Beauty and the Beast

Sorry this is short, a friend’s barn burned down with her animals inside and I was helping move the one’s still alive and injured to our farm. Not to mention the goats are due to give birth now so we are taking care of them. It was awful… But seeing those cute baby kids certainly cheered me up.

Chapter 8

Kenpachi paced in his room, waiting impatiently in dark blue dress clothes. Ikkaku knocked on the door and slipped in, coughing once to get Kenpachi’s attention. “Your Strawberry awaits.”

At the top of the grand staircase, Ichigo fidgeted slightly in his lilac suit that was tailored to emphasize his slim figure. He couldn’t hold back a blush as he caught sight of Kenpachi grinning at him lecherously and descended, both of them meeting on the landing. The beast held his arm out to Ichigo who frowned uncertainly, then took it. It wasn’t like he was some woman who needed an escort.

Ichigo glanced up at Kenpachi studying his scarred face and wondering why the hell he had to feel this way for this guy… this beast. He wasn’t even certain what those feelings were.

Kenpachi led the orange-haired beauty to the table and pulled back the chair for him, grinning as Ichigo cursed and yelled that he wasn’t a girl. They ate dinner with a violin softly playing in the background, one of the rare pieces of music that Ichigo tolerated. He glanced across the long table at Kenpachi who was trying to sip the soup without getting it all over himself. Rolling his eyes, Ichigo stood up and walked over to the table, tugging on Kenpachi’s arm.

“Do you know how to dance?” Ichigo asked, steering them to the center of the ballroom.

Kenpachi swallowed harshly and carefully slipped his hand around Ichigo’s slender waist and grasping the offered hand. “I know a little, Yachiru made me.”

Ichigo snorted, grinning up at the taller man as they swept around the dance floor. “You really do have a soft spot for her, don’t you?”

The beast shrugged, nudging Ichigo into a twirl before tugging him back against his body, almost a little too hard and making Ichigo give a little grunt as their bodies collided. Kenpachi gave an unabashed grin that showed off his sharp teeth while the tangerine beauty rolled his eyes.

“I found her on one of my battle campaigns.” He explained, “She’s one of the few people that isn’t afraid of me, and I respect that.”

“Hmm.” Ichigo smiled, a rare sight that Kenpachi delighted in and made his libido twitch. Not wanting Ichigo to notice and disrupt their calm night, Kenpachi led the younger male out onto the balcony.

“Ichigo…are you happy here with me?” Kenpachi asked, tugging at his uncomfortable clothes.

After a moment’s hesitation, Ichigo nods. “Well, yeah…”

“What is it?” Kenpachi asked with a frown.

“Well, you do molest me a lot and the animated objects kind of freak me out sometimes, but that’s not what bothers me.” Ichigo paused, glancing pointedly at the hand that strayed down to squeeze his ass. Kenpachi growled in aggravation and pulled it away. “And as much as the old goat annoys me…I just want to see him again, make sure he’s okay. After mom died, it’s been just the two of us.”

Kenpachi felt a hint of disappointment that Ichigo wasn’t completely happy here. But at least Ichigo was a little bit. “If you want to…there is a way.”

The tall, strong beast-man led the much smaller boy up to the west wing, never releasing the grip he had on Ichigo’s hand. Ichigo also didn’t let go, instead curling his fingers against the calloused palm as Kenpachi considerately kept the sharp claws away from his skin.

Ichigo glanced at the sword on the wall that actually seemed to have rusted more since he was last here, then blinked as Kenpachi handed him a mirror. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the rose engravings, making the beast glare at him dangerously in response.

“What? It was a present from Yachiru.”

“Sure it was.” Ichigo smirked at him.

“Tch. Whatever. This mirror will show you anything you wish to see.”

“I want to see…Wait a minute, have you been watching me with this thing!?”

“Yeah. You have a great body by the way.” Kenpachi grinned and snuck his hand down and gave his ass a hard squeeze.

“Bastard!” Ichigo hissed. Then blinked as the mirror fogged up and shown a bright green color before revealing a young man with black spiky hair and a cold expression. ‘Sasuke!’ another voice yelled before Ichigo frowned and glared. “That’s not what I want to see! I want to see my father!”

The scene changed to the snowy forest where Isshin trudged through the woods, coughing and hacking sickly as he tried to continue on. Ichigo’s face paled instantly and his hands trembled. “Goat face! Fuck, he’s sick!”

With a grimace, Kenpachi stared at the rusting sword, his heart clenching. “Then…go to him.”

“What?”

“I release you, you are no longer my prisoner.”

“Kenpachi…Thank you.” Ichigo chewed his lower lip, glancing at the mirror once more before starting to the door, pausing as he realized he still had the mirror. Holding it out to Kenpachi, he pushed it back to the beautiful boy’s chest with a shake of his head.

“Take it with you. So if you want to, you’ll always have a way to look back and remember me.”

“Thank you…” Ichigo said again in a low whisper and moved to leave again.

“Before you go, Ichigo.” Ichigo stopped and turned around, his brow furrowed in confusion. “You have a few minutes to spare, please give me something to remember you by.”

Ichigo stared at him, closing his eyes and swallowing harshly before stepping back to him. Kenpachi met him halfway, gently taking the mirror out of Ichigo’s hand and setting it aside as he grabbed the boy’s upper arms and drew him close, leaning down for a heated kiss. Ichigo’s lips parted under the rougher chapped lips and he gave an involuntary groan as Kenpachi snuck his tongue in and explore his mouth ferociously. Ichigo jerked slightly as those sharp fangs found his tender lips, but the wound was instantly soothed by Kenpachi’s tongue licking up the blood.

Finally pulling away, a long trail of saliva broke as Ichigo panted for breath with a light flush across his cheeks. Kenpachi leaned in again and licked up the mess, giving one last squeeze to the trapped arms he was holding before pulling away abruptly and turning his back on his love. “Go! Before I change my mind.”

Ichigo bit his lower lip, snatching the mirror back up and rushing out the door, pausing once to look back at the beast before shaking his head to clear his thoughts and continuing on.

Yumichika trotted in with a large beaming smile. “Well captain, that seemed to go well.”

“I let him go.” Kenpachi said sadly.

“You- you what!?” Yumichika shouted in disbelief. “How could you!?”

“I had to.”

“Yes, but why!?”

“Because I love him.”

All the objects stared at Yumichika in disbelief as he relayed the news. “He did what!?”

“Yes, I’m afraid it’s true.” Yumichika said sadly.

“He’s going away?” Yachiru asked frantically.

“But he was so close…” Ikkaku sighed morosely.

“After all this time, he’s finally learned to love.” Unohana seemed to wilt in sadness.

“That’s it then, that should break the spell!”

“He has to love the beast in return, though.”

“And now it’s too late.”

In the balcony of the west wing, Kenpachi watched in anguish as Ichigo raced away on Zangetsu. Throwing back his head, he let loose an unworldly roar that echoed through out the valley and in Ichigo’s heart.

LINE

I was sorry I couldn’t have Ichigo wear the golden gown, but gold would look clash terribly with his orange hair… Besides, purple looks really good on red-heads.

Heh, and for those of you that don’t know, Sasuke is a character from Naruto that is nicknamed ‘bastard’ by Naruto. Thus when Ichigo said ‘bastard’, it showed Sasuke.