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Byakuya stared at the Squad 4 lieutenant and she stared right back, mouth open like a dying fish’s and eyes blinking stupidly up at the two Captains. Kenpachi, who was steadily running out of patience, grunted in frustration. Byakuya could tell he was about to break into another one of his rants about how unnecessary this was so as a precaution, he gave the taller man a warning glance that had him shutting up with a huff.
Nobody would believe that something along the lines of what is to follow could be said about Zaraki Kenpachi but- he had clearly learned to pick his battles when it came to Byakuya.
Byakuya turned back to the lieutenant and watched her flail her jaw uselessly for a couple of seconds. She seemed to have figured out she wanted to say something but the actual words weren’t occurring to her.
“Is there an issue, Kotetsu-fukutaicho?” Byakuya prompted helpfully but it only seemed to exacerbate whatever was the problem with her for she requested them to wait for a second and then, turned tail and ran back into the Squad 4 barracks.
Byakuya blinked.
“This,” Kenpachi drawled with his little finger stuck into his ear. “Is what you dragged us all the way over here for.”
“The suggestion came from you in the first place.” A pause, and then-
“Stop doing that.”
“Stop doing what?” Kenpachi asked.
Quick as lighting, Byakuya reached up and knocked Kenpachi’s hand away from his ear, giving him a disgusted glare to make extra sure Kenpachi knew exactly what he was talking about.
“I was just dicking around” Kenpachi complained. “I didn’t think you’d take it seriously.”
Byakuya didn’t bother to respond to that statement.
“You never take a bloody day off, and when you do, you fucking waste it over horse shit like this. Then you bitch about how I don’t take you anywhere nice.”
“I took today off specifically for this.”
Kenpachi simply clicked his tongue, and Byakuya relented.
“We can go somewhere after we’re done here. I am free for the rest of the day.”
“Don’t think we will have any time left after we are done here.”
Byakuya was far from a common Rukon brat and his manners reflected that, but sometimes he found it really, really difficult to not roll his eyes at the taller man’s grumbling.
“Nii-sama!”
Byakuya looked up in surprise when he heard Rukia’s voice, who was rushing towards him from inside the Squad 4 barracks. He frowned.
“Why are you not with your Squad, Kuchiki-fukutaicho?”
“Squad 4 reported that they were feeling overwhelmed with the preparations for the clinic so they requested assistance from Ukitake-taichou and he sent me and a few other Shinigami from Squad 13.”
“I see. What seems to be the delay here?” Byakuya nodded slightly towards the barracks. It would make sense for things to be delayed a bit if Squad 4 was feeling so overworked as to beg assistance from other Squads but for them to not even have been admitted inside was pushing the boundaries of inefficient and edging right towards downright disrespectful.
“Ah, Kotestsu-fukutaicho was unable to understand why you and Zaraki taichou are here, and she sent me over to check things out.”
Byakuya could almost feel a vein bulging in his head. He had been clear and concise! How was it possible for that incompetent fool to not even understand what they were here for when Byakuya had explicitly told her? Twice!
Behind him, Kenpachi clicked his tongue and hissed in irritation.
“We are here for relationship therapy and we’ve been made to wait out in the sun instead of being invited inside long enough already. Hurry it up, Rukia, we don’t have all day.”
Rukia’s brows crawled up her forehead. They always did so in a strangely slow, lopsided manner, and it had never not irritated Byakuya.
“I didn’t know you guys were having issues.” She said, glancing curiously from Byakuya to Kenpachi, and then back again.
“We have an issue, alright” Kenpachi drawled, and from the very inflection of his voice, Byakuya could tell he wasn’t going to like whatever the giant ape was going to say next. “It’s nearly six-foot, noble, and obsessed with pink.”
Byakuya bristled but held his tongue. It was not becoming of them to fight in front of Rukia, no matter how much Kenpachi tried to goad him. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.
He didn’t even like pink!
Rukia sent him a smile, a tiny, commiserating thing, and stepped back, gesturing for them to enter.
Byakuya breezed past the gate, and his nose was scrunched up just a little bit because they had been made to wait outside like commoners for long enough. Kenpachi trudged along behind him, steps annoyingly loud and lumbering.
“If I am honest with you,” Rukia began and Byakuya glanced at her in slight alarm. Here he was, thinking she was always honest with him. “I think Kotetsu-fukutaichou was nervous to be around you. She sure sounded wound up when she found me and told me to go deal with my brother.”
If Byakuya had lesser self-control he would have thrown his palm on his chest and gasped, offended. Byakuya, however, had just enough self-control to rival his penchant for drama and so he limited himself to throwing a glare at Kenpachi.
Kenpachi noticed and scowled.
“What, so this is my fault too?!” He growled.
They had reached the inner hallways now and were passing from right in front of the hospital wing and Byakuya quirked his brow at Kenpachi, which the taller man accurately interpreted as a demand to be quiet.
“It was you,” Byakuya said. “Who told her to ‘use her rotting brain’ when she asked what we were here for.”
Rukia snickered. Byakuya would reprimand her for how uncouth that noise was, if he wasn’t more irritated by Kenpachi’s finger, steadily moving towards his ear again.
“Don’t,” he bit out.
Kenpachi must have been preparing to say something, and with quite an aggressive expression on his face too, for Rukia glanced back at him and then hastily intervened.
“We’re almost there! You go in through this gate and give your names to Hanatarou. You will be assigned a number and when the number is called out, you can go see the therapist!”
Byakuya nodded to her and they parted ways. Nobody was asking him, and he won’t tell if they did, but if he had, he would say he was glad Hanatarou would be the one in charge of the register. After nearly dying together in Hueco Mundo, familiarity, no matter how casual, was bound to follow and for the most part, Byakuya didn’t really mind the boy once he had tuned him out.
The waiting area (in which the desk was set up), as it seemed to be, was occupied by a number of Shinigami from various divisions. Byakuya couldn’t pinpoint any faces he recognised, and he decided to be glad about that. Neither was he in the mood for unwanted questions, nor sympathies.
The Relationship Counselling Cell was an idea that had remained a pitch for an obscenely long time even though it was obvious that Soul Society could greatly benefit from it (It was a known fact that when couples in possession of swords broke up, things were rarely pretty and the inconveniences caused had been known to reach the Head Captain, curtesy: Madarame and Ayasegawa, multiple times ) but then Hinamori-fukutaichou’s third breakdown happened and that sped things along. A Relationship Counselling Cell was added to the other variants of therapy and mental health services provided by Squad 4.
It was rumored to be good at what it was supposed to be doing. Renji had spoken once of how much Matsumoto-fukutaichou found herself benefited by it. Of course, the Ichimaru being a substandard secret spy and dying achieving nothing business had proven to be a complication on the path of her progress, but Byakuya was still impressed by Renji’s tales of how much help she’d received here.
So, after one of their arguments turned a little… messier than usual, and Byakuya refused to let make-up sex be enough in the name of reconciliation, Kenpachi mockingly suggested maybe they should go seek help at the Cell.
When Byakuya first deigned to consider it, he did it purely out of spite but the idea soon grew on him. It was true, his relationship with Kenpachi often felt like it was too much to handle, so to speak and what had started as a way to release all his frustrations was, in turn, frustrating him. There would be nothing wrong in seeking help, he told himself and a flabbergasted Kenpachi the next day, who immediately swore he was never again going to crack a joke in Byakuya’s presence, just like the overdramatic Rukon ruffian he was.
Here they were now, facing Hanatarou, who had greeted Byakuya with a smile that immediately dropped when he saw Kenpachi. Byakuya would ask Kenpachi to smile to make himself less scary, but he wasn’t fond of hearing Kenpachi call him a hypocritical nonce and be right .
“Ah, Zaraki-taichou, Kuchiki-taichou!” Hanatarou trilled in his nervous manner. “How may I help you today?”
Byakuya was sorely tempted to reprimand the boy for asking a question so stupid, and so obviously answered, but they were very close to the actual clinic now and he didn’t want to seem like the problem in his and Kenpachi’s relationship when it was actually Kenpachi.
“We’re here to see the romantic shrink.”
Byakuya felt something shrivel up and die inside him at Kenpachi’s verbiage.
Hanatarou’s jaw dropped.
“The Relationship Counselling Cell is for people in relationships.” He repeated. Byakuya had to give it to him, he had recovered his composure far quicker than Unohana’s vice-captain.
“That’s why we’re here, pipsqueak. Bump us up over these idiots.” Kenpachi jabbed a thumb back at the rest of the Shinigami, who were now watching them curiously. “I am getting bored.”
“I- The Relationship Counselling Cell is for people in relationships.”
Byakuya decided to rescind his compliment. How did it matter if it had never been paid? He had thought about it .
“Yes.” Kenpachi grouched. “and we are people, sharing a relationship.”
It was then that it hit Byakuya, why everyone had been so strange all day. He was proud of himself for a second, for having such heightened social awareness, before he realised he was actually kind of stupid for having taken this long.
It was so very obvious.
These people just weren’t used to two men being together.
The part about Ayasegawa and Madarame being the sole cause for the existence of this clinic promptly flew out of Byakuya’s ears, as he latched on to the explanation.
He decided a non-combative approach would be best.
Inconspicuously stepping on Kenpachi’s foot, he indicated for the big ape to shut up, and he, himself addressed Hanatarou-
“Albeit an unconventional one, our relationship should be acknowledged. We have come here to avail of the facilities set up specifically to sort out issues such as ours. Now, we were told we would be assigned a number here. What is it to be?”
Hanatarou scratched his head and stared at Byakuya like he had grown two.
“I believe there has been a misunderstanding.” He finally managed and Byakuya almost told Kenpachi to smack his funny little head around.
“And what would that be?” He gritted out instead, voice dropping lower, turning icier. The room was filling with nervous scuffling now, anxious chatter rising from the crowd of gathered spectators. Byakuya found himself steadily losing his patience.
Hanatarou shook his head and tried to gather his thoughts. He gulped and picked up the pen he had abandoned, but he had done it more for stability than out of the wish to enter their names into his register, seemingly, for he looked up at Byakuya again.
“A-ah Kuchiki-taichou! If you don’t mind, could you tell me the nature of your relationship?”
Byakuya’s eyes widened. Why, the audacity of this boy!
Kenpachi had clearly picked his moment to shine, however, for he grinned at Byakuya, positively lecherously.
“It can get… intense, once the swords come outta their sheaths.”
Byakuya was not one to give in to his baser urges, but just then, he wholeheartedly believed that once they left here, he was going to strangle Kenpachi.
Hanatarou however, the shameless brat, was simply frowning.
“See, that is the problem here-” he began.
That was the moment Hanatarou happened to glance at Byakuya, and the icy ire in his eyes literally froze the younger boy in his shoes. Hanatarou trailed off, looking close to fainting and Byakuya worked hard to resist patting himself on the back.
Maybe Kenpachi’s method had some merit to it. Scaring people into doing their jobs seemed endlessly more efficient than… not scaring them.
Hanatarou, while being ridiculously easy to faze, was clearly not one to give way similarly quickly. It took everything inside the boy, Byakuya could see, but he pulled his cowering frame straight and faced the two head on.
“We… our services don’t extend to relationships of a nature such as the one Kuchiki-taichou and Zaraki-taichou share. Please forgive us for the inconvenience!” Saying so, he threw himself into a bow, his entire body suffering violent trembles.
This one managed to get Kenpachi to drop that ridiculous scowl he had stuck on his face the moment Byakuya told him they were going to visit the clinic and gawp in confusion. Though it was to be noted, that no expressions of Kenpachi’s were easily distinguishable from each other. His face just had a certain character to it, and it reflected, loudly and clearly, all the madness and bloodlust the ape was made of. Kenpachi could be looking at you with the height of tenderness that his animal heart could feel, and Byakuya still won’t blame you for trying to run away in fear.
… and he was as good an authority as any on that one. Apart from Yachiru, Byakuya was about 89.4% sure that the only person Kenpachi felt a modicum of affection for, was him. However, back when this had just started, even in the sweetest of moments they spent together, Byakuya regularly used to catch himself wondering if Kenpachi didn’t actually loathe him. Slowly, with time, he learned to read the taller captain’s scarred and drawn face.
There was nothing gentle about Kenpachi. The romantics of Seireitei would argue that the very existence of Yachiru spoke of the heart inside, and silently Byakuya would agree. It was not under question, however, that even in the throes of affection, Kenpachi did not know gentleness. His love was as violent as his sword, if more subdued in its appearance, more reluctant in its admittance. It was just as honest too, without guile, without reservation.
Kenpachi had a heart, of course, he did and he felt a myriad of feelings every day too, Byakuya had learned. Even if he liked to degrade his own image into that of a beast, given entirely to the baser instincts of fighting, eating, and sleeping. What Byakuya had taken an embarrassingly long time to understand, was that Kenpachi’s feelings had an innocence around them, something native to mutts from Rukongai, who wore their hearts on their sleeves and pride in their resilience. Byakuya didn’t often get to see it, feelings as real and raw as those, but the first time he had, he fell in love. It never should have surprised him, that the second time was no different.
It was a strange moment to be recollecting all of that, and perhaps it only came about because it occurred to Byakuya as if for the first time, though that was untrue, that he knew this man. Much as he frustrated, disgusted, and infuriated Byakuya, at times, Byakuya cared enough about him to drag him all the way here, scowling and complaining, so they could be better together, to each other.
Byakuya wasn’t very used to sudden realisations. He far preferred being a step ahead of everyone at all times. Consequently, he never really knew how to deal well with them and this moment was no different. He stared at Kenpachi, who was swinging his head from side to side, leaking reiatsu like a broken pump, looking for something important (yet not so important as to incur Unohana’s wrath) that he could break. Breaking something was the only way he knew how to deal with roadblocks of any kind if such a situation occurred where he couldn’t break the roadblock by itself. It was boorish, uncouth, graceless and Byakuya had often ridiculed Kenpachi because of it.
Kenpachi didn’t even want to be here and had he chosen to, he could have very well refused to come. He was here now because Byakuya asked, glowering all over the place because Byakuya’s plans were being disrupted.
It was sweet. Unforgivably violent and not gentle in the least. Boorish, uncouth, graceless, and ridiculous, too but undoubtedly sweet.
All Byakuya wanted to do now, was kiss his stupid lover.
Which was a stunning urge by itself, to encounter in public, and Byakuya told himself to ‘snap out of it’, resorting to crude language in order to really get the point across. He turned back to Hanatarou who, and this truly brought Byakuya’s blood to a boil, was not even looking at them anymore.
“Uh- everyone! Please don’t leave! Squad 4 is perfectly safe for all of you, please just wait for your turns!”
He gave Byakuya and Kenpachi a nervous, and yet accusatory, glance as if they were to be blamed for the Shinigami who were nervously exiting the office in single file as if they had unanimously decided they didn’t want to be here anymore. While admittedly yes, it was somewhat incriminating, the way those Shinigami threw nervous glances over their shoulders at the two Captains, Byakuya was firmly convinced these inconveniences were to be attributed to Hanatrou’s tardiness. After all, Kenpachi and Byakuya were well within their rights to be here.
“None of this would have happened if you had simply chosen to do your job.” Byakuya remarked, deciding it was for the best to be forgiving with a boy as inexperienced as Hanatarou and impart some of the wisdom that he was in desperate need of.
Hanatarou gave (a now grinning) Kenpachi a glance and then bowed his head.
“Excuse me Kuchiki-taichou but I was merely looking to help! The clinic does not provide such services…-”
“Yeah, you’ve said that bullshit before, and I told you that’s a heap of lies.” Kenpachi interrupted for it apparently only took a handful of moments for his amusement to be replaced by irritation again. He turned to Byakuya.
“This is why I fucking hated the idea, but your stupid, fancy, stuck-up ass couldn’t be bothered to listen. If we were back in Rukon, shit like this would be settled the right way. Whoever pins the other down first, wins and whoever wins is right.” Kenpachi scratched his ear. “What were we fighting about again?”
Byakuya had a faint idea but he was not sure he was correct and Kenpachi had made a fine art out of only having a functioning brain and robust memory when Byakuya was, for lack of a better term, bullshitting him.
“ Ano- please hear me out!” Hanatarou began. “The Relationship Counselling Cell is for couples. In romantic relationships. Who kiss and eat together.”
The boy’s entire face was flushed and with a clarity bordering on divine, Byakuya realised Hanatarou must not have so much as held hands with someone before.
Then, his words set it.
“We know” Kenpachi growled. He was getting seriously angry now, Byakuya could tell. He bit back the urge to sigh. He was going to have to take Kenpachi away from Hanatarou as soon as possible now, much as he would have liked to set his lover loose on the skinny pest instead.
“We know” Kenpachi emphasised again, eyes narrowed and mouth drooping into a scowl more thunderous than what he had worn when they entered. “That’s why we’re fucking here, you little runt.”
Hanatarou stared, and then his eyes widened. He glanced between Kenpachi and Byakuya, and his eyes widened more, running down their frames one after the other. He shook his head, lifted his palm as if he intended to slap himself, and then shook his head again.
Finally, finally, he opened his mouth.
“I think there has been a misunderstanding.”
“On your part, not ours.” Byakuya glared at Hanatarou, who only shook his head yet again.
Byakuya cursed himself for ever being relieved Hanatarou would be the one at the desk.
“But- but you talked about intense sword fighting and pinning each other down!”
Byakuya watched realisation set in, and it did bring him some satisfaction, the way Hanatarou’s face steadily pinked, then darkened, and then transcended the realm of red, settling firmly on a disheartening purple.
“Gomenasai!!”
It all went downhill from there, for it seemed like the very idea of anal fornication was too much for Hanatarou to handle. After an extended apology issued while prostrating on his knees, for it was only proper, Byakuya observed, Hanatarou promptly passed out.
“Okay, let’s go in now” Kenpachi grumbled, but there was a comical sense of urgency about his words as if the unconsciousness of a subordinate so far below them in skill and strength was a golden window likely to close very soon. There was relatively more privacy here now, and so, Byakuya allowed himself to smirk and place a hand upon Kenpachi’s, drawing the taller man closer.
Kenpachi came willingly, if somewhat confusedly (which wasn’t new; Kenpachi didn’t understand a lot of things and if Byakuya was being honest about it, he’d admit that there was very little he did understand) allowing Byakuya to lean forwards and place a hard kiss against his mouth. He hummed in approval, as he always did when things started going his way, and his hands started moving towards Byakuya’s hair, only for Byakuya to grab a hold of them and place them on his waist instead.
They were still very much outside. Byakuya couldn’t allow the brute to mess up his hair.
Kenpachi growled against Byakuya’s lips and stubbornly dropped his hands to Byakuya’s ass instead. Byakuya only pulled Kenpachi closer, a strange feeling of fondness that he rarely associated with the other man filling his heart at the indignant gesture.
“See? This is what I meant.” Kenpachi panted in between kisses. “It’s-…”
Byakuya smacked his hand across Kenpachi’s mouth because he was sure of two things. The first being that whatever Kenpachi was meaning to say next would annoy him, and the second that if they remained touching for a minute more Kenpachi’s hands would grow a mind of their own.
Byakuya wasn’t looking forward to racing across rooftops while carrying Kenpachi in his arms ever again.
“We have to alert someone as to his condition.” He told Kenpachi.
“Condition!” Kenpachi snorted. “He is fine. He will wake up.”
Byakuya nodded to indicate that he did agree so that Kenpachi won’t grumble too much about what was to come next.
Kenpachi, all too familiar with Byakuya’s mannerisms and knowing that he won’t bother outright agreeing with anything Kenpachi said if he wasn’t planning on doing the exact opposite immediately after, only narrowed his eyes at Byakuya.
“It is protocol, Kenpachi.” Byakuya intoned.
“Or we could just go in, and let this damned fool look after himself for once. Didn’t you save his ass back in Hueco Mundo, too? Should’ve let him fucking die and we won’t have wasted half our day begging to be let into the shrink’s office.”
“We are not permitted to kill lower-level Shinigami if ever and whenever they pose a minor inconvenience in our paths.” Byakuya quoted directly from the Central 46 issued Handbook, giving Kenpachi a pointed stare as if to remind him that the very obvious rule had specifically been placed in the Handbook because of him and Soi Fon.
“A shame.” Kenpachi groused.
“Not to mention, I was not there to save Hanatarou so much as I was there to keep an arrogant and otherwise entirely useless Hollow from feasting on my sister’s prone form, after she had just defeated a highly dangerous Arrancar all by herself, despite it manifesting as an extremely limiting emotional cripple for her.”
Kenpachi, who had been a common Rukon brat and possessed the manners of one, did not consider it beneath him to roll his eyes, and so, he did.
“Yeah. I have heard that story fifteen times already, among others. ” Kenpachi pointed out. “You know if you spent half as much time as you spend singing yourself silly about your sister’s achievements in my presence, actually telling her how proud you are of her, she won’t be trying to hide her relationship with your lieutenant from you.”
Byakuya blinked.
That was low , even by Kenpachi’s regular standards of insensitivity.
Byakuya turned away.
“I am going to look for Unohana-taichou.”
…
By the time Byakuya had found Unohana, managed to explain the situation, extorted an apology and a promise to reserve an entire day with the Cell for Byakuya and Kenpachi on their next day off, Kenpachi had realised exactly what was wrong with what he had said and was involved in cooking up a decent apology while leaning against the outer walls of the Squad barracks, waiting for Byakuya to come out.
By the time Byakuya finally stepped out, Kenpachi had only figured out the ‘I am sorry’ part.
The look on Byakuya’s face tipped him off to the fact that Byakuya probably wasn’t going to stick around long enough for him to get out anything else and really, chasing him around would be messy given how ridiculously fast the man was.
So, Kenpachi took a page out of Byakuya’s book. He simply grabbed him and flash-stepped away.
Byakuya, however, did not make for calm (resigned) cargo, nor was Kenpachi’s skill in shunpo anywhere even close to his. So, despite Byakuya being relatively lighter, Kenpachi knew he couldn’t possibly carry him for very long.
Had he been used to thinking about more than three things at once, he would have taken that as an insult and insisted on carrying Byakuya right to the 80th. Fortunately, Kenpachi’s pride was a simple creature, easily sated by simpler achievements.
Kenpachi carried a squirming Byakuya all the way to his Squad, instead. There were gardens attached to the back of the barracks of each Squad, reserved for members of the same. For obvious reasons, the one in Squad 11 was always deserted. Not even Yachiru was interested in coming over. Coincidentally, that happened to be the exact distance Kenpachi managed to maintain his grip on Byakuya.
With the struggling Captain in his arms, coming to a halt out of what was essentially a speedrun was more difficult for Kenpachi this time, and while he managed to remain on his feet while skidding to a stop, it was only barely. He set Byakuya down extra carefully though. He was angry enough as it was.
As Byakuya tore himself out of Kenpachi’s embrace, Kenpachi caught a glimpse of something he had only ever heard of before, during the rare drinking nights with Ukitake. There had apparently been a universe in which Kuchiki Byakuya was excitable as a puppy. Quick to anger, quick to love, intensely emotional, too, Ukitake had said. Kenpachi hadn’t believed him till he got to know Byakuya, for the man was very much the same, despite the chokehold he maintained on his facial expressions these days.
It loosened, however, if only for a split second; Byakuya’s legendary grip on his emotions. Grey eyes were wide with indignant surprise, Byakuya’s smart mouth almost puckered.
He was back to his stoically ( nobly , he’d insist) annoyed self a second later, though, glaring at Kenpachi with all the fire of the world. (It had always fascinated Kenpachi- how someone who seemed to have been cut right from a block of ice, packed such passion of such intensity inside himself.)
Fortunately for Kenpachi, he was so stunned he didn’t get to think, and that was how he managed to not mess up his apology.
“Sorry about what I said. And anyway I am sure it’s not your sister who wants to hide the relationship from you, but Renji.”
Kenpachi was almost expecting another fight, was tensing up for one too. These wars of words that made him feel all types of ways were considerably less fun than actual fighting, and at times, Kenpachi loathed Byakuya for introducing him to them. Given what a fuss he had kicked up about their ‘issues’ and them needing ‘therapy’ cause they were always squabbling, Kenpachi was sure an apology wasn’t going to cut it.
Apparently, it did.
Byakuya stared at him in silence for a few seconds, and in surprise, not disbelief, Kenpachi could tell now.
Finally, Byakuya shook his head and looked away. No one could really say they saw Kuchiki Byakuya do shit absent-mindedly, but for Kenpachi that wasn’t a spectacle anymore and so he easily fell in step beside his lover, as Byakuya began to walk down the lawn, eyes on some bush to the side with a weird shade of flowers that Kenpachi couldn’t name, but Byakuya probably knew.
“I understand that you were attempting to make up for your earlier callousness with that statement, but it wasn’t much of an improvement.” He finally addressed Kenpachi.
“You don’t care about anyone in the world as much as you care about Kuchiki so yes, it was.”
(Something in his ear kept itching, Kenpachi thought. They were in private now, so maybe Byakuya won’t mind him putting a finger in his ear.
He tried. His hand was immediately knocked away.)
Byakuya didn’t say anything, but him letting it go meant Kenpachi was correct.
“It is the first time you’ve apologised to me.” Byakuya noted. There was still something in his tone, something a little… airy... like it wasn’t quite so sure of itself as Byakuya always was.
“Huh. Guess so.” Kenpachi shrugged. “Who cares? They are just words. You know I regret being an ass every time.”
For being one of the deadliest men Kenpachi knew, Byakuya frowned very delicately, a single fold on his brow that Kenpachi always wanted to smooth away with the pad of his thumb.
“ I care,” Byakuya said, tone such that Kenpachi could almost imagine him puffing his cheeks out. “How am I to know of your regrets if you never speak of them to me?”
Kenpachi frowned, because he was still new to the way Byakuya talked, always more mouthy than he strictly needed to be, to get his point across, but also because what the fuck?!
“I don’t know what you’re fucking talking about, again. I make it very obvious when I am sorry.”
Byakuya’s nose flared a little. Kenpachi always wondered if he knew he hadn’t quite worked that quirk out of his expressionless facade.
“Oh? What is it that you do when you wish to apologise, that is so different from how you always act around me?”
Some days, Kenpachi couldn’t believe the obliviousness of this man.
“I let you hold me from behind after we fuck! You know I don’t like that shit so why would I do it if not to make it up to you?” Kenpachi presented, for it was perfectly logical and he couldn’t figure out how Byakuya missed it. Byakuya, however, decided to actually raise his brows at that, and suddenly Kenpachi was unsure.
“And what about you?” He fired instead. “Like you ever say sorry to me!”
Byakuya’s Adam’s apple bobbed a little, and Kenpachi had an intense flashback from a few nights before, when Byakuya had climbed into Kenpachi’s lap and Kenpachi had bitten him exactly there.
God, had they been fucking their apologies into each other, they won’t have wasted half of their days doing nothing.
“I have never apologised because I have never been wrong.”
“You always act like you’re better than me.” Kenpachi pointed out.
“You never seemed bothered by it before.”
“Doesn’t mean you should keep doing it.”
Byakuya glanced up at Kenpachi, and then away. Kenpachi had noticed something way before they had even gotten together and it was that Byakuya’s gaze kept flitting here and there whenever they got too close and he didn’t even seem aware of it. Yumichika had gleefully informed him that was a classic sign of nervousness. Kenpachi had dismissed it on the spot, and he still didn’t truly believe it.
Byakuya did look disconcerted, though.
“I admit there may have been a slight oversight on my part.”
Yep, definitely disconcerted.
“You can’t actually say the words, can you? Won’t come out your throat.” Kenpachi grinned because it was hard not to.
The closer he looked, the easier they were to detect, a myriad of emotions trapped beneath a seemingly unbreakable exterior.
“I am more than capable of saying sorry. I have said it before to Ru-…”
“- to Rukia, your precious baby sister, I know. She’s important to you, though. I am talking about-…”
Byakuya raised a hand, cutting Kenpachi off. There was just a certain authority to the way he moved. The more time Kenpachi spent with him, the more he wanted to obey.
“You are important to me, too.”
… and that…
Wasn’t that quite something?
Kenpachi stared at Byakuya, mouth half-open. He was vaguely aware that he looked exceptionally stupid at that moment, but it was harder to not gawk.
It wasn’t that Kenpachi didn’t know that he meant something to Byakuya when he was in the man’s bed nearly every night, but really, wasn’t it more logical to believe that was for lust rather than something closer to what Kenpachi felt for Byakuya?
… what Kenpachi had only felt for Byakuya?
Kenpachi turned away with a slight growl, almost lifting a hand to his chest because it felt all breathy and light suddenly. Feelings, pesky, pesky things. Kenpachi had hated every single time he had felt one.
“Nobody seemed to be able to comprehend that we are together. You don’t so much as believe I care about you.”
It was a full sentence, and yet Byakuya ended it as if he was merely trailing off, lost in thought while his eyes remained sharp and alert, gazing at Kenpachi, with a newfound clarity to them.
“What are we doing wrong?” Byakuya asked.
“Why do you think we’re doing anything wrong? Cause a bunch of pansies don’t fucking make a point of believing their eyes and ears? What is it to us?” Kenpachi shrugged, half contemplating just pulling out his sword and going at Byakuya. It seemed far less complicated.
“We are together because we want to be. If we don’t want to, we will stop. It’s as simple as that.”
Byakuya looked away again, and then something seemed to occur to him for he looked back up at Kenpachi. The stubborn jut was back to his jaw, and Kenpachi almost sighed in relief. He was far more familiar with it after all.
“What about you, then? Why did you ever doubt my affections if it is indeed as simple as that?”
To that Kenpachi had no answer, and the itching in his ear was somehow more pronounced because his brain was quiet. He brought his pinky to his ear again, and this time, Byakuya was so focussed on Kenpachi’s eyes, he didn’t take note of it.
Kenpachi’s nail hit the spot and then…
Ah
There. That was sorted.
The world seemed easier to navigate all of a sudden.
“Cause you make a point of telling me how stupid I am, but never that you’re into it.” He answered truthfully. There was nothing embarrassing about it, Kenpachi figured when Byakuya was the one saying all those things. He was already aware of every single shortcoming of Kenpachi’s.
Byakuya came to a stop, and Kenpachi realised they had been circling the garden over and over again. He gazed at Byakuya, one brow raised and Byakuya’s gloved hand found Kenpachi’s chest.
“I am, as you like to put it, into it.”
Fortunately, Kenpachi was inexperienced enough in matters of the heart that that confession left him feeling touched.
“There are a thousand redeeming qualities to you, as well.” Byakuya seemed to have found his flow. “It is not just the stupidity I am into for the stupidity is not always endearing and more often grates on my nerves.”
Kenpachi grinned, covering Byakuya’s hand with his.
“Let’s talk about those thousand redeeming qualities some time, then and not always about how disgusting you thought I must smell when you first saw me. Gives a guy the wrong impression.”
Byakuya nodded, stepping closer to Kenpachi. He was so much shorter but he rarely appeared so. Unohana had once remarked the boy had enough presence to fill up the entire Soul Society all by himself. She was mostly correct.
“Though it is not as if I am the only one saying hurtful things in this relationship. You have called me names, too. However, since you were the one to apologise first, I shall take it upon me to set things straight from now on.” He paused because no matter what he told you, Kenpachi knew he lived for the perfect dramatic timing.
“Zaraki Kenpachi, I formally apologise for all the unflattering terms I have called you thus far. I did not mean all of them, and the ones I did mean, I do not mind. You are important to me, despite and with , all the less desirable traits. They make up you, and I am quite taken by you.”
Byakuya talks like an uppity fool , Kenpachi thought, which he followed up with- I want to make a mess out of him. Right here, right now.
He decided to take his chances.
It was easy to push Byakuya off his feet these days because he was used to Kenpachi doing it. He didn’t instinctively try to fight it, rather, leaned in. That was how he found himself on his back in a public garden in the bright of the day, with the Squad 11 Captain looming on top of him.
For a second, Kenpachi felt like the breath had been knocked out of him, as he gazed at Byakuya, his hard, muscled body prone under Kenpachi, lips parted just enough for Kenpachi to sneak his own in between, and eyes the color of sleet, strangely, mind-boggling warm .
“I am punching so far above my weight with you, it’s no longer funny.”
Byakuya frowned.
“I do not understand what that saying means.”
Kenpachi grinned and decided it was for the best. If there was an ego in the spirit world that could not suffer further inflation, it was Kuchiki Byakuya’s.
“It means I’d go to a fucking shrink for you. That’s how taken I am with you, you fancy bastard.”
Byakuya let his lips fall into that little, careful smile of his. So rare, so pretty.
He leaned up, kissed Kenpachi, softly, and for the sake of it. Kenpachi let himself go, sliding his hands up ( finally ) into Byakuya’s hair. Byakuya groaned when Kenpachi tugged on the strands and opened his mouth. He pressed his body up against Kenpachi, rubbing their fronts together in a very obscene manner. Kenpachi hissed against his mouth, and he pulled back to exhale shakily.
“Unohana-taichou promised she’d set aside whichever day we both manage to take an off next. For the clinic.”
Kenpachi decided to take it as the fucking compliment it was, that he could kiss Byakuya so well as to make him speak in disjointed sentences and meaningless phrases.
“We still gotta go? We just solved all our problems!”
Byakuya raised a brow. His lower lip was distractingly shiny and moist.
“We did?”
Kenpachi scrunched up his face. Really, this man.
“Yeah! Talk, don’t assume. Simple.”
Byakuya gave a huff of laughter, mouth still curled at the corner. His hands lifted from Kenpachi’s shoulders to his hair, and he began carding his fingers through it.
Kenpachi had never really noted it before, but Byakuya did adore doing that.
“It does sound simple. We’ll try it, but if we still find ourselves dissatisfied, we will go visit the Cell.”
Kenpachi pretended to consider it even though they both knew if he had gone once, he’d go again.
“Okay, but only if you let me suck you off, right here, right now. In the fucking nude.”
Byakuya’s expression shifted as if he was going to break into laughter, but then his eyes were all sharp intent again, smile less soft and more daring.
“Deal.” He said.