Dabbling with Drabbles - Bleach

A Meow in the Middle of the Night

Title: A Meow in the Middle of the Night

Pairings: A hint of ShunUki

Words: 885

Warnings: Ukitake with cat ears and a tail :3

Ukitake was utterly infuriated with himself. Really, how stupid, how foolish, how utterly brainless could he be?

He should have known better than to trust that infuriating Kisuke Urahara, especially when he offered him a chance to try a newly created piece of candy for free as he smiled behind that blasted fan of his.

It'll help ease your coughs, he promised. It's lime flavour, your favourite, he said. Honestly, that man could sell ice to Eskimos.

But, in his own defence, how was he to know that Urahara would have the know-how, the technology to turn him into a neko? As in half-cat, half-person? As in he now sported a pair of white feline ears that sat impeccably, perfectly, flawlessly within his long white hair, appearing as if they were meant to be there. And a tail; white as well, extremely fluffy and quite long, touching the floor easily (when it's not swishing and swaying about behind him) from his haori, also looking as if it belonged there.

Urahara was there when he 'changed', still holding that fan in front of his face. And he actually had the audacity to laugh when Ukitake yelled, shrilled at him, his new tail literally bristling like that of a feline's, demanding to know what he had done.

"Nothing!" he insisted readily. "You look completely natural."

Possessing a tail and a pair of cat ears was not natural!

After threatening to go 'Bankai' on the mad scientist's ass, Urahara conceded that the transformation effect will only last for 24 hours.

For his sake, it better. He shuddered to think what Kiyone and Sentaro would do if they happen upon him like this.

Which was how he ended up staying in the world of the living until night fall, sneaking back into the Seireitei when he knew the streets would be less bustling, and how he ended up slinking (yes, slinking like a damn cat!) across roof tops, heading to Division Eight. It was late, so hopefully, mercifully, Kyouraku would be in his room, readying himself for bed.

Surely, his best friend would let him stay the night with him until he returned to normal, yes?

"Hey, Juu-chan, what are you doing out this time of night?" That familiar, that memorable voice teased, alerting Ukitake to the knowledge that, yes, Kyouraku was in his room.

Drawing in a sharp intake of air, Ukitake slipped in through the open window to Kyouraku's quarters, immediately gaining the attention of the sole occupant inside.

Kyouraku turned over in bed, a half grin on his lips, which he promptly dropped when he got a good look at him and sat up quickly. He was quite literally staring, no gaping, at him. Understandably, so. How often does this kind of thing occur, really? Your best friend of over two and a half thousand years sneaks into your room in the middle of the night, newly equipped with a pair of twitch cat ears perched amongst his hair and a large, fluffy tail swishing irritably behind him?

Even by the standards of the Soul Society, this was weird.

"Juu...?"

"It was Kisuke," Ukitake interrupted him with a sour look on his face, his tail involuntarily swishing through the air as his ears gave a sudden twitch. "He did this to me."

Kyouraku was still staring at him. "How?"

"Tricked me," Ukitake simply replied as he was in no mood to go into any lengthy details. "I'm staying here until I change back, which should be by morning."

Kyouraku blinked slowly, carefully, studying him. His gaze, however, soon drifted to his ears, the ones still twitching at every sound at the top of his head. He then motioned him over to the bed, a smile finally taking place onto his lips as he patted the bed covers.

Dutifully, Ukitake slipped over to his bed and sat down, his tail giving a happy swish when Kyouraku silently gave him permission to stay. However, before he had a chance to thank his friend, Kyouraku reached forward with his hands and began to play with his ears.

Ukitake couldn't help it; he started purring, leaning into Kyouraku's hand as he scratched and rubbed his feline ears, his fingers moving through his hair also. His fingers were soothing, caressing...utterly purr inspiring.

With his eyes slipping close, Ukitake moved closer to his friend, practically propping himself to lay across his lap, curling up against him and nuzzling his cheek into Shunsui's knee. His tail twitched happily from Shunsui's administrations, Ukitake quite literally melting into his lap.

Ooh, it felt soooo good...

"Like that, Juu-Chan?" Kyouraku chuckled as he continued with his maddening, but delicious torture. But then, to Ukitake's surprise, he began to run a hand down his tail, his fingers curling effortlessly around the fur.

Ukitake responded with a long, low noise that sounded suspiciously like a mewl of utter delight, sinking further still into his lap, almost boneless in his grip. Kyouraku's talented fingers were sending shivers of heavenly bliss down his spine.

He was in heaven as he slowly began to drift off to sleep, being lulled by Shunsui's talented, relentless, utterly delightful fingers.

Kyouraku then murmured something that sounded suspiciously like; "I guess I owe Kisuke a bottle of Sake. Who knew he could pull it off?"