Chapter 15

Thrive to Live

Now—

Turquoise hues watched from the rail outside of the apartment, breathing in the return of the fresh winter smell from his favorite season. Things have become a lot steadier after three months ago when the carrot top first shed his tears as a sign of his weak side he never showed. From then, their relationship became ordinary friends in which had the captain begin to actually understand what true friendship was. It better than before in some ways, as if nothing was holding him back from being the captain that he once was, except now he was wiser. Well, livelier too, since he used to be a stick in the mud, only he was able to chuckle and smirk while around the Strawberry or else he would stay a grump. This was not because he felt attached to him in any shape or form, it was just because he felt that this man deserved it the most.

"Why don't you make it snow for a little while?" The man's voice called from behind.

He slightly fidgeted at the voice that brought him out of his thoughts. "There's plenty of snow right now."
"So?" His large form came over to lean against the rail next to him. "We can always use a little more."
"Kurosaki…" The captain warned quietly, trying not to smirk at the laid-back attitude he received from him.
"I'm going to go on a little walk while it's nice out." Ichigo smiled lightly. "Do you want to come with me?"

He then smiled in turn, nodding at the thought of it. "That actually sounds like a good idea."

As the man locked up the apartment, Toushirou was already waiting down the stairs as he normally would when they would go on a walk. It took a moment before the Strawberry reached the first floor towards the captain, watching as he was long awaited for at the end of the stairs. Both of them recalled the first time that he was allowed outside after the incident with the thugs; how the captain was like a happy child. This was the day known as Toushirou's anniversary of his survival of the tragic incident, which was why he was here on Earth. This week was his vacation week due to being able to stay in Soul Society without too many complaints or nightmares now; he just wanted to celebrate life with this man.

"Hmm… I thought we had an agreement?" Ichigo asked curiously despite the amusement in his tone.
His attention went up towards the man, trying to figure out what he was talking of. "What do you mean?"
He chuckled quietly before lightly grasping the hand clinging to his. "Well, I guess your hand is cold…"
"What—" The captain saw his naked hand holding the other's gloved one and pulled away. "I'm sorry."

"Hold on a minute," Ichigo stopped in place to pull off his left glove. "Here, put this on your left hand." He would have helped him with it through habit, but gave it to him instead for him to deal with, and received a confused look on the pale face. "Now give me your right hand." His demand was answered, and then they began to continue on their walk without any thing to stop them. "That should hold you off until the store—"

"No, this is fine," even though they were in public, he could not help it. "Your hand is warmer than gloves."

All he received was a small chuckle before they headed towards the park, but it began to snow, so the little captain coaxed the man to sit for a while. They sat side by side at a picnic bench under a tree near the children's playground, both watched the young ones look up in amazement at the falling flakes. A large callused hand outstretched from beneath the tree to the cloudy sky, catching any snowflakes that would instantly melt when it touched his skin. Toushirou watched him quietly with admiration, reminding himself of how glad he was to have met this man eighteen years ago. Brown hues turned to him as if to say that he knew the captain had been watching him, but Toushirou did not care in the slightest anymore.

"Have you been able to sleep well?" He saw a slight blush on his cheeks. "Uh-oh… what happened?"
"I believe the term is… a wet dream? It occurred last night when I dreamt of when you were assertive."
Ichigo snorted and poked at his cheek. "Well now, aren't you the perverted little taichou? I told you that—"
"No, believe me, I'm aware of your reluctance that night." His hand removed his. "I know we're finished."
"I wouldn't call it finished, we're friends without intimacy again. Who knows… maybe we'll be together."
Cheeks reddened before scowling at him. "Now who's the pervert?" He turned his attention to the kids.
"Like I said, who knows. We have history together now." His lips curved in a smile. "Besides, you're cute."
"S-Shut up Kurosaki." The captain refused to look at him or else he would be harassed even more so.
"I'm serious," he caressed the soft white strands of hair. "You're cute, there's nothing wrong with it."
His hand smacked his away so he would not be touched. "A taichou should not be dubbed as cute."
"Byakuya's a little cute… Soi Fon… eh, a tiny bit…" The more he thought, the bigger the scowl he received.
"So you're saying that Kuchiki-taichou and Soi Fon-taichou are cuter than me?" He questioned.

"Hah, Toushirou admits that he's cute!" Ichigo grinned victoriously now before leaning back casually.

Realized that he was caught in his words, he huffed in annoyance before leaning against him to take his share of warmth. His mental desires and physical actions were responded as Ichigo brought an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. No one was paying attention to them… nobody really knew either of them… so the captain closed his eyes to listen over the heavy jacket. There was no doubt in the Strawberry's mind about what Toushirou wanted, so he decided to play it cool when shifting around.

"I know you manipulate ice and water, but really, you're freezing." Ichigo casually unzipped his jacket so he could wrap a side around the captain as he pulled him in closely. "Or are you purposely dropping your body temperature to get what you want?" He chuckled softly, but Toushirou looked up at him—about to object. "I'm playing with you. Even if this was a stunt, it doesn't matter, you're cold… so I'll warm you up."

The loud heartbeats vibrated against his ear, settling him down to the brink of wanting to close his eyes to sleep for just a few minutes. As he began to drift off, the children at the playground started to laugh and cheer with joy; they were obnoxious little creatures. His attention lifted to look at the man to see him watch the group of happy youngsters running around in the snow and on the playground equipment. This man had been a great help to Kuchiki Rukia and her large stomach that was seven months in… or some odd amount of weeks. Watching him look at the children as if he were a protective father or older brother had made him want to ask a question that interested him.

"Kurosaki," he started, earning his attention, "do you want children?"

"I thought you were trying to sneak in a little nap, Toushirou." Ichigo had completely ignored the question; reminding the captain of the time Rukia asked what he would have done if it were her child with this man rather than with Abarai Renji. "Go ahead and get a little sleep, and then we'll walk all around the park."

"You're not answering my question, why is that?" He watched carefully.
The man pondered. "Is this because I went on a date with Rangiku-san?"
Toushirou had completely forgotten that. "Did you two have fun that night?"
"She yelled louder than you," his eyes rolled, "but she doesn't moan as—ow!"
An elbow hit the man's ribcage. "I never yelled, nor have I ever moaned, Pervert."

"Keep up with those lies and I'll be tempted to prove you wrong." Ichigo muttered under his breath before leaning down to whisper in his ear. "Don't you remember? You biting your hand, crying out 'Ichi, Ichi, ah, Ichigo,' weren't you?" He saw Toushirou's cheeks reddened a few darker shades, allowing him to laugh softly. "You really are too cute when you want to be." His hand rustled the captain's hair once again. "Now then, rest for a good hour or so while you can. Otherwise, you won't be able to listen to my heartbeat."

Not needing to be told once more,

Toushirou closed his eyes,

And fell fast asleep…

It turned to be a little over an hour before he began to stir awake slowly, only to see that there were still children playing as the snow gained a little more depth. Tired eyes looked up to see deep chocolate brown hues looking down at him—his cheeks turned a few shades red from this. Somehow finding his gaze infatuating, he buried his face against this man's muscular chest to hide his expression so that he would not be teased. Despite that, it was decided to discontinue any spoil treatment for the captain by the Strawberry, Ichigo occasionally tended to look after him… and tease him.

"You never moved so much in your sleep before," the man stated quietly.

Toushirou did not like how this was said, so he looked at himself to find out that his body was sideways on top of the man's lap. Both strong arms wrapped around his curled up body with the jacket to keep his body warm and secure as the time flew by. He slowly removed himself from the man, quickly engulfed in the cold weather—he should have worn more than a long-sleeved shirt beneath his short-sleeved one. A hunter green jacket was plopped on top of his head, causing him to know that it was the jacket that this man was wearing. It was big… it was warm… and it smelt like Kurosaki Ichigo. Knowing that there would be no arguments about taking the offer, the man watched him place it on before he began to walk off while the captain was occupied.

"K-Kurosaki!" Toushirou called in annoyance, hurrying after the man that was leaving him behind.

He chuckled as the other chased after him a few feet to catch up to him. "I wasn't going to leave you."

"I'm fully aware of that." The captain scowled at him unhappily. "You still could have waited for me."

A hand come up and rustled his hair. "Are you that special?" His hand was smacked away from him.

As the man began to walk off again, two small hands grabbed one of his arms to stop him. "I wanted to talk before we continue on our walk, I—we can still do that, right?" Toushirou earned his attention, both standing merely ten feet away from the playground, and two feet away from the sidewalk. "It's been a year since I was assaulted, and it was because of you that I've survived it. When I try to think about what would have happened, I realize that I would have never been saved from that place if it weren't for you." He paused for the moment, watching a slight glum hit the man's face. "Everything that had happened to me was not your fault, it was those bastards who are, but that's not what I'm trying to say right now."

Ichigo softly nudged him towards a bench next to the sidewalk so that they could talk about the touchy subject that has been coped with. It was not necessary to sit down, but the truth was that the Strawberry needed his legs to wake up after being asleep for so long. With the captain having crawled onto his lap and curled into a ball through his sleep, Ichigo could only put up with it to let the other sleep, allowing his legs to go numb from the poor circulation to his legs. That sat next to each other in silence for a few good seconds before Toushirou began to speak once again as he once was before they sat down.

"Unohana-taichou, Matsumoto, and Abarai don't look down upon me after knowing the truth about what had happened. Yamamoto-soutaichou makes it hard to know what his opinion is about it, but I've learned to deal with not knowing." Turquoise liquid orbs lifted to look at the carrot topped man. "As distasteful as the experience was, it was a way life lesson to learn, and you helped me survive through such a lesson." He gave a rare smile towards him, revealing how he was honestly not blaming him for anything of the past events. "You gave up a large majority of your time to care for me, to tend to my every need and put up with my actions be they violent, terrified, or my beliefs of needed attention. You made sure that I was taken care of instead of discarding me—there were so many things that you could have done, that you could still do." Toushirou stopped for the moment as he looked away to gather a breath. "Instead of telling everyone what happened to me, you took me under your care. So why, why did you go to such lengths?"

"Blah, blah, blah…" the man scratched the back of his head. "You're always so dramatic." He glanced at the captain who stared at the snow on the ground, so he placed his hand down while then staring up at the clouds as he whispered softly. "Toushirou, you know that I do anything for my friends, anything."

"Yeah…" said captain almost laughed. "I know."
"If you know it, then stop pausing and keep living!"
Now, he laughed. "You are an idiot, Kurosaki Ichigo."
He chuckled at this. "So what of it?" He patted his head.

A ball catches their attention, bouncing and rolling from the playground to the street with two driving lanes for each side. They watched as it stops in the second lane from them while assuming that a man or a woman even was going to rescue the childish toy. The two were taken by surprise since neither expected a little giggling girl running past them through the slush snow, into the street to rescue the toy. As a loud cry from a woman called out to the child to get out of the street, it went unheard by the cheerful child who continued onto the soon to be on-coming traffic. Something stirred within the little captain in which was most likely due to no longer being cold thanks to the man's jacket, and chased after the girl.

"Toushirou!" Ichigo yelled frantically, missing the hem of the jacket as the other leaped up.

However, as it were to be expected by a captain, Hitsugaya Toushirou kept his footing on the slippery pavement, and grasped the child who held her ball. A car was racing forth due to the rush hour for workers who want to go home, causing the short one throw the girl to the Strawberry who caught her. The car was still speeding—it turned out that the man was chattering away on a cell phone, but Toushirou took a quick step and jumped out of the way. It barely missed him, but then the sound of loud screeching and a horn honking filled his ears as he turned towards the side. He had fallen because he had jumped out of the way, only to jump in the way of another speeding car trying to get home.

This car acknowledged the vertically challenged male by slamming on its brakes and swerving hard on accident because of the snow that melted against the pavement that surfaced the car fluids from passing by all the time. His body froze while his turquoise hues widened when he knew that he could not get out of the away in enough time, nor chance ducking under the car as it spun. Who would have thought that he would die by rescuing some human child instead of a human child's soul, it was almost a sick twist in his mind if he could process anything. Suddenly he felt his upper body being lifted by his shirt collars that were slightly choking him, and he found himself flying inches away from the ground. He collided into the snow by the bench that he and Ichigo were sitting on, so he looked—only to see that he was not there.

"Kurosaki?"

His head whipped over to the street to see the man turning to look at him eye-to-eye, smiling softly at him just before impaled by the side of the car. The Strawberry's body hurled over the car before going a few feet into the air, and landing on the ground lifelessly a few feet away from his friend. Toushirou heard the cracking of bones at the impact against the car and hitting against the pavement, but he was overcome by all the blood. Ichigo's looked at him, still smiling softly at the little captain until his eyelids drooped in a heavy manner before closing… permanently.

"Kurosaki!" Toushirou crawled over quickly. "Kurosaki!" He shook him quickly. "This isn't funny! Get up! Take all of my reiatsu needed!" The man did not move, so he dove into the man's pocket to grab the pill, and placed it in the man's mouth. "Come on Kurosaki…" Sirens were heard in which he knew to be called medics, so he took the pill out of the man's mouth when nothing happened. 'You should have come out in your Shinigami form…' It was obvious that this man was no longer with him, "Ichigo… I'm so sorry…"

An iron grip yanked his small form from the Strawberry, making him turn, and punch the man in the face—but a black clawed hand grabbed his wrist. "There is no need for your violence towards humans." It was Ulquiorra who did not look pleased. "Kurosaki-sama has reminded you to not attack them, obey his wish."

"Kurosaki—" Toushirou did not even want to say it as men touched the Strawberry, saying he was dead.

"Respect his decision for taking the hit for you, by announcing to his family what has happened to him."

The captain stared at him in hopes of not hearing him right… but knew that he had to.

The day came by to the fact that it was now one year today when Kurosaki Ichigo had saved him from the Hell that the captain had been through. The family did not hit well with the news… after all, that man had only graduated a few months ago to become a doctor as he had dreamed about for twenty years. Tears had filled both the Human World, and throughout Soul Society, but none more than from inside the Kurosaki Clinic where Toushirou spent two days. Telling them everything that happened, but no one had bothered to blame him for anything because protecting family and friends was what Ichigo did.

This was why he stood here in front of the long stone steps where he once followed the man…

Toushirou thought about everything that he had gone through with the Strawberry; all the fights and arguments, all the joys and laughter, everything. There was nothing that he would want to take back, because that idiotic carrot topped man, had taught him how life was truly worth living as lively as possible. They could go back and forth or left and right about who was more grateful to the other until one gave up to argue about it another day. The thing that Toushirou had never admitted—that would win their petty little arguments, was that he was silently grateful for the attack on himself. Though he hated the awful experience, he had found out what having a friend meant, and in which allowed him to get close to him.

He began to walk up the stone steps to the large flatland, greeted by a priest who maintained the shrine.

"It is nice to see a familiar face," the elder looking priest half bowed, "I'm sorry to hear about your friend."

Toushirou fully returned the bow to the man whom shared concern for him, and took it with open pride.

"Yes, thank you very much." The captain stood up straight to look at him. "If you don't mind, I'm late."

With an old wrinkled smile, the other turned and walked away to leave the short one be to do his task.

Ichigo had come here for months—he had still tended to come here after graduation, going to the oratory, praying for the one that now stood in his place. The captain stared in the one location where he had seen brown hues look forward before clasping his hands together, praying for the man. He had not been here for so long that it made him feel guiltier than before, but it was time to pray for the man who would pray for him. Images along with the man's voice echoed through his head as he wondered to himself where he was right now if he was no longer human. Isshin stated that he did what he needed to without having any unfinished business, and that the Strawberry probably decided to be with his mother.

'Kurosaki Masaki-san, please look over your son for me—for all of us.' Toushirou thought about it, and smirked at the thought of it before having to add. 'He tends to be stupid when it comes to him self really.'

The captain began to think of more past events with him…

"Oh, so he sent you, huh Toushirou?" A man with a shrubby bright orange goatee mused before opening the door wider for said short male to come in. "Sorry the apartment is a little dirty, I've been busy lately."

"I'm not a child, Kurosaki, I don't need snacks." The captain paused. "Thank you for preparing my meal."
"No problem, you're my guest after all. Whether you like it or not, you are a top priority." His phone rang.
He watched him, waiting for him to answer it, but did not budge. "Kurosaki, it could be an important call."
"If it's important, they'll leave a message." Nibbling on a piece, he glanced at him. "How did you sleep?"
"The call could be an emergency, and you're ignoring it just so you can ask me how I slept last night?"

"Are you kidding? You're the reason why I agreed to put up with Jii-san to be a taichou someday."

As Toushirou was reminiscing on the past while praying, someone entered the oratory quietly.

"Don't think I didn't catch that second glance you threw in my direction after looking my body up and down." Ichigo spoke with amusement before squatting down in front of the desk to be at eye-level with the little captain, but when he did not receive any reply, he pestered him. "So then, did you like the show?"

Kurosaki Ichigo was dead tired, but was doing his best to stay awake since he was needed. "You don't have to say anything that you don't want to." He whispered. " You don't have to explain anything to me unless that is what you want. But remember," he started softly. "You know I'm here if you need me."

Ichigo hummed curiously before placing his foot on his lap to remove the bracelet. "Could it be that…" he lifted his foot delicately, "that the Hitsugaya Toushirou is ticklish on his feet?"

"If you turn around and face my chest, we'll go home and keep hiding as much as you want." Ichigo said softly to comfort him. "If you open your eyes, you're making a promise to me that you'll move forward."

"I don't know what happened to you during those four days, but if you want to talk about it, I'm here to listen to you." Ichigo covered his face with a hand, "I hate that all I can do is cook your meals and share my bed with you, I want to be more useful." His hand held his face tightly. "Staying home with you was to make sure you wouldn't try to hurt yourself, and to be there for you if you ever wanted to talk about it…"

The footsteps behind him stopped, causing Toushirou to acknowledge the person slightly.

"Toushirou,you know that I do anything for my friends, anything."
"Yeah…"said captain almost laughed."I know."
"If you know it, then stop pausing and keep living!"

"Thank you, Kurosaki Ichigo…" Toushirou whispered softly.

If it were not for this man… he would never know how…

To Thrive to Live

The captain slowly placed his small hands slowly to his sides before whispering a soft goodbye since there was no longer a reason to come back. He thought on everything for a moment before his cell phone rang, it was not a phone call, it was not a Hollow alert, but it was a text. Though he was not in the mood to read something that would supposedly cheer him up, the sender was unknown to him. His thumb pressed on a button to check what the text had to tell him—his body tensed and his awareness became acute.

Unknown:
Turnaround.

Toushirou slowly turned around to look at the person whom entered as he prayed; he was nervous as to whom it was, but now he stared in awe towards the person who held a cell phone in his hand casually.

"I would appreciate it if an official Shinigami escorted me to Soul Society." The man blinked at the teary expression he was a receiving. "Sorry I was late, I met a lot of people on the other side, my mom too."

His small hand came up to wipe the tears away, "you idiot, don't apologize to me." Toushirou took in a deep breath before offering his other hand, "come on… it's time that you greet your fukutaichou."

"Ah…" Kurosaki Ichigo took Hitsugaya Toushirou's hand, and they left.

To be Continued in the sequel: Three Rules: Live to Love