Beyond the Hourglass

A/N: Thank you for all the great reviews. They are my inspiration, and without them I probably would have stopped several chapter ago. Don't worry remyjames, you will find out about them soon enough. And on to the chapter, and don't forget to review, please.

Come Over Me

Ichigo felt something moving against him but it was still too early to open his eyes so he just grunted at whatever was disturbing his sleep but then he felt something wet on his stomach and he was sitting up with his eyes open and he saw Renji there with that stupid grin on his face.

“Good morning, princess. Sleep okay?” Renji taunted.

“I am not a princess,” Ichigo countered, “But yeah, I slept okay. More than okay, actually.”

“Really now?” Renji continued, his grin widening, “I take it you enjoyed last night?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“I guess I was pretty good, wasn’t I?”

“I wouldn’t really know about that. That was my, umm, first time doing anything like that.”

“You wouldn’t be up for another round, would you?”

“I might.”

Renji’s fingers were wandering about Ichigo’s body and they were going down there, only they seemed to miss and kept going down.

“Perhaps you’d like to go further?” Renji asked.

And his fingers kept going and then they found his entrance and they poked him and he went back to that night and he saw that man and he remembered and he was alone and it was dark and he was afraid and he wanted it to stop.

“Stop,” he almost screamed, a hint of panic in his voice.

Renji stopped and he was crying and Renji was holding him and he kept crying and Renji kept holding him and after a while he felt better and he stopped crying and he looked Renji in the eyes.

“I’m sorry about that,” he apologized.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready.”

“Thank you for being understanding.”

“Hey, umm, you wouldn’t want to jack me off real quick or somethin’, would you?” Renji asked rather desperately.

“No. The whole remembering I was raped just a few days ago pretty much ruined the mood.”

“Oh. Well, why don’t you go on ahead to breakfast and I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes?”

“But, then who will get my food for me?”

“I’m sure if you bat your eyelashes enough Kira will do anything you ask.”

He came into the room right as Unohana and Shunsui were leaving and why was Byakuya never there in the mornings anyway, did he get up with the sun or something? Maybe he was avoiding him? As long as Byakuya was not there it did not really matter. Shunsui brushed by him on his way out and gave him a weird grin and a pat on the back and Unohana gave him one of her knowing smiles and he suddenly remembered how loud he had been the previous night and he was blushing. He joined Kira and Shuuhei at the table.

“The conference is scheduled for later this afternoon,” Shuuhei stated.

“Okay. But, what exactly do we say? ‘We were attacked, but the best we could do was stay alive’?” Ichigo asked.

“Well, there is some good news,” Kira chimed in, “While we were on patrol last night, we picked up their trail again. We’re pretty confident it’s there hideout.”

“We don’t know how long they’ll be staying there though, so we should move soon,” Shuuhei continued.

“Like, how soon?”

“Probably tonight, if we get the okay.”

“I’m going,” Ichigo stated in such a manner that there was no debate, “I’m feeling much better, and I’m almost fully healed.”

“Well, if your going, I guess that means I hafta go too,” Renji said as he entered the room and sat at the table.

“I was afraid of this,” Shuuhei sighed.

“There’s no arguing with them. They’ve already made their decision and they’ll go whether we allow them to or not,” Kira complained.

They continued to eat and Renji and Kira were chatting. Ichigo felt left out because Kira and Renji seemed to be friends and Ichigo hardly knew anything about Kira but Kira probably knew more about his boyfriend than he ever would and suddenly he did not like the idea of Renji talking with Kira like that and then he realized that he was getting jealous and he did not want to be ‘the jealous boyfriend’ so he tried to let it go but that was proving a great strain on his will and he was tempted on several occasions to jump across the table and just start beating Kira sensless but for some reason that did not seem like a good idea. And then Urahara was there and asking Renji and Shuuhei to help with some boxes and then it was just him and Kira.

“So,” Ichigo began, sounding rather forced, “how long have you known Renji?”

“Ages. Since we trained at the academy together.”

“Oh. I imagine he’s a close friend then.”

“Yeah, you could say that. So. . . how was it?”

“How was what?”

“You know. . .last night?”

“Oh,” Ichigo replied with a slight blush, “you heard about that then.”

“So. . .?”

“It was nice, I guess.”

“Nice? It was only nice?”

“Well, I guess you could say it was awesome, or wonderful, or fucking amazing. . .”

“Do tell,”

“I think I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.”

“Did ya miss me?” Renji asked upon returning with Shuuhei, standing right behind Ichigo and wrapping his arms around him.

“Maybe just a little,” Ichigo said with a slight grin.

And Renji leaned in and they were kissing and Kira and Shuuhei were telling them to get a room but they just ignored them. But then they decided they had had enough kissing and they sat and talked and did whatever chores Urahara asked them to because for some reason staying at his place meant working for him or something but they did it anyway because it was best not to argue with the guy who fed you and put a roof over your head.