Life Before Death

And since half of my family celebrates Christmas, myself included. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Have fun guys, I hope you enjoy this. ^w^ There really isn’t anything Christmasy about this chapter. All you need to know is that there’s a ton of sex. XD That’s the important thing, really. Right? ^w^


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Chapter VI

Ichigo had plenty to think about at the shop. Later that night, he actually did do some homework. The boy figured that he should be returning to his own bedroom soon, the only thing that was keeping him there was Ulquiorra.

He almost felt like leaving immediately though, when Urahara found it appropriate to ask Ichigo to tidy up for him. He wondered why he hadn’t asked the hollow at all. From what Renji had told him of his many times staying with the shop keeper, he’d had plenty to do while he stayed there for free.

It was to keep the boy busy. He seemed far more likely to settle into some sort of depression rooted in his role as a living Shinigami if left on his own. Yoruichi had brought that to Kisuke’s attention. Thus, these chores really were for Ichigo’s own good.

It was nearly half passed eleven when he’d finished. He had cursed Urahara constantly while he’d worked and he cursed him one more time for good measure before shutting the door to the man’s stock room.

Ichigo passed by his room while heading to the shower, he peeked by in passing, and saw a very naked Ulquiorra stretching out across his tatami matt.

The boy shut his eyes tightly, feeling his cheeks heart suddenly, it felt too cold to take an erection depleting shower before bed, so he tried his hardest not to think of it. He actually began listing off the various categories Urahara had in his stock room until he’d managed to forget.

His train of thought moved quickly, with a little force, to the homework he’d been given in his writing class: Write a short story.

Ichigo half wondered if Ulquiorra would forbid him to use his story for himself, of course he would change it a little bit. The focus of the assignment was character development, so Ichigo had to be careful with what he changed. He’d done alright with storyline and climax on the last assignment.

The boy began to lay out a path for his story. There was a beginning of course, although he had yet to learn of the ending. The path had little trails straying here and there; they were small conflicts he could add in to make the story more interesting, each one lead back to the main path, like the straying veins in a leaf.

Ichigo gave his hair a quick wash and then simply enjoyed the water, slumping under the head and turning the temperature up until he thought his skin would begin to peal off and run down the drain.

Perhaps it wouldn’t benefit him to move back to his own room yet. He needed to have this assignment worked into a rough draft within the month. Within that time the boy would have to find out everything he could about Ulquiorra’s dangerous lifestyle and where it took him.

Ichgio stepped from the shower, pulling a towel around his waste and leaving to the hamper in the hall. He tossed his clothes from the day inside, and then headed into their dark room.

All he could find, without turning the lights on, was a pair of black boxers. The boy blushed, but he was too distracted to care. He pulled them on, then pulled the blanket from his matt and wrapped it around himself. He sat down cross-legged beside Ulquiorra, waiting, listening to see if the Hollow really was asleep.

Good, he sounded dead to the world, just a slow steady breathing. The back of his tongue and throat were blocking the passage of air now and then, so Ichigo could hear this small clicking noise in the back of Ulquiorra’s throat when he inhaled and then exhaled.

The teen made himself more comfortable, so that his arm wouldn’t touch the Hollow and wake him up before the boy could begin.

As Ichigo stretched his fingers out, just two, he reached across slowly, almost holding his breath as he neared Ulquiorra’s collar bone, nearing the Hollow’s hole there. Ichigo’s fingers, this time, missed the edges, they dove straight in, and the room around him seemed to swirl down and into the void. What was left, was a much older time. The room was wider, the walls plainer.

A long wooden table stretched across the wall opposite Ichigo, it had a bowl of pomegranate, and a cloth with a half eaten one next to it, the dark red seeds scattered across its surface.

Ichigo looked around, the scene before him turning to the right as he heard a struggled noise, followed by, “Do you want your dear mother to die at the hands of low life men? To be ravaged by them? I can’t protect her if you don’t cooperate.” He saw a man sitting on a wooden day bed covered with thick woven sheets for cushion. The man had a boy pulled into his lap, and the boy had his shoulders rounded forward, his hands in his lap as he straddled the much older man.

Ichigo knew this man, he was the father of the biggest boy who’d bullied Ulquiorra in his earliest memory. It seems the visions had backtracked a bit. He’d seen this in a much simpler series of visions that had been on fast forward. But now…

The man pulled Ulquiorra closer to him in his lap, and the boy went rigid, feeling the other’s hardened cock under him. “Enough. “The man growled, lifted a vial of olive oil and poured some into his hand, pulling the boy close into his chest.

Ulquiorra wimpered as that hand trailed down his naked back, dripping between his spread ass cheeks and the fingers, without much warning, slipped in three at a time to stretch the boy.

Ulquiorra made no noise at that, he hid his face against the man’s chest. “I see Dipteros has already stretched you.” He smiled, beginning to slide his fingers quickly into and out of the boy.

He didn’t waste much time with the stretching; instead, Ulquiorra was lifted and turned to face away and the father’s much larger cock positioned at his rear.

There was a slight gasp as Ulquiorra was forced down upon the man, his mouth fell open, more tears streaming down his cheeks, which dragged the dark mineral based makeup from around his eyes and down his cheeks eerily.

Other than that, Ulquiorra didn’t resist much, he even began to moan softly, although it seemed like an act. The man groaned against the side of his head, “Goood, this’ll become natural to you, I promise. I’m sure the other boys could give you some pointers if you needed any.” He laughed softly, splaying his fingers out across Ulquiorra pale soft chest, pinching a pink nipple now and then.

Eventually, Ulquiorra hid his face behind his hands as he came, shuddering. He emerged biting his lip until it bled. The man wasn’t done as quickly, but once he’d finished, he pulled the boy off of him and laid him out on the day bed beside him.

After that, the vision blurred, spurring on ahead until he saw the same scene, only an older Ulquiorra, he was still young, but thank goodness he was no longer a boy.

This Ulquiorra was presenting a pouch of gold to the same man, who did not look pleased. “I assume your guest left you early?” The man said carefully, watching Ulquiorra. The Hollow simply smiled at him before turning. “If this has to do with that loon that sits in the streets, criticizing our very existence, I’ll expect you to work twice as hard tomorrow, and we may simply have to visit the old man.”

“Diogenes shames the loons that wander these streets.” Ulquiorra smiling over his shoulder. “He has many good points about our world.”

“Are you going to go out there with a lantern to join him?” The man laughed.

“No, but what he has to teach us is worth listening to at the very least.” Ulquiorra smiled, turning to leave the frustrated man behind.

The extent of this scene changed quickly to another, the room once again blurring.

This time, Ichigo found himself in a smaller room, and he saw Ulquiorra sitting by a window, gazing out at the night sky.

A man entered the scene, dressed in a white looking chiton, trimmed with red. “Have you found him?” He asked Ulquiorra, and the younger man nodded.

“He’s red right? The color of blood?”

“Yes.” The man smiled, taking a place behind Ulquiorra, his hands sloping down over the Hollow’s shoulders, to caress the each nape above his collar bone.

Ichigo could see out the window now, the only red thing up in the sky that he could see was Mars.

“Mighty and terrible Ares is headed off to battle somewhere.” The man laughed softly.

“You don’t think he’ll come after you simply for saying that?” Ulquiorra questioned softly, removing himself from the window and moved over to the bed.

“Now why would he care about some crazy philosopher?” The man laughed, when he laughed, the number of wrinkles increased, he was probably at least ten years older than Ulquiorra, maybe into his early to mid thirties.

“You hold a good place in Athens, you make a lot of decisions here.” Ulquiorra pointed out, leaning back against the pillows.

“Well, I’m crazy, they say, nonetheless.” He smiled, joining Ulquiorra on the bed as he leaned over, placing soft kisses over the Hollow’s neck.

“Are my lessons at an end?” he whispered, his arms sliding out from under him.

“I assumed you thought they were, when you came to my bed here.”

“Would you prefer it that I sit on your floor?”

The man chuckled, “I think an afternoon of star gazing is enough of a lesson for you.” He lowered his hand to the hem of Ulquiorra’s long chiton, lifting it up over his thighs.

“I should probably return soon, I can’t keep telling him that I fell asleep in a client’s bed.” Ulquiorra laughed softly, widening his legs.

“I would pay you, so that you won’t get in any more trouble, but I assume this lesson should suffice, I can’t pay you with gold for all the times you’ve kept my bed warm, but if you allow me to teach you…”

“No, I am grateful for it, I’d rather know of the world, I don’t always plan on working for Patrokles.” He sighed. But the downward fall of their conversation was interrupted by a sudden gasp from the hollow, how let his head fall back, arching softly.

“Mmm, I see you’ve already prepared for me.” He purred, taking advantage of the newly exposed neck.

Ulquiorra let his elbows out from under him finally, wrapping his arms up around the man’s neck as he fell flat on the bed.

The two of them began moaning together softly and eventually Ulquiorra began groaning as the man entered him, finding a steady rhythm.

Ichigo decided to excuse Ulquiorra for all of the sex scenes in his memories, he figured, that with his profession, he should expect it. But the boy still intended to find out more from the Hollow’s hole, of course, that was Ichigo’s reason for not withdrawing his hand.

Ulquiorra stopped the man suddenly, pushing him up and then over onto his back, both of them moving awkwardly to accommodate for the small bed. Ulquiorra adjusted himself atop his teacher, and then resumed their same pace, only changing the style of thrust. The man did what he could to thrust up from under him his hand stroking over the Hollow in time, but Ulquiorra had taken to his erotic undulating. That same way he’d delivered himself atop Ichigo.

Ulquiorra’s back would curl, pushing forward and off of the man, and then at the last minute it would arch and push back against him, the man’s cock sliding back in smoothly. This was a tiring exercise for anyone else, but it had been so natural to Ulquiorra, it was as simple as walking for him, rarely tiring from the motion.

The Hollow was able to keep this up until the man beneath him came, his hips jutting upwards quickly, his rear even lifting up off the bed. This move struck Ulquiorra in the right spot hard enough to bring his own already building climax. They both gasped sharply, shivering, groaning. Ulquiorra fell over with his head landing next to the other’s, still slowly, lazily undulating against the man.

Finally, the Hollow rolled off, and he took his place beside his teacher, breathing harshly as he recovered.

Ichigo startled at the sudden sound from two rooms away. The philosopher rolled off of his bed, letting his chiton fall back down around his knees and tidying up his hair. Ulquiorra too jumped up startled by the sudden bang. They both seemed a bit caught off guard, but when Ulquiorra saw three men as they entered, he seemed to pale even more.

“Ahh, I see, this is where you’ve been hiding. Is this who you’ve been treating?” The man asked softly, bending down to take a sniff of Ulquiorra, he could smell the sex on him, it was still in the room even, fresh.

Ulqiuorra stood from the bed, stepping between the three men and his teacher. “Ah, no, I’m sorry, that’s not how it works, my pretty little thing. Patrokles won’t enjoy hearing about how you gave away a free session so you could learn what one plus one is.” The man laughed. He took a hold of Ulquiorra’s arm, who only took a shot with his knee, landing a decent blow to the man’s diaphragm. But it didn’t take long for one of the other men to rush passed him.

“Let this be a lesson to you.” He growled back at Ulquiorra, and the man’s arm struck at the philosopher, burying a six inch dagger up under his ribs.

Ulquiorra spun in time to see just that, and his eyes widened. The scene seemed to blur once more to Ichigo, but he could still see the men continuing to assault the poor man, one of the three men holding Ulquiorra back, rubbing a hardened cock into the small of his back.

The hollow remained expressionless, watching his teacher as blood pooled beneath his body. They left him in the room with him, and then he seemed to come to a wild realization.

Finally, the scene had shifted once again, that same house where Ichigo had first seen the woman resembling Orihime appeared; it was ablaze. Ulquiorra quickly rushed for the door, but his neighbors pulled him back in time. After hours, and still standing barely in the morning light, the flames finally ceased, simmering still as the Hollow entered, his neighbors standing back to allow him to do so.

The inside was falling apart, the roof was pitch black, as though, if you were to look up at it, you would be looking into a deep dark void.

Ulquiorra examined each room slowly, he had a silk sheet pulled tightly around him, holding a corner up over his mouth as he continued to look. Each room was empty, the trinkets and vases and such had all broken and scattered the floor. The only thing that kept Ulquiorra there, was the sickening smell of burnt flesh.

He was determined to find what he sought, and eventually, he did. In the furthest room back, the bedroom. Ulquiorra froze, his face looked up blankly. As Ichigo peered into the room, he felt the sudden need to withdraw his hand. A human figure was propped up, its arms tied up, reaching out to the corners of the room like a big Y. The figure was kneeling, its head hanging forward in a grotesque way, as though it had been broken. All of it was charred, most of the skin and tissue was melted away, just a thin near bone left. Ulquiorra could see his mother’s gold strand hanging from her burnt and broken neck, he could see where she’d torn and nearly broken her wrists just trying to escape, there was already a great deal of damage everywhere on her body, but he figured she had been fighting her restraints, they’d done a bit of damage on the tendons as well it seemed.

Finally, a few of the neighbors from outside followed him in after a while, one of the women gasped at the sight of his mother, they must have been friends, for she let a loud cry out to Athena, shielding her eyes and reaching out blindly for Ulquiorra. “No no,” another said, “this is the work of Nemesis.” She said, bowing her head. The women wept for a long time after she brought him out, but Ulquiorra only stared ahead of him, his eyes unfocused, his lips parted only a little, he didn’t even speak much, until:

“My goodness, what on earth has happened here? You could see the smoke clear over on the other side of the city.” A familiar voice said incredulously.

Ulquiorra and his neighbors and passersby turned to see Patrokles standing in the street with the three men from earlier. None of them had smiles on their faces, but none of them looked surprised.

Ulquiorra only stared back, his mouth closing, his eyes soft but sharp at the same time. He moved away from the people who surrounded him and thanked them or their concern. “I must be heading home now.” He told them. Most of them looked shocked at his reaction, but they gave him a look of understanding, as though expecting him to come up with some kind of payback.

Finally, the scene blurred once again, Ichigo couldn’t bear to think of that body in there that had so much resembled Orihime.

What appeared before him now, was a grand entry way to what seemed to be a temple. Ulquiorra was proceeding up the steps to the Parthenon, slowly following after a group of men ahead of him. They were very much like his friend, some of them much older, like in the very first vision he was shown.

“Aww, my boy, so good to see you, I do hope that you can recover after such a horrible thing.” One of the senate members consoled him, patting softly on Ulquiorra’s shoulder.

“I thank you, but I hope you’ve come to realize that your group here today is short one. I know of the men who are responsible for that, and I know they had a hand in my mother’s death as well.” He sounded all business at this point, and Ichigo could see why.

The men looked shocked, looking amongst them to take a count and then come to realize who wasn’t there.

“Ah, you’re right!” The oldest exclaimed. “Was… was he….”

“He was, I was there to witness it, my employer tries to keep me from my studies, he does not wish that I learn on my own, I know that your friend would disagree.”

“Yes, he believed it was a right and a responsibility to have at least a basic knowledge.” Another one had spoken up. He sighed and shook his head. “So, with your knowledge, what do you propose that we do about this?” The man stepped closer to Ulquiorra, draping an arm over his shoulder so that he could lead him and the group to a more secluded corner, looking through the Doric columns to make sure that no one could be hiding behind them.

“Well, I know that the senate would love to change that side of the city. It has long since been closed to the general public, they favor only their family and friends, do they not?”

“It has.” The man nodded, following along.

“And they’ve always been less than enthusiastic when it came to cooperating with surrounding families and neighborhoods. I assume it would be much easier to finally unify the city if their vast little section would submit to the senate’s wishes.” Ulquiorra sounded only as though he were speculating, but Ichigo could tell what the Hollow was doing. He couldn’t help but feel impressed with how persuasive he was being.

The men all nodded to one another, listening intently. “And how do you presume we get them to submit?”

“Don’t. They won’t submit, you’ve tried time and time again. Is it not useless at this point?”

“Of course.” The older man said again, pouting slightly.

“Although, if they were to be removed, or simply… vanish. There’s a whole grouping of homes and businesses that would suddenly become open and ready for your rebuilding.” He sounded as though he’d suddenly realized something.

“We’ve never had a reason before to harass them in such a way, although, perhaps the guards will assist us, now that one of our own has been lost, and what a great loss it is. *Aristophones will want to know of this straight away.” The majority of the men left down the temple steps quickly.

Two of them remained. “You know, you’ll be free, once Patrokles is out of the picture, and I dare say that you have enough friends with good standing status to make your own.” He told Ulquiorra.

“I realize that, it’ll be nice to be on my own finally, I look forward to being far more involved in my own city now that I don’t have to worry about payment to him.”

The man laughed softly, but sadly, he wrapped an arm around Ulquiorra’s waist, while the other walked a short distance ahead. “Perhaps you should stop by more often, we have plenty of occasional feasts, I’m sure our guests would love to see a new young face added to the mix.”

Ulquiorra nodded to them both, following them out of the Parthenon and across the acropolis.

What was to come was a series of smaller events, angry meetings between enemies, and finally, the attacks on Patrokles and his vast family. He understood that the land owned by his family was then given to the city, new businesses opened up here and there, and much deserving families were able to live in homes that shielded them from the outside world.

Ulquiorra was given the home of his teacher, and made a guest among the senate court. He was now a Hetaera, free of any obligation to his previous employer, or anyone else for that matter.

Ichigo felt that it was a good enough end for now. He removed his fingers, feeling a rush as the room returned to normal. He looked down, Ulquiorra was the same, he was fast asleep, he hadn’t moved, and with the Ichigo himself straightened out his blanket, it was still warm as he sank under it and pulled it up so that it covered his shoulders. He laid on his side to face Ulquiorra continuing to watch him until he couldn’t keep his eyes opened anymore. The boy fell asleep, dreaming of what the next chapter might be in Ulquiorra’s life.


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Authors Notes:

*Aristophanes was the Archon of Athens from 331 BCE – 330 BCE. This is my attempt at giving my readers an idea of when this takes place. XD Instead of 331 – 330 BCE, the Greeks used the Archons as a reference, they were like leaders who resided in Athens.

Authors Comments:

I didn’t have any inside jokes, I’m sorry. ;-;

REVIEWS: I would like to encourage people to leave reviews. If you like it enough to favorite it, at least tell me what about it you liked so I can keep that in the chapters to come. Or if you have any qualms with it, please let me know!

They also encourage me to continue. w I won’t keep going if people don’t let me know they enjoy it.

Enjoy your holidays! Don’t get too rambunctious. XD