Disclaimer: Bleach isn't mine... Saddly.

A/N: I'm not sure how or wheter to continue this. I do hope you guys like it though.

Also, thanks to my wonderful beta, beautifvlflaw. :3

Almost like it was before…

The music was slightly too loud, the room was slightly over-crowded and he was feeling slightly drunk.

He was sitting at a table near the bar, facing the rest of the room. Absentmindedly, he sipped his drink watching the people on the dance floor. Even though it was crowded, he spotted his friends right away. Somehow they were hard to miss.

He was starting to feel a bit light headed, which shouldn't be possible since he was having something non alcoholic. …That bastard must've slipped something in his drink. Probably courtesy of Matsumoto. She'd always wanted to see him drunk. She'd tried inviting him several times, but he kept on reminding her he was still underage and not allowed to drink yet.

His musings were interrupted when he felt a hand on his shoulder and hot breath on his neck.

"Yo." Ichigo could feel how the person behind him moved to take the seat next to him. "Why aren't ya celebratin' with the rest of them?"

Ichigo frowned into his drink, watching the others dance and have fun. Some of them seemed pretty drunk. Why wasn't he celebrating with the rest of them? It had been his victory as well; Aizen was finally defeated. Yet somehow he couldn't get himself to play along and dance with the others. There had been so many casualties, human as well as Shinigami. He could understand his friends, they were all desperately in need of some stress relief.

Just for tonight they'd pretend nothing had happened, that everything had remained normal.

Matsumoto had nearly forced him to go out with them. She'd had some solid arguments, and Ichigo had found it hard to resist, even if some of their friends hadn't been able to make it.

Slowly, he looked up from his drink and stared at the person sitting next to him.

"Let's just say I'm not really in the mood for dancin'."

Renji looked at the substitute Shinigami. He could practically see the thoughts flashing through Ichigo's mind.

He could understand how he was feeling. Hell, Rangiku even had to force him to come along. And that was a first.

The redhead watched as Ichigo knitted his brow together in thought once more. He could see him think about their fallen comrades, it seemed Rangiku's spiked drink hadn't helped to keep the blond's mind off the war.

Ichigo looked at Renji again. "I'm sorry, maybe I should just head back and get some sleep."

Renji eyed him as he got up. He felt a slight wave of dizziness hit him when he took a step forward.

Che, who would've thought he'd be such a frickin' lightweight? Although, he didn't know what and how much they'd put in his drink.

Renji smirked as he saw the blond struggle a bit to stay upright after he'd taken a step. It seemed Rangiku's drink had some effect after all, although not the desired one.

He could see Ichigo glare at him, which made him smirk even harder.

"Well, who'd have thought you'd get drunk so soon," the redhead teased. Kurosaki so wouldn't be hearing the end of this.

The substitute Shinigami huffed at the 6th squad fukutaichou.

"Just wait 'till I tell Byakuya you've been out drinkin'."

Ichigo grinned at the horrified expression on the redhead's face. He'd been looking for Renji for a sparring match to take his mind off of the current situation. When he finally found him, the fukutaichou was getting lectured by Byakuya.

FB

"As much as you like going out with Matsumoto fukutaichou, it is not an excuse to being unable to perform your own tasks, Abarai. I would refrain from weekly drinking binges if I were you." Kuchiki taichou's eyes narrowed as he said this. One last glare and he dismissed his fukutaichou.

"Yessir!" Renji'd barked out and ran off as fast as he could.

FB End

"You wouldn't!" he said. Kurosaki was grinning like a madman, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Like hell I wouldn't," he replied, feeling satisfied at seeing the other's horrified expression.

He'd love to annoy the redhead some more, but he was really starting to feel the effects of the drink now. Ichigo decided to be smart for once, and started making his way towards the exit.

Renji stared after Ichigo as he left, wondering if he should tease him about being a lightweight later anyway.

Maybe he should just let it all be for a bit, until everything actually started going semi-normal again.

He sighed as he walked over to the bar for another drink. Tomorrow he'd have to face reality again. …and most likely also a slight hangover.

A/N: It seems this website is persistent with eating my layout. I can't seem to change the 'FB' part decently, I appologize for that.