Title: Lily and Thistle

Author: paws_bells

Beta-ed by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Sarugaki Hiyori and Hirako Shinji

Type: One-shot Collection (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 3712

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

Summary: 'Say Please'-verse. The language of flowers. The devoted and passionate Lily. The brave and loyal Thistle. A bouquet of love. One-shot series.

Created on: 03/08/13

Completed on: 04/08/13

Chapter Last Revised on: 25/08/13

The First Step Is Always the Hardest – Part I

One day, he handed her a Soul Ticket.

She recognized it for what it was immediately, and her face visibly darkened in reaction. Not surprisingly, she quickly tried to shove it back to him, but he would not take it back.

"No, brat," he told her firmly. "This is yours. Lisa, Love and Hachi has each received theirs, so quit bein' so difficult and just keep it."

She started to look downright obstinate and furious then, but he caught her hand and closed his own larger one over it, stilling her struggles. "This is not an order to return to Soul Society; it's merely a means for you to come visit if you wanna."

"Why the hell would I wanna go back there?" she snapped, her tone bristling with hostility.

He just looked at her.

"I live there too, ya know," he remarked simply, and she stiffened.

"You're just tryin' 'ta make me go back to Seireitei," she accused.

He did not deny it. She had always been quick on the uptake, and it wasn't as if he was being very subtle about this issue.

"I'll settle for just gettin' you comfortable with the idea for now," he replied, and she looked so angry with him that he quickly tightened his hold on her, just in case she decided to deck him right there and then.

"We're Souls, Hiyori," Shinji emphasized calmly, matter-of-factly. "Kisuke has done a great job designin' the Gigai for our use, but we're not meant to remain in the Living Realm indefinitely. Sooner or later, you have 'ta return 'ta Soul Society – you know that, Hiyori."

Of course she knew. The dead had no place in the affairs of the living, and if not for their forced exile from Soul Society over a century ago, the entire lot of them would never have come to live in the Human World in the first place. Also, even though Hiyori was starting to let go of her resentment towards Shinigami and the Goteijusantai in general, the emotional wound from being so callously betrayed and abandoned by the organization that she had devoted herself to so loyally still hurt. They had all been so easily cast aside like garbage, not even given a fighting chance to prove themselves – ordered for execution like they were just mindless monsters even when they had been nothing but innocent. She could never understand how Shinji, Kensei, Rose and Mashiro could so easily put aside all the grievous wrongs that had been dealt to them to return to the Gotei 13 like nothing had happened.

The pigtailed blonde shoved her lover away from her and backed away, visibly balking at the idea of his intentions.

"I won't go back," she blurted out fiercely. "I'll never go back."

She looked visibly upset now, her eyes reflecting a mulish but increasingly trapped expression, and he knew that she would lash out once he had her cornered in this matter. He was not backing off though; this was something that she had to come to terms with eventually, and out of the other four Vizards who had chosen to remain in Karakura town, he had known that she would be the one to resist it the hardest. The ghosts of their past haunted her the most; she was such a passionate being, and she always felt things harder than the rest of them. It was her greatest strength and weakness; both a gift and a curse.

Shinji followed after her retreating form and reached for her again. She tried to slap his hands away, hissing defensively as she did so, but he persisted, catching her and drawing her close.

"Hiyori," he spoke her name quietly, his golden eyes resting steadily on her tensed form. "Listen 'ta me; let the past go. Don't blame the entire Seireitei for what happened to us just because of one bad, uninformed decision by a mere few. You're only hurtin' yourself like this, luv."

But the smaller blonde just kept silent in his arms, and it was a testament to her current level of agitation that she did not even take him to task for referring to her with an endearment. Sighing, he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. It was obvious that another approach was in order.

"Come 'ta Seireitei for a visit," he coaxed softly against her ear. "You don't have 'ta stay for very long if ya don't wanna, but at least come see for yourself…there's nothin' 'ta be afraid of."

Sure enough, she stiffened, quickly taking offense at his words.

"I'm not afraid," she snapped in affront, pushing away from him to give him a positively deadly scowl. Then, those sparking ochre eyes turned guarded. "Don't think that ya can manipulate me so easily, fuckin' baldy! If I say I'm not goin', then I'm fuckin' not goin'! The hell do ya think you are?!"

She was getting all worked up again, but he remained calm in the face of her growing fury.

"I'll wait for ya," he told her evenly, cutting her off before her volatile temper could escalate further. She stared at him in disbelief, and he continued. "Next Saturday. At my private quarters in the Fifth Division Barracks. We'll go 'ta that yakiniku restaurant that you liked so much in the 15th District, and I'll let ya stuff your face with however much ya can eat. Then, we'll spend the rest of 'ta day doin' whatever ya want."

Hiyori started to scowl. "Are ya hard of hearin' or somethin'? I said I'm not goin'-"

"You'll come," he responded simply, much to her growing ire. "And do ya know why?"

She glared at him, but he merely met her angry gaze with steady confidence.

"Because the brat I know will never allow herself 'ta lose 'ta her fears."

She froze briefly at his frank reply, and then, the anger really took over.

"Fuck you, Shinji." This time, there was nothing but pure vitriol in her tone, but he took on her rage placidly, and that just made her even more furious.

"It's a date, then," he nonchalantly replied. He didn't try to touch her anymore, because he knew that she would hardly welcome his embrace in her current state of mind.

"Don't push me," she growled lowly, warningly. She had been deftly outmaneuvered by him, and she did not appreciate it one bit. "You won't like it if you force my hand."

Shinji just stared at his highly defensive, visibly bristling lover. All of her mental walls were coming right up, shutting him out, but he had more or less expected this conversation to turn out like this, best case scenario included. "I'm not your enemy, Hiyori," he told her with utmost gentleness, and the hidden tenderness in his tone briefly settled her wildly lashing temper. The vicious fire burning in her eyes faded slightly, but her posture was still rigid, angry and distrustful.

"Also, I won't be comin' over to the Living World anymore until we get this sorted out," he stated, and she stiffened again, her eyes flashing. It was clearly an ultimatum – he was leaving her no choice at all.

"Good," she hissed at last, her tone rife with pride and hostility. "Get 'ta hell out and don't come back. I don't need ya around anyway."

He knew that her words were clearly spoken in the heat of anger, but of course they still hurt. He smiled humorlessly at her.

"That's kinda funny, brat, because you're more important 'ta me than anythin' else I know."

She looked like he had just slapped her hard across the face. She started to shake, and he had to steel his heart against that vulnerable expression in her eyes, peeking through her defenses no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

"I won't come no matter what you say," she whispered at last, the Soul Ticket crumpling in her fist. "I won't come."

"Hiyori," he replied softly, ignoring her stubborn litany. His golden eyes pierced hers with quiet intensity. "I'll be waitin'."

He left her standing there, helpless and angry, as he turned resolutely and departed for Seireitei.

When the fated day came and went, Shinji wasn't completely surprised that Hiyori hadn't showed.

He could not deny that he was disappointed, but he had already known that it was going to take more time than a mere week to wear down her resistance. His lover possessed a stubborn streak a mile wide, and she had also never been too good at dealing with change. She had had the hardest time adapting to life in the Living Realm out of all of them at the beginning when they were exiled from Soul Society over a century ago, and she had also had the most trouble subduing her Inner Hollow as it wreaked havoc all over her usually ordered existence. Of course she was going to put up one hell of a fight now that he was trying to get her to return to the place that had been the start of all of her trauma and nightmares, to walk amongst the people and old friends who had abandoned her and left her for dead when she had gotten in trouble and act like nothing bad had ever happened.

She had always been honest in her passion, completely transparent about her likes and dislikes, and that was one of the many things that he loved about her. With Hiyori, what you see is what you get; if she was happy, then she was happy, and if she was not, well, somebody was going to be in for a vicious beating in very short order. She was also incredibly loyal to a fault, and once her trust was secured, it was good to last so long as the bond was not excessively abused or cruelly betrayed. Still, she was hardly perfect though, and possessed more than her share of faults; she was short-tempered, violent and extremely volatile at times, but she was still his brat, and he would not have her any other way.

This current situation was incredibly…unpleasant though, for the both of them. He was not thrilled to use his relationship with her in such a manipulative manner, but it was the only hand that he had available to use – subtle passivity would never work on her in this case, and he had no other choice but to whip out the big guns. He was about the only thing in Soul Society right now that could serve as a remotely passable 'carrot' to entice her over – her dislike and distrust of Soul Society was something that she had to learn to get over eventually, and the sooner he got her started on it, the better.

So now, the bait was set, and all that was left to do was to wait for her to take it.

Shinji was usually good with waiting though, but this time was going to severely test his patience. The stakes were considerably high, and he had also…grown used to having his brat around over the decades. Even though abstaining from her was not impossible, it was definitely going to be difficult.

The only thing that kept his resolve strong was the knowledge that she was his in every meaning of the word; he owned her heart just as surely as he owned her body, and he knew that their shared bond would lead her right back to him eventually, even if she fought against every moment of it.

He just had to wait.

The days dragged into weeks, and the weeks bled into months.

It was a silent battle of wills between them, a challenge of attrition to see who would give in first. She was proud and obstinate though, and he had known that she would not fold easily. But then again, he was no pushover himself – no matter how long this was going to take, he was already prepared to buckle down and wait it out. The seasons changed as he went on with his life in Seireitei, concentrating on his duties as the Gobantai Taichou and bonding with his new comrades, and the regular reports he received from Hachi and Lisa regarding Hiyori helped somewhat in that endeavor. His little lover was expectedly angry over the ultimatum that he had forced upon her, and she had been furious at him for the months that followed. He heard that she had quickly channeled all that impotent rage into training, throwing herself in a blind, headlong charge into improving her battle skills, and it was just like her to try to use physical force to tackle any problems that came her way.

"Kisuke's training a new stray," Lisa was commenting over the phone one day. "Hiyori decided to help; they are getting along well enough, all things considered."

"A new stray?" he asked. "I didn't know that there were still humans with Shinigami potential in Karakura, now that Ichigo is no longer in the Living Realm 'ta influence others with his spiritual powers."

It had been two years since the end of the Thousand Year Blood War, and the orange-haired young man was now living in Soul Society, lending his immense strength to the Gotei 13 by serving as the Captain of the Hachibantai.

"You do know that Kurosaki Isshin has three children, right? One of the daughters is showing remarkable aptitude, and the strength of her reiatsu is exponentially increasing as she matures. They decided to teach her how to use her powers before she inadvertently loses control and accidentally harms the people around her."

"And Hiyori's actually helpin'?"

"Yeah. She's been staying over at Kisuke's more often than not these days, so I think she got roped into it in the end. The experience is good for her, all things considered. She's starting to calm down a little."

"Well, that only took half a year," he muttered under his breath. It was a good thing that they were all such long-lived beings, but Shinji was not looking forward to having to wait decades for his lover to start coming around.

Lisa was completely unsympathetic though. "Quit bitching. You didn't even have the decency to stick around for the initial meltdown that the rest of us had to sit through after you pissed her off that badly."

"I was tryin' 'ta make a point," he defended himself halfheartedly. "The dramatic exit was necessary."

Lisa didn't even bother to comment about that stupid remark. "Is this all you're calling for?" she asked boredly then, clearly more interested in getting back to her new swimsuit magazine than speaking with this lovesick idiot.

"Yeah," Shinji muttered at last. "Keep me updated if there's anything new. Thanks, Lisa."

"Will do."

A year.

It had been an entire year since he last stepped foot in the Living World, and by now, Shinji was bored, jaded, and had more or less settled into a semi-permanent state of lethargic tedium as he fulfilled his duties to his Division. Life in Soul Society was unbearably slow and the rules that governed Seireitei particularly rigid and intolerant – there really wasn't much happening in the Gotei 13 when there wasn't a war or dimension wide emergency/invasion going on. He was more than a bit worn out and fed up with the direction of his life lately, not to mention feeling increasingly heart sore over missing his brat.

Work was an adequate distraction from his personal melancholy, and so he buried himself right in it. He was actually starting to like work so much that he was somehow in the running for the position of Most Hardworking Captain of the Year alongside with the Taichou of the Rokubantai and the Juubantai.

Work was good. Work kept him focused and grounded – even though he was feeling pretty damn miserable inside. It was Winter once again and the annual auditing and inspecting process had just drawn to a close, and he was completely and utterly exhausted.

"Hirako Taichou, I think you really should rest." Momo fluttered about her Captain anxiously. The man had been working nonstop in his office for the past few days and he looked very close to burning out. On the upside, the Fifth Division was now completely in the clear when it came to their bureaucratic responsibilities. On the downside, her poor Taichou looked like he was going to collapse from sleep deprivation very soon.

Shinji waved away her concerns absently. "Don't worry 'bout it, Momo-chan. Pass me the folder of recommended recruits graduating the Shinigami Academy next Spring. I might as well start lookin' through that list now."

The black-haired Lieutenant bit her lip in hesitation, pausing indecisively before she reluctantly moved to fulfill her superior's order. Two hours later, even that was done, and the golden-haired Shinigami/Vizard hybrid was starting to go through the Division's monetary expenses and other related expenditures for Spring's budgeting review when a sudden flare of reiatsu had him dropping his brush in surprise, splattering ink all over a pristine sheet of parchment. The achingly familiar spiritual energy was gone as quickly as it had appeared though, and momentarily dazed, Shinji wondered if he had somehow imagined it.

From the next desk over, Momo eyed her Captain curiously. He was wearing the strangest look on his face and his previously tired gaze was now sharp, snapping straight to the window, and at the same time, his posture was slowly becoming alert. "Hirako Taichou…? Is there anything wrong?"

Must to his disappointment, he failed to sense a thing after that. He must have been getting way too tired, if his mind was hallucinating Hiyori's presence.

"…Aa, it's nothin'. I was just woolgathering-"

Then, that reiatsu slapped him right in the face once more, this time even stronger than before and pulsing with vitality, and he was immediately half out of his chair in instinctive response. It was not a figment of his imagination.

It was really her.

The implications of her being here were immense, and Shinji was swiftly rounding his desk and heading for the exit in the blink of an eye.

"Hirako Taichou!"

"Sorry, Momo-chan, but I'm takin' the rest of the day off. I'll leave everything else 'ta ya," he muttered as he stepped quickly out of the doorway, not even waiting long enough to hear her reply, his Captain haori billowing out from behind him with urgency and purpose. He didn't feel particularly guilty for leaving his Lieutenant to finish up on her own; most of the work had already been done, anyway.

Right now, his attention was focused purely on the spiritual energy that was lingering ahead of him, and the moment he stepped out of the administrative wing of the barracks, he was immediately using shunpo, single-mindedly tracking it down. He did not have to go far, her reiatsu was radiating from his personal quarters a few buildings over and he was bursting through the door in the blink of an eye, swiftly striding down the hallway and entering his bedroom where he sensed her presence.

And then there she was, her petite silhouette framed by the window that she was standing in front of, still wearing that familiar red tracksuit with the pants that was rolled up to her delicate calves, her light blonde hair up in its customary pigtails. She had her back to him as she was looking at the view of the backyard outside of his window, but she quickly turned to face him the moment he approached, her catlike ochre eyes slightly guarded and apprehensive as their gazes converged on each other.

He stopped under the doorway and just watched her, hungrily drinking in the sight of her.

"Hiyori," he breathed, the tightness in his chest he didn't even know existed immediately easing at her proximity.

She did not look as pleased to see him as he did her, though. Her eyes hardened dangerously in response, and then, faster than he remembered she could move, she swiftly closed the distance between them by simply phasing right in front of him.

She also wasted no time socking him right in the gut.

Oof. He doubled over slightly as air wheezed out of his lungs; as usual, she saw no need to pull her punches with him. He didn't even know why he still bothered to be surprised by her violent greeting.

"That was for purposely leaving me alone for one whole year, asshole!" she growled fiercely, angrily to him. Before he could react to that, she reached out, grabbed him by his cravat, dragged him down to her level, and kissed him, hard.

He responded immediately, his pain promptly forgotten, surging up against her, his mouth parting to catch her tongue, quickly sucking the small slick muscle inside as he greedily plundered her lips with his own, drinking from her like a man about to die of thirst after a long sojourn through a dry, merciless desert. His hands came up to frame her face, tilting her towards him and holding her in place for his sweet ravaging, and by the time he finally let go of her mouth long enough to let her breathe, they were both panting hard. He leaned his forehead against hers, and then wrapped one arm around her small waist and pulled her close to him in a tight embrace. She did not resist him.

"Are ya happy now?" she demanded hoarsely, her eyes piercing his. "The only reason I'm here is because of you."

For her to say something like that was equivalent to a declaration of undying love and devotion coupled with a proposal of marriage. He wanted very, very badly to haul her off to bed right there and then to show her exactly how happy he was to hear her say that, but he just settled for kissing her again – for now.

"What took ya so long, stupid?" he growled back huskily against her mouth sometime later. "You're eight thousand seven hundred and sixty six hours late, brat. I'm demanding recompense for all this time that you made me wait, so don't think that you're goin' anywhere until I've completely had my fill of ya."

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

So, this is technically a post-Bleach chapter. Let's just assume that Ichigo is going to take over the empty Hachibantai Captaincy post, because I can't see any other reason why Kubo-sensei would leave that position empty if he's already foreshadowing Ichigo's future residency in Seireitei. I wonder who's going to be the Fukutaichou, though.

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Yes, so the lovers were separated for a year. That might not seem very long, but if you're stuck in a cold war with your significant other and you have no way of communicating with and/or knowing what him/her is doing, that's really one damn long-ass year.

I was tempted to drag it out even longer (a decade should do it, since they are such long-lived beings), but I figured that it won't take that long for Hiyori to cave. She's quite an impatient individual after all (especially when her emotions are brought into the picture), and she would know Shinji well enough to understand that he wasn't going to budge from his stand once he made up his mind. So there you go.

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Nothing much to add in this chapter, so I think I'm just gonna stop here.

I hope you guys enjoyed this installment, and to all my lovely reviewers for the previous chapters – thanks! You guys really made my day! =)

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And as always, thanks for reading!

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Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-paws