Here's part two for your reading pleasure. I felt kind of bad about leaving you all on a sort-of cliffhanger, so I tried to update quickly.
Disclaimer: the same as before.
Sharing a Bed is Only the Beginning – Two
Red seeped through the snow like a ghastly tide. Ichigo continued on in horror as his hands were stained in one of his worst nightmares.
Under a foot of snow, he finally located her body in the form of one blue, shredded arm.
He worked his way from there until he'd unearthed all of her upper torso. Her hair lay in ice-crystallized tendrils. Her lips were so purpled that they almost matched her eyes as they parted to take in weak breaths of oxygen. Even then, the rising of her chest was so imperceptible that her respirations offered him little comfort.
From there, Ichigo simply tugged the rest of her body free as carefully as possible.
Thank Kami her legs didn't suffer the same fate as her arm. It looks like some bastard took a saw to her skin.
He turned away only long enough to secure both of their zanpakutous to his back and then Rukia dominated all of his attention once more.
He scooped her body up into a craddled hold. Ichigo tucked her face into the crook of his neck to protect it from the biting gales and for warmth. He tried to position her arm in fashion that wouldn't jostle it too much and thanked with everything he had that she was out cold for all of this.
Then Ichigo was off. He didn't risk the slippery roofs this time and chose instead to take to the desolate streets. The only resistance he met along the way was having to skirt around a few cars deserted in the onslaught of snow.
He let out a cloudy breath of relief when the family clinic finally came into view.
"Don't worry, Rukia. We're almost home."
His first stop was the living room where he set her down tenderly in front of the fireplace and covered her with a spare blanket snatched off one of the couches. Sode no Shirayuki and Zangetsu were removed for convenience before Ichigo raced off towards the bathroom.
If there was one thing that he knew how to do after taking a beating, it was how to bandage himself up. The wrappings would be crude in comparison to what she really needed, but Ichigo didn't have the luxury of time on his hands.
Once he'd dug the necessary accoutrements from the medicine cabinet, he returned and started the fire going.
He kept the flame to a low burn for fear of her going into shock from such immediate heat and set to work on her arm. He bandaged it only temporarily to staunch the blood flow so that he could deal with her wet clothing.
What good was a fire when all of the warmth it provided was being sapped by some fabric?
Ichigo found another blanket to wrap like a turban around the still frozen hanks of her once glossy hair.
The outermost layer of her shihakusho didn't pose much of a problem and so he simply cut it off rather than risk moving her too much.
The white layer of her robes made for a greater challenge.
Without a second thought, he went up to his room and hurriedly grabbed two large sleeping shirts and one one far-too-small pair of boxers buried below all of the others.
Upon returning to the still unconscious shinigami, using as much discretion as he could, Ichigo removed the white fabric.
That didn't stop him from noticing her gentle curves completely though as he sat behind her to tenderly unwind her chest bindings and add them to the quickly growing discard pile off to the side.
He slipped his tee-shirt over her head.
Thank Kami she's so small that it falls down almost to her knees.
Even once he'd laid her back down the shirt managed to cover her skin as far as her mid-calves.
Eyes closed, Ichigo took a deep breath before he reached up the hem of her shirt to carefully snag his fingers onto the sides of her panties. He slid them down her legs and still kept his eyes firmly shut as they landed in a quiet plop somewhere to the right.
He opened his eyes only long enough to clutch up his old boxers before blinding himself once again to slip the garment up her smooth legs.
He inhaled strongly in relief at having finished that job before doing similarly to himself. His robes and sandals joined the pile and he tugged the cotton shirt over his head.
Then, Ichigo took the time to redo her bandaging more securely.
Finally accepting that this was as much as he could do, he turned up the fire and settled himself against the bottom of the couch.
He pulled Rukia's chilled body against his chest between his legs and tucked the blankets in around them. He didn't even wince as her frozen toes touched the bare skin of his legs and instead focused on entrapping her fingers within his own.
With his head bent down to rest against her's, Ichigo's heart finally calmed enough to let him drift back into the comfort of sleep.
There you have it. How about a review maybe? The good, the bad and the ugly, they are all accepted. I already have part three written and the ending planned assuming that I stop at just four chapters.