[Dicontinued] Fire and Ice

Title: Fire and Ice

Author: BrucesGirl and R. Brightside

Pairings: Kurosaki Ichigo/Kuchiki Byakuya (Hints of Other Pairings)

Summary: Ichigo is called to replace Renji as Vice Captain temporarily. Sparks fly between Byakuya and Kurosaki, and they aren’t necessarily the nice sparks.

Warnings: Yaoi, UST, Angst

Disclaimer: We don’t own Bleach or Ichigo or Byakuya because we are not Kubo Tite. If we were guys, this wouldn’t be half as much fun.

Note: If you would please note the changes in authorship of this story. Brightside and BrucesGirl have joined forces to create Kokuchou Kayou (Swan Song) Studios. Our AFF profile is posted at the end of this chapter. Also, the sequel to Fire and Ice (still unnamed) will be posted on that profile as well.

OH YEAH!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS! *throws confetti*

Chapter 23: The Deal with the Devil

Kurotsuchi Mayuri had a bad habit of abusing his created Vice Captain when he was in a foul mood. Shaking her, disassembling her, and on the occasion, releasing his sexual frustrations on her was all part of the job that she quietly accepted as his subordinate. However, she hated him with a passion that her stoic, kind eyes did not betray.

She was sure it was a well hidden secret from everyone except from the only man who’d ever sacrificed anything to save her life. Ishida Uryuu definitely knew. She watched as her Captain approached the brooding father of the one who’d sacrificed his power for her, and she nearly frowned as Mayuri used that silken, deceptively warm voice to greet the elder Quincy.

“I see that the decision has reached your attention.” He slyly offered. “It’s a pity of course, not being able to stay in Soul Society. It’s no matter, however. Kurosaki-taicho’s lovers rarely last very long anyway.”

This man was smug. Disgusting, manipulating, and had the silken voice that he assumed a fox would have should it be able to talk. He, as a person, grated on Ryuken's nerves. He could tell the young woman that was Mayuri's Vice Captain felt the same, even if it was only slight.

"What do you want with me? Or have you called me merely because you have the sudden wish to taunt me?" He snapped, his frown heavy. He hated the thought of Isshin moving on, the mere idea of him holding another person to his chest as disgusting as the modified Shinigami Captain before him.

Although, he had a strange feel about this place... as if something here belonged to him. He remembered the pendant he had dropped, and then deemed the possibility of it being here was close to nothing. The Shinigami wouldn't have taken an interest in something belonging to a supposedly long-dead race - would they?

Mayuri smiled, if it was even possible with his altered face. He’d taken away his own humanity millennia ago with his research and replaced his visage with something ugly and horrid. He clasped his hands together in front of him, and tilted his head. “Well, our Division is in need of a test subject for research.

It would guarantee your stay in Soul Society without any issues from that old codger up at the top. And I could make sure that you can stay here…forever if need be. Now wouldn’t that be something?”

Nemu wanted to scream at Quincy not to betray his humanity so easily to Kurotsuchi-taicho, but she was afraid that Ryuken was too blinded by love to understand what being a ‘test subject’ meant. Please, Ryuken-sama…don’t listen to him. Her plea was unheard however, and she only stood obediently next to Mayuri, her eyes refusing to glance up at him for fear he’d see the hatred swelling in their depths.

Ryuken was shocked at the proposal, thoughts flickering through his mind. Test Subject. What was that supposed to mean? But, he'd get to say in Soul Society... stay with Isshin. And it was possible that it could be arranged for his son to stay here if he did. Isshin... if this is wrong, forgive me.

"So long as I am not altered, I will be your test subject." He remained strong, somehow. There was anything and everything that this could consist of... and he'd just agreed to it. Fuck. Well, it was too late, now. His words were solid steel... he couldn't go back on them now. A Quincy never did.

Nemu’s beautiful eyes closed in pain, and she bowed her head, a silent indication of her stress. Kurotsuchi-taicho had killed many Quincy during his tenure as a Captain, and she was sure that Ryuken would be one of the casualties. There had to be someone in Soul Society that could help him.

In a matter of about an hour, Kurotsuchi led them into the laboratories, the other Shinigami parting and scattering from him as if though they were terrified of what he might do to them. Nemu bowed politely to her Captain as he sat to look at a few reports, and she nodded to Ryuken. “Ryuken-sama, please follow me.” Her voice was always gentle…even in the monotone icy depths of it, there was humanity even if she had been created from an artificial soul.

She led the Quincy down deeper underneath the ground, and she pointed to a mere cage that held a sleeping cot and a few blankets. “This is where you will sleep, Ryuken-sama. I will bring you food every day so that you will not be worn down by the experiments. Is there anything you would request while Kurotsuchi-taicho is in an agreeable mood?”

Well, that looked welcoming. "A better place to sleep would be nice." He spoke this under his breath, so low that he could barely hear himself. "A time where I can get out of the labs, once every two days or so. So I can see Isshin." Ryuken frowned softly, wondering just what he'd agreed to. Isshin wouldn't worry, however. He knew the Quincy could take care of himself. "That's all I need."

He managed a gentle look (he'd never smiled at anyone aside from Isshin, anyway) at Nemu, usually hard eyes soft. "Although, can you tell me... how many Quincy have been in these labs, and how many survived?" His question was grim... but he honestly couldn't tell. The Riatsu was so faded, so compressed, that he could barely feel it hanging in the air.

“He won’t permit you leaving. You might become contaminated.” Nemu immediately liked this Quincy above all the others, and her head tilted slightly. The question was a loaded one, and she might have lied to anyone else, but instead, she whispered the answer quietly.

“There have been two thousand six hundred sixty one Quincy subjects.” She recited like a calculator. “Two hundred forty three of them were female archers, and the rest were male. Female Quincy archers are rare and powerful.” She gazed at Ryuken gently and then tuned her head away.

“You are…Ishida Uryuu’s father, is this correct?” She almost felt worried to bring up his son, but she had to thank Ryuken for instilling his offspring with such honor. “Your son…Prevented my demise. I am grateful to you.” She bowed respectfully, her braid falling down over her shoulder like a silk rope.

Ryuken grit his teeth in fury as the number was presented to him. It was no wonder that the family had been so sparse all these years. The comment about his son, however, pulled the fury out of him, and a smile dared turn the corners of his lips. "I'm glad that he did. If he doesn't respect me, at least he respects other people." Ryuken put a hand under her chin, pulling her to face him.

“You don’t need to bow so low. Surely it is my son that you owe that to – not me.” His smile seemed almost out of practice, near a grimace, but it was unmistakable. “And… when will the experiments start?” Isshin not seeing him had put a hole through the point of him being here… but he’d find a loophole, somehow.

“They will start whenever Kurotsuchi-taicho wishes them to.” She apologetically said. “I cannot dictate his schedule.” She bowed again, a slight, relieved smile coming to her lips. She offered him a small vial and looked around her before explaining the contents to him.

“Three drops will numb your skin and make you unsusceptible to surface pain. However, I cannot say anything for the other experiments. Please try to use it with caution. An overdose can kill you.” Nemu ushered Ryuken into the cage and shut it behind him, her eyes soft and warm.

“Goodnight, Ryuken-sama.” She left as quietly as she had brought him there, her steps carrying her lightly up the stairs. Night came quickly, and the labs were quiet save for some shuffling papers upstairs and graceful, light footsteps on the floor above.

Ryuken lay on the surprisingly springy mattress, looking up at the ceiling as his thoughts danced through his mind, blocking out the uncomfortable silence. Three drops to numb surface pain... that would be useful. He'd have to remember to take it before each experiment. He hid the vial beneath the under-stuffed pillow, and looked towards the door of the cage. Perhaps he could get out and explore some.

Mayuri didn't step so lightly - his modifications had forced him to take slow, loud steps that decreased the effectiveness of his shunpo. He stepped forwards, and reached through the bars of the cage, turning the handle for the door with some difficulty. It had been left unlocked, much to his smugness. He advanced up the steps, and then looked towards the footsteps through the sliver of open door to inspect who it was.

A beautiful Shinigami was shuffling through papers on Mayuri’s desk, his delicate hands touching each page and reading the summaries quickly before moving on to the next one. His outer robe had shed, and so the white yakuta hung open, exposing a well developed, hairless chest and an exquisitely formed abdomen that bragged of sensuality and pride.

He murmured something to himself before sitting down at the desk with a particular paper, his golden eyes following the print carefully. The eyes were not unlike Mayuri’s, but they didn’t shine with the same tenaciousness and audacity that the captain’s did. He seemed to be more worried about his work than anything.

He fingers went to his lips, and he nibbled on his fingertips subconsciously while he read, a gesture of frustration. He glanced up at the door, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the Quincy peaking out the crack and he sighed. “Come in here.” He sighed in a tired, worn out voice. “Let’s take a look at you.”

Those eyes... nearly exact to Mayuri's. Ryuken opened up the door, slightly unnerved by how much the Shinigami seemed like the modified Captain. Stepping towards the desk, his face a mask of puzzlement, he downcast his eyes, his brow furrowing.

He was beautiful... tired-looking, with blue hair that hung over his brow and neck in a complete mess, and gold-colored eyes that complimented it well. The Quincy didn't speak - after all, the man may be like Mayuri in more ways than just looks.

The Shinigami nodded appreciatively and stood, his long, delicate fingers ghosting down over the Shinigami robe. He frowned at the clasps and the zippers, and he made a grunt of annoyance as he delicately fumbled with them before figuring it out. He was a genius after all. “The robes are different every decade.”

He grumbled to himself in that deceptively soft voice. He pushed away Ryuken’s hands and opened the robe and pulled it off of his body, letting the cool air of the lab hit his silken skin. The strange Shinigami glanced over the Quincy’s body for a second before pressing a hand to his chest and feeling out his heartbeat, his sternum, and the stability of his ribs. He reached for the button of the pants, and he unbuttoned them without much apology. “Go sit over there.” He pointed to a cloth covered exam table in the corner.

Ryuken frowned as he was shed of his robe, and did the button of his pants back up as he moved towards the surface indicated. No experiments had to do with the lower body - and he wasn't taking his dick out in front of anyone in this freakish place.

He sat down on the table, the surface hard and uncomfortable, and he realized it was because it was made out of some kind of metal - steel, perhaps. He wasn't ashamed of the scars his body bore - although, he was one of the more marred of the Quincy, being the only survivor of the vicious slaughter that took his family away from him.

The Shinigami lab technician sighed and shook his head. “No. No. No! You have to take your pants off.” When the Quincy didn’t move, the golden eyes narrowed to what seemed to be fox-like slits and he snorted. “Don’t make me bind you.” The thought did have some appeal. He’d had his hands on a couple thousand of the Quincies that had been pushed through the lab, and none had been as beautiful as Ishida Ryuken. The Ishida family had been renown for their beauty and their powerful reactions in battle, and it was their family that fascinated Mayuri the most.

When Ryuken still didn’t move, the Shinigami growled and stepped forward, ripping the pants down off of Ryuken’s body with his underwear, nearly yanking the man off the table. “Now be still so I can make sure you aren’t carrying any diseases.” The Shinigami’s hands brushed over Ryuken’s body softly, as if though testing the texture of his skin, not giving one second look to his nudity at all in pure clinical professionalism.

It didn’t seem like he was interested in the Quincy nude…but that was only on the outside. On the inside, he was still shocked at how beautiful this one was. “Ishida Ryuken, correct?” The Shinigami asked in his purr of a soft voice.

"Correct." Ryuken growled softly, limbs twitching as he convinced himself that this was medical interest rather than sexual harassment. After all, he himself was a doctor, and he could tell the difference. That didn't stop the soft touch being arousing, however, and it annoyed him to no end that someone other than Isshin would even dare to make him hard.

Even now, his reactions were sharpened - a soft twitch of his hand as soon as Mayuri began to stray towards his navel, the even slight movement of his legs as he moved them closer together. He narrowed his eyes at the Shinigami, clearly distrusting.

Mayuri pretended not to notice the arousal of his subject, and he continued on, feeling each bone that was visible in the lean, silken skin before stepping back and taking a look at him. “Lay back on the table.” He stepped forward and pressed Ryuken down with his superior strength, although he was careful not to hurt his test subject just yet.

He pulled out a small jar of lubrication and set it next to the table on an exam bench and opened it. When he slightly turned his head, the dark blue hair fell away from where his ears should have been. Instead of the delicate shells of a human ear, there were macabre openings in his head, covered and secured around gold disks by tiny surgical staples.

On his chin, the same staples and disk were present, only not quite so obvious in the light. He covered his index finger in the lubrication, and he gazed down at Ryuken with his tired, cold golden yellow eyes. “Spread your legs.”

As soon as Ryuken saw the staples catch the light, and the places where his ears would have been should he have remained partially human, his legs clamped shut and he sat up straight up the table, manouevering so that Mayuri could no longer get to his opening.

"This isn't what I came here for." He snapped. "I came here so I could stay in Soul Society and in exchange you could experiment on me, and find out the mystery of my family, since you seem so intrigued. I'm not a fuck toy. If you're sexually frustrated, then take it out on someone that isn't me."

Ryuken's eyes narrowed at Mayuri, quite sure he'd seen him somewhere before. And then, it all clicked. His eyes widened in alarm, the voice ringing alarm bells in his mind.

"You..."

His wife's rapist.

His rapist.

"Keep away from me."

“I don’t have time for this.” Mayuri growled. He clamped one strong hand around the Quincy’s ankle and maneuvered him forcefully on the table, and he growled at him. “I’m not trying to have sex with you, Quincy. I’m trying to give a prostate exam. Would you kindly shut up before I cut your tongue out? Tongues aren’t required for my experiments, you know.” He warned.

He forcefully parted Ryuken’s legs and snorted softly. “You’ve got bruising on your inner thighs. Is Kurosaki-taicho really that rough?” He rubbed his finger over the entrance to the Quincy’s body and slid it in smoothly with little resistance or pain on part of Ryuken. “If you’ll be still, I won’t have to bind you and this will be over in a minute.”

He slid his finger deep, and when the tip collided with the raised wall of Ryuken’s prostate, he began to trace it out, looking for defects. He noticed Ryuken’s arousal. He was probably giving Ryuken the time of his life with his gentle probing, but he really didn’t care about that at the moment. As soon as the exam was done, he was going to toss the mouthy thing back into his cage until he was ready to play with him a little.

Ryuken grit his teeth against the noises, eyes shut tight and legs trying to close, but unable to do so around the strong hand that caressed his insides. Damn this body... damn this body that had become so responsive to sexual encounters.

He knew the bastard probably didn't recognize him - after all, he had only been in his early thirties at that point. Goosebumps had risen on his skin, and his hands clenched as he resisted the urge to moan. Isshin had loved to do this...

Isshin.

The thought of his lover nearly brought tears to his eyes, and suddenly, he felt so weak. He had to give into the touch - after all, it wouldn't do any good to get the captain into a considerably worsened bad mood. Then, something much worse could happen.

As soon as the exam had started, it was over, and Mayuri withdrew his finger patiently and slowly from Ryuken’s body and wiped the lubrication off on a sterile towel and wiped away the lubrication from Ryuken’s body. He’d been true to his word, but damn, he’d thought about taking that lithe body by force just to see how he’d react.

There was something familiar in those eyes, but he dismissed it as a likeness to the Quincy brat who’d soundly kicked his ass for hurting Nemu. His golden eyes gazed over the lithe body for a moment before he flipped his hand at him. “Exam is over. Go back to your bed and go to sleep. I don’t want you tired for tomorrow. I need as much energy as I can get out of you.”

He turned his back on the Quincy coldly, his blue hair once again falling away from his ears and from his neck, revealing a macabre map of scars and incisions that had closed. “Unless you had something else you wanted?” Mayuri’s beautiful face tilted up and his eyes glanced back at Ryuken, his gaze pointedly suggestive.

The suggestive look was met with the Quincy's bow, drawn back and ready to fire the blue arrow through his head. "Don't touch me." His voice was cracked, possibly with tears, or maybe fear.

He kept his bow drawn and pointed between Mayuri's eyes, his own narrowed and defiant. "Get away from me." Her face, twisted in agony, was brought to the front of his mind, making his throat burn. And this man... giving him a suggestive look like he had done when he had shown up on their doorstep, made him feel sick to his stomach.

"AWAY."

It was the raised bow that jogged Mayuri’s memory, and his golden eyes widened. While he was still hated, and he still had the desire to utilize Quincy’s to his disposal, he was no longer uselessly cruel as he had been in his youth. He longer felt the desire to rape and pillage and kill as he had in his earlier days as a captain, but even with the lack of desire for brutality, he didn’t regret his actions. In fact, he looked back on them rather fondly.

This man…this older man…He saw him with wide, defiant, and pained olive green eyes and cinnamon hair…Ah yes. The female. She’d been one of the most powerful he’d ever met, and her soul had been quite useful in quite a few of his experiments. “You… I know you. You had a wife. And a baby boy…” And then, it clicked, and Mayuri hissed. “I should have killed that brat before I slit your wife open like a slaughtered pig.” He put up his hand and snarled.

“Bakaraido Kido, Binding Spell Number 78!” Immediately, the bow was paralyzed, and Mayuri smirked as it dissipated into the charm on Ryuken’s arm. He removed the charm and then released the spell, happy with the fact that the Quincy was now helpless.

“There. That’s better. Now. How have all these years been without me, hmm? As I recall, while you fought me, you ended our tryst with quite a bit of…enjoyment.” Indeed. Ryuken had come in Mayuri’s hand that day…despite what the evil Shinigami had done to him.

Ryuken paled, his already near-white skin going the color of freshly fallen snow. "Stay away." The Quincy was trembling, arousal gone. The memories all came flooding back, another flood of emotions breaking through the dam he had taken so many years to build up. His son would never remember all the times he had cried with him held against his chest, and Ryuken was glad for it.

He swallowed, his throat burning as he kicked out at Mayuri in a futile attempt to force him back. His Riatsu flew up in alarm, the anger and fear intertwined with it as it flooded out of the 12th Division Headquarters, but had been reduced so much that it barely went past that, tendrils floating helplessly with the wind as the Quincy desperately tried to get help from someone passing - anyone passing.

Mayuri was twisting his stoicism, manipulating him back into the helpless, kind doctor he had once been. He became a surgeon after the rape – cold, and heartless. And that was the way he had intended to keep it, but it seemed that it wouldn’t be so. This man was the root of his hatred for Shinigami… this man and the Shinigami who had helped him pin his victims down as he raped them, a wide grin on that beautiful face.

“You’re disgusting. A murdering, raping bastard.” How strange that he could swear at his son… and he couldn’t even try on Mayuri. He felt like crying, but he refused to. He wanted to stay in Soul Society… and he had made all the wrong decisions.

Mayuri closed his fingers around the charm and reached out, his fingers stroking down the cheek of the frightened, naked man in front of him. “I’m not a complete beast.” Mayuri smiled deceptively. The Quincy would not be of much use to him if he had to fight him to do what he wanted him to, so he took another path. Trust. It was a start. “Please accept my apologies for my rash behavior.” He smiled, but it was unnatural compared to the coldness in his eyes.

His hands suddenly whipped out and fingers wrapped around the Quincy’s upper arms, the charm dangling from his index finger, and he hauled the Quincy forward his eyes narrowing as the naked body made contact with his, naked chest pressed to naked chest.

The Quincy had never felt Mayuri’s skin against his and how warm he was compared to the cold air of the lab. “Now. Regardless of what I’ve done, we have a deal, Ishida Ryuken of the Quincies. If you break it, I will take your Riatsu and save it and let your soul pass away. Is that what you want?”

The Quincy was shivering, and Mayuri decided to take the first step in acquiring the man’s affections. Slowly, he slid off his yakuta, leaving him in his black hakama. His body, while beautifully built, was crisscrossed with horrible scars, some stapled shut, and others healed jaggedly. He was a macabre beauty…something that belonged in a gothic museum. He pulled it around Ryuken’s shoulders and sighed. “Go to bed. Isn’t your cage safer than me, after all?”

Ryuken was gone as soon as Mayuri had moved away enough for him to run while feeling safe, the yukata was left on the floor, his discarded pants and underwear gone from where they had been thrown to. The Quincy used his own Riatsu to lock the door, and then he shrank to the corner, wrapping himself in blankets and muffling his presence.

If someone was relying on Riatsu to sense him, they wouldn't even know he was there. And when he drifted into a light state of unconsciousness, he saw a Shinigami holding out a hand, face blurred. Whole being blurred. Eventually, that slipped into nothingness, the hope that he had grasped in his hands before being pulled away with it. He was going to spend the rest of his life in this place. Gods, what had he done?

Up Next: Chapter 24: The Rescued Demand of Solice

“I’ll give you as much pleasure as it takes to forget it.” He flipped Byakuya onto his front, coating his fingers in saliva and pressing one in gently, the scars over exposed to him making him wince. He pushed another in, and bit at his lover’s firm behind gently, almost playfully. Of course, the use of his mouth in such a way gave him an idea, and he withdrew his fingers, holding Byakuya’s hips with his hands and gently delving his tongue into the scarred entrance, caressing his inner walls with his slick muscle.

Byakuya was beside himself with pleasure. God…but it wasn’t rough enough… Ichigo wasn’t hurting him where he needed to hurt, but damn…there was that tongue pressing inside of him again, and he lost his conscious thought. “Nnnngghhh… I-Ichigo!”

Thanks to the following reviewers! Setsuna x 2 (Hey, honey. You can always reach us on AIM at kattheorca or YIM as brucesgirl_sama or alexshinra. We love Isshin’s heart too. Isn’t he delightful?), Courtney-chan (We’re glad it wasn’t too bad!), Akume (You can thank Brightside for her genius insight into Ryuken. BrucesGirl’s specialty is Isshin!), Psycho Demon Witch (It just gets better!), Iraku (Thank you so much for your tender words and recommendations! Brightside and BrucesGirl were ecstatic with your review! Domo Arigatou!)