Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Bleach Ficlets: Dare To Live ❯ 35 Jigsaw Pieces ( Chapter 35 )

Authors Note: I don't own Bleach and make no claims on it. If I did, there'd be a whole hell of a lot of kinky shit going down.

 

35Jigsaw Pieces

 

I couldn't believe how easy Ishida was to talk to. From everything Renji'd said about him, I was expecting to have to pull teeth just to get the barest of conversations going. I guess Renji didn't know what to talk to Ishida about. Then again, I really couldn't see Renji discussing the finer points of cotton versus synthetic floss with regards to dye stability.

 

“I really want to thank you again for embroidering that Quincy cross on the hem of the shirt I did for Ichigo. I'm amazed you could make it so tiny and yet still be recognizable. I'm sure he never even noticed it.”

 

“Not a problem. It only took a few minutes. Challenge me with something harder next time,” I laughed as we wandered around the craft store.

 

“You do beautiful work, Hisagi.”

 

I blushed a little. I wasn't used to people praising my skills with needle and thread. “I've had a long time to practice, Ishida. You do some damn fine needle work yourself.”

 

Ishida glanced down at the floor but not before I saw a delicate pink blush tint his cheeks. Thank god I wasn't the only one blushing like a school girl over compliments. He moved away to check out some frilly trim, and after a minute, glanced at me over his shoulder. Fuck, he was really cute when he did that. I fidgeted a little and told myself that we were here to take advantage of the sale on notions, and not so I could press him down onto the bolts of cloth and screw him silly. I mentally scrambled to get my mind out of Ishida's pants and latched onto the first thing that popped into my head.

 

“Hey, do you know a red-head named Nova? I think he hangs out at Urahara's shop. I saw him with Renji once and they looked pretty close.”

 

Ishida dropped the appliqué he was holding and whirled to stare at me like I'd just grown another head. “What do you mean by close? And Nova… with Renji?”

 

“Renji said the guy's name was Nova. They were naked and obviously….” I waved my hand, feeling like I was spilling a secret I was supposed to keep.

 

“Naked? Like in the bath naked or cuddled up in bed naked? Just how close are you talking about, Hisagi?” Ishida asked pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and frowning slightly.

 

Crap. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Sometimes it was damn easy to forget that Ishida wasn't anywhere near as old as me and Renji and might not share the same views as a lot of Shinigami with regards to the sex of their partners. Hell, I hadn't been in the real world much, but even I'd come to understand same sex partners wasn't exactly the norm. People actually got all weird about it, which I didn't understand at all. Didn't humans understand life was too short to get hung up on the sex of your partner?

 

“Hisagi? What, exactly, did you mean when you said naked and close?”

 

“Forget I said anything. Hey, is that beaded fringe on sale?”

 

Ishida crossed his arms over his chest and pinned me with a determined look. I don't know how he did it, but that look made me squirm internally and want to escape. It was the same kind of look I used to get from the teachers in the Academy when I'd blown off what I'd thought was lame-ass homework to do more sword practice or kidou.

 

“Yes, it is beaded fringe and on sale for ninety-nine cents a metre. Answer the question, Hisagi, since you brought it up in the first place. What did you mean by close? Are Renji and Nova involved like I think you're implying?”

 

Ishida sounded absolutely shocked at the idea. Double crap. After that first cup of coffee when we'd bumped into each other at the craft store, I'd hoped that Ishida would be open to starting something between us. The more we hung out together, the more things we found we had in common. I was attracted to him and thought he felt an interest in me. I heaved a sigh internally. That didn't seem to be the case now. I wasn't very good at this subtle, easing into a relationship thing. At least I hadn't made a move on him so chances were good that he'd still want to hang out with me and talk about crafts and things.

 

“Hisagi? Come on. Don't leave me hanging here. Are Renji and Nova involved?” Ishida asked placing a hand on my arm before murmuring an apology and quickly removing it as if he'd done something far too personal.

 

Ishida could have kept his hand on my arm. It felt nice there but made my mind slide straight into the gutter. I forced my brain away from thoughts of Ishida touching other parts of me much more intimately and rubbed the back of my neck. Ishida was waiting for an answer, but I still felt a little like I was telling a secret I shouldn't. Not that Renji had said anything to me about keeping my mouth shut. Or that he had a problem with people knowing who he was sleeping with. Renji just seemed really protective over this Nova guy and their relationship and I couldn't figure out why.

 

“Yeah, I think so. I sorta walked in on a private moment. Renji was pretty pissed about it and then that Nova guy disappeared into thin air. I asked Renji about Nova later but he refused to talk about him, so I thought I'd ask you and see if you knew Nova and might know why Renji doesn't want to talk about him.”

 

“I do know Nova. He's very quiet and I've never seen him without his hood on when he's in his gigai. Even when he's in his turtle plushie body, he's still very shy.”

 

“In a plushie body? A gigai? Wait a minute. Nova isn't human?”

 

“No, he's a mod soul like Lirin, Cloud and Kon. Nova's a pleasant individual and has a rather interesting ability, as I'm sure you know if you saw him disappear into thin air. I just never thought of him involved with anybody, never mind Renji.”

 

A mod soul? Renji was sleeping with an honest to god mod soul? He had to know what Nova was. The question now was, why hadn't he reported that he'd found one? No, scratch that. He'd found several. My eyes widened a little when I realized that if Renji knew about mod souls here in the real world, Rukia probably did, too. Possibly even Captain Kuchiki and Ukitake knew as well. What the hell was going on here and why hadn't any word of this made the rounds of Soul Society?

 

“Hisagi? Are you alright? I know it might seem a little shocking that Renji has a male lover but it's not that unusual in this day and age. He's still the same Renji you know regardless of whom he's seeing or who shares his bed.”

 

“Huh? Renji? He's had male lovers before. Renji sleeping with a guy isn't my problem. It's the fact that he's doing it with a mod soul that's the problem,” I said with a frown at the same time that I felt relief that Ishida didn't seem bothered by the idea of a same sex pairing as I'd first thought.

 

“Then I don't understand the problem. I don't know Nova overly well since he tends to keep to himself most of the time, but from what I do know; he's a nice guy and has helped us out numerous times when we really needed it. I doubt he'll try to take advantage of Renji. Nova is actually quite honest and guileless.”

 

“I'll take your word about Nova being a nice guy. The problem is that there's a standing order in Soul Society to report any mod souls discovered so that they can be destroyed.”

 

Ishida's eyes went wide. He nibbled on his bottom lip and stared at me for several minutes before he seemed to come to a decision. He dropped the few notions he'd picked up and took the ones I'd chosen from my hands, adding them to his discard pile. He grabbed my hand in a surprisingly strong grip and pulled me to the exit.

 

“We need to talk to Urahara about this. I'm sure he can explain everything.”

 

I let myself be pulled along by Ishida, forgetting for a little bit about newly discovered mod souls and my responsibility in reporting them under the warm weight of Ishida's hand in mine. My brain was slipping back into the gutter with thoughts of holding his hands tightly while sliding into his heat. I think I was more than a little attracted to Ishida. I was starting to obsess over the idea of taking him as a lover. Oddly, that didn't bother me as much as it probably should've. Maybe after this thing with the mod souls was sorted out, I could see just how accepting Ishida would be to exploring the idea of starting something with me. Stranger things had happened.