"But it's so…"
"Hilarious?"
"Rudimentary."
"She doesn't think so."
"Ichigo, it's a cardboard box."
"I know. What did you want to give her, a xylophone?"
"Not at this age, but… really,"
"Really nothing. She loves it, just let her enjoy playing house for a while. Renji's boy won't let anything happen to her."
"Why do you make it sound like we're going somewhere?"
"Because it's yours and my turn to play house for once. She can handle staying at Boopa's for the afternoon."
12: Ice Box
"Captain Kurosaki, why are you wearing that?" one of his lower subordinates asked as Ichigo trudged into the office, wrapped from brow to toe in the warmest clothes he could find. Which just so happened to include his might-as-well-be-military-grade parka.
"Because just in case you were wondering, marrying an Ice Wielder and then sleeping together in the middle of winter is not always the most pleasant mix. I'm still trying to get the feeling back into my left leg."
13: Dawn
Ichigo often found the smaller King atop the lookout spire, early in the morning when the frost still clung to the flagstaffs and the cries of the eagles rang unhindered in the clear air.
The sun was just peaking over the Northern mountains in the distance, their bald peaks crowned with eons of snow and ice. The clarity of the day was so striking that he could even see storm clouds rolling away from the south and up over those same mountains, soon to shroud the North in even more darkness and mystery.
He took a deep breath, looking to the East across the forests that crowded the way for leagues. The sun's rays had the towering trees aflame with color, the frost on their branches shining like polished gold even from so far away.
"I can only ever seem to find you someplace up high," he commented idly as he stood next to his fellow King on the terrace. The man's cerulean eyes dyed a strange jade by the fiery colors of the morning looked up at him curiously. "Is it mere coincidence, or common behavior for your Northerners?"
The King shrugged, looking back towards what little of his country he could see far off in the distance. "I can't speak for my entire people with my actions," he said. "For certainly they are not all identical to me; nor are most of them even remotely similar."
"So you call yourself odd," Ichigo commented, leaning against the parapet as the smaller man snorted in denial.
"No. I merely state that few others are like myself. Whether they or I are normal is not something I can define based on my perspective alone."
It was Ichigo's turn to roll his eyes. Even as much as he enjoyed the younger man's attention to detail, it was sometimes a fault his apparently ambivalent opinion. Or perhaps it was that he kept his own true thoughts so subtly hidden that Ichigo was simply not adept enough to pin them down. "You say too much and state too little," he commented, though not venomously. He couldn't bring himself to be venomous; not when no one had ever before challenged him quite to the mental degree that this man did. "Is it never simple matters with you?"
"Is it ever just simple matters with Kings?" the younger man returned just as swiftly, leaving Ichigo to chew over his own words for a moment before chuckling.
"Perhaps not," he said, scratching at the back of his neck as the faint warmth of the sun began to dance upon it. "Perhaps it is I who hear too much and understand too little."
The King of the North laughed. "Then you and I are quite a pair, are we not? He who states too little and he who understands too little. Were we not pressed to make accords I would say we would be totally incompatible. And yet here we are, led by circumstances to step beyond that boundary." The small King began to stride away from the edge of the terrace overlooking the courtyard below, headed down the way Ichigo had just come.
The fiery King followed, interested by the other man's words. At last, he gave up on trying to let his own mind analyze them, and grasped the small man by his arm, making him stop there on the terrace for a moment.
"It is not mere circumstance that makes our meeting so palatable," he said, finding that for once he had caught the other man off guard. "And you, for all your words, do state that much as clearly with your eyes as you ever could with your mouth. That much I do understand."
For a long moment they stood in silence, letting the dawn commence around them. In that silence, Ichigo feared his statement would be disproven. And yet, the longer it stretched on, the more he felt that his statement was being proven rather than disproven. So when the younger King at long last smiled slightly, it didn't come as much of a surprise.
"Perhaps you are right, King Kurosaki. For surely the fates would not award a Scarlet Day to those unworthy of it," the young King commented, and as surely as he had stated, the dawn sky, now well past the luminous glow of pre-rising, was painted red in hues of munificent glory. And though Ichigo remembered a vague tale of red skied mornings an ill omen for sailors, that was apparently untrue for the men, and the King of the North, whom now looked upon it with such hope and reverence.
"True enough, King Hitsugaya. Then let us not waste this Scarlet Day on a dawn quickly fading. Let us make use of our alliance, fated or no, to do what we have come here to achieve."
-Hokay, so I do have some news for all of you that is rather pertinent. As you may refer to on my profile, the titles of the sequel fics to Burn to Black are now posted; meaning it will be a trilogy. I am also here to inform you that the pairing has been chosen according to me for fic 2 which will be the supplemental pairing, based on what I want the plot to be. Sorry to override all your votes; but there are some things that just make more sense. So, that poll will be taken down shortly and replaced with a much more pertinent one. As many of you may have noticed, 200 Days of Our Lives is almost over; I only need 12 more drabbles and this set will be complete. Scary, huh? Well, fear not, because I have several options for you readers out there… But they involve a lot of work on my end, as well as a little work on yours. I have several options for all of you, which will also be posted as the new poll on my profile. See, I came up with an idea… and admittedly crazy idea that took root in my brain and has promptly exploded into this massive plot idea that's been haunting my thoughts for about a week now. (Just how Burn to Black started, and look where that's been taken…) Anyway, I can do one of three things regarding this fic or any further sets of drabbles… One, I can write this new fic I have in mind. Just that fic and Burn to Black; which means I would update each fic monthly. Two, I could not write the new fic and continue on with drabbles like these. Should I do that, I would only do a set of 300 and then a set of 400 and be done. Or, lastly, I could do both; write both fic and drabbles. This means that I would update less often with the drabbles, but you would have more to read possibly. So, please let me know what you think in a review or in the poll, and please feel free to donate those last 12 drabbles so I can finish up 200 Days of Our Lives. Thanks ladies, gents, trolls and fairies, and I will see you for the next chapter of Burn to Black. Oh, and by the way, if you are going to SakuraCon 2011 in Seattle, WA, keep an eye out for me! I will be posting pictures of my costume on my dA (link on my profile) as it comes together. Maybe I'll see you there!
8-90s love,
crypto