Fic: whispers on the wind [Bleach, AiIchi, Ash]

[quillpunk]

• Rating: T
• Categories: M/M
• Fandom: Bleach
• Relationship: Aizen Sousuke/Kurosaki Ichigo
• Characters: Aizen Sousuke, Kurosaki Ichigo
• Additional Tags: Ficlet, Melancholy, AU - Post Apocalypse
• Status: Complete
• Wordcount: 527
• Series: Part 1 of LVDM Week
• Published on AO3: 2023-02-03

Notes: For the 100 Ships Challenge: #58 – Ash

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any associated trademarks.

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The taste of ash sits heavy on his tongue, a weight curling around his mouth and clogging his nose. He sneezes, Ichigo's orange hair shifting in the wind, and he rubs his nose with a disgruntled noise. Watching the area for something moving, high up from the rooftop he's spent the night at, Ichigo's leg hangs over the edge and move with the wind.

The world is dark.

There are no streetlights, no lights in windows, no cars moving on the battered roads. It's been four years, and the world is dark, and Ichigo is still walking. There's a goal, somewhere in the back of his head, some kind of inevitabilty—a dream, a nightmare. Because he stayed in the house for months before he left and his sisters never came home, his father never dropped by. Ichigo doesn't know where they went, halfway hopes they never returned at all to find the house as empty as he did. He wonders; are they okay? Are they eating right? Are they getting medicine if they get sick?

Ichigo never has an answer.

Footsteps sound on the roof, the stalking pace he's become so familiar with, and he's entirely unsurprised when arms wrap around his waist. He leans his head back against a harsh shoulder, the bones poking into his skull, but doesn't move away from the pressure. "Contemplating the purpose of life?" asks Aizen Sousuke against his ear, breath tickling his skin.

"Always," says Ichigo. His eyelids flutter and when he breaths, smoke shivers in the air. He opens his eyes again, looking out over the street below. It's in the process of being reclaimed by nature, and even in the evening's darkness he can see the many plants breaking through the pavement. Ash is drifting through the air, falling from above, and he wonders what blew up, if it was a volcano or another bomb.

Sousuke, like always, sighs against him, shifting so he can sit beside him on the edge. Ichigo isn't really sure who Sousuke actually is; the man just shoved up at his house months into what can only be termed an apocalypse, and he wouldn't leave without Ichigo. And Ichigo didn't want a stranger, no matter how outwardly kind, to be at the house when his sisters returned. So they left.

But that was years ago.

Maybe Ichigo is weak, to be so easily swayed by a notably malevolent stranger that definitely had a hand in creating the apocalypse. Maybe he's weak, to let Sousuke hug him, embrace him. Maybe he's weak, to stay beside him.

But it's been years.

And Ichigo... just wants.

He sways his legs, leans his body against Sousuke's and shivers as Sousuke's arms wrap around him again. The sun is finally finishing setting, the horizon momentarily painted a luscious red before darkness descends upon them. Stars twinkle in the night sky, a whole galaxy above them, and Ichigo is warm with company, belly full for the first time in almost a week.

The world is dark and the air tastes perpetually of ash, but Ichigo is not alone—and that might be the most important part of all.