A/N: Hey, everyone! I've come to give you guys the starting chapter of a small writing project I have started on. It's a Renji/Ichigo (vice versa as well, *wink wink*) series running through four parts (the seasons). Corny I know, but I thought it would be nice to portray their relationship through the longer term. I absolutely adore the pairing, it's probably the only one I'll ever get attached too. I don't have a beta reader/editer, so forgive any minor errors you come across. Reviews are always much appreciated. The first few chapters are a little short, and contain quite a bit of recount, so please bear with it, things will get better, I promise! *pleading eyes* Have fun reading !

Seasons of love

Part 1- Spring

Chapter 1- Peace and solitude

Wind swept lightly through the long grass lining the sidewalk, making it sway gently from side to side. Spring had come, bringing with it new life, peace and a profound dash of colour to the landscape. A tall teenager with a shockingly noticeable head of orange hair strode along the road, headed for a welcoming building, adorned with the letters 'Karakura High'. School term had resumed, and Kurosaki Ichigo was returning for another year of monotonous classes, homework and exams. At least this year he probably wouldn't need to dash out constantly, chasing after some Hollow that had unceremoniously appeared in the real world, for Aizen had been defeated, eradicating the one major threat to the real world.

Unknown to the countless people of the real world, except, of course, for Ichigo's small band of close friends, Ichigo played an exceedingly major role in Aizen's fall, aiding Seireitei in its crucial joint assault on the last of the Vasto Lordes and Aizen himself. The victory was a turning point in the protection of the Spirit King and indeed the history of Soul Society. The battle, though, took its toll on Ichigo, both physically and mentally. He still had unsettling flashbacks during the night, making him toss and turn and wake up abruptly, breathing heavily.

It felt like a long time since he left.

~2 weeks ago

The hardest decision now, for Ichigo, was leaving Soul Society. So many friends and trusted comrades he had to leave behind, to return to his original life, with only Chad, Inoue and Ishida coming back with him. Ichigo knew that, without a suitable threat to keep him anymore, he had to depart to the real world. It might seem strange that he was this reluctant, but if anyone cared to delve deeper into Ichigo's mind, they would have realized that the whole damn thing was caused by one person, more so than anyone else.

Abarai Renji.

Ichigo had fallen for the redhead, and fallenhard. The first time he realized these feelings was during the Bounto affair, when Renji was sent to the real world to aid him. During this period, Renji progressed from being a mere fellow Shinigami to turning out to become one of Ichigo's best friends. Fighting back to back through several battles and living amongst each other, they forged a close bond consisting of trust and friendship. Truth be told, he had probably felt this way towards the redhead even before this, just didn't realize it.

Ichigo, however, found himself desperately wanting their relationship to continue escalating. He found himself staring at his Renji during class and sneaking glances at his friend's glistening body when they washed up after training sessions at Urahara's place. He longed for the physical contact that he felt when sparring with Renji and loved the way his voice sounded so enticing when he spoke in that unique Rukongai accent. At night, his mind provided highly arousing images of a stark naked Renji in all his tattooed glory, lying on his bed, sleeping next to him. Ichigo tried to deny this change, tried to convince himself that he was straight, and not interested in Renji at all, but soon realized it was all in vain. It had to be predestined; he liked him inthatway. Great.

Of course, Ichigo, kept it to himself, tightly bottled up, in fear of being discovered. He knew intuitively that Renji would not return his feelings; he was obviously infatuated with Rukia, for goodness' sake! So he masked the feelings he had for the redhead, continuing like nothing had happened, often having to restrict himself from letting his eyes wander. If he revealed the secret and was rejected, which was very likely to happen, all his pride would be gone, and he would be ridiculed everywhere.

What Ichigo hadn't foreseen, though, was that over the course of a few months, his longing multiplied tenfold. During the times when Renji had to go back to Soul Society and fulfill his duties there, he ached with loneliness, the sort that he had felt only when his mother had died. With no other choice, Ichigo began to touch himself at night, slowly working his painfully erect member until he exploded in bliss, long, milky white strands released onto his abdomen. He always ended up crying Renji's name during the mind-blowing orgasm; Renji's imaginary muscled, tattooed body was the sole thing able to drive him over the edge. After roughly cleaning himself up, he would fall asleep within a matter of seconds. The upside was that the bad dreams (they had not become nightmares yet) lessened, but the downside was that his dreams took a sharp turn, becoming noticeably more erotic.

Soon though, the Winter War had come, and Ichigo could finally forget about his lust for the Shinigami lieutenant, pushing himself to his limits to become stronger. He was so exhausted after the constant battles and training that nothing else mattered. Tackling with his inner Hollow and treading on the edge of death constantly, idling was not an option. He had to become stronger, and he did.

But the love he had felt came back and bit him right on the ass, as soon as the War ended. He couldn't leave Renji; he couldn't face living in the real world all alone again. So Ichigo did something quite unprecedented, in a desperate attempt to have something to hold on to when he left.

"Zangetsu."

"I am here." A tall figure clad in black robes appeared next to Ichigo, balanced precariously upon a wickedly sharp, jet black blade.

"I…need something that I hope you can help me with."

"We are part of the same soul; I already know what you seek."

"Then will you help me?" The tension in the air was clearly apparent.

"I will try. You do realize the consequences if people were to find out?"

"Yes. I have to do this; I need it to remember him." The determination in Ichigo's voice was easily noticeable. He wanted this.

"Then it is decided."

"I like him…a lot…do you think I'm in l-love?"

"Only time will tell. It's clear to me that you have deep feelings for him." With those ambiguous words, he disappeared.

The next day, during the last spar Ichigo was having with Renji before leaving for the real world, he took something from redhead. Being as unaware as Renji always was during their fighting, he didn't even notice. He was careful to store it, making sure it did not reveal itself within Soul Society's boundaries. All too soon, he was standing in front of the Senkaimon, friends and onlookers gathered around, wishing him well and bidding their goodbyes. Rukia and Renji were standing next to him, Inoue, Chad and Ishida all preparing to leave. Rukia reached up and gave Ichigo a warm and tight hug, tears slowly leaking out of her eyes as she whispered, "See you, Ichigo." He returned the embrace whole-heartedly, willing himself to give a small smile to her, even if he felt terrible inside. After Rukia released him, Renji stepped towards him, traditional wolfish grin plastered over his face. Ichigo tensed, fearing his embrace would break the resolve he had carefully built for going home. None came. Renji merely gave him a good-natured punch on the shoulder.

"Goin' home already, Strawberry?" Ichigo twitched at the nickname, face drawing into a scowl.

"Yeah I am, Pineapple, and you can be sure I won't be missin' you." The rebuff was meant as a passing joke, but Ichigo felt something inside him twinge with…guilt?

"Heh. Ya sure are a hasty one, Ichigo. Well I guess this is it. See ya around, Strawberry…or not." Ichigo didn't miss the sudden sad glint that appeared in Renji's eyes at those words, or the slight downwards twitch of the smile that seemed eternally spread over his face. The dam inside him burst at that, and shit, it hurt…more than Zabimaru carving through his shoulder, even more than Ulquiorra blowing a hole through his chest.

Ichigo reached out with one hand, and pulled, none too gently, the redhead into a rough embrace. The warmth he felt when they made contact was undeniable, and it helped to wipe away the embarrassment he felt at the abrupt action. "Damn…guess I will miss you…a bit." Ichigo bit down lightly on his lip, to stop a flood of words coming out.

"Ichigo…there's no need ta worry. We might still meet up again. I mean if a Hollow popped up, an' even ya couldn't deal with it, I'm sure I'd hafta come lend ya a hand." Ichigo gave a small chuckle at that, drawing himself out of the embrace.

"Like I'd need your help. You're havin' a hard enough time trying to surpass Byakuya, I doubt you'd make an impact."

"Ya did not just say that, Strawberry. You're seriously pushin' it." To be honest, Renji felt, to a certain degree, regret that the orange-haired Shinigami Daiko had to leave. He had grown used to his company, become accustomed to someone who he could easily talk to and hang out with. They had fought, saved each other's lives countless times and travelled through thick and thin…together. Now he was leaving, and Renji knew that he would feel a little empty in the days afterwards. The sudden embrace came as a shock, but he gladly accepted it, feeling a little more comforted himself. He sensed something different about Ichigo's reiatsu, but decided not to comment on it.Probably just his Hollow playing up.

They ended up having another shouting match, but it didn't last very long, nor was there any real anger behind the argument. To anyone else who spotted the two, it would seem that they were just venting some frustration over the departure.

Ichigo stepped lightly into the portal of shimmering blue and white light, looking back one last time before zipping away. The last thing he spotted was the slightly curious expression on Renji's face. Perhaps he had let loose the controls on his reiatsu a littletoomuch during the last few minutes. Oops. He probably wouldn't find out anyway.

Striding the last few steps to the open gates of the school, Ichigo greeted an ecstatic Keigo dashing towards him in the usual manner. By clothes-lining him.

"Yo."

"Why are you so m-" Mizuiro, tapping away on his cell phone as usual, trampled Keigo's sprawled body, muffling the complaint.

"Sorry, Keigo. Didn't see you there." The apology was replied by a groan of pain.

"Good morning Kurosaki-kun!" The orange-haired girl came into sight, positively bouncing with energy.

"Good morning Inoue."

Chad passed by, giving him the thumbs up sign, and Ishida nodded when Ichigo spotted him. Ichigo settled down in the classroom, quickly checking off all the familiar faces inside. Tatsuki, Chizuru, Inoue, Ishida, Chad…they were all in the same class again. Then he spotted the desk next to him and the one behind that, and a pang of sadness hit him. Rukia…Renji, they weren't there anymore. The classroom definitely seemed a lot emptier without the two boisterous individuals.

It wasn't enough…what he had taken from Renji could only remind him of his presence. He desperately wanted to see him, in flesh, again.

~1 week ago

Nothing had come to reprimand him and send him back to Soul Society. Finally, Ichigo felt safe enough to set it free. He sat down on his bed, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. He entered his inner world, and spotted it instantly. There it was…a strand, red in colour, swaying gently, moving around the realm.

"The retrieval was successful." Zangetsu manifested in front of his eyes.

"I guess that we're okay then?"

"Yes." Ichigo promptly withdrew himself from his inner world.

His mind focused on that strand of red reiatsu, Ichigo pushed it downwards, deeper and deeper. It travelled slowly, inching towards the goal. Soon, he could feel it reaching the area where his reiatsu was stored. Sweat had started to dampen Ichigo's hair, little droplets making their way down the angular cheekbones. He had never been good at control, the pressure from the process was astoundingly hard to contain. He carefully manoeuvred the thread so that it floated towards one of the central reiatsu strands. In a split second, it connected.

Ichigo felt the contact before he saw it, red joining with red and expanding. The sensation was uncomfortable, but he steadied himself, forcing the reiatsu to merge, entwining the two strands together. The twin reiatsu began to coalesce, starting from the bottom and gradually working its way up. The whole time, Ichigo had to carefully contain the reaction, making sure it did not combust and spiritually damage himself. Finally, the large string turned a violet colour, calmed down and pulsed comfortably. Ichigo carefully withdrew from the depths of his mind and resurfaced. He instantly knew something had changed.

He felt different. He felt warm, and the loneliness he had felt was dissipating, replaced by a feeling of being constantly caressed in an embrace. Best of all, it felt like it was Renji holding him.Of course it would. I did take a portion ofhisreiatsu, not anyone else's.This is worth it. This feeling, nothin' can compare to it …well, except for him actually bein' here.It felt so right, like he had finally found another part of him. Ichigo had become used to isolation; he didn't let anyone into his personal life, particularly in the emotions sector. The new feeling of being constantly embraced by one of his best friends was quite foreign. But he liked it. Of course, he would have to remove the connection when in public. He didn't need anyone finding out.

Ichigo sat down in his seat with a sigh, dumping his bag and pulling out the new textbook. The title declared: "Functions and spherical trigonometry". Wonderful. He flipped open the first page and the topic sentence jumped out. "A function is like a toaster. It takes something in, and spits something out." He laughed at that. Then, he realised. Heck, Renji wouldn't even know what a toasteris. That really made him laugh, an image of the startled redhead looking at the absurd analogy, heavily confused, worming its way into his mind. The bell rang. Darn, class has started.

~Chapter 1 Omake

J: Me

J: So guys, what did you think of the first installment?

Renji/Ichigo: Zzzzzzzzz…

J: … WAKE UP! I'M ASKING FOR SOME FEEDBACK!

Ichigo: Huh? Oh, right. I fell asleep, I knew everything already.

J: That's the whole point! Don't you feel moved, that your love is being portrayed by someone other than yourself?

Ichigo: Who said it was love?

J: You totally suck at interpreting emotions.

Renji: Hellooo? First things first, what's with all this emo shit?

J: WHAT? Emo shit? It's called plot-building, you blockhead!

Renji: Well, where's the action, huh? An' the hot, hard sex?

Ichigo: Yeah, that's right. If you haven't noticed, I'm gettin' pretty pent up here.

J: Be patient, pleeeeease. That'll come later. Quit your yapping and gather up the draft papers you've messed up.

Renji: I feel like I'm at Urahara's again.

Ichigo: Ha ha ha. You know, you made a great servant, Mr. Freeloader.

Renji: You pickin' a fight?

Ichigo: Maybe I am. Haven't had a good one in ages.

Renji: Ya sure? Wait…I remember now…ya took a bit of my reiatsu! Thaaat's it, I've had enough! Hoeru, Zabimaru!

J: Not in h-…Ahhhhhhhhh! *runs away as quickly as short legs will allow *