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June Ficcage Part 2
And now the anime portion of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
springkink, with the same self-rated SUCKS, MEH, OKAY, or I LIKE IT rating system in place.
First off, Bleach...
Title: Aristocats
Rating: PG
Warnings: innuendo, cheese
Prompt: Bleach, Shunsui/Ukitake: catboys - 'would you like to groom my tail?"
Word count: 343
A/N: This one just SUCKS. I couldn't come up with anything good and I was writing it at the last minute and it just blows chunks. Which makes me mad and a bit irritated but oh well.
Contact with the human world had, Ukitake reflected, done Kuchiki a world of good. But perhaps she had spent a little too much time there. Still it had been impossible to refuse her enthusiasm for the holiday, especially with Captain Hitsugaya actually backing her. Ukitake frowned thoughtfully at the mirror and reached up to straighten the delicate white ears perched on his head. Behind him Kiyone and Sentaro squabbled good-naturedly over collars, their feathery golden tails coming dangerously close to knocking stacks of completed paperwork to the floor. But the day’s work was saved thanks to the excellent timing of his oldest friend, Shunsui sliding open the door with a broad smile and his hat in his hand.
“Out you go.” He shooed the third seats from the office with a languid flap of his hat. “Nanao-chan needs some help with her costume. And apparently,” he added with a moue of disappointment for effect, “I’m not suitable.”
Ukitake laughed and waved Shunsui over. “Then you can help me. I can’t seem to get these on properly.”
A dark head popped up over Ukitake’s reflection’s shoulder, a pair of black ears, one with a notch missing, perched on Shunsui’s wavy mess of hair. Clever fingers slid over the 13th captain’s scalp and into the smooth pale strands of his, fiddling with the clips until the cat ears were firmly and evenly affixed. The Shunsui in the mirror grinned and the real Shunsui let his hands slide free of Ukitake’s hair. They slipped warmly to his shoulders and then stroked familiarly down the line of his spine as Ukitake leaned into them. A broad palm dropped lower, cupped the curve of Ukitake’s rear through his robes, and squeezed.
“Ne, Jyuu-chan, your tail was crooked too.”
Ukitake turned away from the mirror, the fluffy white puff of his Persian tail gently flowing through Shunsui’s loose grasp. The 8th division captain made for a rakish alley cat and Ukitake smiled at him and hooked their elbows together. “Thanks. Keep an eye on it for me?”
“Always, Jyuu-chan. Always.”
Title: Bone Deep
Rating: G
Warnings: Sap
Prompt: Bleach, Ukitake/Shunsui: massage - "I am no stranger to your skin"
Word Count: 427
A/N: And my second attempt at Bleach fic. This one is a MEH because there's a line in here I really like and a concept I'd be interested in exploring more. But this one's pretty lame too. Man, I feel terrible about it too because Shunsui and Ukitake are like the only characters I like in Bleach aside from Chad. I totally failed to do them any justice.
Chuckling softly at the exaggerated motions and the way the captain of the Eighth Division popped his neck – with the same disturbingly loud but usually harmless noise it had made since their academy days – Ukitake caved with easy grace before Shunsui’s pleading eyes and motioned towards the bed. Woven hat and patterned kimono were shed with almost unseemly haste and Shunsui settled cross-legged and expectant on the other captain’s bed, hands loose in his lap. More dignified, Ukitake settled behind his friend, his robes spread about to allow him ease of motion. The head of the Thirteenth division cracked his knuckles in warning and then he began.
Shunsui’s shoulders were tight but not too stiff and Ukitake kneaded them carefully. His warm hands worked out from Shunsui’s neck and traced the thick line of muscle, plying in with determined fingertips every so often. The dark head before the Thirteenth captain slowly bowed forward in wordless admonishment and Ukitake rubbed a soothing thumb up the line of the other’s neck. And then, once the shoulders before him felt relaxed, Ukitake began his real work.
A rustle of fabric marked the slide of Shunsui’s robes from his shoulders and they bunched around his stomach until he grudgingly sighed and removed his hands from his sleeves to let the material pool beneath his waistline. Ukitake, properly amused by Shunsui’s antics, briskly rubbed his hands together and then placed his palms flat against the planes of his friend’s shoulder blades. He could feel the edge of an old scar beneath a finger and he traced it with easy familiarity, letting his hands drift down the line of Shunsui’s spine. Ukitake followed a path from scar to mole to bump and back to another signpost of a scar, knowing as he reached the base of Shunsui’s spine that his thumbs would find two pale freckles that had long been his goals. He dug in, pressing firmly, and Shunsui limply flopped forward to give Ukitake more room.
“Don’t you dare stop, Jyuu-chan!” The order came out between pleased groans and Ukitake smiled. There were only a few in Soul Society who demanded things of him and Shunsui was the only one who was greedy enough – close enough, dear enough – to mean them outside of battle. Ukitake rubbed his thumbs in gently teasing circles and then, when his friend’s dark head showed signs of considering turning around in rebuke, attacked again. Shunsui melted back onto the bed with a happy moan and Ukitake leaned forward to murmur into his skin.
“I don’t intend to.”
And now a xxxHoLic one...
Title: Selfish/Selfless
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Prompt: xxxHolic, Ame Warashi/Zashiki Warashi: looking out for her best interests - "That human's no good for you"
Word count: 335
A/N: Second xxxHoLic fic ever and I LIKE THIS ONE. It says what I want it to say without being cheesy and I feel it's IC and kind of cute.
She was asleep finally, curled up in the meadow with the wildflowers nodding over her like a gaggle of worried aunts. The Ame Warashi twirled the handle of her umbrella absently in her hand as she looked over the scene and scowled. It was quiet now that she’d shooed the tengu-karasu away, sent them out to hunt for delicacies to tempt their precious one. The Zashiki Warashi looked gentle and innocent in her sleep, nothing like the determined spirit that had gone after the Joro-gumo in a quest to rescue one boy’s eye.
The Ame Warashi sighed as she settled gently on the ground, smoothing her skirts before gently brushing a stray strand of hair off the sleeping spirit’s face. She wanted to be angry at that human, at the Time Witch’s chore boy, but he had been the one to save the Zashiki Warashi, going to a place where she herself could not. And it had been the Zashiki Warashi’s own decision to try and rescue his sight, a choice that the Ame Warashi knew the boy would not have agreed with had he known of it in time to prevent the foolish attempt.
“He’s no good for you,” the Ame Warashi murmured softly, more to herself than to the sleeping spirit girl. “I’ve told you and told you and look where it gets me.”
She laughed then, low and a little bitter, and threw her head back to stare up at the white whisps of clouds painted across the blue dome of the sky.
“Hypocritical of me,” she whispered, blind fingers unerringly finding silky strands of the Zashiki Warashi’s hair and curling in it as she remembered how flustered and worried she’d been when she found out where the sleeping spirit had gotten to, how she’d thought and thought about what price she could pay to the witch to get her back. “But,” the Ame Warashi turned to finally smile down at the peaceful Zashiki Warashi, “I suppose we just can’t help ourselves.”
Finally, the 3 One Piece prompts I answered...
Title: Tangled
Rating: PG
Warnings: Zombies, Spoilers through Chapter 454
Prompt: One Piece, Franky/Robin: bondage - Robin in the spider's web, at Thriller Bark
Word count: 656
A/N: This one is a MEH. I was lazy and last minute on this one and I was half-tempted to go further but didn't. I suspect I suck at writing Franky.
The giant spider-monkey reeled, spindly sewn legs wobbling beneath another blow. Franky grinned and swung his improvised nunchucks again, the stone pillar solidly smacking the zombie monster beneath the chin. For half a second it looked like the amalgamated beast would make it but finally it toppled, landing on its back with its legs in the air. Moving in for another blow and aiming to knock the zombie once more to the courtyard several stories below, a sudden sharp intake of breath made Franky pause and the spider-monkey’s feeble but triumphant chuckle sent the cyborg spinning on his heels.
Behind him Nico Robin stood, captured with her arms akimbo and her dress riding dangerously high up her pale thighs, her garters exposed. More improvised creatures swarmed around her, spider halves like the giant beast behind him but combined with mice instead of a monkey. Thin segmented limbs topped by clawed feet moved over the sticky grey webbing, wrapping it ever tighter around the struggling woman.
“Nico Robin!” Franky’s voice boomed off the castle walls as he stared at her, the boss zombie behind him forgotten.
She shifted at his cry, tangling further in the web. The dark purple of her dress strained across her chest with every heaving breath as she fought to free herself and it was only with effort that Franky managed to tear his eyes away from the sight, focusing instead on the spider-mice crowding around her. They chanted in sing-song as they worked, abnormal mouths gaping open in grins that were far too human for their rodent snouts, and Franky took a defiant step closer as one edged up Robin’s arm to wrap more webbing around her shoulder to keep her still.
He could see her shudder at the unnatural touch, mouth twisted in distaste as she resumed fighting to break free. But Robin was snared and helpless, her devil’s fruit power useless against the sticky consistency of the webs. Franky dropped his nunchucks and raised his arm, taking aim and rapidly firing. The bullets sped out from his wrist gun and knocked away the spider-mice closest to his nakama. Robin mustered a small smile in gratitude as she apologized.
“I’m sorry…I let my guard down. I didn’t realize there were more spiders.”
That was a dangerous move on Thriller Bark but Franky took it as a compliment to her faith in his ability to handle the spider-monkey. He took another step towards her. Another. The spider-mice scattered, wary of his attack, although they lingered at the edges of the web. Robin watched him approach, her smile growing ever so slightly as he paused and just looked. And then as he raised his arm once more, intending to shoot through the webbing where it was anchored to the doorway, she winked.
Nico Robin, even caught like a butterfly in a spider’s web, was quite the woman. He’d thought as much in Enies Lobby after Straw Hat had had his say and she’d stood up to answer. But somehow this defiance was just as stunning for all that the danger was less. Maybe he would just shoot down some of the webs, get close enough to see if he could pull the rest off with the help of his mechanical fingers. That bit that had been coiled around her right hip looked especially sticky and requiring of assistance…
“Just..heh..hang tight a moment longer…”
Franky planted his feet and took aim and just as he was ready to fire, a whisper of touch ghosted up the inside of his leg and across territory Nico Robin had acquainted herself with back in Water 7. At least, Franky thought that was what he had felt but it was too hard to tell as a sticky ball of webbing hit him from behind and knocked him to the crumbling ground. Behind him the spider-monkey laughed and gloated and Franky cursed, his frustration clear in every shouted syllable.
Title: In Her Grasp
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers through the end of Enies Lobby/Water 7
Prompt: One Piece, Nico Robin/Usopp: femmedom & bondage (using her devil fruit power) - got eight arms to hold you tight
Word count: 1629
A/N: This is a borderline MEH/OKAY piece. There are parts I like and there are parts that suck and I am on the fence about Robin's comments. On the other hand, I feel like Usopp turned out okay.
The Adam wood was smooth beneath his fingertips, not even a hint of the grain registering to his touch despite the sworls and lines he could trace with his eyes. In every way the Thousand Sunny was the better crafted ship and it made something inside of Usopp ache with regret and jealousy. Franky was a true shipwright, not a loving amateur like Merri had been and certainly far more skilled than his own clumsy attempts at carpentry. Two days out from Water 7, Usopp still couldn’t quite let go of his beloved Going Merry and the past. Luffy’s bright and easy acceptance, the captain’s pure joy at his return, made the sniper feel guilty. And his guilt made him angry because he hadn’t been wrong, not entirely. Anger and guilt fed on each other in a bitter cycle and Franky’s obvious talents and ease at fitting in with the crew didn’t help matters.
The rest of his nakama were as they always were, goofing around in the aquarium bar with Sanji’s delicious desserts for fuel, and eventually he couldn’t bear to be cheerful. He’d left them with a smile and a professed desire to continue exploring the ship and that last part hadn’t been a lie. Franky was ingenious in his construction, and secret panels and passages were hidden throughout the Sunny. Usopp could admire the craftsmanship and the clever mind that had gone into the construction but at the moment it was only making him feel worse. He stopped finally before the stairway leading down to his workshop – another thoughtful addition that wasn’t helping his emotional state – and leaned against the silky wood of the door frame. There was no give to the Adam wood as he banged his temple against it in building frustration, just a satisfying pain that abruptly stopped as something cushioned his forehead. Usopp blinked, confused, and then a mellow voice spoke from behind him.
“I don’t think thoughts can be beaten out, Long-nose-kun.” Robin’s voice held a touch of familiar amusement and Usopp flushed at being caught and straightened. The hand that had appeared to catch his head vanished as he turned to face her. Her usual inscrutable smile was safely in place and that only made him feel worse, although he didn’t think Robin would really laugh at him.
“Ah,” he said, mustering a weak grin somehow to go with his argument. “Then you’ve never been to Fixe island, where they have a device that goes in the ear and relates every thought and makes it go away as a person smacks his head. Everyone goes around with bruised foreheads but no one has any stress.”
Robin’s smile didn’t falter but it seemed to Usopp as if the skin around her eyes and mouth suddenly grew strained. She looked at him for a long moment before she nodded back towards the bar. “The captain is wondering where you went, Doctor-san too. Although I am afraid that your extra dessert has been eaten. They miss you.”
It was too much, all at once. For Robin to have come looking for him made his control feel all the more fragile and Usopp couldn’t bear to meet her gaze. He shook his head slowly. “I’ll be back later. I just…have some important inventing to do.” The lie was weak, more fuel to the jumbled mess of emotions tangling through him, and he couldn’t help the bitter chuckle that escaped him. “Tell them the Great Captain Usopp will bring back something fun and interesting in time for dinner.” He turned to go, a hand on the door knob, when he met with unexpected resistance.
Two hands settled on his shoulders, two more below his knees. Deceptively delicate fingers curled through the sash at his waist and Usopp found himself suddenly turned back around and held firmly against the wall. He stared, wide-eyed and confused, as Robin took a step towards him. She wasn’t smiling any longer, an expression of seriousness on her face that reminded him she was at least a decade older than he was. “Running away,” she said softly, “doesn’t solve anything.”
It was a lesson they both should have learned after the terror and grief and strain of Water 7 and Enies Lobby. She had tried to flee from her future, finally embracing her past to save her present. But they were too stubborn, too strong, too much her nakama to let her go. And Usopp, having finally stood up and fought and lost everything in the process, had run away to hide once they were all safely back in Iceburg’s city. He had avoided them, himself, Luffy, for so long that it nearly cost him everything a second time. But Robin could see him repeating his mistakes again and she refused to merely watch.
Usopp’s lips twisted in a parody of a smile and he tugged futilely against the arms she used to keep him there. “Neither does staying. Not right now.”
She was far too familiar with self-loathing not to recognize it. He was so much more self-aware than the rest of the young men who were her nakama and he didn’t have Nami’s self-confidence. It made life difficult for him, especially when the yardsticks he measured himself against were always the wrong ones. Robin could imagine how he felt at the moment, especially because the captain had already put the events of the past few days behind him and was only looking forward. But that was the way Luffy was and there was no sense in questioning it. The young man before her needed to remember that, to let go before the new day passed him by.
That wouldn’t be simple nor the task of but a day but the captain himself would do most of the work that time did not. After all, it had been Usopp who had reminded her of that on the sea train and his belief ran deep and true. And meanwhile perhaps she could provide a momentary distraction and lay to rest another bit of her own past. Resolved, Robin took another step closer, tightening her fists so that her phantom limbs gently did the same. Usopp wasn’t going anywhere, at least not until she was ready to let him leave.
The sniper’s eyes widened as his struggles proved useless and the inscrutable archaeologist walked towards him. Her smile was back and it reached her eyes this time, the light in them making Usopp feel rather weak in the knees. She stopped right in front of him, crowding his personal space and her arm, one of her real ones, reached towards him. Fingertips danced up the inseam of his overalls and Usopp couldn’t help but sputter, Luffy’s nervously awed whisper ringing in his head as he remembered the story the captain had told him about how Franky had finally joined.
Robin was a threat and a far too attractive one at that and Usopp blushed beneath his wordless flailing protests as the fingers kept climbing. Her smile never wavered or changed and her eyes seemed to stare right through him and Usopp knew he’d have been pinned in place even without her devil’s fruit power to keep him there. Right as he’d braced himself for the worst, the fingers swerved, wrapped around his waist, and were joined by her other arm. Eight limbs held him close as Robin hugged him. “Heroes don’t run, Soge King,” she whispered and leaned in.
At the last moment she veered aside, lips planting a soft kiss alongside his generous mouth rather than on his lips as she’d intended. She’d heard about Kaya and it would have been rude to take what perhaps rightfully belonged to another. A strangled noise came from the sniper’s throat and Robin couldn’t help but laugh gently, giving him another squeeze before she stepped back. She tapped him on the nose to get his attention and when he met her gaze she gave him one of her rare, completely open smiles. “And, Usopp, heroes get what they deserve.”
With that she finally released him and he sagged against the unyielding support of the Adam wood, speechless for once and a little dazed. Robin eyed him fondly, pleased with her work and then turned to head back to the rest of her nakama. One final blow she left to finish him off. “If you come back soon, I’m sure I can persuade cook-san to make a treat for you since captain-san ate your dessert.” And then Robin walked away without a backward glance, trusting in her nakama to do what was best.
Usopp waited until she had gone to sink to the floor, grateful for the solidity of the wood beneath him because his head was spinning and his body felt too light to stand. Robin…Robin of all people…had kissed him! And called him a hero to boot! Well, they all were, he supposed, having stood against the might of the World Government itself in order to bring her home, but that was what nakama were for. And that, he knew, was what she’d been trying to tell him all along. He was nakama because he wanted to be with them as much as they wished to be with him and Luffy didn’t leave his nakama behind.
Feeling almost as good as he had the moment he’d smacked into Luffy aboard the Thousand Sunny with the captain’s grandfather trying to kill them all with cannonballs, Usopp picked himself up off the floor. As he trotted back towards the aquarium bar, the promise of Sanji’s marvelous dessert making his stomach rumble, Usopp began composing the story of how Soge King won the maiden and her kiss, knowing that his nakama would be glad to hear it.
Title: Correspondence
Rating: R
Warnings: Self-Pleasure, present tense
Prompt: One Piece, Nami/Vivi: (post-Arabasta) masturbating to each other's letters - i can imagine/you're here in my arms
Word count: 1163
A/N: I LIKE THIS ONE! Probably my favorite of all of them because I think it captures bits and pieces of their lives very well and also that sorrow-tinged nostalgia and longing that I like to throw into NaVi. For some reason, all the yuri prompts worked out the best for me this time around...
When the letters come, now, it’s via albatross rather than seagull and the tired bird deigns to rest for a few hours in a shadow in the courtyard. It drinks plenty of fresh water and eats the fish Vivi leaves along with a few gold beri as payment. It’s hard to wait but she manages, making the task into a challenge, something to tax herself with as she faces yet another day of pleas for aid for rebuilding her battered country and the knowledge that Alabasta is changing but oh so very slowly.
The battered envelopes always smell like the sea and dried bits of salt cling to the seals. Sometimes Vivi tastes it, closing her eyes and remembering the feel of wind on her face and spray making her hair sticky. She reads the letters in the bath, leaving out the scented oils and bubble bath that can mask the scent of ocean and ink. Only there is her privacy mostly complete and her father and dear Igaram mean well but sometimes a princess needs to be alone and it’s too hard to explain the tears that escape sometimes. She loves her country dearly but her choice to stay wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed.
Nami’s clear script reminds Vivi of late nights lying in the navigator’s bed, watching with sleepy eyes as the girl draws her charts by lantern light and they talk in soft whispers broken only by laughter about the crazy things the boys have done during the day. She writes in code, especially now that the World Government’s flag has burned, oblique references to the nakama Vivi had shared and about their continuing adventures. The continued press coverage of the Straw Hat pirates help Vivi fill in the gaps and Nami’s accounts reveal the truth behind the government’s lies. Vivi fears for them and envies them and wishes her position actually held any sort of power but there is little she can do for them but hope and pray and remember that they were all strong enough to save her country.
The final few paragraphs are always more private and Nami’s hand seems softer somehow, more tentative as if she was writing in secret rather than out on the deck surrounded by the usual chaos of the crew. There’s always a memory, something small and intimate, she shares, as simple as a brief conversation or the way Vivi’s eyes had looked one morning as the sun rose. And then comes a wish or a hope for the future and Vivi hoards those as her treasure, as promises that have yet to be kept. Nami closes her letters without any endearments or the usual practiced phrases but Vivi doesn’t need to see the sentiments with her own eyes to know they exist.
Each letter reminds her of the time she spent with Nami, makes her ache with longing sometimes tinged with regret. And she can’t keep from closing her eyes, the water warm and cradling around her, as she pictures whatever memory Nami chose to share, places herself in the scene, and then moves it in another direction. The surface of the water barely ripples as Vivi’s fingers move between her thighs but the whisper of Nami’s name is loud against the tiles and the too-big room. It hurts to open her eyes, to break the illusion but Vivi has resolve to spare and she spends the rest of her evening composing her reply.
**************
Each time the thick envelope arrives, the postal bird giving Nami a beady stare until she grudgingly digs a few beri from her pocket to place in its beak, the rest of the crew crowds around until Nami feels like she’s suffocating and has to use Sanji to get them off her back. Once she’s been properly tended to, drink or treat in hand and Luffy’s excitement barely reined in by the snack filling his cheeks and Zoro’s restraining hand on one shoulder, she finally carefully breaks the many seals and bindings that have kept the envelope safe and unopened. There are individual notes inside and tiny gifts or trinkets and Nami doles them out, amused and pleased at the way Vivi remembers even the newest crewmembers, the ones she knows only from news clippings and Nami’s letters.
Then comes a longer letter, something pleasantly chatty and filled with news of their friends and allies in Alabasta. Vivi writes of the country’s progress, of Pell’s recovery, and of the way Toto is finally putting on weight again now that he has Kohza to help dig out the oasis. Sometimes she mentions other news, elaborations on things the Straw Hats have seen in the papers. The boys usually scatter once Nami begins that part but Robin always listens attentively, chin in one elegant hand as the woman she had once called an enemy now helps to keep them free. Pleasantries close the letter and Nami carefully slides it back in the envelope and goes into her shared cabin to put it away.
In that small scrap of privacy, she can finally pull out another, smaller envelope. Vivi’s elegant cursive makes the letters of her name look lovely and the paper is so smooth against her fingers. A whisper of perfume wafts up, tickles Nami’s nose. It’s the same scent Vivi had worn once they’d won, once they got to sleep in the palace rather than on sand. Notes of jasmine and something spicy and Nami closes her eyes and wishes she could bury her face in Vivi’s neck, rub her nose in the princess’ soft hair, cover herself in the scent.
Vivi’s private letter is always brief but it manages to make Nami flush, grinning at the audacity of her princess and the knowledge that only she knows just how mature – and immature – the younger girl can be. Intimate words make heat rise in Nami’s belly and she carefully locks the door. Robin will know, because she knows everything, but she won’t mind, and the rest of the crew has learned to not risk the navigator’s temper when her door is locked.
Bright eyes dance over the princess’s words and Nami places herself just so on the bed. She follows written suggestions, teasing her nipples and skimming her fingers up the insides of her thighs. Finally she closes her eyes and lets her fingers venture through the curls that cap her sex. It is Vivi’s fingers she pretends are stroking her just so, pinching and rubbing and greedily venturing into warmth and wetness. If she concentrates hard enough, Nami can almost feel Vivi lying next to her, against her, and it is at those times that she convulses with the most pleasure, panting afterwards with her cheek against the letter. Later, once she feels more like herself and not so lonely and bereft, she digs out her pen and some paper and goes to sit up on deck to write Vivi in turn.
springkink, with the same self-rated SUCKS, MEH, OKAY, or I LIKE IT rating system in place.First off, Bleach...
Title: Aristocats
Rating: PG
Warnings: innuendo, cheese
Prompt: Bleach, Shunsui/Ukitake: catboys - 'would you like to groom my tail?"
Word count: 343
A/N: This one just SUCKS. I couldn't come up with anything good and I was writing it at the last minute and it just blows chunks. Which makes me mad and a bit irritated but oh well.
Contact with the human world had, Ukitake reflected, done Kuchiki a world of good. But perhaps she had spent a little too much time there. Still it had been impossible to refuse her enthusiasm for the holiday, especially with Captain Hitsugaya actually backing her. Ukitake frowned thoughtfully at the mirror and reached up to straighten the delicate white ears perched on his head. Behind him Kiyone and Sentaro squabbled good-naturedly over collars, their feathery golden tails coming dangerously close to knocking stacks of completed paperwork to the floor. But the day’s work was saved thanks to the excellent timing of his oldest friend, Shunsui sliding open the door with a broad smile and his hat in his hand.
“Out you go.” He shooed the third seats from the office with a languid flap of his hat. “Nanao-chan needs some help with her costume. And apparently,” he added with a moue of disappointment for effect, “I’m not suitable.”
Ukitake laughed and waved Shunsui over. “Then you can help me. I can’t seem to get these on properly.”
A dark head popped up over Ukitake’s reflection’s shoulder, a pair of black ears, one with a notch missing, perched on Shunsui’s wavy mess of hair. Clever fingers slid over the 13th captain’s scalp and into the smooth pale strands of his, fiddling with the clips until the cat ears were firmly and evenly affixed. The Shunsui in the mirror grinned and the real Shunsui let his hands slide free of Ukitake’s hair. They slipped warmly to his shoulders and then stroked familiarly down the line of his spine as Ukitake leaned into them. A broad palm dropped lower, cupped the curve of Ukitake’s rear through his robes, and squeezed.
“Ne, Jyuu-chan, your tail was crooked too.”
Ukitake turned away from the mirror, the fluffy white puff of his Persian tail gently flowing through Shunsui’s loose grasp. The 8th division captain made for a rakish alley cat and Ukitake smiled at him and hooked their elbows together. “Thanks. Keep an eye on it for me?”
“Always, Jyuu-chan. Always.”
Title: Bone Deep
Rating: G
Warnings: Sap
Prompt: Bleach, Ukitake/Shunsui: massage - "I am no stranger to your skin"
Word Count: 427
A/N: And my second attempt at Bleach fic. This one is a MEH because there's a line in here I really like and a concept I'd be interested in exploring more. But this one's pretty lame too. Man, I feel terrible about it too because Shunsui and Ukitake are like the only characters I like in Bleach aside from Chad. I totally failed to do them any justice.
Chuckling softly at the exaggerated motions and the way the captain of the Eighth Division popped his neck – with the same disturbingly loud but usually harmless noise it had made since their academy days – Ukitake caved with easy grace before Shunsui’s pleading eyes and motioned towards the bed. Woven hat and patterned kimono were shed with almost unseemly haste and Shunsui settled cross-legged and expectant on the other captain’s bed, hands loose in his lap. More dignified, Ukitake settled behind his friend, his robes spread about to allow him ease of motion. The head of the Thirteenth division cracked his knuckles in warning and then he began.
Shunsui’s shoulders were tight but not too stiff and Ukitake kneaded them carefully. His warm hands worked out from Shunsui’s neck and traced the thick line of muscle, plying in with determined fingertips every so often. The dark head before the Thirteenth captain slowly bowed forward in wordless admonishment and Ukitake rubbed a soothing thumb up the line of the other’s neck. And then, once the shoulders before him felt relaxed, Ukitake began his real work.
A rustle of fabric marked the slide of Shunsui’s robes from his shoulders and they bunched around his stomach until he grudgingly sighed and removed his hands from his sleeves to let the material pool beneath his waistline. Ukitake, properly amused by Shunsui’s antics, briskly rubbed his hands together and then placed his palms flat against the planes of his friend’s shoulder blades. He could feel the edge of an old scar beneath a finger and he traced it with easy familiarity, letting his hands drift down the line of Shunsui’s spine. Ukitake followed a path from scar to mole to bump and back to another signpost of a scar, knowing as he reached the base of Shunsui’s spine that his thumbs would find two pale freckles that had long been his goals. He dug in, pressing firmly, and Shunsui limply flopped forward to give Ukitake more room.
“Don’t you dare stop, Jyuu-chan!” The order came out between pleased groans and Ukitake smiled. There were only a few in Soul Society who demanded things of him and Shunsui was the only one who was greedy enough – close enough, dear enough – to mean them outside of battle. Ukitake rubbed his thumbs in gently teasing circles and then, when his friend’s dark head showed signs of considering turning around in rebuke, attacked again. Shunsui melted back onto the bed with a happy moan and Ukitake leaned forward to murmur into his skin.
“I don’t intend to.”
And now a xxxHoLic one...
Title: Selfish/Selfless
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Prompt: xxxHolic, Ame Warashi/Zashiki Warashi: looking out for her best interests - "That human's no good for you"
Word count: 335
A/N: Second xxxHoLic fic ever and I LIKE THIS ONE. It says what I want it to say without being cheesy and I feel it's IC and kind of cute.
She was asleep finally, curled up in the meadow with the wildflowers nodding over her like a gaggle of worried aunts. The Ame Warashi twirled the handle of her umbrella absently in her hand as she looked over the scene and scowled. It was quiet now that she’d shooed the tengu-karasu away, sent them out to hunt for delicacies to tempt their precious one. The Zashiki Warashi looked gentle and innocent in her sleep, nothing like the determined spirit that had gone after the Joro-gumo in a quest to rescue one boy’s eye.
The Ame Warashi sighed as she settled gently on the ground, smoothing her skirts before gently brushing a stray strand of hair off the sleeping spirit’s face. She wanted to be angry at that human, at the Time Witch’s chore boy, but he had been the one to save the Zashiki Warashi, going to a place where she herself could not. And it had been the Zashiki Warashi’s own decision to try and rescue his sight, a choice that the Ame Warashi knew the boy would not have agreed with had he known of it in time to prevent the foolish attempt.
“He’s no good for you,” the Ame Warashi murmured softly, more to herself than to the sleeping spirit girl. “I’ve told you and told you and look where it gets me.”
She laughed then, low and a little bitter, and threw her head back to stare up at the white whisps of clouds painted across the blue dome of the sky.
“Hypocritical of me,” she whispered, blind fingers unerringly finding silky strands of the Zashiki Warashi’s hair and curling in it as she remembered how flustered and worried she’d been when she found out where the sleeping spirit had gotten to, how she’d thought and thought about what price she could pay to the witch to get her back. “But,” the Ame Warashi turned to finally smile down at the peaceful Zashiki Warashi, “I suppose we just can’t help ourselves.”
Finally, the 3 One Piece prompts I answered...
Title: Tangled
Rating: PG
Warnings: Zombies, Spoilers through Chapter 454
Prompt: One Piece, Franky/Robin: bondage - Robin in the spider's web, at Thriller Bark
Word count: 656
A/N: This one is a MEH. I was lazy and last minute on this one and I was half-tempted to go further but didn't. I suspect I suck at writing Franky.
The giant spider-monkey reeled, spindly sewn legs wobbling beneath another blow. Franky grinned and swung his improvised nunchucks again, the stone pillar solidly smacking the zombie monster beneath the chin. For half a second it looked like the amalgamated beast would make it but finally it toppled, landing on its back with its legs in the air. Moving in for another blow and aiming to knock the zombie once more to the courtyard several stories below, a sudden sharp intake of breath made Franky pause and the spider-monkey’s feeble but triumphant chuckle sent the cyborg spinning on his heels.
Behind him Nico Robin stood, captured with her arms akimbo and her dress riding dangerously high up her pale thighs, her garters exposed. More improvised creatures swarmed around her, spider halves like the giant beast behind him but combined with mice instead of a monkey. Thin segmented limbs topped by clawed feet moved over the sticky grey webbing, wrapping it ever tighter around the struggling woman.
“Nico Robin!” Franky’s voice boomed off the castle walls as he stared at her, the boss zombie behind him forgotten.
She shifted at his cry, tangling further in the web. The dark purple of her dress strained across her chest with every heaving breath as she fought to free herself and it was only with effort that Franky managed to tear his eyes away from the sight, focusing instead on the spider-mice crowding around her. They chanted in sing-song as they worked, abnormal mouths gaping open in grins that were far too human for their rodent snouts, and Franky took a defiant step closer as one edged up Robin’s arm to wrap more webbing around her shoulder to keep her still.
He could see her shudder at the unnatural touch, mouth twisted in distaste as she resumed fighting to break free. But Robin was snared and helpless, her devil’s fruit power useless against the sticky consistency of the webs. Franky dropped his nunchucks and raised his arm, taking aim and rapidly firing. The bullets sped out from his wrist gun and knocked away the spider-mice closest to his nakama. Robin mustered a small smile in gratitude as she apologized.
“I’m sorry…I let my guard down. I didn’t realize there were more spiders.”
That was a dangerous move on Thriller Bark but Franky took it as a compliment to her faith in his ability to handle the spider-monkey. He took another step towards her. Another. The spider-mice scattered, wary of his attack, although they lingered at the edges of the web. Robin watched him approach, her smile growing ever so slightly as he paused and just looked. And then as he raised his arm once more, intending to shoot through the webbing where it was anchored to the doorway, she winked.
Nico Robin, even caught like a butterfly in a spider’s web, was quite the woman. He’d thought as much in Enies Lobby after Straw Hat had had his say and she’d stood up to answer. But somehow this defiance was just as stunning for all that the danger was less. Maybe he would just shoot down some of the webs, get close enough to see if he could pull the rest off with the help of his mechanical fingers. That bit that had been coiled around her right hip looked especially sticky and requiring of assistance…
“Just..heh..hang tight a moment longer…”
Franky planted his feet and took aim and just as he was ready to fire, a whisper of touch ghosted up the inside of his leg and across territory Nico Robin had acquainted herself with back in Water 7. At least, Franky thought that was what he had felt but it was too hard to tell as a sticky ball of webbing hit him from behind and knocked him to the crumbling ground. Behind him the spider-monkey laughed and gloated and Franky cursed, his frustration clear in every shouted syllable.
Title: In Her Grasp
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers through the end of Enies Lobby/Water 7
Prompt: One Piece, Nico Robin/Usopp: femmedom & bondage (using her devil fruit power) - got eight arms to hold you tight
Word count: 1629
A/N: This is a borderline MEH/OKAY piece. There are parts I like and there are parts that suck and I am on the fence about Robin's comments. On the other hand, I feel like Usopp turned out okay.
The Adam wood was smooth beneath his fingertips, not even a hint of the grain registering to his touch despite the sworls and lines he could trace with his eyes. In every way the Thousand Sunny was the better crafted ship and it made something inside of Usopp ache with regret and jealousy. Franky was a true shipwright, not a loving amateur like Merri had been and certainly far more skilled than his own clumsy attempts at carpentry. Two days out from Water 7, Usopp still couldn’t quite let go of his beloved Going Merry and the past. Luffy’s bright and easy acceptance, the captain’s pure joy at his return, made the sniper feel guilty. And his guilt made him angry because he hadn’t been wrong, not entirely. Anger and guilt fed on each other in a bitter cycle and Franky’s obvious talents and ease at fitting in with the crew didn’t help matters.
The rest of his nakama were as they always were, goofing around in the aquarium bar with Sanji’s delicious desserts for fuel, and eventually he couldn’t bear to be cheerful. He’d left them with a smile and a professed desire to continue exploring the ship and that last part hadn’t been a lie. Franky was ingenious in his construction, and secret panels and passages were hidden throughout the Sunny. Usopp could admire the craftsmanship and the clever mind that had gone into the construction but at the moment it was only making him feel worse. He stopped finally before the stairway leading down to his workshop – another thoughtful addition that wasn’t helping his emotional state – and leaned against the silky wood of the door frame. There was no give to the Adam wood as he banged his temple against it in building frustration, just a satisfying pain that abruptly stopped as something cushioned his forehead. Usopp blinked, confused, and then a mellow voice spoke from behind him.
“I don’t think thoughts can be beaten out, Long-nose-kun.” Robin’s voice held a touch of familiar amusement and Usopp flushed at being caught and straightened. The hand that had appeared to catch his head vanished as he turned to face her. Her usual inscrutable smile was safely in place and that only made him feel worse, although he didn’t think Robin would really laugh at him.
“Ah,” he said, mustering a weak grin somehow to go with his argument. “Then you’ve never been to Fixe island, where they have a device that goes in the ear and relates every thought and makes it go away as a person smacks his head. Everyone goes around with bruised foreheads but no one has any stress.”
Robin’s smile didn’t falter but it seemed to Usopp as if the skin around her eyes and mouth suddenly grew strained. She looked at him for a long moment before she nodded back towards the bar. “The captain is wondering where you went, Doctor-san too. Although I am afraid that your extra dessert has been eaten. They miss you.”
It was too much, all at once. For Robin to have come looking for him made his control feel all the more fragile and Usopp couldn’t bear to meet her gaze. He shook his head slowly. “I’ll be back later. I just…have some important inventing to do.” The lie was weak, more fuel to the jumbled mess of emotions tangling through him, and he couldn’t help the bitter chuckle that escaped him. “Tell them the Great Captain Usopp will bring back something fun and interesting in time for dinner.” He turned to go, a hand on the door knob, when he met with unexpected resistance.
Two hands settled on his shoulders, two more below his knees. Deceptively delicate fingers curled through the sash at his waist and Usopp found himself suddenly turned back around and held firmly against the wall. He stared, wide-eyed and confused, as Robin took a step towards him. She wasn’t smiling any longer, an expression of seriousness on her face that reminded him she was at least a decade older than he was. “Running away,” she said softly, “doesn’t solve anything.”
It was a lesson they both should have learned after the terror and grief and strain of Water 7 and Enies Lobby. She had tried to flee from her future, finally embracing her past to save her present. But they were too stubborn, too strong, too much her nakama to let her go. And Usopp, having finally stood up and fought and lost everything in the process, had run away to hide once they were all safely back in Iceburg’s city. He had avoided them, himself, Luffy, for so long that it nearly cost him everything a second time. But Robin could see him repeating his mistakes again and she refused to merely watch.
Usopp’s lips twisted in a parody of a smile and he tugged futilely against the arms she used to keep him there. “Neither does staying. Not right now.”
She was far too familiar with self-loathing not to recognize it. He was so much more self-aware than the rest of the young men who were her nakama and he didn’t have Nami’s self-confidence. It made life difficult for him, especially when the yardsticks he measured himself against were always the wrong ones. Robin could imagine how he felt at the moment, especially because the captain had already put the events of the past few days behind him and was only looking forward. But that was the way Luffy was and there was no sense in questioning it. The young man before her needed to remember that, to let go before the new day passed him by.
That wouldn’t be simple nor the task of but a day but the captain himself would do most of the work that time did not. After all, it had been Usopp who had reminded her of that on the sea train and his belief ran deep and true. And meanwhile perhaps she could provide a momentary distraction and lay to rest another bit of her own past. Resolved, Robin took another step closer, tightening her fists so that her phantom limbs gently did the same. Usopp wasn’t going anywhere, at least not until she was ready to let him leave.
The sniper’s eyes widened as his struggles proved useless and the inscrutable archaeologist walked towards him. Her smile was back and it reached her eyes this time, the light in them making Usopp feel rather weak in the knees. She stopped right in front of him, crowding his personal space and her arm, one of her real ones, reached towards him. Fingertips danced up the inseam of his overalls and Usopp couldn’t help but sputter, Luffy’s nervously awed whisper ringing in his head as he remembered the story the captain had told him about how Franky had finally joined.
Robin was a threat and a far too attractive one at that and Usopp blushed beneath his wordless flailing protests as the fingers kept climbing. Her smile never wavered or changed and her eyes seemed to stare right through him and Usopp knew he’d have been pinned in place even without her devil’s fruit power to keep him there. Right as he’d braced himself for the worst, the fingers swerved, wrapped around his waist, and were joined by her other arm. Eight limbs held him close as Robin hugged him. “Heroes don’t run, Soge King,” she whispered and leaned in.
At the last moment she veered aside, lips planting a soft kiss alongside his generous mouth rather than on his lips as she’d intended. She’d heard about Kaya and it would have been rude to take what perhaps rightfully belonged to another. A strangled noise came from the sniper’s throat and Robin couldn’t help but laugh gently, giving him another squeeze before she stepped back. She tapped him on the nose to get his attention and when he met her gaze she gave him one of her rare, completely open smiles. “And, Usopp, heroes get what they deserve.”
With that she finally released him and he sagged against the unyielding support of the Adam wood, speechless for once and a little dazed. Robin eyed him fondly, pleased with her work and then turned to head back to the rest of her nakama. One final blow she left to finish him off. “If you come back soon, I’m sure I can persuade cook-san to make a treat for you since captain-san ate your dessert.” And then Robin walked away without a backward glance, trusting in her nakama to do what was best.
Usopp waited until she had gone to sink to the floor, grateful for the solidity of the wood beneath him because his head was spinning and his body felt too light to stand. Robin…Robin of all people…had kissed him! And called him a hero to boot! Well, they all were, he supposed, having stood against the might of the World Government itself in order to bring her home, but that was what nakama were for. And that, he knew, was what she’d been trying to tell him all along. He was nakama because he wanted to be with them as much as they wished to be with him and Luffy didn’t leave his nakama behind.
Feeling almost as good as he had the moment he’d smacked into Luffy aboard the Thousand Sunny with the captain’s grandfather trying to kill them all with cannonballs, Usopp picked himself up off the floor. As he trotted back towards the aquarium bar, the promise of Sanji’s marvelous dessert making his stomach rumble, Usopp began composing the story of how Soge King won the maiden and her kiss, knowing that his nakama would be glad to hear it.
Title: Correspondence
Rating: R
Warnings: Self-Pleasure, present tense
Prompt: One Piece, Nami/Vivi: (post-Arabasta) masturbating to each other's letters - i can imagine/you're here in my arms
Word count: 1163
A/N: I LIKE THIS ONE! Probably my favorite of all of them because I think it captures bits and pieces of their lives very well and also that sorrow-tinged nostalgia and longing that I like to throw into NaVi. For some reason, all the yuri prompts worked out the best for me this time around...
When the letters come, now, it’s via albatross rather than seagull and the tired bird deigns to rest for a few hours in a shadow in the courtyard. It drinks plenty of fresh water and eats the fish Vivi leaves along with a few gold beri as payment. It’s hard to wait but she manages, making the task into a challenge, something to tax herself with as she faces yet another day of pleas for aid for rebuilding her battered country and the knowledge that Alabasta is changing but oh so very slowly.
The battered envelopes always smell like the sea and dried bits of salt cling to the seals. Sometimes Vivi tastes it, closing her eyes and remembering the feel of wind on her face and spray making her hair sticky. She reads the letters in the bath, leaving out the scented oils and bubble bath that can mask the scent of ocean and ink. Only there is her privacy mostly complete and her father and dear Igaram mean well but sometimes a princess needs to be alone and it’s too hard to explain the tears that escape sometimes. She loves her country dearly but her choice to stay wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed.
Nami’s clear script reminds Vivi of late nights lying in the navigator’s bed, watching with sleepy eyes as the girl draws her charts by lantern light and they talk in soft whispers broken only by laughter about the crazy things the boys have done during the day. She writes in code, especially now that the World Government’s flag has burned, oblique references to the nakama Vivi had shared and about their continuing adventures. The continued press coverage of the Straw Hat pirates help Vivi fill in the gaps and Nami’s accounts reveal the truth behind the government’s lies. Vivi fears for them and envies them and wishes her position actually held any sort of power but there is little she can do for them but hope and pray and remember that they were all strong enough to save her country.
The final few paragraphs are always more private and Nami’s hand seems softer somehow, more tentative as if she was writing in secret rather than out on the deck surrounded by the usual chaos of the crew. There’s always a memory, something small and intimate, she shares, as simple as a brief conversation or the way Vivi’s eyes had looked one morning as the sun rose. And then comes a wish or a hope for the future and Vivi hoards those as her treasure, as promises that have yet to be kept. Nami closes her letters without any endearments or the usual practiced phrases but Vivi doesn’t need to see the sentiments with her own eyes to know they exist.
Each letter reminds her of the time she spent with Nami, makes her ache with longing sometimes tinged with regret. And she can’t keep from closing her eyes, the water warm and cradling around her, as she pictures whatever memory Nami chose to share, places herself in the scene, and then moves it in another direction. The surface of the water barely ripples as Vivi’s fingers move between her thighs but the whisper of Nami’s name is loud against the tiles and the too-big room. It hurts to open her eyes, to break the illusion but Vivi has resolve to spare and she spends the rest of her evening composing her reply.
**************
Each time the thick envelope arrives, the postal bird giving Nami a beady stare until she grudgingly digs a few beri from her pocket to place in its beak, the rest of the crew crowds around until Nami feels like she’s suffocating and has to use Sanji to get them off her back. Once she’s been properly tended to, drink or treat in hand and Luffy’s excitement barely reined in by the snack filling his cheeks and Zoro’s restraining hand on one shoulder, she finally carefully breaks the many seals and bindings that have kept the envelope safe and unopened. There are individual notes inside and tiny gifts or trinkets and Nami doles them out, amused and pleased at the way Vivi remembers even the newest crewmembers, the ones she knows only from news clippings and Nami’s letters.
Then comes a longer letter, something pleasantly chatty and filled with news of their friends and allies in Alabasta. Vivi writes of the country’s progress, of Pell’s recovery, and of the way Toto is finally putting on weight again now that he has Kohza to help dig out the oasis. Sometimes she mentions other news, elaborations on things the Straw Hats have seen in the papers. The boys usually scatter once Nami begins that part but Robin always listens attentively, chin in one elegant hand as the woman she had once called an enemy now helps to keep them free. Pleasantries close the letter and Nami carefully slides it back in the envelope and goes into her shared cabin to put it away.
In that small scrap of privacy, she can finally pull out another, smaller envelope. Vivi’s elegant cursive makes the letters of her name look lovely and the paper is so smooth against her fingers. A whisper of perfume wafts up, tickles Nami’s nose. It’s the same scent Vivi had worn once they’d won, once they got to sleep in the palace rather than on sand. Notes of jasmine and something spicy and Nami closes her eyes and wishes she could bury her face in Vivi’s neck, rub her nose in the princess’ soft hair, cover herself in the scent.
Vivi’s private letter is always brief but it manages to make Nami flush, grinning at the audacity of her princess and the knowledge that only she knows just how mature – and immature – the younger girl can be. Intimate words make heat rise in Nami’s belly and she carefully locks the door. Robin will know, because she knows everything, but she won’t mind, and the rest of the crew has learned to not risk the navigator’s temper when her door is locked.
Bright eyes dance over the princess’s words and Nami places herself just so on the bed. She follows written suggestions, teasing her nipples and skimming her fingers up the insides of her thighs. Finally she closes her eyes and lets her fingers venture through the curls that cap her sex. It is Vivi’s fingers she pretends are stroking her just so, pinching and rubbing and greedily venturing into warmth and wetness. If she concentrates hard enough, Nami can almost feel Vivi lying next to her, against her, and it is at those times that she convulses with the most pleasure, panting afterwards with her cheek against the letter. Later, once she feels more like herself and not so lonely and bereft, she digs out her pen and some paper and goes to sit up on deck to write Vivi in turn.