Like most bad habits, it starts off with something small and seemingly unimportant.
Ichimaru lays down the law about teatime when Kira first becomes his vice-captain. "Teatime's important, Izuru, the sign of civilization," Ichimaru intones, lips smiling but his voice serious. "Be a good vice-captain, won't you, and fix us a tray?"
Kira bows his head and says, "Of course" -- and he means it, because he wants to see to his new captain's comfort, wants their new relationship to get off on the very best foot possible.
In the little side-room off the main office, Kira takes a guess on his captain's favorite tea, judging by how low the level of leaves in the jar is, and to what degree it's hidden from view. And because he served so many years in the fifth, he knows that Ichimaru Gin has an infamous sweet tooth, and surely, he thinks, no teatime for his captain would be complete without a little something to nibble on. So he adds a piece of lemon cake, cut precisely and just a little on the large side. Better, he judges, not to leave his captain wanting.
When he comes back into their office, tea tray in hand, Ichimaru brightens when he catches sight of the cake. "How thoughtful, how thoughtful," he croons when Kira sets down the cake and tea just so in front of his captain. "That's what I like about Izuru -- he's always thinking ahead."
Kira bows in lieu of an answer, but he's pleased with the compliment. When he takes his cup of tea and sits down at his desk, he takes a moment to congratulate himself on a job well done.
"Oh dear," Ichimaru says suddenly, sounding distressed. "Izuru, you don't have any cake."
Kira looks up in surprise. "Oh -- I just wanted tea this afternoon, that's all." He declines to mention that he's never really liked cake personally -- it's too sweet, too rich.
Ichimaru's lips are actually twisted into a pout. "Was there only one piece left? Izuru should have said."
Kira is shaking his head almost before he realizes he's doing it. "No, no, there's plenty. Please enjoy it, Captain, don't worry about me."
Ichimaru licks frosting thoughtfully off his fork. "That's no good. Come here, Izuru."
Kira stands, even though he doesn't understand what the problem is, doesn't understand why his captain is getting all bent out of shape over a piece of cake.
"Izuru's nothing but skin and bones," Ichimaru chides, and forks up a bit of cake. "Open wide."
Kira's eyebrows raise. "Really, captain, I'm fine, I --"
"Just a bite," Ichimaru coaxes, interrupting him, holding the forkful of cake in front of Kira's mouth.
Kira hesitates just for a moment, and then he thinks, Oh, why not, and leans forward to close his mouth around the cake.
It's sweet, as sweet as he'd feared, but it seems to make his captain happy, so Izuru chews and swallows and smiles afterward, and thanks his captain for his generosity.
It's an unfortunate pattern to set, and it will take Kira years to determine that it all started there.
Ichimaru is particular about his off-duty clothes, and that apparently goes double for special occasions like the New Year.
"What do you think, Izuru?" Ichimaru asks, examining himself in the mirror with the latest kimono the clerk brought out for him.
Kira can't say that he's spent much time considering apparel himself, but since he does make an effort to study his captain, he's speaking with a certain amount of authority when he says, "The blue one was more striking."
"It was, it was," Ichimaru agrees, but still sounds dissatisfied. "I don't know what I was thinking. This one is more suited to Izuru's coloring."
Kira blinks. The kimono in question is, quite frankly, lavender. He can hardly think what possessed Ichimaru to try it on in the first place -- men usually tended toward darker, sterner colors.
"Come try this on," Ichimaru says, already shrugging out of the kimono.
And although Kira already has perfectly respectable formal wear, he does as his captain asks, because there's no point in fighting Ichimaru over little things like this.
"No, no, no," Ichimaru chides, "For the full effect, you need to take that uniform off."
Kira can feel his cheeks turn red, but they're in a private dressing room -- there's no reason to be shy. And it's not like Ichimaru's never seen his near-naked body before. So he obediently strips out of standard shinigami black, and Ichimaru helps him slip on the lavender kimono -- and oh, he shivers a little at the feel of expensive silk sliding over his skin.
"Ah," Ichimaru says, after helping Kira with the sash. "Just as I thought."
"Captain?" Kira says, feeling uncomfortable and even strangely nervous.
Ichimaru turns Kira to face the mirror, standing behind him. "See how lovely it looks with your hair," Ichimaru says, and Kira wants to say that he's not lovely or anything like that.
Instead, he shivers as Ichimaru smooths Kira's collar, and says, "It's very nice. But I already have formal wear -- I don't need this."
Kira feels a puff of warm air, a disappointed sigh from Ichimaru stirring the hair at the nape of his neck. "Izuru represents me now, not just himself. You wouldn't want my reputation to suffer, would you?"
"No, I--"
"And doesn't it feel nice?" Ichimaru whispers, his hands stroking down Kira's sides.
Kira's shudder under Ichimaru's fingertips speaks for him.
"Don't you like making me happy?" Ichimaru purrs in his ear, and but there's something terribly disturbing about that question, something dark and hungry and sharp.
When Kira tilts his head back to look at Ichimaru, he bares his throat in the same gesture, and Ichimaru's eyes are open -- not wide, but enough for Kira to know that surrender is his only option.
"I'll take it," Kira says to the store clerk hovering at the door to the room.
Ichimaru doesn't take him to bed right at the beginning of his vice-captaincy. It's almost a full year of teasing and ambiguous comments and vaguely inappropriate touching before Ichimaru seduces him, by which time Kira is so hot and bothered and just generally flustered, not to mention well-conditioned to giving in to his captain's whims, that he goes to Ichimaru's bed without the slightest bit of hesitation.
Even so, Kira takes pains to keep their affair quiet, because while there's no law against relationships between captains and vice-captains, it's not encouraged either, and rank and discipline must be maintained.
So the junior seat from the ninth currently trying to hit on Kira can't be blamed for thinking he is available, precisely.
"Umesada-san," Kira interrupts, "I'm flattered, really, but I'm not interested."
Umesada leans closer. "I know I'm only a twentieth seat, and not fit for a vice-captain like you, but I think we could have a good time together." His emphasis on good leaves no doubt as to just what kind of activities he's envisioning, but frankly, Kira wouldn't even stoop to have tea with someone like Umesada.
"As I said, I'm flattered, but I have to be going," Kira says firmly, and walks past Umesada.
While he was half-expecting Umesada to grab his shoulder, he wasn't expecting the sudden high-pitched yelp that accompanied it -- and when he turns around, he sees that Ichimaru has a grip on Umesada's elbow.
"Well now," Ichimaru says, and Kira's eyes widen at the his tone -- it's Ichimaru at his most poisonously friendly, and if Umesada had an ounce of sense, he'd be running for his life. "Seems to me my vice-captain rejected you flat-out."
Umesada yelps in pain again. "Captain Ichimaru," he says, trying to bow his head respectfully despite the amount of pain he must be in.
"Izuru's such a busy boy -- I hate seeing him be delayed. Especially when it's on business for me," Ichimaru continues cheerfully. "But more importantly, I don't like grubby hands touching what's mine. You understand, don't you?"
"Captain, please stop," Kira says quietly but clearly. Ichimaru's going to break the poor man's elbow if he keeps going.
"See what a fine, upstanding man Izuru is? You inconvenience the both of us, and he still pleads for mercy. Should I let you go?" Ichimaru asks Umesada, but he's looking at Kira.
Kira draws in a sharp breath. "Let him go, Captain. He'll never do it again."
"No," Ichimaru agrees. "He won't." When he lets go, Umesada breaks out into a full-out run.
"That was totally unnecessary," Kira says, irritated. "I had it under control."
Ichimaru smiles at him, and Kira's not sure that smile is any safer than it was before. "Izuru always has everything under control, doesn't he?"
Kira doesn't bother answering, because clearly the one thing he hasn't had since he became vice-captain is control over anything, especially himself.
"We have to get back to the third," Kira says. "We have that meeting this afternoon, and --"
Ichimaru stops him from taking another step, and pushes Kira back against the wall. "This sort of thing happen often?"
Kira frowns at him. "Of course not."
Ichimaru leans in further still, until he's pressed up against Kira, and his lips are at Kira's ear. "Izuru's been trying to be all proper and discreet, but I won't let him be poached out from under my nose."
"Nobody's poaching," Kira says quietly but firmly.
"They wouldn't even try if they knew who you belonged to," Ichimaru whispers, soft as the silk kimono he talked Kira into months ago.
With a start, Kira realizes that Ichimaru is undoing his obi. "Captain!" he protests. "We're in public."
"Like I said -- they wouldn't try if they knew," Ichimaru says, and sucks hard at the base of Kira's throat.
Kira writhes a bit in Ichimaru's grasp, and manages to say, "There are regulations against -- it's illegal --"
"Only if someone sees and tells on us," Ichimaru says, sweet as honey.
Kira doesn't know what the odds are of someone being foolhardy enough to report Ichimaru Gin, but he knows he shouldn't do this. He shouldn't.
But he doesn't resist when Ichimaru's long fingers undo the ties of Kira's hakama and his own.
"Turn around," Ichimaru whispers, and this is it, this is Kira's last chance to protest, to talk him out of it, to persuade him to wait for a safer time and place.
Kira turns around, resting his arms against the wall, crossed to protect his face. Ichimaru doesn't waste much time with the preliminaries -- he doesn't need to, not when Kira's already surrendered countless times over, his body accustomed to obeying Ichimaru's commands.
They're going to get caught, Kira thinks, someone is bound to come by. One of the other captains, maybe -- someone not afraid to report the captain and the vice-captain of the third division for improper conduct. Kira doesn't know if the prospect terrifies or pleases him, because his hips are being held bruisingly tight by Ichimaru, and he's gasping against his hands, braced on the wall. He can hear the soft sounds Ichimaru makes when he thrusts in, hot and smooth and as sharply sweet as his threats.
Ichimaru doesn't urge Kira to turn his head for a messy kiss -- rather, he tucks his chin over Kira's shoulder, lips and teeth molesting Kira's skin as he sees fit. His fingertips are still pressed too tightly against Kira's hips, so that he doesn't have a hand free to get Kira off -- but Ichimaru's never been in the habit of letting Kira go without, so when he murmurs, "Touch yourself, Izuru," Kira doesn't need to be told twice.
When he comes against the wall and Ichimaru comes in him, Kira's first thought is that he shouldn't have done this, but he doesn't mean it. Like most bad habits, this one is ingrained, and Kira wouldn't know how to stop, anyway.