Ichigo woke up the next time with more than a scream. He yelled out and ended up falling off the bed completely in his panic. He sat up on the floor, finding someone had put him in a yukata. He looked up to see Isane again.

"Ichigo, well, glad you are with us again," she said, smiling and helping him stand up.

"I feel weird still," he muttered as she got him on the bed.

She patted his shoulder. "You've had another long nap," she said with a smile. When his face changed, though she shook her head. "Only three days, this time," she reassured as she left the room.

Ichigo leaned his head back and felt like very muscle in his body was stiff and stretched at the same time. He looked up to see that Orihime, Uryu, and Chad had stayed in Soul Society while he was out. Either that or they had left and come back. He honestly didn't know.

"Sleeping beauty," he heard and saw Renji come in behind them. "You sure like to sleep a lot for a guy that slept over a year already."

"Shaddup, Red Pinapple," Ichigo groused.

"Tch, he's grumpy today," Renji said and rolled his eyes.

"Well you'd be grumpy to if you woke up with…" Ichigo choked off his words. He didn't want to tell them what he felt every time he woke up. He wouldn't let them know the ache that had settled into him and incredible hunger that he had been left with. They'd throw him into the maggot's nest for sure if they knew.

Urahara came in and patted Renji's shoulder. "Go on, I don't think Ichigo-kun needs someone teasing him. Don't you have better things to do?"

Renji snorted and headed out of the room. Ichigo picked at the sheet over him as Orihime came over and took his hand in hers.

"I wish I could fix whatever this is," she said quietly.

"I know," Ichigo said and looked at Chad and Uryu who were staring at him still. "Um, Pop told me I can't go home though. But that's okay. I'm okay. I don't want to destroy things accidently," he said with a yawn, lying back in the bed. "I guess…" he muttered sleepily, falling asleep almost immediately.

Urahara shook his head. "I don't know how long it will be before he can begin to stay awake for long. I think it best we get you three home. I'll send Rukia or Renji if anything changes."

Despite the fact that none of them wanted to leave Ichigo, they knew that he was going to have to be monitored until he could stand to stay awake for longer than a short while. Urahara came back and watched the readings on a monitor for a long time. It was getting worse. The more consciousness Ichigo retained, the stranger the readings became, and frighteningly, the more hollow.

Another two days passed before Ichigo came awake again. He managed to avoid falling off the bed, this time, but he felt like he'd screamed a lot this time before he finally woke up because his throat hurt. That, and the fact that Rukia and Renji were looking at him with concerned faces. His heart felt like it was going to explode in his chest, and he was heaving deep breaths.

"You okay?" Rukia asked with deeply concerned eyes.

Ichigo nodded, pushing himself to sit up and resting his head in his hands. "Yeah, just the same thing."

"Ichigo, what is it you see?" Urahara asked from the other side of the room.

Ichigo swallowed thickly. "Just what he did. What I did, I guess. Over and over, and I can't make it stop," he said.

Renji and Rukia exchanged worried glances over the bed at each other. They had never seen Ichigo in this state. Even now, his shoulders were trembling and he seemed to be curled in on himself. Urahara came over and looked at him.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked.

"I guess, I still feel weak though," he said with a shake of his head.

"Well, your muscles are practically atrophied from disuse. I'd say that when you feel up to it, you could start working on building your strength again. I think that if you can stay moving for longer periods over the next few days, we might be able to get you boarded with one of the divisions so you can work on that," Urahara said, glancing at Renji and Rukia as he spoke.

Ichigo nodded. "Alright, well, tell me what I have to do to get out of here and go train."

Urahara smiled. "Well, you'll have to be able to stay awake, for one thing. A couple naps are okay, but you'll need to stay conscious for most of the day. For another, you'll need to be able to walk at least two laps around the outside of the fourth without passing out due to exhaustion."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at him. "I can do that now."

Urahara knew he couldn't but he had to let him see for himself. Ichigo got himself dressed and then proceeded to make the attempt. After he got halfway to the door outside he found himself leaning heavily against the wall. He looked at Urahara and sighed.

"Okay, okay, I got it…" he muttered and let Renji help him back to his room. He managed to stay awake, though, at least for a couple hours.

Ichigo quickly grew frustrated but finally, after two weeks of daily attempts, he managed to do what Urahara and Unohana wanted him to be able to do before he left. He sat on the bed and waited to see what they had to say. Urahara came in with Renji and Rukia and Urahara shook his head.

"I had anticipated at least a month, but as usual, Ichigo, you exceeded my expectations. Do you know who you would like to work with?" he asked.

Ichigo nodded. "Eleventh."

Rukia frowned and looked at Renji. "What do you mean?" They had assumed he would choose either Rukia's of the thirteenth or Renji's of the sixth.

"I'll train with the eleventh. If anyone can push me to get myself back to normal, it will be Kenpachi, Ikkaku and Yumichika. And Kenpachi and Ikkaku are always wanting to get a rematch with me. Then I don't have to worry about kido and stuff," Ichigo said, starting to sag again as he sat there. He'd already done his laps around the building and was starting to feel it. It didn't take long before he found himself falling asleep again.

By the end of the next day, they'd arranged everything with the eleventh. Kenpachi didn't have spare quarters for him, so he put Ichigo in with Ikkaku and Yumichika. Considering that he knew both of them pretty well, everyone would be happy with the arrangement. Well, just in case, Kenpachi sent Yachiru to inform the 3rd and 5th seat of their guest. They did have one of the larger quarters, after all. Yachiru knocked happily and Yumichika answered with a yawn wearing his typical floral yukata that he wore when off duty.

"Fuku-taichou?" he said, frowning. "Come in," he said as she bounded into the room and jumped onto the counter and grinned at Ikkaku.

"Cue ball!" she said with a smile.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the pot of noodles from the stove. He'd made it for the two of them, trying to ignore his lieutenant pest.

"You get a houseguest. Or is it quarter's guest? I don't know. Anyway, he'll be here tomorrow," she said, staring into the pot with a grin.

"Oh no!" Yumichika said with a gasp. "You are not putting any old ugly creature in this room with us!" Usually, when given a guest, they were some aged shinigami there for a lesson of some sort with the unit.

"Who said it was an ugly creature?" Yachiru said, eating noodles out of Ikkaku's bowl as he sat it down at their small table.

Yumichika sat down with a pout on his face. "Who is it and why are you putting them here?"

Yachiru grinned with a mouthful of noodles. "Well, where else are we gonna put him? He wants to train with you and Ken-chan, and you two have the biggest room beside Ken-chan's. Besides, he's got who knows what problems with his powers now…"

"I don't know, put whoever it is in the common room, wait…" Ikkaku said turned to look at the pink haired demon that had eaten nearly all his dinner. "Who in their right mind would want to train with the taichou and us?"

Yumichika's eyes widened. "No, they're letting him out?"

Ikkaku took a moment to catch up with Yumichika. "Ichigo. He's the only crazy bastard who would want to train with us."

Yachiru grinned. "Of course, Ken-chan is so happy! But you have to be careful; he's not doing too well just yet. Unohana says that he needs to build his strength up to be able to really fight with Ken-chan again."

The pink haired menace hopped down and ran out of their room, slamming the door. Ikkaku frowned at his nearly empty bowl of rice noodles. He glanced up to see Yumichika was blushing. Ikkaku turned his head to the side and then grinned maliciously.

"You're happy about this aren't you, you little slut," Ikkaku said, a grin twitching at the corner of his lips. He was tempting fate by saying it but he couldn't resist riling Yumichika up sometimes. Of course, that was the most fun part of their relationship. And he knew he was in for it if he said that.

Yumichika rolled his eyes. "So he's pretty."

"He's pretty," Ikkaku echoed and walked around the table and grabbed Yumichika's bowl and ate about half of it. "I guess he is pretty." He handed the bowl back.

Yumichika stared at the half eaten bowl and scarfed the rest. "You bastard, I was hungry," he said and leaped up and tackled the bald man to the ground, flipping him and landing on top of his legs.

"Well, didn't want to mess up your girlish figure," Ikkaku said with an arched brow.

"Oh, fuck you, baldy," he said, sitting back on his heels where he was sitting over Ikkaku's thighs.

"Hrm, no thanks, but I'll fuck you," he said with a lascivious wink.

"You said Ichigo was pretty," he said, crossing his arms with a frown.

"Ah, babe, don't be like that. He is pretty, but you're the prettiest," Ikkaku said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, we don't even know if he swings in your direction."

"Your direction too, you pervert," Yumichika said, feeling Ikkaku already swelling through his hakama. "Now, are you going to be a good boy? You already earned a good flogging, you realize."

"Can't help it if I wouldn't mind watching someone else fuck you, I think it would be hot." He paused and then grinned widely at Yumichika. "I think I'm a good boy today, Yumi-sama."

Ikkaku then flipped them and nuzzled into Yumichika's neck and sucked hard on the pulse point. Yumichika groaned and all the tension just seemed to flow out of his body. Ikkaku growled into his ear. "You know the only thing better than a good fight, is a good fuck afterward. And sparring with you earlier I was having a hard time not showing how turned on I was."

"Come on, then, brat," Yumichika said and gestured toward the bedroom. "I've got some work to do before you get to have your fun."

Ikkaku's eyes sparkled with anticipation. "Oh I know, Yumi-sama, I know."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo had no idea what he was getting himself into, of course. Rukia helped him get to the eleventh where he was met by an overly excited Yachiru. She told him that he'd be staying with Ikkaku and Yumichika. He figured that would be an ideal place for him. He was somewhat scared of being roomed with the other shinigami. He felt like if something happened, if he did lose control, he would hurt one of them easily. He didn't have to worry about that with Yumichika and Ikkaku. He knew that they would be able to handle him. He hoped that they could, at least.

The walk over to the eleventh had gone as well as expected. He'd picked up on the stares and muttered grumblings as he passed Shinigami he didn't know that well. Rukia had said that rumors were everywhere about him. Some said he died; some that he turned into an arrancar, and others that he lost his powers completely. And now, he was heading through the Sereitei looking more like a hollow than he had before. At least his skin had turned back to a normal color instead of staying that pasty white, he thought to himself. He shook his head as he let Yachiru lead him by the hand to a door. She knocked on it then opened it without waiting for a response.

It was an atypical barracks style quarters, which is what surprised Ichigo. It was set a bit aside from the regular barracks, obviously made for seated officers to have some privacy. He imagined that there were probably other such quarters set up in the other divisions for the seated officers. He couldn't imagine that Yachiru and Kenpachi had anything less private. He'd been expecting a ten by ten room with two sets of bunks. This was nothing like he expected. A small kitchen space, a living space, and two sliding doors could all be seen from the front door. He looked around truly surprised. It looked more like a small apartment than barracks. Then he heard a noise and Yumichika came running into the room with a wide smile. Ichigo blinked. He was wearing a pink yukata and grinning at him, but there was a look in his violet eyes that was…different…somehow.

"Ichigo!" he said and grabbed his hand in a much tighter grip than Ichigo had expected. "You can stay in this room," he said, taking him down to a small bedroom that was very similar to his own back in the world of the living except it wasn't on the second floor. "Ikkaku and I have the other, so this will work for you, unless you want to join us in the other one."

Ichigo nodded, mentally acknowledging the fact Yumichika just essentially confirmed his suspicion that the pair was more than friends. Not that it bothered him; on the contrary, it was just nice that he wasn't totally oblivious and missing things. Then he blinked, wondering if he heard him right. Join them? What in the world did that mean? He couldn't think at the moment, though. He sighed and stumbled backward, nearly falling into the dark haired fifth seat that caught him with a frown and a soft exhale.

"Sorry, not…used to…tired…" he started but then slumped down further into Yumichika's grip. Yumichika frowned and looked at Yachiru. She shook her head.

"Rukia-chan said he was gonna be like this for a little while until he got back to full strength and that he was gonna have to work really hard. But she said make sure he rested a lot too," Yachiru said with another grin and bounded off.

Yumichika sighed and maneuvered him to the bed and managed to stumble down on top of him, completely on accident.

"Can't you wait until he's awake to molest him?" Ikkaku said with a snort from the doorway.

Yumichika rolled his eyes at Ikkaku and stood up, perhaps a little more slowly than necessary. "Wow, that's…different."

Ikkaku came over and looked at what had caught his partner's attention. Both were staring at the thick black lines and the circle specked with blue in Ichigo's chest. Yumichika moved the kusodo open further and pushed it off Ichigo's shoulders. The circle covered his sternum and from either side of the circle, three lines ran outward. One pair ran up and over his shoulders near his neck and down his back. The second pair ran over his shoulders about three inches from the first set of lines, falling nearer to shoulder. The final pair of lines ran under his arms and around his back. They had heard about the markings that had been lefton him after the incident in Hueco Mundo, well, they had heard from Yachiru, of course. In some ways, they looked like Renji's markings.

"Well, that's definitely new," he said, frowning.

Yumichika moved him to his side where he could see that all three pair of lines converged at the base of his spine and continued down under his hakama.

He then smiled up at Ikkaku devilishly.

Ikkaku frowned. "Yumi-sama, what is it? You've got that look…that means trouble…"

Yumichika grinned wider and went and got a set of pajamas from his drawer and looked at Ikkaku with innocent eyes. "I just want him to sleep comfortably."

Ikkaku frowned. "You just want to see his cock."

Yumichika put his hands on his hips and gave Ikkaku a scandalized look. "No I don't, if you must know, I want to see if his hair is that color naturally. And I want to see how far down those markings go. So I just really want to see…well, okay, yes."

Ikkaku shook his head and stood back as Yumichika quickly stripped the substitute shinigami of his clothes in a few short moments. Ikkaku had yet to meet another person that could remove clothing faster than Yumichika. He swore he used kido to help it go faster. Yumichika stood back to appraise him once he was done, watching as the gooseflesh began to prick along his legs and arms at the cool air, which to Yumichika's practiced eye meant that he was sensitive to stimulus. Yumichika again looked down his back to find that the black markings moved down at the base of his spine and split again into two. They ran down over his hips and tapered to a point about halfway down the sides of his thighs. Ikkaku arched a brow, giving him an appraising look for himself. Yumichika noted that there were no markings other than the set of black markings that began at the circle in his chest and the red streaks that ran down his cheeks.

"Well, if he does swing that way, he's not gonna disappoint you," Ikkaku said, eying the orange nest of hair on his pelvis and his more than ample equipment.

Yumichika grinned at Ikkaku and slipped the pajamas on Ichigo's body, and covered him up quickly with the blanket. "Well, I had to take a peek, just in case he doesn't. This way I know what I'll be missing." Yumichika smirked at him. "No, you know I just wanted to see what the markings were on him. If they change, we need to know. You know what they've said at the meetings…" he said trailing off. His eyes moved back to the sleeping form. "I do hope to engage in something with the boy. But…I think this is different. He has to swing my way in more than one aspect, Ikkaku…" he said, thoughtfully looking over the sleeping substitute shinigami and chewing his lip.

"Hey, peacock, isn't this enough for you? I mean, I know I'm just one man and you are completely insatiable, but…" Ikkaku said, gesturing to his own crotch.

"Well maybe I'd like more than one…or perhaps I want a pet all to myself," Yumichika said, swishing by him and grinning.

Ikkaku growled and followed him. "You are such a bitch sometimes," he said and this time tackled Yumichika to the ground, knowing that he was going to be in trouble later for it. Ichigo slept on blissfully unaware of the fact that his roommates fully intended to woo and seduce him, should he seem receptive. Fortunately for his roommates, Ichigo's own confusion about himself was about to reach a height that he'd never had a chance to experience before his tangles with soul society. Now, his body had matured, and there were certain needs that were going to arise…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo awoke with a headache. He'd managed over the last two weeks to stop from waking up screaming. He knew that Urahara would never have let him leave the fourth if he knew he was still having the same things rip through his mind every time he slept. He groaned and tried to sit up. Instead, he rolled out of the futon onto the floor with a thump, his body deciding that it really didn't need to respond to the signals his brain was sending it. He sighed. He'd had a little trouble when he woke up the last few days. He hadn't mentioned it to Urahara, though. He was afraid that he wouldn't let him leave the fourth if he knew. He just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He groaned loudly and heard the door slide open.

"Ichigo?" Yumichika's voice sounding concerned came from the doorway.

"Hum. Yeah. Morning," he muttered into the tatami mat. At the moment, his range of moment was rather limited, and he was in an awkward position on his stomach, laying on top of his arms with his legs splayed out behind him. He didn't realize it, but he was giving Yumichika a spectacular view of his ass.

"Are you okay?" Yumichka said, and Ichigo could see the confused look. He didn't even think about the fact that he licked his lips and squirmed.

"No," he muttered. "Seems my body has decided it wants to sleep still and won't move."

A tingling sensation was working through his torso and into his thighs and arms by now. That had happened the last few days too. He supposed that eventually it was going to stop happening. He was beginning to wonder if not telling Urahara had been the best idea. He hadn't told them a lot of things, of course. He really didn't want them to know what was going on in his head. He was more frightened of the Maggot's Nest than anything else right now. He felt Yumichika's hands on him lifting him back into the bed with a thump. Had he always been that strong? He seemed to remember him being rather petite. Yumichika's violet eyes were wide when he turned them on him.

Ichigo slowly raised a hand and smiled at it. "There, coming back, weird," he said, flexing his fingers. "Unohana-taichou said that there would be some odd symptoms off and on."

"I thought she cleared you completely?" he asked, arching a sculpted brow at him.

Ichigo looked slightly odd for a second. "Um, yeah, I did what her and Urahara wanted me to do to be able to leave, so they said I could leave, and this will go away," he muttered quickly.

Yumichika looked at him for a long moment. "Ichigo, they don't know you are having this happen, do they?"

Ichigo gave him with a sheepish look. "Well, they wouldn't let me leave, and I wanted to get out of there. If I can just work on my strength, it will go away, I'm sure of it."

Yumichika sat down beside him on the bed as he sat up. "Ichigo, if you're not well enough to be out here…"

"I am!" he said with insistence. "I just…I just can't do nothing anymore. I'm going to go crazy if I don't get out and do something. And the only way is to get strong again so I can be back to normal."

"Ichigo…okay. Okay. We'll do some work today, but just a little bit, okay?" Yumichika said, honestly very concerned to hear that there were things Ichigo hadn't told Urahara and Unohana.

He stood up and took Ichigo's shihakuso off the dresser and put it on the bed beside him. "Here, go ahead and get dressed, we'll decide what we're doing."

Ichigo nodded and stood up to do it. He wondered though who had changed his clothes? He was about half dressed when Yumichika came back and handed him a cup of tea. Ichigo smiled and thanked him and paused to sip at it. It was very fragrant and he noted that the cup was very fine looking with filigreed design around the rim. He imagined that appropriate for Yumichika.

"So what do you think we should do?" Ichigo asked and looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" Yumichika asked as a slight frown creased his brow momentarily.

"I mean, your division, I don't know what you want me to do, I mean, I'm not really in shape to spar with you or Kenpachi at the moment…I don't think I could handle the lowest ranked seated officer at the moment…" he said, dejectedly, swirling the tea in the cup as he thought of how incredibly weak he felt.

"I'm working with the new recruits today," Yumichika said thoughtfully. "Why don't you join them? They don't even have their shikais yet, so the work would be very easy. I can give you an unnamed zanpaukto to use, that way you won't have to use Zangetsu. Though I suppose you'll still want to take Zangetsu with you."

Ichigo nodded. "Sounds good. I'm not leaving Zangetsu alone. I mean, I spent a long time without him," he said sipping the tea.

Yumichika smiled and patted him on the back gently before he stood. Yumichika went into the kitchen and growled under his breath and sighed. Ikkaku came up and wrapped his arms around Yumichika's waist. "What is it, Yumi-kun?" he asked.

"I'm not feeling patient, Ikkaku. I want him now. Not just like I have you, I want him completely," he said, squeezing Ikkaku's hand tightly.

Ikkaku blinked. "Hmm, I thought you might change your mind, but I see you haven't," Ikkaku said with a nod. They'd discussed this last night at length. It wasn't like they would undertake what Yumichika had in mind without agreement. "You've never wanted someone like that."

Yumichika smiled, turning in Ikkaku's grip. "Yes, I know, but I want to change it. I want him and you, but I want him to be mine in every way, in all the ways that I am yours."

Ikkaku smirked. "Don't be kidding yourself, Yumi-sama. I'm yours, not the other way around. I just do whatever you want me to do…"

"I want…" Yumichika looked up as Ichigo came into the kitchen and sat the cup back down and looked at the pair of them. Yumichika kissed Ikkaku on the cheek and let go of him.

"Come on, Ichigo, busy day with the new recruits!" Yumichika said, grabbing his hand and tugging him out of the room.

Ikkaku watched and wondered where Yumichika was going with this. They'd been together forever it seemed, before and after becoming shinigami. Ikkaku was the strong one, or so it seemed. Yumichika was obsessed with beauty, especially his own. Little did others realize that Yumichika saw beauty in many things, including the sing of a whip on skin, and the brilliant red on flesh left by that whip. He also saw beauty in exercising complete control over someone else. Ikkaku found that he was the strongest when he let go of all that strength and gave up completely to Yumichika. It was in that way that they made a complete pair.

Yumichika, though he controlled every aspect of their bedroom play, always wanted Ikkaku to be on top. Now, he was indicating he wanted a second aspect to their life… They had of course, at times, discussed the possibility of adding another to their play. Ikkaku had always thought it would be someone on a short term basis, just a dabble. However, he didn't mind the idea of having another permanent partner. It would make Yumichika happy to do this. Ikkaku couldn't help but smile because he knew he'd agree to whatever he wanted. Of course he would, Yumichika was in control the moment the bedroom door closed, and there was never any doubt about that…just the way Ikkaku liked it.