Title: ShuuheixYumichika- Five Themes
Universe: Bleach
Theme/Topic: 5 theme challenge from a Japanese challenge site.
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: ShuuxYumi
Warnings/Spoilers: Whole Soul Society Arc, and vague spoilers for early in the Arrankar arc too.
Word Count: N/A
Time: About 3 hours…maybe a little less 'cuz I kept going to the kitchen for snacks. XD
Summary: Five themes all dealing with Shuuhei and Yumichika.
Dedication: kshi- thanks for pointing me towards this!
A/N: I totally needed inspiration after my project shoot last week, as it seemed to sap out all my creative energy. Haha I wonder if it was trained in the same demon arts Yumichika was. XD Anyway, I tried to relate to the themes as much as possible, haha but I don't think they ended up being the main focus in each piece like I'd planned. O.o Erm. Also, this sounds kind of contrived as I reread it, so apologies for that in advance. XD
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly. Not mine, though I wish constantly. Also, the five themes aren't mine either, so if you wanna use them, please contact kshi first.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

---

One: "I don't want to be hated by you."

It's probably some freak rule of the eleventh division, where once you beat a guy and he lives, you get to be best friends afterwards or something.

It explains the growth on his arm suddenly, as Yumichika beams and greets him and asks how his day has been, like they've known each other all their lives.

Shuuhei hunches down and grits out a, "fine," before trying to tug his arm out of the other shinigami's hold.

Undeterred, the fifth chair hangs on, still smiling. "My day has been good too!" he chirps, and something about the energy behind everything he does makes something like lightning spark inside of the vice-captain, his spirit energy responding in like to the one that had been intimately connected with his mere weeks ago.

Oblivious to the discomfort he's causing Shuuhei, Yumichika blabbers on about his day endlessly as the vice-captain grows more and more uncomfortable the more excited his companion becomes.

"And then, Ikkaku thought he killed more than me, but when we counted afterwards, I won by five whole enemies, isn't that wonderful? He was so mad, and the look on his face…"

"ARGH LEGGO!" Shuuhei shouts suddenly, when he can't take it anymore. He manages to wrench his arm free of the fifth seat's hold, and the moment contact is broken he feels a little bit better, like some sort of disturbing connection has been broken.

He doesn't like that it feels like Yumichika has an in to every part of his most intimate self after that day when they were forced to fight one another. He doesn't like that it feels like there are remnants of the other man still inside of him, those parts surging to life whenever the fifth seat is near.

Breathing hard, Hisagi rubs his arm and looks harshly at the eleventh division shinigami, expecting some sort of snooty reprisal for his barbaric nature or something.

Instead Yumichika looks back at him, expression vaguely wounded. "Did I do something wrong?"

Shuuhei, determined not to feel bad for the idiot, wants to shout "Yes!" in response, as emphatic as he can make it given the pathetic look on the other man's face. It comes out as, "Er…maybe," instead, and he even turns his eyes to the side.

Yumichika looks down at the ground then, and asks, very deliberately, "Do you hate me?"

He doesn't know if it's that odd connection in their reiatsu or something, but Shuuhei feels like kicking himself when he hears that tone in the fifth chair's voice.

"No, I don't hate you," he admits reluctantly. "You just…" he trails off in embarrassment, making a vague motion with his hand like that will explain everything. "You make me feel weird," he manages after a moment.

Pause.

"Er," he starts again hastily, "that is, I think it's a weird side-effect or something. You know. Of when we fought. I feel like…"

"Like you're still inside of me," Yumichika interrupts, looking up then. "I feel like that too."

Shuuhei blinks. "Eh?"

Yumichika smiles then, though it's a bit more embarrassed than Shuuhei's used to seeing from him. "I never used that technique on such a strong opponent before," the eleventh division death god admits, speculatively. "Maybe that's why…"

"Wait so… you feel it too?" Shuuhei asks, not able to connect point A with point B.

"Yes," Yumichika says, quite simply.

Silence.

Then, "WHY DO YOU KEEP TOUCHING ME THEN!"

Yumichika blinks this time. "Because it feels good."

Shuuhei feels his mouth go dry. "It…does?"

The other man frowns. "You mean you didn't…notice?"

"NO!" Hisagi assures him, feeling his cheeks get pink. "Of course not."

"Really?" Yumichika asks, looking thoughtful.

"Yes really!"

Still looking thoughtful, Yumichika reaches out then, and wraps his arms around the other death god.

"W-what're you doing?" Shuuhei chokes, stiffening reflexively as electricity races through his body.

"Testing," Yumichika murmurs, resting his head on the vice-captain's chest. "Mmm, feels good to me," he echoes. "You don't feel it?"

"N-no," Shuuhei responds, swallowing.

"Hmmm…" Yumichika snuggles closer. "Now do you feel it?"

"Er…n-no, I don't think?"

Yumichika doesn't slide even closer then, like Hisagi half expected, but pulls away instead, pouting. "Nothing, huh?" he looks disappointed. "Maybe you do hate me."

For some reason that he can't quite explain, Shuuhei doesn't want Yumichika to think that, because he really feels it isn't true. Hisagi isn't one to hate easily, after all.

So after a moment of self-deliberation, he sighs in defeat and says, "Er…try again?" stupidly.

Yumi blinks. "Waah, really?"

Flushing, the vice-captain coughs. "Er, well, that is, if you wa…"

Yumi flings himself around the other man once more without hesitation, smiling broadly. "There," he says, "how's that?"

"Uhm," is the only response Shuuhei can muster, because now that he's like this and he lets himself think about it without immediately dismissing the whole ridiculous notion, that weird feeling from earlier really isn't all that weird at all.

Kind of nice actually.

Warm and definitely not hateful at all, in any possible way.

He blinks, and at that moment, with Yumichika wrapped around him and sighing contentedly, the ninth division vice-captain realizes that he's probably in trouble.

END

Two: "Cute face while sleeping."

Shuuhei stares at the ceiling, unable to sleep as he tries to calm his racing heartbeat, the dream that had woken him moments before replaying vividly in his mind's eye.

It isn't so much the fact that his dreams had involved sex that's bothering him. It's the part that came after the sex that's really bothering him. It's what he saw after he had rolled off of Ayasegawa and wiped them both clean that's keeping him awake now.

Horrified with himself, he thinks—no he knows—that it's too soon for this sort of thing. He's kissed the other man, what, once? Well, really, Yumichika had been the one to initiate it, so it would be more factual to say he'd been kissed by the other man once. Either way, Shuuhei thinks that something like that is hardly grounds to start dreaming about happily-ever-afters and eternal devotion and other kinds of romantic, sappy stuff like that.

Granted, it had been an amazing kiss.

But Shuuhei refuses to believe that all it takes is one kiss to change everything. To throw everything for a loop in his world. It can't be that cliché and stupid, can it?

One kiss shouldn't be able to change his dreams, which have always (until tonight) ended at the… well, the climactic moment.

Tonight, his dream hadn't ended there.

Tonight, his dream had kept going, to the part where he could see himself lying in bed, head propped up on his elbow as he looked down at sleepy, happily sated Yumichika, the other man just beginning to drift to sleep. In his dream, Yumi had looked back at him with a small smile on his face as he'd reached up to touch Shuuhei's cheek, murmuring "good night, love," before his eyes had fluttered closed in a tiredly content way.

Tonight, Shuuhei's dream had gone on, beyond the just sex and into the realm of happily-ever-after (which he doesn't feel he's anywhere near ready for), the image of himself just sitting and watching Yumichika sleep after the fact the true thing of horror that had woken him from his slumber.

Just one kiss.

He can't already be that far gone, can he?

Telling himself it's impossible, he takes deliberate, slow breaths and begins to unclench his hands from their death grip around his bed sheets, counting backwards in prime numbers from one hundred to keep his mind from dwelling on those idyllic images of sappily content afterglow.

After he gets down to about five, he feels like he's in control of himself again, and reflecting on the stupidity of the whole situation, berates himself for getting all worked up over something so small.

It really isn't a big deal, is it? It's not like he can control his dreams. And he'd eaten too much maybe, before bed tonight. That could factor in too.

It isn't that a part of his subconscious is telling the rest of him that he finally knows exactly what he wants from the chaotic mess his life has become.

It can't be that fast, that simple. Nothing is supposed to be that easy.

Laughing to himself, he sighs and runs a hand through his hair, murmuring, "ridiculous" to himself over and over again.

Because it is ridiculous.

He's making too much of it, really.

Curling back onto his side, he pulls the blankets up to his chin and forces his eyes closed, telling himself to relax.

He comforts himself with the thought that just because a part of him thinks that Yumichika looks adorable when he sleeps doesn't mean he's a lost cause or anything.

Really.

There's nothing to worry about at all.

END

3. "Even if you win or lose."

It doesn't take long— around the fifth or sixth kiss, he thinks—for Shuuhei to realize that Yumichika is magnificent.

Not just at the kissing part (though he really is), but at everything.

It's enough to make a guy who's beginning to dream about happily-ever-after a lot more than he used to these days feel a little bit insecure.

He feels like he's barely keeping up, that Yumichika is going to blast off into a distant place he can't dream of following before too long, if Shuuhei doesn't work harder.

It isn't so much the thought of being weak that terrifies him.

It's the fact that he'll be left behind—again-- that really gets to him.

And this time, more than the time before, he really, really doesn't want to be left behind.

In secret, he works on catching up, works on closing that distance between them, training in places where Yumichika can't see him. He doesn't want his lover to know how far behind he really is.

And so Shuuhei trains harder and longer than he used to even before, with a determination that's different than his old one in that his motivation is deeply personal (selfish even) this time, more about him and less about far off ideals like honor and nobility and pride.

This time, he just wants to stay with the person he loves.

He finds that it makes him work with much more conviction than anything Tousen-taichou used to tell him to spur him onward.

After a while, after Yumichika returns from the Karakura mission that had Shuuhei on edge every night he was gone, the other man kisses him sweetly one evening in bed, and admits, with some reluctance, that he's reached bankai.

With just those few words alone, Shuuhei feels like the chasm between their powers has quadrupled, Yumichika is so far ahead of him that it feels like he can barely see his lover over the next distant horizon.

Yumi seems to have anticipated Shuuhei's reaction and subsequent insecurities, because he offers a small smile and snuggles closer. "It's not a race," he says, curled up on Hisagi's chest like a cat. "I just thought I should be honest with you and let you know."

And all of Shuuhei's training and hard work seem so insignificant all over again, when Yumi tells him that as easily as he does. The vice-captain realizes at that moment that maybe he hadn't thrown away all of Tousen's teachings like he thought he had, and swallowing, he wraps his arms around his lover and decides that if he doesn't want this distance between them to keep growing, he finally has to let everything his captain ever told him go. Completely.

He sets his jaw, and after a moment, decides that pride, that personal honor and the strength of a man's own two hands aren't what he needs right now.

Right now, he needs Yumichika.

"Hey," he starts, eventually, his voice shaking just a little bit as he prepares to speak.

"Yes?" Yumichika asks, sounding a bit on edge himself as he waits for Shuuhei's reaction.

"Tomorrow," Hisagi begins, softly. "Tomorrow, show me how."

Silence.

And then, "Okay."

END

4. "Being lured in and gradually eaten."

Yumichika squeals happily when Shuuhei comes home with a box of chocolates from that place in town that the eleventh division shinigami likes so much, the one that costs about a week's worth of pay for a good box and always seems to have a line stretching around the corner anyway.

Shuuhei's in too good of a mood to mind though, and he waves his lover to the couch and hands him the gift, the two of them sitting down together.

Yumichika undoes the ribbon without hesitating a second, and as the box of candy falls open in front of him, an excited, pink glow blossoms on the smaller man's cheeks as he flushes with anticipation at the sight before him.

Watching him, Shuuhei swallows, feeling a different kind of anticipation altogether.

"Oh, they're all so lovely!" the fifth seat exclaims happily, leaning to the side and impulsively kissing Hisagi's cheek. "Thank you!"

"No problem," Shuuhei replies, watching transfixed, as Yumi's long, pale fingers dance in the air above the confections, fluttering over one indecisively before buzzing to another.

After watching the other man being torn between a white-chocolate raspberry truffle and a strawberry champagne one like it's a life or death decision between the two of them, Shuuhei rolls his eyes and says, "Go for the champagne," in an attempt to help him hurry up.

Yumichika, predictably, settles for the raspberry at that, and that was really what Shuuhei had been planning on all along anyway.

Picking his treat up, the eleventh division shinigami looks sidelong at his lover and asks, "Which one do you want?"

"Not for me," the vice-captain says quickly. "You have a better appreciation for this fancy stuff than I do anyway."

That said, he doesn't announce the additional fact that all the sweet stuff he needs will come from watching Yumi eat his treats in a few seconds, the vice-captain knowing all too well just how much of a show Ayasegawa can put on when given the right motivation.

"If you insist," Yumichika responds quickly, not at all grieved at the fact that Shuuhei doesn't desire to relieve him of some of his candy. Happily, he begins nibbling on the truffle between his fingertips, making ecstatic little burbling noises the moment the chocolate hits his taste buds, his tongue darting out to lap at the rich, red liquor dribbling from the broken shell.

Hisagi's breath hitches as he watches Ayasegawa work on the confection bit by bit, his eyes closed in ecstasy as he savors every taste.

This, he has to admit, was his ulterior motive to today's special chocolate surprise.

Swallowing, he watches Yumichika as he finishes the first confection, licking his fingers clean and ready for the next chocolate before even a breath has passed, the fifth chair picking up the strawberry champagne truffle Shuuhei had suggested and devouring it just as happily as the first, still making those scandalous little noises in the back of his throat as he does.

Yumichika is barely halfway into the third candy before Shuuhei groans, and fed up with just watching, Hisagi hauls the smaller death god into his lap without further hesitation.

It doesn't even disrupt Yumichika's flow, and while Shuuhei would normally be put out at being ignored so easily, he instead decides to partake in his own sweet treat for now, reaching around and working open the first two buttons of the fifth chair's shirt with one hand. Like Yumi to his chocolate, the vice-captain leans down and latches on to the soft white skin at his lover's throat as it becomes exposed to him, Hisagi moving to suck a hickey to life on that flawless skin with considerable enthusiasm.

All the while Yumi devours his obscenely expensive chocolate and makes those soft little "Mmm," sounds through his nose as he does, which, oddly enough, only really serves to turn Shuuhei on more.

With no small amount of irony, the vice-captain realizes that if he really thinks about it carefully, his choice in premium desserts isn't all that different from Yumi's, really.

The sweet things he likes to indulge in don't really come very cheaply either.

END

END

5. "Skin care."

Yumi pouts whenever Shuuhei leaves marks, but that just makes Hisagi all the more smug, because that's his territory no matter how you look at it.

Reading the expression on his lover's face, Yumichika sniffs and mentions something about the change in Shuuhei and how remarkably adaptable he is. Then, with his nose in the air, the snooty little bastard reminds him of how, during their first time together, Shuuhei had been an insecure, bumbling ball of nervous tension.

Shuuhei snorts and tugs the other death god closer despite his waspish words, unable to argue because Yumichika's right. Mostly.

"Yeah well, I'm adept now, ain't I?" Hisagi rejoins, thumbing the shorter shinigami's neck and realizing that hell, he really had left a ton of hickeys last night.

Good.

Yumichika frowns. "Don't grin like that," he warns. "You made me blotchy!"

Shuuhei can't quite wipe the grin off of his face, but he tries anyway. "Erm, well," he starts. "You wear that orange neck-type thing anyway…should cover that all right up," he offers by way of consolation.

His eyes suggest how sincere in his contrition he is for his sins against Yumichika's perfect skin, and sighing, the pretty death god simply wiggles out of Hisagi's hold and goes back to the mirror, hoping that some powder will take care of the couple of bruises that will inevitably peek out from under his neck warmer when he moves.

He's long since gotten used to Shuuhei's possessive streak, but he doesn't see why that sort of thing translates to wanting everyone else to see his "brand" out in the open like this.

"You know," he begins, feeling very vaguely miffed at the whole thing, "there are other more civil ways of telling the world who I belong to."

Shuuhei, sensing something seriously put out in Yumichika's tone at those words, turns quickly repentant. "Sorry babe," he starts. "You know I just get…well, you know."

Yumichika sighs, and it's sort of in that long suffering way that makes Shuuhei wish he could be better to the other man somehow, though he doesn't know how he'd go about it in the first place. "It's alright," the fifth seat assures him, getting up and padding back towards the bed so he can press a quick kiss to Shuuhei's forehead. "I'm going to go finish getting ready for work."

"Sure."

Shuuhei watches him leave the room and gets out of bed to hit the shower and get ready to go as well, thinking to himself about Yumi's words and those alternative (more civil) ways of showing the world who, exactly, the fifth chair belongs to.

The few ideas he can come up with don't seem quite as fun as getting to suck on the pretty shinigami's neck, but in the long run he'd rather they both be happy about everything than have Yumi pout at him every morning for being a possessive jerk.

He thinks about it all day at work too, and after dismissing the idea that Yumichika would get a tattoo with Shuuhei's name on it anywhere on his body, the vice-captain has to admit that all his ideas thus far have seemed much more fun for him than for his lover.

He spends most of the day being stumped like that, and it's only on his way home in the early evening, when he passes that ridiculously expensive chocolate store Yumi likes, that any sort of feasible idea hits him.

It comes to his attention as he stands outside of the confectionary, that a lot of the time, when Yumichika says something along the lines of "civil" or "sophisticated" or "refined," it can be translated without much meaning lost, into the word "expensive."

That concept firmly entrenched in his mind, he turns around and heads in the opposite direction of home, knowing precisely what he needs now, to show the world exactly who Yumi belongs to without having to leave hickeys behind as a first clue.

He gets back to the house late and Yumi looks generally displeased with his tardiness for dinner, except that Shuuhei manages to wipe that unhappy look off of the fifth chair's face pretty quick when he drops to one knee with a velvet box in one hand, once again reduced to an insecure, bumbling ball of nervous tension in front of Yumichika. "So…" he begins, licking his lips, "you wanna belong to me or what?"

END