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: 2972
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: 26/08/13
Completed on: 27/08/13
Chapter Last Revised on: 21/10/13
My Lover the Cat – Part II
iv. Cats Love with Rolling. When your cat either drops to the floor and rolls around, or jumps up on your bed or another piece of furniture and does the same, she's trying to get your attention and affection. When a kitty shows her tummy voluntarily, it's only to those she truly trusts and loves.
Winter was truly the most unbearable season of the year for Hiyori.
The daylight hours were short and the weather would get so ridiculously chilly that nobody was willing to risk the outside elements longer than necessary. Then, there was the detestable snow to contend with, unnecessary powdery white stuff that was cold and melted all over the place and seeped uncomfortably into her clothes, clogging up the roads and piling up everywhere, blanketing the land in a glaring white landscape that was almost uncomfortable to look at.
The humans in the Living realm seemed to really adore it though, and some were even willing to go through all the trouble of making painstaking works of art out of it in the atrocious climate, while others were happy to simply roll around in it, much to the petite blonde's derision and bewilderment. It was just flakes of crystalline water, and when the spring melt came, it turned to disgusting and slippery, muddy slush that was completely unsightly and impossible to avoid. What was so good about snow again?
Winter was also the unofficial season for lovers, or at least it certainly felt that way to Hiyori. It seemed like all the lovebirds in the entirety of Karakura had picked this period of time to emerge from whatever love nests they had been holing up in for the rest of the year just to specifically troll the streets, and everywhere she turned, there would be couples huddling together, faces rosy and their gazes sappy with affection for their partners, holding hands, hugging, kissing, cooing and god knew what else. The overabundance of love hanging around Karakura like the plague irritated Hiyori very much, and in the end, it was the final straw that convinced her to slink off to the Soul realm to take a break from all the lovey-dovey-ness that was running rampant in the human world.
Even though it was also winter time in the other dimension, at least Soul Society was still pretty much permanently stuck in ancient times and she didn't have to put up with public displays of affection being shoved in her face everywhere she turned. Also, the residents in Seireitei mostly tended to be more subdued and low key during the winter months, which made the place a bit more tolerable for her with less Shinigami milling uselessly about and getting on her nerves. For rather obvious reasons, she usually lingered around the Fifth Division most when she visited, sometimes even the Third, the Eight and the Ninth, but it was mostly the baldy's pad that she kept to, and this time was no different.
Unfortunately, Hiyori had woken up that morning in her lover's bed to the most disagreeable weather outside. There was a fierce storm howling outside and it did not look like it would be abating anytime soon – they were all snowed in for the foreseeable future. Stuck in Shinji's rooms and with nothing better to do, Hiyori was very quickly remembering just how utterly boring it was to be living in Soul Society during the winter period.
The petite blonde could not believe that she was thinking this, but suddenly, she would rather tolerate Karakura and its endless parade of lovers on the streets as long as she was no longer caught here. It was just very unfortunate that all the Senkaimon had been shut down due to the terrible storm and there was no way out of Soul Society right now, not to mention that Hiyori wasn't entirely sure that she was willing to brave the snowstorm outside in order to go anywhere. It was barely noon, and already the young woman was nearly bored out of her mind. Shinji's quarters were pretty basic, all things considered; it had all the bare necessities and little clutter – just the way he liked it. He had neat shelves of books and endless scores of his favorite music, but Hiyori wasn't really the reading type, and, besides, she found his books on poetry and philosophy utterly dull and uninspiring.
There was jazz playing lightly in the background though, and while she wasn't exactly an enthusiastic fan, it was still better than listening to the relentless howling of the winds outside. Groaning and sinking to the floor in a puddle of extreme boredom, the small Vizard thunked her head against the tatami mat, and she eventually plopped onto her back and tried to occupy herself by counting the number of wooden beams on the ceiling. That didn't take long to accomplish, and very soon, she had nothing to do again, much to her displeasure.
The rustling of paper a few paces away reminded her quite abruptly of the presence of the other occupant in the room. Angling her head slightly, Hiyori saw Shinji sitting by the kotatsu, looking at paperwork that had been sent over by an unfortunate runner a few hours earlier. Files were strewn all over the low table; it seemed that being a Taichou was still as tedious as it had been a century ago, and the bureaucratic responsibilities alone would cripple lesser men. It made Hiyori wonder why Shinji had even bothered taking up the captaincy post once again – he didn't look like he particularly enjoyed most of the job, and she knew for a fact that he wasn't a masochist, not really.
Then, the pigtailed blonde wondered why she was contemplating her lover's career choice all of a sudden and promptly concluded that she needed a distraction before she started thinking even more random stuff. Rolling onto her stomach, Hiyori soundlessly crept under the toasty warm kotatsu from the side opposite of Shinji and reemerged the upper half of her body beside him. Then, she flopped onto her back again and just looked up at him expectantly.
"What are ya doin'?" Shinji asked bemusedly as he glanced down briefly at her.
She shrugged wordlessly, but continued to lay there and just stare at him intently with her feline eyes as he turned back to his documents. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long before the adamant weight of her insistent gaze caused him to completely lose concentration on his work, and with an exasperated sigh, he at last set his brush against the ink stone and shifted his focus to the petite female.
"Yes, brat? Do ya want somethin' from me?"
She shrugged again, looking nonchalant as possible, and he shook his head, inwardly amused by her standoffish demeanor.
"C'mere." He reached for her, and the fact that she did not resist was telling enough.
He leaned down to kiss her, brushing his mouth softly against hers at first, before his tongue darted out to slide teasingly against the seam of her lips. The effect was instantaneous, and it was as if he had flipped on a switch in her. She tilted her face up to his, her small hands coming up to cup his jaw, and then she was eagerly attacking his mouth with obvious enthusiasm and passion, dragging him down to the floor to join her.
"Hiyori," he groaned out a strangled chuckle when she pinned him down and climbed on top of him instead, showering him with kisses at the same time.
"Alright, now ya have my full attention."
v. Cats Love with Purrs. Her purrs can mean a variety of things, from delight to expressions of concern. And kitty purrs range from soft and subtle to Mack-truck loud. When your cat purrs in your presence, you can be sure she's expressing her love for you.
Ten minutes later, a rather flustered, still aroused, and unimaginably irritated Hiyori was righting her clothes and swearing under her breath as a deceptively calm, unruffled and half-dressed Shinji stood at the entrance of his private rooms and dismissed his poor, shell shocked, and embarrassed underling. The latter Shinigami, an unranked member of the Fifth Division, had chosen to burst into his Captain's living quarters with another batch of paperwork at the most inopportune moment, and he would have gotten more than an eyeful of his boss's lady love if not for said male's swift reflexes and quick thinking.
It was just as well that the Taichou had reacted immediately to the presence of the intruder even in the heat of passion, and had responded promptly by throwing his yelping lover off of him and right under the covers of the kotatsu (it was a good thing that she was so small and travel sized), protecting her modesty and indirectly saving his inept subordinate from at least a decade of latrine cleaning duty. That aside, Hiyori was not a happy camper – they had been nearing the good part when the baldy's idiotic lackey decided to crash the party, and now she was sexually frustrated but was also feeling way too agitated to want to pick up from where they had left off.
By the time Shinji sent off the profusely apologizing and mortified Shinigami (but not before giving the young man a rather sarcastic and strongly worded reprimand focused around the merits of knocking before entering someone's quarters) and returned to the living room, Hiyori was no longer in sight, having already taken off in a fit of pique. The Fifth Division Captain dropped the new stack of paperwork on the table and then picked up his discarded kosode and shitagi from the floor before simply following the trail of restless energy into his bedroom. He wasn't surprised that she hadn't gone far – the snowstorm was still at its zenith outside and therefore her movements were still restricted to the boundaries of his rooms.
He found her curled up in a sulky ball on his futon, her back facing the door, her feathers obviously still ruffled by the earlier incident. The golden-haired male was not very perturbed; he hung the top half of his shihakusho and his white under robe on the wall hook before he approached his high strung lover, climbing into bed in only his hakama and coming up from the back to spoon her. She bristled indignantly at his touch, but he ignored her and tugged her slowly to his chest, ducking his head and nuzzling the side of her neck gently as he did so.
"Your minion's a fuckin' moron," she muttered bitterly after a while, and he huffed softly by her ear in agreement.
"He's a newbie, and he honestly didn't mean it," Shinji replied, his tone wry. "He also apologized for his careless oversight already, so just let it go, brat."
She grunted and was obviously disinclined to agree, but he was pretty good at distracting her, lightly nipping the sensitive shell of her ear even as his hand slipped under the hem of her white tank top to caress the soft skin of her stomach with amorous affection. Hiyori quickly smacked his hand away and twisted around in his arms to scowl at him.
"I don't feel like doin' it anymore," she told him grouchily.
"Alright," he responded simply, respecting her decision and backing off accordingly. As much as he enjoyed making love to her, he wasn't about to push the issue if she didn't want it.
"But you're still cold, aren't ya? Let's just cuddle for a bit, then."
She stiffened slightly at the C-word, but she did not push him away. The little pigtailed blonde was still a bit touchy, but she submitted to her lover's embrace, and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, tangling their legs together and generously sharing his body heat with her. He was bare chested and he smelled really good, and as usual, his presence and proximity served to pacify her and soothe her short temper. She slowly eased into his hold more and more, becoming less ornery and crabby the longer she stayed in his arms, her head resting against his chest and her eyes closing, gradually lulled into a state of relaxed calm by the strong, steady sounds of his beating heart.
He was also stroking her back idly in a way that he knew she liked, and his tender ministrations just made her feel very, very good. It wasn't long before she was a quiet and boneless mass of contentment curled up against him, shivering slightly from the sheer pleasure of his touch, soft, languid purrs trilling from her throat as he pampered her with his attention. Hiyori arched her back and then pressed herself up against him in an unspoken demand for him to keep going and to not stop, the sounds thrumming from her chest increasing slightly in volume as euphoria assailed her.
"More?" he asked huskily against her ear, his blood stirring instinctively at the sounds of her arousing little sighs and moans. She opened glowing ochre eyes to look at his own darkened ones and slowly nodded.
He kissed the crown of her flaxen gold head.
"As you wish."
vi. Cats Love with Kneading. Kneading behaviors—front paw treading on soft surfaces—hearken back to kittenhood. Kitten paws knead against the mother cat's breasts to induce milk to be released. Adult cats continue the behavior when they're feeling most relaxed and content and loved, and that's often when being petted on the owner's lap. Kneading is an obvious expression of adoration.
The baldy had the most amazing hands in the world, Hiyori decided dazedly as she laid draped on her stomach over his lap and he singlehandedly (pun fully intended) turned her into a pile of Hiyori-flavored jello.
It was not the first time that the petite blonde had come to this important conclusion. Even before they had finally gotten together, she had already known that he was very good with his hands, and he gave the best backrubs that she had ever received in the entire span of her long life. The calm steady strokes of his large but narrow hands, the lazy dig and glide of his strong thumbs and fingers, the firm pressure of his palms against the arch of her spine, they all came together perfectly and never failed to turn her into a quivering ball of pleasure.
He didn't often volunteer this service to her though, at least not in the past. She usually had to threaten/browbeat and/or corner/guilt/bribe him into putting his magic hands to good use on her, since he was extremely unwilling to do so for some reason or another. However, his reluctance seemed to have disappeared completely after they became lovers, and now he was always willing to indulge her whenever she asked for a backrub. Come to think of it, his behavior and subsequent change of mind sure was pretty strange.
Shinji merely sighed with slight exasperation when she pointed that out to him.
"Hiyori," he told her in a long suffering but wryly amused tone. "Do ya hear yourself whenever I lay my hands on ya? Every time I give ya a backrub, ya mew and whimper so sweetly that ya tempt me 'ta use other ways 'ta make ya melt instead. I'm only a man, luv, and I'm also not that much of a masochist no matter what the others say."
Even as he spoke, his voice was just a tad rougher, tinged with arousal as he continued to touch her, and she squirmed lightly against him with pleasure. "See?" he pointed out when she let out a silky purr. "Touchin' ya is sweet torture when ya don't even notice what ya do 'ta me."
Hiyori rolled onto her back on his lap, displacing his hands and looking up at him. Her fingers drew idle, elaborate patterns on his knee. She was utterly relaxed now and she also appeared to be in a rather affectionate mood as she rubbed his leg in return. The pigtailed Vizard then slowly pushed herself up to sit on his thighs, her small hands sliding up against the hard planes of his abdomen, the firm flesh of his sleek pectorals. She could not seem to stop touching him all of a sudden, and her catlike eyes started to gleam with feminine interest and desire the more she caressed him.
She was certainly noticing him now.
"Is it still sweet torture now 'ta touch me?" she asked, partly in curiosity and partly in growing lust.
His narrow, golden eyes watched her closely, his pupils dilating ever so slightly at the way she was looking at him.
"Always," he told her, his tone a low, intimate timbre that made the hair at the back of her neck stand up with complete awareness. "You're gonna be the death of me, brat."
His reply pleased her, and she leaned into him, accepting his embrace. Sensing her receptive demeanor, he slowly ducked his golden head against the side of her exposed throat, lightly nipping and kissing the sensitive flesh there and causing her to tremble faintly with pleasure.
"S-Shinji," she muttered helplessly after a while of his ministrations, pressing close to him even as her hands roved all over his bare torso with increasing restlessness. He was surely driving her as crazy as he claimed she did him. Her eyes were bright with passion, and she arched her small, lithe body into his larger one, rubbing against him in an unmistakably ardent and inviting fashion. He growled lightly at her provocation, and then she turned her head to kiss him deeply on the mouth before suddenly pulling back and looking at him meaningfully and needily.
"I think I want ya, now."
::tsuzuku::
Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:
I think by now most of you would have already gotten the gist of the writing style for this particular mini-arc. Yes, it's actually not a triple-shot, but, rather, a nine-part connected vignette series, with three vignettes bundled together per chapter (wow, that sounded way more complicated than it actually is, haha).
Anyway, as always, I hope that you guys enjoyed this one, and my apologies for the lateness!
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For those of you who are dying to know – no, there will be no smut in this mini-series. There will be allusions to intimacy, but because this is a vignette collection (and my smuts tend to be super longwinded for some reason), this will not be one of 'those' arcs. =)
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I'm really glad that kitty!Hiyori is so well-received by all of you – she reminds me of a scruffy feral cat sometimes, so I couldn't help but write her that way.
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As mentioned in the previous chapter, this entire 'kitty' series is dedicated to my good friend, Lilithkiss. This amazing lady has created some of the most wonderful ShiYori fanarts that I've seen, so if any of you're in need of some cute/sexy/cool ShiYori fix, do consider visiting her tumblr blog – and remember to give her some love too!
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Last but not least, 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