IchiGoro by Godzilla5549

It had been a day since their first operation, and Mitsuru was still unconcious in the infirmary. Ichigo continued to feel horrible, as she blamed herself for what happend. If she had kept focus then Strelizia would not have been forced into action and fight alone. She was sitting just outside the dorms, all alone, and contemplating what had gone wrong and how to keep her mind on task. Ichigo was so entranced by this that she never realized Goro had sat down next to her.

"Uh, Plantation to Ichigo, are you there?" he asked.

She jumped a bit and made a loud noise. Obviously startled, she noticed it was Goro only after she had looked up and at him.

"Oh, sorry I didn't see you," she said.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. I should been more careful. I know how you get sometimes, all lost in that mind of yours," he said kindly. Ichigo blushed, rather noticeably, and looked away.

"Sorry about what happened yesterday. I just couldn't keep my mind in the battle. As I said, I must have gotten weak after hearing that support was on the way."

"Ichigo, I don't want you apologizing any more. You know that I'll have to make this all up to you now..." he replied.

While her mind told her to act stiff, and to refuse any undue payment from him, her heart couldn't help but to skip a beat at the thought of Goro being in debt to her. Ichigo hesitated, and before she could assure Goro there was no need to do anything for her, he spoke up.

"I know, how about I help you organize a bit. I noticed that weren't early to the daily briefing for today, so you might be needing a bit of help to get everything sorted out."

Right as he finished speaking, Goro knew it wasn't correct. In his mind it sounded like a good idea, but after saying it he realized how inappropriate it sounded. There could be an infinite number of reasons why she was not perfectly on time, and to assume that she needed help in a personal area was just too far. He was just about to excuse himself for being so intrusive before Ichigo responded.

"I.. I'd very much like that. Thank you, Goro" she said.

Ichigo and Goro had grown up together, so physically being around each other never bothered them. But for some strange reason, Goro felt it was rather odd to be able to walk right into Ichigo's room even if she led him there. Ikuno was out, likely having tests ran on her, so they were alone for the time being.

"Uhm... Sorry for how it all looks," Ichigo said sheepishly.

Goro was simply amazed, as despite her comment, her room looked almost perfect compared to his own. He couldn't begin to think of what to do first, as nothing looked out of place to him.

"What would you want me to do, Ichigo?" he asked lightly.

She thought for a bit, then spun to face him in a swift twirl.

"Could you help me make my bed? It is always a bit challenging to do it alone and I couldn't finish it properly this morning."

"Why, of course I will," he said cheerfully.

To him, the bed looked no worse than how his looked every day. But as he followed Ichigo over to her bed, a strange thought flittered through his mind. Was it alright for him to be so close to where Ichigo slept? Sleeping is when somebody is at their most vulnerable and should never be disturbed. He suddenly began thinking of Ichigo, asleep in the bed right in front of him, her soft breathing and how peaceful she would look, the roundness of her cheeks and her...

Goro stopped himself. He couldn't allow his thoughts to drift off like that in front of her. She was the commander, and most importantly his partner. To have such thoughts like that about her was something he already avoided, but to have those same thoughts while standing alone in a room with her... and not just any room but her very own bedroom...

He snapped out of it, and assisted in making her bed. Ichigo insisted on it being absolutely straight and perfect. After a few attempts, it was finally done.

"What else would you want me to do," he asked.

"Uhm, if it isn't too much to ask, could you go and put my clothes into the dryer? They should be done washing by about now."

"Sure thing," he said happily. And off he went to the cleaning rooms, which were just a floor down.

As soon as he shut the door, Ichigo collapsed onto the bed, the very same bed that she had just made with Goro. Her heart was racing, and she could barely manage to keep her breathing normal while he was in the room. With him gone now, Ichigo began to breath much more heavily and quickly. Her mind was moving too fast to focus on any one thing.

"What is it about you... why is it that I..." she mumbled to herself.

She had felt her heart race before when she stood by Hiro, but this was on a whole new level. No matter what came into her mind, it was all about Goro. From the way he stood, the way he spoke, the way he walked, the way he looked, the way he smelled, the way he...

She closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts. Calming her mind, one single idea stuck out above the rest. She wanted to be be with Goro. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. Even then, there was something more, something that she struggled to put words to.

Ichigo realized that something physically about her body had changed. She slowly took her hands and moved them to her self, onto her chest, until her hands were cupping her breasts. They were much more stiff than before, and she had an urging feeling to squeeze them. She did, and let out a short moan. It was involuntary, which startled her a bit, but for some reason it felt good to her. Ichigo left one hand to continue squeezing her breast whhile her other hand ran over her body, from her stomach up to her neck and back down to her legs and eventually her inner thighs.

It appeared to her that the area between her thighs and underneath her skirt had become saturated with her own bodily fluids. She pulled her skirt up past her hips and exposed her underwear. Ichigo began rubbing her lips, and combined with squeezing her breast, her moaning only got longer and deeper.

Goro got down to the cleaning rooms and went over to Ichigo's set. Every parasite had their own equipment, with their name nearby for easy recognition. There was never a whole lot of clothes to be cleaned at any given time, and all the parasites had more than enough sets of clothing to not need to clean them for weeks at a time. He lifted open the door to the washer, and noted that it was relatively full. She must have put off washing clothes for some time. He began taking out individual pieces and shaking the water out of them, then placed them into the drying unit.

After a few minutes of this, Goro reached his hand into the washer and his hand fell on something far different than anything he had felt previously. His mind attempted to figure out what it was, and when he pulled it up and out he froze when he realized what he had in his hand. Goro had pulled up one of Ichigo's bras by a strap.

Now, Ichigo was by no means overly well-endowed, but even Goro could sometimes notice the presence of something of substance on her chest. By examining the bra he had in his hand, he could tell that the uniforms they wore did an excellent job of concealing Ichigo's chest. Immediately, Goro began thinking of what it would look like to see Ichigo with this bra on, and how different it would be compared to seeing her normally with a full uniform. How curvaceous her form would be, with one arm by her side and the other running along underneath her breasts and gripping her opposite elbow, as she looked down at an angle, sheepishly blushing and angling her feet inward...

Goro had to stop himself there. Any further would be an attack on his partner. He set the bra down in a basket to take back to Ichigo's room. He would have to figure out a way to avoid an awkward situation with her. He finished putting all of her other clothes into the dryer, carefully placing any other undergarments into the basket. Once that was done, he turned the dryer on and started heading back up to Ichigo's room.

Ichigo had managed to steady her breathing into a rhythm, and her moaning was much more controlled. Her right hand was nearly drenched after massaging herself for so long. It must have been nearly 10 minutes since Goro had left, but she couldn't keep track of time while she was so deep into her thoughts of Goro. She couldn't resist but think of how tall and strong he was, how he was always there by her side, and how he would do anything for her.

Ichigo froze as she heard footsteps coming closer to the door. The pace was long and the steps were solid, meaning it had to have been Goro. She only had a few seconds until he walked into the room and saw her like... *this.* Like she was a shameful girl who couldn't keep her desires in check. The thought of him seeing her like this put a real sense of dread into her. Ichigo jumped up off the bed and pulled her skirt down, trying her best to straighten her clothes.

The footsteps stopped right outside the door. Ichigo was unsure if she should go to open the door or to stay quiet.

"Uh, Ichigo? If you are in there, could you open the door for me? I sort of have my hands full at the moment," he said, his voice muffled through the door.

She began to take steps quietly towards the door, staying as silent as possible. Goro had asked if she was in there a second time before she managed to get a hold onto the door handle. Before Goro could finish asking that second time, Ichigo flung the door open. They found themselves looking right into each other's eyes. Her face was still a solid red from her session of personal intimacy, and it only grew redder as Goro kept his eyes locked onto hers.

"Ichigo... are you uh... are you alright?"

Goro was struck with fear, for as soon as he asked her, Ichigo burst into a stream of tears where she stood. He tried to keep a hold on the situation, and he quickly set the basket down in the room and closed the door. As he did so, Ichigo wrapped her arms around him and pushed her face into Goro's back, continuing to sob.

"I'm so sorry, Goro. I shouldn't have made you do work for me. I shouldn't have sent you down to my chores. I shouldn't try to take advantage of how kind you are to me," she wailed, still crying and struggling to breath.

"Ichigo... you never took advantage of me. You know I would always help you if you asked. This isn't much at all for me," he replied softly, still facing away from her.

"But I never am able to pay you back. I can never make it even between us. You always do so much for me and I will never be able to catch up to you," she continued.

"I don't want to be a burden to you."

Her last remark drove a spike right into Goro's heart. Time seemed to stop for him at that moment. As he thought how completely and wholly untrue it was that she was some sort of "burden" to him. Ichigo was the absolute most honest person he knew, the most outstanding and decisive. To think that she somehow viewed herself so disdainfully made his eyes tear up.

Goro slowly got himself free from Ichigo's arms and turn to face her. He squatted down until their faces were on the same level as each other. He took a minute to think of what to say as she continued to cry.

"Ichigo, you are the most important person to me in my whole life. There is nothing you could to be a burden to me."

Her crying barely seemed to quiet down, and she only barely opened her eyes. Goro knew there was more to say.

"Ichigo... I... I love you."

Her sobbing slowly ceased, and her eyes opened a bit more.

"You... you really mean that?" she asked, still breathing heavily.

"I mean it with every bone in my body."

Ichigo had wiped away her tears and collected her breath. She looked deep into Goro's eyes and could tell that he meant every word he said. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into him. Ichigo pressed her lips against his, and they kissed for the first time. It was only for a short while, then she pulled her head back to look into his eyes again. For a reason she couldn't explain, she began to smile. That smiling then turned into chuckling, and before either of them knew it they were both laughing audibly together.

Goro moved in closer to Ichigo, and they kissed again. This time it was slower, but with much more conviction, *passion.* They kept it up for as long as they could until they pulled away again to catch their breath.

-to be continued?