Saving Renji

Kamiko smiled at her very drunk friend wearing the fake tiara with a piece of nylon netting attached to make it look like a wedding veil. She was trying to be happy for her longtime friend who would be getting married tomorrow, but it was hard to be happy considering she was newly divorced herself. It was a short marriage, ending just after their first anniversary, but it was no less painful. It was as if he knew it would not last because he had made an extensive prenuptial agreement. He had been fair with what she had received in the prenup, but all she had ever wanted was his love. Sighing deeply, she looked around the bar. She could only assume her friend chose this place for her bachelorette party because of the wide array of hot young college guys that would be more than happy to help her celebrate her last night before her impending funeral, uh, wedding. Her eyes roamed around the bar some more before stopping on the three young men and an older woman in the corner sitting on a couch. She watched them with great interest as the cougar held their undivided attention. She could not help but smile as the woman leaned over and grabbed the stoic orange haired boy by the collar who promptly made a quick exit with her. Score one for the cougar. This left the redhead alone to deal with a very drunk blunette who was overly amorous and attempting to kiss him. The poor redhead needed a hero right about now so she decided to be that hero, or rather heroine.

"Hey! Ayume!" Kamiko bellowed over the deafening music, temporarily distracted by the surprisingly girlish scream of terror from the redhead as the other man found his target and landed a kiss. She watched with a fascinated revulsion as the blue haired manly firmly held the redhead and really laid one on him.

"What Kam? What do you want?" Ayume yelled back, draining the contents of her glass.

"Have you found the something blue for that old wedding adage? You know, something borrowed, something blue, blah, blah, blah."

"No! Why?"

"I have! Let's go!" She grabbed her friend by the wrist dragging her over to the tussling men. She wanted the redhead so she brought a sacrifice for the concupiscent, woman eating (man eating at this time) blue haired monster. 'I love you, Ayume. Friends make sacrifices and you're about to be one,' Kamiko thought to herself as they neared the corner. She smiled at the obviously horny blue haired man who looked like he could be a whole lot of scary good fun. 'At least, she will go down with a smile on her face.'

Both men were on the couch laughing when they the two women walked up. A bruise was forming around the right eye of the blunette who oozed unmistakable sex appeal with pure lust in his eyes. Only men could violate each other's sexual boundaries, solve the problem with a punch, and still be friends.

"Hi!" Ayume exclaimed in her cheery airheaded voice.

"Hi, sweetheart! So you're looking for one last night of fun before you end your life, I mean your single life. I'm Grimmjow, and I'm yours for the night," the erogenous zone on two legs said. He reached up to boldly pull Ayume down into his lap.

'This is great,' Kamiko thought to herself as her cute, blond, curly headed friended squealed with delight at something the man whispered in her ear.

"Hi, I'm Renji," the redhead said to her, moving over so she could sit down beside him.

"I'm Kamiko. All of my friends call me Kam," she rejoined, easing down next to him.

"What do your boyfriends call you?" he asked, his brown eyes twinkling.

'Oooooh, good one,' she thought to herself as she looked at his tattooed face. She wanted to reach out and trace those tattoos that lined his forehead.

"Hey, Grimm! Order some of those things you did earlier!" Renji requested, looking over at his friend. An expression of relief covered his face when he saw his friend kissing the pretty girl in his lap. Better her than him for sure.

"Do you think he even heard?" Kam inquired, observing his hand shoot up into the air to signal a waitress. "I guess he did."

"Hey!" the red-haired hunk yelled at the two people eating each other alive. "HEY! Stop it or get a room!"

"Can I take her to our apartment?" Grimmjow asked, sliding his hand up the thigh of the blond in his lap and under her skirt as she kissed his neck.

Kamika rolled her eyes looking away from the porn movie waiting to happen right across from them. She was embarrassed for her friend. Regret flooded her when she began rethinking her decision to bring her friend over with her; she should have just come by herself. The blue haired man stuck his tongue into her friend's mouth without even having his lips on hers. Yikes! She dared not to think about what he could do with a tongue like that. Her body shivered with the thought. She almost feared for her friend's body and future. One night of that kind fun could prove addictive and might turn into a cancelled wedding at this rate.

"Yeah. Go ahead," Renji sighed, rolling his eyes with aggravation.

"What are you going to do?" Grimmjow asked, holding Ayume in his arms in a bridal carry (the irony was almost too much) as he stood up to leave.

"He'll be with me. I'll take care of him," Kamiko volunteered, laying her hand on the stunned redhead's shoulder.

"I'm sure you will," the lusty blunette responded, winking at her with a lecherous grin on his face. He turned his attention back to his friend, waggling his blue eyebrows with amusement. "Have fun with that."

"Don't worry. He will," she assured the oversexed man, sliding her hand down Renji's arm. Ooooh, more tattoos. This could be a fun game finding out just where he is and where he isn't tattooed.

"Thanks," Renji murmured after his friend walked away with the blushing bride to be that would hopefully still be getting married when tomorrow arrived. "So did you want to stay or leave?"

"Are you ready to leave?" she inquired, watching him shrug noncommittally.

Well, if he would not choose, she would. She grabbed his hand and led him to the door. She was completely sober and ready to go home so she led him to her car.

"Wow! This is your car?" he asked in disbelief as she bee lined toward her cherry red sports car.

"Yes. Why?" She unlocked the door and dropped into the leather seat.

"Nice. You're so young. How can you afford this?" he asked, getting in on his side.

"I have an ex-husband," she answered with a wry grin. You're so young. Her grin broadened into a big smile from that. She knew she liked him.

"Oh."

"I live in a five thousand square foot home as well."

Renji smirked because fate had suddenly smiled down on him and taken pity on him from the terrible night he was having. It had been bad enough when Ichigo was the one who took the cougar home. She was freaking hot and ready to go. He had deemed the night a total loss when Grimmjow plastered that traumatizing kiss on him. That could be years of therapy waiting to happen when the alcohol wears off. Then this lovely lady strolled into his life and picked him up. She saved him from the horny blue terror and for that he was grateful. He looked over at her as she shifted the gears like a professional race car driver. A smile played at the edges of his lips while she broke more traffic laws than he cared to think about. He wanted to run his fingers through her dark brown almost black hair that nearly reached her waist. What color were her eyes? She looked at him and smiled as if she had heard his thoughts. Her eyes were a greenish gold color that reminded him of a cat's eyes. Her skin was a light golden tan color like his. He would love to touch her especially those long tanned legs of hers that seemed to go on forever beneath her short skirt.

"We're almost there," Kamiko announced as they drove higher into the hills of an exclusive neighbor that overlooked the ocean.

Damn this woman was completely loaded.

"Not all of my money came from my husband. I was already wealthy before I married him. I was an heiress at the age of fourteen when my father died. He left me enough money and assets that I would never have to work another day in my life until I died. Doing nothing bores me," she said, stopping at the small black box to punch in a code to open the twelve foot tall iron gates barring her driveway. "I took the money and started my own business. You would be shocked how much money there is to be made by helping people keep their crap together. I'm an organizational consultant to major business firms. That's how I met my husband, uh, ex-husband," she correctedherself.

Renji was trying not to stare as she stopped in front of the two story mansion. Rich, beautiful, independent, intelligent; holy hell he was a lucky man tonight.

"You coming in or are you just going to look?" she asked, turning back when she was halfway to the door and he was still in the car.

"I would swear I've seen this house before," Renji said looking all around as he walked into the house.

"You have. My ex-husband is an architect and this is one of his designs. It's been featured in many magazines," she explained nonchalantly, typing in another code at the silver box by the front door. Stringent security measures had been taken with this place.

Renji wished he knew what it was like to be jaded to notoriety and wealth. It must be nice to be totally bored and unimpressed with money and things because you had so much. He could not wait to tell Ichigo and Grimmjow about this. The guys will never believe it.

"So, just make yourself at home. There's a pool out back if you want to go swimming. There's a fully stocked bar if you want a drink," she said, moving around like a game show hostess showing off prizes. "There are guest rooms down here and upstairs. You can pick whichever one you would like to stay in."

"I'm not staying in the room with you? I'm not having sex with you tonight?" he inquired, completely befuddled and severely disappointed.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression at the bar. I was messing with your friend when I said all that stuff. I knew you needed a place to stay so I brought you home with me. There's no telling what kind of a mess those two are going to find themselves in when they wake up. I figured I not only saved you from your libidinous boyfriend but also from wandering the streets without a place to stay," she stated in a very calm rational manner.

"Are you always so straightforward and logical about everything?" he inquired, staring at the very unusual yet gorgeous woman in front of him. He chose to ignore her referring to Grimmjow as his boyfriend.

"Typically, yes. Especially since the divorce. It has not been that long since my divorce was finalized. That's why I'm not having sex with you tonight. I'm not ready for any type of relationship. Not even a one night stand. I hope I haven't offended you. I apologize for giving you the wrong idea," Kamiko said, giving him a warm smile to help soothe over his feelings.

"You've confused me but not offended me. When do you want me to leave?" he asked, watching her as she walked up the white carpeted stairs.

"It doesn't matter. I'll leave that up to you. You can stay as long as you like. I like having you around. You're a very nice man, Renji," she complimented, turning back to look at him at the top of the stairs. "I'm glad I met you tonight."

Renji was not sure if it was the alcohol or this very peculiar woman staring down at him that had his mind so muddled. Maybe it would be best if he just went to sleep for tonight and did not try to think. "Good night, Miko," Renji said not realizing he had picked his own nickname for her.

"Good night, my dear. See you in the morning," she returned pleasantly before disappearing around the corner at the top of the stairs.

Renji shook his head as if to clear it. He was brought home by a woman. But she did not want to have sex with him. What was the point? Is she really that lonely? She just wants a companion? He looked around the living room decorated in white and dark brown. He opened one of the doors along the wall on the other side of the living room to find what must be one of the guest rooms. The next door opened into another bedroom. He continued looking around and opening doors with the shameless curiosity of a child. At the end of his exploration he had discovered four guest rooms, an office, and a library/study with floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed full of books. He would assume that she was an extremely intelligent woman. Most of the books appeared to be old and worn from reading. He wandered around a little bit more finding the kitchen and dining room on the opposite side of the house. This place was amazing. She was amazing. He wondered exactly what she meant when she had told him he could stay as long as he liked. Right now, he felt like he could stay forever.

Miko. A smile touched her lips when she thought about what he had called her. She rolled onto her side, hugging the pillow to her chest when she closed her eyes and thought of the handsome red haired man downstairs. Renji. Her body ached now because it did not get it what it wanted. She had wanted to bring him to her room, strip off all of his clothes, and see just how extensive those tattoos of his were. After that she would have learned if he was as fierce and animalistic as he looked. In the end, she lost her nerve. How old could he be? Mid-twenties maybe? They were probably nearly the same age. Of course she was a little older. He had looked so saddened when that cougar had left with his friend instead of him. That was probably when her fascination with him began. How could a woman give up something so virile yet tender at the same time? She sighed deeply, wondering what the hell was wrong with her. Why did she bring him here? Is she that afraid of being alone? The parting words between her husband and herself rang in her ears.

"You'll never find anyone that will love you like I do," he had warned, hate and anger in his dark eyes.

"I hope not, asshole. That's why I'm divorcing you."

"No one will ever love you."

Kamiko buried her face in the pillow she held in her arms when the tears came. One of these days she would find someone to love her.