His Heartbeat

The next few days were very trying for Hinako and Satomi. Hinako had a lot of vacation time saved up from her job so she took a few weeks off to be with Satomi. Hinako was furious with Satomi for still insisting on going to her classes at the college, but Uryuu was with her most of the day so that made Hinako feel a little better. The part time job was another problem. Satomi’s boss wouldn’t let anyone who wasn’t an employee just hang around. Uryuu solved that problem by staying in the area, close enough to Satomi so he could get to her quickly if the Hollow showed up.

The real problem, however, was Renji and Rukia. They meant well by staying in the apartment, but Hinako’s apartment was so small that just two extra people being there all the time was an annoyance. Well, three extra people really. Uryuu stayed with them, too. So not only did the sisters have the protection of two Shinigami, they also had a Quincy watching over them.

Satomi was thrilled with Uryuu staying with her. Both of them slept on the couch, spending the nights cuddling and talking. Renji and Rukia slept on the floor behind the couch, directly in front of the path to the kitchen. If Hinako needed a drink during the middle of the night, she had to be careful not to step on them.

Rukia wasn’t really the problem. She slept nice and quiet, curled up on her side of the futon cushion. Renji, however, was usually sprawled out all over the place. And he snored…loudly. How Rukia could sleep through that racket was beyond Hinako. Sometimes, Renji talked in his sleep, causing Hinako to giggle and wish there was someone else awake to laugh with.

The main problem was being lonely. Jushiro hadn’t been back to see her in almost a week and she missed him terribly. Watching Uryuu and Satomi cuddle on the couch while the three of them watched television was getting to be too much. Renji and Rukia were usually patrolling the town in the evenings, so it was just the three of them. One night, the three of them were watching a scary movie and Satomi was practically on Uryuu’s lap. In fact, by the end of the movie, Satomi was curled up against Uryuu saying she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night if it wasn’t for the fact that Uryuu would be holding her all throughout the night.

Hinako didn’t begrudge her sister her relationship with Uryuu. It was just the opposite, in fact. She was happy for her sister. Hinako liked Uryuu and it was obvious that Uryuu was crazy about Satomi. It was just…watching the two of them together, made Hinako so damn lonely.

“I’m going out in the backyard for a bit. It’s a nice spring night, kinda warm. I think I’ll light a fire in the outdoor fire pit and enjoy the stars.” Hinako got out of the flowered chair and looked at the couple on the couch. She sighed as she realized that she might as well have been talking to the chair. Satomi and Uryuu had fallen asleep while watching television. They were cuddled up together like contented kittens after a bowl of milk. Pulling a blanket over the two and grabbing one for herself, Hinako went outside to cry alone.

She built a fire in the outdoor pit and lit it. The wood crackled and the first thin streams of smoke came near. Wood smoke. That’s how Jushiro smelled. She sat on the grass and stared into the flames, not really seeing them, but seeing Jushiro’s face instead. Her eyes moved from watching the flames to the ashes floating lightly on the slight breeze. A loud pop from the wood made her jump and Hinako brought her attention back to the flames. Soon the movement of the flames had her hypnotized and her mind wandered back to the past, thinking of the day Satomi was born.

It had been a rainy, cold day and Hinako’s mother had been cranky all day. She had been having contractions for quite some time but refused to go to the hospital. Finally, her water broke and Hinako convinced her mother it was time to go. Hinako was 16 and had just gotten her driver’s license. She called her father and he told her he would meet them at the hospital. Picking up the bag that her mother had packed for the hospital, Hinako helped her mother to the car.

She drove as fast as possible and they made it to the hospital, finding her father waiting for them. The staff checked her mother in and led her to her room. Once her mother was in bed and settled, the long wait began. An hour passed, then two and soon it was obvious that her little brother or sister was in no hurry to come out and see all of them. The doctor decided on giving her mother a medicine that would speed up the process and produce more contractions.

Soon, her mother was panting, trying to breathe through the pain. The contractions were coming faster and lasting longer. At one point, Hinako was ushered from the room and no one would tell her why. As she paced the hall, her thoughts were troubled. Maybe something was wrong with the baby. What if something was wrong with her mother? Hinako’s body grew cold as these horrible thoughts raced through her mind. She paced in front of her mother’s room for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly, nurses and doctors came running into her mother’s room. Hinako held her breath as the cold fingers of fear tightened their grip on her. She could hear a flurry of activity and loud voices. Panic gripping her, Hinako had jumped up and pushed her way into the room. No one noticed her and she held back, waiting for the baby to be born. Satomi slipped from her mother, blue and not breathing. The doctors and nurses worked furiously over Satomi for what seemed like hours, but in reality, it was just minutes. Satomi's first tiny cry had brought tears to Hinako's eyes and she moved further into the room, her arms aching to hold her. Her father was concerned with their mother and he didn't care if Hinako was the first to hold Satomi. The nurse placed the tiny bundle in Hinako's arms and she started to cry. She made Satomi a promise as she looked into that tiny face. She would love and protect her all of her life.

Another loud pop of the wood jolted her out of her memories. Hinako’s face was wet with tears she hadn’t even realized she had been shedding. There was no use thinking about all of this now. Nothing could change the past and it seemed like the future wasn’t much brighter, either. There was a Hollow after Satomi, her sister had fallen in love and would probably leave her in a few months or years and Hinako would be alone for the rest of her life.

God, she was pathetic. Instead of being happy for Satomi, here she was…sitting alone on a beautiful spring night, reliving the past and worrying about the future. It wasn’t like she and Satomi were in this mess all alone. They had Uryuu, a powerful Quincy and Renji and Rukia, two strong shinigami. And Jushiro…Hinako quickly stomped down the thought of Jushiro. He hadn’t been back to see her in almost a week and she was sure he wouldn’t be coming back ever again. She didn’t want to ask Rukia how he was doing because she didn’t want to seem desperate but if a man kisses you and doesn’t come to see you in almost a week, it’s a pretty sure sign that he’s not interested. Even though he’d kissed her…twice. And she could tell from his body’s response the last time he was here, he felt something towards her…or least wanted her body.

A large ash from the fire caught Hinako’s attention. She watched it float upwards and then fall back down towards the fire. That was odd, she thought. The ash was dark colored, not the normal light gray color. Peering closer to the fire, Hinako tried to find that strange piece of ash once again. Finally, after a few minutes, she gave up, thinking it was just something from her imagination. A shiver went through her, reminding her that even though it was spring, the nights could get quite cold.

Suddenly, Hinako felt something heavy and warm drop around her shoulders. She looked down, her mind not fully taking in the sight of the white cloth. Then…she smelled it, the faint scent of sakura blossoms. Not really daring to hope but finding it impossible not to, Hinako stood up and slowly turned around. There, standing in the shadows of the large oak tree near the house, was Jushiro. He smiled at her and she smiled back, her lips trembling as she tried to hold back the tears. He held out his arms and she ran to him, thrusting her arms through the sleeves of his haori while she ran.

Hinako stopped a few feet in front of Jushiro. She wanted to run into his strong arms and never leave, but first, she wanted to know where he had been and why he hadn’t been in the living world to see her.

Expecting Hinako to run and hug him, Jushiro was a little stunned when she’d stopped in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest, a disgruntled expression on her face. Feeling a little foolish, he dropped his arms to his side and waited for her to speak. He studied her face while he waited. She really looked irritated at him, he thought, while he tried to hide how worried he was from Hinako. It wasn’t the Hollow that had him worried. Rather he was worried that after ignoring Hinako for almost a week, she wouldn’t want to talk to him and would want him to return to Soul Society.

He did have a good reason for not contacting her. He and Renji had their suspicions of who was behind this Hollow and they didn’t want to drag Hinako into the situation anymore than she already was. Jushiro and Renji had met at Kisuke Urahara’s shop on several occasions to talk over the situation with Kisuke. If anyone would know about the created Hollow and who was behind it, it would be Kisuke. He was the former Captain of squad 12 and former head of the Shinigami Research Institute.

But, it wasn’t Kisuke that Renji and Jushiro were suspicious of. It was Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the current Captain of Squad 12 and the second head of the Shinigami Research Institute. Ever since Mayuri had been defeated by Uryuu during his time in Soul Society, Mayuri had become obsessed with capturing the Quincy again. And if Mayuri wanted a Quincy, it would stand to reason that he would also want to capture the person closest to the Quincy. And that person was Satomi.

They stood under the huge oak tree for several minutes, neither one speaking, just staring into each other’s faces. Deep in her heart, Hinako knew there was a good reason for Jushiro staying away from her for this long but she couldn’t deny that her feelings were hurt. And while she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms, she wanted answers from him even more.

Pushing himself away from the trunk of the tree, Jushiro slowly went to Hinako. She looked so beautiful in the light of the moon and the bright stars. He pushed her long blonde hair back over her shoulders, letting his hand trail down to the small of her back. He noticed that she was still shivering a bit. Thinking it was because of the chill in the night and not his touch, he gathered her in his arms and held her.

All thoughts of demanding answers from Jushiro fled Hinako’s thoughts. It felt too good to be here like this, in his arms, feeling his heartbeat strong against her cheek. Shaking the long sleeves of his haori back from her hands, she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was quiet in the night. “I wanted to come back to the living world much sooner but I was delayed while I was looking for answers about the Hollow.” He set his chin on the top of her head and continued. “Renji and I met with someone who could give us the answers we needed to protect you and Satomi. Has either Rukia or Renji ever told you about Kisuke Urahara?”

Hinako thought for a moment. The named seem a bit familiar but she couldn’t put a face to it. “Who is he?”

“You’ll meet him tomorrow. He runs a shop here in the living world.” Pulling back a bit from their embrace, Jushiro looked at Hinako, a wry smile on his face. “I’m sure you’ll find his merchandise most interesting. “ He started laughing at the confused look on Hinako’s face. There was really no way to describe what Kisuke had tucked away in his shop. One had to see it to believe it.

“Oh and since I’m staying here for awhile, will you take me shopping for clothes? Kisuke has a gigai for me and I don’t want Rukia picking out clothes for me while I’m in it.”

Hinako couldn’t help it. She threw her head back and laughed. Rukia had picked out clothes for Renji to wear while he was in his gigai and she had gotten some of the loudest, strangest clothing Hinako had ever seen. Renji looked like he had stepped out of a time warp from the 1970’s and nothing Rukia gave him matched. Hinako’s favorite piece of clothing had to be the “Chappy the Rabbit” pink shirt.

“But, why? Don’t you think you would look good in a Chappy the Rabbit shirt?” Jushiro grimaced, sending Hinako into a fit of giggles.

“Actually, I was thinking of clothing like Ichigo wears. You know, jeans and a T-shirt. Or maybe a few sweaters.” With his lung ailment, he tended to be colder than most shinigami.

Feeling the dampness of the spring night creeping into him, he pulled Hinako back to the fire. He added more wood and while he waited for it to catch, he straightened out the blanket on the ground, sitting down and pulling Hinako down in front of him. She wiggled backwards until she was between his spread legs and leaned back, letting her head fall back on his shoulder. His arms surrounded her and with their fingers intertwined, they sat in silence, watching the fire.

“Do you want your haori back?”

“No. I like seeing you wearing it.”

They sat together for about an hour, just watching the fire and enjoying each other’s company. Sometimes, they talked about little things but most of the time, they were quiet. As the fire died down, Jushiro wanted to ask if he could spend the night. He knew from Rukia that Uryuu and Satomi slept on the couch and Renji and Rukia took a futon and slept on the floor. That just left Hinako’s bed.

Hinako chewed on her bottom lip as she wondered how to ask Jushiro to spend the night. She didn’t want to seem like a loose woman who grabbed the first Shinigami she’d gotten her hands on. And Jushiro was the first Shinigami she’d gotten her hands on and she didn’t want to let him go back to the Soul Society tonight...or any other night, if she was being honest with herself. She needed to be with him, to hear his soft breathing in his sleep and feel his heartbeat. She took a deep breath.

“Will you…”

“May I…”

They both paused as they waited for the other to speak. Hinako’s heart beat faster as she’d wondered what Jushiro was about to say. She had turned around to look at him, her eyes bright with anticipation.

“May I stay here tonight?”

Hinako nodded and Jushiro got up and banked the fire. When he was done, he held out his hand and she put her tiny hand in his. They entered the house and went to her bedroom, being careful not to wake Satomi and Uryuu. Hinako lit the small lamp by the bed and sat down, playing with the hem of Jushiro’s Captain’s haori. Stilling her hands, he took the haori off of her and laid it across the foot of the bed.

Kneeling down by the bed, Jushiro took Hinako’s face in his hands. They kissed softly. There wasn’t the feeling of urgency as the last time they had been together. Hinako now realized that her feelings for Jushiro ran deep. She still wouldn’t say she was in love with him…yet… but after being apart for this week, she knew that she had deeper feelings for him than any other man she’d been with in the past.

“I’m just going to get changed and I’ll be right back. Are you going to be comfortable enough in your shinigami clothes?”

“They’ll do for tonight. Tomorrow, you can help me pick out more comfortable clothes for sleeping.”

Hinako blushed as she imagined Jushiro, wearing only loose fitting sleeping pants that rode low on his waist. She quickly turned away, rummaging through her drawers, searching for pajamas. She turned back to tell him she would change in the other room and saw he was untying his white obi from around his waist.

“W…what are you doing?” She squeaked out, her voice higher than normal.

“Taking off my hakama. I guess you would call them pants.”

“You do have something else under those?” I hope, she thought to herself. Sleeping next to a nude Jushiro was a guarantee that she wouldn’t get any sleep that night.

“Yes, I have my shinigami kimono on.”

“Oh, good.” She let out a sigh of relief. “Umm, I’m just going to get changed into my pajamas and I’ll be back. Make yourself comfortable but keep your kimono on!”

Racing through her nighttime ritual, Hinako was soon back in the room. She closed the door behind her. Her heart raced as she took in the sight of the handsome man in her bed. True to his word, Jushiro still had his shinigami kimono on. He was squished up against the wall, leaving her plenty of room in the small bed. His right arm was behind his head and his eyes were closed.

Almost running to the bed, Hinako pulled back the covers and jumped in the bed. She brought the covers up to her neck, laying as stiff as a board. She stared at the ceiling, praying she would fall asleep quickly.

“Are you afraid of the dark?”

Damn! She had forgotten and left the little light by the bed on. But, before she could turn it off, Jushiro leaned over her and clicked it off. His hand came to rest beside her head. He was so close to her, she could feel his breath on her cheek.

“Hinako.” Oh, the way he said her name. It was almost like a prayer. Her eyes fluttered closed and she turned slightly towards him. “Hinako.” This time, he said her name even more quietly and brushed his lips near her mouth. Letting go of the death grip on the covers, she brushed the back of her fingers on his cheek.

Groaning, Jushiro captured her lips with his in a searing kiss. Cupping the back of Hinako’s head with his hand, he tilted her head, giving him better access to her and deepening the kiss. Letting the breath out that she had been holding, Hinako opened her mouth wider. It wasn’t enough and Jushiro put his thumb on her chin, forcing her mouth to open wider. He rubbed his tongue against hers, making her shake with pleasure.

Heat shot through her body, making her hands restless. She pushed his kimono open wider and he took his arms out of the sleeves, never breaking the kiss. It was the first time she had touched his naked back. She could feel scars on his back and upper arms from long ago battles. Letting her fingers trace them, Hinako could feel Jushiro shudder next to her and he pressed his body closer to hers. She could feel his arousal, hard and long against her hip and she shifted in the bed until she cuddled it with her hips.

Rolling her on her back, Jushiro began kissing and nipping at Hinako’s throat. His fingers made quick work of the buttons on her top. Slowly kissing his way down her breast, he hovered over one rosy nipple, letting his warm breath tease it until it was hard.

“Please…” Begging him to stop this torment on her body, Hinako gripped his shoulders and tried to bring him closer. She gasped as he took the nipple in his mouth, flicking it with his tongue and then sucking hard. She could feel the wetness seeping from her body and she ground against him, her hips bucking and her legs shaking. If he was wringing this kind of response from her body by just doing this, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to make love to him.

Letting go of one nipple, he softly blew on it before moving over to the other one. Engulfing it in his mouth, he thrust his hips again Hinako, her moans filling the small room. He had promised himself that he would just be sleeping here with Hinako but as soon as he tasted her sweet mouth, he was lost in a sea of passion.

It wasn’t as if she was his first, far from it. Many years ago, he had a long relationship with Captain Unohana. They had been lovers but soon realized, their relationship was based more on friendship than love.

“Shiro…we have to stop.” Hinako’s voice trembled softly in the room. She felt his body go stiff and then almost immediately, relax. “Please, don’t be angry with me.”

Rolling off of Hinako, Jushiro laid down on the bed, dragging her with him. She laid her head on his chest, trying to catch her breath. She was right about stopping and while his body was crying out for release, he knew this wasn’t the right time to make love to her. He didn’t bother putting his arms through the sleeves of his kimono. He still wanted to feel her against his skin.

“I’m not angry with you. I swear to you, I never meant things to go this far.” He stroked her hair while he tried to control his breathing. The last thing he wanted to do was have an attack now. Soon, his breathing was under control and he felt Hinako’s hand move up over his heart. She sighed and moved her head to a more comfortable position on his chest. Soon, the sound of his heartbeat was lulling her to sleep.

Jushiro knew the moment she fell asleep. Her body totally relaxed and her hand stopped moving over his chest. He stared at the ceiling. This mission had suddenly become extremely complicated. He couldn’t lie to himself any longer. He was in love with Hinako.