Title: Lily and Thistle

Author: paws_bells

Characters/Pairing: Sarugaki Hiyori and Hirako Shinji

Type: One-shot Collection (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 3381

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: 07/12/13

Completed on: 20/12/13

Chapter Last Revised on: 13/06/18

Pre-Series Interlude: How 'ta Train Yer Girlfriend – Part I

Hiyori scowled angrily at the golden-haired man who had just appeared at the threshold of her bedroom.

"The hell are ya doin' here?" the petite young woman barked sharply from her bed – to say that she was not pleased at all to see her fellow Vizard right now would be an understatement. Their last meeting had ended on a pretty bad note (on her part) and just looking at the lean, rangy male was making her agitated all over again. "Shouldn't ya be in Soul Society right now, ya shitty Shinigami?"

Shinji twitched inwardly at Hiyori's harsh retort, but the newly reinstated Gobantai Taichou kept his cool and refused to rise to the baiting of the aggravated female.

"How are ya, brat?" he asked instead, venturing deeper into her room. She promptly responded by throwing her pillow at his head, her face starting to turn red with annoyance, especially when she looked at the formal Shinigami uniform that he was dressed in.

"Go away!" she growled at him. "Go 'ta yer beloved Seireitei! Ya couldn't wait 'ta leave here 'ta go back there, right? Why d'ya even bother showin' yer ugly mug here for?"

The Fifth Division Captain simply caught the pillow that the bedridden female had lobbed at him and continued to make his way up to her bedside. He set it back beside her and sat down at the edge of her bed. She tried to kick him off of it then, but he grabbed her tiny, flailing feet and set them on his lap instead. Hiyori's face quickly turned even redder at his nonchalant, familiar action.

"What d'ya think yer doin', shithead?! Leggo!"

He ignored her struggles and started to massage her slender calf with his long, narrow fingers – her leg muscles were still very weak from her near fatal injury a few months back, and one form of recommended physiotherapy had been to stimulate them and slowly build them back up by working them and stretching them out in daily sets. She was still not allowed to walk about unsupervised yet, but it had been nearly three months since the end of the war, and Hiyori was getting really sick and tired of being confined to bedrest, and the growing cabin fever had not done a thing to soothe her increasingly bad mood, the latter of which this dumbass baldy currently manhandling her had been a major cause of.

Shinji did not respond to her fierce glower but continued to rub her leg, from the back of her knee to her trim ankle, with strong, firm motions. "I'm here 'ta visit my girlfriend, of course – what d'ya think I'm here for?" he retorted quite shamelessly, and she sputtered.

"I ain't yer girlfriend!" Hiyori denied in a flustered snap, trying to kick him away once more but to no avail. He was unfazed by her denial though, much to her chagrin.

"That's not what ya said the last time," he told her rather calmly, and she glared at him, irked that he was bringing up this matter so nonchalantly. She had been thoroughly embarrassed when she realized what she had done that time, so the less said about the whole thing, the better.

"I changed my mind!" she bellowed back, visibly aggravated. "Who'd wanna date a Shinigami shithead like ya?!"

He paid no mind to her aggressive retort, instead setting her leg back down on his lap and starting in on her other limb.

"S'too late for that," he deadpanned, looking at her as he did so. "Ya grabbed me by the collar and informed me, plus everyone else in the vicinity, that we're gettin' together, so at least take some responsibility for yer bold declaration."

"I WAS DOPED ON PAINKILLERS," she screeched, still as deafening as ever despite being temporarily invalid. "I WAS OUTTA MY MIND."

The fine-haired blonde responded with a rather elegant shrug that really made Hiyori want to reach over and wring his scrawny neck. "So ya just needed a bit of external assistance 'ta muster up the courage 'ta confess 'ta me. That's a minor detail. I don't mind."

"WELL, I FRIGGIN' MIND," she yelled at him. There was a pause as she registered the rest of his casual remark. Her face turned a funny shade of crimson. "AND I DID NOT CONFESS 'TA YA. DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH, HAGE."

If it had been Shinji's intention to distract her from her boiling anger at his decision to rejoin the Gotei 13, then he had succeeded – she was fuming at something else now.

"Alright, so if ya didn't confess 'ta me – shall I confess 'ta ya instead?" he asked simply, and she gaped at his openly candid reply. In her momentary surprise, she lost a good portion of her build up hot air.

"I-What- N-No one is confessin' anythin' 'ta anyone!" she pushed out at last, eager to get as far away from this topic as physically possible. The petite blonde finally succeeded in moving her legs away from Shinji and clumsily swung them from the bed onto the ground instead. If he wasn't leaving, well, then she would. She was already more or less healed (according to her own 'expert' opinion), and well enough to be moving around on her own accord. Unfortunately, no one was willing to listen to her input at all.

Before her visitor could do anything to stop her, Hiyori took a deep breath and heaved herself up onto her feet, using her arm strength to push herself upright. Her recently healed middle immediately started to ache dully, but she stubbornly gritted her teeth and persisted on her action. She took one shaky step forward and her knees buckled. She would have crumbled onto the floor right there and then if not for Shinji's lightning quick reflexes.

"What d'ya think yer doin', stupid?" he demanded, his earlier patient, indulging tone turning sharp as he caught her and hauled her back onto the bed. He did not like it at all when she acted rashly and inadvertently ended up hurting herself.

"I'm gettin' away from ya, dumbass!" she snapped back at him, undaunted by his displeased demeanor. She was also squirming frantically to be loose from his hold. "Leggo, or so help me I'm gonna-"

"No," he denied her demand flatly, much to her mounting outrage. Hiyori responded to his abrupt refusal with a rather unladylike swearword and a haphazard smack aimed at his head, but Shinji didn't even flinch at her violent demeanor. Instead, he dragged her discontented and struggling form onto his lap, and she quickly froze once she realized their intimate positions.

"W-What are ya doin, baldy?!" she shrilled at him, her freckled cheeks bright red once more, though this time it was less from anger and more from embarrassment. She was also becoming rigid and he took advantage of her momentary disorientation to pull her closer, wrapping his arms around her slender form in a loose embrace.

"Be quiet and lemme hold ya for a bit, ya troublesome 'lil baggage," he told her gruffly, and Hiyori started to look very much like a deer caught in headlights. She had never been in this sort of tender situation before and was at a loss when it came to what to do next. He had never been so touchy feely with her in the past, but all that had changed after her near fatal encounter with one Ichimaru Gin. Suddenly, Shinji had become increasingly demonstrative and affectionate towards her. If Hiyori had to be honest to herself, she didn't mind it all that much – it felt good to be at the center of the baldy's attention, though she would rather die than let him know that she had even remotely thought that way.

"I missed ya, brat," he murmured, low and quiet by her ear. She went stiff once more, blood rushing to her face even as she studiously avoided his gaze. "Did ya miss me?"

"I-Idiot," she stammered out at last. "Who'd miss a moron like ya?" Her earlier disgruntlement crept back, and Hiyori felt quite aggrieved all over again. She quickly tried to shove him away once more. "Ya were the one who chose 'ta leave in the first place, so don't gimme that tripe."

She was still sore over his newly reinstated Captain status – or perhaps, she was just sore over the fact that he had chosen to leave her behind in order to take up the responsibility of watching over his old Division.

"Ya can always come back with me 'ta the Gotei 13, ya know," he told her calmly, tightening his arms around her slightly when she growled.

"Fuck off," she snapped, starting to simmer at the very mention of his innocuous suggestion. "I'll never go back 'ta that shitty place – if this is what yer here for, then ya can get the hell out right now."

Her hostility towards Soul Society had not diminished in the least, and the last thing he wanted was for her to see him as an enemy as well. She was beginning to bristle aggressively once more, and so he tilted her head up towards him and brushed his lips against hers. It was a chaste kiss, but it quickly shut her up and she froze in shock. He pulled back deliberately to study her stunned reaction.

She stared at him with huge, disbelieving eyes. He slowly raised his brow at her gob smacked expression, and she started to scowl.

"…first kiss," she mumbled, her feline eyes sharpening with displeasure as she glared at him outright, her hands balling up into tiny fists at her increasing outrage. "Bastard…That was my first kiss…"

Instead of being remorseful and repentant, the damn baldy just smiled slightly and licked his lips. "I know," he told her. "It tastes really sweet."

She could only gawk at him at his sheer audacity.

"THAT WAS MY FIRST KISS," she bellowed at him, just in case that he hadn't heard her the first time around. "I WAS SAVIN' IT, YA DAMN SHITTY-" Her hands were already reaching for his neck to wrap around and throttle, though before she could actually start grabbing him and shaking him back and forth, he leaned in and kissed her again, this time sliding his tongue lightly against the seam of her lips, and she froze once more, stunned by the weirdly pleasant sensation. Shinji took advantage of her bewilderment and apparent embarrassment to brush his mouth against hers one more time, so languidly and deliberately that their lips clung to each other, reluctant to part, when he slowly pulled away.

She was dazed by his kisses, having had no idea that her lips could be so sensitive to his stimuli until today. They tingled and she had to resist the urge to lick at them. Her eyes slowly refocused on him and she must have looked pretty dumbfounded, for he tilted his head at her and murmured. "I've been wantin' 'ta do that for a long time now, Hi-yo-ri."

She continued to stare at him stupidly for what seemed like the longest time. Then, the tempestuous little blonde wordlessly drew her arm back and slugged the larger male right in his stomach, and if he wasn't so busy doubled over trying to catch his breath, he would have noticed the utter redness that spread over her freckled cheeks as she pummeled his head with her small fists, and as always, she was making no effort to pull her punches whatsoever.

"Shinji, ya dickhead!" she yelled, straddling his lap and trying to strangle him once more. "How dare ya steal a lady's first kiss?! Give it back 'ta me!"

In the ensuing scuffle, he let her bowl him over, spilling onto her bed now with her toppled on top of him. Shinji was also trying his hardest to block her knee from finding its way right between his legs; he had already more or less accepted the fact that his little hellion was not going to let this slide easily.

"I didn't steal it," he replied, much to her growl of outrage. His arms came up around her waist in an effort to contain her disgruntled struggles. "Yer my girl; all yer kisses belong 'ta me."

"NO THEY DON'T," she immediately snapped at him, growing flustered at his matter-of-fact tone. "S'MY MOUTH; I CAN KISS WHOMEVER I WANNA."

He frowned at her obstinate reply. "Oh? And who are ya plannin' 'ta kiss?" he demanded to know, his lean but strong arms hauling her up against his chest at the same time, much to her loud growl of outrage.

"NOT YA, THAT'S WHO," she bellowed, red-faced, but despite her rather vocal displeasure, she wasn't squirming all that hard to get away from him.

"Ya don't like it when I kiss ya?" he asked, and she sputtered like a dying motor.

"I DON'T," she fibbed immediately, and he promptly proved her wrong by reaching up and kissing her once more, this time lightly sucking on her lower lip before he pulled back. Her breath hitched and her eyes grew wide, and a good portion of her bluster promptly flowed out of her.

His brow slowly climbed at the increasingly flushed look on her face.

"Ya don't? Really~?" His voice was low and smooth like dark chocolate, and almost against her will, her eyes focused on his mouth. Hiyori's face turned even redder. Her first instinct was to run away, to get as far from this entirely strange situation as quickly as possible. Shinji had never been so…blatant with her before, but if she had to be perfectly honest to herself…she did not mind it…all that much.

With some amount of difficulty, she tore her eyes away from his lips and lifted her gaze to meet his instead, and the quietly knowing look on his face as he stared back at her made her feel extremely nervous, and at the same time, quite thrilled as well. Hiyori slowly licked her lips, her mouth feeling strangely dry, and she averted her eyes from his, her inexperience all too clear.

Shinji moved his hand to her face and stroked one of her freckled cheeks with a callused thumb, and the look in his dark golden eyes was wordlessly tender. She lowered her gaze, her long and dense lashes coming down to hide her expression, and much to his pleasure, she leaned slightly into his touch, though she was still quite diligently avoiding his eyes. This unusually docile side of her was unexpectedly charming, but he wasn't going to let her shy away from him for the rest of his visit here.

His hand slipped down to her chin, and he tilted her face slightly so that she would look at him.

"Hiyori," he spoke softly then. "Will ya lemme kiss ya?"

She gave him a small frown, her lips forming just the smallest, sulkiest pout. "D-Dumbass!" she mumbled, reaching out to swat him on the side of the head. "Shouldn't ya have asked this earlier? Yer just doin' things upside down again, aren't ya!"

The lean, rangy male was unfazed by her grouchy reply. He simply looked at her and replied. "Then, why don't ya kiss me instead?"

At his bold question, Hiyori's face immediately turned beet red.

"W-What are ya askin'?!" she blustered. "Why would I wanna kiss-"

She broke off suddenly then, looking momentarily unsure of herself. However, before he could press his advantage, an annoyed expression crept onto her features once more and she punched him again, this time in the jaw. It was a glancing hit but it had still hurt, and he grunted.

"Shinji, ya blitherin' idiot-" she snapped, and then she leaned in, grabbed him by his stupid looking tie (Captain or not, he was evidently still the same dumbass) and smashed her lips against his. Their teeth clinked together at the clumsy collision, and she pulled back almost immediately, her swearing muffled as she clapped her hand over her mouth, having just nicked her own flesh with the sharp fang of her incisor. Her eyes watered slightly at the pain, and even though his lip was slightly bruised as well, he was hard pressed not to laugh at her expression.

She very quickly caught the amused light in his gaze, and she started to glare at him, her pride stinging at her failed attempt to kiss him. This obviously required more practice than she had expected. Having never done any such thing before, she was considerably self-conscious and sensitive about the whole thing, and his mirth had done nothing to assuage her uneasiness at all. Her face reddening in stark embarrassment once more, she was about to shove away from him and flee from this all too humiliating situation when he tugged her back down, keeping her contained within the circle of his arms and nuzzling her demonstratively. "I ain't laughin' at ya, I swear – I was laughin' with ya."

"Dickhead!" she growled, fuming and unamused by his comment. "I ain't laughin' at all in the first place!"

He brushed his lips against her freckled cheek, a soft chuckle escaping him despite her indignant sputtering. She reluctantly submitted to his gestures of affection, still unused to them and therefore she just went stiff and looked awkwardly ill at ease as he continued to hold her. He happily took advantage of her disorientation and momentary unsureness – knowing her like he did, she would get over this episode all on her own soon enough and be her usual bossy, demanding self once more, but right now, he was willing to take the lead. Nipping her jaw lightly, he leaned in next and slowly kissed her on the mouth, a simple, chaste exchange that made her shiver. Pulling away slightly, he licked his lips and met her wide eyes with his own – she was blushing again. She could be so adorable at times, he thought fondly.

"There's no rush," the larger male guided her, his voice husky. "Take yer time; I ain't goin' nowhere."

Her embarrassed anger leaked out of her, and she looked briefly hesitant once more. "I don't wanna anymore," she mumbled, pouting ever so slightly once more, obviously still sore over her earlier mistake. "I don't like it," she fibbed sulkily.

He raised his brow slightly at her reply. "Throwin' in the towel so easily?" he enquired, and she started to scowl at him.

"No," she snapped. "I just don't feel like kissin' ya. I'll practice elsewhere and knock yer socks off with my amazin' kisses!" she half bragged, half threatened. And she would do it too, now that he had gone and lit a fire under her tail. She was also squirming anew to get away from him now, but he simply held onto her and refused to let her run off like that.

"No way," he told her outright. "If ya think that I'm gonna let ya practice kissin' with anyone else other than me, then something is really wrong with ya."

"Yer not the boss of me!" she retorted, finally freeing one small hand to push rather ineffectually against his chest.

"Perhaps, but I'm yer lover, so I'm pretty sure that I've got some say in this matter," he reasoned. Her face burst into flames at the L-word.

"We are n-not l-lovers!" she stuttered, her efforts to get away from him becoming a bit more frantic.

"Not yet, at least the physical part," he corrected her mildly, and she made a little squeaky noise like a toy that was running out of air.

"What are ya sayin'?!" she screeched shrilly. "I'm gonna be a virgin bride – don't think of tryin' anythin' funny with me, I'm warnin' ya!"

He appeared offended by her remark.

"Do ya really think that I'm gonna force ya 'ta do anythin' that yer not ready 'ta?' he demanded. Before she could give him a hotheaded answer, he continued matter-of-factly. "Yer more precious 'ta me than ya think, stupid. Since ya obviously need me 'ta spell it out for ya, then I shall do so right now. I. Missed. Ya. I just wanna be close 'ta ya," he enunciated concisely and somewhat flatly.

"S'that clear enough for ya now, Snaggletooth?"

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

This update is dedicated to a really lovely anon who sent me an ask on tumblr months ago. I'm sorry I took a while to get back to you. I hope you're still inspired to write and enjoying yourself in this fandom!

This mini-arc is two chapters long. Second part will be up soonish.

xXxXxXxXxX

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

-paws