11- Aches, blood, and Pain

Ichigo's brown eyes had closed earlier on, Rukia sent to the Fourth division for surgery to the deep wound in her side, Hanataro still mending the eldest Kurosaki's wounds, his brows slanted, he kept his eyes as hard as he could away from the sweating form's face, repeating to himself that he'll see those dead golden and black eyes, with that ivory mask covering his face.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, then shut once again, taking in a long breath then releasing it as the small fragile form flinched away suddenly, falling back against Renji who was standing behind him for the past ten minutes without revealing his presence to the dark haired youth.

Jerking his head up, Hanataro's eyes widened, "S-sorry Assistant Captain…" he stammered, bringing his pink glove covered hands up, clapping them together, smudging the dried blood with the fresh, "really…really sorry!"

The redhead shook his head, his eyes gazing into the pale form's own, extending a hand to help him off the ground. Blinking, the dark haired male coiled his right hand's fingers around Renji's hand, being hoisted up with a smile.

"T-thanks," he stuttered, looking down, ashamed that Ichigo simply moving made him bolt away, it wasn't like this before when he saw the Hollow mask in his uniform's top.

"How's Ichigo doing?"

"Ah! He's in stable condition,"

"Anything else? You're pretty fidgety today, Hanataro,"

"Well…" His eyes fell shut, both releasing the other's hand, dropping his head and reopening his eyes slowly, "the poison in his body…will make it difficult to move for maybe a few days. B-but I'm sure Mr. Kurosaki will make it, like he always does."

"Yeah," Renji tiled his head to the side, letting his eyelids fall till his eyes were halfway shut, "that idiot always made it out of the thickest situations…just like he always does. Kinda surprises me, when he got sliced open by that bastard Aizen…I thought he was gonna die."

The dark haired seventh seat nodded, brows still creased with worry, slowly gazing over at Ichigo's face, seeing that his lips were slightly parted, completely normal on all levels.

But what I saw is what worries me the most, both males thought with disappointment at the weakness poking them restlessly.

"Ichigo," Shirosaki whispered down on the sleeping form, who had his head resting on his lap, stroking the orange strands out of his paling face, "don't give up on me, ya dumb ass."

The teenager's brows twitched, a quick breath inhaled, yet nothing changed. He was just laying there, on his lap, motionless, like the last few hours. Raising his head up to see the sky crackling with rain, growling as thunder roared in the distance.

"Wake up,"

"Shit…" the boy's voice was cracked as he spoke, slowly letting his eyes open as he turned his head to see a drenched Hollow, seeing that his golden-black eyes were narrowed, yet his brows were relaxed, eyes slowly morphing to match the brows relaxation. "Hey, I thought you didn't want to see me again."

"You idiot," Shirosaki frowned, the stroking went to an abrupt halt, "you almost got killed today, I brought you into your inner world to protect you from the poison, and besides…it's easier to help rid of the violation if you are close by. Or…didn't you notice the difference in your breathing?"

The vibrant haired teen blinked, his auburn pools hazed over, exhausted and weakened. "Yeah, now that you mention it," he spoke, voice steadily returning, "I do feel like I can breathe."

Color began to reemerge on his face. A warm smile formed on Shirosaki's face as he leaned back with a relieved breath, looking up at the sky to see that it had cleared, no rain, no thunder, just regular sideways moving clouds.

"Good," he breathed, shutting his eyes as he laid himself onto his back slowly, wincing once he felt Ichigo shift uneasily on his lap, his back resting on the sideway building and looking at the pale form, who's brown eyes locked with his own, "at least I can leave the rest up to that fidgety weirdo trying to patch your wounds back together."

"Hanataro?"

"Yeah, is this 'Hanataro' a chick or a dude?" the albino questioned, seeing those brown eyes widen in immediate alarm. "I can't tell."

"Hanataro's a guy, Shirosaki," the teenager growled, furrowing his brows in an almost threatening position, "he's seventh seat in the Fourth division, so he has to be careful so he doesn't offend his higher officers…and other shinigami, since he can't possess a Zanpaku-to."

"That explains why that redhead only had a Zanpaku-to." Golden-black eyes lifted up to the sky, a smile creeping across his lips. Shifting his arms so his hands were behind his head with a deep sigh, shaking his head. "Red's got your sword," he explained calmly, reopening his eyes slowly, "I'm pretty sure he'll give it back once you explain how you survived…with me being in possession."

"How can I…" Ichigo stopped only to bite on his lower lip, looking down on his fisted hands, resting at his side in front of his face. "…explain it? We…we have a deal, I guess."

He closed his eyes as he shifted his body, resting his head on the alabaster form's chest, looking up at him while his eyes opened, seeing that Shirosaki had closed his own eyes.

"You're going to be leaving anyway…" the teenager muttered, in a low hush, unheard as he let his eyes close again, uncoiling his hands, resting the open palm on the form's torso, taking in the feel of the abnormal warm skin. "…so why bother explaining something so useless?"

Auburn eyes slowly fluttered open, seeing that he was in a dark room, lit only by the candle near his bed. Blinking a couple of times, he saw red, black, peach, and white fade into view. Those colors slowly taking shape until Renji was formed. Slowly sitting up, the orange haired teen offered a slight smile of appreciation.

"Thanks for coming back,"

Renji simply shook his head, "I only came back 'cause I was worried."

"But still," the vibrant haired teenager looked down on his lap, hands' fingers curled around the white sheets, holding onto them tightly, "thanks."

The redhead rolled his eyes, only silently stunned that the hard-ass was acting this way, but he quickly concluded it was either the boy's Hollow or the spirit to his Zanpaku-to lecturing him on how reckless he had been, or that some poison still lingered in his system.

Walking over, he sat down next to him, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, looking at him with a serious look crossing his features, faltering slightly once he saw small droplets of tears cling to the eldest Kurosaki's lashes, on the edges of his narrowed eyes, glaring down on the snow white sheets as though they were to blame for his misery. Looking over at the redhead with half-lidded eyes.

"It's just so hard…you know?" he spoke, without meaning too, but couldn't stop, "I mean…having a Hollow…worrying about my life in the human realm and my Soul Reaper duties, school to fucking boot. It's just…it's just so goddamn hard!"

Placing a hand on a frail shoulder, the red haired Abarai watched as Ichigo clapped a hand over his face, biting his lower lip as he dropped his head, fighting back the urge to both cry and hurt someone or something.

"It's all right, Ichigo," he whispered as calmly as he could, worry fluttering in his chest as the orange haired teen shook his head rapidly from side to side, his eyes clamped shut as he dug his finger's nails into his face, leaving crescent indents in his skin.

"No it's not, Renji, something doesn't feel right,"

"What?"

"Like…that bastard isn't dead yet,"

"The Hollow?" Renji breathed, eyes widening then returning to their normal size, "Ichigo, it died, I saw it with my own two eyes. Hell, even Hanataro saw it. I know that wasn't you at the time, Ichigo…but I saw it die, your Hollow -"

"Shirosaki," Ichigo corrected with a growl.

"Right, Shirosaki saw it. So it is dead."

"I can't shake off the feeling though," Ichigo muttered, clapping a hand over the puncture hole in his left shoulder, hissing from pain as it pulsed insanely, almost beckoning him to his demise, his death. Peeling the hand from the bandaged shoulder, he saw blood seeping through the bandages. "Shit…fucking hurts."

"Let me handle this," Renji sighed, reaching up both hands and taking the bandages away from the wound, seeing the bone slowly regenerate, ligaments linking back together, blood dripping from the large hole, muscle tissue throbbing. It was almost too much to take, but the redhead sucked in air, reaching over to the night stand and wrapping his fingers around clean porcelain wrappings. "Damn Ichigo…I'm impressed you're still alive. The holes so goddamn huge and…the rest…you'd rather not wanna know."

"I'll bet," he chuckled, trying to get some humor into the serious situation, but it wasn't working, seeming as Renji just shrugged while bandaging the gaping hole. "Don't be so stiff Renji, I'm fine."

"No you're not, dumb ass," he growled, looking up at him with narrowed reddish-brown eyes, "the hole is huge…you're possibly bleedin' t' death Ichigo! How can I not be worried?!"

Ichigo looked down on the wooden, polished, flooring with saddened eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"Don't worry about it," the redhead muttered as he continued his business with wrapping the bleeding epidermis in complete silence, not either one uttering a single word, just taking in the other's presence, knowing they weren't alone in the bloody world.