Renji Abarai stares after his friend Ichigo Kurosaki as he allows himself to be dragged into a manga store by a girl with long dark hair in a braid and green eyes. He'd felt an unusual spiritual pressure but before he could track it down it had calmed, now though he could tell it came from the girl with Ichigo. " I'm glad he was the one to find her, he has always had the ability to make her happy even when she's at her most upset. "
Renji turns to look at the speaker, a tall young woman with teal hair, " I'm Renji Abarai, a friend of Ichigo's, who are you? "
" Michelle Kaioh, I'm a friend of Rachel's, the girl with Ichigo. You see all her life Rachel has been trained as a Shinto priestess; she has quite a bit of power, a year ago she told her grandfather and little sister she didn't want to be a practicing priestess. I met her at around that time, she had gone to a music hall that let her keep her saxophone there and I walked in to hear her playing such a melancholic and furious piece at the same time. At first we communicated through our music, her through her saxophone and me through my violin. Then one day she actually came over to me and asked me if I would like to go shopping with her. That was the day I met Ichigo. "
Renji blinks, " You said Ichigo can always make her happy? "
" Yes, and I saw him in action that day. He was just himself, but let her know that he knew she wasn't being herself. He provoked and coddled her by turns until he got her to laugh. " Michelle says.
" What happened today? " Renji asks, as he knew Ichigo hated manga.
" She and her sister got into a shouting match where her sister told her she wished she had never been born. I was about to go to her as a friend of ours had asked me to find her when Ichigo beat me to her. Rachel was punching a tree full force to work out her emotions, when Ichigo said her name she decided he would be a better target. Ichigo just blocked or dodged all of her punches, knowing that she just needed someone to be there when she cracked. Rachel hates breaking down in front of anyone, the only two people she will openly cry in front of are Ichigo and I. " Michelle says.
Renji looks at his friend in a new light, " So Ichigo is suffering through entering a manga store for her? "
" Only for Rachel. He knows that she loves the Naruto manga and also happens to know each volume she has, so when Christmas and other occasions arise he knows which one to get for her. It drives the rest of his friends insane except for Tatsuki as she knows exactly why Ichigo does this. " Michelle says, her blue eyes observing the pair through the store window.
Renji watches as well and sees how animated the dark haired teen becomes, while Ichigo smiles patiently at her antics, though Renji could see the satisfaction in Ichigo's eyes for cheering his friend up. " I'll have to admit in the time I've known Ichigo I've never seen this side of him. I'm used to the charge in recklessly and somehow get the job accomplished Ichigo. "
Michelle laughs at this, " So you've seen him when he fights. That's his warrior persona and it works for him because of how strong he is, yet at the same time he is always calculating and you can never use the same technique on him twice, quite frustrating for my cousin Amara. She spars with him on occasion and constantly has to come up with new combinations to use on him. "
Renji grimaces at this, as he had learned from personal experience, Ichigo Kurosaki was a true warrior constantly evolving and learning from every battle and encounter. Rukia, so far to date, had been the only one to ever catch him off guard. The red haired Soul Reaper continues to observe Ichigo and Rachel, and he smirks, Ichigo probably didn't even notice the small possessive gestures on his part while Rachel browsed through the store, " Does Ichigo know that he loves her? "
Michelle had also seen Ichigo's subtle possessive gestures and his subtle glares at the other males in the store, claiming Rachel as his. " No, I don't think he does. Right now the gestures are subconscious, he isn't even aware of the fact that he's staking his claim, though Rachel maybe aware of it, she's harder to read when she's in her manga shopping Zen state. " Michelle replies, surprised that Renji had noticed.
Renji grins and wonders how he should rib his friend about this shopping trip, or more specifically his actions during said trip; Ichigo wasn't letting Rachel stray far from him and almost always kept in physical contact with Rachel, though Rachel didn't seem to mind this, or she'd've shrugged him off by now. He notices Michelle's focus change and he follows her gaze to find a teenaged girl with dark blue hair, brown eyes, and murderous intent surrounding her.
Michelle moves to intercept, " Delilah Katsuhara, what are you doing here, I believe Amara and I told you to stay the hell away from Rachel. "
Delilah sneers at Michelle as Renji walks over, " The blonde bitch isn't here right now and I'm not scared of you, Kaioh. "
" You should be, because I will do everything in my power to keep you away from Rachel. You almost killed her six months ago, shoving her out in front of that car! Our friend Trista was just barely able to shove Rachel out of the way and make sure the momentum carried them both out of danger, you vindictive, trashy slut! Only a bitch like you would get off on trying to kill someone else! " Michelle snaps, her hands clenching into fists.
Renji's eyes had widened during Michelle's enraged speech as the other teen just smirks at Michelle, " Such language from you, your cousin is rubbing off on you. Rachel can fight her own battles and if not then she should have died then ridding the world of her pathetic presence. "
Michelle's hand flies up, still in a fist, and slams into Delilah's nose. The pissed off Neptunian heard a satisfying crunch as her eyes narrow lethally before she speaks, " Be grateful it was just your nose, bitch! I am so pissed off right now that I'm tempted to kill you with my bare hands. Rachel has suffered enough thanks to her sister and she also has to contend with you, unless Tatsuki Arisawa has also beaten some sense into you. Get the hell out of my sight before I rip you apart limb from limb! "
Michelle was very much like the ocean; right now this particular ocean was tossing and crashing as though being stirred by an intense wind. Michelle very rarely lost her temper and Renji just happened to be witness to one of Michelle's rare shows of temper. Delilah scoffs at this and tackles her to the sidewalk. As the two girls roll over the ground clawing and tearing at each other, with Michelle also kneeing her opponent in the gut Renji just stares and he had thought catfights between Soul Reaper women were bad. He should have known that a quiet one like Michelle would have an awesome and terrible temper, which she had just unleashed it in all its glory.
A crowd had gathered by this time and none of them were going to rat out this fight, Delilah, they all knew had it coming, plus all of them would promptly forget about this if asked. When Delilah was unconscious with Michelle on top, the teal haired teen pushes herself up wearily smiling when Renji offers her a hand up, " I must say, I've only just met you and even I know that this is out of character for you. "
" I'm fiercely protective of my friends and Ichigo won't hurt a woman, no matter what, which is why Tatsuki normally deals with Delilah here, now, where to leave her. " Michelle says, back on her feet.
" I'll deal with her, that was some scrap you had, " a teen with short dark hair says, his brown eyes twinkling merrily, " Never would have thought you had it in you though. "
Michelle looks at the teen who had spoken and her eyes widen, " You're Yusuke Uremeshi, the toughest street fighter in these parts, my cousin's mentioned you. "
" Oh, Renji, I need to talk to you later, Koenma sent me to find you. I would have paid to see Rachel take this slut down though and she can do it, she can make me work to just keep up with her. I'll just take her and get going, meet me here at midnight, Renji. "
" How do you know my name and just who are you that you know Koenma, the Prince of the Spirit World? "
" Koenma told me and as for how I know the pacifier sucking twit I died before I was supposed to and he allowed me to come back, " Yusuke answers, picking Delilah up, " I was his spirit detective before it was discovered that I'm a fifty generational throw back demon to Raizen who is now dead though I still do odd jobs for him and get paid for the work I do for the imp now. See ya later. "
They watch him go and Renji shakes his head at this, " Tonight's going to be interesting, that is most definitely for sure. It was nice talking to you, Michelle, and you have a mean left hook, did anyone ever tell you that? Rachel's lucky to have such a loyal and protective friend as you, I hope I get to meet her one day and soon. "
Michelle smiles at this, " Well, if you're Ichigo's friend then you'll meet her soon enough, oh, Lt. Abarai, I'm sure you've already noticed my spiritual pressure, feel free to track me down if you ever want to talk. "
Michelle walks away leaving the dumbstruck Renji to try and figure out how she knew his rank. He shakes his head, realizing he would have to track her down just to find that out. He makes his way back to Urahara's shop thinking on all that he had seen and heard. He was intrigued by the Uremeshi character and would definitely be going to meet him later on.
Author's Note: Yes, I had Yusuke make a cameo appearance, I just couldn't help myself. I love Yusuke's character. I did make Michelle blow up but come on she has to have a temper, everyone does. I hope I nailed Renji's character.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Bleach, I also don't own Yusuke Uremeshi, Delilah and Rachel are mine, so ask before using.