The Feeding

The meeting was set in a great hall with a long table surrounded by high backed chairs. The table was left empty aside from white china placed out for tea. It looked like an extra chair, smaller than the others, had been pulled up next to Aizen, who was sitting at the head. He gestured for Ichigo to come over. Ichigo could feel curiosity rolling off the people that started filling the seats. There were twelve. Gin sat immediately to Aizen's right, and a dark skinned man wearing dread locks and dark glasses sat to his left. "Kaname Tosen," he introduced himself to Ichigo. Ichigo reached for his hand hesitantly. "I am blind, but I can see more you think," the man said, easily grabbing onto Ichigo's hand.

"S-Sorry," Ichigo apologized in embarrassment. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki."

Kaname looked over towards Gin's side of the table with a frown. "What clan are you from?" he asked.

"I-I'm not from a clan," Ichigo stated.

"Interesting," was the response.

"Everyone is here," Aizen said quietly from the head of the table. Everyone stilled and looked at him. "As you may have noticed, we have two newcomers today. Shiro Shiba will be taking Kaien's place at the Elder's Council for the Shiba clan," Aizen gestured to an albino vampire who had glowing golden eyes on black sclera who was eyeing Ichigo with relish. Now that Ichigo thought about it, they looked very similar. He could see why the big vampire, Yammy, had thought that they were from the same family.

"Thanks," Shiro responded. "I'm not sure where my cousin ran off to, but I'll be sure to let you know when I find him."

"I'll be very interested to know what he's up to," Aizen stated simply. Shiro nodded as if given an order. Ichigo wondered if he had been. "The vampire next to me is new to you all, his name is Ichigo Kurosaki." That was all he said, and more than a few eyebrows went up. Grimmjow chuckled to himself.

Aizen wasn't a man of great passions, although he did have one overriding one that drove his life. He wasn't thrown for a loop easily by good looks or a winning personality. He wouldn't have brought his latest plaything to the table if he didn't think that he was important in some way. The fact that Starrk had dreamed about him his whole life was testament to his importance. Aizen would have to question Starrk about those dreams later. Most vampires had their own powers, perhaps Ichigo was going to be useful in the upcoming war, or maybe he was the key to victory in some other way. Aizen was a believer in fate, no matter how he hated it and fought against it. There was a reason Ichigo was here, and he would find it and use it to his advantage. Even if he had not been attracted to the boy it was probable that he would have taken him as a lover just to encourage closeness between the two, to wrap his influence around the boy.

Starrk was alternatively fascinated by the boy, wanting to do nothing other than look at him, and disgusted, wanting to look away. The bites from Aizen had healed, but there was still bruising, and the boy had red marks along his jawline. Starrk didn't blame Ichigo for it, as he had said, Aizen would get want he wanted no matter the way he had to go about it, but that didn't mean he wanted to look at the obviously ravished boy.

The meeting itself had to do with the changeover from Kaien to Shiro, as well as a brief introduction for Ichigo to the members of the council. Ichigo was never good with names, and he really hoped that no one would be offended when he forgot them later on. Yammy he remembered and he knew he'd remember Gin and Kaname. He couldn't forget Starrk, and the ones named Shiro and Grimmjow were looking at him like they wanted to eat him. Which, now that he thought about it, maybe they did. He'd have to get used to the whole "everyone is a vampire" thing. He wondered how it was that Grimmjow was an incubus and a vampire, or if that was common, and what the others were, or if they had powers like Starrk, being a werewolf.

After the meeting, Aizen took him to the Amazonian looking vampire with light eyelashes and blond hair. She had a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, covered her face. Ichigo wondered why she didn't just wear a longer shirt if she was so cold, since her belly shirt was so short as to almost fully revealed the bottom of her breasts. "Hallibel," he told her. "Take care of him."

"What?" she asked.

"He needs to be fed," Aizen said over his shoulder.

Hallibel looked stricken. "You don't expect me to…"

Aizen was already walking away, leaving Ichigo behind.

"Um, it's ok, I'll just make myself a sandwich or something," Ichigo said.

Hallibel gave him a look. "That's not what he was talking about. He meant blood," she told him.

Ichigo paled a little. "Oh hey, you don't have to do that!"

"Hallibel," Starrk walked up to her. "I know that you…don't prefer men," he said. Ichigo wondered what that had to do with anything. "I can take care of him for you," Starrk suggested.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a bother, you guys don't have to do anything," Ichigo insisted.

"Aizen wants you to get stronger," Hallibel told him. "I assume that why he wants you to drink other vampires' blood. Although why he doesn't just offer his own…"

"I can handle it," Starrk said. Hallibel gave a nod and left. Starrk began to led Ichigo to his chambers, wanting some privacy for what he was about to do. He was trying to fight the excitement that made his blood pump harder. Ichigo is mine…at least for now…he thought. I won't be able to touch him in the way I want, but I can make him mine. I can feed him and make him stronger, I can feel his venom running through me again. Starrk shuddered, thinking about how he had reacted just to the small bite on his hand, where Ichigo had barely used his fangs at all. "Don't take offense," he told Ichigo as they walked. "Hallibel prefers to be with women."

"But…I mean it's just blood sucking, right? It's not like he told her to…have sex with me," Ichigo said with a blush.

"You have to know by now that it's a very intimate experience. Especially if done together. Sharing blood is something those very close to each other do; good friends, family, and lovers. It's not something that you want to do with a strange vampire."

"But don't vampires just suck the blood of random humans? I thought that how it worked."

"Sometimes, but then again, it's always humans that they are attracted to. You don't normally find a drug addled wino sucked dry or sipped on, it's always the governor's daughter…or the governor himself, depending," Starrk explained.

"You do that to family members? That seems…incestuous," Ichigo said.

"Our clans aren't usually direct family members. Remember, vampires cannot bear children," Starrk opened the door to his room, his hand slightly trembling. Am I going to be able to resist him? He was wondering. Aizen picked Hallibel for a reason. He obviously wants Ichigo completely for himself. Starrk sighed at the thought, his thoughts growing dark as he thought about Aizen touching Ichigo, hovering over him, his body rubbing on him. Starrk growled.

"I'm sorry," Ichigo apologized. "You probably don't want to do this anymore than Hallibel does."

Starrk turned towards Ichigo with fire in his eyes. "Don't ever think I don't want you," he said lowly.

"What?" Ichigo was unprepared for the emotion that he saw pouring out of Starrk.

"Trust me," Starrk was holding him close now. "Trust me that I only fight to keep myself from going too far. I will never hold back because I don't want you, because I've loved you before we even met," Starrk told him, his mouth over his ear. He couldn't be too careful, for all he knew, Aizen was in the room with them, watching, using his hypnosis to hide himself from them both. Ichigo shuddered at the contact. "Do you believe me?" he whispered to Ichigo, his fangs running over his neck.

"I…." Ichigo didn't know what to think, and it's not like what Starrk was doing to his body was making him think any clearer.

"Bite me," Starrk pulled back his long hair, revealing his long neck. He arched it to the side, offering Ichigo his jugular. Ichigo, having Starrk's venom on his skin, was feeling the urge to drink blood that he had felt since Aizen had drunk him, fought with himself. "I want you to," Starrk said. "You need it to get stronger," he said. "Let me show you how to be a vampire," he said seductively.

Ichigo moved closer, his eyes dark with blood lust. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, so he mimicked the movements Aizen had done to him, tracing his fangs over the area again and again.

"Ichigo!" Starrk was moaning, pushing again him tightly in a way that did nothing to hide his arousal. "Ichigo, don't torture me," he said with a groan, burying his hands in Ichigo's hair.

Ichigo gulped and then moved closer, finally feeling his newly elongated fangs press into flesh. He gasped as he hit the vein, feeling the sudden rush of warmth into his mouth. He began to suck, drinking with gusto, feeling Starrk quiver under him. He forced himself to pull away before he was finished. "You said that friends drink each other?" he said, his voice raspy with blood and lust.

"Yes," Starrk breathed.

"Drink me then," Ichigo told the vampire. Starrk doubt it was what Aizen had in mind but he couldn't resist the offer. He bit into the boys offered neck, feeling the boy return to his. The mix of sensations, of sucking and be sucked, always was exquisite. The connection between them grew and Starrk could practically feel the boy's presence swirling in his veins. He quickly pulled away.

"Enough," Starrk moaned. "I can't take more," he claimed. He didn't mean that he couldn't afford to give more blood just that he was moments from losing control and undressing the boy. Ichigo was shaking, feeling the rush. He pulled himself off. "You should go now," Starrk said, trying to not look at the object of his affections, knowing that he be too tempted to draw him into his gaze if he did. He saw Ichigo nod out of the corner of his eye and leave.

"Grimmjow," Starrk was stumbling down the hall now. He burst into Grimmjow's quarters without even knocking. "Grimmjow, I need you," he grabbed onto the incubus, still shaking.

"The last one was free, this will cost you," Grimmjow claimed.

"Take whatever you want," Starrk claimed. "Drain me and knock me out for all I care," he said.

"Oh, I'll take you up on that, but not until we have a little fun," Grimmjow eyes were sparkling. He nipped at Starrk's neck and moaned. "You taste fantastic," he said. "It's…it's that boy, isn't it? This is his taste."

"Yes, I had to feed him," Stark explained. Everyone knew that Aizen never fed his lovers for some reason.

"It's amazing," Grimmjow said, growling lowly in his ear. "No wonder you can't take it. Poor little boy didn't want to play, huh?"

"He…might have," Starrk said. "But I wouldn't want him to get in trouble with Aizen."

"You mean you don't want to get in trouble with Aizen," Grimmjow corrected.

No, I would face his wrath for such a sweet treat, Starrk thought. Who knows what he'd do to poor Ichigo though. Aizen has ways of torture that exceed the human mind, things that Ichigo had probably never heard of.

"Are you sure that you want to go back to school?" Aizen said, playing with his lover's hair in the firelight.

"I still have my life," Ichigo said. "I'm not really part of all of this. I have winter break coming up soon, I can visit then and learn more about…about being a vampire, but for now I need to finish my semester."

Aizen pretended that he agreed with the boy. Secretly he made plans to get Ichigo into the palace as soon as possible. Not only did he prefer the boy to be with him, but it was much safer for him to be there as opposed to the real world.

"You do realize that now that you've drunk blood, you are different?" Aizen asked.

"I feel different," Ichigo admitted.

"It will be easier for our enemies to find you now," Aizen explained.

"I'll just be at the same college at always, I'm not going to be doing anything dangerous, and I certainly won't be drinking any human blood," Ichigo said. Just because he had gotten a taste didn't mean he was going back on what he'd tried for his whole life. It was different with other vampires because they could handle it, they wanted it. He would never injure a human to satiate himself though. He never wanted to harm anyone innocent.

"I'll have Yammy take you back to where he found you," Aizen promised. "Tomorrow morning."

"There is he, Captain," the large red haired man said with excitement. "I can't believe you felt him all the way in the Seireitei. No one can sense a vampire like you, Captain Kuchiki!"

"He is young," Captain Kuchiki said. "It's possible that he hasn't hurt anyone yet. But we cannot let that stop us. We can't let him run around like he's a human. Plus I sense something odd in him. We need to take care of him at once, Renji."

"Of course, Captain," Renji said, readying himself.

"What the hell are you?" Ichigo was so shocked he dropped his book bags.

"What do you mean?" the man responded. "You said that like I'm a ghost."

"You…you weren't there a second ago," Ichigo looked back along the trail he took as a short cut back to his student housing.

"I think you were just lost in your thoughts and didn't see me," the red haired man said with a smile. "I didn't mean to startle you. My name is Renji Abarai. I just started going here this semester."

"Well, I figured," Ichigo laughed. "You think I'd have seen those tattoos before." Not to mention that a tall, completely built man with almost waist length dark red hair would have been hard to miss too. "I just started here too. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Kurosaki," Renji's face scrunched up. "I don't recognize that name."

"Why would you?" Ichigo asked with an awkward laugh.

"True. Um, I live over in the student housing, it looks like you're going there too. Do you mind if I walk with you?" Renji asked.

"Sure," Ichigo agreed. He was feeling a little easier ever since he had met other vampires and realized that he wasn't a danger to the people around him like he'd always feared. Maybe he could actually make some friends instead of sullenly ignoring everyone and hoping to be left alone.

He and Renji chatted as they walked. "This is my complex," Ichigo said, waving good-bye.

"Alright, see you later," Renji said, waving.

As Ichigo opened his door he turned quickly, sensing someone behind him. "Renji?" he asked, before being pushed into his house.

"I'm sorry about this," Renji said. "You seem like a nice enough guy but…"

"But we have no room for vampires in this world," someone finished for him. Ichigo looked up to see a man standing next to Renji. He was shorter than Renji and had long glossy black hair held back in some sort of intricate hair clip. A pure white cashmere scarf was wrapped loosely wrapped around his neck, over an exquisitely tailored Tom Ford suit.

"Vampires? Are you guys crazy?" Ichigo gave a loud fake laugh. He stopped laughed at he saw that both men were now wielding swords. "Whoa! He said, backing up. "You have the wrong idea! I've never hurt anybody!"

"You will in the future then," the sharply dressed man said.

"I've been this way my whole life," Ichigo said. "Why come after me now? Is this just because of Aizen?"

Both men froze. "What do you know about Aizen?" Renji asked.

"I wouldn't answer that," someone from the door said.

"Gin!" Ichigo exclaimed. He looked at the large wolf next to the vampire. Was that…was that…was that large wolf Starrk? The brown shade was exactly the shade of Starrk's hair and he was massive.

The wolf gave a deep growl and jumped at Renji. Gin had drawn his own sword and was engaging the other one. Ichigo backed up onto his bed, not having enough room in the studio to get out of the way completely.

"Byakuya, nice suit," Gin said to the dark haired one.

"Traitor! How dare you speak to my captain!" Renji rushed over but was mauled by Starrk, who tackled him to the ground, nipping near his neck with his razor sharp teeth. Renji cursed, holding out his hands to protect himself, blocking with his sword.

"Renji, the situation is different than we had anticipated. Let us leave," Byakuya said, even as he was dodging attacks from Gin's weapon.

"Running? How cowardly," Gin said.

Renji growled. "You…"

"RENJI!" his captain ordered. Both hit a button located on wristbands that Ichigo hadn't noticed before and teleported out of the room.

Starrk jumped up onto the bed, nuzzling Ichigo's knees. "Thanks," Ichigo said, sinking down and wrapping his arms around the big wolf, burying his face into his coat. He had always preferred to be comforted by animals instead of people anyways.

"Aizen was a little worried about you so he sent us to watch over you. We didn't expect something so sudden, or such a strong attack," Gin wasn't smiling for a change. "We need to get you back to Los Noches. They were able to find you after only a week, something is wrong and we can't leave you here for them to find again."

Ichigo nodded, not letting go of Starrk. Starrk could feel Ichigo's body shaking, coming down from the adrenaline high of being attacked.