For You
What did it take to be a bad friend? Deceit, disloyalty, deliberate disregard for another's feelings?
One out of three isn't that bad, Renji figured.
Not that it mattered too much. In a couple of weeks he'd be done with his duties in the real world and would return to Soul Society, where things were simpler. He had his friends (whom he missed), his Vice-Captain position (which still impressed even him), and his captain (who was a cold bastard, but one he worshipped nonetheless). There wasn't anything in Soul Society that could make him feel so guilty. Nothing that caused him to be standing outside of a quiet house in the middle of the night, in the rain and thunder, staring at a bedroom window.
I feel like an idiot. Shit. I'm going back to Urahara's. No. Shit. I already came here. What for again? Shit. I'm..
"Renji?"
The shock that flooded Renji's body and made him cry out also caused him to blindly pivot to his right, bringing him face to face with the last person he wanted to see.
"What are you doing? Why have you been watching my window for an hour? You're being a creep."
"Ichigo! I…um…I just wanted to make sure everything was alright here. There's lots of hollow activity and I was just making sure."
"I see."
"What? I was looking out for you asshole."
"More like looking in for me," Ichigo snickered.
"I'm leaving."
"I'll put out some snacks in the bushes for you so you won't get hungry later."
"Fuck off."
Renji tried to exude confidence as he trudged away from his laughing friend. Without thinking, he set out for Urahara's shop, where he'd been staying for the past week. Even with his emotions (which he'd never admit he had) as out of control as they were, he still felt calm at the former Gotei captain's home. Urahara seemed to have taken a liking to his young guest and often trained with him during their down time. He showed Renji how to better control his kidou and how to sustain his bankai for longer stretches of time. In return, Renji trained Sado and Orihime as best he could so that his host could work with Ichigo.
But that's how all this shit started, Renji realized, and faltered in his path. He stood for a moment in the middle of the street he'd been crossing and stared into the night.
Maybe it was the red hair. Or that occasionally devilish smile. Or the remarkable abilities. Or the incredibly loud honking that attracted him so strongly.
Wait, what? Shit!
Renji dodged the oncoming car just as it was about to kill him. He allowed himself to be briefly impressed with his ground roll and then got to his feet yelling obscenities at the fading headlights of the offending auto. He spent the rest of the walk back to Urahara's cursing the real world and its stupid machines that were operated by stupid people doing stupid things and leading stupid lives and damnit did he have to see that beautiful face every time he blinked?
The sliding door was open when Renji arrived, making him uneasy. He scanned the area around the house briefly but saw no one and felt no strange reiatsu around. He slipped through the opening quietly and secured it behind him. The whole house was dark except for dim light in the very back of the hallway-Urahara's room. Even before Renji had reached the other man's door a carefree voice called out softly,
"Please Abarai-kun! Come in! Come in!"
Renji did as he was told and opened the door. There, in the middle of the room, Urahara Kisuke sat completely bare and cross-legged.
"Uh…Yes Urahara-san?" Play it off Play it off Play it off…
"Do I look good naked?" Urahara grinned as Renji look stunned. "I'm joking! Of course I look wonderful. But that's not really why I left the front door open for you. I have something incredibly important to talk to you about."
"What would that be?" Renji asked as he stepped into the room, eyes darting from the bedroll to the wall the floor, anywhere but Urahara.
"I've noticed that you've been quite distracted lately, the present moment excluded. I wonder if you realize that it's been showing in your training?" Urahara drawled cheerily.
"I…um…yes, I realize that I've been a little imprecise with my sword…"
"You almost cut Sado-kun's head off yesterday."
"Pretty damn imprecise." Renji corrected apologetically, his eyes scanning the wall behind Urahara.
Urahara used Renji's eagerness to keep his eyes averted as an opportunity to scan the handsome young shinigami's face. "Yes, well, as unobservant as I am it has finally come to me why you are so distracted. Has it come to you yet?"
Renji's looked at Urahara, surprised. "Sir?" Urahara raised his eyebrows.
"I…um…well, I won't be distracted anymore. Believe me. I won't be at all," the highly confused man stammered.
"Ah. Well. That's it then. Good night, Abarai."
Renji bowed briefly and turned to leave.
"Oh, Abarai? Consider taking the advice of a devilishly handsome slightly older man. Love is harder to deny than even death."
Renji didn't turn around, but thanked Urahara quietly. He made his way to his room slowly, undressed slowly, laid down slowly, and let his heart open, slowly.
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The next day Renji was busy trying to kept his word and not unleash hell with his bankai when Urahara found him.
"Abarai-kun, your friends are here." Urahara giggled.
Renji turned around to see Ichigo and Orihime walking up, smiling.
ShitShitShitShitShit
"Hey guys, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, avoiding both sets of eyes.
"We came to work with you. Urahara told us you were getting sloppy," Ichigo answered with a snicker.
"WHAT? Urahara-san! I am not! He's lying, I'm fine. You both can go."
Orihime stuck out her small hands and waved them in front of her. "Renji-kun! It's ok, we all lose control sometimes. A lot of the time it helps to have your friends around," She smiled and took his hand, leading him away.
"I'll work with him first Kurosaki-kun!"
Renji couldn't help the fluttering in his belly.
"Heh…heh...Inoue…you've improved so much…" Renji gasped, hands on his knees.
"Thank you! I practice by myself at night to get better. A lot of practice can get done during the dark." She smiled up at him from her position on the ground where she had knelt to catch her breath. He smiled back.
Orihime blushed and looked down. "Renji-kun, you and Ichigo are really close, right?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Renji answered, not liking the way Ichigo's name sounded coming from her mouth.
"I just was…wondering…if you've noticed anything about the way he treats me sometimes. You know…I…this is such a silly question, really, I just didn't know who else to ask. Um, do you think he pays a little more attention to me now than he used to?" She was stammering and blushing and Renji's heart was breaking.
"I guess yeah, he does pay more attention now. Maybe he' s still concerned that you're the weakest one out of all of us," he told her, adding the last part out of pure jealousy.
"Oh, ok. Yeah, that might be it. I just wasn't sure," she smiled brightly at him. "Thanks, Renji-kun! I knew I could count on you to tell me the truth!"
With that, she walked away and Renji felt like a total asshole. He sighed and looked up, smacking Zabimaru against the side of his foot.
Ichigo…I don't mean to act this way. We're like brothers. Brothers don't do this, they don't feel this way.
Renji didn't notice that Ichigo was watching him.
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Orihime was walking home slowly. She was confused. Renji had been lying, she knew that much. Ichigo didn't think that she was the weakest. He had told her so two nights ago at her apartment where he had been showing up a lot lately. Renji knew what she knew. Ichigo liked her. Maybe a lot. At first, she thought that after everything they'd been through together, he just like talking to her because she understood. Rukia was the one he liked, she thought. Even though she and Renji were in Soul Society, Ichigo frequently went back to visit. Then he started showing up at her place and asking if she would like to go see Rukia and Renji as well. She always went, of course, and had a great time visiting the other Vice-Captains of the Gotei 13.
She laughed softly thinking of them.
It was Kira who she spent a lot time with exploring Soul Society. He was quiet and shy, but seemed to like her chattiness. She liked that he was so gentle and still so powerful. It gave her hope for herself. Shuhei was the one who trained with her. He opened up to her as she told him of her life in the real world, her friends, her lost family. He told her of his life and his hero, Muguruma Kensei. She liked that man, too. He trained with both of them and she laughed again to think about the adoring way that Shuhei watched the former captain. She was close to many shinigami, and it was that, she thought, that brought Ichigo closer to her. He seemed to notice that a lot of males were paying attention to her, so he took notice too.
Orihime sighed as she climbed the stairs to her apartment. She had asked Renji something she already knew that answer to because…
"Inoue!"
"Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed and through her arms out to catch the railing before she fell.
"I'm sorry! Oh, I didn't mean to scare you, I thought you'd notice me," Ichigo apologized.
"No problem! No problem! I was just thinking a lot. What's going on? Would you like to come in?" She stood in front of him looking up and smiling. He smiled down at her in that charming way he had.
"Yeah, thanks," he answered softly.
Inside the apartment they took off their shoes and Inoue led the way to her table where they sat down cross legged. Ichigo sat very close to her.
"Inoue, how was your day?"
"Good, after I left Urahara's I went to the park and played soccer with Tatsuki. That's where I just came from. How about you?" she asked, fingering her skirt.
"Great," he answered slowly, "I just hung around there for awhile after you left. I was just on my way home and thought I'd come by and say hi." He was looking at her, she noticed, but not her eyes. As she looked at him looking at her ear, she felt something rough sliding over her right hand. She looked down to see Ichigo's two middle fingers slowly running over her skin. Unsure of what to do about it, she froze. She suddenly could hear the hands moving on the clock on the far wall, the hum of bees outside the window, Ichigo's held breath. His fingers moved slowly down her hand to her wrist, then back again towards her fingers. His movements seemed to awaken her shocked nerves and when his fingertips reached hers, she twisted her wrist let his hand lay in her palm. She hadn't counted on his hand being so warm, or the skin so rough. His skin was…more enticing than she had thought it would be.
"Inoue," he whispered. "I really came by just to see you again."
"I know, Kurosaki, I know." She closed her hand on his and closed her eyes on the whole romantic scene.
I really don't know about you anymore.