A/N: Hey there, minna! Sorry this took so long to get out. I was in the hospital for 9 days with complications related to my gallbladder surgery from back in Feb, but I'm home now. The doc has me on some good meds that keep things a bit more balanced, which has me feeling a bit better. In any case, I'm not dead! I swear. LOL. There are some warnings for this chapter, we've got some almost non-con and Aizen-style revenge for it; and implications of micro/macro lemon, which is coming in the next chapter. So, you're warned now, if you don't like it, skip the next one. Otherwise, enjoy. Ja ne!
Almost three months later, things appeared to be 180 degrees better. Though it was cheating somewhat because of his demonic strength that could only be held back so far, Aizen quickly became the captain of the Jujutsu team, directly under Ikkaku-sensei's instruction. His own popularity sky-rocketed, and though rumors about the slim blond that was never far from his side circulated all over campus, only once had it ever been brought up to the brunette. The response received was said to have been so vicious that the cheerleader who'd propositioned the tall martial artist was still having nightmares about it. She could be seen stumbling from class to class murmuring, 'he wouldn't stop smiling'. So, all in all everything looked to be wonderful, but things were not always what they seemed.
Another day, another trial, as Shinji found himself pinned painfully up against the wall of the boys' bathroom in the library. His hands were trapped at his zipper, the teeth caught between his fingers in a desperate attempt to keep the metal from cutting into his already bruised manhood. When the thick meaty hand grabbed the back of his neck, he'd been in the middle of peeing, so the plumbing of the urinal had met his pelvis as he'd been harshly shoved against the wall. Now, he was trying not to think about the kinds of things that could be on those cinderblocks that his face was pressed against.
"Wh-what do you want, Ginjou?" He stammered, teeth grinding against his cheek.
He felt the Neanderthal's other hand roughly tug at his skinny jeans, pale green this time, and expose his ass. A throaty chuckle echoed in the cold room. "Well," He drew out the word, fondling the pale orb of flesh bruisingly. "I heard ya like ta fuck th' captains of sports teams. Bein' the football captain, I thought ya'd like ta congratulate me on our championship win th' other night."
A jean-clad hardness was press against his crack and Shinji couldn't do anything but squirm as cold, mind-numbing fear gripped his heart. "N-no, please! A-anything but that!"
It ground against him again, "What'sa matter, faggot? I thought alla yer kind liked it up th' ass?"
Shinji closed his eyes as that painful hand left his flesh and the sound of a zipper being pulled down reached his ears. 'Please, you listened before, whatever god is out there, please don't let him rape me.' His mental voice cried out into the cosmos in desperation as terror stole his tongue.
There wasn't any human explanation for what happened next. There was suddenly a hand grabbing Ginjou's collar and he was being shoved against the wall. Aizen was there, though he should've been across campus, eyes once again feral slits, and he was using unholy strength to shove the other man into the stone, snarling viciously. He didn't even have the presence of mind to use a spell.
YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM! he roared in his not-voice, forcibly impressing his will upon the bully, imprinting it into his soul—this man would never lay another hand on his Shinji. Not if he had to cut them off. Wait! There was an idea! He thought rape was funny? See how he liked it when it was him under threat of rape!
Your form doesn't fit, your sex reversed shall be, this is what I will and so mote it be! It had none of the elegance of a spell he hadn't made on the spot, but damn if it didn't get the job done.
He let go of Ginjou as the jock's body writhed, his skin bubbled, hips gaining curves, mounds of flesh forming on his chest, hair lengthening even as the bulge in his shorts disappeared. Aizen watched with vicious satisfaction—see how that disgusting filth of a man liked being a woman! Then he turned to Shinji.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-you!" Shinji was crumpled on the floor, his jeans ruined, but covering his modesty. "You...spoke...without...it was YOU!"
Tension hung in the air a moment, as Ginjou's transformation finished and the former male screamed unholy terror, dashing out of the bathroom like the hounds of hell were on his—no, her tail. All the while Shinji stared up at the brunette he thought he'd gotten to know, seeing something he wasn't entirely sure was there. Wings? Feelers? Could it be? It shimmered in the light from the small windows at the top of the outside wall, but where the sunlight landed on the man he hoped to become his first boyfriend, a form completely different appeared. A figure that he'd thought only existed in his dreams and sketchbooks.
Aizen's feelers curled in and his wings fluttered nervously. "I…me? Um, what do...?"
He had been worried about Shinji, but now he was realizing he'd probably revealed himself. Shit! He hadn't gotten the blond comfortable enough with him yet, and then to spring this on him? Oh he'd be lucky if the man didn't decide he was a hallucination and disappear!
"Y-you're that...the...from before...in my dreams...with the snake." Shinji stammered walking himself back to his feet along the wall, too in shock to notice he looked terrified.
Aizen swallowed hard. "Y-you remember?"
His voice was small. He was starting to feel small. He'd scared his mate, and that was the last thing he wanted to do! It made him feel like dirt, it made him feel young and stupid, it made him feel like—With a poof Aizen disappeared, clothes falling into a crumpled heap on the floor. All that was left was a tiny, unnoticed chocolate-colored caterpillar on top of the white shirt.
"W-wait!" Shinji cried out, but it was too late. He hastily refastened his jeans and stumbled toward the spot where the brunette had been moments before to fall to his knees next to the abandoned clothing. His voice was soft, sad, and lonely, as he stared at the shirt. "Don't go..." He sniffed and wrapped his arms around his ribs, "Great goin', Freakshow, jus' scare 'im off why don't ya. Every single fuckin' time. College'll be better, she said. Y'ill meet friends there, she said. Bah! Not if I keep doin' th' same shit I did in high school."
Gathering up the clothing, because at the very least, he'll could still smell the brunette's scent in it, Shinji climbed back to his feet and exited the bathroom. He crossed through the library as quickly and as quietly as he could, shoulders bent and avoiding all contact. Once outside in the crisp, almost winter air, and sunshine he noticed the little caterpillar crawling across the shirt, fuzzy and shivering.
"How'd you git there?" He pondered for a moment, but continued talking, out of habit. "Yer lucky yah know that? All ya gotta do is eat, sleep, an' someday when yer big enough..." He looked up at the sky with a mournful sigh, "Someday y'ill fly."
His walk toward the edge of campus brought him close to a stand of evergreen bushes, and with the utmost care and gentleness Shinji lifted the baby insect onto a branch fairly high up and covered with plump, juicy needles.
"Here, mebbe y'ill have better luck 'n me. At least, it's better'n a smelly college bathroom."
He watched it for a short while, feeling that same awkward unfinished feeling he always had about himself, like he was the one crawling along on his belly waiting for the day to fly. The feeling of fitting in he'd just started to get used to hanging around with Aizen made being alone right then all the more painful, and he couldn't stop the fat tear that escaped down his cheek at the thought that he'd never see the brunette ever again.
Abruptly, there was a flash of light, an explosion of violent, vibrant color. A rainbow, tiny but perfect, appeared in front of his face from where he'd set the caterpillar, and abruptly there was a miniature Aizen hovering in front of his nose. Only about eight inches tall, he was a perfect miniature man, with three distinct differences—one, he had rainbow-colored butterfly wings attached to his back; two, he had long feelers on his forehead; and three, instead of feet his legs ended in a single point with flexible spines starting at about mid-calf.
"Shinji Hirako, you did not scare me off! Further, I don't ever, EVER want to hear you call yourself Freakshow again…" he paused, tugging on a lock of golden hair to make sure the blond was paying attention to what he was saying and not just going 'ooooohhhh lookit the pretty fairy'. He'd had that happen more than once and it was humiliating. "You are beautiful, and intelligent, and optimistic and wonderful, and if you ever call yourself that again I will magically bind your tongue so you can't say those two words at all, much less as a conjoined term!" He finished, hands on his hips and feelers making his attempted stern look only come out adorable and pouty. His wings were a buzzing blur, he was so angry. How dare his mate think so low of himself?!
"Whoa what?!" Shinji backpedaled, throwing the clothing up into the air to land around him in a halo of fabric as he, himself, once again landed on his rear end. He did that entirely too much for his taste, especially as a pair of well-made, navy boxers landed across his head, causing him to sputter and blush furiously, ripping the article of clothing from his hair, only to drop it like it was made of acid. "I...wow...I really am crazy."
"Hardly!" Aizen protested before shivering. "...be right back." He darted into the bushes and returned a few moments later with a crude leaf loincloth. "Christ it's cold being a bug. And I haven't turned myself into a caterpillar since I was in short pants, for the King's sake," he muttered as he flew once more in front of Shinji's nose. "But I'm serious you know! You're not a freak, and you aren't insane!"
"Fine, fine." The blond laughed, shaking his head. "I won't call m'self a freakshow anymore, but can I say one thing, little Chou?"
"Of course. As long as you're not insulting yourself, say what you like." Aizen fluttered in a display of rainbow colors in an attempt to keep warm.
"You are damn cute!" Shinji cooed, laughing even harder.
The miniature man flushed a delicate rose pink from head to foot to wing-tips. "I—I am not cute! Keepers of the Balance are strong, and handsome, and—and—and—" He flushed a little deeper. "...you think I'm cute?"
The blond's infectious, if slightly deranged, grin was back, framed by that pageboy straight blond hair, and topped with eyes that saw entirely too much for a human that age, "Yer adorable!"
Aizen couldn't really argue. His mate thought he was adorable! Sexy would have been better, sure, but he could live with adorable. Except..."I hate to interrupt your ogling, but um...could I ask a favor? Could you grab my clothes and continue this conversation elsewhere? I can't change back to normal here…in public…where anybody can see me. And this far from my Center of Power, I can't cast the kind of glamour necessary to prevent anyone from noticing, I just don't have the strength right now."
"Heh." Feeling more bold than normal, now that the object of his affection was closer to the form his confidants usually took, Shinji quipped, as he climbed to his feet, "Sure. I was about ta head home now anyway."
He made quick work of gathering the items he'd flung about them, though he still blushed furiously when he had to pick up the boxers that had assaulted him during his fall. The task inadvertently put his rear end on display for the insect-sized male to do some ogling of his own.
"I gotta ask though, how come, if yer th' same guy that saved me back then, how come ya never talked back b'fore? Why'd ya wait 'til now ta talk ta me?"
Aizen hesitated for a moment, phrasing his answer delicately—reminding Shinji of his past lives always, without fail, drove the man to suicide. Too much trauma, too much pain. "There have been...extenuating circumstances. And I've been talking to you for quite some time…you just couldn't hear," he said, landing on a thin shoulder.
Seeing as how he was moving around, carrying the change of clothing in his arms, and talking to no one obviously visible to the outside world, Shinji's mood dampened somewhat. He walked quickly, and spoke quietly, "Well, it makes fer some real lonely conversations ya know."
"Oh, I am aware," The butterfly spoke just as softly. So many long, lonely years...he shuddered, but to cover up his reaction he added, "It is damnably cold out here for an insect. Is your place close?"
"Round th' corner. I live 'bove th' book shop we went to that first day after ya met Ikkaku-sensei." Shinji smiled softly, remembering how much fun that had been. Suddenly he laughed again, drawing more than a few curious stares. "So, d'ya always turn inta a caterpillar when yer frightened?"
Aizen flushed again. "Er, no, typically not. In fact, not for...for a very long time. I'm honestly embarrassed I let it happen," he covered his face with one hand.
Abruptly, Shinji's laughter cut off, "Was it somethin' I said?" He dug into his pocket for his keys and popped the lock on the side door, next to the display window of the bookshop.
"Well, yes and no," the butterfly replied. He couldn't lie to his mate. No, he refused to lie to his mate. "Yes, because you startled me. Most emphatically no because it is hardly your fault I allowed myself to lose control to the point I reverted back to a larval stage. That was my own damn fault...and…I'm sorry about this but I can't wait any longer, I'm just too cold," he said, before dashing across his shoulder to his collar and slipping in between fabric and skin, giving an unashamed moan of pure pleasure at the heat of his human, feet tickling and wings a gossamer touch against his flesh.
Shinji squirmed, tickled and other things by the sensation of the small man getting comfortable. He inadvertently whimpered, though it sounded a bit like a moan. "Ah...Chou-san..."
"Yes, Shinji-san?" Snuggling into the curve of his human's neck, and purring internally.
The blond squirmed again, "Yer makin' it real hard fer me ta get m' lock undone." His hand shook as he tried open the door to his apartment.
"Heh, my apologies," Aizen trilled audibly, not sounding a bit sorry. "By the way, might I ask why you call me 'Chou'?"
Getting the door opened, Shinji smirked, "Cuz yer a chou. A butterfly, ne?"
"Naturally, Shinji-san. As a matter of fact, I am the butterfly," the demon said proudly.
And he was, after all. He was Famine, Master of Illusion, and Lord of all creatures that could decimate a human's food supply. Generally that meant insects like locusts and moths, but his connection extended to all vermin and insectoids.
"Is that what ya meant by Center o' Power?" Shinji asked, piling the formerly man-sized brunette's clothing on the corner of the couch and slipping off his shoes.
"Somewhat. My Ley Line and Power Pool to be more specific. It is the place where my magic is gathered and stored until I need it. It is located as part of the Shrine I usually call home in Tokyo." The scent of his mate made the Third's feelers go crazy, trailing up and down behind the blond's ear, much to Shinji's discomfort. A sly smile crossed the small creature's face, "You mentioned a few months ago that your father was Japanese, do you know any of the language?"
"S-some." Shinji stuttered, trying to focus on anything but the electric shocks running through his system at the butterfly's touch.
Aizen immediately switched languages. "Good. I was born there, you know, and someday you will need to come with me to meet the King, because you will always have a friend with me and mine," he promised, entire voice and body practically vibrating with sincerity.
"Whoa! Too fast! I only got 'bout half o' that." But the blond was laughing again. "Jus' cuz I study it don't mean I can speak it all that well. Hell, I've only been takin' official classes since th' start o' th' semester."
"So, that is what you do when I am training with Ikkaku-sensei these days. I had wondered." The brunette shrugged, his wings fluttering so hard with pleasure they created a humming sound tickling the skin of his mate's neck. "No matter, I will be your new tutor. I am one of the smartest minds alive, you know."
Shinji laughed and crossed the living room to light the heater. "Modest much?"
Aizen snorted again. "When you get to my age, modesty becomes naught but a quaint, charming habit. One dropped long ago."
"Oh yeah, THAT really makes me feel better. Not only are ya only eight inches tall, an' a fairy I might add! Yer OLD!" A blush crept across Shinji's ears and cheeks.
"Age is irrelevant to me. Plainly speaking, in human terms I am 'older than dirt'. In the only terms that matter, that of my own body and unique makeup, I am in the prime of my youth and always will be such." There was a small pause. "And I'm not a fairy! I thought we already established, I am a butterfly!"
Shinji laughed again. "We went over this months ago. Yer int'rested in me. That makes ya a fairy." He grinned. "I'm proud ta be a fairy."
Aizen just frowns and scratches his head. "Ohhhh...yes, that altercation with that one about homosexuality." He refused to use the former male student's name since the attempted rape that afternoon, "In that case, yes I am a fairy because yes, I prefer men. I have seen the horrors and cruelty women are capable of."
Moving into the kitchen, the blond gave a shudder about the implications of women. "Fleshy, drippy, bitey, loud...ugh! Give me a cock any day. I know how ta handle one o' them."
"Exactly—oh wait. No, no I recall impregnating a female once. That was enjoyable. She was a terror, but the child was worth it. An adorable daughter. She lived quite a happy life until she expired painlessly as the ripe old age of eighty." He kicked his little, pointed feet, peering out of his mate's shirt collar to watch what was going on. "But that was centuries ago when women weren't quite so loud and vicious. She was a sweet thing except when the baby kicked. Quiet. She helped me realize that calm people bore me to tears."
"Remind me ta never introduce ya ta m'sister." Shinji shuddered again, "Ya wanna talk loud and vicious. Brat beats me over th' head with 'er shoe ev'ry time she sees me."
"Ah, that kind. I'm familiar. Shark female. I do hope she won't be showing up anytime soon?" He phrased the question delicately. He didn't know if he could react intelligently to further abuse of his mate. Not after he finally got him.
"Nah, she's back in Lilly, wi' my mom. That's 'bout..." The blond paused to think about it while running hot water into a coffee pitcher similar to the one that ran the kitchen back at the Shrine. "Two an' a half hours from here. In that d'rection." He pointed.
"Oh good," Aizen breathed. He didn't explain, merely shuddered in a way that Shinji mistook it for a shiver.
"Sorry if things're a little cold fer a few minutes. The heater should warm up the place soon."
The butterfly chittered in an amused tone. "Nnnghiee. I'm fine right where I am until it warms up," he promised, wings fluttering with pleasure as he ducked back down into his mate's shirt.
"Yeah I'm sure ya are, but I can't make coffee with ya tickling my neck like that."
"Coffee can't wait?" The little plaintive voice he used sent a pleased vibration through the spot he'd been tickling before, and Shinji couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine.
"If yer gonna stick around in there, could ya at least move to th' left a little, where yer walkin' right now...heh...s'not exactly 'ticklish' but...eh..." The blond blushed as his jeans weren't quite as comfortable anymore.
Aizen started to obey, then the scent of his Shinji rolled over him and instead he planted his 'feet' very firmly right where he is. "And that is a bad thing?"
"B-but..." His mate's breathing picked up a little, "Yer tiny...an'..." And bit his lip as those feelers tickle the back of his ear.
"I know I am. That doesn't mean, Shinji-sama," Aizen purred, using the honorific to play up the difference in their size, and teasing him with his wings as he nearly danced on Shinji's good spot, "that I cannot be the one touching you. Pop your buttons for me?" The request was almost innocent, except he didn't specify which buttons.
A/N 2: We, the authors, would like to note that we are not woman-haters in any way shape or form and that it is NOT okay that we live in a culture where rape is something for women to both expect and take measures to avoid. However, it is a fitting punishment for our would-be rapist to be on the other side of the situation for a change. So, our apologies if anyone is offended by the way females are described here. It was not in any way our intention.