A/N: Thanks for reading this far. Just be patient, the pairing will happen, but it's a gradual process. Reviews are appreciated but hardly necessary for me to continue. I do appreciate criticism as well as praise.

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Chapter 2

Day 4

When Ichigo got home from school, all he wanted to do was go home and take a nice, long nap and act like life wasn't so miserable without his powers.

In an attempt to cheer him up, Inoue had invited him to join her and Tatsuki to go to a cafe, but he didn't feel like doing anything fun. He felt agitated and aggressive, and he didn't want to worry about hurting the girls' feelings right now.

He was ablaze when he finally arrived home only to find Renji sprawled across his bed, napping, with Ichigo's pillow over his face.

"Get the hell out of here. You don't have to stay here all day, go do something." He snatched the pillow off of Renji's face.

Renji blinked and turned toward Ichigo. "What the hell r'you yellin' about already? Goddamn, you're annoying."

"I just want some goddamn peace and quiet. Go away! Get out of my room!"

Renji sat up and smirked. "What the hell is up your ass today? I wasn't botherin' anyone."

He bit his lip in frustration. Ichigo was really craving a fight right now, and Renji recognized the expression. Suddenly, the red-hair man started to grin.

"How 'bout it?"

"How 'bout what?"

"You wanna fight me. Let's go."

Ichigo looked at him, dumbfounded. "Uh, dumbass, how are we supposed to fight without—"

"Hand to hand combat. They can't restrict that. Just our own strength. No reiatsu, no shunpou, no weapons." Renji grinned fiercely now, hoping that Ichigo would accept.

Ichigo suddenly realized that although the Soul Society had restricted their powers, he they did not say that the two were forbidden to go into their Shinigami forms.

"Alright," Ichigo agreed. "Let's go."

- - -

Since there was no need to worry about causing excess damage, and very few people in Karakura Town could actually see the two men in their Shinigami forms, they went outside and fought in the first large clearing they could find, which happened to be the outskirts of a park.

Ichigo quickly discovered that fighting the red-haired man in hand-to-hand combat was much different from random fist-fights at school or dodging his father's spontaneous attacks.

Renji started running at him at top speed, and Ichigo changed his stance to block the tackle that he was expecting. Yet at the last moment, Renji fluidly jumped up in the air and swung his leg around to kick Ichigo in the face. Surprised, he dodged at the last second and attempted to grab Renji by the ankle.

Renji landed, quickly turned around and ducked, avoiding a punch thrown by Ichigo. Then he rolled sideways and kicked Ichigo's feet out from underneath him.

After a few minutes of scuffling around, Renji started to grin. "Well, not a bad warm up, but how 'bout we get serious now? Are you up for it, Ichigo?"

Ichigo was a little bit out of breath, but he did not want Renji to notice. "More ready that you are," he taunted.

Renji attacked again, and he managed to land a punch to Ichigo's jaw. Blood started to drip from Ichigo's lower lip.

"Is that as hard as you can hit?" Ichigo smirked. "I think Inoue could slug me harder than that!" Ichigo rushed him, and they viciously punched and kicked each other for a few minutes. When they pulled away, Renji had a few scrapes on his arm and a few drops of blood running from his nose. Ichigo's lip was now freely gushing blood.

Ichigo and Renji continued throwing back and forth insults, but most of them were pretty generic.

"You make noises like a girl when you fight," Renji antagonized after a few more minutes of fighting. "You know, you're not really a worthy opponent without your zanpakutou."

"Shut the hell up, you dumbass. You're not even worth fighting WITH your zanpakutou. I can beat you bare-handed no problem!" He lunged at the red-haired man again, knocking him to the ground.

Renji fiercely kicked Ichigo's leg, causing him to stumble forward. He used the opportunity to grab the side of Ichigo's robe and slam him to the ground.

Ichigo had to admit, fighting made him feel a little bit better about the day's events. He hadn't been able to release his aggression since he left Soul Society. He hoped that Renji would want to fight again list this.

Just then, Renji elbowed him on the side of the head, causing his teeth to clack together.

"What the hell was that? You ELBOWED me? Who the hell ELBOWS people in a fist-fight?" he shouted.

"Quit yer whinin'," Renji growled. Ichigo narrowly dodged another elbow.

"What's up with that? Knock it off!" They were still wrestling on the ground at this point. Ichigo turned on his side and punched Renji in the stomach.

Renji grabbed Ichigo's wrist as he pulled away, pinned his arm on the ground, and used his other hand to slam Ichigo backward until he was laying flat on the ground.

A moment later, Renji was on top of Ichigo, and Ichigo realized with outrage that he couldn't move. Renji had him perfectly pinned to the ground.

"I think this is a win on my part," Renji said smugly, and Ichigo sneered at him and tried to wrestle away harder.

"Y'see," Renji continued, completely oblivious to Ichigo's struggling, "the bad part about fightin' like this is if you're inexperienced enough to allow someone to pin you like this—the way I just got you down—it's pretty damn hard to get up again."

"Alright, you're made your point. Get off of me now, asshole."

"Of course," Renji continued, ignoring the struggling man underneath him, "only a complete amateur would fall for somethin' like this. I mean, honestly—" Renji moved his face so his mouth was just two inches away from Ichigo's mouth—"you are an idiot to fall for this."

Ichigo tried to headbutt him, but to Ichigo's surprise, Renji dodged to the right and let his face fall until Ichigo could feel the Shinigami's breath on the side of his neck, instead of simply pulling backwards.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo barked. "Get away from me. What are you trying to do, make out with me?" Renji's mouth moved closer to his neck, until his lips were nearly touching Ichigo's exposed skin.

Ichigo felt a chill run down his spine, and for a few moments, he completely forgot about trying to break free of Renji's grasp.

Then, Renji slowly pulled his head away from Ichigo's neck and stared straight into his brown eyes. His face was now only an inch away from Ichigo's face.

Ichigo was still motionless, and Renji slightly relaxed his grip on his arms. They were still slightly out of breath from the fight, and Ichigo faintly realized that he could feel Renji's heart pumping against his own chest.

For a moment, Ichigo hoped that Renji wouldn't move.

A slightly conflicted look flickered across Renji's eyes, and then he let go of Ichigo's limbs and rolled off to the side. He laid down next to Ichigo, and both of the men stared up at the sky. They didn't speak for a few minutes.

"'S'getting' dark," Renji commented after a moment.

Ichigo blinked, realizing that the sun was going down. "Geez, how long were we at it? It didn't seem that long."

"It must've been at least two or three hours," he responded. Ichigo turned to him, and noticed that a grin was starting to spread across his face.

"What now?" Ichigo questioned.

"Huh? Oh—just, fightin'. It was just what I needed. Do it again sometime?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "I think I need it, too." Ichigo felt his stomach twist, wondering if that was the only thing he needed.