Chapter 3: Sex-ed
"Oh! Someone's at the door!" said Orihime absentmindedly as she finished folding up her laundry. "It feels like Ichigo."
Next to her Rangiku laughed. "Exited about that!"
"No!" Orihime blushed. "I'd better get the door."
"Yeah, you'd better, don't want to keep lover-boy waiting!" she called as she took a seat on Orihime's now vacant bed.
From the window Toshiro rolled his eyes. "Why did you call me here again? You said it was urgent."
"Oh it is!" She picked up one of the dresses Orihime had carefully folded. "We're trying on clothes and we need you to tell us what looks good from a male perspective."
He glowered. "That's why you called me here in the middle of the night?"
She threw her head back and laughed. "Well of course Captain, you know how much I value your opinion. Besides after the day we've had I think all of us are too worried to sleep so we might as well have some fun!" She looked into the folds of her robes and pulled out a bottle of sake. "Want some Captain!"
"Not even a little bit." Toshiro got up to leave but held back. There was something odd. Ichigo was in the apartment but he seemed different, more powerful.
"Come on don't be puritanical, a little spirit is good for the soul!" she said as she poured out two glasses and drank them both in quick succession. She looked back at Toshiro. "Captain? Is something the matter?" She put down the bottle.
"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly, his eyes narrowed. He jumped down from the window and walked towards the door.
Rangiku put the sake bottle down and concentrated on Ichigo and Orihime's spiritual energy in the other room. Ichigo did seem different, not only more powerful but more self-assured. "Yes, what happened to him?" She asked as she went towards the door too.
Toshiro was standing back slightly, doing his best to investigate without leaving the room. Rangiku however leaned her head up against the door and listened intently. It seemed Ichigo had come in and from the sound of Orihime's voice she seemed rather flustered.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"I don't like this," said Toshiro his hand reaching for the doorknob. "We should go out there."
"Wait one moment Captain," the curvy blonde leaned in further to the door. She has a slight suspicion about what was going on - though of course Toshiro would never have guessed that.
"Rangiku move aside!"
She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Captain do you acknowledge that I know a great deal more than you about some things?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Rangiku put her head back against the door. Ichigo was talking now and his voice sounded oddly smooth, he was flirting! "I've been thinking about you a lot..." she inhaled a sharp breathe of air. Yep, this was just as she had suspected. "I think about that little skirt of yours. And your hands when they run through your hair." Toshiro who was listening through the door too was blushing. "You always look so beautiful."
The Captain backed away from the door as if it was contagious. "See I told you!" she whispered. "I thin he's drunk! And evidently horny!"
"Are you certain?" he asked back to his usual seriousness.
"Oh yes! I mean just hear them! They're kissing! Finally, Orihime's going to be over the moon."
"Alright, well if that's all then I'll leave."
He was just turning around when Rangiku flung her arm and dragged him back. "You can't leave now Captain. This just gives us another reason to celebrate! Besides, don't you want to listen in? That's always fun."
"No I don't," he said freeing himself from her clutches and smoothing out the fabric of his shihakusho.
"It's sounds like Orihime is moaning, I guess Ichigo has a very clear idea of what he wants to do tonight," she laughed.
Toshiro's jaw set but he remained in the room as Rangiku giggled and informed him which items of clothing has been thrown off. He still felt there was something wrong. Ichigo has never struck him as the sort of person to do something like this - much less with Orihime - his observations has always indicated that Ichigo has a thing for Rukia. But those could have been mistaken, Rangiku was right, she did know about this sort of thing a lot more than he did.
"You'll never believe what's happening!" she whispered excitedly pulling at his arm to encourage him to listen in.
"What is it?"
"I think Orihime is almost there," she whispered as she downed another glass of sake.
"Almost where?"
For the first time Rangiku blushed. "Oh, well, you know Captain..." She did not want to be the one to explain it to him.
"No I don't. Is she going somewhere?"
Rangiku laughed but muffled the sound by putting a hand over her mouth so as not to alert the couple in the other room. "Why don't you listen in, it might-" she smiled wickedly. "Explain to you what I mean."
Toshiro's curiosity got the better of him and he pressed his ear to the door just as his subordinate was. What he heard would haunt him for the rest of his life. Orihime was moaning loudly and calling out Ichigo's name in a most peculiar tone. "Are they mating? Is that what you meant?"
She giggled. "No, they're not doing that yet. This is more of a-" she struggled for the words. "Pre-mating activity."
He looked aghast. "There are pre-mating activities!" Toshiro put his ear back agains the door and heard Orihime's moans getting louder. It almost sounded like she was in pain. "Are you sure she's alright in there?"
"She's fine, you don't have to worry, like I said she's getting there."
"I still don't understand what do you mean by that."
Rangiku sighed. She supposed it was about time someone 'the talk' with him. "What I mean by that Captain," she said in most patient voice. "Is that I think Orihime is going to orgasm soon, have you heard that word before?"
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child," he said indignantly but then added in a small voice. "And no, I've never heard of it before, what does it mean?"
"Well, uh, it's when you climax during sexual stuff." She had to refrain from laughing at the astonished look on his face. "And it feels really good."
"Oh," his lips tightened. "And that's what's happening to her?"
"Yep..." she pressed her ear against the door again. "But it sounds like they've moved on to the actual event now."
He could hear Orihime's voice: "Ichigo, I-I really, really love you." Next to him Rangiku was cheering silently, her hand ruffling his hair up in excitement. He however held reserves, she certainly sounded sincere but was Ichigo? Did he really like her? Ichigo didn't make any confessions of love instead he just said something about wanting her. At that moment Toshiro lowered his eyes and stepped away from the door.
Was he really being so cruel as to use her in this manner? Like Aizen had used Momo? He would never understand how a person could be so unfeeling towards someone that loved them. Rangiku turned her head to stare at him: "Come on Captain it's getting to the good part!"
"I'm not listening in anymore, it's disgusting."
"Oh, what's the big deal! It's just sex, besides I bet Orihime is going to drool all over him."
He moved forward and grabbed her arm moving her away. "Seriously this is sick! We should give her some privacy Rangiku. What will she think when she sees us here?"
"Obviously she's too wrapped up in Ichigo to care."
"Yes but-" Toshiro paused. Something seemed peculiar, Ichigo's reiatsu was fluctuating. "Do you feel that?"
Rangiku nodded. "It happens sometimes, when things are really intense but-" she paused. "Not like this, this is too random."
He focused on the room, Orihime's spiritual energy seemed completely normal but Ichigo's kept shifting as if something was pushing it back and forth. He had never seen anything like it before and as Toshiro concentrated he noticed that it was only getting wilder as their passion increased. Was he somehow loosing control of his powers? Could Orihime be in danger?
Next to him Rangiku's smile had faded and she was staring anxiously at the door as if trying to summon the courage to go out there. They exchanged weary looks. "Do you think we should make sure she's alright?"
Toshiro shook his head. "I know she's alright now, but something is defiantly wrong with Ichigo."
"Any idea what it might be?" she whispered.
"No."
It was in that exact moment that they both felt the largest fluctuation in Ichigo's reiatsu, it was like a giant wave that engulfed the entirety of his energy. After a few moment more ripples seemed to appear, each time getting bigger and bigger, and then in one instant Ichigo's reiatsu settled. It seemed back to how it always was and Toshiro felt relieved. It seemed nothing terrible had come of it, maybe sex just affected him strangely.
Rangiku smiled. "Well good thing we didn't ruin the moment."
He said nothing, though he did agree with her.
"I wonder what they're going to do now?" mused his Lieutenant as she pressed her ear to the door again. "Round two?" She giggled but Toshiro didn't think it was funny. Suddenly she stopped smiling and turned back to look at him with wide eyes. "He's leaving!"
"What?"
"He just left!" She clapped a hand to her mouth. "What a pig! Poor Orihime."
"And he didn't say anything?"
"He just said 'later' and walked out on her." Rangiku's face was red and her eyes were narrowed dangerously. He couldn't remember the last time she had looked so angry. She always frightened him when she got like this. "I'm going to kill that little bastard! How dare he do this to her!"
"We can't actually kill him," said Toshiro reasonably, although he was considering it. He looked up at her, "What should we do?"
"You go find him him and beat the shit of him when you do! I'm going to go comfort Orihime," she said quietly and a moment later she had already walked out of the room. Toshiro felt it was his duty to do as she had advised. After all Orihime was his friend too, and one of the sweets girls he had ever met. She didn't deserve this. Gracefully he jumped out of the window and landed smoothly on the ground below, he was going to find Ichigo no matter what.
Rukia wasn't exactly sure what had had happened to Ichigo, but she did know there was no way he would have left voluntarily. Something must have happened. Maybe he sensed a Hollow or worse an Arrancar, or maybe he knew someone was in trouble. But even as these thoughts went through her mind a nagging voice reminded her that Ichigo probably had the worst reiatsu sensing abilities of anyone she knew. There was no way he would sense something before she did.
She continued running up the street. Ichigo had been here not to long ago, with that strange new energy she had sensed back in his room. What was up with that? Did it have anything to do with what Byakuya had told her back in the soul society: He's strange, that human boy, I'm not sure he's human anymore.
As she swerved around a corner Rukia felt someone else's presence, much closer to her than Ichigo was. She paused and turned her head in the direction it came, it was Captain Toshiro Hitsuguya's reiatsu. What was he doing running around like that in the middle of the night? Could this have anything to do with Ichigo or had something else happened?
He appeared there a moment later and stopped sharply as he spotted her. He was blushing and just like her still wearing his soul reaper outfit. "Hello Captain."
"Good evening," he was staring in the direction Ichigo's direction.
"Are you're also looking for him?"
"Oh... I didn't know you were."
"Yeah..." she paused, what was she supposed to say? She couldn't tell him what had actually happened! She barely knew him, besides that he was her superior. "I think something might be wrong with him," she said finally.
"Well if it isn't it will be soon, come on we'd better keep moving or we'll loose him."
They began running together. There was something weird about Toshiro too. She had only ever seen him like this in matters where Momo was concerned. He looked furious and very uncharacteristically unsettled. Had Ichigo done something to upset him? "Why are you looking for him?" she shouted through the rushing wind.
He didn't say anything and she got the distinct impression that if he did give a reason it would be false. He didn't want her to know about something. "Rangiku told me to," he answered finally.
"So she needs him for something."
"In a manner of speaking. What about you? Why do you think there's something wrong with him?"
"He was acting strangely." She didn't elaborate. They could feel Ichigo a few blocks ahead of them. He was moving faster - he had probably realized he was being followed by now. Together, Rukia and Toshiro picked up their speed but Ichigo still had a considerable head start. And then all of a sudden-
She came to an abrupt stop. "What happened?"
Toshiro looked just as confused. Ichigo had disappeared.
A/N: Thanks a lot to everyone that reviewed, and I'm sorry that it took me so long to update. I'm in finals right now... and it's hell!
Also I really appreciate everyone who's given this story a chance even though they disliked last chapter. I promise there will be a proper explanation to why Hollow Ichigo went to Orihime instead of Rukia, and it has nothing to do with their appearance.