-Oh my bloody hell. That was probably the longest month of my life. November, that is. For those of you that have been left waiting, I'm terribly sorry. I did conquer NaNoWriMo, so the month I was gone was not in vain. But you know what? The second those fifty thousand words were done, I came crawling back to my drabbles because I'm a deprived little girl who wants her fanfiction back. So here I am; and here is the beginning of the next set of drabbles in my ungodly long series. Thank you to xTKx for welcoming me back shortly before my return; you are the reason I won, actually. Because I realized that if I didn't finish, the entire month I spent away from fanfiction would have been wasted, and I couldn't have that. So that's for you, dearie. Anyway, this is the beginning of a new set of vignettes related to the Ichi-Hitsu pairing. If you've read my last set of drabbles, you may know what to expect. I have decided not to lengthen the drabbles, for the sake of not needing to by doing a larger quantity of them. That, and I find that pushing myself to a word count takes away from some of the spontaneity of the drabbles. So, that plan was nixed for the sake of my sanity. For those of you that are new to this, I take one word prompt donations to work up to 200. You can donate a set if you'd like, or just one if you can't come up with any more. Other than that I don't think I have any news that can't be saved for the bottom author's note, so in the mean time, enjoy the drabbles, biffles.

1: Deception

For a long time, everyone in the Soul Society had a difficult time dealing with Aizen's betrayal. Even the most observant of them all had been blind to the signs; unable in every sense to protect themselves from the hammer stroke when it fell. But only those who had been closes to figuring it out had been caused the most pain, and for a long time Ichigo forgot that Toshiro was counted amongst those few.

But when one day he'd been rummaging through the young Captain's closet, and found a small package, wrapped up in brown paper and string tucked away into the furthest corners of the smaller man's closet. He'd drawn it out, probably out of mere curiosity, and opened it to find a rather nice, woven red scarf inside.

"Put that away, Kurosaki."

He'd turned to face the young Captain, who had a grim expression on his face. Ichigo couldn't guess why; it was only a scarf, after all. There seemed no reason to get so upset about it. But the look on Toshiro's face told him otherwise. However, he wasn't going to put it away until he'd gotten some reason as to why he should. "Why, Toshiro?" he'd asked. "What is it?"

Toshiro had turned away, saying bitterly over his shoulder, "Just another piece of Aizen's deception."

2: Ergophobia

"I think you have the antipode of ergophobia, Toshiro."

Said Captain in question glowered over the dwindling mound of paperwork at the young red head who had made the statement. The damnable teen was lounging on his couch (admittedly where he wanted to be for a well earned nap), skimming through his unabridged dictionary with all the interest of a bored three year old. He resisted the urge to sigh, and decided to merely return to his work.

Much to the proof of Ichigo's former statement.

"I mean, seriously, man, you work more than anyone else in the whole damn Soul Society, and you never seem to be done," the fly on his wall persisted from his safe distance away. "Makes me wonder if you're not addicted to it or something. It really does worry me sometimes, Toshiro."

The young Captain growled, kneading his forehead with the palm of his hand. "If it worries you so damn much, Kurosaki, why don't you do something about it?" he griped, not quite realizing what his words implied until they were far out of his mouth and beyond his capability to withdraw.

The smug grin on Ichigo's face showed that he was well aware of Toshiro's verbal foible, and was seconds away from brutally abusing it. And in spite of practically having asked for it, Toshiro was still no less inclined to let him do so.

"Well," the Substitute said slowly, an almost comical waggle of his eyebrows accompanying the word, "what did you have in mind, Captain Hitsugaya?"

Damn it all to hell.

Taking another slow breath, Toshiro looked up, his face straight as he spoke out in defense of his previous statement. "You taking some yoga classes, and learning to fuck yourself sideways with a rusty spork." Ichigo's surprised silence blanketed the room, and Toshiro grinned snidely at him. "That is what I had in mind, Ichigo."

The pleasant silence was broken rather abruptly by Ichigo's hollering laughter. Toshiro would have sworn that the entire building was going to collapse from the force of it, and was amazed when it managed not to. And even if the building had not been razed, Toshiro would still be amazed if half the Soul Society didn't hear the ruckus.

But he had to admit, the sight of a fitfully laughing Ichigo Kurosaki was a hallmark one indeed. Especially as the young teen proceeded to laugh himself to tears, cry himself the point of not breathing, and end up rolling off the couch to writhe on the floor. At which point he promptly whacked his head on the couch he had just rolled off of, resulting in more laughter induced tears at his own unfortunate pain.

At that point, Toshiro gave up on trying to contain himself, end ended up laughing himself. He was half curled over his desk by the time they both gathered enough of themselves to be considered decent, his forehead pressed to the wood in an attempt to hide his face as he laughed. He took in a deep breath, breathing out chuckles still as he straightened himself. Ichigo was far less composed, having to haul himself up from the floor and wipe his cheeks dry with the sleeves of his shihakusho. His free arm was clasped around his stomach, which was probably in a considerable amount of pain taking into account just how long the two had been laughing.

"See, Kurosaki?" Toshiro said once he was sure he wasn't going to burst out into laughter again. "I'm not addicted to my work." He couldn't help the small inserted chuckle that bubbled through at that point. "I'm perfectly willing to take crucial time out of my day to laugh at you."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, but was unable to keep the smile from his own face. "Yeah, whatever," he grumbled out, but his voice was still tilted with an undeniable smile. "At least I don't have that to worry about anymore, do I?"

Toshiro shook his head, still smiling as he returned to his paperwork. It had been a nice interlude, actually, and had done wonders to lift his mood. The rest of the paperwork seemed to pass by quickly, but he hadn't realized how little time had passed by until Ichigo sat on the corner of his desk, drawing his attention away from his now completed work.

He looked over at the other Soul Reaper curiously, wondering what he had to say now. But, knowing Ichigo, it was either something humorous or mildly insulting. But when their eyes met, Toshiro was forced to pause. There was a gleam in Ichigo's eyes, that had more pleasure locked in it than Toshiro had seen in a long while. It wasn't a perverse pleasure, just a friendly one. A warm pleasure that said without words, "I'm so glad I could make you smile."

But even with his eyes saying that for him, Ichigo said it anyway, smacking the young Captain upside the shoulder for good measure. Toshiro chuckled down to his stack of completed paperwork, shaking his head. He stood up, and Ichigo followed him up, in spite of far surpassing his height even whilst sitting. "I guess you're actually pretty good to keep around, Kurosaki," he said, settling his haori more comfortably about his shoulders as he made for the door.

He could feel the taller man's steps trailing after his heels, but didn't feel the need to look back. He knew Ichigo would be there; he wasn't nearly wily enough to sneak up on the shorter Captain, even when he was trying to. "How do you figure, Toshiro?" the other asked, amusement still potently present in his voice. It sounded nice; to hear such a usually somber young man speak so gaily.

"Because you certainly are wonderful comic relief. Who knows, maybe if I keep you in the office for long enough I'll be able to get the supposed stick shoved up my ass out," he said, and for the second time that day he managed to get Ichigo to burst into unceremonious laughter.

But when the taller man's arm wrapped around his shoulder, and a soft kiss was planted atop his head, he stopped walking to nuzzle his head under Ichigo's warm chin. "I only have one problem with that plan, Toshiro," he said into the snowy locks, and Hitsugaya hummed at him to entice him to continue.

"The only stick shoved up your ass happens to be mine, and I rather like it where it is."

3: Existence

"How do we know that this is real? How can we be sure that our existence isn't some kind of bad hallucination?"

A pillow promptly smothered his face.

"I swear to God, Ichigo, if you go citing Inception one more damn time, I'll kill you right now. Then you'll know it's real."

4: Trailblazing

If there was ever a thing as sheer bloody panic in his life, Ichigo surely found it the night he lost Toshiro to the streets of Los Angeles. All hundreds of years later he had a hard time remembering why they'd been in Los Angeles in the first place, but he did remember quite clearly how panicked he'd been when he realized that he'd managed to board a train with his spouse nowhere in sight. What was worse was that he had no recollection of where they could have gotten separated, but even by that time the doors to the train had closed, sealing him off until the train stopped at the next station some miles away.

It would then return to his memory that he and Toshiro had been sent to Los Angeles to investigate some strange, long distance Hollow activity, and that because they were so far away from the Soul Society, calling in to have a Spiritual Pressure Limiter removed would take six hours at least. And in spite of having every grain of faith in Toshiro's ability to defend himself against Hollows, Ichigo did not hold that same faith for Toshiro's ability to protect himself from other people.

Especially the type of people that lived in certain areas of Los Angeles that Toshiro would have no idea to avoid. And, yet again, Ichigo had every grain of faith in Toshiro's status as a genius, but there were some things that even geniuses couldn't be prepared for.

So, rather than wasting his time trundling back down the same way he had come on another train, he'd taken to the streets, leaving his body at the hotel they had been headed to and ducking out into the strangely lively city in search of his spouse.

But he discovered early on that he had a rather large problem when it came to navigating the trundling, bustling cities of Los Angeles; he had no idea where he was going, or how to get back to where he needed to be. Less than impressed with himself and his situation, he'd let his spiritual pressure spike as high as he could get it to under the Limiter's restriction, hoping that Toshiro would be able to sense it and give him some sort of return signal.

He didn't have to wait long at all, sitting atop a squat building, to see an uncharacteristically dark set of storm clouds conglomerating over a small area off in the distance. He recognized those clouds well; considering he'd seen Hyorinmaru's effects on the weather more frequently than he could have cared to guess. Taking the sign while he had the chance, he leapt from rooftop to rooftop in the direction of the thunderhead.

When he finally arrived at his spouse's location, he found the spritely looking man sitting on a rooftop, perfectly tranquil as he always was, apparently unperturbed by their separation as Ichigo had been. He also seemed unharmed, much to Ichigo's relief.

"You certainly got here quickly enough," he commented coolly, letting the ominous clouds disperse over their heads as he reigned in his icy spiritual pressure. "That was quite impressive. Very ingenious, Ichigo, I'm proud."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at Toshiro, despite knowing that the other man was partially serious. Mostly he was just relieved that he'd managed to find his spouse in one piece and not littered about the city somewhere. All kinds of gruesome thoughts about murder scenes and hate crimes shot through is head, and he was nearly sick to himself if it wasn't for the fact that the person he was looking for was sitting in front of him. "Yeah, yeah," he said, gently pulling the other up by his bicep. "Let's be done dawdling for the night and get back to the hotel, shall we? I'm quite ready to be done trailblazing my way through Los Angeles."

"Alright," Toshiro consented, kissing Ichigo's jaw as he stood. "But I appreciate the fact that you did all that trailblazing just for me."

5: Genii

"It takes a genius to love a genius, you know," Renji had told Ichigo one day. It had been when Ichigo had been questioning why exactly he'd been able to earn his way into Toshiro's world, and was worrying over the idea of being worthy of it. But that simple statement managed to wash away his questioning, even if he didn't consider himself quite the genius that Toshiro was.

But together, they were genii, and that thought was too appealing for him to pass up.

6: Marriage

"So, do you think you two will start another Royal House?" Rukia had asked him one day, and he'd looked curiously over at her over his plate of sushi.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, unable to comprehend whatever train of thought she had jumped onto.

"You have to admit, by you and Toshiro being married, you make up one of the most powerful marriages in all of the Soul Society right now," she said, pointing her chopsticks at him accusingly. "You can't tell me that there isn't even the slightest possibility that you two might end up creating an entirely new Royal House."

Ichigo's eyes had remained twitching throughout her entire explanation. "Rukia, if you haven't noticed, we're both men."

"I know that, stupid." She'd rolled her eyes at him. But she paused for a moment, seeing that Ichigo's confusion was honest. "You can't tell me that you haven't talked to Captain Unohana about that yet!"

Yet again, Ichigo was left staring blankly at her.

"You are such a moron!" At that point she threw her chopsticks at him, landing a rather sore shot to his forehead. "Go talk to her right now! Before Toshiro falls out of his prime!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ichigo barked, quite angry at the implication made towards his husband.

But before he'd managed to wrangle a proper explanation out of her, the shorter Soul Reaper had shooed him out, demanding that he go and see Captain Unohana before he come back and finish his complimentary sushi lunch.

7: Wolf

Ichigo couldn't help the deep sigh of relief he breathed when he and Toshiro returned from their favorite mountainside villa later that day. It felt calming, to know that Aizen had gone. To know that his lingering footsteps would no longer haunt their quiet house. He'd turned to Toshiro, grasping the other man's hand and drawing him in to a strong embrace. Toshiro returned it, but with a rather questioning look.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" he'd asked, a hand resting on Ichigo's arm.

Ichigo had merely smiled down at him, a gentle peck transferring from his lips to the chill lips of his partner. "I'm just relieved," he breathed out, straightening up and taking another deep breath before letting it out slowly.

"Relieved at what?" Toshiro asked as he strayed into their house, his bare feet barely making a sound against the wooden floors. But Ichigo remained behind at the doorstep, forcing Toshiro to stop and look back at him in order to get his answer.

"I'm just glad," Ichigo said, following after the other man and grasping his hand gently. "Because now I don't have to worry about there being a wolf in our house anymore. Now I don't have to worry about you being safe when we're not in the same room together."

Toshiro's eyes softened, and he gave Ichigo's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Me too."

8: Silence

Toshiro viewed silence a bit different than most. Some were unnerved by it, others comforted by it. He had to admit that he more than enjoyed it most of the time, but not for the reason that most people thought. It wasn't because it allowed him to think, wasn't because it calmed him.

Rather, Toshiro enjoyed silence because it allowed him to enjoy all the other quiet sounds he usually missed in everyday life.

It let him hear the creak of wood floors shifting as his house settled at night, to hear the soft rippling of the water in the Koi pond in his back yard. It let him enjoy the sound of silk sheets shifting in the summer night to accommodate the other body lying in his bed, and it allowed him to enjoy the soft sound of that body breathing against his neck as the night waned.

More than anything, that was why Toshiro enjoyed silence.

9: Drown

"I think I'd rather drown than die any other way," Toshiro had told him one day over the morning paper, as if he were commenting on the weather.

"I'd rather you not die at all."

10: Woman

When Renji had insisted that he and Toshiro join he and Rukia on their honeymoon, he hadn't been entirely sure what to think. He'd been honored, yes, but a bit concerned as to how awkward it would be. But neither Rukia nor Renji seemed to mind, so he'd consented quite willingly. What he hadn't known when he'd signed onto that little circus show was that Rukia and Renji had planned a trip to New Orleans, where they would be leaving for a week long cruise about the Caribbean. He and Toshiro had opted not to follow onto the cruise, but had shared a few days with the new couple in New Orleans.

They'd sequestered themselves at the Le Pavilion hotel, a rather expensive spot, but well worth the expense with its grandiose décor. Located in the central business district, it wasn't far at all from the highly acclaimed Bourbon Street, which, quite naturally, had been their first stop.

For Ichigo and Toshiro, their first and only stop.

Renji had taken on the horrible misfortune of picking their bar. Which, considering they were all well of age and had IDs to prove it, was less than a big deal at first. The only issue was that he'd picked a rather seedy joint called The Bourbon Cowboy to drag them into, a concept that had less than pleased Toshiro. But, being the good, patient man that he was, he went in anyway without a word of complaint.

They'd placed themselves at the end of the bar, trying to take up as little space as possible as the rest of the lively city gyrated around them. Ichigo could tell that Toshiro was less than pleased, and he really couldn't blame the man. It seemed that the famed Bourbon Street was little more than a seedy street where cleavage and other private affairs became public, and intoxication was almost guaranteed. The "culture" of New Orleans, seemed to be safely nested elsewhere. But Ichigo had ordered a beer, and just as patiently humored his friend as Toshiro sat by, sticking to water.

After a while they'd gotten to quietly discussing some things, eventually warming into a nice open chat where all of them were inputting and starting to have a rather enjoyable time. But about the same time that Toshiro was about to input some kind of remark, one of the cleavage-inclined waitresses reached around from behind him and all but forced a multi-colored Jell-O shot down the poor unsuspecting man's throat.

Toshiro, less than pleased, had swallowed the drink and turned to snap at the woman, but she had only promptly held out her hand and demanded a good ten dollars for the forced drink.

Flabbergasted, the rest of the group stared on as Toshiro paused for a moment, before sighing and flicking out a card out of his pocket. "I only have a credit card," he said, and Ichigo was suddenly very much suspicious at the mischievous tone in the younger man's voice. He'd gotten up and followed after the young man as he followed after the waitress, who had led them to the front desk where a cashier waited for them.

When they arrived, Toshiro attempted to explain his situation. "Excuse me, sir," he said, sounding rather terse, "this woman forced a drink on me, and is now demanding that I pay for it."

The cashier had merely shrugged, not an iota of apology coming from him. "Sorry, bub. You swallowed it; you pay for it."

Toshiro sighed, handing over his credit card with a grumble. But there was that gleam in his eyes that made Ichigo wonder what he was up to, and so he waited patiently at bay. The man took it, before asking for a proper ID.

Much to Ichigo's surprise, Toshiro smiled when he handed over the ID card, consenting to the request easily. The former Substitute couldn't fathom why this would be getting him out of any trouble. If anything, it would hold him accountable for what had happened.

But what happened next surprised him. Upon seeing the ID, the cashier quite suddenly swore to himself, glowering over at the waitress who had stuck around just to contend the claims. She seemed startled as well, and had demanded of him what the hell the matter was.

He'd flashed her Toshiro's ID card, and bit out, "You dumb bitch! He's under age!"

She paled at the accusation, bubbling up with excuses as the cashier handed Toshiro back his ID and credit card and ordering both of them out before turning back to verbally admonish the still floundering waitress.

Ichigo waved Renji and Rukia out of the back of the bar, quite happily obeying the order to leave as he joined Toshiro outside the bar doors. Once Renji and Rukia had joined them, and once they were at least two blocks away, he turned to Toshiro. "Toshiro, how the hell did you do that? I thought your ID accounted for you being of age."

"My current one does," Toshiro said, a wry tilt to his lips as he glanced across the sidewalk at all of them. "But I kept an older ID in my wallet because I'd forgotten to take it out. That one didn't account for me being of age; so I figured it would be perfect to use in this situation."

The rest of his accompanying group groaned with laughter, each and every one of them complimenting the young prodigy's ingenuity. Ichigo and Toshiro had parted ways with the newly weds, promising that they wouldn't want to spoil another Bourbon Street experience for them and promising that they'd take them out for breakfast in the morning. Renji and Rukia had bid them farewell, and Ichigo and Toshiro had quietly enjoyed the walk back to the hotel.

Ichigo was still chuckling when they got back to their room. "I still can't believe you pulled that off," he said.

Toshiro was laying on their plush, king size bed and let out a sigh. "I can't believe the waitresses do things like that," he said, shuddering. "It makes me glad that I'm no longer in the dating scene. Women are frightening creatures."

Ichigo sat on the edge of the bed, the plush cushion bowing beneath his added weight as he leaned over and planted a quick peck on his husband's lips. "I'm glad you're not in the dating scene anymore too, Toshiro. I don't know if I could have handled watching her do that to you if I was having to compete for your attention."

Toshiro kissed him back, smiling gently as one of his fair hands laced through Ichigo's fiery hair. "There wouldn't have been a competition, Ichigo. No woman could ever make me ignore you."

11: Beneath

When Ichigo did manage to convince Toshiro to go on a tropical vacation, he was surprised at how much the other seemed to enjoy it. He hadn't been expecting it, considering the heat was one of the defining factors in why they hadn't gone sooner. But their short sojourn in French Polynesia, spend island hopping and swimming until they couldn't move, went over wonderfully. Ichigo had been pleased, considering he'd always wanted a tropical vacation, but had also wanted to please his spouse.

He'd managed to succeed in doing both, because as he discovered rather quickly, Toshiro had a natural affinity for snorkeling. Or, what he considered snorkeling, and what most other normal people would have considered scuba diving. But water was part of Toshiro's element, even when he wasn't in the Soul Society, so it seemed whenever he was under those balmy teal waters, he was in a world of his own, the water rippling to his will to allow him to swim for longer than anyone Ichigo had ever seen.

Admittedly, Ichigo had been forced to rent scuba gear just to keep up with him, but he didn't mind at all. It was well worth the expense to be able to see Toshiro so calm, completely surrounded by a fascinating new facet of the element he'd bonded with for so long. Because beneath the surface, of the water and Toshiro's standard facades, there was a great love of things that lived and flourished, and the shifting tides and warm water coral reefs gave Toshiro just that.

12: Banish

Ichigo's head rested against his pillow as he looked over at his spouse, his eyes sleepy but attentive as he listened intently to the other man's breathing. Toshiro had woken with a rather violent start, his breath wrenching into a gasp as it tore out of his throat, his body jerking straight as a board as he sat up quickly, almost throwing Ichigo off the bed in the process.

Toshiro was still in a sitting position, his back bent as he buried his face in his hands, trying to calm himself down. Ichigo sat up with him, drawing ginger circles across the other man's shoulders in an attempt to help speed up the calming process. Toshiro was drenched in a hot sweat; something more than unusual for him. But his once panicked breathing was slowing, and the tremors he'd woken with were winding away.

"It was a dream," he started with a voice as dry as the desert. "Just a dream." He was sighing as he spoke, as if stating the facts aloud were helping to calm him. Ichigo leaned over, kissing a temple dotted with beads of sweat.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, gingerly wrapping his arms around the narrow shoulders as he spoke into Toshiro's ear in a whisper.

Toshiro leaned against him like a dead weight, his body's exhaustion after the episode made apparent by the laxness in his muscles in spite of his short-lived trauma. But his head was curled against Ichigo's collarbones, letting him know that the other was still disturbed.

"They banished me to the desert," he said, and Ichigo felt him start to shake again. He pulled the other closer, whispering sweet nothings into his ear as his fellow Captain continued. "I don't know what for, or why, but… I couldn't get out," Toshiro continued, his voice getting weaker as he spoke. "No matter where I walked or how far I ran, there was only more desert. More lidless sky, more barren sand, more emptiness; no water. I felt like I was suffocating, like I was breathing fire, like at any moment I was just going to fall away into ash, and become part of the desert again." He shook his head against Ichigo's shoulder, a fair hand gripping onto one of the arms encircling him. "But I kept going, because I knew I had to get to you. You were out there, somewhere, and I needed to get to you. But I couldn't, and the more I tried, the more it felt like the white dunes were swallowing me."

Ichigo let Toshiro sit in his silence for a moment, letting his own mind comprehend what the other had seen. He'd had those kinds of dreams before; the ones that were either blessedly detailed or frighteningly real. He didn't doubt for a moment that every second of the dream had seemed real, and didn't think for a moment that he too wouldn't have been disturbed by it. But after a moment's peace, he leaned down, kissing gently Toshiro's brow.

"Come on, now," he said, gently nudging Toshiro's shoulder, laying down and hoping to entice the other back to bed. Much to his delight his spouse did, but only to curl up against his chest once lying down. Ichigo wrapped his arms around him, letting the other's body cool off against him. "I promise I won't let anything like that happen to you," he murmured, wrapping an arm around Toshiro's neck and stroking at the soft hair at the base of his neck. "Now, let me banish away those fears of yours."

13: Maunder

Toshiro usually wasn't one for incessant chatter. He never had been, and he never would be. But there were times that Ichigo would catch him maundering, babbling out words that were undeniably sweet, but so superfluous that they seemed rather unlike him. Ichigo had told him so once, and Toshiro had merely explained that, when those bouts of wordiness washed over him, it was only because he was so inundated by a love he couldn't contain that he was unable to stop himself.

And that, Ichigo was perfectly okay with.

14: Mirror

"Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?" Ichigo said, nipping at Toshiro's ear as the other tried to brush him off.

"Oh stop it," the other man said rather petulantly, trying to swat away Ichigo's trailing teeth as he made to leave the bathroom with what little dignity he had left.

But Ichigo's firm arms wrapped around his torso, dragging him back in front of the large mirror they had mounted over their sinks. Toshiro had huffed at him, but as Ichigo's large hands reached down, dusting over Toshiro's distended tummy, he was forced to still his complaints.

"Even your stretch marks will be gorgeous," he said with a smile against the other man's ear, earning him another huff and another swat at his head as Toshiro finally managed to successfully leave the bathroom and head to bed.

15: Art

Artistry in motion was a phrase often used to describe those with outstanding grace or skill. But Ichigo had come to the conclusion long ago that true art didn't need to move in order to prove it was beautiful. It was capable of standing alone, perfectly still, whilst remaining the epitome of beauty. He'd often gotten Toshiro to laugh at him for such a statement, but he stood firm by his beliefs.

Mostly because he could take any singular photograph of Toshiro, and find so much beauty in it that it would have been impossible for him to consider anything more beautiful if he didn't already ardently love the man within the framed stills.

16: Unvociferousness

Toshiro was much more of a quiet and reserved person. He always had been, and always would be. And there were times in that deep silence that followed the man around that Ichigo was able to find words buried in his actions. Many words, he would often find. Volumes worth of words, buried into one, voiceless expression that would catch him by the roots of his hair and leave him melted.

Because all it took was a kiss; a lingering, firm, loving kiss. No words, no sound, but more things expressed than any voice could ever hope to say. Because sometimes Toshiro didn't need to be vociferous to get his point across, and that was one thing that Ichigo was also, very okay with.

17: Changing

"It's hard to believe that Ukitake and Kyoraku are retiring," Ichigo admitted to his spouse as they shared their morning tea. Toshiro's snowy head had nodded in agreement, his eyes sad at the news but the rest of him remaining neutral.

"It is," he conceded. "But I think that they've earned retirement, and will enjoy it together. I'm just thankful that Unohana isn't leaving anytime soon, otherwise we'd all be in a world of hurt."

Ichigo was the one nodding this time. "But it's hard to deal with things changing after so many years. It's like the old guard is going out of service and the new one is coming in." He shook his head. "It makes me wonder who is going to replace them. It'll be interesting to see who they pick."

Toshiro shrugged, taking another deep drink of his green tea. "Change is inevitable, Ichigo. We can only weather it as we can in hope of it bringing on a brighter tomorrow."

-Well, there. Not bad for my first day back from NaNoWriMo. I'm surprised that I got all of these done, even if it means I wrote five thousand words in one day. I guess I just really missed you guys. Anyway, there's one thing I wanted to add before I trundle off to bed, and that's to all the new readers out there. If you have not already read 100 Words I Would Say, I would recommend that you go and read them, because many of them will be continued in these drabbles, and you will be left horribly lost if you don't know where they're coming from. For those of you old readers, welcome back, and I hope you enjoy these. Again, feel free to donate; I've got a lot of drabble slots open, so no worries! Thanks again to xTKx who gave me these prompts forever ago; I hope you enjoyed them as a "I'm finally back" gift. Peace out for now, biffles, until next time.

8-90s love,

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