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: 3063
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: 11/09/13
Completed on: 12/09/13
Chapter Last Revised on: 26/01/14
Love is Patient
Shinji came awake silently and instantaneously the moment his senses registered the presence of an intruder in his living quarters. Lying on his stomach on his futon, his body remained perfectly relaxed and still, betraying no sign of his seamless transition to consciousness even as his hand soundlessly crept out from under the covers to grasp the hilt of Sakanade, which was resting by his bedside.
He slowly opened his eyes and was promptly greeted by the pitched darkness of his room. There was the stealthy but unmistakable rustling of movement coming from the direction of his closet, of all places, and for a brief moment, Shinji wondered which idiot was foolish enough to attempt to rob a Gotei 13 Captain in his sleep.
Then, there was an abrupt thud, like what one would hear when accidentally stubbing a toe, quickly followed by the sound of muffled, hissed swearing, and quite suddenly, the mysterious identity of the unknown perpetrator (whose reiatsu had been tightly guarded the entire while) was revealed. Shinji immediately recognized who that potty mouth belonged to, and sitting up abruptly, mild surprise colored his husky, sleep-laced voice as he spoke out.
"Hiyori, is that ya?" the fine-haired blonde switched on the bedside lamp and squinted at the now unmistakable figure of his petite lover. Then, he glanced briefly at the clock sitting beside his bed to check the time – it was nearing three in the morning. Looking back at her, he asked. "What are ya doin' over here in the middle of the night? Did somethin' happen?"
She did not reply, at least not right away. Hiyori finally located and retrieved the old, comfortable dress shirt of his that she had claimed for her own use whenever she stayed over at his place. Shrugging out of her jacket, she proceeded to strip down to her plain cotton panties in a quick, matter-of-fact fashion, and then she pulled his shirt over her head, the material engulfing her slender, waiflike body, large enough to reach down to her knees and threatening to slip down one of her shoulders. Leaving her discarded clothes in an untidy heap on the floor, she finally padded over to him on bare feet, at the same time reaching up and freeing her light blonde hair from its pigtailed confines and removing the clips from her fringe. The fluffy, shoulder length strands framed her face and softened her slightly tense and haggard features, and she came to a stop at the edge of his futon.
"Can I sleep here tonight?" she asked then, and the slight stiffness in her tone caught his attention, his golden eyes sharpening as he studied her briefly. She was obviously on edge, her body language rigid and uncomfortable, and even though he was curious about her unexpected visit, the cranky look on her face stilled his tongue and kept his questions at bay. Shinji simply pulled back the covers in invitation.
"Don't be stupid; ya don't even need 'ta ask," he told her, and she climbed onto the futon and slipped under his quilt, burrowing into the soft bedding and making herself comfortable before he switched off the lights and doused the room in darkness once more. Shinji settled back in beside her, and before he could do anything else, she turned to him and prodded him to move to his side, facing away from her. Bemused by her demand, he complied, and she wiggled over to him, draping herself along his back, her arms slipping around his middle as she pressed herself close. She was spooning him, he realized belatedly, or rather, jetpacking off of him since she possessed such a short stature, and he could sense her relaxing slowly as she curled into his lean, rangy form. She pressed her face into the back of his shoulder, breathed in his clean, comforting scent, and sighed.
The tension in her body gradually ebbed away, and she nuzzled him quietly after a while, calming under his presence and contentedly absorbing the wonderful heat he exuded. Shinji shifted as if to turn back to her then, but her grip tightened stubbornly around him, refusing to even let him move, and quite obviously, this was her way of letting him know that while she wanted to be near him and was even happy to wrap her arms around him in affection, she didn't necessarily want to be held by him in return, not this evening, at least. He didn't mind being her source of comfort, and so he easily conceded to her wish, remaining where he was and lying on his side. He peeled one of her arms from his torso and brought it up to his mouth to lightly kiss her hand though, and she drowsily tried to swat him away.
"Go 'ta sleep, dumbass," she whispered croakily. She quickly dozed off, apparently exhausted from her late night/early morning jaunt into Seireitei, and after a while, he joined her in slumber.
The next morning, he woke up to her tucked snugly in his arms, her face pressed into the crook of his shoulder to keep out the light of the dawning day. She was completely dead to the world, so deeply asleep that she did not even stir when he carefully untangled their limbs and extricated himself from her embrace. He left her in bed under the covers as he went about his morning ablutions, and he had just put on his shihakusho and was fixing his white neckwear in front of the mirror when Hiyori finally showed signs of rousing, stirring slightly as she very reluctantly returned to the land of the living.
Shinji glanced at the unhappy lump on his futon from the edge of his peripheral vision at the same time as deft and elegant fingers quickly finished tying his cravat and then secured the neat, simple arrangement with a small, silver slide. Picking up his robe from the coat hanger on the side, he shrugged it on over his uniform and did up the buttons easily as he walked over to the bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress and uncovered the tousled blonde head from underneath the quilt, and then he reached out and with his hand and stroked his lover's hair.
"Hey," he greeted softly, his fingers brushing lightly against her forehead as he tried to smooth out the small grimace of discontentment on her face. She looked a bit pale and wan, and she also appeared bleary eyed and abnormally lethargic. He was mildly concerned. Hiyori was not a morning person by any measure, but she was also usually a lot feistier (and by 'feistier' he meant 'more aggressive') than this; in fact, her behavior right now reminded him of the times when she was on her –
It suddenly occurred to Shinji what was wrong with her. Mentally backtracking and crosschecking the dates, he realized that it was her time of the month again – the timing fit perfectly.
"Are ya on yer period?" he enquired abruptly then, and in response, she just shot him a tired but still deadly glare – if that wasn't a confirmation, he didn't know what was.
Besides, she was on the pill, and that ensured her previously erratic cycles were clockwork regular; if he remembered correctly, then this would be the second day of her flow. She was such a tiny little thing, and possibly due to her petite stature and slight form, she usually suffered from stomach cramps during her monthly. She typically chose to take care of things herself though, too independent (and too moody) during that phase of the month to want intervention from anyone, but this time must have been pretty overwhelming, if she had chosen to seek him out for comfort – it certainly explained her unexpected visit last night.
He petted her hair once again in sympathy of her uncomfortable condition, and then he stood up. "I'll be right back," he told her, and he swiftly left the room. Ten minutes later, he came back in, and she looked so miserable curled up in a small, shivery ball there that he really felt sorry for her. Kneeling beside the futon, he set the tray that he had carried in with him on the bedside table and grabbed the bottle of painkillers sitting on it, popping open the lid and pouring out a couple of the tablets onto the flat of his palm. He offered them to her wordlessly, and she immediately took them and put them into her mouth, slowly sitting up on the mattress as she did so, huddling under the quilt and appearing rather pitiful. He passed her the mug of steaming ocha that he had prepared next, and she accepted that as well, gratefully taking in slow, deep draws of the fragrant brew, starting to feel a bit more alert as the blessed drink slowly warmed her from the inside out.
Shinji studied his lover's pale features critically, and she still looked rather fatigued and anemic to him, much to his increasing apprehension. "Do ya want me 'ta get someone from the Yonbantai 'ta take a look at ya?" he asked, and she immediately shook her head.
"I'm feelin' fine," she told him in a low grumble. "I'll be good as new after a nap."
He looked pretty skeptical by her flippant reply. "Are ya sure?"
She gave him another basilisk glare then, already highly irritable from her discomfort – and his repetitive questions weren't helping alleviate her bad mood whatsoever. He backed off on that issue wisely. "Alright." There was a pause, and then he asked, "S'there anything else that ya need?"
She shook her head slowly, returning the empty mug to the tray and then sinking back onto the mattress like a defensive armadillo. Pulling the comforter up over her head, she settled amongst the nest of soft bedding and pillows before glancing groggily at him. "Don't ya have 'ta work?" she asked grumpily.
"Depends," he replied, still eyeing her closely. "Do ya need me 'ta stay with ya?"
She started to look annoyed once again. "I don't need ya 'ta baby me," she muttered in annoyance, apparently regaining a bit more of her usual spirit now that she had had some hot tea. "Just go 'ta work, or I'm goin' back 'ta the Living Realm right away."
She definitely did not need him constantly breathing over her shoulder – surprisingly enough, the baldy could be quite the worrywart, and she was not going to have any peace and quiet if he continued to stick around to mother-hen her.
He frowned slightly at her testy reply. "No, brat," he told her decisively. "Yer stayin' until yer feelin' better." Before she could take offense to his highhanded behavior, he continued, his tone softening slightly – conceding. "But I'll leave ya 'ta rest for now. Summon me if ya don't feel too good – I'll keep a lookout for your reiatsu flare."
It really wasn't a request despite his wording it like so, especially not with the tone he used. But she knew that this was as much as he was willing to give in to her, and so she reluctantly agreed.
"Yeah, alright," she mumbled crossly. "Now quit bossin' me and go boss around your lackeys instead. I wanna go back 'ta sleep but yer keepin' me awake with yer endless yappin'."
Shinji appeared equally exasperated with her moodiness, but he knew better than to voice his opinion on the matter. Instead, he left to refill her mug with more tea and brought back the entire teapot with him this time, and then he reminded her to take another dosage of painkillers later, setting the alarm clock so that she would not oversleep and miss the time for her medication. She just curled up on his futon and grudgingly allowed him to fuss over her, by now resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to leave until he was done nagging her, and the sooner she wanted him gone, the faster she should let him finish without any additional interruptions on her part.
Still, he continued to linger after he was done making her as comfortable as he possibly could – even though he was already running late.
"Are ya absolutely sure that ya don't need me 'ta stay with ya?" he asked, and Hiyori promptly reached the end of her patience.
Sitting up abruptly, the short-tempered (and now increasingly red faced) female reached for the nearest item her hand could grab and lobbed it at her lover with all of her might. It was a book that he had left on the table, and it hit him right in the head with a loud, satisfying smack. "DAMN HAGE!" she bellowed with aggravation, the sound of her displeasure deafening enough to echo through the entire barracks of the Fifth Division. "I'M MENSTRUATING, NOT DYING! LEAVE ME ALONE 'TA BLEED IN PEACE, SHITHEAD."
She looked like she was about to climb out of bed to boot him out of his living quarters herself, and at last, Shinji decided that Hiyori was likely a lot more energetic than he had initially assumed.
"Alright, alright," he quickly placated her. "I'm leavin' now, so just stay put over there," he ordered her, and her eyebrow twitched in reaction. He backed out of the room really slow-like – the way one would when being stared down by a ferocious and temperamental lioness – and Hiyori didn't stop scowling at him until he was out of her line of sight. Unfortunately, less than a minute later, he popped back in again, and Hiyori felt like she was ready to get up and strangle him then.
"Keep yer panties on," he told her somewhat sheepishly before she could open her mouth to yell at him some more. "I need 'ta collect Sakanade and my haori."
She watched him grumpily as he strode over to the wall hanger and retrieved his Captain cloak, quickly shrugging on the outer robe of his uniform that signified his rank in the Gotei 13. He was also still in possession of the book that she had chucked at him earlier, and so he went up to the bed stand (very cautiously) to return it to the table. At the same time, Shinji took the opportunity to retrieve Sakanade from the sword stand and secured it to his side, and then he glanced at Hiyori from the corner of his eyes – despite her overall prickliness, she looked so fragile and vulnerable to him, and as always, he could not quite keep his protective instincts at bay when it came to her.
He slowly sank to a crouch beside his petite lover. Hiyori tensed, starting to growl under her breath, but he ignored her tetchy demeanor and reached out for her all the same, his large but narrow hands coming up to frame her cheeks and tilting her small face up to his own. He leaned forward slightly and touched his forehead to hers, and then he sighed.
"I can't help worryin' 'bout ya," he admitted to her, his tone wry but solemn. "Sorry, brat, but even if ya hate me for it, this is not somethin' that I can stop – or wanna stop, for that matter."
His comment was completely sincere and lacking his usual idiocy, and just like that, her defensive bristling subsided somewhat. She was still frowning slightly at him, but she no longer looked like she wanted to rip out his entrails and hang them around his room for decoration.
"Ya worry too much, moron," she muttered at last, but she did not resist his touch. It also made her extremely uncomfortable – and really shitty – that he was apologizing for caring; that was never her intention, and for some reason she was suddenly feeling very upset with herself for being such an utter and complete bitch. Without a word, she freed herself from his hands and proceeded to turn her face into the side of his neck, feeling so stupidly emotional and not in control of her madly fluctuating moods at the moment. Damn frickin' hormones.
It was a good thing that he seemed to understand her more than she understood herself sometimes, and he simply stroked her hair and angled his face down slightly to kiss her forehead before nudging her to lie back onto the futon. He drew the covers all the way up to her chin and tucked her in, and she reluctantly submitted to his tending.
"Rest," he told her firmly, and she looked at him with exasperation. "I'll be back in a while 'ta check up on ya."
"Ya don't have 'ta, and I don't need ya 'ta," she mumbled in response.
"Yeah, well, I wanna do it, and I'm more than happy 'ta do it, so just indulge me."
Shinji stood up, made sure that she had everything that she would need well within her reach, before leaving to start off another day of work overseeing the Fifth Division as its Captain. Hiyori watched him go, and then, finally, it was peaceful and quiet once more. She was nice and snug under the covers, the fast acting painkiller that she had taken earlier was already working to dull the insistent pain wreaking havoc in her lower abdomen, and she felt fuzzy, calmer and increasingly drowsy. Shinji's familiar scent surrounded her like an additional layer of comforting cocoon, and she slowly drifted off to slumber once again.
When she woke up two hours later, she opened her eyes to a tray of piping hot rice congee waiting beside her mattress with a short, handwritten note appended on its lid. It was clearly her baldy's work, and the note with his masculine handwriting quickly confirmed the fact. Like before, he reminded her to take her medication on time later, and to finish the porridge before going back to bed to sleep some more. He was very obviously nagging her again, but this time around, she didn't quite seem to mind as much.
Being fussed over and cared for every once in a while was actually pretty nice, Hiyori realized belatedly.
And, also, it was difficult to muster irritation when all the proof was right here, sitting before her eyes – she could see it, feel it, sense it – it was simply undeniable.
She was loved.
::tsuzuku::
Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:
So, this is the new arc, and FYI, it will span four chapters. This arc is dedicated to a dear friend and fellow ShiYori fan, PrettyPleaseWithSugarOnTop. If I still remember correctly, she had requested a prompt involving sick!Hiyori some time back, and this was my response. Well, Hiyori is more uncomfortable and moody and achy than actually sick here, but I thought that it's a close enough approximation, and besides, this is an interesting topic that is rarely pursued, and so here we are.
After all, poor Hiyori is going through a type of misery that most of us women are very familiar with, and whichever of you finds this subject gross or disgusting; well, I don't think you are mature enough to be reading smut fics in the first place, then.
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To the readers who were wondering how come Hiyori's not pregnant yet from all the, er herm, lovin' that our favorite couple has been up to, well, I hope this chapter clears up the confusion. Our girl's on the pill, and even as it serves as birth control, it also has the side effect of regulating a woman's ovulation cycle, which Hiyori needs because she suffers from a highly irregular cycle due to her petite stature and skinny size. At least that's my L&T!headcanon for her.
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And yes, Shinji tends to mother-hen his lover whenever she's in pain and/or in distress, as you can see in this chapter. I think he's probably the most demonstrative out of all the other male leads in all of my OTPs, and that it's really sweet of him to fuss over his lover so, even though Hiyori may not necessarily agree, hahaha.
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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