Work Text:
Ichigo collapses into the hot spring in full shinigami gear. He only remembers to drop his sword on a flat surface before taking a nose dive into the hot water. He’s bone-tired after a three hour spar, but it’s probably not the best idea, considering he’s red-faced and spluttering when he resurfaces above the water. His shinigami robe clings to his skin, dragging him down, but Ichigo’s too weary to bother taking it off. He’s not concerned for his modesty—so much steam rises from the hot spring that he has to swim to the edge closest to Kisuke to see his sparring partner—and years of Yoruichi dropping her clothes have beaten down Ichigo’s former modesty anyway. It died a swift death when he’d been twenty and Yoruichi had propositioned him in this very same hot spring.
Good memories. (He’d run out of the building naked and yelling, but at least Yoruichi had found it too hilarious to take offense.)
“You getting in?” Ichigo calls out, looking Kisuke over for injuries. There’s nothing that the healing pool won’t heal, so he doesn’t worry.
“Maybe later,” Kisuke replies. He remains where he is, resting against a large rock and catching his breath. There’s a familiar expression on his face as he looks at Ichigo, one that means he isn’t really seeing him, but going through the battle in his head.
It means that Ichigo can look his fill without being caught out, so he does. Kisuke’s dirty and exhausted and still unfairly gorgeous. He’d abandoned his hat five minutes into their fight. Somewhere along the line he’d lost his clogs, too, and Ichigo can see more of his chest than usual. But Ichigo’s real accomplishment is that expression on Kisuke’s face, the one that says Ichigo had managed to improve since the last time they’d sparred.
Ichigo had put his foot down on only being called to the Soul Society for world-ending emergencies. He only has one human life to live; he doesn’t want to start his afterlife early, not when he wants to be there for his sisters and friends as they grow up to be extraordinary people. While he’s alive, he wants to take advantage of all that he can: friendship, university, a career that doesn’t involve stabbing people, even romance.
Time away has done him good, both in terms of refining his shinigami skills and learning more about his mother’s kitsune heritage. He’s come a long way since the first tail he’d grown right after his mother’s death. He’d been so confused and terrified, hiding out until he managed to learn to hide the tail away. Neither of his sisters had inherited the powers and Ichigo assumed Masaki thought Ichigo was the same. Perhaps he’d been a late bloomer compared to other kitsune. There’s no one to ask, not really, and he’s spent years stumbling through his heritage. Tails grew with life-changing moments, foxfire appeared in his hands when he most needed it, and his teeth can lengthen and sharpen at will. Yoruichi even believes he might be able to master transforming into a fox one day, though Ichigo thinks that’s still far off.
It’s easier to concentrate on his flashier skills, to spend his free moments with Kisuke while Ichigo does his best to conquer his enormous reiatsu and go through the shinigami academy curriculum. Easier to spend all of his moments with Kisuke, really, that’s the problem, and it’s been like that longer than Ichigo cares to say.
He turns his attention to Kisuke again and chuckles quietly at the mess his hair is in. Ichigo’s isn’t any better, but Kisuke’s is special in the way it settles around his nose and looks like it’s about to get into his eyes. Hat hair, then battle hair, and Ichigo wants to run his hands through it more than he wants food or water or the heat of the hot spring.
I love him, Ichigo thinks to himself. It’s not a revelation. It’s just a truth that had settled into his heart a long time ago, waiting for Ichigo to acknowledge it. Patient and sly, just like the man who’s inspired the emotion.
It’s almost not a surprise that he feels a new tail pop into being at the thought. When Ichigo raises it from the water, it’s the very same color as Kisuke’s hair. Predictable, he tells his heritage, but it’s lovely, and soft, and it’s a part of him forevermore. Even when he hides it with his other tails, he’ll always be able to feel it. If he wanted, he could hide it from Kisuke.
There’s nothing but fear in your sword, Kisuke had told him once, so long ago.
Ichigo hasn’t been able to feel fear in a long time, not when he has Kisuke at his side.
“I grew another tail,” Ichigo says, smiling with amusement as Kisuke perks up. Scientific curiosity will always overpower Kisuke’s tiredness.
Kisuke scrambles up with an excited, “Really, Ichigo? I’ve never seen a newly appeared tail outside of battle, and there’s never enough time to examine them at the time.” He leans over the edge of the hot spring, as close as he can get without falling inside. Ichigo’s tail waves at him, rising up from the water for Kisuke’s perusal. “Can I touch it?”
Ichigo rolls his eyes. Of course that’s the next question. “Knock yourself out, geta-boshi.” But as Kisuke reaches forward, Ichigo’s hand snakes out, lightning-fast as he grabs Kisuke and pulls him into the hot spring. Kisuke isn’t expecting it, and he’s already half above the water, so he has no defense. Ichigo barks a laugh as Kisuke emerges from the water with a pout on his face. Now that Kisuke’s hair is wet, the colors look identical. Ichigo wonders if the color will change if Kisuke changes his hair color. He hopes not; not only is it the perfect shade already, he can see Kisuke dying his hair all sorts of outrageous colors to embarrass Ichigo. “Now you can.”
“Ichigo,” Kisuke says in an extravagant whine. “You have no respect for your elders.” His eyes are bright as he adds, “If you wanted to bathe with me, all you had to do was ask.”
“Shut up,” Ichigo mutters in reply. Fucking hell does he love him. He’d never had much time for romance as a teenager. It hadn’t been for lack of available options. He’d been popular ever since his defeat of Aizen. But he’d been busy trying to keep his head and save his friends time and again, gaining more friends and allies each time as villains kept popping out from behind closed doors. And then Kisuke had crept into his heart, loyal and strong and unpredictable as he is.
Contrary to Ichigo’s expectations, Kisuke doesn’t try to reach for Ichigo’s tail again. Instead, he asks, “Is there a reason behind its appearance? Or are you still figuring it out?”
“I’m not that much of an idiot,” Ichigo replies. He honestly doesn’t know if Kisuke already knows about his feelings and is just angling for Ichigo to admit it first, or if the man is completely unaware. It’s probably 50/50 either way. Ichigo is no slouch, but Kisuke’s a veritable genius, even if human emotion sometimes blindsides him. And Ichigo, he’s rather good at blindsiding him. “It’s the color of your hair, after all.”
“Well,” Kisuke says after a moment, and there’s a dip to his head. If he’d had his fan on him, it would be out right now, splayed open across his face. It should be illegal, the way all of Kisuke’s habits are so fucking charming. They hadn’t been when Ichigo first came to know him. It had been a years-long assault on Ichigo’s sanity, until he couldn’t deny that he doesn’t want Kisuke any other way. “Is that a confession, Ichigo?”
“You can take it that way,” Ichigo can’t help teasing. He doesn’t intend to make that easy on Kisuke.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to make it clearer for me.” Kisuke wades closer through the water, a look is of pure innocence on his face that isn’t matched by the anticipatory delight in his eyes. “Otherwise, I could get the wrong impression.”
Without much thought, Ichigo abandons words completely. He’s a man of action, even if words have grown on him in the years of bantering with Kisuke. He kisses Kisuke with abandon, without doubt. It’s about time.
“Clear enough?” Ichigo eventually asks as they part for breath. It’s not a question, not really, not with the way Kisuke had kissed him back with so much feeling.
“I’m drawing some conclusions, yes,” Kisuke says, and kisses him again.
Ichigo will pull an actual confession out of him later. He’ll even properly offer his own. But for now, there’s nothing else he’d rather do than lean into Kisuke’s kiss. Of all of his tails, this is the one Ichigo will treasure the most.