Disclaimer: Bleach is not my work. The one and only Tite Kubo is the one who made Bleach.

Warning: OOC Byakuya, but there is a reason why.

Is this real enough for you
You were so confused
Now that you've decided to stay
We'll remain together

You can't abandon me
You belong to me

Breathe in and take my life in you
No longer myself only you
There's no escaping me, my love
Surrender

~Surrender by Evanescence~

Ichigo had been keeping something from his friends for a long time.

"Ichigo, can you go with us to the mall? Today's a Friday." He was invited to hang out once again. He's not a killjoy, but he immediately said no.

"Sorry. Someone has to watch the house, and my sisters will be a little late today. They're practicing for some school show or something." he replied indifferently.

"Suit yourself. Next time then." his friend frowned a little, but she understood what he said and left with the others.

He looked at the watch, and he quickly took a taxi on the way home even though it would cost him a lot. If he won't go home any earlier, he might worry the one waiting for him.

He unlocked the door and didn't even think about removing his shoes, and just hurried upstairs where he could hear moans of worry and distress. Ichigo entered the room beside him, and a raven-haired man moved on his bed, his gripping hands threatening to tear the cotton sheets should he grab them any longer.

"Byakuya..." He immediately knelt beside the bed, holding the pale hands for comfort.

"Don't worry. I'm here now. It's just a dream. Just a dream." he whispered, wiping the cold sweat off the burning forehead. "You're getting a fever." Gray eyes opened and just at the sight of coral hair, he threw his thin arms around the student.

"You're back..." he murmured in relief, his winter breath tickling the sensitive ear. "You're back... Thank God..." The orange head smiled sadly, hugging him back with one arm but his hold is not as tight as the older man.

"You don't need to worry anymore. I just got back from school." His hand rubbed the firm back to calm him down, and when he finally let go he kissed the orange head's forehead but his hands didn't let go and continued to cup his face, looking at him like an angel no one can take their eyes out of.

His eyes burned with sorrow and that emotion of missing someone for a long time, but Ichigo's been away for only ten hours so that he could attend school, but he is all Byakuya has.

Since before, he knew the man because he was friends with Rukia, who is the man's younger sister. Both he and the girl were the best of friends, and he was also good friends with her brother but when he was twelve, the Kuchiki family perished in a house fire caused by unknown reasons and Byakuya was the only survivor. The loss made him broken. And if Ichigo never appeared in his life, he would have been completely broken by now, reduced to an empty shell of himself. But the boy is the reason why there's a small piece of sanity left in him, that kept him moving and speaking but it didn't mean that the tragedy didn't affect him.

His close relationship with the teen was the reason why his family decided to take Byakuya in.

Whenever Ichigo would be gone, he would try to sleep and dwell into a deep dream until the teen would come back, and he would act like he would back in the old times but a little more silent.

Later on, he worsened a little for he started to act like he's in deep pain whenever he would be out and far from him, almost like he reached the point wherein he can't bear even a little time away from the teen. This was troublesome for him and his family, but nobody blamed him as they understood.

He has never been close with anyone else but Ichigo, and though he may act calm with his sisters and his father, the boy is the only person that kept him alive.

Ichigo moved the hand away and stood up, getting a bowl of water and a towel to calm the fever. The raven head settled back down his bed and let him take care of the rest, appreciating every soft touch the boy would leave on his skin.

"I'll go cook dinner. Yuzu and Karin should be home by now. About Dad, it depends on his work."

Byakuya nodded, his body easing a little as the latter left to make dinner. He looked at his hands and moved them one by one, and he noticed that they felt more numb than yesterday. It's like his body seemed to be getting worse, but maybe it's because he just doesn't move around that much.

"Okay. Now that vacation is nearing and you all did a good job, like in your previous years in high school we will be going on a class trip for three days and two nights. It will start in a week from now."

Ichigo gulped at the term 'class trip', and the fact that it would take three days. He would leave Byakuya alone for that long and the thought of how would he act in the house while he's gone made him gulp again, trying not to let out his worry.

The bell rang, the others walked home, and once again he got invited to hang out with them and of course, he said no.

His fingers rubbed his forehead in deep thought while walking home, and when he clumsily bumped into a pole, he rubbed the sore part that would become a bad bump later on, he got the idea.

He never wanted to use it towards Byakuya no matter how crazy he would act, but he had to have him...

"Sedated?" Isshin asked. Even though the man would thrash the room and ruin it, they only used words and a few stress-relieving pills to get him to settle down and not act too rash for a while until Ichigo would leave again. Why would his son make such a decision right now? It seemed ironic because a year ago, when Ichigo hang out with his friends in the mall which lasted until the late evening and Byakuya already ransacked the room by the time he returned. That compelled the teen to not hang out with his friends outside school again.

"That's the best option." None of his class trips would be that long, and it would only take until late afternoon but since it's his final year in high school, anyone would understand why it's longer than usual. "Very well."

"I could choose not to go, but I can't keep on sacrificing time to spend with my friends because of him, despite his situation. I still have my life, and it's not always for him."

Even though they talked quietly and in the dining area which is far from the bedrooms, they didn't know Byakuya walked downstairs to call for Ichigo. He hid behind one side of the wall, and listened to their every word.

The words that Ichigo said hurt him, but his eyes grew dark and he fisted at his pale gray shirt while walking upstairs as slow as a turtle as to not make a sound.

He's not mad at anyone, but he's not willing to let the teenager be away for that long.

Thanks to blankly watching them many times prepare medicine or anything for him or other patients, he switched the sedative with plain water that made him feel like he was underwater for a second.

He faked his being sleepy to fool them, and resisted himself from smiling when Ichigo kissed him on the side of his face as his goodbye.

The door downstairs creak and shut close, and the noise was a signal that the teen already left and his eyes immediately opened but he didn't move for a while longer until the front door opened and closed thrice, meaning he's the only one left in the house.

He didn't bother to take a shower for he took a long one last night, and he slipped on his thin torso a white shirt, with black pants on his legs and some slippers before sneaking outside.

Each word that Ichigo told Isshin, he remembered and knew exactly where he is going.

Though he never ventured out for so long and it's supposed to make him feel suffocated, the thought that the younger man would be away for three days was unbearable and allowed him to overlook that fact.

With a little bus fare money he stole from their piggy bank, he walked far enough until it was already time to take the bus. Many other people are also riding in the same vehicle, but it's not the small space that's bothering him and through the window he could see all the houses he haven't seen in a long time thanks to his seclusion from the outside world.

Nobody wanted to sit beside him for the strange and cold look in his eyes gave them the intention to sit or stand somewhere else.

A few left when they reached a stop, and a man stepped in at the same time but just as the door automatically closed he pulled out a gun from his pocket and many panicked but he didn't gasp.

His eyes widened though as he heard a yell, "Hey you! Keep on driving, and don't drive too fast. I'll blow your brains out if you do."

The driver shuddered but he stepped on the pedal and steered ahead, going through a road where there were only trees and mountains from afar. Byakuya became even more alert, as he's getting farther from where he's supposed to go.

Anger started to accumulate in him like a volcano.

"Don't anyone of you make a suspicious move. I'll make your blood and guts splatter, should you not do what I say."

He cocked the gun and pointed it at every passenger, and almost everybody cringed in fear.

"Now, give me all the valuables you're carrying. Remember, give me everything or you'll be sorry." he threatened with venom in his words that gave people so much fear to throw out all their credit cards, bills, coins, even jewelries or family treasures.

But Byakuya didn't chip in anything to the criminal, and this did not go unnoticed.

"You there, didn't you hear what I said?" Others groaned or even almost squeaked with worry when the gun was pressed against his head, but he himself didn't show fear, and his eyes became thin lines of fearlessness.

He refused to give the small money that he had. The man really wanted to empty their pockets to the last penny, that it was irritating.

"I don't have any." he bluntly answered but the man yelled louder while pressing the gun even harder that it threatened to make a large hole in his skill should the trigger be pulled. His other hand strangled him but he didn't groan, though he knew that it's very hard to breathe all of a sudden.

"Do you want to die?" The man was violent and brash. True, but he's careless for he thinks threats would make people completely cower and not do anything.

Byakuya grabbed the man's wrist and the fingers felt like they were going to bore into his skin and crush the bones.

"No, but I won't die here." he hissed with a choked tone before twisting the arm that his shoulder was about to snap. He received a scream of pain, and his other hand grabbed the gun as the man was too busy in agonizing from his arm.

He never took a life before, but after pointing the barrel at the lower back and pulling the trigger, he just took one life. Others thought that he was a killer as well and got more frightened than ever, but they thought wrong when he emptied the gun and threw the bullets at the side.

Though he was physically weaker than before, he was still able to hold a grip on a man like that when he was about to be killed. Unfortunately, the man was still alive and unsheathed a knife that he threw with the last of his strength at Byakuya's abdomen.

"Die..." the man finally disappeared after that, and Byakuya strangely didn't feel the pain that he's supposed to feel, but he could feel the blood oozing down his skin.

He touched his stomach and his hand was completely dyed with dark red. Then he pulled the knife out of him with the other which caused him to finally feel the searing pain that felt like being burned from the inside. Byakuya slightly winced but he advanced forward, his mind clouded with one thought.

"I have... to go... to... him..." Others tried to stop him, worried from how much he's losing blood.

Ichigo, he wanted to see him again and to feel those hands soothe his pain. He may be physically hurting due to a hold-up that he wasn't expecting, but he gave out before he could mention the boy's name out of yearning.

"Byakuya!" A voice echoed in the blackness of his mind. His eyes opened a little, but they felt so heavy that he wanted to keep it closed and his head moved to the side, finding a more comfortable position to rest. The surface his body's resting on was soft and the last time he remembered, he was on a bus, right?

A bus...

That's right! He was on the bus and got held up but he injured the culprit though he got stabbed in retaliation. Why would he resting on a bed or at least something soft? There could only be one explanation.

He's in the hospital. But was that voice only an illusion because he wanted to hear the teen's voice again?

But he heard it again, along with a new voice on the background. He couldn't see who since his eyes were too droopy, so he only relied on his ears. Their voices echoed probably thanks to his headache.

"Wake up!" Ichigo almost yelled, his hands shaking the wounded body. "Kurosaki-san, don't force him. He lost so much blood that he needs to rest."

"... Is... he... dying?" he asked with fear, his eyes looking at the doctor who is also his father's friend. Those eyes had nothing but hope that he would say no and Byakuya is alright. "No. He's in a bad state, but at least the blade didn't hit anything vital. Though it will make it hard for him to move for a while. He would recover a little faster... if there's blood transplant but AB blood packs are hard to get. I'm sure you know that."

There was a pause, then a sigh of relief, then a curse. "Damn it. What the fuck happened?"

"As I heard, he went on a bus."

"A bus? But he never goes outside since Rukia and the others died. And... he's supposed to be sedated. How?" The last words were no more than a whisper, out of fear that the man might hear. "I'm not sure either. Your father told me that he did sedate the man, and how he would still move is something that we won't know for now."

"So what happened there?" He touched the pale forehead and for once, he didn't feel feverish. "A passenger had a gun and scared the hell out of most of them, enough to make them throw their money to shut him up. I heard from one of the passengers that he wouldn't give in and actually wounded the convict with his own gun but got himself stabbed as revenge."

"Why the hell would he board on a bus?" he repeated. Urahara shrugged, and left to give the teen some time alone.

Ichigo sat on the chair even though it would make his legs sleepy, but he needed to be by the man's side. He's suffering and in silent pain, and he's sure that he's the first thing the raven head wanted to see when wakes up.

The class trip was over, and only then when he reached home that he heard of the news as he was expecting to give Byakuya a souvenir he bought. A necklace with a leather strap and a pendant of a tiny but real diamond.

"I thought that this would make you feel better. The funny part is, I kiss it every night, to add a little luck to it even if it sounds silly." he chuckled with a bittersweet smile. "I hope that when you wear it, no harm would come your way." He encircled it around the neck and clasped the two separate ends together.

He wanted to stay with him until his eyes opened, but how long would that take?

And he just said a few days ago that his life is not for Byakuya but now he wanted to devote all the time he needed until the man would open his eyes and speak and move like an alive human.

"I'm a hypocrite." he mocked himself, but everybody is a hypocrite whether they're aware of it or not.

Hours went by that he slept for a while, his head on the unconscious man's lap. But he refused to leave, until he knew he had no choice. There's still school, and he had to study for his finals. But just as he rose up from the chair and almost left the side of the bed to depart from the room, his wrist was held.

"Don't leave..." Byakuya strained, trying to get up despite the pain it would give to him. He didn't need to say it again, but he did anyway. He really wanted to have the boy by his side.

When Ichigo turned around, he immediately leaned up and cupped the boy's cheeks, pulling the head slightly closer until their lips glued together in a soft touch. The lips felt so hot, they felt like fire on his lips.

Ichigo gasped in the kiss. Byakuya never kissed him like this, never on the lips. Every kiss they share, it's just a friendly kiss of comfort and it would be either on the cheek or the forehead, but not the lips.

The fever came back... and the raven head fainted soon after whispering something that Ichigo couldn't hear. He adjusted the man back on the bed, and looked at him with pain in his eyes before leaving.

He blushed beet red, and touched the lips that he unexpectedly shared his first kiss with Byakuya, who was the one that initiated the move.

A/N: Never did I think about making Byakuya an obsessive and stalker-ish seme before, but I was inspired to make him like that when I read Zetsuai/Bronze again, although the plot of this fic is entirely different. Reviews are welcome, and if anyone of you have any negative opinions, at least say them as nicely as you can. I don't want any flames which is equals to trouble.