Mimic

Part IV

Author's note : Wow, two chapters in one day, who would have thought :P Just to let everyone know, for the sake of the storyline, I'm going to use the Bounto, anime-only arc. It'll be more useful for future parts :D

Disclaimer : Nothing had changed in the past hour, I still don't own bleach.

Last Chapter * Rikichi jolted back into reality and looked up. Midnight blue eyes gazed back down at him. The confused expression on Rikichi's face deepened.
“Taicho?”*

“Do you not realize that there's a storm? ”

“Actually, no... I didn't. Why are you out?”

“I was looking for you. I went back to the 4th division to find you, but Unohana said you went home. When I went to your place, you were not there. So I traced your reiatsu. It looks like it was a good thing I did. If you do not get home and dry fast, you will get sick.”

“You were looking for me?”

“Yes. Now get up. You need to get home.”

Rikichi rose from the stop he had been sitting, leaving a small dry stop in the rain drenched forest. He began to follow Kuchiki-taicho, who had turned and begun to walk away. He jogged up so he was walking alongside his captain.

“Why were you looking for me, taicho?”

“I received word that Renji had suffered an injury in the Living World. They are being attacked by Bounto. Renji is alright, only minor injuries,and Urahara Kisuke is tending to him. I thought I should tell you before the hear the inevitable gossip that will take place tomorrow and think Abarai is dead.”

“I see. Is Renji going to come back to heal?”

“No. They need him there and his injuries are not major enough to require 4th division healing. He will be fine.”

Rikichi nodded and continued to walk in silence, his thoughts straying back to the subjects he had been pondering earlier. He was ashamed of his blatant jealousy, but that did not stop him from continuing to feel it.

Not another word was said until the two men were back in the civilized section of Seireitei. Kuchiki-taicho paused at a fork in the road.

“My manor is this way. I'll be taking leave of you now, fukutaicho.”

“Goodnight taicho.”

Rikichi continued to saunter on towards his home. It did not take him much time to reach it, but Rikichi was rather exhausted by the time he unlocked the door and stepped inside. He locked the door behind him and began to strip off his soaked clothing. Leaving them in a wet pile outside the bathroom, Rikichi stepped inside his beloved western style shower and cranked on the hot water. When the hot water hit his tense, tired muscles he nearly gasped with pleasure. There wasn't much that Rikichi enjoyed more than a hot shower after a long day's work. As the piping hot water soothed his sore body, Rikichi tried to come to terms with his mind.

*Thinking about the same sex in that way is normal. Everyone gets curious at least once, right? And its ok to be jealous... everyone gets jealous. I am perfectly normal.... perfectly normal. So I should stop letting all this bother me.*

Rikichi turned off the hot water, the stream of it slowly trickling to a stop. He stepped out of the shower into the steamy room, admiring himself in the mirror. While he had been training under Renji his physique had improved greatly. Where before he had a perfectly flat stomach, it was now rippled with abdominal muscles. His arms were getting thicker and were starting to bulge in all the right places. His chest would have put Kenpachi to shame, and even his calves were starting to fill out. He had to admit to himself as he looked in the mirror, he looked pretty damn good. If only the bruising surrounding his nose would go down...

Toweling dry his now shoulder length black hair and putting on a soft yukata to sleep in, Rikichi made his way to his bedroom for the night. Resting against his silky pillows he found that sleep would not come, even if he was very tired. It was apparent he needed to sort out his thoughts once and for all. Why was he so jealous of Renji? Was it Ichigo? No... Rikichi, as much as he wanted to be like Renji, he did not want his lover. Was it because of his looks? No... Rikichi was turning out to be not too shabby himself, and he had never cared much about his, or anyone else's, sex appeal. After much thought, Rikichi settled on a single, main reason. It was that Renji had someone he loved, who loved him, and who would always love him. It was rare for Shinigami to marry, or fall in love, but Rikichi realized it was that experience exactly that he craved. Rikichi wanted a lover. But who? It was bad enough that he wasn't even sure of his sexuality anymore... to have to begin pursuing someone in a romantic sense was something that frightened the raven-haired boy. Well, then again, Renji hadn't had to pursue Ichigo, everyone knew that it just sort of happened. And Ichigo wasn't the only one who had wanted Renji either. Renji had merely had to pick. Rikichi wanted that luxury... and in order to have that luxury, Rikichi would need people to grovel at his feet as well.

The only question was how.