Ok so this is my first fanfic ever! Renji and Ichigo are basically cops, and Rukia will enter later on! Hope you enjoy!

Ch.1 New Partner

"Shit! How many people are in there?" screamed Renji, while swerving through the busy streets.

Sirens blared as the police force converged upon the local bank. What looked to be a normal Sunday afternoon turned out to be an eventful day at the Karakura Bank. Just as Renji and Ichigo settled down to have lunch, they got the message that a robbery was occurring. They reluctantly dashed out of the diner and hopped in to their police car.

"It's Sunday so there probably aren't a lot of people there. Hey! Watch it, your gonna kill someone!" screamed the orange-headed partner. Renji was in the driver's seat, and as usual, he was gunning it in order to get to the crime scene.

"They should know that when you hear police sirens, you move out of the way!" snapped back Renji, clearly annoyed about having his lunch interrupted.

As their cop car stopped, the two officers with bright hair, jumped out and sped towards the bank. They headed towards the front façade. Giving a nod to each other, they each took their places on opposite sides of the building. All of a sudden, the bank doors busted open and a man walked out. He had an odd monster mask on his face, pure white with bright and colorful insignias. In his hands were a duffel bag and a gun. From what you could see of his eyes, he was clearly surprised.

"Freeze!" yelled Renji, causing the criminal to stop in the doorway and point his gun towards him. Renji slowly walked towards the criminal from the left, while Ichigo crept up on the right, completely unnoticed.

The robber did something no one expected, he bent over and let out a roar of laughter. "Ha Ha Ha...When did the circus roll into town?" he asked between fits of laughter, clearly amused by the officers red hair.

If it wasn't for the serious situation they were in, Ichigo would have found himself laughing too, even though he was one to talk with his bright orange hair. He remained still and held his gun pointed towards the thief in case something went wrong.

"Very funny! More cops are on the way, just put the gun and money down and put your hands behind your head!" commanded Renji, clearly annoyed with the thief's reaction.

"Do you think I'm stupid?! You'll have me serving life as soon as I give up! Step off, and no one has to get hurt!" the robber yelled pointing the gun straight at the red-haired cop.

"Life? Don't be so dramatic. Now shut up and put your hands behind your head! I won't say it again," Renji replied.

More cop cars pulled in along the perimeter of the bank, with more on the way. Ichigo could see the thief shakily drawing the duffel bag closer into himself. Not good, this usually meant the person was either going to run, or do something really stupid, usually it was the latter of the two. Out of the corner of Ichigo's eye, he saw someone moving up behind the robber. From the uniform, he could make out that it was the security guard. 'Oh no, something stupid is going happen' thought Ichigo.

The thief saw the security guard and turned the gun on her, Ichigo instinctively yelled "Stop!" frightening the thief more.

The bank robber turned to Renji and said," You were tricking me! Step the fuck off or I'll shoot!" He pointed the gun back at Renji, shaking all the more. Perspiration ran down the side of the robber's chin; his trigger finger was twitching dangerously. Ichigo knew that he was likely to shoot any minute now, so he ran straight towards the robber to pin him down before he did something stupid. Just as Ichigo reached the thief and started to pull him to the ground, a gunshot rang out into the air. 'Renji!' was his first thought. The next few minutes were a blur, but all Ichigo remembered was handcuffing the criminal and then hearing a lot of shouting and cops surrounding him and the perp. A huge crowd formed in an instant as a crew of paramedics surrounded Renji. His worst fear was realized.

Renji was shot.

The ambulance immediately came and drove Renji to the hospital to get medical care. Ichigo, the Chief, and numerous police officers who knew Renji were all seated in the waiting room to hear the results. The Chief had Ichigo sit down after the tiring day. His tired body sank down into the rigid chair, and lowered his head into his hands. He was deep in thought until he saw two feet stop in front of him. He slowly followed the legs up the body to the head, only to realize it was the security guard from earlier. She had short black hair, and a tomboyish look to her.

"Hey, the Chief told me you're that red-head's partner. Uh, my name's Tatsuki," she solemnly replied.

"And you're the brazen security guard. That was quite a stunt you pulled today, usually those situations are left to the cops," Ichigo replied in a tired tone.

"I just saw an opening and decided to go for it, Sorry" she apologized.

"Don't be, you made a judgment call. That's all there is to it."

"Yeah well it didn't do any good. Hey...would you give him a message from me?" she asked

"Don't tell me you're scared now. Go tell him yourself. Don't worry he doesn't bite," he replied, smirking as he said the last part.

"I'm not scared! It's just...I got him shot and all. He probably doesn't want to see me right now," she replied, looking extremely guilty.

"Hey, no worries, he ain't like that. If it was anyone's fault it was mine," he replied taking on his own guilty expression.

Tatsuki opened her mouth to offer some comfort when the doctor came out. The Chief and Ichigo jumped out of their seats to hear the eagerly awaited news. She took them aside and began to give them the results.

"Hi, I'm Retsu Unohana, I just checked out Officer Renji. The bad news is that he has a bullet wound to the lower leg. Good news is that the wound is clean, and we got the whole bullet out in one piece. It didn't hit any major arteries so it isn't that serious, but he still has a long road to recovery. He should be up and walking in about a month or so. Make sure he doesn't put pressure on the leg. We'll have him come in every week so we can monitor the wound and make sure no infections arise. He's awake now so you may go in and see him."

"Thank you doctor," replied Ichigo, relief surging through his body.

Ichigo found out which room Renji was in and signaled for Tatsuki to follow him. They both slowly walked towards the room, not knowing what to expect.

Renji was lying down on the hospital bed with his hands behind his head, as the nurse was placing a pillow under his left leg. She looked up, gave them a smile, and walked out of the room to give them some time alone.

A devious thought entered Ichigo's head as he slowly crept up on Renji, and put his face directly above the red-head's. Renji sensing something, slowly opened his eyes to see bright orange hair and ichigo less than a foot away from his face. He let a loud yell and pushed the carrot-top's face away!

"God you weren't happy with me nearly dying from getting shot, you had to scare me to death with your hair too!" he yelled.

Ichigo's face immediately took on an annoyed demeanor, and the frown returned to his face. Tatsuki let out a chuckle and everyone's attention averted to her. Renji immediately sat up and tried to put his hair in place.

"Wanna warn me next time, so I can look good for the ladies?" Renji whispered to Ichigo.

"Look good? I didn't know that was possible for you," Ichigo retorted, causing Tatsuki to let out another chuckle.

"Did you want anything else Ichigo, or did you just come to kick a man while he's down?" Renji asked.

"No, I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you weren't terrorizing the poor nurses. I gotta get back to the station and fill up the reports," just as Ichigo turned to leave, he remembered Tatsuki, "Oh yeah, this is Tatsuki, the security guard that tried to take the robber down earlier. I'll just leave you guy to it. Try not to scare her too much, Abarai." Renji picked up a pillow by his bedside and threw it in Ichigo's direction but missed, much to his chagrin. Ichigo's laughter rang out in the hallway after seeing Renji's distressed state.

"Yeah, sorry about him, " Renji apologized, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh don't be, I've hung out around enough guys to know. I should be the one apologi-"

"Get out!" Renji yelled, causing her head to shoot up in confusion.

"What?!" she asked.

"If you're gonna apologize to me for something as stupid as trying to save people's lives, stop," he replied.

"But, I got you shot, it's only right that I apologize."

"Hey, that was my fault, I should have been more alert," he replied, then with a big smirk he said, "if you really want to apologize, fluff my pillow for me."

She was caught of guard for a second, but she smiled from his antics and did as was requested.

Back at the station, Ichigo and Renji were waiting to talk to the Chief about who Ichigo's new partner would be. Renji was perched on his desk as he slowly swung his cast-adorned leg back and forth. Ichigo sat hunched in his chair with his head propped up on his hand. He let out a puff of air in boredom. Chief Yoruichi was currently yelling at one of the officers for leaving out important details from a police report. She was one of the only females to rise to the position of Chief of Police. No one doubted the hard work that placed her in this position. Her whole family had been known to be involved in justice. She also had one of the fastest shots in the precinct, maybe the world. People said she could shoot a coin three times before it fell to the floor, the officers named her "the Goddess of Flash."

Her door opened and an officer with his head hung low could be seen leaving. She appeared in the doorway and signaled for Renji and Ichigo to join her in her office. She sat behind her desk, with her purple hair tied up in a ponytail, looking regal as ever. As they took their seats in front of her desk, her golden eyes followed them carefully, making them a little nervous.

"I've been informed on your gunshot wound, and I have come to the decision that you will be off duty for a month, depending on how fast you heal. Maybe a little more," she started staring at Renji.

"Maybe more? I'd think you'd have a little bit more faith in me. I'll be up and walking in less than a month," he shot back, not liking the idea of being off of work for that long.

"Yeah, seriously. He might be weak, but he'll recover in a week or so," Ichigo added, not liking the idea of what this meant in terms of having a partner. It had taken years of working together for them to reach this level of cooperation.

"Look, you both know you're two of the best officers I have. I am not about to let you screw up your recovery for your pride or jeopardize other lives in the process," she said.

"Wow Chief, the best? I always knew you cared about us," Renji teased, elbowing Ichigo in the ribs.

"Shut up before one of my best dies in a freak accident," Yoruichi replied threateningly. It was enough to shut the both of them up and wipe the grins from their face.

"Fine, but I don't want rookie missions, I can handle a month without a partner Chief," Ichigo said.

"What did I just say?! I'm not letting your pride get the best of you both. We're getting a new recruit from one of the best squads I know, I'll be partnering you up with her," she replied, giving Ichigo a glare that would make anyone else tremble in their seats.

"HER! You're partnering me up with a girl? No offense, but I don't want to be partnered up with drama, no matter how good she is," Ichigo refuted.

"Too bad! You are going to have a partner. I don't know about you, but I'm not about to have one of my best officers get himself killed by his own stupidity. She's flying in as we speak, and you two are going to pick her up at 5 o'clock sharp! End of conversation! Now go!" she yelled with a tone that meant 'don't mess with me!'

They both shot out of their seats and started to leave until a thought hit Renji, and he turned around to ask, "Wait, what's her name? How do we know who to pick up?"

"There's a sign on your desk, just hold it up and she'll know. Now GET OUT!" she yelled.

They got out of there as fast as they could. Both of them knew the Chief well enough to know that when she uses that tone, she's had enough. The two officers gave each other suspicious glares, knowing something was up by the vague nature in which she spoke. Whoever this new recruit was, it was probably someone that was going to be bad news. Ichigo walked over to his desk and just like she said there would be, there was a sign that read "New recruit for police force. Welcome back!" Both their foreheads creased in confusion at the last statement. Welcome back?

They pulled into the airport and waited inside, holding up the sign. Since Renji was injured, Ichigo was forced to hold it up. He felt extremely stupid holding up the bizarre sign, it was like holding a billboard that said "LOOK AT ME!" in addition to his orange hair. The corner of the sign had a cartoon drawn on it; either it was a cat or a rabbit. It looked very familiar; he just couldn't quite place it. Yoruichi was not known for her drawing skills, Renji thought it looked like a cat.

"I don't know about you but I'm sort of excited, and scared shitless at the same time," Renji voiced keeping a constant lookout for anyone.

"I know what you mean, I'm more nervous, considering all the secrecy. Yoruichi has a reason for everything and her keeping this person's identity a surprise can only mean bad news," said the carrot-top.

"Tell me about it. I'm just stuck on the whole welcome back part. Maybe for once she's being nice and surprising us in a good way. What do you think?" he asked. But Ichigo was too caught up in an image he caught a glimpse of. It couldn't be, he was hallucinating, yeah, that was it. All the excitement from the past few days was getting to him and starting to make him see things, it couldn't be her, she was long gone.

Oh how wrong he was.

"Ichigo? Hey what are you...looking...at? Oh my God!" Renji blinked his eyes a couple of times to make sure what he saw was a reality. A huge smile lit up his face, he never expected her to come back. The red-head's jaw dropped. He felt overjoyed and tremendously nervous at the same time. Whatever was to come would either be extremely bad or extremely good depending on how the next few minutes went by. His eyes followed her, looking her up and down. She had changed. A lot! As soon as she was a few feet away, Renji threw himself at her and caught her in a bear hug, causing her to drop her bags. It had been much too long, and now she was finally back where she belonged. Renji released her from his grip, only to notice that her demeanor was completely different. Quite similar, if not the exact same, as one of her relatives. She gave him a smile, he didn't know if it was genuine or not, but she seemed colder.

Ichigo's reaction was the opposite, his physical self was stoic, but mentally he was raging with confusion. He knew he should be happy, this was his second chance, but he was overcome by too many emotions to make sense of anything. He kept following her with his eyes, still holding up the sign like an idiot. He didn't know if he should be happy or sad. All these years, he had tried so hard to forget her and give up on her, but now all that went to waste. Slowly a feeling of hope arose, seven years was a long time, maybe she moved on and would have put the past behind her. After reading the sign, her serene face broke out into a frown as soon as her eyes fell on his face. 'Shit!' Ichigo thought, all the hope was crushed, and his blood chilled. She averted her gaze but his never left her body. His eyes slowly roved over her, taking in the differences and desperately searching for remnants of who he knew.

His trance was broken when Renji, while holding her tight in his arms, whispered her name, "Rukia."

Rukia is back! Hope it isn't too cheesy! Next chapter will start with the awkward car ride to the police station. Constructive criticism is welcomed so please review! Sorry if the last paragraph was confusing but it was Ichigo's view point of what was going on.