Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story however is mine and is not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.
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The Gods of Flash(dancing)
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"If I eat. Another bite. I'm going. To explode," Tatsuki practically whined as she leaned against her husband, who was in the chair next to her.
Husband. The word still played itself around in her mind, and she found she liked the feel of it on her tongue quite a bit. They were finally married.
"I guess we'll have to wait a while before we make use of that dance floor, hey?" She 'mmhmm'd her answer as she cuddled closer into his side and he responded by wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Damn, if life can get any better than this I'd like to see how, he thought happily as he took another bite of the incredibly spicy food that was just one of the many things on the menu. He loved spicy things, which come to think of it was probably why he had been drawn to Tatsuki.
He nearly choked on his mouthful at the chuckle that wanted to come out of his mouth.
Chad was still eating, though that was no big surprise. A man his size would have to eat more in order to survive, but how
Rukia was putting away so much food was absolutely beyond him. Why the tiny woman never grew when she ate enough for a person three times her size was mind-boggling.
Shooing away the thought, he allowed himself to fantasize about what would happen on the dance floor. That of course forced him to remember what he had to do on that dance floor other than just dance with his wife.
Oh man, how many members does the Association have again? He didn't even want to think of
that answer.
In light of that, he reveled in the moment of peace and simply lost himself in the rare luxury of relaxing; calming himself with the presence and warmth of the body pressed so closely against his. From their vantage point they could see everything, and watching the bodies of their guests mingle and talk as the music played in the background was perfectly fine in their food-induced buzz. The day had been just like the night so far—positively perfect—and he could think of no better thing to do than just sit back and watch it all go by.
Before he knew it a hand was tugging at his sleeve and he looked over to see Tatsuki studying him fondly. "I don't think I've ever seen you like that," she said quietly. "You looked so peaceful, just…staring off into the distance. It was nice."
He smiled at her and gave her forehead a small kiss as he wiped aside the stray hairs that had fallen out of their boundaries. Tatsuki had given the hairclips back to Orihime as soon as the ceremony was done naturally, without them the orange-haired girl was completely defenseless.
"You ready to dance?" she asked calmly, and Ichigo almost jolted with surprise as an eyebrow rose questioningly.
"Didn't you just finish eating?"
She smiled at him. "That was over an hour ago. I'm good to go now."
Ichigo felt his face burn at the knowledge of what he'd been doing for the past hour but at least it had made the time go by faster. "If you insist, my Queen," he whispered lowly. He couldn't help but enjoy the way the outline of her eyes started darkening as her Hollow responded enthusiastically to what she loved to be called the most.
Rising first, he took her chair out for her to allow her to stand, and hand-in-hand they made their way to the portable hardwood dance floor. They felt the eyes following them as their rising signaled the end of one part of the day and the beginning of the next. The crowd parted for them as if not of its own volition and they were soon at the floor, where a live band made up of professional-looking Soul Reapers waited patiently at the side. It was nearly a small orchestra, but there were also synthesizing instruments and devices to allow for regular, digitized music from CD's and other computerized equipment. That of course was handled by someone that had been hired. God only knew what would have happened if one of the spiritual soldiers had tried doing that, considering most Shinigami could still be surprised by the daily assortment of rice balls in a modern day convenience store.
With their first step onto the floor the music started, and though Ichigo thought his wife may not have very much of an idea what she was doing, at least they could do one dance. It was this kind of music's specialty: a simple slow-dance. She smiled up at him and in response he put his hands on her hips, to which she seemingly melted into his torso; resting her head on his muscled chest and allowing herself to be swayed to the music. She hardly noticed when he started to actually move their feet; that was how absorbed she was in the feel of his body with the silken fabric over it. The violins played wonderfully, and the brass instruments that eventually joined were almost enough to lull them to sleep. It was a beautiful piece, and they were so into each other and the music that they didn't notice the others joining them on the floor, until when the piece was done Ichigo felt a tap on his shoulder.
"May the father of the bride have a dance with his daughter?" Mr. Arisawa asked kindly. With a smile Ichigo handed Tatsuki off to her father, who herself was beaming with love and pride.
He watched them walk further onto the floor until they relaxed into a steady, simple dance; one that was almost as traditional as the wait to see the bride before a wedding. A sudden spike of pain hit his heart as he remembered there would be no dance with the mother of the groom for him and he winced. He didn't know the pain was reflected in his eyes as he watched Tatsuki dance, but that soon became clear.
"Ichi-nii…I know I'm not Mom…but…would you like to dance?" Karin asked uncertainly, her beloved twin right behind her.
"Yeah," Yuzu affirmed softly. "Could we have the honor of a dance with our older brother?"
Ichigo smiled down on his shorter siblings and nodded. "Thank you. I would love to dance with you." He held out his hand to Karin and she took it with her trademark smirk in place, one so like his own. "Don't worry Yuzu, I'll be right back so we can have our dance." She nodded and Ichigo walked out to the dance floor once more, this time with a sister in tow.
They started dancing slowly, the only dance Karin likely knew, and she smiled goofily up at him. "Why do you have to be so much bigger than me, huh?" she asked sarcastically as she emphasized her point by bumping her head against his chest, where it barely hit the top of his muscled abs.
"You've still got plenty of time left to grow there Karin, and besides, most guys
like short girls," he replied playfully, and she blushed under his teasing tone.
"Shut up and dance," she groused, and her brother laughed at her lack of rebuttal.
"Okay Karin, okay."
The song ended, but only after Karin had almost fallen asleep in his arms. He couldn't help but smile at the endearing yawn she made when she pulled her head from off his chest.
Yeah, she's gonna be a tomboy for just a bit longer. I'm sure that's all she'll have left before a guy notices her, he thought with a wide inward grin. He couldn't wait to see the day when his little sister—the one who always emphatically proclaimed she would always be a tomboy—found the boy she liked and started acting like a woman. Oh the teasing would never end.
Yuzu was there waiting for him as he walked Karin off the floor, and with a cute curtsy she took his hand. It was almost like dancing with his mother, that was how much of a spitting-image Yuzu had started to become, but he focused on who she was just so that he didn't disillusion himself. Yuzu was Yuzu, and she would always be Yuzu.
"You're looking more like Mom everyday, Yuzu," he complimented softly, causing the shorter young woman to blush brightly.
"You think so?"
He smiled. "I know so. Better be careful or your big brother's gonna have to beat the boys off you." The insinuating compliment to the pubescent girl turned her cheeks fire red instantly, and her innocent smile soon after made the world seem right again. She really was the epitome of innocence, and Ichigo promised right then that he would protect that innocence no matter what the cost.
Before they knew it that song too had ended, and this time it was Ichigo's pant leg that was pulled. He looked down and there stood Yachiru, smiling up at him goofily like she always managed to do.
"Wanna start your dances with the Association now, Ichi?" she asked cheerfully. The nicknamed captain almost groaned out loud, but he stopped himself in time.
"Sure, why not?"
Needing no further prompting, Yachiru jumped into his arms and Ichigo almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. It was fun though, he had to admit that; the energy the seemingly young girl exuded was enough to make almost anything enjoyable. So with the little girl dangling from his arms, he started dancing, from slow circled to faster rotations. It made him look like he was dancing with a rag doll, but Yachiru only squealed and laughed her happiness for all the world to hear. Not surprisingly, many of the women of the crowd couldn't help but wish he was single again, even if most of them knew how old Yachiru really was. The man really was a natural with kids, even if he didn't look it at first glance.
Surprisingly, after he put Yachiru down she had some news for him. "A lot of the women don't want to dance with you anymore Ichi! No hard feelings, but apparently they have their own guys here! Sheesh, what were they thinking?" she exclaimed in complete bewilderment before bounding away, likely to find her beloved 'Ken-chan.'
On that note, the only reason the maniac captain hadn't interrupted the wedding so far to challenge him to another bout was solely because the pink haired little girl had explicitly ordered him not to do anything. For that he was eternally thankful, so the dance with her really wasn't as forced as it once would have been. Then again, on the other hand Ichigo could have almost fallen to his knees and thanked God right then and there for her parting information. It would have been too soon however, because shortly after a hand was put in his.
He looked up to see Rukia standing in front of him.
"Hey there, didn't think you'd get out of dancing with me, did you?" she asked softly. It was a strange tone for the normally serious and exuberant woman, but in his own personal opinion he thought it suited her much more than her usual tone.
"I
had hoped…" he joked lightly, and she gave his chest a small punch in response.
"Shut up, idiot. Am I gonna have to
make you dance with me?"
He chuckled. "No, of course not." Carefully he grabbed the shorter woman's hip to tug her to him, and smiled lightly at her indignant blush when he did so. They eased into the classic motions with the effortlessness of years of familiarity, and before he knew it Rukia had leaned her head against his chest.
"This is nice," she whispered softly. The tone was something he had only heard the woman use a handful of times, and his gaze softened warmly.
"Yeah…it is…" He may be naïve most of the time, but he knew what was likely going through her head. It had gone through his more than once before the impossibilities became too much to ignore, and before he had found where he really belonged.
"I'm happy for you Ichigo. I'm glad you found someone else…" she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence as she buried her head into his chest again.
"I am too. Believe me Rukia, if circumstances had been different, there's not a doubt in my mind that says it wouldn't have been you in that white dress today. As it is, I'm truly happy, and I'm glad you finally found Renji for what he was meant to be too."
She nodded happily. "He's just as big of an idiot as you are, but I love him."
"And that's what makes this perfect," he finished for her. "We weren't meant to be, but our friendship, the bond we've made over our time knowing each other; those are things that were meant to be from the beginning of time and they'll last to the end of it. I'm sure of that. You'll always be in my heart, just not where Tatsuki is."
Rukia nodded again. He sounded so much like Kaien right then it was almost disturbing. This was their last dance, their tribute to a relationship past. When Rukia looked over and saw Tatsuki still dancing, but looking over at her, she knew his wife knew that this was exactly what it was.
All too soon the song ended and Ichigo pulled away from her. "Now go Rukia, go dance with Renji. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."
She smiled up at him. "I know he will, idiot." The insult had almost become her pet name for him and it was said with no malice or hatred, just a sad sense of melancholy at times gone by.
"I'll see you later, Rukia." She nodded and with a wave she disappeared back into the crowd to find her lover and friend, the man that had wanted her forever and needed her forever. Their feelings were dying embers, while his and hers were white hot flames stoked through years of friendship. They deserved each other, and Ichigo was glad they had found each other after all that time.
The music changed, and suddenly Ichigo noticed a circle starting to be formed in the center of the floor. Walking over and pushing his way through the crowd, Ichigo found his wife the focus of the assembly, seemingly gathering herself as the music gradually gained in volume. He knew this beat, it was a very prominent Spanish tune and it was usually played when a woman wanted to dance singularly. It was a spicy dance, just like most things the Spanish did and it…
Oh. It was usually played for a lover or loved one.
Tatsuki's foot hit the floor the same time the bass started, and slowly her arms started to rise into the air above her head while her hips began gyrating hypnotically; gaining vigor as the beat took form and her eyes closed to allow the music control. Ichigo knew this dance, Halibel and the other women in Hueco Mundo performed it quite often. They loved to dance; outside of fighting it was the best way to express raw emotion. It was a very provocative dance even though the music itself was quite sad, mourning over something even. It turned from sharp, evocative measures to slow and steady strikes in a heartbeat, utilizing both strings and percussion with amazing flexibility. Her form matched theirs perfectly and it occurred to Ichigo that she might have sought help from the female Espada.
Her feet continued to move, pounding the floor more and more as her spiked hair flew around her head, her body moving seemingly of its own accord to the almost palpable composition. Each movement was slow and secure, cemented in confidence yet slow in its seductive nature, almost as if it was taunting someone to join her, taunting someone to dare interpose themselves in the spell she was weaving over the audience.
Her feet kept moving, faster and faster, her blind body flowing in the graceful movements befitting a master of Karate. It was almost like watching water dance among rocks as it fell from a waterfall, as her body moved with a fluidity rarely seen and confidence almost visible in the air around her. She was beautiful and calm, and his mouth was dry by the time the thundering beat ended with one last stomp of her foot against the floor. She stood there panting as she searched for his face in the crowd even as the applause of the crowd roared around her.
He smiled at her and winked, but quickly decided that wasn't enough and walked into the empty circle to give her a quick kiss and the applause grew louder. "Looks like someone's been taking dance lessons from an Espada," he whispered cheekily to her.
She smiled and blushed, more than magnificent on the glistening, already flushed skin. "You recognized it?"
"Oh hell yes," he replied lowly, "but seeing you do it gave it a whole new meaning. Now, I believe I have one last member of the Association to dance with. I'll show you what
I've learned."
She cocked an eyebrow but said nothing as he pulled away. Wordlessly he gestured to the crowd to spread out some more and they did so immediately. Scanning the crowd for the face he was looking for, he smiled when their eyes locked and she nodded to him slyly. This was as close as he was going to get to a dance with the mother of the groom. She was almost like a mother to him after all. She had taught him so much, not just about fighting, but about dancing and life as well. In a time of war she had become like a mother, teaching a young man unskilled in the ways of conflict and hostility how to survive and grow stronger. The emotional attachment was unexpected, but she didn't mind thinking of herself as a maternal sensei proud of his accomplishments. He was about to show everyone just how much those after school lessons had paid off.
He looked over to the orchestra and the lead conductor nodded at Ichigo's look. Bringing his hands up by his head sharply as his body naturally took the form it had been taught, a crisp clap of his hands signaled the start of another song. It was of the same kind of Latin origin as Tatsuki's had been, but this was more of a tango rhythm. One meant to be done with a partner. With those same crisp movements he circled one spot in rhythmic rotations, clapping his hands at the end of each few steps while his borrowed scarf trailed elegantly in the air behind him. He never took his eyes off that particular woman in the crowd, and the audience seemed to sense this. They parted in curiosity; only to reveal Yoruichi wearing an ensemble similar to what Soi-Fong usually wore—but it was filled out much better with the bronze-skinned woman's more developed body.
In what seemed like a few steps he was in front of her, a hand behind her leg to pull her knee up to his hip as he molded them together in the classic form of the dance they were about to perform. Their hands found each other in a habit formed from fighting and training together and just like that they were moving, gliding across the floor in long sweeps of their feet as they twirled and jumped in tune to the provocative beat playing. It was like watching poetry move over a floor, the congruity between them a sight to behold as their crisp movements changed sporadically to gentle dips and careful lifts before charging back into harsh claps and loud stamps against the floor.
It was something between a waltz and a tango; what those of the profession would call the Argentine tango; a heated and coy dance based as much in standard choreography as improvisation. There was nothing
maternal about this dance. Yoruichi's eyes sparkled in challenge to the orange-haired man, and Ichigo's eyes held the same; daring her to try and embarrass him. Out of all the dances she could have taught him, she chose the one most sexual. It was just like her to try and get a rise out of her student any chance she could, and the fire of defiance and warmth smoldered in their gazes as they drew together and came apart like they had been partners for years.
Tatsuki couldn't tear her eyes away from her husband's smoothly moving form as he danced like he had been trained in it all his life. She had only seen him slow dance over this entire night, and this was like going from macaroni to escargot in two seconds flat. She had nothing against slow dancing, in fact she preferred it, but what she was witnessing was amazing to look at. The sheer chemistry sparking in the air around them was almost disturbing, but it was a different kind than what she had with him. She vowed to make him teach her how to dance just like Yoruichi was doing so fluidly.
The ex-commander spun easily under his outstretched arm and her purple ponytail flew in the wind behind her until she was pulled against his body once more. Was it not in the choreography, and was it not his wedding, they could have very well been mistaken for lovers on the dance floor.
"Come on Ichigo, this is child's play. Want to show everyone why I have to share my title now? Come on
God of Flash…that would be a much better pace for this song!" she asked playfully, as was in her feline nature.
Her young partner smiled ruefully. "I wonder if they'll be able to keep up with us. You aren't the
Goddess of Flash for nothing either," he wondered aloud.
With two quick steps and a rough stomp to the floor in perfect symmetry as they turned their heads to the dance, it signaled the beginning of the next stage.
"Keep up if you can!" the Shihouin heir taunted the crowd, and before they could understand what the mocha-skinned woman meant the two that had just been visible on the dance floor suddenly disappeared. Needless to say the classmates that had stuck around were wondering where the heck they had gone, where they
could have gone even; but the Soul Reapers were trying desperately to track at least
some of the movements the two masters of Shunpo were doing.
Tatsuki was able to keep up somewhat thanks to her comprehensive abilities, and she was truly awed by the skill this time. Their dance was exactly the same as it had always been, but this time at a pace so fast it couldn't be seen. She didn't know how their speed didn't tear the dancing partners apart, but somehow they managed to stay together, and in perfect form, as they vanished and reappeared all over the dance floor. It wasn't even restricted to the floor anymore, now the air itself had become their dance floor. When Ichigo threw her he would reappear behind her to catch the spinning body and the dance would start anew, regardless of the space they were in.
She could see the looks on the other Soul Reaper's faces and even the Vizards, and for a second she was jealous that it wasn't her up there with her husband. It was a short-lived spike, because she knew enough about his teacher-student relationship to know how close the two were even though his heart belonged only to the one wearing his ring. Her husband had managed to form quite a few bonds with those of the female gender, but it was her he had pledged his heart to.
When they finally appeared again in the final pose of the dance, Yoruichi was against his chest in a wide stance and he was in an identical, inverted pose on the opposite side as their chests heaved in weighty breaths.
"Now that was a workout!" Yoruichi exclaimed happily, and Ichigo could only wipe the sweat from his forehead and laugh.
The crowd roared their approval and soon the chant of 'Gods of Flash,' had begun through them. His classmates didn't know what to make of it so they only clapped at the parts they had seen, but otherwise they didn't know just what on earth had happened halfway through.
Tatsuki ran up to her panting husband and eagerly pressed her lips against his, to which he responded just as vigorously.
"You do realize I'm going to make you teach me how to dance like that now, right?" she asked playfully, and Ichigo mocked a groan.
"It took me forever to learn those stupid dances after school. I didn't know a damn thing before then."
"So
that's where you were before the study sessions!"
He nodded. "I wasn't going to look like an idiot at my own wedding by confessing I didn't know how to dance!" he explained with a laugh, then noticed the small flush on her cheeks with some confusion.
"You could've just told me…then we could have gone together…" she confessed in a small voice. "If Halibel hadn't sought me out I wouldn't know a damn thing either…"
She was expecting a lot of responses, but him breaking out laughing wasn't one of them. "So we're both idiots, go figure!" he pondered aloud and received a punch to the shoulder for that. "But," he continued, and her attention was on him instantly, "we do know
one kind of dance. How about we show them what you're made of, Mrs. Tatsuki Kurosaki?"
Tatsuki couldn't have possibly grinned any wider.
The both sat down and even though there were still eyes on them they didn't care. The only thing they were worried about was getting grass stains on their pristine white clothes when their bodies fell to the ground. With two light taps of an all too familiar medallion, their souls were pulled from the bodies.
The Soul Reapers that hadn't been paying attention looked over in shock as the couple passed them in their shihakushous and many of them gulped at seeing the captain's uniform on the taller man. Many of them were seated officers but not high enough on the totem to even think that uniform was within their reach, so they were staring in awe at the man who had only taken a few years to reach that long-desired rank. Many of his classmates on the other hand, were wondering why the crowd was parting for no apparent reason.
When the two stopped a good distance away from each other, they both took their swords from their respective places and threw them to the sidelines, where they stabbed into the ground only feet away from the crowd. Ichigo stretched his arms and relaxed into a well-known Karate pose as Tatsuki did the same.
"Better strengthen the barrier Hachi!" the orange-haired captain yelled, though he never took his eyes off his newfound opponent.
"Let's dance!" Tatsuki shouted with a manic grin.
Then the two were charging at each other, and the first strike connected their two forearms and sent a blast of wind over the crowd in a concussive wave from the force of the two meeting limbs. From there it seemed to be a one-sided battle, as Tatsuki's fists were the only ones moving and Ichigo's form seemed to be all but a blur as he dodged the blows effortlessly without sending a single one of his own. Everyone could see the effect that was having on the female combatant, and her scowl deepened the more she tried to land an attack on the man that had just been deemed a fellow deity of the Shinigami movement arts. Her own use of Shunpo was starting, but he dodged those just as easily as he dodged her already superhumanly fast punches. Then before she even saw him move she was doubled over from what she could only guess was a punch to her stomach, and was sent skidded away from him at the force of the attack.
He was taking longer breaths, but no where near the labored pants coming from Tatsuki as she glared at her husband. "So that's the way we're gonna do this eh?" she said with another grin and then quickly brought a hand, already in perfect form to pull out her mask as her reiatsu flared around her in bright blue waves.
Ichigo smirked and crouched down just like she was, his hand too going to his forehead while his reiatsu flared around him. "You're not the only one who can play that game!"
Two hands came down at the same time and two explosions of catastrophic reiatsu soon followed when bone-like masks formed on the faces the hands had been held over. The Vizards all leaned forward to get a better look at Tatsuki's mask, and found it was just like her: beautiful in a deadly kind of way. Ichigo's was just as menacing as it always was and
everyone gulped unwittingly, including the Vizards. The seated officers were all kneeling on the ground under the enormous pressure the two half-Hollows were putting on the air and the spiritually-aware students were looking in shock at the two classmates turned masked warriors—from their place on the ground of course. Only the captains, a few higher ranking officers, and the Vizards were able to stand under the malicious pressure.
"
Care to try again?" Tatsuki merely growled in response and the mock fistfight took to new speeds with the surfacing of their inner Hollows. Ichigo knew one thing very important about this form, and that was that pain seemed to all but disappear and could be completely ignored while in it. With this in mind he was initially hesitant to fight back, but Tatsuki's no-holds-barred fighting style quickly threw that reserve out the window.
It was almost painful to watch, how the husband and wife willingly beat the living crap out of each other. Being the less experienced in fighting with reiatsu backing them, Tatsuki was the one getting beaten every which way every few seconds, but she wasn't completely helpless, and with the inner Queen on her side she did manage to get in quite a few blows that sounded so painful the crowd winced every time one landed. Ichigo was putting on a good show with his many hits, but had he been using his real strength she would have been lodged somewhere in the middle of the forest. Only after flying through all of the trees to get there of course.
His eyes widened when he saw the fist coming straight for his face but in a bold move he simply made his mask vanish. The sudden appearance of her husband's face, albeit with Hollowized eyes, stopped the fist instantly. He smirked and before she knew what he was doing he had grabbed the wrist placed so close in front of him and pulled her to him. With a simple bat of his hand her mask was sent flying and he stole a kiss from the surprised face underneath, before jumping back when her shock faded and a fist was sent where his head once was.
"
Oh you're going to pay for that!" she threatened through a smile and charged back at him, but this time after every few blows one of the two would manage to grab hold of the other's head and take a kiss from the other. It became a match of who could steal the most kisses rather than an actually fighting match, and Rangiku Matsumoto was extremely grateful she had been allowed to bring the Association's camcorder to the wedding.
This was going to make a great movie.
The Vizards and Kisuke Urahara however, they were focused more on what happened
before the kiss. What Ichigo had done
seemed as easy as putting on and taking off a plastic mask, but in actuality no Vizard mask should be able to be removed. Cracked and broken, yes, but
removed? That was a no. There was only one force in the universe that could remove a Hollow's mask that painlessly, and to see Ichigo able to use it so easily was frightening to behold. It was almost as if he wasn't even consciously aware of it. They gulped, but they knew Ichigo was too careful to be reckless with that power. After all, he didn't want another Vizard, that was never what he wanted.
They all knew he would never willingly make another with his power either, not unless a life hung in the balance.
Another shockwave of air brought them back to the Present and they looked over to see the wedded couple in a bout of locked hands, Tatsuki trying vainly to overpower her husband. Finally it seemed they both gave up and surrendered to the other urge flowing through them, and their previously locked hands went to each other's head to start a much more enjoyable bout.
"Who's winning?" Yachiru asked Nanao curiously as she looked on.
The bespectacled woman coughed politely into her hand. "Uh…um…" Even she didn't know how to explain it to the little girl.
"Well!" Rangiku interjected unexpectedly and made Nanao jump. "If the kiss under the altar was anything to go by then Ichigo should be winning!" Yachiru clapped her hands together in glee.
"Go Ichi!" she cheered.
It was that that likely brought Ichigo back to where they actually were, and with one last peck he disentangled himself from his wife's lips. He stuttered embarrassedly at nearly
everyone's looks of approval and Tatsuki was no better off.
They quickly slid back into their bodies and the music was started again. Now everyone could dance. The bride and groom had had their grand finale.
…
Well into the evening now, the stars were starting to make their appearance as the moon arched its way up into the night sky, littering the fairy tale wedding with even more romance. By this time many of the guests were either well on their way to tipsy, flat out drunk, passed out, or still stone cold sober, and Ichigo was sure he was going to have quite a bit of blackmail material by the time the night was up.
"I guess there's only one last thing to go before this ends," Yoruichi said in an almost regretful tone as she cuddled up into Kisuke's side while they sat watched the stars. The newly wedded couple was sitting off to their side, in much the same position as them.
"
Another thing? What now?" Ichigo asked with a groan. He didn't know how he'd take another surprise at this point, but his wife merely nuzzled closer into his side and suddenly he couldn't care less.
"Right here!" A husky, boisterous voice called out. The sound of a fist meeting flesh was heard soon after.
The orange-haired man almost groaned again. For that, he didn't even need to turn around. He knew that voice, and the hit that he heard after it only confirmed his fears. Nonetheless, he and Tatsuki turned around just to make sure. Just as he thought. There stood the two remaining members of the Shiba family, and behind them was a mountain of…
"What the hell is all that!" he shouted hysterically.
Ganju rubbed his nose proudly. "Our wedding present! Introducing the Shiba family First Annual Fireworks Festival!" This time Kuukaku didn't hit him, instead she winked and gave the wedded couple a thumbs-up with her remaining arm's hand.
Ichigo paled. He could see the other carefully arranged masses of what he now recognized as fireworks scattered all around the area. This was going to be one hell of a show.
"Light the fuse, Sis!"
Kuukaku smiled and dropped the Zippo lighter she had been holding, and when it hit the ground it instantly started the black trail of gunpowder that had been traced to the large pile.
The show started with a BANG, that was for certain.
The sky exploded into color; vibrant displays of explosions and designs with various sounds accompanying them. The darkness of the evening was almost forgotten in the brightness of the colorful fireworks and one by one the huge, orchestrated stacks of pyrotechnics were lit and more luminescence was borrowed to the air temporarily. It was awe-inspiring, and for once, Ichigo found a respect for the young Shiba man he hadn't had before.
This was one great end to an even better day.
When the fireworks ended, Ichigo and Tatsuki were ready to call it a day. Pretty soon they'd need to head to Soul Society, where the Association had graciously allowed them to have their honeymoon. The partygoers were still all in states of disarray and absolute drunkenness, so they both thought it time for them to go. It was very late after all.
"Please wait a moment, Captain Kurosaki," an elderly voice asked politely. When Ichigo and Tatsuki turned to the voice, who else should there be but the Captain Commander himself, holding his gnarled cane with the air of authority he exuded naturally.
"What's up?"
"We of the Thirteen Divisions have not yet shown you our wedding gift. If you will follow me please." And just like that, the old man vanished in a burst of reiatsu. Taking the cue, Ichigo quickly picked up his wife and—ignoring her surprised yelp—took off after the only man that may have a chance to stand against him on even ground anymore.
He didn't know where he was headed, but when he caught up to the Captain Commander he was already stopped at the traditional gates of one of the older mansions outside Karakura Town and was waiting for him.
"What's up?" He repeated, slightly annoyed at the runaround they were being put through.
"It would not be fitting for a captain of the Thirteen Squads to live at home, neither would it be appropriate for a married couple to continue to live with their parents. In light of this, and that since you are now captain of Living World affairs regarding Karakura Town and any other such major disturbances, you will be required at times to house reinforcements from Soul Society so such a sad organization of living arrangements as have happened during the war with the Arrancar do not happen again. Therefore, we of the Gotei Thirteen would like to present you both with your new home."
Ichigo and Tatsuki looked up in shock at where the old man was gesturing: right behind him to the traditional mansion just outside the city. The one they were
standing in front of. It was on one of the neighboring hills, just like a temple, and its styling was almost disturbingly alike to the Division Headquarters of each Squad of the Thirteen Divisions.
Mainly, it was
huge.
They were both speechless, and the Captain Commander took that as a prompt to continue. "It has been upgraded with all of the current living needs of today's society, and the deed was printed in your names the second you both said 'I do.' Needless to say you
will be responsible for any Soul Reapers under your care should you request them or should an assignment arise where Soul Society deems it necessary to send them over, but do not worry about any of the costs. Each Squad has a set amount of funds for their living needs, but since you are special exceptions for obvious reasons, if you should ever need
anything do not hesitate to ask. Having one Soul Reaper, let alone two, on permanent assignment here has proven to be invaluable over the past years, so think of this as our way of saying thank-you."
With that, Genryuusai Yamamoto, the most powerful man in Soul Society outside Center Forty-Six, bowed to the newly wedded couple.
Tatsuki wasn't able to hold back her surprise, but Ichigo had turned deathly calm in the wake of the elder's words. To respect the older man's gesture, Ichigo returned the bow with a lower one of gratitude and Tatsuki quickly followed his lead.
"Thank you," Ichigo whispered reverently.
The old man waved like it was nothing. "You are very welcome, Captain Kurosaki. Now I will be on my way, I'm sure you have much more pressing matters to attend to. I wish you well on your honeymoon." With a smile that creased his already wrinkled eyes, the elderly Soul Reaper vanished.
They both stood in front of the gates to what had been revealed to be
their house, and for the longest time neither of them spoke. Then Tatsuki threw herself into her husband's arms and they both started laughing out of sheer joy.
"Can you believe it! This is
ours!" she cried joyfully.
Ichigo smirked devilishly. "We're going to have a lot of rooms to christen when we get back," he insinuated huskily, and his tone went straight to her core. She shivered in delight.
"Who says we need to go to Soul Society now? I say we have it here," she crooned lowly and traced the shell of his ear with her tongue. Ichigo bit back a moan at the contact to one of his more sensitive zones. "
Then we can go to Soul Society so you can show me around. You said it yourself that we wouldn't get much exploring done right away, so how about we save Soul Society for exploring… and do the
consummating here?"
How she had turned her voice so sexy in so little time he had no idea, but his pants were getting tighter with each word she spoke and right then he was hard-pressed to argue with her. She had one hell of a point.
"Okay then my Queen, our castle awaits." With that, he scooped her up into his arms and walked through the gates leading to their new home.
It took much longer than he had anticipated though. The house was every bit as large on the inside as it was on the outside. Normally that would have delighted him, but today it was causing him nothing but trouble. By the time he found the master bedroom quite a bit of time had already passed them by, and when he looked down he saw Tatsuki had already fallen asleep in his arms. Now that he thought about it, it was
very late, not to mention the fact that it was a pretty high-stress day as it was.
He snorted down his laughter, but inwardly he was allowed to do it as loud as he wanted.
You know what, I'm pretty tired too. After all that dancing and fighting I'm surprised we both lasted as long as we did. Considering his complete lack of sleep the night before it was no small miracle, as well as the only thing that calmed his libido. He allowed himself a brief moment to look around the grand bedroom and he found it was every bit as luxurious on the inside as it looked on the outside.
Sleep well my Queen, you're not going to be getting much more once you wake up… He settled them both on the bed after carefully removing her wedding dress and was surprised by how calm he could keep himself in front of a nude female body; considering she hadn't been able to wear a regular bra with the kind of dress it was and her underwear would just be in the way when she woke up, so he had thought them unnecessary. Tatsuki was definitely changing him in that respect, but he couldn't wait for when that body would be beneath his again.
For now though, he pulled the covers over them and as soon as his head hit the soft silken pillow he was asleep.
…
It was to Ichigo's advantage that by some miracle of nature he managed to wake up first. As his sleepy eyes adjusted to the dark lighting of the room, he smiled as his mind reminded him of what had happened the day before, or maybe two days ago by now. He had felt tired enough to sleep an entire day away and even if he hadn't, right now he felt invigorated and refreshed. A quick glance over and his nerves finally came to life too, and they told him that there was a body pressing against his. A
nude body. She had snuggled up beside him sometime over the course of their rest, and it seemed she still wanted to sleep, as she wasn't up yet and there were no signs to say she had been up before.
He reveled in the warmth of her body and the feel of her sex against his leg, felt because she currently had a leg up over one of his and thus had her hips pressed intimately against him. The feel was enough to give better reason for the hardness between his legs.
Should I? He shifted slightly to try and put his plan into action and Tatsuki shifted too as incoherent words started coming from her mouth. Some he did manage to catch though, and they greatly bolstered his confidence. "Hmm…Ichigo…"
So she's having a dream about me eh? Well then this should go all the better. Thankful for the heat of the room so the lack of covers wouldn't be noticed, he gradually slid down her body to where her heavenly scent was coming from and tickling his supersensitive senses. Thanks to the Hollow within his senses were almost always like that, and her scent enticed him even more than usual. It was time to give her dreams a little more reality.
Placing a kiss at the crease between her closed legs, Tatsuki's sleeping form let loose a happy sigh and they opened of their own resolve while her sleep-talking was already starting to show the change that had taken place in her dreams. She moaned when he took his first slow lick over her hairless core and he was greatly pleased with the moisture that already started gathering at the contact.
"More…" she mumbled pleadingly, and he happily obliged.
Laying himself between her spread legs he was able to get much better access and he used that to his full advantage, placing wet kisses all along her now dripping sex. Her legs tightened around his head instinctively and he used the opportunity to take a long, hard suckle on the engorged nub that he had been previously worrying into its current size. Her hips bucked wildly in response to the attention on her clitoris and he soon waned back to softly licking and probing the wet folds, relaxing the muscles of her legs and easing her down from her closeness to climax. This didn't bother her body at all, in fact her voice turned into breathy moans that gained force after he returned to the soft treatment.
Confident she was nearing the peak of both climax and wakefulness, Ichigo assaulted her womanhood with vigor, drinking in her taste like a starving man and savoring each and every soft cry and moan in her sleeping state. Her body acted of its own accord and tried to get him to fulfill its needs faster, all the less inhibited because of her slumber. He was all too happy to comply and soon he heard the familiar cry of her release before her muscles all contracted at once and she stiffened sharply before falling back to the bed. Her quick breathing and the fact that one of her hands had moved to fall against her forehead was proof enough to him that she had woken up.
"Holy hell," she whispered in a voice still smoky from sleep, even though the adrenaline of her climax had her body at full wakefulness. She looked over her heaving breasts to the man contently cleaning her thighs of the remaining sweetness of her, his beautiful wife and lover, and smiled just as contently as he looked. "That was one hell of a wake up call."
He removed himself from her legs and crawled up her body until he covered her like a blanket to give her a soft kiss. She could taste the remnants of herself on his tongue and lips but she couldn't care in the least. They were in love, they were both fully rested, they were married, and she was about to make sure they were going to consummate that marriage. Right now.
She could feel the tip of his heated erection against her thigh, and her heart hammered in anticipation. Moving slightly to align them completely she rubbed herself against him, eliciting a mutual moan at the welcome attention. "So
Captain, you have your lieutenant naked beneath you; what are you going to do now?" she asked coyly as she made another slick motion against his sex. He groaned heavily and stared into her chocolaty black eyes with his molten amber darkened significantly by lust.
"I think," he started as he turned the tables on her, and began rubbing lines up and down her slit with his smooth manhood, "first I'd make her want it so bad that she wouldn't even remember anything but that need." Her eyes widened when he continued his teasing assault, slowly nipping and kissing his way down her neck and to her breasts. "Then when she couldn't take any more, I'd put us both out of our misery and make sure she screamed my name until her throat was sore." He ended his sentence by starting to bite and lap at a nipple before gliding through the valley of her breasts with his tongue and repeating the process on her other.
By now that, coupled with his never-ending strokes against her still wet core, had her doing exactly what he had foretold in his erotic foreplay.
"God damn it Ichigo, please…please…!" she whimpered.
He kissed his way back up to her mouth, the lay a lazy trail of fire to her ear. "I can't hear you."
Biting back her pride, which soon became easy when he glided the tip into her only to pull back out, she cried out louder. "Please…PLEASE!"
He smirked against her ear. "As you wish, my wife."
With that he plunged into her forcefully, taking both their breaths away from the sudden joining and the still unexpected waves of pleasure that coursed through them like lightning. Even after all their previous experiences this act never failed to set them in awe of the love they had for each other, and the completeness of becoming one being as their joined sexes carried jolt after jolt of mind-numbing pleasure to their brains was an added bonus.
Tatsuki cried out louder the harder he pushed, and she locked her ankles behind his waist to give her the added stability she needed to grind her hips into his with more force than she could have had before. She had been passive before, but today she wasn't about to let him do all the work and the combined force of their hips pushed them to penetrations never before achieved, hitting places never before discovered. His mouth made its way back to her bouncing breasts and even if she wanted to voice a protest, that was impossible when he securely wrapped his teeth around one of her engorged nipples. The unusual feeling shot straight to her sex and she bucked uninhibitedly against him, unable to stop herself even if she wanted to.
He raised himself to a kneeling position and grabbed her voluptuous rear to keep thrusting into her at the previously unused angle, causing her back to arc in what may have looked almost painful had she not been so flexible because of Karate.
"Oh God! Don't stop! Don't you dare stop!" she cried as the abnormal penetration rubbed areas she didn't even know she had.
She braced her arms on the bed and began bounding her hips as much as she could from the strange position, forcing him in even deeper than he was before and stretching out the blissful euphoria coursing through their systems like a drug. Their heavy breathing sounded lowly in the empty room as the two sweaty bodies met in carnal ecstasy, and Ichigo knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. The passionate cries of his wife clawed at his restraint, and the way she gripped him as he sheathed himself within her was nothing short of heaven. The almost unearthly soft bed nearly bent under the force of their joining and with twin cries of ecstasy the room fell silent as their orgasms rippled through the two occupants. As they both stayed there panting, Ichigo reached under her back and lifted her up to sit on his lap as their sweaty bodies slipped slickly against each other.
"That's one room down," he commented slyly.
It only took her a few moments to remember what he meant. In only a few short seconds an identical smile broke over her face, and with no warning she had jumped off him and ran out of the room, naked as the day she was born.
Ichigo smiled ruefully at her retreating form and he quickly made chase. She wasn't getting away from him that easily.
…
They couldn't remember how long their actual honeymoon lasted, but needless to say they didn't waste one minute of it.
Their lives together had begun, and only time would tell where they went from there.
…
Author's Notes: Heh, I love the title for this chapter, LOL! Thanks for reading!
