Bleach Drabble (298-300)
Wow, finally got to three hundred, huh? Seems like this hundred particularly took a really long time. o.o
298.
Title: Transfer
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: IkkaxIzu (Madaruru? Ikkira? Kirame?), Kenpachi
Word Count: 997
Warning/s: Spoilers for the manga through ch 206
Summary: Companion drabble to #290 (My Greatest Secret Revealed)- In his own special way, Kenpachi helps Ikkaku see the light.
Dedication: sw_inku and k_shi- I saw the little IkkaxIzu icon chibis on your site (and the ShuuxYumi ones)! LOVE!
A/N: I feel like I win at life when people tell me they like IkkaxIzu and ShuuxYumi. I just do. ^^
Kenpachi coughed. “Oi, Ikkaku.”
“Er, yeah, taichou?”
“C’mere a second, gotta talk to you.”
Madarame blinked. “Uh…kay.”
He followed Zaraki into his office, wondering what it was his captain wanted to speak to him about. He couldn’t remember doing anything that warranted a talking to.
Zaraki sat down in his chair and after a moment of studying his subordinate, cleared his throat, scratched the side of his face, and averted his eye sideways.
“So…”
“Yeah?”
“Er, not that it’s any of my business or anythin’, Madarame, but I heard ya taught Kira your retarded dance a coupla days ago?”
Ikkaku blinked. And then reflexively responded, “it’s not retarded.”
“Sure it is. But I know how damn important it is to you. Now didja or didn’t ya teach your poor, could-do-so-better-than-your-sorry-ass boyfriend your retarded dance?”
Ikkaku sighed; realizing that protesting the merits of his dance wouldn’t further their conversation any. “Yeah. I taught him.”
Kenpachi rubbed at the back of his neck at the admission. “I see.”
“Er… that a problem or somethin’, sir?”
“Nah… it’s just…”
“It’s just what?” he pressed.
Kenpachi fidgeted a bit in his seat. “Just…seems you’re pretty damn serious ‘bout this one then, aren’tcha?”
Ikkaku felt his cheeks turn red in embarrassment. Kenpachi didn’t have to just go and put it like that all out in the open and stuff. “Er… well….yeah. I think so.”
Zaraki sighed. “Suppose that settles it then.”
“Er… huh?”
Zaraki gestured towards his third-seat. “Got a letter from Yama-jii this mornin’. Says you’re in the runnin’ to become the new captain of the third.”
“Wait…what?”
“Well ya know your damn bankai, don’tcha? Everyone else knows ya do too.”
Ikkaku was dumbfounded. “They do?”
“Ya great idiot, it was all over those power readings Akon was takin’ after you fought that Arrankar.”
At the revelation, Ikkaku looked at the ground in frustration. “Dammit.”
It was Kenpachi’s turn to blink. “The hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sir, I uh… well, I promised I wouldn’t serve anyone but you, you know that, don’tcha? So I can’t… they can’t order me to, can they? I don’t hafta do it if I don’t wanna do I?”
Zaraki stared. “Waitaminute. You tryin’ to tell me you don’t wanna?” There was a dangerous edge to his voice when he asked the question.
Ikkaku was starting to get confused. “Well, it’s not that… I mean, ‘cuz then I’d be…but I made a promise and dammit, what good ‘m I if I can’t keep one measly…”
Kenpachi threw a cup at him.
It bounced off his head, and for a moment, the third seat just stared back at his captain because he wasn’t quite sure if what had just happened really happened.
But then his head hurt.
“Ow!!! Dammit, taichou! The hell was that for?”
“You gotta be kiddin’ me. You stupid or somethin’? That Arrankar take outta chunk of your brains while ya weren’t lookin’?”
Ikkaku gaped a bit. “I uh… don’t understand, sir.”
“Ya taught Kira your damned retarded dance, didn’tcha?”
“Er…yessir.” Ikkaku wasn’t sure if it was the head injury that as muddling things or just the fact that Zaraki didn’t make much sense on a good day.
“So? That means you’re really serious ‘bout that boy, ain’tcha?”
“Well… yeah. I think so.”
“Ya think so, ya think so. Make a damned decision wouldja? Ya like him or don’tcha?”
“’Course I like him!” Ikkaku protested hotly. “Lots,” he added, blushing a bit again.
“Well then go and be his damned captain!” Kenpachi finished, sounding like the bizarre correlation he’d just made was the simplest thing in the world.
Ikkaku stared back at him stupidly.
On that look, Kenpachi slapped a palm to his forehead. “Look,” he began, very slowly, “ya love the guy, right? Don’t deny it or get all blushy or any pansy bullshit like that, I mean it,” he added quickly, cutting off Ikkaku before he could say anything about his captain’s choice of words. “And now the big boys upstairs’re givin’ you a chance to be right there next to him, all the freakin’ time.”
“But…”
“Don’t make me throw my ink well, ya mouthy bastard.”
Ikkaku’s jaw snapped shut.
“Right. So they give ya a chance to be with the guy night’n day, and you’re worried about some retarded promise ya madea couple decades or so ago? Dyin’ in my service. Che. Damn stupid promise in the first place, ya shoulda promised you’d kick my ass one day or somethin’. Least that woulda been respectable. Stupid, but respectable.”
Zaraki paused after that tangent.
Once he’d found his original train of thought, “Look, moron. What I’m tryin’ to say here is, you’ll be under my damned service for the rest of your life. Doesn’t matter where the hell ya are. Just a fact of life. Idiots servin’ the strong’n stuff. Food chain sorta thing, you know. So ya might as well be where you can keep an eye on Kira, given that you’re so damn serious ‘bout the guy.”
“Sir…”
Zaraki threw his inkwell.
Ikkaku yelped and ducked.
“Would ya shut up and listen?!”
“Er…sorry, sir.”
Zaraki glared. Stopped. “Actually, that was it.”
Ikkaku’s brow furrowed, too disconcerted to be properly annoyed with his captain’s obtuseness. “So… you’re tryin’ ta tell me…”
Kenpachi’s one feral eye rolled in exasperation. “I’m tellin’ ya to take the damned job, you stupid dancing love-love idiot.”
Ikkaku’s head hurt. “Just wanted to make sure, sir.”
Zaraki’s head was beginning to hurt too. “Fuckin’ moron. Wait a second and lemme go get your damned forms.”
A few weeks later, when Ikkaku stepped into the third division headquarters as its new captain, Kira greeted him with the warmest smile he’d ever seen.
“Welcome…taichou.”
And as he stared at his prettily glowing vice-captain, Madarame supposed that despite the abuse and the flying objects, he owed Zaraki a round of drinks for this one.
In light of what stood before him now, that had been a pretty retarded promise.
END
299.
Title: Free Your Soul
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Zangetsu, Ichigo
Word Count: 396
Warning/s: Spoilers for Ch 202
Summary: Zangetsu, meet Ichigo.
Dedication: lissiel for bribing me to write something ZangetsuxIchigo, and emlan, who is the world’s most famous ZanIchi shipper. XD
A/N: Okay, so it’s not exactly shippy, though there are some lines that could be taken in a suggestive manner, I suppose. But I don’t think I can actually make a sword and its owner in a real shippy way. So something more of a mental bond and a sense of working together is probably the most meaningful way to go about talking about their relationship? I dunno, I’ve never done this before. -_-;;
Zangetsu told himself that the first opportunity he had to meet his master, he wouldn’t hold back. He would unleash all of his anger and frustration and demand an explanation for the constant rains and the bone-chilling silence of the cold, sideways world he had been forced to endure for years, all alone.
Except that the first time Zangetsu saw Ichigo, he hadn’t been expecting what he got.
Such a young boy, helpless and ignorant to the powers that lay within him, too angry and hurt to fully understand what Zangetsu was for, what he was capable of.
And so the dark soul slayer couldn’t be angry with Ichigo, not like he’d planned.
Because when he saw him, Zangetsu knew right away, that the boy was as lonely as he had been, in his own way. Because he could feel that the boy had endured his own rain for many years now as well.
Zangetsu felt his anger fade away at the first sight of his master. And the first time Ichigo held him as they battled side by side, borrowing Shirayuki and Rukia’s strength to bolster their new, tentative bond, he felt something else altogether.
For the first time, Zangetsu was happy.
And any desire to be angry with Ichigo, any want to resent the boy for what he’d put the zanpakutou through all those silent, lonely years, instantly melted away.
It was as if his entire life, he had been waiting for that one moment.
The feel, the rush, the happiness of having his master wield him, the sensation of two strong hands wrapped around him, holding him up as their powers intertwined- it had been the greatest joy Zangetsu had ever experienced.
He never wanted it to end.
After that day, back in his sideways world, Zangetsu hadn’t been able to calm the adrenaline in his veins, hadn’t been able to steady his heaving breaths or slow his racing heart.
It was, he supposed, what joy must have felt like.
And he thought that everything would be okay-- the rain and the loneliness and the silence all-- as long as it could always be like that, as long as it could always be Ichigo and him together.
Shirayuki, trapped there with him at the time, had smiled wryly at the other soul slayer and said, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
She was right.
END
300.
Title: A Little Change
Rating: PG-15
Pairing/Character/s: GinxKira, IkkaxIzu
Word Count: 804
Warning/s: No spoilers I can think of directly? Maybe minor ones for the SS arc.
Summary: Vaguely connected to all my IkkaxIzu drabbles from before- Kira and his hair.
Dedication: antiparallel and sw_inku- because waking up to fanart gifts brom BOTH of you on the same morning is like Christmas EARLY. I love you both.
A/N: Drabble 300 I suppose, should go do a little third division, yes? Yes. Even though 100 and 200 didn’t go to their respective divisions or anything. Um. Well, no one can say I’ve ever really been consistent anyway. And I’ve also got to throw in some IkkaxIzu because they’ve totally been my focus lately, so yeah. Here you have it. A lil GinxKira, a lil IkkaxIzu, and 300 drabbles. ^^;;
Kira remembers how Ichimaru had loved his hair, had tugged at it with his fingers during and petted it under his hand after.
He remembers that he’d let it grow out because he’d liked the sting when Gin had pulled at it, and his captain had always complimented him on it, saying, “Kira-chan has the loveliest hair.”
In those days, Izuru had been willing to do anything for his captain, anything to please Ichimaru that was in his power to do.
He hadn’t even minded the extra effort it took on those mornings after, to wash out the things that had dried and clumped in the blonde locks during the course of the night.
But that had been a lifetime ago.
Now, now Ikkaku is always tucking his bangs behind his ear when he reaches up to touch Izuru’s cheeks, clucking at Kira not to cover his face up, and isn’t it hard to see like that?
Kira always flushes and looks away and the hair always falls back down over his eye when he does that.
Ikkaku will shake his head and with a fond smile, press a quick kiss to the blonde’s forehead before murmuring in a resigned fashion, “Well, I just like seein’ your face is all, I guess. But ya don’t gotta do anythin’ you don’t wanna.”
Sometimes Kira will look in the mirror and push his hair away from his face, staring at his own reflection for a few moments and wondering what is possibly there that Ikkaku likes looking at so much.
He thinks he looks too pale and that his eyes always seem a little bit sad.
Then he lets his hair fall back down, and it’s a bit of a relief to be able to hide behind that again, if only just a little bit.
He’d grown it out for Ichimaru-taichou because Gin had always petted his hair from behind afterwards, when Kira was splayed out on his stomach, bleeding and panting. It had been the one gesture his captain allowed him, because when they’d fucked they’d never really done anything else but that. It hadn’t been about anything else but just that.
Gin would always touch his hair after they’d finished though, just a brief gesture as he left the room, before Kira could even find the strength to turn around and watch him go.
It had been all Gin had ever given him.
But Ikkaku always kisses him when they’re done now, sweet and firm and with his hands on the blonde’s face, looking right at him sometimes, grinning sometimes, cursing and groaning at others as they lie there tangled in one another, trying to catch their breath.
Kira thinks about that for a little bit, and then looks back at himself in the mirror.
With some determination, he tucks the hair back behind his ear and tentatively touches his own face, the way Ikkaku does when they kiss.
He frowns.
The next day, when Kira returns to the third division headquarters from a long lunch break, he’s nervous.
His hair is short now, maybe even shorter than it was when he was at the academy, and he feels strangely vulnerable like this even though it was his own decision to get it cut.
“Hey, you finally back? You’re late so I was…”
Ikkaku trails off as he rounds the corner and peers into the entryway to the vice-captain’s office.
His jaw drops a little. “Oi… you… uh… you…”
Kira turns his eyes downward and flushes at his new captain’s assessment, embarrassed. “Yeah… I…”
And then the bald death god grins and steps forward excitedly. “Ya cut it.” There’s a pleased, appreciative awe in his voice that makes Izuru’s heart flutter in his chest.
“Yeah. I did.” Kira fidgets, his hands automatically going up in search of hair that isn’t there anymore. His fingers catch nothing but air and it feels strange.
Ikkaku, smiling crookedly, closes the distance between them and gently pulls the blonde’s hands away from his head. “Wow. You cut it short,” he observes with a low whistle.
“It uh…it was always getting in the way,” Kira explains sheepishly, unable to hold back his own little smile as he takes in his lover’s expression.
“Yeah? Well… I uh… it looks nice,” Ikkaku murmurs, reaching out and touching the back of the blonde’s neck, fingers just brushing the short hairs there.
Kira shivers. “Thanks.”
Madarame, upon finishing his assessment of this new development, grins and cups the blonde’s cheek with his other hand. “Hey… I can see you now,” he says without thinking.
Kira, leans into the fingers on his cheek and understands exactly what Ikkaku means. “Yeah.”
Ikkaku shoots Izuru a lopsided smile and simply says, “Cool.”
They go back to work together and never really talk about Kira’s hair again.
END
Edits very necessary here, I think. o.o
298.
Title: Transfer
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: IkkaxIzu (Madaruru? Ikkira? Kirame?), Kenpachi
Word Count: 997
Warning/s: Spoilers for the manga through ch 206
Summary: Companion drabble to #290 (My Greatest Secret Revealed)- In his own special way, Kenpachi helps Ikkaku see the light.
Dedication: sw_inku and k_shi- I saw the little IkkaxIzu icon chibis on your site (and the ShuuxYumi ones)! LOVE!
A/N: I feel like I win at life when people tell me they like IkkaxIzu and ShuuxYumi. I just do. ^^
Kenpachi coughed. “Oi, Ikkaku.”
“Er, yeah, taichou?”
“C’mere a second, gotta talk to you.”
Madarame blinked. “Uh…kay.”
He followed Zaraki into his office, wondering what it was his captain wanted to speak to him about. He couldn’t remember doing anything that warranted a talking to.
Zaraki sat down in his chair and after a moment of studying his subordinate, cleared his throat, scratched the side of his face, and averted his eye sideways.
“So…”
“Yeah?”
“Er, not that it’s any of my business or anythin’, Madarame, but I heard ya taught Kira your retarded dance a coupla days ago?”
Ikkaku blinked. And then reflexively responded, “it’s not retarded.”
“Sure it is. But I know how damn important it is to you. Now didja or didn’t ya teach your poor, could-do-so-better-than-your-sorry-ass boyfriend your retarded dance?”
Ikkaku sighed; realizing that protesting the merits of his dance wouldn’t further their conversation any. “Yeah. I taught him.”
Kenpachi rubbed at the back of his neck at the admission. “I see.”
“Er… that a problem or somethin’, sir?”
“Nah… it’s just…”
“It’s just what?” he pressed.
Kenpachi fidgeted a bit in his seat. “Just…seems you’re pretty damn serious ‘bout this one then, aren’tcha?”
Ikkaku felt his cheeks turn red in embarrassment. Kenpachi didn’t have to just go and put it like that all out in the open and stuff. “Er… well….yeah. I think so.”
Zaraki sighed. “Suppose that settles it then.”
“Er… huh?”
Zaraki gestured towards his third-seat. “Got a letter from Yama-jii this mornin’. Says you’re in the runnin’ to become the new captain of the third.”
“Wait…what?”
“Well ya know your damn bankai, don’tcha? Everyone else knows ya do too.”
Ikkaku was dumbfounded. “They do?”
“Ya great idiot, it was all over those power readings Akon was takin’ after you fought that Arrankar.”
At the revelation, Ikkaku looked at the ground in frustration. “Dammit.”
It was Kenpachi’s turn to blink. “The hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sir, I uh… well, I promised I wouldn’t serve anyone but you, you know that, don’tcha? So I can’t… they can’t order me to, can they? I don’t hafta do it if I don’t wanna do I?”
Zaraki stared. “Waitaminute. You tryin’ to tell me you don’t wanna?” There was a dangerous edge to his voice when he asked the question.
Ikkaku was starting to get confused. “Well, it’s not that… I mean, ‘cuz then I’d be…but I made a promise and dammit, what good ‘m I if I can’t keep one measly…”
Kenpachi threw a cup at him.
It bounced off his head, and for a moment, the third seat just stared back at his captain because he wasn’t quite sure if what had just happened really happened.
But then his head hurt.
“Ow!!! Dammit, taichou! The hell was that for?”
“You gotta be kiddin’ me. You stupid or somethin’? That Arrankar take outta chunk of your brains while ya weren’t lookin’?”
Ikkaku gaped a bit. “I uh… don’t understand, sir.”
“Ya taught Kira your damned retarded dance, didn’tcha?”
“Er…yessir.” Ikkaku wasn’t sure if it was the head injury that as muddling things or just the fact that Zaraki didn’t make much sense on a good day.
“So? That means you’re really serious ‘bout that boy, ain’tcha?”
“Well… yeah. I think so.”
“Ya think so, ya think so. Make a damned decision wouldja? Ya like him or don’tcha?”
“’Course I like him!” Ikkaku protested hotly. “Lots,” he added, blushing a bit again.
“Well then go and be his damned captain!” Kenpachi finished, sounding like the bizarre correlation he’d just made was the simplest thing in the world.
Ikkaku stared back at him stupidly.
On that look, Kenpachi slapped a palm to his forehead. “Look,” he began, very slowly, “ya love the guy, right? Don’t deny it or get all blushy or any pansy bullshit like that, I mean it,” he added quickly, cutting off Ikkaku before he could say anything about his captain’s choice of words. “And now the big boys upstairs’re givin’ you a chance to be right there next to him, all the freakin’ time.”
“But…”
“Don’t make me throw my ink well, ya mouthy bastard.”
Ikkaku’s jaw snapped shut.
“Right. So they give ya a chance to be with the guy night’n day, and you’re worried about some retarded promise ya madea couple decades or so ago? Dyin’ in my service. Che. Damn stupid promise in the first place, ya shoulda promised you’d kick my ass one day or somethin’. Least that woulda been respectable. Stupid, but respectable.”
Zaraki paused after that tangent.
Once he’d found his original train of thought, “Look, moron. What I’m tryin’ to say here is, you’ll be under my damned service for the rest of your life. Doesn’t matter where the hell ya are. Just a fact of life. Idiots servin’ the strong’n stuff. Food chain sorta thing, you know. So ya might as well be where you can keep an eye on Kira, given that you’re so damn serious ‘bout the guy.”
“Sir…”
Zaraki threw his inkwell.
Ikkaku yelped and ducked.
“Would ya shut up and listen?!”
“Er…sorry, sir.”
Zaraki glared. Stopped. “Actually, that was it.”
Ikkaku’s brow furrowed, too disconcerted to be properly annoyed with his captain’s obtuseness. “So… you’re tryin’ ta tell me…”
Kenpachi’s one feral eye rolled in exasperation. “I’m tellin’ ya to take the damned job, you stupid dancing love-love idiot.”
Ikkaku’s head hurt. “Just wanted to make sure, sir.”
Zaraki’s head was beginning to hurt too. “Fuckin’ moron. Wait a second and lemme go get your damned forms.”
A few weeks later, when Ikkaku stepped into the third division headquarters as its new captain, Kira greeted him with the warmest smile he’d ever seen.
“Welcome…taichou.”
And as he stared at his prettily glowing vice-captain, Madarame supposed that despite the abuse and the flying objects, he owed Zaraki a round of drinks for this one.
In light of what stood before him now, that had been a pretty retarded promise.
END
299.
Title: Free Your Soul
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Zangetsu, Ichigo
Word Count: 396
Warning/s: Spoilers for Ch 202
Summary: Zangetsu, meet Ichigo.
Dedication: lissiel for bribing me to write something ZangetsuxIchigo, and emlan, who is the world’s most famous ZanIchi shipper. XD
A/N: Okay, so it’s not exactly shippy, though there are some lines that could be taken in a suggestive manner, I suppose. But I don’t think I can actually make a sword and its owner in a real shippy way. So something more of a mental bond and a sense of working together is probably the most meaningful way to go about talking about their relationship? I dunno, I’ve never done this before. -_-;;
Zangetsu told himself that the first opportunity he had to meet his master, he wouldn’t hold back. He would unleash all of his anger and frustration and demand an explanation for the constant rains and the bone-chilling silence of the cold, sideways world he had been forced to endure for years, all alone.
Except that the first time Zangetsu saw Ichigo, he hadn’t been expecting what he got.
Such a young boy, helpless and ignorant to the powers that lay within him, too angry and hurt to fully understand what Zangetsu was for, what he was capable of.
And so the dark soul slayer couldn’t be angry with Ichigo, not like he’d planned.
Because when he saw him, Zangetsu knew right away, that the boy was as lonely as he had been, in his own way. Because he could feel that the boy had endured his own rain for many years now as well.
Zangetsu felt his anger fade away at the first sight of his master. And the first time Ichigo held him as they battled side by side, borrowing Shirayuki and Rukia’s strength to bolster their new, tentative bond, he felt something else altogether.
For the first time, Zangetsu was happy.
And any desire to be angry with Ichigo, any want to resent the boy for what he’d put the zanpakutou through all those silent, lonely years, instantly melted away.
It was as if his entire life, he had been waiting for that one moment.
The feel, the rush, the happiness of having his master wield him, the sensation of two strong hands wrapped around him, holding him up as their powers intertwined- it had been the greatest joy Zangetsu had ever experienced.
He never wanted it to end.
After that day, back in his sideways world, Zangetsu hadn’t been able to calm the adrenaline in his veins, hadn’t been able to steady his heaving breaths or slow his racing heart.
It was, he supposed, what joy must have felt like.
And he thought that everything would be okay-- the rain and the loneliness and the silence all-- as long as it could always be like that, as long as it could always be Ichigo and him together.
Shirayuki, trapped there with him at the time, had smiled wryly at the other soul slayer and said, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
She was right.
END
300.
Title: A Little Change
Rating: PG-15
Pairing/Character/s: GinxKira, IkkaxIzu
Word Count: 804
Warning/s: No spoilers I can think of directly? Maybe minor ones for the SS arc.
Summary: Vaguely connected to all my IkkaxIzu drabbles from before- Kira and his hair.
Dedication: antiparallel and sw_inku- because waking up to fanart gifts brom BOTH of you on the same morning is like Christmas EARLY. I love you both.
A/N: Drabble 300 I suppose, should go do a little third division, yes? Yes. Even though 100 and 200 didn’t go to their respective divisions or anything. Um. Well, no one can say I’ve ever really been consistent anyway. And I’ve also got to throw in some IkkaxIzu because they’ve totally been my focus lately, so yeah. Here you have it. A lil GinxKira, a lil IkkaxIzu, and 300 drabbles. ^^;;
Kira remembers how Ichimaru had loved his hair, had tugged at it with his fingers during and petted it under his hand after.
He remembers that he’d let it grow out because he’d liked the sting when Gin had pulled at it, and his captain had always complimented him on it, saying, “Kira-chan has the loveliest hair.”
In those days, Izuru had been willing to do anything for his captain, anything to please Ichimaru that was in his power to do.
He hadn’t even minded the extra effort it took on those mornings after, to wash out the things that had dried and clumped in the blonde locks during the course of the night.
But that had been a lifetime ago.
Now, now Ikkaku is always tucking his bangs behind his ear when he reaches up to touch Izuru’s cheeks, clucking at Kira not to cover his face up, and isn’t it hard to see like that?
Kira always flushes and looks away and the hair always falls back down over his eye when he does that.
Ikkaku will shake his head and with a fond smile, press a quick kiss to the blonde’s forehead before murmuring in a resigned fashion, “Well, I just like seein’ your face is all, I guess. But ya don’t gotta do anythin’ you don’t wanna.”
Sometimes Kira will look in the mirror and push his hair away from his face, staring at his own reflection for a few moments and wondering what is possibly there that Ikkaku likes looking at so much.
He thinks he looks too pale and that his eyes always seem a little bit sad.
Then he lets his hair fall back down, and it’s a bit of a relief to be able to hide behind that again, if only just a little bit.
He’d grown it out for Ichimaru-taichou because Gin had always petted his hair from behind afterwards, when Kira was splayed out on his stomach, bleeding and panting. It had been the one gesture his captain allowed him, because when they’d fucked they’d never really done anything else but that. It hadn’t been about anything else but just that.
Gin would always touch his hair after they’d finished though, just a brief gesture as he left the room, before Kira could even find the strength to turn around and watch him go.
It had been all Gin had ever given him.
But Ikkaku always kisses him when they’re done now, sweet and firm and with his hands on the blonde’s face, looking right at him sometimes, grinning sometimes, cursing and groaning at others as they lie there tangled in one another, trying to catch their breath.
Kira thinks about that for a little bit, and then looks back at himself in the mirror.
With some determination, he tucks the hair back behind his ear and tentatively touches his own face, the way Ikkaku does when they kiss.
He frowns.
The next day, when Kira returns to the third division headquarters from a long lunch break, he’s nervous.
His hair is short now, maybe even shorter than it was when he was at the academy, and he feels strangely vulnerable like this even though it was his own decision to get it cut.
“Hey, you finally back? You’re late so I was…”
Ikkaku trails off as he rounds the corner and peers into the entryway to the vice-captain’s office.
His jaw drops a little. “Oi… you… uh… you…”
Kira turns his eyes downward and flushes at his new captain’s assessment, embarrassed. “Yeah… I…”
And then the bald death god grins and steps forward excitedly. “Ya cut it.” There’s a pleased, appreciative awe in his voice that makes Izuru’s heart flutter in his chest.
“Yeah. I did.” Kira fidgets, his hands automatically going up in search of hair that isn’t there anymore. His fingers catch nothing but air and it feels strange.
Ikkaku, smiling crookedly, closes the distance between them and gently pulls the blonde’s hands away from his head. “Wow. You cut it short,” he observes with a low whistle.
“It uh…it was always getting in the way,” Kira explains sheepishly, unable to hold back his own little smile as he takes in his lover’s expression.
“Yeah? Well… I uh… it looks nice,” Ikkaku murmurs, reaching out and touching the back of the blonde’s neck, fingers just brushing the short hairs there.
Kira shivers. “Thanks.”
Madarame, upon finishing his assessment of this new development, grins and cups the blonde’s cheek with his other hand. “Hey… I can see you now,” he says without thinking.
Kira, leans into the fingers on his cheek and understands exactly what Ikkaku means. “Yeah.”
Ikkaku shoots Izuru a lopsided smile and simply says, “Cool.”
They go back to work together and never really talk about Kira’s hair again.
END
Edits very necessary here, I think. o.o