Abarai Renji irritated Tatsuki. Irritated her quite a bit actually, but she would never give in to that irritation. That's what he wanted, and she refused to let him have the satisfaction.
Her irritation with him started on the first day that he arrived at Karakura High School.
Strangely, Ichigo had befriended him almost right from the start. Ichigo usually wasn't the type to befriend someone right away. But after school, she was waiting at the gate for Ichigo because they were supposed to spar together today at the Dojo.
When he finally did show up, he wasn't alone.
"Hey Tatsuki, I know we're supposed to spar together today, but Renji needs a guide. He wants to go to the arcade, but he has no sense of direction and would get lost if I just told him where to go."
"Hey!" Renji exclaimed in outrage.
"What? It's true. You told me you got lost going to the store that was around the corner from your house."
From there, Ichigo and Renji started bickering back and forth as she watched with her arms folded, her ire growing.
Ichigo would rather go to an arcade and play games with a new friend than to train with his oldest friend? Well thanks a lot. And Renji was just as bad. He's willing to upset other people's plans so he could go and have some fun?
"Whatever Kurosaki, have fun." With that remark, she turned and walked away. Trying not to let her anger show. So she didn't see Ichigo's stunned, face, and Renji's amused smirk.
"Well, she's interesting. Who is she?
"That's Arisawa Tatsuki. You want to be careful about her. She doesn't get mad often, but when she does I'd rather be ten miles away. Even if I'm not the focus of her anger. She once started throwing chairs and desks at a guy who actually kissed her cheek."
Renji laughed uproariously, "Nice, she definitely sounds interesting."
Ichigo sighed, "Well, don't say I didn't warn you. C'mon, let's go."
The next day Renji approached her at her desk before school started.
"I hear you have a violent temper."
Tatsuki glared up at him. What kind of thing was that to say to someone? Let alone a girl.
"Sometimes, not often though."
"Well, let's see it."
"What?"
"I wanna see what you do when you're mad."
By this time everyone else in the classroom was looking at Renji in horror. Including Sado (which was amazing in itself if you think about it). Ichigo came up behind him and grabbed Renji's elbow.
"That's not a good idea Renji."
Renji ignored him and rested the hand of his other arm on her desk.
"C'mon girl, let's see what you got."
Tatsuki glared at him for several seconds, during which the rest of the class watched her anxiously.
"No, thank you. Id' rather not get sued by your parents after I kill you."
Renji opened his mouth to say something, then the door opened just as the bell sounded. Revealing their homeroom teacher.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief as the teacher yelled at Renji and Ichigo for not being in their seats when the bell rang.
Renji and the boys ate lunch on the roof of the school.
"Do you have a death wish Abarai?" Uryuu asked him. "Tatsuki is a nice person and all, but of all the people I've known she is more like her namesake than anyone else, including men."
Ichigo added his two cents, "Forget just a dragon, she's like the devil reincarnated."
Renji grinned his canine smile, "Even better, this sounds very promising. I can't wait to see her flip her lid when I goad her enough. Hey, wanna make it easier on me and tell me what would be the easiest way to rile her up?"
"You dig your own grave, I'm not going to take a shovel and help you out."
"Alright, I guess I'll just figure it out on my own then."
"Just one request," Uryuu said. "Don't do it while we're in school. Too many people around who might accidently be in the line of fire."
"Hmmm, it'll cut down on opportunities, but you're right. No sense in involving other people."
Meanwhile, out on the lawn under a tree, the girls ate their own lunches.
"I'm sorry about Renji Tatsuki." Rukia said. "He's always enjoyed pushing people's buttons."
"Always? You mean you know him well?"
"Yeah, he and I grew up together. Then last year my brother and I moved here. And now Renji moved here as well."
"Ha, did he follow you deliberately?"
"I don't know exactly, but he didn't tell me he was moving here. I was quite surprised when he walked into the classroom. He's always been one for the dramatic."
"Please don't hurt him Tatsuki," Orihime piped up. "He really is nice once you get to know him."
"I almost never intend to hurt anyone. It just sometimes happens that way. But since Renji seems to want to deliberately make me angry, I have no intention of giving him the satisfaction. He's not going to make me angry. I promise you."
And she stuck to that promise. No matter what Renji said or did, he never succeeded in making her angry. Whenever he tried, she would tune him out, and just walked away. She knew that whatever he said was meaningless since he just wanted a reaction out of her and didn't mean what he said.
She would have loved to see Renji's expressions when she did, but she refused to turn to look at him when she walked away.
About a week after Renji first arrived when Tatsuki was training in her advanced class at the Dojo, where she was the only female, when out of the corner of her eye she saw sensei look towards the door after she heard it open. She didn't break her concentration from her sparring match to see who came in though. The result of that would have been her defeat.
So it was a complete surprise when there was a switch in partners ten minutes later and none other than Renji appeared in front of her for her next sparring match.
"What are you doing here? You're not in this class."
"No, but I will be. Sensei wants to see what I can do before he admits me into his advanced class."
"You want to be in the advanced class? It takes years of training to acquire the skills necessary for it."
He smiled his canine grin and took up a fighting stance, a well balanced one she noticed. "Well then it's a good thing I have had those years of training huh?"
She smiled as she held her hands in front of her and braced herself in her fighting stance. "We'll just see about that."
After the class she was walking home with a pained expression on her face. For some reason it was hard for her to tune out the irritation this time. Maybe because she had reason to be irritated at Renji this time.
"So, how does it feel getting beaten by me huh? Didn't see that one coming did ya?"
Yes, she had lost the sparring match to Renji, and she was mad about it. But she still refused to let that anger show and give into Renji.
She was so busy ignoring Renji as she walked that she didn't notice how dark it had gotten already, until she felt a drop of liquid fall on her cheek. She froze as her eyes widened and then looked up at the sky. It was only a few seconds later that just a few droplets turned into a torrent.
She started running, but a firm hand on her elbow stopped her.
"Wait, your house is about a mile away isn't it? You'll get sick if you stay in the rain that long. Come to my place until it clears up."
She was so stunned that she just started at him. Was he actually trying to be nice to her? That's a first. He'd never once said anything nice to her before, now he was offering her shelter from the storm?
But the rain falling on her face reminded her that she couldn't accept his offer.
"No, I can't. I have to get home."
She could feel the fear starting to build up in her already, she even began to tremble a little. She tried pulling away from Renji, but he held her firm.
"You're already starting to shake with cold. No excuses, you're coming with me."
With that he started walking quickly, keeping a hold on her elbow. Pulling her with him.
And there goes him being nice, now he was going to drag her to his house against her will.
"No, I need to get home." She tried to pry his hand from her arm, but the fear that was building inside her sapped her coordination and strength. So she really had no chance of getting away from him.
That just compounded her fear, she didn't want anyone to see her fear of ... There would be no way that he would keep it to himself. Everyone in school would make fun of her, she wasn't supposed to be scared of anything.
It didn't take long before Renji stopped at a house, unlocked the door, and walked in taking her with him.
He let go of her then and she immediately wrapped her arms around her to try and control the tremors flowing through her.
"Down the hallway is a bathroom," he said, pointing at an entry way. "Go take a hot shower till you're warm again."
She immediately walked that way. It wasn't just so she could take a shower though. He offered her a refuge, a place that she could be alone to gather herself. Maybe she could stay there till the rain stopped.
She found the bathroom and hurried inside. She knew from experience that a hot shower would help calm her down. She would often spend a lot of time in the bathroom during a storm.
As she closed the door an image of her father flashed through her mind. She savagely shut down that memory before it progressed any further and turned on the water of the shower to heat it up.
It wasn't only the heat that helped keep her calm, it also did a pretty good job of blocking out the sounds of storms. So with just the water running, her muscles slowly began to relax.
She stripped off her cold and soaked clothing and stepped into the shower that was spraying water that was now steaming.
She stood under the torrent of hot water and let the heat spread through her, forcing her muscles to loosen. As she began to relax, her fear began to recede, and her mind started working again.
She couldn't believe that Renji was being nice to her. All he has ever done was try to make her mad. It's not that she was ungrateful that he was helping her, she was. She didn't even want to know what her mental state would have been in if she had to walk home. But it did make her wonder what his intentions were.
It wasn't till she was toweling her hair dry that it occurred to her that she didn't have any dry clothes to put on. Was that why he brought her here? Was he planning on taking advantage of her? Well if was he wouldn't get very far.
It was at that time that she heard a light tap on the bathroom door and she quickly wrapped the towel around herself.
"Arisawa? I'm guessing since the water stopped that you're done. I'm setting some dry clothes in the hallway for you. Then I'm going to the kitchen to fix something to eat, so it'll be safe for you to get them in a few seconds."
There was a pause, then the sound of footsteps walking down the hallway.
Well, it seemed that her first assumption was wrong. The clothing seemed to be his since they were way too big for her. The t-shirt was yellow with wide red and green stripes and fell to her mid thighs. She had to roll up the ends of the black sweat pants and pull the drawstring around the waist quite a bit to keep them from falling off. Renji was about the same height as Ichigo and was a little broader than him. And since she was rather short and slender, his clothing was of course very big on her.
She could smell some kind of food cooking nearby, so she figured that she should probably go out and eat.
Walking barefoot down the hallway, she made her way to the kitchen to find Renji facing the stove, cooking up some beef curry with rice in the rice cooker.
For the first time she had met him, he had his hair down without any kind of restraints. It surprised her how long his hair was. It flowed down the white t-shirt he was wearing all the way down to his mid back.
"I didn't know you knew how to cook."
"Well, living alone, you learn a whole slew of different skills."
"You live alone? What about your parents?"
"They died a few years ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's alright, you didn't know."
Renji then pulled the curry off the burner and turned and looked at her. She saw the white shirt had some black writing stating that he was a red pineapple. Not that his usual hairstyle didn't proclaim that.
While she took in his appearance, he took in hers and he turned away with his hand over his mouth, vainly trying to cover a snort of amusement.
She glared at him and rested her fists on her hips, "What?!"
"You look like a little girl playing dress up with her older brother's clothes." Saying that let loose his amusement and he erupted in a full throated laugh.
She angrily kicked at the weak point in the back of his leg, causing him to fall to one knee.
"It's not my fault you're so big your clothes practically fall to the ground for me."
To his credit, he was trying to compose himself and restrain his amusement.
"I know, I know. Sorry, just couldn't help it. I knew you were small, I just never really compared your size with my own before."
She was still glaring at him with her arms folded as he took a deep breath and stood up.
"Well, the curry is done, wanna help me set the table?"
Together they set out the settings and ate the food. It was a quiet meal, and she preferred it that way. She'd rather be able to enjoy her food in silence than jabber. And the food was worth savoring. Renji really could cook very well.
After they finished eating, she gathered the dishes and put them in the sink.
"Just leave the dishes for now, the rain hasn't stopped yet so we can watch a movie till it does."
Renji walked away towards the living room so he didn't see Tatsuki tense again. She looked out of the window above the sink and saw that it was indeed still raining.
She had been so distracted she had forgotten about the rain, and the horrible possibilities it offered. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Everything should be fine she told herself. Nothing has happened since it started raining so it's unlikely that something will now.
Only somewhat calmer she followed Renji back out to the living room and sat at the corner of the couch.
"I sure hope you don't want to watch any chick flicks, because I don't have any."
"Ha, who do you think you're talking to here? I am not Orihime."
"That's very true, action it is then."
Halfway through the movie she got up to use the bathroom. Renji didn't seem like such a bad guy to her anymore. It was true that he could be quite the dummy sometimes, but then so could Ichigo, so she could live with that. He was also helping to keep her mind off the storm, even though he didn't know that she still appreciated it.
So even though she could see raindrops falling against the window, it didn't cause her the usual anxiety. Maybe she had been making a mistake by going through storms alone.
Well, she'd figure out a solution for it sometime. But right now she was missing the movie.
She just reached the entry way to the living room when the dimmed room was suddenly brighter than noonday as lightning struck nearby, followed almost immediately by a deafening clap of thunder and she froze.
This time, it wasn't just an image that flashed through her mind. Suddenly she traveled through time, she could hear, smell, and feel the experiences she had then. The warmth of her father's hand in hers, right before she felt both his hands against her back as he pushed her several feet away. Right before she was blinded by a bright light and almost defeated by the thunder following the lightning. She heard a brief scream as her hair stood on edge from the electrical surge flowing through her. And then nothing.
During the blankness resulting from her fear induced shock, she could make out a male voice in the distance. "Wow, that one sure was close."
She couldn't move, she couldn't think even if she wanted to, "Arisawa, are you alright?"
Arisawa? Who was that? Where was she? What was happening?
There was a faint sound of quickened footsteps, and then large hands firmly grasped her upper arms, gently shaking her. "Tatsuki, what's wrong?"
At that time another bolt of lightning struck, and she came back to herself. She could see the dim outline of Renji in front of her gently shaking her. The rest of the room was dark, the last strike must have knocked out the power.
She briefly looked up at his face, which was lit by another bolt, showing genuine concern. It was then that her legs gave out on her and her throat let out a shrill scream.
She saw Renji wince a little from the sound before he caught her in his tattooed arms and gently lowered them both to the ground, right there in the entry way.
She started shaking uncontrollably and had no ability to consciously move any of her limbs at the time. Or else she would have beat up Renji for pulling her onto his lap and holding her close.
He didn't say anything to her, just held her against him, providing warmth to her rebellious trembling body. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but as the lightning struck less often her shaking eased a bit. When it had been fifteen minutes from the last strike, she felt Renji shift her body a little so he was carrying her in his arms and set her down on the soft couch, wrapped a blanket around her, then went into the kitchen.
It was only a couple minutes later till he came back with a mug of steaming liquid in his hand.
"Here, this always helps me to calm down." He extended the cup towards her, and she reached out for it. She was relieved to see that though her hands still trembled a little, she could still hold the mug. It would have been even more humiliating for him to help her drink it than the situation already was.
She drank the hot creamy liquid and it surprised to taste a rich hot chocolate. She had never had hot chocolate like it before, she needed to find out where he got it later.
As she sipped the soothing liquid Renji sat down beside her. And even though he rested his long arm on the back of the couch behind her, he didn't wrap his arm around her again, which she was grateful for. She already felt enough like a weakling by being scared of thunder and lightning to want to be held any more.
She knew Renji must be dying to know about her reaction, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything for several minutes.
When she finally was able to speak, it was with a soft, quiet voice that no one has ever heard from her before.
"My father and I were at a park together at one point when I was seven and it started to rain. My dad and I started running home when he suddenly pushed me. I don't know how he knew what would happen, but the next thing I knew, he was struck by lightning and was killed. I was flung away several feet and was knocked out.
"When I woke up a couple days later I learned I had a mild case of paralysis caused by the lightning. I could still move for the most part, but it was hard and slow. It took me a year to get to full mobility again, but I never saw my dad alive again."
There was silence for a few minutes and she drank the last sip of the now cold chocolate.
"Now you know how weak I really am."
"Tatsuki, that is not a weakness. Many strong people have something they fear so much that they lose it. And many of them would just give up and let it swallow them whole. If you were weak, you wouldn't have worked so hard for a year so you could move freely again. I don't see you as weak, and I can guarantee you none of the others would either if they knew. At least I'm assuming you kept it to yourself and didn't tell anyone. I'd be surprised if you did."
She chuckled a little at that. He was right, she never told anyone before. Her mother was the only one who knew of it before tonight.
"Thanks Renji."
He looked at her in surprise, "You called me by my given name."
She reddened a bit and replied a little defensively, "Well, you've been calling me by my given name."
Renji looked a little surprised. "You're right, I have. I'm sorry Arisawa."
"No, it's fine. Go ahead and call me Tatsuki." She smiled a little at him, and he grinned his cheeky grin.
"Alright, Tatsuki it is. As long as you call me Renji."
"Sounds good to me."
They sat there together in companionable silence, except for the raindrops pattering on the windows.
Renji looked at the clock, "Say, it's getting late. Why don't you spend the night here since it's still raining."
"But I shouldn't. My mom must be worried sick about me as it is."
Renji tossed her his cell phone. "So give her a call, we both should have thought of that sooner actually. But I don't think you were in any shape to make a call earlier. I could see your tension, but I had thought it was because it was just the two of us in my house."
Tatsuki laughed a little, "I did think of that after my shower when I realized I didn't have any dry clothes. But you supplying these over sized clothes settled that idea."
Renji laughed again, "Yeah, I still can't believe how ridiculous you looked when you first came out dressed like that."
She glared at him again, but she didn't feel any true anger towards him this time.
Tatsuki then called her mother to tell her she was at a friend's place and staying the night. As she thought, she had to reassure her quite a bit. Her mother knew well what thunder and lightning did to her, so naturally her mother worried when she wasn't home during the fireworks.
"We'll finish the movie, then you can take my bed and I'll take the couch," Renji said after she hung up.
"Wait, why should you give up your bed for me? I'll take the couch."
"One, because you're my guest. It would be rude of me to take the bed and leave you on the couch. Plus, you're a girl. So it would be extra rude of me to make you take the couch."
"Don't try any of that chivalrous stuff on me Abarai Renji. I can sleep just fine on the couch."
They argued about it a little longer, but Tatsuki won. She'd take the couch and Renji would sleep in his own bed.
They started the movie again, but twenty minutes later Renji could feel her relax beside him, then she even leaned gently against him. He looked down at her in surprise, he didn't think she'd be the kind to do that. But he saw her eyes were closed, and her breathing was deep and even. She had fallen asleep, during an action movie too. She must have been really tired.
He smiled at her as he turned his attention back to the screen. It wasn't long after that he carefully wrapped his arm around her gently, trying not to wake her up. He had a good idea as to what she would do to him if she woke up to find his around her. In fact, that might be the thing that would finally get her angry and he could see the mighty dragon rage that people had told him about.
But he wouldn't do that to her tonight, maybe later. He'd only hold her till the end of the movie, carry her to his bed, then return himself to the couch, despite what they agreed on. She'd never know.
But it wasn't long afterwards before Renji's own eyes started to feel heavy. He'd just close his eyes for a minute, then continue the movie. But before he realized it, he fell asleep with his arm around a sleeping dragon.
A/N: Well that was fun. This one actually took me a very long time to write. I also wrote it backwards from what I usually do. Normally when I start a story I actually don't know where it's heading for and just make it up as I go along. This time I started writing at the time when Renji takes Tatsuki to his place because I couldn't think of a reason for her to be mad at Renji at first and I needed her to be angry at him. So I figured I'd just write the first part later.
It's also been a very long time since I've written a RenTats story, so I hope I got Renji correct for the most part. I sometimes feel he's a little OOC, but oh well. I needed it that way for the story.
This is also twice as long as I usually write my one shot fanfics. I guess I went into more detail than I thought when I wrote this, lol.