Prompt:
I miss you
Like the little girl that I am
Straining by the dusty glass
Waiting; wishing
A/N: Hai! I'm back from this insufferable writing block of mine, finally. This prompt came from a close friend of mine, Sarcasticgal68, so this fic is dedicated to her, even if she probably won't read this thank you so much for reading, and please leave a review!
I don't own Bleach~
XXX
Pairing: RenjixTatsuki
Genre: Mystery/Romance/Angst/Friendship
Rating: T/M (language and hints)
XXX
When Tatsuki woke up and found a man she didn't know slumped, unconscious, in front of her doorstep, she knew she was in deep shit, and when she was in such situations, the first thing she normally did was punch the unfortunate guy and demand why he was lying at her doorstep.
Except this time, she didn't. She wasn't the hotheaded female from her high school years anymore, so she hauled him into her apartment with little difficulty and pulled out her mobile to call her friend. But her fingers hesitated over the button and she sighed before putting her phone back into her pocket. Inuoe Orihime, her friend, probably wouldn't want to be disturbed. It was 5.30 after all, and Tatsuki only got up this early for her morning run and personal training at the dojo before going off to work. After another minute's debate, she pulled out her phone again to call another man she knew she could rely on in such situations: Kisuke Urahara.
XXX
She arrived at the Shoten, greeting Jinta by ruffling his hair and smiling at Ururu in passing, the man slung over her shoulder. Said man was a redhead, his hair up in a messy ponytail and tattooes all over his eyebrows. He was muscular too, and not too light, so Tatsuki had thrown him into the backseat of a taxi, attracting an odd glance from the driver that she ignored. She only had a motorcycle, and no way was she riding it while carrying an unconscious male.
At twenty-two years old, Tatsuki was a famous journalist who wrote mostly about ardous court cases that everybody was interested in but hated reporting due to the large amount of time spent sitting in the courtroom and fighting the boredom and sleepiness that never seemed to affect the lawyers even after hours of boring back-and-forth debate. She could extract the most important information and report just that without boring the readers to death, and that was it. She was unofficially named the "Court Reporter" of Karakura, with decent pay and attention showered on her, so she didn't mind the job much.
Kisuke welcomed her with a bow and she dumped the stranger at his feet unceremoniously on the tatami mats and a black cat emerged from Kisuke's room, seating itself next to the unconscious redhead before starting to groom itself.
"My, my, Tatsuki-san, why would you have him with you at this time in the morning?" the perverted shopkeeper grinned slyly at Tatsuki, who rolled her eyes at him in disdain.
"Shut it, Kisuke. What were you doing with Yoruichi before we got here, then?" she shot back and the shopkeeper's grin widened, and the cat bared its fangs in a smirk. Draping his cloak over the cat, Kisuke smiled affectionately at it and Tatsuki sighed as Yoruichi transformed into human-form, Kisuke's large cloak covering her just fine- but Tatsuki was still rather uncomfortable with Yoruichi's nonchalant nudity.
"Who is this?" Tatsuki demanded and nudged the redhead with her foot, and Kisuke's smile shrunk a fraction.
"Renji Abarai, Captain of the eighth division. Heard of him?" Kisuke flicked his fan open and Tatsuki shook her head. Yoruichi skirted around the body with an unfathomable expression that Tatsuki couldn't quite figure.
"You really don't... Remember?" Yoruichi probed lightly and Tatsuki shook her head no again. "If I did, I won't be here, would I?" Tatsuki's lips twitched.
It was obvious the pair was hiding something from her. She knew about Soul Society, and Shinigamis, why Ichigo had mysteriously disappeared a few years back (aka destroying his human body and becoming a full-fledged soul reaper, and starting to date Rukia) and how to fight hollows to a moderate extent, but this was something new altogether. She didn't know this man, but the fact that Yoruichi said 'remember' meant something significant. She knewhim. But she didn't know him.
Just as these thoughts were sorted out through her mind, said man groaned and sat up, and falling back almost immediately. The front of his shirt- no, now that Tatsuki looked it, bandages- blossomed into red stains and under his haori, his bare shoulders were also badly bruised and dried blood was all over his body.
"Bloody hell," he swore first, his voice a hoarse croak, and he surveyed the faces around him, stiffening when his eyes met Tatsuki's.
"Kisuke, what's going on?" he ignored her and turned to Kisuke, making her heart pang oddly.
"That's what I'd like to know," she snapped at him before anybody could reply. He turned a cold glare on her before continuing speaking to Kisuke, causing irritation to well up in her but she forced it down. What the fuck was wrong with her?
"Tatsuki-san brought you here, Renji-san, after she found you unconscious at her doorstep." Kisuke's gaze was sharp as they raked across Renji's face and he swore violently.
"Tatsuki, could you go out and ask Ururu to help you get the green tea in the cellar?" Yoruichi pushed the girl out the door lightly and before Tatsuki could respond, the door had slid shut in her face.
XXX
Returning with the green tea, Tatsuki paused at the door and strained her ears to catch any words between the trio in the room. "I can't do this again, Kisuke, fuck..." were the words from the low voice of the redhead, who groaned almost immediately after that, probably from Kisuke healing his wounds. Again? Tatsuki was more than certain something was going on, regarding her, and she had no idea what it was.
"We know that, Renji, lay back for a bit..." Yoruichi sighed and Tatsuki heard a sharp crack and she winced in pain with the grunt that followed.
"You'll be staying here, then?" Kisuke offered and Tatsuki shoved the door open at that moment. "I got the tea," she grinned and entered the kitchen to brew some for everyone. Renji, who was lying on his back and his chest which had been slashed to a bloody pulp fast healing, looked up at her with something she couldn't quite figure yet again. As Tatsuki handed out the hot cups, his eyes followed her rather creepily, and when she passed him a cup, their fingers brushed, and suddenly a headache started pounding in her head. Her own cup of tea now slipping out of her grasp, she crumpled to the floor as the cup shattered next to her.
XXX
"Hey, Tatsuki! I'm going to deliver some bread to Kurosaki-kun, you coming?" Sixteen-year-old Orihime Inuoe held a bag of bread up to Tatsuki's face and Tatsuki flinched at the smell, but she smiled and went with Inuoe to Ichigo's house. She had nothing to do, anyway.
"Uh... Thanks, Inuoe. Wanna come in? And Tatsuki too. And, uh, Renji and Rukia are here," he muttered rather awkwardly as he accepted Inuoe's "gift" and Tatsuki grinned at the blast of cold air that hit her face from Ichigo's house in comparism to the unbearably hot surroundings. Stepping into his house and taking off her shoes as was customary, she thanked Ichigo for his hospitality and dumped herself onto one of the couches, her brown gaze swinging around the house.
Since the days when she and Ichigo were younger, the Kurosaki house had never really changed much, she reflected as her eyes landed on the worn couches, the television, and the giant poster of Ichigo's mother on the wall. Rukia and Renji smiled in greeting at Tatsuki while Rukia hugged Inuoe lightly.
Tatsuki knew about the Shinigami business by then from Kisuke and putting the information together, but she sat and said nothing as she listened to them discuss Soul Society and the Thirteen divisions.
"Is it to safe to talk about this in front of her?" Renji jerked his head at the silent Tatsuki in the corner, speaking to Ichigo. "I know enough to keep my mouth shut about this, thank you very much," Tatsuki retorted scathingly before Ichigo could respond, making Rukia and Ichigo smirk while Inuoe managed a small smile, obviously not comfortable with the fact that Tatsuki knew, and likely worrying about her safety. Scowling at Tatsuki across the coffee table, Renji leaned back and scanned Tatsuki appraisingly while Tatsuki matched his gaze evenly.
The tension in the room mounted as the pair engaged in a staring contest and Tatsuki won when Renji looked away with a disgruntled "Bah", making Tatsuki smirk victoriously and lean back into her seat.
"You just got pawned by a human female," Ichigo teased Renji, who scowled back at the orange-haired male and crossing his arms defensively over his chest. "The same human female who made you cry every time you went to the dojo till we were, what, ten?" Tatsuki reminded him mercilessly, making Renji snort in amusement and disbelief.
"Oh shut it," Rukia rolled her eyes as she slapped Renji on the shoulder lightly as he opened his mouth to tease Ichigo more. "If you really want me to go, I'll go," Tatsuki got up and put on her shoes and the other four watched her go without complaint.
She could feel Renji's gaze boring, hot and steady, into her back as she left.
XXX
Tatsuki bolted upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat with her clothes sticking to her. The surroundings were dark and unfamiliar as her eyes adjusted to the gloom but she slowly recognised it as part of the Urahara Shoten.
On another futon at the other end of the room slept Renji. He slept fitfully, turning and groaning in his sleep. Leaning against the wall, Tatsuki exhaled deeply. What just happened? Her headache had resided, but she groaned when she recalled the dream, or hallucination, because she sure as hell hadn't met Renji Abarai in her entire fucking life until this morning. Speaking of which, what time was it? Glancing at her watch, she jumped up when she realized that it was eight at night. "Shit," she swore under her breath and kicked the blankets off her before vaulting up, and pausing to steady herself from the sudden movement as her headache returned, this time feeling as though somebody had hit her in the head with a baseball bat. Ignoring the pain and the slight dizziness, she kicked the room door open viciously and came into a brightly lit hallway. Of course, the light did nothing to help her already pounding head and she was about to leave when Renji called out to her roughly. "Tatsuki."
Her head snapped back at that familiar call. What was wrong with her? She wondered as her feet carried her back to the futon. He stared into her eyes with something akin to desperation and something thudded in her heart, a pain gnawing at the base of her stomach and she bit her lip, the feeling of deja vu returning. Without another word, she spun around abruptly and left the dark and suddenly all-too-small room.
XXX
She felt her way out of the maze of rooms by guesses and instinct; all she wanted was to get far, far away from the male who seemed to be embedding himself into her mind. For fuck's sake, she was hallucinating about him! That was what she concluded after emerging into the Shoten out a trapdoor, pulling herself out with a sigh of relief, mingled with the mounting confusion that she was feeling.
"Ah, Tatsuki-san! Slept well?" Kisuke smiled at her cheerily from where he was pinning Yoruichi against the kitchen table, and Tatsuki averted her eyes almost immediately when she noticed that Yoruichi was already top-naked.
"The two of you should find a room," Tatsuki muttered, her face reddening as she left the kitchen. "This is a room; just that the door is unlocked!" Kisuke called out amusedly after the girl before getting off Yoruichi, his expression changing from perverted and playful to serious and thoughtful the moment Tatsuki slammed the door after herself.
"Poor girl," Yoruichi laughed as she shrugged her top back on before her golden eyes turned wistful and she leaped off the table.
"She recovered part of her memories today." It was an undisputable statement on Kisuke's part and Yoruichi sighed.
"Let's just get Renji up. The best we can hope for is that she doesn't know anything more than this," Yoruichi's golden globes flickered up to meet Kisuke's slate gray ones before she captured his lips in a hungry kiss, almost as though wishing to forget about what they had just spoken about.
XXX
Tatsuki growled in frustration as she turned the sitting room upside down to find her bag.
"It's not there," a quiet, deep voice stated and Tatsuki turned, dread making its way into her stomach again as she spotted the redhead leaning against the doorframe, chest bare except for his bandages, his hair messily tied up in a high ponytail.
"Who are you?" the words slipped out of her lips on their own accord and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and held out his hand for her to shake.
"Renji Abarai, Captain of the eighth division. I'll be under your care for a while." Wondering what the hell she was doing, Tatsuki shook his hand, which was so much stronger, larger and warmer than her own.
"Tatsuki Arisawa, journalist for the Karakura papers. Please take care of me," a small smile graced her lips as she said those words. Maybe there would be some tone of normality in this relationship.
Wait, relationship? What kind?
Realizing that she had held his hand for a bit too long, she dropped it like it was a boiling kettle and backed away from him, into the kitchen, where she heard and saw something she definitely did not want to by any standards and retreated back to the living room, colliding straight into Renji and turning and moving away from his chest red-faced, away from the echoes of laughter from the kitchen and the smirk that had made its appearance on Renji's face.
"You're supposed to be on my side," she mumbled and slapped his arm, before freezing, eyes widening as she processed what she had just said. He looks good with that smirk, she thought and her eyes widened yet again. He froze too, his warm breath exiting in a surprised exhale on her neck behind her.
"What did you say?" he demanded, blocking her way, and too bewildered to think straight, she moved,kicking Renji easily to the side by sweeping his legs out from beneath him then shoving him away. She picked up her bag as she ran away from the Shoten and the man who had just made a confusing mess of her, with only one thought in her mind: I'm getting away from here.
XXX
A/N: Done~ this was originally planned to be a oneshot, but inspiration came knocking, so I invited her in and we had a nice chat over tea and cookies :D hope it wasn't too bad and that you liked it! The prompt won't appear until a while later, though, so please be patient :)
Thank you for reading! Please review!