AN: Well, here it is, the long-awaited second chapter. And seriously, folks, I want to hear from you. Especially on this one. You'll see why in a bit.

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. Sadly, the only bleach I own is under the sink, and I don't think I heard any Hollows or Soul Reapers under there...

Chapter 2

No Words Can Describe The Feeling

Ichigo blushed even worse than before. "What was that for?" he asked, in an attempt to make sense of it all. He certainly wasn't going to come out and admit anything first.

Byakuya blushed again as well. "I...I wanted to. Have...have I crossed some sort of line?"

"I don't know." Ichigo averted his eyes. "In the world of the living, two guys kissing like that is looked down on. I don't know how it is here." He can stammer? I never thought it was possible. Does he really like me like that? Was that why he asked about Rukia?

Byakuya blushed darker than before. "I really like you. Relationships like that are not frowned upon here. I had asked you about my sister, because..I knew if you were not interested in her, I would stand a better chance."

"Are you serious? I'm not even sixteen!" He winced slightly and subsided. "Besides, I'm nothing but a substitute," Ichigo grumbled, holding his side.

"You think your age or status matters to me? I don't care that you're only a substitute!" And with that, Byakuya kissed the orange-haired Soul Reaper again. Ichigo started to deepen the kiss, forgetting for a moment who he was kissing. The noble slowly laid Ichigo down on the bed.

Ichigo winced again. "Careful. You really dealt me a good one the other day." He gave a pained smile.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you." Byakuya laid beside him and nuzzled against him.

"Can I ask you a question, sir?" I don't even really know what to call him.

"Sir...? Really? Call me Byakuya. What did you want to know?"

"How long you wanted this. Did you like me even as you left me for dead in the rain?"

"You have to realize, I'd only known you for a total of five or maybe ten minutes then. I found myself attracted to you when you fought against the odds to save my sister."

Ichigo nodded, slowly falling asleep. "I still had help…" he mumbled.

Byakuya curled beside him, carefully laying his arm over Ichigo. "I know."

Ichigo fell into a more peaceful sleep, untroubled by Hollows. His last thought was, Thank you, Byakuya.

Byakuya nuzzled against him, half awake. "You're welcome." At that, Ichigo smiled in his sleep for the first time in years, as his lover held him as close as he could while they slept.

The next morning, pain in his wounds woke Ichigo around dawn. He rolled over, wincing, and nudged Byakuya. The older man grunted softly as he woke up. "What is it...?"

"Injuries." Ichigo held his side, grimacing in pain.

Slowly, Byakuya pulled the blanket back and saw the blood seeping out, staining the bandages. "Hold on, I'm going to get the healer. Unfortunately healing kido is not something I'm particularly good at."

Ichigo nodded. "Hurry back."

Byakuya ran to the healer and brought him back, settling on the bed beside Ichigo, holding his hand as the bandages were changed. "I'm so sorry, Ichigo. I shouldn't have let my pride get in my way. If I had just listened to you, you wouldn't be hurt now," he said, sighing as Ichigo blushed slightly. He was still a little unsure at being close to Byakuya like this with others near. It was one thing when they were alone and the older Soul Reaper was soothing him from a nightmare.

The healer looked up with a smile. "Thank you, young master. You have given this family a gift."

"A gift?"

"Oh yes. Look behind you. You have returned to use the young Lord that we thought was gone. His grandfather had disciplined his fiery nature out of him, and we thought we would never see it again," the healer replied.

Ichigo looked up at Byakuya. "So you haven't always been a stuffed shirt?" he asked.

"No. That was only recent. My grandfather, Ginrei, saw it as unbecoming of a Noble Lord to insight games of shunpo tag with the Captain of the Secret Mobile Corps. Or to at the very least attempt to steal Zaraki's hair bells." Ichigo tried to laugh, but it turned into a grimace of pain.

"Don't force anything." Byakuya brushed his fingers over his face slowly. "You still need to rest and heal."

"I've had enough resting. I want to get up and do things."

"Ichigo. You pulled open your wounds while you were sleeping. Do you really think you're ready to get up and move around?" He nuzzled Ichigo's cheek softly. "I don't want to see you hurt even worse because you are so stubborn."

"I've always been stubborn. It's just who I am."

"You get that from your father. He drove us all nuts."

"My dad? How could he have driven you nuts? He's still alive, as far as I know."

"Your father was one of us...about sixteen years ago he left our ranks. He hasn't told you about that yet?"

"No. I never knew that." Ichigo sighed and leaned into him, wanting to get up and move around.

"Rest for a little while longer, and once the bleeding has slowed, we can take a walk through the gardens. Does that sound okay?" Byakuya held him and gently ran his fingers through the bright orange hair.

"How can you know what I want to say before I even say it?"

"I don't know. I just...do. I know you are getting more restless, and while I would prefer you stayed in bed resting, I know you will not be happy until you can move around. The best idea would be to walk my gardens. That way you can move as you wish, but remain close to the house."

"Could I go see my friends instead?"

"Your human friends are not here, and you are not well enough yet to traverse the precipice world. I will have word sent to Urahara and have them brought to you. Renji is waiting in the main dining hall with Rukia. They are worried about you."

"Then I'll see Rukia for now. Maybe she can get me out of this weird dream. He sighed and slid further under the blankets. He barely knew this man. How could they be together?

"Then I shall be right back." He crawled out of bed, went to the dining hall, and brouht her back with him, crawling right back into the bed when he returned. I wonder why I feel no embarrassment having her see me near to him like this…

Rukia rushed over to her injured friend. "Ichigo! Are you okay? Why would you do something so stupid?!"

He looked up at her. "I couldn't just leave you to die. Not after what we went through together." He schooched away from Byakuya uneasily. What the hell are you thinking, Byakuya? What wokuld she think of us?

Rukia pushed him back into place. "Stay put. You don't want to open your wounds again, do you? Jeez. And I thought you were dumb earlier for taking on that hollow with no powers and a crutch. And don't you dare think that I would get upset over you and my brother being together. I think it's about time he opened his heart up again to somebody."

He looked at her stupidly. "But me?"

Rukia tilted her head, not quite understanding. "But you what? You don't want to be with my older brother?"

"All my life, I've heard that this sort of relationship isn't healthy. Especially not with a man that left me for dead," Ichigo explained.

"What sort of relationship? A same-gender one? Here in the Soul Society we aren't that strict. And I'm sure Nii-sama has explained to you why he did that. You can't see how much he's putting on the line here. Don't do something stupid and break his heart. I won't forgive you if you do."

Byakuya, meanwhile was snoring softly in the background, having fallen back to sleep.

Ichigo nodded "I'm sorry."

Byakuya subconsciously curled himself closer to Ichigo, mumbling in his sleep. "Won't…hnnn…go…"

Ichigo carefully wrapped his arm around the older man, careful of his wounds. Byakuya would be pissed if he found out that Ichigo hurt himself because of him. "I'll take care of him, Rukia. I promise. It's the least I could do." Rukia smiled and left the new couple.

Byakuya started waking slowly, nuzzling forward into Ichigo's hair. Hey…" he mumbled.

Ichigo smiled "Hey. You sure you slept okay last night?"

Byakuya cracked one sleepy gray eye open. "I hardly slept at all. Every time I would start to finally fall asleep, you would start whimpering and I would drag myself awake to run my fingers through your hair to calm you down."

"Oh." His face fell. "Sorry. I didn't realize."

"I wanted to do it. Don't be upset by something I did of my own free will. You were the one that needed the rest, and anything I could do to make it easier was well worth not sleeping for a night." And with that, Byakuya kissed him very softly. As they kissed for the second time, Ichigo felt his body respond. Byakuya deepened the kiss, forgetting that Rukia was still standing in the room. Ichigo pressed himself closer to Byakuya, wanting so much more from the older man.

Byakuya pulled back and looked Ichigo square in the eye. "Do you think you can handle this? I don't want to hurt you."

"I'll be fine. It doesn't really hurt that much."

"Okay. As long as you're sure. If you start to feel pain, let me know and I'll stop." Byakuya kissed him again, untying their robes. Ichigo nodded, watching him carefully as he ran his hand lightly over the bandages, kissing his way across Ichigo's jaw and neck. Ichigo leaned into his touch, well aware of his growing erection. Byakuya kissed his shoulder and wrapped his hand around Ichigo's manhood, starting to move his hand slowly along the boy's shaft.

Ichigo's breath caught. Was he really ready for this? But the feeling of his hand stroking him told Ichigo that he was. Byakuya Kuchiki was the first person, living or dead, to touch him like that.

Byakuya licked back up Ichigo's neck and kissed him deeply, running his thumb over the head of the orange-haired boy's penis. I almost can't believe this is happening. I feel like I'm dreaming, but I know he's really right there in front of...um...under...me.

Ichigo's hips bucked as he tried to push himself farther into Byakuya's hand. He'd give this man everything if only to keep him happy.

Byakuya broke the kiss to breathe for a few seconds and licked his way over the other side of Ichigo's jaw, pausing for a second. "Please...tell me how you feel," he moaned low against his lover's neck.

"Perfectly fine," Ichio moaned into him. In truth, he wasn't fine. His side, where Sebonzakura nearly cut him in half, was sore again, and there was a hell of a lot of pressure on his balls.

"That's not quite what I meant. I didn't mean physically. I meant emotionally." Byakuya slid down, pausing to lick one of Ichigo's nipples.

Ichigo gulped. How did he feel? Aroused? No shit. But other than that, he had no idea. Hell, he didn't even know how the two of them could make a relationship work.

Byakuya chuckled against his skin. "Confused? Worried? Not sure how we're going to make it work?" He kissed and licked his way down to Ichigo's navel and dipped his tongue in experimentally.

"Exactly. How can you know all of that without me saying anything? Is it my reiatsu?" he gasped, loving the feeling of his tongue on his skin.

Byakuya let his kisses trail lower, his eyes closing as he reached the thing he'd wanted. "I haven't read your reiatsu once since you've been here. I just know what it is your thinking. Like you're an open book." Gently, he slid his tongue up Ichigo's shaft.

Ichigo brought his hands up and tangled them in Byakuya's silky hair. God, it felt great. He never wanted it to end.

Byakuya sucked playfully on the head and moaned against him, enjoying the sensation of fingers in his hair. It's been so long since anyone's played with my hair like that...it was the whole reason I even kept it long...

His moaning then set Ichigo off. He threw his head back and pulled his lover closer. His dark hair was so soft. Ichigo couldn't help but wonder what he put on it to make it like that. Even his scalp under his fingers was perfect.

Byakuya put one hand out and felt around on the bedside stand for something, confused when he couldn't locate it. "One second..." He got up and went to the door and peeked out. "Hey, what happened to my massage oil? I know it was right there."

On the wooden walkway just outside the door, there rested a small, ornate-looking bottle tied with a ribbon. A shadowed figure that looked like a servant dashed around the corner and flashstepped away, heading back to make a report.

AN: Hee, hee. I bet you all are hating me even more after that little ending. Well, there's a little tidbit that DIDN'T make it into the chapter. PM me or something, and I'll show you what I mean. Spoiler alert: the tidbit explains how this is an mpreg fic.