Work Text:
Kensei awakes in a vast, empty tundra. It's just barely the crack of dawn, the sun only just starting to coyly peek over the horizon, but it won't move from that spot. The snow that has no actual temperature crunches underneath his feet but he leaves no footsteps. He's in his inner world.
He looks around for Tachikaze or the hollow, surprised to find nothing. In Kensei's inner world, everything lies bare-- nowhere to hide. Nothing to break, either, which is odd, but he never bothered to question it. For now, he just wanders fruitlessly towards the sunrise, waiting for one of the spirits to materialize. Eventually, he gets tired of walking aimlessly, frustrated that the spirits won't answer his calls, and sits in the snow to watch the sun. If he focuses, he can make it rise higher.
When he barely hears whispers on the wind, intangible and incomprehensible, he doesn't bother to look around. The spirit can come to him if it has something to say.
"Find him."
He can't tell if it's Tachikaze or the hollow speaking. It could be the will of both.
"Find who?" he asks.
"It's time to save him again."
Kensei wakes up in Soul Society before he can ask for elaboration. He gets a few seconds to run a hand down his face before someone is at the door to his quarters.
"Kenseeeiiii!" Mashiro calls, letting herself in. Somehow, she doesn't sound as playful as usual.
"What? Why are you here so early?"
"I guess he's not here, either. Nobody can find your other lieutenant since he went on leave a couple days ago. You know, the one who's not as amazing as me?"
"Nobody can--" Kensei remembers the dream and literally jumps out of bed, thankful he's overdressed for it due to having passed out early last night. He does still have to find his haori and sandals and throw them on before he's out the door in an instant. Mashiro calls after him, whining at him to wait for her, but he doesn't bother slowing down.
He realizes after about a minute of continuous Flash Step that he has no idea where to go. He hears distorted breathing in the back of his mind and somehow knows that he's pointed in the right direction. He follows his assisted instincts deep into Rukongai and ends up finding a narrow cave in a mountain. An awful feeling claws its way into him as he moves forward, like something is creeping up from the ground and trying to climb up his body, weaving under his skin. Is that reiatsu? It's behaving strangely if so.
After a short while of squeezing through the narrow passageway, Kensei finds Shuuhei unconscious on a raised part of the ground in the center of the room he's come across. The lighting is extremely dim, but his reiatsu is weak, barely clinging to him. Kensei notices something crawling around in his peripheral vision and pretends not to notice. When it pounces on him, he's ready for it and manages to repel it with a punch. Before he can go in for another hit, however, it scuttles out of range. He steps forward, intending to follow it, but realizes he's lost track of it.
Time to consider his options. If he stays where he is, it could try to sneak up on him. If he backs up into a wall to prevent that, he might not have enough room to work. Can that thing climb to the ceiling to get the drop on him..? As he looks up, he hears clicking to his right and finds the creature on Shuuhei. His decision is made for him and he lunges for the thing, scaring it off before he can manage to land a hit. Kensei focuses his hearing now to try to find it based on the clicking of its legs against the ground to no avail; an annoying wind just picked up again outside, the brief pause earlier being the only thing that had alerted him to it being on Shuuhei.
He turns his back to Shuuhei's unconscious body and maintains his stance, eyes slowly scanning the room in case he can catch any movement. He sees the tiny amount of light gleam off the little creature just a second too late, knowing he'll probably take a hit before his fist can connect.
"Mashiro Kick!"
In an instant, the creature is incapacitated from the sudden blow to the head that accompanied the distorted shout.
"How the hell-"
"Jeez, Kensei! I told you to wait for me!" She loses the mask partway through speaking, her voice returning to normal. "You're always so mean, trying to leave me behind!"
"What was I supposed to do, slow down long enough to let the thing kill him?!"
"How did you even know he was here? Is this his hiding place? His secret spot? Do you two come here often?" she rapid fires the questions without actually giving Kensei any room to answer.
"No, I've never even been out here!"
"Liar! I bet you come here with your booooyyyyfrieeeeend all the time!"
"Who-? I don't have-"
"Oh look, your boyfriend is waking up!" Mashiro interrupts, pointing just behind Kensei to Shuuhei. When Kensei looks back at him, Shuuhei softly gasps and Kensei hopes he didn't hear Mashiro's accusations.
Before anything happens due to negligence, Kensei pulls out Tachikaze and stabs the creature on the ground through the head, noticing now just how small it is. It shrieks and squirms, that terrible feeling that had climbed up Kensei's legs earlier almost tangibly retreating back down his body as the thing scrabbles and dies.
"What the hell was that thing? A hollow?" he asks, not actually expecting anyone present to know.
"I don't know, but it ambushed me in the mountains," Shuuhei explains, his reiatsu suddenly healthy as if he didn't seem like he was on the brink of death mere moments ago.
"Wait, you're alright? How did you recover just now?" Kensei asks, watching Shuuhei get up on his own when he was expecting to have to carry him home (and suffer more teasing from Mashiro).
"I... don't actually know. It felt awful, like there were bugs crawling under my skin-- or like, worms, sort of holding me down from the inside."
The creature's corpse hasn't disappeared, oddly enough, so Kensei picks it up to deliver it to the department of research and development later.
"So what was it? Some kind of parasite?" Mashiro chimes in.
"Parasite? Where did you get that idea from?" Kensei asks. He has to physically move her from the doorway when she ignores his gesture to get out of the way.
"I felt the icky stuff too, just a little bit. When I came in here, I thought there were bugs on my legs or something."
"I felt something similar..." Kensei thinks aloud.
"Whatever it was, it all retreated from me as soon as that thing died." Shuuhei steps out into the sunlight with Kensei and he's got a little flush on his face for some reason. "I think some kind of parasite-type thing might be accurate."
"Did it suck your blood?" Mashiro asks.
"Why would it do that? From what I've heard here, especially if it's a parasite, it was probably trying to take over Lieutenant Hisagi's body."
"Well maybe it was gonna suck out all of his blood and then put in a bunch of its own blood!"
"What?!"
"And then Shuushuu would be evil from all the bad blood in him! Or wait, no! They would swap blood so they can swap bodies."
"I don't think... that's how body swapping works?" Shuuhei speaks up, but Mashiro ignores him. She and Kensei argue the whole way to the R&D department, where Kensei drops off the corpse with as thorough an explanation as he can manage before they're on their way back to the 9th Division headquarters.
"That was a big ugly bug, I'm glad it's dead," Mashiro sighs before offering a chipper goodbye and running off, leaving Kensei and Shuuhei alone.
"Sounds like someone I know," Kensei mumbles once she's out of earshot. It's not like he means it, anyway.
"So, did it have you for all three days you were gone for? Sort of synced up with your vacation."
Shuuhei remains silent. Kensei looks at him, intending to push for an answer, but instead notices the dark circles under his eyes and how pale his skin is. Three days of no sun doesn't do that to a person.
"Hey, you sure you're alright?" Kensei asks, confused that Hisagi's reiatsu is still going strong but he's acting like a zombie anyway. His instincts nag him, telling him the parasite situation isn't over.
Upon receiving no answer once more, Kensei puts a hand on Shuuhei's back and starts guiding him to the 4th Division instead. Shuuhei steps away and grabs Kensei's arm, leading him back to the 9th. Kensei lets Shuuhei guide him out of curiosity and finds himself in front of his own quarters. Shuuhei lets himself in even before Kensei, which is incredibly unusual of him.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Kensei tries, obtaining no response, of course. Frustrated, he grabs Shuuhei by the shoulders.
"Alright, what the hell's the matter with you?! Fucking say something already! You're-"
Kensei's mind blanks when Shuuhei kisses him out of the blue-- can't even remember the rest of what he was going to say. He doesn't kiss back, but he doesn't push Shuuhei away yet either. When Shuuhei pulls away, Kensei sees his eyes. He has no idea how to describe the look in them; it's like he's... sleepwalking or something.
Kensei has no idea how to solve this problem, so of course his first instinct is to hit it. But when he raises a hand to literally slap some sense into Shuuhei, he blocks the blow excellently, as if fully lucid. He doesn't take advantage of his momentum, showing no indication of intent to attack.
"Okay, what the fuck?" Kensei mutters. "Can you hear me in there, kid? I'm gonna put you to bed if you can stop acting like a freak for a minute."
He lowers Shuuhei's still raised arm to his side and guides him to his futon. Getting him over there was easy, but now Kensei has no idea how to get him to lay down. Not sure what else to do, Kensei experimentally tries to close Shuuhei's eyes manually, finding success in doing so. Then he gently picks him up-- slowly and harmlessly so he doesn't start fighting him-- and sets him down onto the futon. He sits next to him and listens to his breathing for a while until it evens out and he appears to relax.
While hesitant to leave Shuuhei alone, it's not like Soul Society has working cell towers so he can call Mashiro to watch him, so Kensei leaves him as quietly as possible. Then he rushes to the 4th Division, intent on finding one of Captain Unohana's healers for a house call.
Before he can get far, he suddenly senses Shuuhei's reiatsu behind him. He turns around immediately and sees Shuuhei with his eyes barely open and his head lowered. Alright, that's creepy as shit.
"Alright, kid, listen to me if you can. I'm gonna take you to get fixed up. Understand?"
Shuuhei doesn't respond. Kensei grabs him by the back of his uniform, practically the scruff of his neck, and hauls him off to the 4th Division. When they arrive, it's Unohana herself who examines Shuuhei. Kensei explains the situation while she's giving him a check-up.
"He's fully unconscious. By all means, he shouldn't be able to move," Unohana explains, slightly taken aback. "It seems his body is acting on its own."
Kensei can't help but think back to the kiss and wonder what it means.
"So what, is his body's first instinct to stay close to me or something..?"
"That would make some sense. You are a strong figure to him, one who has saved his life already. You also happen to be his captain, so it might make sense regardless of who exactly you are."
How to ask about the kiss without actually mentioning it...
"So, it is all just instinct, right? Or do his... uh, desires or whatever sort of..."
"Has he done something strange?" she asks, innocently enough. When Kensei enthusiastically shakes his head, the look she gives him is barely different, her smile still present, but somehow, he feels like she's not innocent at all. He's almost intimidated enough to tell her the truth, but he doesn't bend quite so easily. He clears his throat.
"Uh, anyway, I don't really get it. He was fine when the thing died and even when we left the cave. He was talking and everything. I don't think he was as pale, either, but I could be wrong," he adds, remembering the flush on Shuuhei's cheeks and how his attention had been drawn there; if he was paler already, it's possible that Kensei simply hadn't noticed at the time.
"It's possible that prolonged exposure to sunlight caused him to enter this state if the parasite does indeed have a hold on him."
Come here.
Suddenly, Kensei feels his hollow beckoning him back to his inner world. He leaves Shuuhei in Unohana's care, asking her to make sure he doesn't follow him because it's creepy as hell to just turn around and see him there. She laughs and says that he shouldn't be exerting himself anyway and that she'll hold him down by force if necessary. Kensei thanks her and steps out of the infirmary room to find a private place to think. He ends up just hiding in a broom closet and leaning against the cluttered wall.
The sun is back to its default position on the horizon and his hollow is visible this time.
"Why'd you call me here?" Kensei asks, ready to beat the rowdy thing into submission if he has to. It usually calls him for fights, after all. The rest of the Visored don't really seem to have this problem past the initial subjugation, so it frustrates him even more that he alone has to deal with such a rambunctious inner hollow.
"It's me," it answers, a distorted mockery of his own voice.
"What is?"
"I'm keeping him asleep."
Since when can it do that?
"How?" he asks, reaching for Tachikaze already. The hollow mimics his movements but doesn't lunge at him yet.
"That thing's reiatsu got real deep in him. I yanked it out of him for you-- you're welcome-- and now it turns out I can control him just a little. Something something crossed streams," it explains in the loosest sense of the word.
"Did you make him fucking kiss me, you freak?" Kensei has to ask. It laughs, harsh and grating as always.
"No, I'm only keeping him in the state he's in! The kiss was all him! Think about it, Kensei: he's only acting on instinct right now and his instinct was to kiss you!"
"Bullshit," Kensei immediately denies, not buying it at all.
"Alright, maybe it's bullshit," the hollow gives, and Kensei feels his face twitch in annoyance. "Yeah, it's all bullshit!"
It laughs again and Kensei grits his teeth.
"How much is all of it?" he asks, trying to pull it back into the conversation.
"Oh, I pulled the thing out of him. I can't actually do anything else with him."
Wait, so then-?
"Someone's coming, big guy," the hollow warns before dissipating. A particularly short little Soul Reaper opens the broom closet door and yelps at the sight of Kensei, who pushes past him to head back to the room Shuuhei is in. When he enters, Unohana is holding him down as promised. Shuuhei relaxes and lets her push him down when he senses Kensei nearby.
"Upon closer inspection, I've detected some odd reiatsu lingering inside of him. It's possible that it's what's left of the parasite, trying to take control of him," Unohana says. After a moment, she lets go of Shuuhei, seeing that he's staying put now.
"Do you have any Kido or medicine or something that'll just put him to sleep?"
"Normally, yes. The problem is that he's already unconscious, so that will get us nowhere."
"Fuck..."
"If you don't mind, Captain Muguruma, I have a course of action to suggest," she begins, stepping away from the bed. "There doesn't appear to be anything I can do for him and his body desperately wants to stay where Lieutenant Hisagi seems to think he's safest. Might I recommend keeping him with you?"
She probably wants to free up the bed for people who actually need it, too. Kensei sighs and agrees, calling Shuuhei to follow him as he leaves the room-- as if he wouldn't anyway.
He takes Shuuhei to his office and sits him down at his desk before moving across the room to his own, planning to take care of some paperwork. He fully expects Shuuhei to slink over to him at any point, but he stays put. Kensei stops paying attention to him eventually and when he does look over, Shuuhei's head is on his desk.
Kensei thinks back to Unohana mentioning that the parasite's reiatsu still seems to be rooted somewhere within Shuuhei. His hollow tugs at his consciousness with shallow promises of being able to fix him and Kensei is almost tempted to surrender to it. The idea of a massage crosses his mind unwillingly, with the nagging insistence that he be the one to do it.
Kensei mutters a swear, standing from his desk. He can't get much work done distracted like this anyway.
He taps Shuuhei's shoulder and walks out the door, hearing him follow him without delay. He leads him back to his quarters and has him lie down again, flipping him over onto his front. Kensei straddles him at his lower back and presses his thumbs against the muscles of Shuuhei's shoulders. After a moment, he settles his entire hands into it, roughly kneading at him and hoping he doesn't bruise from it. A fleeting thought tells him that he does hope it bruises him. Stupid hollow.
After a few minutes of massaging Shuuhei, just when Kensei is starting to think this is a waste of time, his hands start moving. They flex and scratch at the floor and Kensei quickly pins both of his wrists. Shuuhei growls and it doesn't sound like him at all.
"You in there, kid?" he asks, low and quiet. "I need you to fight this for me."
Shuuhei makes a soft sound and relaxes as if he heard him. Kensei sighs and gets off of Shuuhei, rolling him over to squeeze next to him on the futon. It's not like he's going to be able to sleep tonight with him like this and wanting to be so close. He intends to just lie there and think about what to do next, but Shuuhei starts moving again and Kensei watches him closely. He sits up and places a hand on Kensei's chest. It starts moving down and Kensei, wide-eyed, expects the worst, but it stops at his abdomen over his tattoo. He curiously opens his clothes so Shuuhei can see it, touch it directly.
"Makes you feel safe, does it?" Kensei can't help but chuckle at his own words. Shuuhei's hand doesn't trace over the number, just rests there. Kensei reaches up to the matching tattoo on Shuuhei's face, avoiding those unfocused eyes as he strokes the ink. He tilts his head, leaning into Kensei's touch. Would he do that with anyone else right now?
He remembers the kiss again. It's not like Kensei to take advantage of someone-- he thinks it's reprehensible and something that only cowards do. He's just curious to see what Shuuhei will do when situated on top of him. If he makes any moves, Kensei promises to himself that he'll toss him off. So he pulls Shuuhei onto him, letting him lay there with their faces close.
"What are you gonna do, Hisagi..? What do you want?"
Shuuhei does kiss him again, as expected, and Kensei still doesn't react. When he's done, he noses down to the crook of Kensei's neck and rests there.
"Is it the parasite that has a crush on me? Is that gonna be your excuse when you wake up?"
Shuuhei moves down to rest his head on Kensei's chest, his hand finding his tattoo again. His reiatsu flares slightly but he doesn't move. Kensei focuses on it, tries to dig deep and find the parasite's sickly reiatsu, and he does strike upon it. Once he notices it, it starts tickling his senses, like ants angrily marching onto his body after he's disturbed the hill. He rubs his fingers against each other instinctively, trying to brush off the invisible insects. The knock at his door startles the shit out of him.
Kensei gently sets Shuuhei aside and gets up to answer it, finding someone he's not sure he recognizes.
"Who..?"
"Fifth seat of the 11th Division, Yumichika Ayasegawa," he introduces. "I heard from Captain Unohana that my expertise may be appreciated here."
"Your expertise? You're from the 11th, not the 12th or even the 4th. What are you gonna do, fight an unconscious body?"
"Something like that," he agrees as if to joke around with him. Kensei doesn't appreciate it.
"What are you really going to do?"
Ayasegawa steps inside and makes his way towards Shuuhei, who is standing when Kensei looks at him.
"Interesting indeed," Ayasegawa muses. He does actually pull out his Zanpakuto and even releases its Shikai.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Please relax, I'm not going to hurt him," he assures.
Ayasegawa takes a slow vertical swipe at Shuuhei, ghosting over his skin but not touching him. He takes another, horizontal this time, and the parasite's reiatsu suddenly flares to life and Shuuhei moves, attempting to flee the room. Kensei clotheslines him and holds him in place. He doesn't really understand what Ayasegawa is doing, but at least it's something.
"If I absorb this next bit, I believe we'll just be passing the problem around. One of us really does have to fight him now," Ayasegawa says, his sword still at the ready.
"I'll do it," Kensei immediately states; the 11th is not known for its mercy. Ayasegawa steps away until his back is against the wall and watches with interest.
Shuuhei is struggling against Kensei's grip and manages to elbow him in the side. Rather than loosening his grip, Kensei tightens it to the point of bruising before letting go altogether and hitting Shuuhei in the back, slamming him to the ground. He briefly considers taking him outside to cause minimal damage indoors, but the parasite would probably flee.
Shuuhei stands and goes on the offensive, fast enough to force Kensei to focus on blocking for the moment, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Just when said opportunity should come, Shuuhei attempts to escape again but is caught by Ayasegawa.
"I don't normally interfere like this, it's just that it'll be troublesome if he gets out," he says dismissively, tossing Shuuhei back over to Kensei. He takes advantage of the momentum and lands a kick on Kensei, hard enough to make him stagger, but Kensei grabs his leg before he can retract it and throws him against the wall. Then, like air knocked out of his lungs, a wisp escape his lips. It flits around, a little eye visible in the middle of it, and Kensei quickly pounces on it, catching and crushing it in his hand. It dissipates into nothing.
Shuuhei is fully unconscious for real now, eyes closed and body unmoving. Ayasegawa claps.
"Short and sweet. Excellent show," he compliments. "I suppose I should go report to Captain Unohana now. If you'll excuse me."
Kensei steps aside to let him pass, noticing how Shuuhei's reiatsu follows him out, clinging to his body. He mentioned something about absorbing, after all.
"Back to normal, then?" Kensei asks. He picks Shuuhei up one-handed and sets him onto the futon once more. Might as well make some lunch while he waits for him to wake up.
He fixes up some extra for Shuuhei and then spaces out while he eats, retreating to his inner world.
"When you said you were the one who pulled the parasite's reiatsu out of him, what did you mean?" Kensei asks right away. "How can you do that?"
The hollow is ignoring him again, as per usual. The earlier conversation was more than he usually gets. He stares at the sunrise for a few minutes before bringing his focus back to reality. When he does, he feels the hollow's thoughts merging into his own. He barely catches the sentiment, a fleeting possessiveness that takes Kensei by surprise. He'd been imagining from the hollow's wording that it somehow got into Shuuhei to pull the reiatsu out. Really, it just flared Kensei's own to the point of forcing most of the parasite out of him. The initial flare must have stunned the wisp, hence why it took so long to make Shuuhei start sleepwalking.
Kensei can hear Shuuhei stirring in the other room, coming to with a groan. He's missing a sizeable chunk of reiatsu, but not to a dangerous point. Still, Kensei brings the extra food over to him and hands it over with a quiet question as to whether he's alright.
"Yeah, I'm... did I pass out or something? Last thing I remember is stepping out of that cave. I feel kinda groggy but I'm fine otherwise," he says, accepting the food. His color is already looking a lot better.
"You don't remember anything from when it was controlling you?"
Shuuhei starts at that, apparently shocked.
"Controlling me? What did it make me do? I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"
The kid seems genuine.
"No, you didn't hurt anyone. You're probably sore from when I had to kick your ass, though," Kensei points out.
"... I thought my back was sore from lying in that cave for so long."
"If you have any bruises, go to the 4th. Captain Unohana saw you earlier and determined you were completely unconscious, she'd probably be relieved to see you're awake."
"I can handle a few bruises," Shuuhei assures. He seems the type to invite pain like that, like you can't improve without enduring such a thing. Kensei can grasp such a mindset.
"But you don't remember anything at all, huh?" he pushes.
"I think I would remember fighting my captain," Shuuhei says, setting the now empty plate down. "I really don't remember anything. We stepped out of the cave, I think I said something, and then just... nothing."
Having no idea how to bring up the subject, Kensei takes Shuuhei's chin in his hand and leans in until their faces are close. With a surprised yelp, Shuuhei turns red.
"Captain?!"
"Give it to me straight, Hisagi. Your feelings towards me are more than your average captain and lieutenant. Or co-lieutenant, whatever," he adds, recalling the unique situation the 9th currently has in place. Shuuhei hesitates to answer and Kensei can practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to think of an excuse.
"You saved my life and you've always... been a huge inspiration to me. Maybe it is a little different from the usual feelings a lieutenant has for their captain, but not by much," he explains. It pings as both truth and lie on Kensei's radar.
"Captain Unohana told me your body was acting completely on instinct. Why would your instinct be to kiss me?"
He looks horrified and the blood rushing to his face only increases.
"Ki- to ki- I didn't- did I? Did I really-?"
"Yeah, twice."
"You, you said the parasite was controlling me, maybe it-"
"Yeah, I thought you might try to use that excuse."
"Excuse?! But you said..."
Kensei doesn't cut him off this time, but Shuuhei seems to have no idea how to continue.
"I did something to sort of draw it to the surface and it started moving and growling," Kensei explains, neglecting to mention the massage by name. "Then that fifth seat Ayasegawa got in here and gave it full control of your body so I could beat it out of you. The parasite wasn't controlling you when you kissed me, nor when you touched me."
"Touch... I touched..."
Shuuhei collapses onto his back, wide eyes staring at the ceiling. Kensei scrambles to correct himself.
"Uh, you touched my tattoo. That was all," he clarifies. Shuuhei still seems just as embarrassed.
"Am I..?"
Gay? Yeah, probably.
"Are you going to fire me?" he asks, his voice low and normal again.
"What? What for?"
Shuuhei sits up and holds Kensei's gaze with a serious look.
"Even though I was unconscious, that's no excuse. I... kissed you, twice, without your permission, I would guess. Not that I'd even be able to register permission like that," he adds in a mumble. "That's... deplorable conduct. I understand if you need to let me go. Fuck, especially if anyone saw! Not to mention, these feelings are totally inappropriate..!"
"Relax, kid. Nobody saw," Kensei says, unsure of how to answer the rest. "Obviously I'm not firing you."
"How is that obvious?!" Shuuhei seems more pleasantly surprised than anything else, the stress in his face lightening up just a little.
Vague growls skirt the edges of his mind and he can't make any real sense of the thoughts. Instead of trying to vocalize them, he brings Shuuhei in for a kiss he can actually remember. And then another. Kensei hardly even registers getting on top of him, but very much registers how Shuuhei pulls him down rather than pushing him away.
Shuuhei stays the night; Kensei can figure out what will become of them tomorrow.