It took a full day for Hiruma to wake up again. Mostly because Unohana had insisted on keeping him medically asleep for a while to give his body a rest from all the stress he'd been put through the past few days. Ichigo was at his bedside every minute of the day. He wouldn't even leave to report to the Soutaicho or change out of the Omnitsukido uniform.

He would have sat staring at Hiruma all day, torturing himself with what-ifs and should-have-dones, if it hadn't been for Ukitake and Kyoraku.

They brought him books. Books upon books of Soul Society history and law. If you can't stop Raiko now, they'd said, find a way to stop him. And seeing as he was a member of central 46, the only way to stop him would be legally. Oh, Ichigo could beat him in a fight, could probably kill him easily, but the murder of a member of central 46 wouldn't be over looked for anything. Ichigo would have to either hide what he'd done or go on the run and he felt that neither of those were options for him, besides he didn't want to turn himself into a murderer.

It was when Ichigo was reading one of the scrolls on Soul Society's many archaic laws that Hiruma woke up. The first thing Ichigo noticed was his breathing changing. Ichigo set the scroll aside to focus on Hiruma as his eyes fluttered open. They stared blearily at the ceiling and drifted open and shut a few times before he blinked hard and finally focused. Ichigo held his breath as Hiruma stared blankly at the ceiling for a few moments. When he turned his head to face ichigo, probably seeing his damnable orange hair out of the corner of his eye, his face was a mask of calm. Ichigo opened and closed his mouth several times, wanting to say something, but not finding any words. He finally just pushed the button above Hirumas bed to call a healer to the room. They only had to sit in awkward silence for a few minutes. Unohana decended on the room like the calmest hurricane you would ever see. Practically ignoring ichigo, she went straight for her patient.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Sore," Hiruma croaked.

Unohana nodded, "That's to be expected. Such trauma to the body can result in extreme soreness the next day. Let's take a look at your wounds."

Hiruma made to sit up and Ichigo took a step forward to help him, but Unohana put a hand on Hiruma's shoulder before he could get too far.

"It will be much easier for both of us if you remained laying down."

Unohana brought the covers down to Hiruma's waist and cut through the bandgaes wrapped around his chest with medical scissors. Ichigo bit his lip when he saw the fresh stitches on Hiruma's chest.

"They're healing well." She said, wrapping Hiruma up again, "There will be scars, but so long as you rest and don't pull a stitch, they should be fully healed in no time."

Unohana read the tense lines of Ichigo's shoulders and the atmosphere of the room like an expert.

"Let me know if there's any problems or if you have any questions."

She left as quickly as she'd come, leaving Ichigo and Hiruma alone in the room hidden behind a wall in the Fourth.

The two boys stared at each other, awkwardness filling the empty corners of the room. Hiruma glanced around at the room he was being kept in. There wasn't much to see, just blank walls and a few pieces of basic furniture and medical equipment.

Ichigo, though, couldn't stop staring at hiruma. Hiruma, who was sitting right in front of him, perfectly fine except for a few scratches. Hiruma, who was not a crying blubbering mess like most humans would be by then. Hiruma, who was still living and still breathing right in front of him.

"What's with that face?" Hiruma was staring at him now and ichigos eyes drifted to the silver that gleamed from his ears.

Xxxxxx

Silver glinted from the storefront, catching ichigos eye and drawing him to the store window where gold and diamonds glittered in the light. What had caught ichigos eye though, was not the gold necklace or emerald bracelet that matched hirumas eyes, but the simple silver earrings that sat at the bottom of the window, over shadowed by everything else.

Chad came up to stand next to ichigo in front of the store and followed his gaze.

"Those would look good on him."

Ichigo blinked.

"Huh?"

"Those earrings. You thought about hiruma when you saw them right? They would look good on him."

Ichigo colored slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"A high school student shouldn't really be buying jewelry for something like this…"

Chad shrugged.

"Do you think hiruma would like them?"

Ichigo stared at the earrings again. They were diamond studs (real or fake he didn't know, or care) that were attached to the back piece with the tiniest chain ichigo had ever seen. He could definitely see hiruma wearing them, but whether he would was another thing entirely. Was it too soon to be buying an extravagant gift like that for him?

"Our Queen deserves something nice."

Ichigos eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. Well if his inner self was vouching for it then he had to get them right?

Chad followed silently as ichigo walked into the shop. The worker inside looked up from cleaning the glass case and a look of confusion, then panic overcame her face. Her hand disappeared under the case. Ichigo bet it was on a panic button. He and Chad were downright delinquent looking and it wasn't the first time they'd gotten that reaction.

"Ah, excuse me, could I see those earrings in the window?"

The woman blinked at him, probably expecting more along the lines of "give me all your jewels" than any type of politeness.

"Oh! U-um, of course." The shopkeeper bustled to the front window and back with the earrings. She set them on the counter in front of the two teenagers and watched, still slightly nervous, as ichigo inspected them. He only needed a minute to decide after he saw them up close and right in front of him.

"How much?"

The woman rattled off a price, high enough that they were probably top quality but low enough that they probably weren't real diamonds. That was fine. Ichigo didn't care about something like that and he doubted hiruma would either.

Ichigo tugged his wallet out of his back pocket and handed her a card while her eyebrows shot up. The price was a little more than your normal high schooler should have been able to afford.

"Would you like to pay in payments?" She asked politely.

"Just put it all on there." The pay ichigo got from soul society in a week was more than enough to pay for the earrings, let alone the amount he'd collected in his savings account over the last year since the war had been over.

The shopkeeper stared at him doubtfully and then went to swipe the card through the reader. She blinked when it went through quickly and handed him back his card.

"Would you like it wrapped?"

"No thanks," ichigo said shoving the little black box into his pocket.

The woman plastered a dubious smile on her face, like the card reader could take back its approval and ring declined at any moment, "H-have a nice day."

Ichigo absently waves over his shoulder as he and Chad left the shop. His mind was already running through scenarios of how to give hiruma his gift and not have them rejected outright.

Xxxxxxxxx

He'd figured it out eventually. Yes, he'd had to ask every single one of his friends for ideas until he'd thought of something he liked enough, but at least he'd thought of something. He'd ended up combining Tatsuki's ideas of a hike in the forest and Mizuro's idea of a picnic to come up with a picnic in wooded area near a large park in Tokyo.

Xxxxxxxxx

"Where the fuck are we going?" Grunted Hiruma as the two of them traveled further and further from the worn path through the small wood.

"You'll see." Grinned Ichigo. The grin reached his eyes just enough that Hiruma wasn't able to tell just how nervous ichigo really was. They'd gone straight past the stage of one asking the other to go steady and hit the part where they now introduce each other as boyfriends. Still, was a gift this, well, fancy too soon? What if it was too much? What if hiruma felt like he owed him or something?

Ichigo shook the negative thoughts out of his head and focused on leading hiruma to the spot he'd picked for their surprise outing. It was too late to back out now. He'd already bought the damn things and if Hiruma didn't like them, Ichigo would give them to someone else.

They finally pushed through a wall of tall bushes, hiruma sputtering and cursing through them, to a tiny space of clear ground between some trees. On the ground lay a blanket and picnic basket with two places already set and an electronic candle flickering in the middle of it all. It was undoubtedly, the sappiest thing ichigo had ever done.

Hiruma stopped at the sight of the layed out picnic and turned to ichigo, looking pretty stunned but trying so hard to hide his feelings as always.

"Sorry for the obstacle course of bushes," ichigo said, rubbing the back of his head, "I know you don't like being sappy and romantic where people can see you, so I kind of hid it away so we could have some time to ourselves."

Hiruma looked off to the side and ichigo worried he'd done something wrong until he saw the flush to Hiruma ears. Ichigo smiled and gently took Hiruma hand. He kissed his knuckles and led Hiruma over the blanket, bringing him down to sit with him. Hiruma had flushed even more when ichigo had kissed his hand. He laid his head on ichigo shoulder, taking in the sight of the fake flickering candle and the covered basket.

"You don't need to be embarrassed," chuckled ichigo.

Hiruma mumbled into his shoulder.

"What's that?"

"You're such a sap." Hiruma muttered.

"Yeah, but I'm your sap."

Hiruma didn't say anything to that and the two of them sat in silence, listening to the woods and the distant sounds of civilization.

"Hey, Yoichi?"

"Hm?"

"You know I'm serious about this, right?"

"About what? Picnics?"

"About us. I'm not just dating you to kill time or because I'm bored. I want to make this last for as long as possible."

Hiruma lifted his head from ichigos shoulder to look at him, a smart ass remark on his lips, only for it to die when he saw the seriousness on ichigos face.

"Why are you telling me this?" Hiruma asked after a moment of running ichigos words through his head.

"Because I need to know that you feel the same." Ichigo said. He didn't let his nervousness color his words. "I'm all in and I need to know that you are too, that you're not just playing some game with me."

Hiruma opened his mouth to retort, to yell when ichigo interrupted him before he could even begin, "I know you're not that type of person, not really, but I need to hear you say it…and I think you do too."

Hiruma shut his mouth and half glared at ichigo. His gaze shifted to the blanket on the ground as he thought hard. Ichigo could practically see the thoughts racing through his mind. Ichigo knew that Hiruma wouldn't answer until he had thought every single little aspect through.

"You don't have to answer right now, Yoichi. Take some time to think about everything. You can answer when you're rea—" ichigo was cut off when Hiruma threw himself at ichigo, causing them both to fall to the ground.

Ichigo returned Hirumas desperate kiss with his own just as desperate one. He didn't know whether this was an 'I'm with you' kiss or a goodbye kiss, so he clung to Hiruma and poured his entire heart into it. Ichigo wished desperately that a single kiss could convey everything he wanted to say but didn't know how.

'Please don't leave me.'

'I need you.'

'You have my entire heart.'

'You have my soul.'

'I love you.'

The two of them parted, out of breath and squirming in their clothes.

Ichigo gazed at Hiruma on top of him, not saying what he'd realized, what he wanted to say.

"I'm all in."

Ichigo blinked and broke into a huge grin, bringing Hiruma down for another kiss. He wanted to tell him. He needed to, but for now 'all in' was enough.

Xxxxxxxx

In his revelation and ecstatic high, he'd almost forgotten about the earrings. He'd taken them out of his pocket and bluntly asked Hiruma, "Do you want to go steady?" Hiruma had practically facepalmed until he'd seen the jewelry box. After the miniature freak out that Ichigo could see in his eyes, he'd actually tried to hide his pleased smile as he put the earrings on. Ichigo had never seen him without them since.

After all that had happened, they had survived and he wasn't just talking about the earrings.

Hiruma had survived. He'd been kidnapped and held hostage by a lunatic with some sort of connection to the grotesque monsters plaguing the living world. He'd survived being chained up and attacked by one of said monsters. Hiruma was in way over his head here and he'd survived where most people would have broken.

"Are you okay?" Ichigo finally asked for the first time.

Hiruma stared at Ichigo with an unreadable expression, even for Ichigo.

"I was kidnapped and held prisoner for a reason I don't know by a man I know nothing about. A monster attacked me. Not even a costumed person or a special effects program, but a real fucking monster. You can apparently run so fast that you make people sick. I still have no fucking clue where I am and I still don't know what the fuck is going on. So, no. I am not okay. I want to go home. I want to see Cerberus and my team and I want to play football again like everything is normal. I want to understand and I don't want anymore fucking secrets."

Hiruma didn't even try to hide to glossiness to his eyes or the wetness in his voice. Ichigo bit his lip again, so hard that blood welled up. This was his fault. Hes the one who helped reduce The Commander from Hell to a scared teenage boy. Not once had Hiruma ever seemed so…young.

Xxxxxx

Not during the game against Ojou—

Xxxxxxxxx

Ichigo brought Hiruma his water bottle, freshly refilled while the quarterback discussed tactics with his team. They were behind. Things weren't looking good, but as long as Hiruma kept trying to lead his team to victory, they knew there was still hope.

Hiruma jumped into ichigo's arms, still wet from dumping himself and his entire team into the river. They had won. They had toppled the mighty kingdom and grabbed their spot in the top tiers of the tournament with both hands.

Ichigo laughed with Hiruma and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they joined the cheering team.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Not when Gaou broke his arm—

Xxxxxxxxxx

Ichigo had no problem getting past security and finding the infirmary. The teams manager was there and Hiruma lay still in the white bed. Right away images of people he knew and cared about lying in white beds covered in bandages flashed before his eyes. There'd been so many of them, too many, and not enough who they were sure were going to make it.

Ichigo snapped out of his daze to a hand on his arm. He almost attacked. Almost, but the person the hand belonged to had no significant amount of reitsu and the gentle touch felt too much like his sisters.

"I'll leave you two alone." The manager said wetly. She left and then there was just a teenage war veteran and high school quarterback breathing through the pain left in the room.

Ichigo went and sat in the chair the manager had left vacant. Hiruma had a cloth over his eyes and his arm was wrapped in bandages. Ichigo covered his eyes with one hand, trying to will the memories of lost people to go away.

"Fuck." He said quietly.

"That's my line."

Ichigo removed his hand an looked at a shakily smirking Hiruma still lying with a cloth over his eyes.

"You knew this would happen." Ichigo quietly accused.

"It happened to every quarterback on every other team. Of course it would happen."

Ichigo place his shaking hands under his chin, glad that Hiruma couldn't see him right now.

"Your team's going to be a mess without you."

Hiruma grinned, "They'll get through it. The backup quarterback is a hell of a player."

Ichigo had to quietly grin and bear it when Hiruma walked back out onto that field with a broken arm. Seeing real, not hidden joy on his face when the Devilbats won, though, was worth it.

Xxxxxxxxxx

And not when everything seemed lost in the finals, only for the Devilbats to miraculously make a comeback and win. That was Hiruma, always making a comeback.

Ichigo watched Hiruma struggle to hold himself together. Where was that comeback now? Where was the cocky grin? The devil theatrics? The plan that could only have been thought up in the heat of the moment by a genius?

Hiruma had been stripped bare by the trial he'd faced. His hard outer layers had been worn away by things he didn't understand until there was nothing left but a Hiruma that hid from the outside world.

And it was Ichigos fault.

'Don't you dare, King.' A voice sounded in the back of his mind. Ichigo took a deep breath to calm himself.

It was his fault, but mostly it was Raiko's.

Ichigo thought back to the mansion, when he had faltered in hiding from a stray servant, when he had realized something important.

He wanted to spend the rest of his life with hiruma.

Xxxxxxxxxx

"The soutaicho expects a full report of the rescue of the kidnapped human." Ukitake said.

"I'll do it later." Ichigo said, not taking his eyes off Hiruma.

"He also expects a report on how you deal with the repercussions."

Ichigo finally looked up, "Repercussions?"

"Humans are not supposed to know anything of soul society. You and your friends are exceptions only because of your powers and the aid you have lent Seireitai."

Ichigo looked down at his hands, "I see."

Ukitake put a comforting hand on his shoulder and then left him alone.

Xxxxxxxxxx

"I cant." Ichigo whispered.

Hiruma looked at Ichigo, confused, "What?"

"I wont."

Ichigo looked up at hiruma with tired, but determined eyes, "No more lies. No more half truths. No more changing the subject. You deserve the truth, so you're going to get it."

"Okay," Hiruma said after a minute. He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe.

"What do you want to know?" Ichigo asked.

"Everything."

Ichigo sat back in his chair. How the hell did he even start to explain the scope of all the trials he'd faced? Hiruma let him think until ichigo sighed looked up at him.

"I know how this sounds, but bear with me. Since I was a kid, I've been able to see spirits…"

He told Hiruma everything from waking up under his Mother's body to getting his powers a second time only to have them stolen by the Fullbringers. He talked about learning how to fight Hollows and help souls move onto the next world. He talked about Rukia's brother coming to take her back and how he and his friends stormed Soul Society for her. He talked about all the obstacles they'd faced in Soul Society's walls and the betrayal of the three Captains. He told Hiruma about the Winter War and fighting Grimmjaw, going to the Vizards, Orihime's kidnapping. He explained very carefully to Hiruma exactly what he was, that he had a Hollow inside him and that he'd learned to work with him in a way that the other Vizards hadn't. He talked about all the other enemies he and his friends had faced while waiting for the Winter War to kick start. When he talked about the Winter War, his hands shook. He noticed it and he knew Hiruma noticed it too.

Talking about meeting Nell and her brothers was easy. Talking about fighting Grimmjaw was hard, Nnoitra was even harder, but it was Ulquiorra that he had the hardest time getting out. Telling the person he loved that he had killed someone, even accidentally was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. He'd had to stop a few times, to take some deep breathes, to pull himself together, to just sit there silently for a minute trying not to get lost in memories. Then they got to Aizen and the last ditch desperate efforts of everyone to try to stop him until it was all up to him and the final technique he'd had to use to beat him.

Ichigo didn't tell Hiruma about the people they had lost. He did mention his two years of normal and getting his powers back through the Fullbringers and then having them ripped away again, only to gain them back again through his friends.

By the time Ichigo was done telling his unbelievable story, it had gone from early afternoon to evening. Ichigo was laying on the hard floor of the room with one hand over his eyes and Hiruma was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling, trying to process everything.

"So, that's everything that's happened the past four years."

Hiruma was silent for a few minutes before he said, "So, everything Raiko said was true."

Ichigo lifted his head at that.

"Everything Raiko said?" he asked alarmed, "What did he say?"

"The short version of everything you just told me." Hiruma sat up, "You lied to me," he whispered, "Everything we did together, every date, every laugh, every second, you were lying to me."

Ichigo dragged himself back into the hard wooden chair that his ass had gotten sick of hours ago and stared at Hiruma as it seemed like his world was falling apart.

"What was I supposed to do, Yoichi?" Ichigo whispered helplessly. Hiruma turned away from him.

"Was I supposed to tell you the truth? Would you have believed me? I wanted to keep you away from this world because what I've gone through is something no one our age should go through. I was trying to keep you safe--"

"Oh, that worked out so well!" Hiruma yelled, "You didn't tell me shit and it left me open to some crazy fuck wad and his minions breaking into my home and abducting me! I could have kept myself safe if you had told me! I could have protected myself!"

"What would you have done, Yoichi?" Ichigo raised his voice, "What could you have done? Shot them with rubber bullets? Thrown fireworks at them? Bluffed your way out? This isn't--" Ichigo stopped and put his head in his hands.

"Isn't what?"

"This isn't a game. This isn't the safe, idyllic life you grew up with. I'm eighteen and I've been to war. I've had to fight tooth and nail just to continue living, to not lose my very life. I've stormed fortresses, and ran headfirst into battle, and lost people I've cared about to enemies. I've spilled blood. I have hurt people, Yoichi, really bad, because this world is kill or be killed."

Hiruma looked at him with wide eyes as Ichigo panted, having stood up from his chair.

"I didn't want that for you." Ichigo said, softer this time, "I didn't want you to have to face that and have to run through the nightmares every night, like I do." he'd never told anyone this, but he couldn't stop himself, "I didn't want you to flinch every time a firework went off, or look for danger when kids scream while they play. I didn't want you to be haunted by the images you can't get out of your head or wake up screaming in the middle of the night by something that should be over and should just leave you alone already.

I wanted you to have the best life you could have and that did not include dragging you into a world where dying is always a possibility."

Hiruma still stared at him with wide eyes and Ichigo looked away and down at his hands. They were shaking. He clenched them together to try to get them to stop, but they wouldn't. He rested his head on them and took some deep breathes. After a minutes, he looked back up at Hiruma.

"I'm sorry." he said seriously, "I'm sorry that you were dragged into this. I'm sorry that I lied to you. You can yell and scream at me all you want if it will make you feel better but know that I am not leaving your side until we have Raiko in chains and behind bars."

Hiruma exhaled harshly and wrapped his arms around himself.

"Okay," Hiruma said as if steadying himself, "Okay."