A/N: Titles are so hard to think of…

Don't think I need any warnings. Mild ByaIchi fluff, unless I decide otherwise whilst typing. Could possibly turn yaoi, not likely though. There will be a pitiful Ichigo, but that's always exciting with Byakuya nearby XD Oh, and this is a one-shot.

Okay, updated warnings...there are some words. And suggestions ;) poor embarrassed Strawberry XD

Oh, and Shiro shows up once. I decided he needed to keep his own identity, so imagine him looking like he did during Ichigo's dangai training ;) He's hotter that way anyway XD

I disclaim any ownership of Bleach.

Found You

Ichigo leaned against the slick boulder he had fallen upon. It was his luck that he had been sent on a hollow mission while visiting Soul Society. It was part of that luck that left him low on reiatsu after fighting almost two hours with the damned hollow.

He was exhausted by the time he'd killed it, then to make matters worse, he faltered mid flash step and crashed landed to the ground. He landed hard. He was sure that his bruised and swollen leg was due to a broken bone, that and he could hardly move it without causing excruciating pain.

To top off his already long mission, he was still in the outer rukon, AND it was raining. He slid down, careful of his throbbing leg, and sat by the rock. It was gonna be an even longer day. He just hoped someone came sooner rather than later.

…

Byakuya glared at the petite shinigami kneeling before him. Any other day he would gladly hear her out, however he had mounds of paper work to finish, and his lieutenant was no where to be found. Again.

"What is it you need, Rukia?"

"Please, brother, he's been gone far longer that it should have taken for him to defeat a simple hollow. Please, go find him! What if he got hurt?" Rukia pleaded, desperation lacing her voice.

He could only assume she was talking about the orange-haired nuisance. "Rukia, he was sent to the outer districts. It's natural for it to take several hours because of the distance. Knowing the fool, he is probably lost. It doesn't surprise me the slightest if he did lose his way."

"But brother! His reiatsu disappeared over an hour ago! I thought it was like you said, but I still can't feel it at all. It should have only taken two hours to get there and back, he's been gone for nearly five! Can't you do something?"

"Very well. If will allow me some peace later I will go find the boy."

"Thank you so much, brother!"

…

Byakuya sighed as he readied for the trip. He had to admit, it was a tad worrisome for the boy not to show up for so long. After his sister had brought the subject up, he too realized he couldn't feel the boy's reiatsu. "Stubborn fool," he muttered as he flash stepped toward the mission sight.

...

Ichigo moaned as he woke slightly. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle, showing signs of letting up soon. At least there was that.

His whole body trembled uncontrollably, from the cold or shock he couldn't tell. All he know was that he hurt, a lot. He tried to shift to a more comfortable position, but groaned and stilled when his leg screamed with pain. He had no idea how long he'd been sitting there. He was soaked, and cold, and just wanted to be home already.

He closed his eyes and tried to enter his inner world, perhaps Zangetsu could help somehow. Maybe it would be warmer there too. However, his concentration slipped on his way in. He tried again, but once again failed to enter. After a third try ended the same, he gave up. He'd rather sleep again anyway.

He allowed himself to drift again. He was almost asleep again when a familiar warped voice sounded, beside him?

"Ch, King you do get yourself in the worst situations don't you? Don't worry, I won't let you die so pitifully. I'm just helping so I can beat the shit out of you later. Got it?" He could have sworn it came from beside him rather than in his mind. Whatever, he thought as he succumbed to sleep once more.

…

Byakuya's worry was slowly increasing as his search covered more area. He'd reached the sight nearly twenty minutes ago, yet felt nothing of the boy's reiatsu. There were signs of the battle, and the hollow was obviously defeated, yet no substitute shinigami. He had searched several miles in either direction with no luck.

He was about to return to the Seireitei to gather a larger search party when a massive hollow reiatsu appeared about a mile away. With an exasperated sigh, he turned toward the reiatsu. Just his luck to have more added to his list.

Despite his irritation, he felt something strange about the hollow. It was almost familiar somehow. He couldn't quite place it, but he felt as though he had met this being before. It resembled that of an arrancar, a vasto lorde even, but that wasn't quite what was nagging him. He flash stepped faster, not wanting to leave such a strong hollow free to roam.

…

To say he was surprised at the scene that met him would be an understatement. Before him sat an unconscious Ichigo leaning against, what he assumed was, the boy's inner hollow manifested. He'd never seen him before, but the nearly identical being couldn't be anything else. His face was identical to the boy's, but he was pure white with waist length hair. A top his head was a bull-mask, and his clothing was a white version of Ichigo's bankai uniform.

He grinned widely as the stunned noble took in his appearance. "Nice ta see ya again, shinigami. Kept him warm for ya since you took your time. Have at him." He cackled before vanishing.

Now that the initial shock wore off, Byakuya took a closer look at the boy. His reiatsu was dangerously low, probably from the hollow wounds that littered his body. The boy's hakama was ripped slightly from what he assumed was a horrendous fall. Peeking through the tear was an angry bruise, most likely a broken bone.

He knelt beside the boy and brushed his hand against Ichigo's forehead. His skin was burning with fever. He sent some calming reiatsu to stabilize the boy until he reached the Fourth, and scooped him up. The poor boy was completely soaked, he must have been sitting in the rain for several hours. He tightened his hold and made haste to the Fourth Division.

…

It was a strange sight to say the least, when Byakuya entered the Fourth Division with an unconscious and soaked Kurosaki Ichigo. Unohana was rather surprised at the worry that lined the usually stoic Captain's face. She quickly took charge of the boy, ushering Byakuya into an operating room and motioning for him to set the boy on the bed.

"His reiatsu is low, very much so. In order for me to focus on his injuries, I'll need a steady infusion of reiatsu to keep him stable and bring his own back up. Do you mind being the donor? You'll need to be on an IV attached to him."

"Do what you must." Byakuya said as he sat in a chair next to the bed.

After hooking up the IV she set to work on the worst of his injuries, the first being the broken bone. Once she was satisfied it wouldn't cause the boy too much pain, she set to work on the rest of the injuries from the battle.

…

Unohana had completed her work quite a while ago, but Byakuya was instructed to stay as the boy's reiatsu was still surprisingly low. Though she had healed most of the battle wounds, his leg would need to finish mending on it's own. He sighed as he imagined the whining that would sound during the boy's recovery.

He looked over at the peacefully sleeping boy, he seemed so much younger when his scowl was gone. His hand unconsciously drifted to the boy's forehead. He was still warm, the fever from earlier still lingering. A light moan escaped the boy as he stirred beneath Byakuya's hand.

"Mm, it's warm..." Bleary eyes opened and looked toward the hand's owner. "Byakuya? What? Where am I?"

"You fool," Byakuya lightly scolded as he reluctantly removed his hand. "You're in the Fourth Division. Your reiatsu has been dangerously low since I found you out in the rukon."

"Oh. Yeah, I remember now. That hollow fight drained me for some reason. On my way back I fell and broke my leg, I couldn't move much after that so I stayed there and waited. I'm glad you found me, it was cold. Thanks Byakuya." Ichigo let out a rare warm smile.

Byakuya's heart nearly stopped at the sight. His smile was beautiful. Byakuya blinked at the strange thoughts, he thought the boy beautiful?

"You can thank me, later while I kick your ass, weakling king. I'm the one who showed him where you were. If it weren't for my kind heart, you would've died, and I would be king, heh heh." Ichigo's eyes widened as Shiro once again manifested beside him, on the opposite side of the also shocked noble.

"Shiro? How the hell did you get out here?"

"Apparently you don't remember me saving ya, huh? I can do whatever the fuck I want, king. Well so long as it doesn't fully kill ya. Oh," Shiro leaned close and patted Ichigo's cheek. "You should also thank me for letting your crush carry ya princess style. It was rather cute ya know."

Ichigo's already wide eyes widened even more as he swung weakly at his hollow. Red slowly bloomed on his cheeks and he angrily glared at his counterpart. "You jerk."

Shiro was in near hysterics at his king's expression. It was even funnier taking in the noble's widened eyes, as it slowly dawned on him what the hollow had said.

Byakuya glared at the blushing teen, who unfortunately was unaffected because he refused to look at the noble.

"I'm going back to sleep. You can both go away now." Ichigo mumbled as he turned further away from Byakuya.

"Unfortunately I cannot do that, as I am your current reiatsu support." Byakuya intoned.

Shiro merely laughed harder, "and I ain't goin anywhere. This is too damned entertaining, king."

"Fuck you."

"I don't think it's me you want to fuck, eh?"

"Shut it!" Ichigo growled as he leapt at Shiro. Fully intending to pound in the hollow's face, however his sudden action broke the reiatsu infusing IV, which was currently keep the substitute shinigami stable.

Ichigo managed a weak hit before the sudden drop in reiatsu made him stumble. Black spots appeared before him as he started falling, his strength leaving him fast. Shiro's laughter at the weak hit died off as he realized Ichigo was fainting. He reached out and caught the weakened teen, slight concern showing on his face.

Byakuya had merely watched the two during the whole exchange, preferring not to get involved. However when he noticed the how the disconnected IV affected the boy, he unhooked himself and went to the two. Shiro looked at Byakuya worriedly as he maneuvered Ichigo back onto the bed. He was still conscious, but just barely. He groaned as Byakuya put his hands on either side of his neck, infusing his reiatsu directly to once again stabilize the boy.

"I should go back, I s'pose. It ain't helping him any while I'm manifested like this, sucking up what reiatsu he has at the moment. I'll see ya later, prince. I wasn't lying bout his crush neither, it's rather annoying actually, always going on in his head about ya. Do something bout it will ya?" Shiro winked at Byakuya as he slowly disappeared.

Unfortunately, Ichigo was awake enough to hear the whole thing. He looked everywhere except at the noble hovering above him. He was sure his face was a nice shade of scarlet by now, especially with Byakuya's hands on him.

"You are very foolish to get so excited while in your current condition, Kurosaki Ichigo. You still haven't recovered your reiatsu." Byakuya scolded.

"I noticed. Um, you probably shouldn't listen to anything Shiro says. He can be rather...insane sometimes." Ichigo said in a near whisper.

"Then what explains your sudden rise in temperature, and your obvious embarrassment, if that isn't the truth?" Byakuya said, continuing the direct infusion. He was rather enjoying making the teen squirm so much. Ichigo remained silent, glaring at the wall to his left.

Byakuya took Ichigo's lack of attention to study the teen closer. His cheeks were reddened, adding to the teen's rather attractive features. The slight pout and furrowed brows struck the noble as adorable, and he suddenly felt strangely drawn to the teen before him. He almost drew back from the teen, stunned by the emotion he hadn't felt in years. He had, unknowingly, fallen for the young man before him. His constant annoying presence had worked it's way beneath his tough exterior until it seemed wrong to be without the warmth of the bright-haired teen.

His gaze softened as he continued to study the teen. He leaned in, and gently pressed his lips to Ichigo's, effectively securing the boy's attention. He pulled back slightly and whispered, "I don't know why it took me so long to realize it, I think I may have fallen for you as well. Ichigo, I'm glad I found you."

Ichigo's eyes widened and a small smile lit his face. He leaned up and returned the chaste kiss before he once again succumbed to sleep.

...

A/N: I know the last bit turned out rather rough. It probably makes little sense, as I was horridly distracted whilst writing it. I apologize! Know that when I re-read this, I will be dying over my many mistakes. My brain is tired now though, so sleep I come. I might re-write this if it is too horrid.

~EirSensei