Fanfic: Baby It's Cold Outside
Title: Baby It's Cold Outside
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Ukitake/Kyouraku
Rating: NC-17 -- just the sex, ma'am.
Word Count: 3750
Summary: Ukitake and Kyouraku take their Divisions out for some exercise in the snow.
A/N: For Jyuushiro's birthday (yes, I am a geek), and the Y!Gallery winter (really dangerous winter weather) contest. There is a reference from my Twin Souls fic, just one. Many thanks to 2metaldog for doing a great beta job on this and really tightening up the language!
When the blizzard rolled over the tree covered mountains in the Western Third Rukongai District, Hokuan, the Eighth and Thirteenth Divisions were on their way to Mount Koifushi.
It wasn't that surprising, since it was mid-winter. The two divisions had on modern snowshoes and winter gear; each person carried an appropriate supply pack. They'd done most of the hundred mile hike without shunpo, as many of the divisions' members would've been exhausted by that much use of their power, but the scouts for the troops used it extensively to set up the perimeter.
It was the scouts who shunpo'ed in to tell Ukitake-taichou and Kyouraku-taichou that there was a storm on the way. Ise-kun and the Thirds were there for the debriefing as well. Shunsui simply looked at Ise-kun and she disappeared in a flash of shunpo. Jyuushiro knew that was all the instruction she would need to settle the Eighth in their camp.
Jyuushiro gave the Thirds detailed instruction on where people should be placed, what part of their troops should be deployed for perimeter watch, and which to set on shelter and mess duties. They tried arguing about which one should talk to the scouts rather than the troops right there, saying that whoever did the nearest messages was a lazy good for nothing; but Jyuushiro coughed twice, ending their argument without saying a word.
They flushed, bowed, and flashed-stepped away.
Shunsui frowned a little after them.
Jyuushiro shrugged, understanding the frown. The Thirds were not functioning as smoothly as Shunsui's Ise-kun. "This is their training. We need to do this when it's just a storm coming, not a hoard of Hollows on our trail."
"One would be easier."
"They're better when they compete, but, yes, it is harder."
Shunsui nodded, and fell into step by Jyuushiro as they moved toward the main camp. "All right, then. There haven't been too many outdoor training exercises, lately, with all those bothersome things happening right in Seireitei."
"Indeed."
Shunsui suddenly stopped, and just stood there in the snow, a bemused look on his face.
"What?"
Jyuushiro watched Shunsui tilt his head one way, take a shunpo step up onto a twenty foot cliff, and then step back on Jyuushiro's other side.
"Shiba."
"Kaien?" Jyuushiro's shock at the mention of his long-dead subordinate showed more in his voice than he wanted it to.
Shunsui shook his head. "Kenshin."
"Who?"
"Daisuke-san's class."
Jyuushiro thought about how far back those memories went, and then shook his head. "I wasn't on that trip."
"Oh, right." Shunsui eyed the cliff again. "Hell of a lot easier now."
Jyuushiro eyed the camp that now crawled with shinigami of all shapes and sizes. "Well, in some ways. Yes."
Shunsui laughed. "Come on, Shiro-san, let's see if you remember how to dig a snow shelter."
"Not unless the Thirds haven't dug it for me already, but they are not sleeping with me."
The two Captains disappeared in mid-chuckle.
The wind howled and the snow whipped the tree tops into a frenzy, but most of the Eighth and Thirteen were warm and cozy. The mess crews dug the fire pits all the way to the ground, protected by snow banks mounded far enough away from the heat source to keep them from melting. With a judicious use of kido, people kept the flames going until the heat dried the newly thawed ground beneath.
The Captains did their rounds and settled rotations of the watch, while the troops gathered around the fires, cooked, warmed up, and relaxed after the cold rough march and setup. The Captains went out and oversaw the watch change in the middle of dinner. Doing it then allowed those that were going on duty to eat before going out, and the relieved crew to get hot food before going into the shelters.
Jyuushiro and Shunsui appeared by the campfires, shaking off loose snow and stomping their boots, before approaching the fires.
Jyuushiro stripped off his gloves, and wrapped his long fingers around a bowl full of hot food with a few charred bits from being scraped from the bottom of the kettle. The mess crew started to apologize, but he shook his head at them. "It's hot. That's plenty for me. At ease."
He sat by the fire and murmured, "Itadakimasu."
Shunsui echoed the word and they dug in.
Jyuushiro ate quickly, having been in a big family, he was in the habit of just inhaling his food, especially since he needed more of it than most. Shunsui took his in a more leisurely manner.
Ten minutes into their meal, as Jyuushiro was nearly finished, there was the flash-bang of a shunpo step and a watch member tumbled to the snow. "Five is under attack!" he gasped out, as the acid reek of Hollow reiatsu clawed its way into the camp.
The stench was good warning, but Jyuushiro snapped off a communication kido, just a spreading-ring blast of reiatsu that would jolt everyone awake in the camp. Shunsui swore and set his bowl down in the snow, as the backup troops rolled into camp along with the beleaguered and torn up Watch. The sentries had done their job, Jyuushiro was satisfied to see. Everyone was armed and ready when the pack of Hollows hit the campsite.
"All waves, rise now and become my shield; lightning, strike now and become my blade!"
"Flower wind rage and flower god roar; heavenly wind rage and heavenly demon sneer!"
Their releases blew across the campsite in the scents of ozone and sea, sakura and brimstone. The blaze of reiatsu surrounding the two Captains put a few of the lesser shinigami on their knees.
Luckily, that same blaze was as irresistible to the Hollows as a candle flame to a moth. The Hollows ignored the other Division members and mobbed the two Captains. Shunsui waded into the heavy attack work, while Jyuushiro guarded his back. Hollows swiped at Jyuushiro. With his left blade he caught and snapped bone. While in the midst of that motion, he stabbed forward with his other blade, cracking the mask and the Hollow burst into dust. Others crowded in, getting in each others way, and Jyuushiro used their restriction of each other in his defense of himself and Shunsui's back.
Shunsui's reiatsu was a blaze at Jyuushiro's back. Shunsui moved inexorably forward, cutting through the mob of Hollows like a hot blade through butter. When it became obvious it was a quick cleansing to be in front of Shunsui, Jyuushiro got to see more action, as even more Hollows packed in, to get at them from the rear.
Jyuushiro cried, "Sōgyo no Kotowari strike!"
Lightning crashed down, and a swathe of Hollows burst into dust. The rest screamed and scrambled; but soon came back, drawn irresistibly to reiatsu to feed their hungry souls.
Then it was all straightforward blade work. His fishing javelins flashed deadly and sharp. Sometimes, he would reverse the hook to pull in an escaping limb and use the other blade for the cleansing, and sometimes he was just barely able to dodge or parry tooth and claw. Occasionally, Shunsui's blades would lick out at the edge of his vision, and knowing which side he was paying more attention to, Jyuushiro could catch attacks from the other side. They worked smoothly together, anticipating each other's combinations and each other's rhythm of attention.
And then there were no more.
Ise-kun wiped her blade carefully with a sheet of paper before tucking it back in. Kotetsu and Kotsubaki each finished off their own opponents, and started arguing about whom had gotten more of them than the other. Everyone had a few minor cuts and one of the youngsters had a broken leg from a Hollow that landed on him. The medics got to work.
Jyuushiro leaned against Shunsui's back and the two of them stood there and panted. Jyuushiro coughed and kept on coughing, and he felt another piece of his damaged lungs move up through his chest and into his windpipes. He was helpless to breathe until he'd coughed the blood and tissue onto the trampled snow.
Strong, familiar hands pulled him into a warm, hard lap and pressed a cloth on him. When he finally calmed his breathing down enough to stop the worst of the small fit, he wiped his mouth and leaned against the broad chest next to him, still hot with sweat from their battle. The Thirds argued over which of them should bury the mess, and Shunsui's growl sent Kotsubaki for the shovel and Kotetsu for Jyuushiro's medication.
Jyuushiro obediently took his medications with the cup of water Kotetsu brought as well, without even a word from Shunsui. The touch of his hands was enough. The drugs would help with regenerating lost tissues, balance his blood, and steady his soul after a coughing attack. He used the last of the water to wash the taste of blood out of his bitter mouth. His heart started to speed up. He knew that it would mean he probably couldn’t fall asleep easily or soon, but there were duties enough to attend to and he'd brought a book in his pack.
"All clear?" Jyuushiro whispered.
"Yeah. They got it."
"Watch?"
"Two and five need rebuilding."
"Ca..."
Shunsui shook Jyuushiro gently. "Stop. The fighting medics are taking care of it; learn to delegate, Shiro-san."
"Two thousand..."
"... right... you'd think you'd have learned that after two thousand years, but you don't have to be the center of everything all the time."
Jyuushiro grinned. "But..."
"... yeah, I like it when you draw the attention," Shunsui muttered, rolling his eyes. "But that doesn't mean you have to do it all the time. Relax a little now. You want to get into your shelter? And save your breath, Captain, you'll need it soon enough. I'll take care of the next change, then Kotsubaki, Nanao-chan, and Kotetsu ."
Jyuushiro nodded against Shunsui's chest, eyes a little wide.
"Okay, sometimes two are useful. So go rest, handsome."
Jyuushiro heaved a sigh, and then caught a really stern look as he coughed once on breathing in so deeply.
"Go."
Jyuushiro went.
Jyuushiro liked the new-fangled florescent camping lamps. They were very, very bright, very light, and best of all, compared to candles, torches or oil lamps, they created no fumes whatsoever. In his snug little snow shelter, the light filled the entire area, didn't create annoying dripping spots from the ceiling, and he could still breathe.
The wind howled, making the trees moan loudly enough to be heard even through a few feet of hard packed snow. Inside, it was calm, his body heat collected within the well-insulated walls and created a very comfortable space. There was an insulating wrap under his sub-zero rated down sleeping bag, and the cup of water Kotetsu brought him was well cooled by its little nest of snow.
He felt Shunsui's reiatsu before the sleeping bag appeared, pushed ahead of the bigger man. Jyuushiro watched from over his glasses. He had used his backpack as a back rest and was propped up in his sleeping bag so that he could read more easily.
"Still up, huh?" Shunsui grunted as he came up through the entrance hole in the floor of the shelter. The tunnel was dug from underneath up. The cold air stayed down, outside or in the tunnel, and the warm air stayed up in the shelter itself making it quite cozy inside.
"Mm. Meds." Jyuushiro went back to his book as Shunsui hauled the insulated sleeping bag, himself, and his pack in. "Ise-kun?"
"Tucked in."
"Hmm..." This time Jyuushiro watched the bigger man as he shed his boots by the entrance hole. He shed his outer layers and piled them on top of the layers already over Jyuushiro. Shunsui then completely unzipped his sleeping bag to the foot. "You're not..."
"I am."
Jyuushiro rolled his eyes. "I'm warm now."
"Exactly why," Shunsui said with a smirk.
"And what makes you think I’m willing to share my warmth?" Jyuushiro said with injured dignity.
Shunsui laughed. "You'll have me."
"Oh." Jyuushiro feigned disinterest, but he knew his cheeks were coloring.
"Come on, pleeeeze?" Shunsui wheedled even as his hand moved for the zipper on Jyuushiro's sleeping bag.
"Oh, all right, just... gah..." Jyuushiro flinched from the cold air that flooded into his bag, as Shunsui flung open the unzipped bag, matched edges, and zipped the bags together.
Shunsui stripped off even more layers, laying them on his own bag this time. When he was in his usual sleeping attire, which is to say nothing at all, he grinned at Jyuushiro before slipping into his half of the bag.
"Oh Gods, Shunsui," Jyuushiro groaned as cold feet slid along his legs.
"There's a cold front moving in." Shunsui said thoughtfully.
"You mean besides you?" Jyuushiro shivered.
"Minus eighteen cee. The watch was having problems with frostbite until Kiyone-chan found the handwarmers and face masks and made sure everyone has their extra layers on. They should be all right."
Jyuushiro shivered as Shunsui moved in on Jyuushiro's right side. Jyuushiro slid down his backpack a little so that it served more as a pillow than as a backrest. The bigger man's body was warm enough, but his limbs and extremities were cold. Shunsui slid one arm behind Jyuushiro's lower back and wrapped the other around Jyuushiro's belly. His head moved to Jyuushiro's shoulder, and Jyuushiro could feel the prickles of the day's scruff on Shunsui's chin against his skin. Jyuushiro sighed, set down his book, and wrapped his right arm around Shunsui. Shunsui grunted his approval and moved his warm belly against Jyuushiro's side and tangled their legs together.
Shunsui moved his head so that his ear was over Jyuushiro's chest.
Jyuushiro sighed and just breathed in the scent of Shunsui's dark hair for a long moment.
"Your breathing sounds clear."
"Mmhm."
"Light?"
Jyuushiro reached over and pressed the button once, and rather than four brilliant filaments, only one glowed dimly.
"Nice."
"Mmhm."
They just lay there, half drowsing, when Shunsui's upper hand started just leisurely moving, curling over Jyuushiro's left shoulder and stroking his chest. Shunsui brushed over Jyuushiro’s nipple, slid down his stomach, dipped into his belly button, cradled the bone of his hip, and then gently and slowly worked back up again. Jyuushiro smiled quietly and waited for it.
"You up for...?"
"Mmhm... slow. Ise-kun?"
"Yeah. So you can..."
"Thank you."
Jyuushiro turned towards his long time lover, it was all the negotiation they would need.
Their lips met slow and tender, gentle and sure. Firm tastes of each other mouth, gentle biting kisses of each others lips; and then the light, liquid slide of tongues, on lips, on the edges of teeth. Sure hands started on arms, backs, but moved to sides, chest, belly, and lower. As in battle, they knew each others every move, every vulnerable point, and every turn on. There had been times when they'd both gone elsewhere, both experimented. Jyuushiro still kept up some of the techniques he'd picked up. But this familiar comfort and meeting was something the two of them returned to time and time again.
Jyuushiro smiled and stroked Shunsui's rough cheek, slid his hand up into that unruly hair, and tightened his grip until Shunsui's breath stuttered. They kissed hotly, tongues and teeth dueling. The big man tasted of campfires and sake, burnt rice and salt. Shunsui's hands stroked down Jyuushiro's narrow back, curved around his ass, and Jyuushiro arched into the pleasure of that touch. Their hips met and ground against each other slow and sure.
Shunsui smiled his lazy smile and rolled onto his back.
Jyuushiro grinned back at him and started his slow deliberate descent into the warm darkness of the sleeping bags. Kisses trailed down Shunsui's stubble-rough throat, down the fur of his chest, and out to a stiffening nipple. As he bent to lick, tease, and gently nibble there, he tasted just the gentlest hint of Ise-kun's peony scent.
He smiled; the little fukutaichou was just what Shunsui needed. Jyuushiro respected her steel, her will, and her ability to keep Shunsui in line, at bay and interested... most of the time. Jyuushiro never had a problem with sharing, a relationship as old as theirs had no doubts left. It turned him on to know that other people wanted his partner, found him attractive.
The sounds Shunsui made were muffled by the sleeping bag, but Jyuushiro knew the tones by heart. He grinned and moved further down, licking the furred hardness of Shunsui's abs, feeling Shunsui's hands close on his arm, the grip tightening as Jyuushiro moved down to nuzzle at the wiry pubic hair at the base of Shunsui's cock. The strong body beneath him tightened, and he could hear the moan through his contact with the bigger man.
Jyuushiro grinned and bent to take the tip of Shunsui's cock in his mouth. The scent of peonies was sweet and gentle, and Jyuushiro found the odd plastic taste of the residue of condom lube as he matter-of-factly swallowed down Shunsui's cock. Shunsui writhed, and his cock hardened until Jyuushiro could feel the bigger man's pulse on his tongue. Jyuushiro bobbed his head, getting strangled cries. He licked all the way up Shunsui's cock, and sucked the tip just before he pulled off. Then he had to move back up, out of the bag, for more air.
"I thought you said 'slow'!" Shunsui greeted him, flushed and panting.
"Well, not that part of it," Jyuushiro answered with a breathless grin.
"Oooooh?" Shunsui's near purr of anticipation made Jyuushiro laugh.
He grinned and pushed at Shunsui's shoulder. Shunsui rolled onto his left side, away from Jyuushiro, and hummed his approval. Jyuushiro reached into the tuck pocket of his backpack and pulled out condom, lube, and a couple of his coughing cloths. Shunsui's hand reached back and Jyuushiro handed him one of the cloths. The sleeping bags were harder to clean than most bedding, so he'd come prepared.
A few hundred years' experience with condoms made even putting one on in the dark a quick maneuver. The lube was nearly as easy as finding Shunsui in the dark. Jyuushiro pressed some lube into Shunsui and heard the bigger man's breath catch. Shunsui pressed up against Jyuushiro, one hand helping to hold his cheeks open while Jyuushiro slowly but firmly pressed his own aching hard-on into the bigger man.
Shunsui gave a delicious groan, his body relaxing under Jyuushiro's arm as he accepted Jyuushiro's invasion. Shunsui bent forward just a little and moved his upper leg forward. Jyuushiro took advantage of Shunsui being more open, and gently slowly started to stroke his length in and out of the heat of the bigger man. The change in angle also gave Jyuushiro a better chance at hitting Shunsui's prostate, and Jyuushiro kept his rhythm slow and the strokes deep.
With his upper hand on Shunsui's hip and other hand on his back, Jyuushiro kept up the slow, languid love making, loving the sighs, moans, and the gentle undulations of the strong body before him. When Shunsui yielded to Jyuushiro, it was with all his heart. Giving all his responses and reactions to Jyuushiro in an act of trust that still made Jyuushiro's heart fill.
The hot liquid sliding in and out went on and on, and eventually Shunsui sighed that sigh, the one that was on the edge of frustration, teetering on a groan. Jyuushiro swore softly as he realized how the zipped together sleeping bags were going to get in the way of their usual method of climaxing. Shunsui hummed in question, and then chuckled before he unzipped the joining zipper in the center of the top layer. Jyuushiro was surprised to find that the inside of the relatively small shelter was now very warm from their activities. He pulled all the way out to another sigh from his lover.
"Watch your... agh," Shunsui said, as Jyuushiro sat up and accidentally brushed the top of the shelter with his head. The resulting spray of snow was cold.
"Sorry."
Shunsui grinned as Jyuushiro ducked his head, and Shunsui pulled his legs to his chest before rolling onto his back. Jyuushiro moved between Shunsui's legs and the bigger man wrapped his legs about Jyuushiro as Jyuushiro pressed back in.
Now their reiatsu mingled, tangled with each other. Each man's arousal firing the others, each knowing how they affected the other. Jyuushiro knew exactly what angle and speed would do both of them the most good, and he grasped Shunsui's cock knowing the pressure, speed, and the hardness of the twist-tug that would help bring his lover to climax the most spectacularly. When they started moving, their rhythms, breath, and motions synched. Two bodies moved fast, hard, and as one striving for the same goal.
Shunsui moved the cloth in his hand to Jyuushiro's even as Jyuushiro felt the tightening within his own cock. Shunsui's reiatsu, not quite as dark as when he'd been young, smelled of summer blossoms, and its warmth grew summer hot. Jyuushiro smelled ozone and sea as his gathered about him with the gathering of their climax. Shunsui came first, hands clawing the sleeping bag, shouting, "Gods, Shiro!"
The squeezing of his inner muscles set Jyuushiro off as well and with a growl, Jyuushiro came, shuddering, within Shunsui. Both of them hung onto their powers, practiced enough to keep it within the shelter even, or especially, under these circumstances.
Of course, that was when the first splash of slush hit Jyuushiro on his bare back. He was so startled he pulled out of Shunsui fast enough that both men yelped.
"Gah!" Jyuushiro turned to look up a little more carefully and found that the whole inside of the shelter had started to soften.
A quick ice kido firmed it up nicely, but suddenly the shelter was frigid again.
They both hurriedly cleaned up. Shunsui zipped the top of the bag back together again, and he wrapped himself around Jyuushiro. Jyuushiro shivered for a moment, and then relaxed against the solid bulwark of his lover.
Shunsui sleepily murmured into Jyuushiro's hair, "Baby, it's cold outside."
Jyuushiro laughed softly, sleepily and hugged Shunsui's arm. "I'm in no hurry."
"Good."
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Ukitake/Kyouraku
Rating: NC-17 -- just the sex, ma'am.
Word Count: 3750
Summary: Ukitake and Kyouraku take their Divisions out for some exercise in the snow.
A/N: For Jyuushiro's birthday (yes, I am a geek), and the Y!Gallery winter (really dangerous winter weather) contest. There is a reference from my Twin Souls fic, just one. Many thanks to 2metaldog for doing a great beta job on this and really tightening up the language!
When the blizzard rolled over the tree covered mountains in the Western Third Rukongai District, Hokuan, the Eighth and Thirteenth Divisions were on their way to Mount Koifushi.
It wasn't that surprising, since it was mid-winter. The two divisions had on modern snowshoes and winter gear; each person carried an appropriate supply pack. They'd done most of the hundred mile hike without shunpo, as many of the divisions' members would've been exhausted by that much use of their power, but the scouts for the troops used it extensively to set up the perimeter.
It was the scouts who shunpo'ed in to tell Ukitake-taichou and Kyouraku-taichou that there was a storm on the way. Ise-kun and the Thirds were there for the debriefing as well. Shunsui simply looked at Ise-kun and she disappeared in a flash of shunpo. Jyuushiro knew that was all the instruction she would need to settle the Eighth in their camp.
Jyuushiro gave the Thirds detailed instruction on where people should be placed, what part of their troops should be deployed for perimeter watch, and which to set on shelter and mess duties. They tried arguing about which one should talk to the scouts rather than the troops right there, saying that whoever did the nearest messages was a lazy good for nothing; but Jyuushiro coughed twice, ending their argument without saying a word.
They flushed, bowed, and flashed-stepped away.
Shunsui frowned a little after them.
Jyuushiro shrugged, understanding the frown. The Thirds were not functioning as smoothly as Shunsui's Ise-kun. "This is their training. We need to do this when it's just a storm coming, not a hoard of Hollows on our trail."
"One would be easier."
"They're better when they compete, but, yes, it is harder."
Shunsui nodded, and fell into step by Jyuushiro as they moved toward the main camp. "All right, then. There haven't been too many outdoor training exercises, lately, with all those bothersome things happening right in Seireitei."
"Indeed."
Shunsui suddenly stopped, and just stood there in the snow, a bemused look on his face.
"What?"
Jyuushiro watched Shunsui tilt his head one way, take a shunpo step up onto a twenty foot cliff, and then step back on Jyuushiro's other side.
"Shiba."
"Kaien?" Jyuushiro's shock at the mention of his long-dead subordinate showed more in his voice than he wanted it to.
Shunsui shook his head. "Kenshin."
"Who?"
"Daisuke-san's class."
Jyuushiro thought about how far back those memories went, and then shook his head. "I wasn't on that trip."
"Oh, right." Shunsui eyed the cliff again. "Hell of a lot easier now."
Jyuushiro eyed the camp that now crawled with shinigami of all shapes and sizes. "Well, in some ways. Yes."
Shunsui laughed. "Come on, Shiro-san, let's see if you remember how to dig a snow shelter."
"Not unless the Thirds haven't dug it for me already, but they are not sleeping with me."
The two Captains disappeared in mid-chuckle.
The wind howled and the snow whipped the tree tops into a frenzy, but most of the Eighth and Thirteen were warm and cozy. The mess crews dug the fire pits all the way to the ground, protected by snow banks mounded far enough away from the heat source to keep them from melting. With a judicious use of kido, people kept the flames going until the heat dried the newly thawed ground beneath.
The Captains did their rounds and settled rotations of the watch, while the troops gathered around the fires, cooked, warmed up, and relaxed after the cold rough march and setup. The Captains went out and oversaw the watch change in the middle of dinner. Doing it then allowed those that were going on duty to eat before going out, and the relieved crew to get hot food before going into the shelters.
Jyuushiro and Shunsui appeared by the campfires, shaking off loose snow and stomping their boots, before approaching the fires.
Jyuushiro stripped off his gloves, and wrapped his long fingers around a bowl full of hot food with a few charred bits from being scraped from the bottom of the kettle. The mess crew started to apologize, but he shook his head at them. "It's hot. That's plenty for me. At ease."
He sat by the fire and murmured, "Itadakimasu."
Shunsui echoed the word and they dug in.
Jyuushiro ate quickly, having been in a big family, he was in the habit of just inhaling his food, especially since he needed more of it than most. Shunsui took his in a more leisurely manner.
Ten minutes into their meal, as Jyuushiro was nearly finished, there was the flash-bang of a shunpo step and a watch member tumbled to the snow. "Five is under attack!" he gasped out, as the acid reek of Hollow reiatsu clawed its way into the camp.
The stench was good warning, but Jyuushiro snapped off a communication kido, just a spreading-ring blast of reiatsu that would jolt everyone awake in the camp. Shunsui swore and set his bowl down in the snow, as the backup troops rolled into camp along with the beleaguered and torn up Watch. The sentries had done their job, Jyuushiro was satisfied to see. Everyone was armed and ready when the pack of Hollows hit the campsite.
"All waves, rise now and become my shield; lightning, strike now and become my blade!"
"Flower wind rage and flower god roar; heavenly wind rage and heavenly demon sneer!"
Their releases blew across the campsite in the scents of ozone and sea, sakura and brimstone. The blaze of reiatsu surrounding the two Captains put a few of the lesser shinigami on their knees.
Luckily, that same blaze was as irresistible to the Hollows as a candle flame to a moth. The Hollows ignored the other Division members and mobbed the two Captains. Shunsui waded into the heavy attack work, while Jyuushiro guarded his back. Hollows swiped at Jyuushiro. With his left blade he caught and snapped bone. While in the midst of that motion, he stabbed forward with his other blade, cracking the mask and the Hollow burst into dust. Others crowded in, getting in each others way, and Jyuushiro used their restriction of each other in his defense of himself and Shunsui's back.
Shunsui's reiatsu was a blaze at Jyuushiro's back. Shunsui moved inexorably forward, cutting through the mob of Hollows like a hot blade through butter. When it became obvious it was a quick cleansing to be in front of Shunsui, Jyuushiro got to see more action, as even more Hollows packed in, to get at them from the rear.
Jyuushiro cried, "Sōgyo no Kotowari strike!"
Lightning crashed down, and a swathe of Hollows burst into dust. The rest screamed and scrambled; but soon came back, drawn irresistibly to reiatsu to feed their hungry souls.
Then it was all straightforward blade work. His fishing javelins flashed deadly and sharp. Sometimes, he would reverse the hook to pull in an escaping limb and use the other blade for the cleansing, and sometimes he was just barely able to dodge or parry tooth and claw. Occasionally, Shunsui's blades would lick out at the edge of his vision, and knowing which side he was paying more attention to, Jyuushiro could catch attacks from the other side. They worked smoothly together, anticipating each other's combinations and each other's rhythm of attention.
And then there were no more.
Ise-kun wiped her blade carefully with a sheet of paper before tucking it back in. Kotetsu and Kotsubaki each finished off their own opponents, and started arguing about whom had gotten more of them than the other. Everyone had a few minor cuts and one of the youngsters had a broken leg from a Hollow that landed on him. The medics got to work.
Jyuushiro leaned against Shunsui's back and the two of them stood there and panted. Jyuushiro coughed and kept on coughing, and he felt another piece of his damaged lungs move up through his chest and into his windpipes. He was helpless to breathe until he'd coughed the blood and tissue onto the trampled snow.
Strong, familiar hands pulled him into a warm, hard lap and pressed a cloth on him. When he finally calmed his breathing down enough to stop the worst of the small fit, he wiped his mouth and leaned against the broad chest next to him, still hot with sweat from their battle. The Thirds argued over which of them should bury the mess, and Shunsui's growl sent Kotsubaki for the shovel and Kotetsu for Jyuushiro's medication.
Jyuushiro obediently took his medications with the cup of water Kotetsu brought as well, without even a word from Shunsui. The touch of his hands was enough. The drugs would help with regenerating lost tissues, balance his blood, and steady his soul after a coughing attack. He used the last of the water to wash the taste of blood out of his bitter mouth. His heart started to speed up. He knew that it would mean he probably couldn’t fall asleep easily or soon, but there were duties enough to attend to and he'd brought a book in his pack.
"All clear?" Jyuushiro whispered.
"Yeah. They got it."
"Watch?"
"Two and five need rebuilding."
"Ca..."
Shunsui shook Jyuushiro gently. "Stop. The fighting medics are taking care of it; learn to delegate, Shiro-san."
"Two thousand..."
"... right... you'd think you'd have learned that after two thousand years, but you don't have to be the center of everything all the time."
Jyuushiro grinned. "But..."
"... yeah, I like it when you draw the attention," Shunsui muttered, rolling his eyes. "But that doesn't mean you have to do it all the time. Relax a little now. You want to get into your shelter? And save your breath, Captain, you'll need it soon enough. I'll take care of the next change, then Kotsubaki, Nanao-chan, and Kotetsu ."
Jyuushiro nodded against Shunsui's chest, eyes a little wide.
"Okay, sometimes two are useful. So go rest, handsome."
Jyuushiro heaved a sigh, and then caught a really stern look as he coughed once on breathing in so deeply.
"Go."
Jyuushiro went.
Jyuushiro liked the new-fangled florescent camping lamps. They were very, very bright, very light, and best of all, compared to candles, torches or oil lamps, they created no fumes whatsoever. In his snug little snow shelter, the light filled the entire area, didn't create annoying dripping spots from the ceiling, and he could still breathe.
The wind howled, making the trees moan loudly enough to be heard even through a few feet of hard packed snow. Inside, it was calm, his body heat collected within the well-insulated walls and created a very comfortable space. There was an insulating wrap under his sub-zero rated down sleeping bag, and the cup of water Kotetsu brought him was well cooled by its little nest of snow.
He felt Shunsui's reiatsu before the sleeping bag appeared, pushed ahead of the bigger man. Jyuushiro watched from over his glasses. He had used his backpack as a back rest and was propped up in his sleeping bag so that he could read more easily.
"Still up, huh?" Shunsui grunted as he came up through the entrance hole in the floor of the shelter. The tunnel was dug from underneath up. The cold air stayed down, outside or in the tunnel, and the warm air stayed up in the shelter itself making it quite cozy inside.
"Mm. Meds." Jyuushiro went back to his book as Shunsui hauled the insulated sleeping bag, himself, and his pack in. "Ise-kun?"
"Tucked in."
"Hmm..." This time Jyuushiro watched the bigger man as he shed his boots by the entrance hole. He shed his outer layers and piled them on top of the layers already over Jyuushiro. Shunsui then completely unzipped his sleeping bag to the foot. "You're not..."
"I am."
Jyuushiro rolled his eyes. "I'm warm now."
"Exactly why," Shunsui said with a smirk.
"And what makes you think I’m willing to share my warmth?" Jyuushiro said with injured dignity.
Shunsui laughed. "You'll have me."
"Oh." Jyuushiro feigned disinterest, but he knew his cheeks were coloring.
"Come on, pleeeeze?" Shunsui wheedled even as his hand moved for the zipper on Jyuushiro's sleeping bag.
"Oh, all right, just... gah..." Jyuushiro flinched from the cold air that flooded into his bag, as Shunsui flung open the unzipped bag, matched edges, and zipped the bags together.
Shunsui stripped off even more layers, laying them on his own bag this time. When he was in his usual sleeping attire, which is to say nothing at all, he grinned at Jyuushiro before slipping into his half of the bag.
"Oh Gods, Shunsui," Jyuushiro groaned as cold feet slid along his legs.
"There's a cold front moving in." Shunsui said thoughtfully.
"You mean besides you?" Jyuushiro shivered.
"Minus eighteen cee. The watch was having problems with frostbite until Kiyone-chan found the handwarmers and face masks and made sure everyone has their extra layers on. They should be all right."
Jyuushiro shivered as Shunsui moved in on Jyuushiro's right side. Jyuushiro slid down his backpack a little so that it served more as a pillow than as a backrest. The bigger man's body was warm enough, but his limbs and extremities were cold. Shunsui slid one arm behind Jyuushiro's lower back and wrapped the other around Jyuushiro's belly. His head moved to Jyuushiro's shoulder, and Jyuushiro could feel the prickles of the day's scruff on Shunsui's chin against his skin. Jyuushiro sighed, set down his book, and wrapped his right arm around Shunsui. Shunsui grunted his approval and moved his warm belly against Jyuushiro's side and tangled their legs together.
Shunsui moved his head so that his ear was over Jyuushiro's chest.
Jyuushiro sighed and just breathed in the scent of Shunsui's dark hair for a long moment.
"Your breathing sounds clear."
"Mmhm."
"Light?"
Jyuushiro reached over and pressed the button once, and rather than four brilliant filaments, only one glowed dimly.
"Nice."
"Mmhm."
They just lay there, half drowsing, when Shunsui's upper hand started just leisurely moving, curling over Jyuushiro's left shoulder and stroking his chest. Shunsui brushed over Jyuushiro’s nipple, slid down his stomach, dipped into his belly button, cradled the bone of his hip, and then gently and slowly worked back up again. Jyuushiro smiled quietly and waited for it.
"You up for...?"
"Mmhm... slow. Ise-kun?"
"Yeah. So you can..."
"Thank you."
Jyuushiro turned towards his long time lover, it was all the negotiation they would need.
Their lips met slow and tender, gentle and sure. Firm tastes of each other mouth, gentle biting kisses of each others lips; and then the light, liquid slide of tongues, on lips, on the edges of teeth. Sure hands started on arms, backs, but moved to sides, chest, belly, and lower. As in battle, they knew each others every move, every vulnerable point, and every turn on. There had been times when they'd both gone elsewhere, both experimented. Jyuushiro still kept up some of the techniques he'd picked up. But this familiar comfort and meeting was something the two of them returned to time and time again.
Jyuushiro smiled and stroked Shunsui's rough cheek, slid his hand up into that unruly hair, and tightened his grip until Shunsui's breath stuttered. They kissed hotly, tongues and teeth dueling. The big man tasted of campfires and sake, burnt rice and salt. Shunsui's hands stroked down Jyuushiro's narrow back, curved around his ass, and Jyuushiro arched into the pleasure of that touch. Their hips met and ground against each other slow and sure.
Shunsui smiled his lazy smile and rolled onto his back.
Jyuushiro grinned back at him and started his slow deliberate descent into the warm darkness of the sleeping bags. Kisses trailed down Shunsui's stubble-rough throat, down the fur of his chest, and out to a stiffening nipple. As he bent to lick, tease, and gently nibble there, he tasted just the gentlest hint of Ise-kun's peony scent.
He smiled; the little fukutaichou was just what Shunsui needed. Jyuushiro respected her steel, her will, and her ability to keep Shunsui in line, at bay and interested... most of the time. Jyuushiro never had a problem with sharing, a relationship as old as theirs had no doubts left. It turned him on to know that other people wanted his partner, found him attractive.
The sounds Shunsui made were muffled by the sleeping bag, but Jyuushiro knew the tones by heart. He grinned and moved further down, licking the furred hardness of Shunsui's abs, feeling Shunsui's hands close on his arm, the grip tightening as Jyuushiro moved down to nuzzle at the wiry pubic hair at the base of Shunsui's cock. The strong body beneath him tightened, and he could hear the moan through his contact with the bigger man.
Jyuushiro grinned and bent to take the tip of Shunsui's cock in his mouth. The scent of peonies was sweet and gentle, and Jyuushiro found the odd plastic taste of the residue of condom lube as he matter-of-factly swallowed down Shunsui's cock. Shunsui writhed, and his cock hardened until Jyuushiro could feel the bigger man's pulse on his tongue. Jyuushiro bobbed his head, getting strangled cries. He licked all the way up Shunsui's cock, and sucked the tip just before he pulled off. Then he had to move back up, out of the bag, for more air.
"I thought you said 'slow'!" Shunsui greeted him, flushed and panting.
"Well, not that part of it," Jyuushiro answered with a breathless grin.
"Oooooh?" Shunsui's near purr of anticipation made Jyuushiro laugh.
He grinned and pushed at Shunsui's shoulder. Shunsui rolled onto his left side, away from Jyuushiro, and hummed his approval. Jyuushiro reached into the tuck pocket of his backpack and pulled out condom, lube, and a couple of his coughing cloths. Shunsui's hand reached back and Jyuushiro handed him one of the cloths. The sleeping bags were harder to clean than most bedding, so he'd come prepared.
A few hundred years' experience with condoms made even putting one on in the dark a quick maneuver. The lube was nearly as easy as finding Shunsui in the dark. Jyuushiro pressed some lube into Shunsui and heard the bigger man's breath catch. Shunsui pressed up against Jyuushiro, one hand helping to hold his cheeks open while Jyuushiro slowly but firmly pressed his own aching hard-on into the bigger man.
Shunsui gave a delicious groan, his body relaxing under Jyuushiro's arm as he accepted Jyuushiro's invasion. Shunsui bent forward just a little and moved his upper leg forward. Jyuushiro took advantage of Shunsui being more open, and gently slowly started to stroke his length in and out of the heat of the bigger man. The change in angle also gave Jyuushiro a better chance at hitting Shunsui's prostate, and Jyuushiro kept his rhythm slow and the strokes deep.
With his upper hand on Shunsui's hip and other hand on his back, Jyuushiro kept up the slow, languid love making, loving the sighs, moans, and the gentle undulations of the strong body before him. When Shunsui yielded to Jyuushiro, it was with all his heart. Giving all his responses and reactions to Jyuushiro in an act of trust that still made Jyuushiro's heart fill.
The hot liquid sliding in and out went on and on, and eventually Shunsui sighed that sigh, the one that was on the edge of frustration, teetering on a groan. Jyuushiro swore softly as he realized how the zipped together sleeping bags were going to get in the way of their usual method of climaxing. Shunsui hummed in question, and then chuckled before he unzipped the joining zipper in the center of the top layer. Jyuushiro was surprised to find that the inside of the relatively small shelter was now very warm from their activities. He pulled all the way out to another sigh from his lover.
"Watch your... agh," Shunsui said, as Jyuushiro sat up and accidentally brushed the top of the shelter with his head. The resulting spray of snow was cold.
"Sorry."
Shunsui grinned as Jyuushiro ducked his head, and Shunsui pulled his legs to his chest before rolling onto his back. Jyuushiro moved between Shunsui's legs and the bigger man wrapped his legs about Jyuushiro as Jyuushiro pressed back in.
Now their reiatsu mingled, tangled with each other. Each man's arousal firing the others, each knowing how they affected the other. Jyuushiro knew exactly what angle and speed would do both of them the most good, and he grasped Shunsui's cock knowing the pressure, speed, and the hardness of the twist-tug that would help bring his lover to climax the most spectacularly. When they started moving, their rhythms, breath, and motions synched. Two bodies moved fast, hard, and as one striving for the same goal.
Shunsui moved the cloth in his hand to Jyuushiro's even as Jyuushiro felt the tightening within his own cock. Shunsui's reiatsu, not quite as dark as when he'd been young, smelled of summer blossoms, and its warmth grew summer hot. Jyuushiro smelled ozone and sea as his gathered about him with the gathering of their climax. Shunsui came first, hands clawing the sleeping bag, shouting, "Gods, Shiro!"
The squeezing of his inner muscles set Jyuushiro off as well and with a growl, Jyuushiro came, shuddering, within Shunsui. Both of them hung onto their powers, practiced enough to keep it within the shelter even, or especially, under these circumstances.
Of course, that was when the first splash of slush hit Jyuushiro on his bare back. He was so startled he pulled out of Shunsui fast enough that both men yelped.
"Gah!" Jyuushiro turned to look up a little more carefully and found that the whole inside of the shelter had started to soften.
A quick ice kido firmed it up nicely, but suddenly the shelter was frigid again.
They both hurriedly cleaned up. Shunsui zipped the top of the bag back together again, and he wrapped himself around Jyuushiro. Jyuushiro shivered for a moment, and then relaxed against the solid bulwark of his lover.
Shunsui sleepily murmured into Jyuushiro's hair, "Baby, it's cold outside."
Jyuushiro laughed softly, sleepily and hugged Shunsui's arm. "I'm in no hurry."
"Good."