Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Assumptions ❯ Chapter 2

Assumptions

Chapter 2

By: eternalsailorsolarwind AKA youkai_girl

 

Disclaimer: Bleach and all of its characters are owned by Tite Kubo, his Japanese publishers, and Viz. I only play with them for grins and giggles.

 

A/N: Finally (finally!), the second chapter of Assumptions. Ichigo thinks over what happened the night before during his meeting with Byakuya. One warning for the f-bomb.

 

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“Damn holier-than-thou `noble' bastard,” groused Ichigo, as he slammed the shoji screen of his quarters behind him. “Can't you take a hint when it's the size of a fucking barn? You think I'd just go around telling anyone that I thought they were in love with me? Asshole!”

 

The taichou sighed heavily as he leaned Zangetsu in his stand, tirade over for now. He'd been in a pissy mood during the day, and all of the mixed emotions from last night's meeting with …Rukia's brother the night before were exhausting him. Combine that with the debacle with the paperwork this morning, where he'd written “Byakuya is an ass” over dozens of pages… and he was frustration personified.

 

It wasn't Byakuya's initial denial that bothered the former substitute Soul Reaper. He'd expected that. The Sixth Division captain was not one to let his emotions show. Even now, years after the war with Aizen, Rukia still occasionally complained about the distance between Byakuya and her. So the near-contemptuous “no” wasn't surprising.

 

The sudden, brash kiss was what had thrown the chocolate-eyed man for a loop; completely reversing what the blue-eyed man had just been saying. It was out of character for the stoic noble, who barely knew how to smile without breaking his face. And not only the kiss, but the causal obscenity and the mention of “rough trade” that had slipped so easily from Byakuya's lips. Ichigo had been sure that the other man wouldn't have known what the phrase meant. Too prissy for his own good sometimes, that one.

 

So why had the steely-eyed captain suddenly done an about-face from complete denial to forcing a kiss on him? Was Byakuya finally showing him what - or all - he wanted? Just a quick fuck; tension release? Nothing more and nothing less? Did the other captain even have it in him to want or give more?

 

His body working on auto-pilot while his mind raced, Ichigo stomped to the bath. Something about last night's encounter rang false. Replaying the conversation yet again, he ignored the twinge of pain at seeing the contemptuous smile on that normally icy-calm face. The dismissal that had been so over-the-top vicious.

 

That thought made him sit up straight, blinking away the shampoo that dripped from his orange hair into his eyes. The noble was many things - namely cold and distant - but he was not deliberately cruel. That was what continued to irritate the Fifth Division captain. The sudden kiss, being described as being nothing more than a quick, tawdry screw: All designed to hurt him. To drive him away.

 

“What the hell is he up to,” muttered the former ryoka, rinsing off. Settling himself into the furo, Ichigo decided to see Byakuya again. Face him and demand a real answer to what the hell had happened.

 

His fingers came up to touch his lips, remembering the almost brutal kiss the other captain had given him. Why did that feel like the most real thing that happened last night?

 

No matter what it took, the brown-eyed man decided, he was going to get to the bottom of this whole thing.