A/N: I felt bad for making you guys wait so long, so I'm putting this chapter up too.

Chapter 4

Everyone stared in shock as the Hollow struggled to pull its teeth out of the Soul Reapers torso. Renji shoved it back with all his remaining strength before delivering the final blow. The redheaded man looked down at the wounds the masked creatures teeth had left in his chest and stomach, blood pouring onto his shredded uniform.

The full damage of all the injuries he had received in the battle finally hit him and the world went black, his heavy body hitting the ground, fiery hair flying in all directions and a horrified voice screaming, "Renji!!"

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The black began to fade to colours as the Soul Reaper regained consciousness. Looking around, he realised he was back at Urahara Shoten. 'What am I doing here?'

Suddenly the memories of the previous fight hit him and he bolted upright, intense pain exploding in his upper body. A hand gently touched his shoulder and coaxed him back down onto the futon. "You shouldn't do that; your wounds need to heal."

Renji turned his head to look at Karin as she sat back down next to him. "Karin, are you okay? Your arms must be torn up pretty badly."

The black-haired girl looked down at the bandages. "They're healing. You're a lot worse off than I am."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before Renji became aware that something was off about his student. "Karin?"

She looked at him hesitantly. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?"

She was silent a little while longer before she replied, ". . . I don't understand."

The older man frowned. "Understand what?"

The teenager glanced at him for a moment. "You could've been killed, you know. Why did you jump in front of me?"

Renji simply looked at her quietly. "I didn't want you to die."

Her eyebrows rose up her brow. "I mean it. I care about you, Karin. You're a great kid."

At this, she offered him a shy smile and her onyx eyes gleamed with an emotion he didn't recognise. They clouded over again a moment later and she adverted them again. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to save me. I messed up."

Renji shook his head and softly touched her still-healing arm. "No, it's not your fault. That's just the way fights go sometimes, it happens. Actually, I'm quite proud of you."

Her head jerked up to stare at him incredulously. "Why?"

"Because, this was your first time ever facing Hollows, it's always frightening the first time, but you stood your ground and didn't run away. You managed to take all but the last one down without the least bit of assistance from anybody and when Orihime needed your help you leapt in without a second thought and killed that Hollow perfectly. That's why I'm proud of you." He finished with a bright grin on his face to offer her further assurance.

Karin stared at him for a little bit longer before once again smiling and looking down, a light pink blush now colouring her cheeks. She was quiet for another moment before walking to the other side of the room and picking up what looked like a steel casserole dish, a black bottle and a blue plastic bottle.

She once again took her place by his side and handed the blue bottle to him. "What's this?"

"We called Hanataro over to heal you, and when he was done, he gave us this. He said that when you wake up, to drink all of this and you'll be completely healed in less than two hours. Apparently it's a new toxin the Captain of Squad Four recently invented to help lesser members keep up with the demands of healing the injured during intense battles."

Renji carefully took it from her, opened it and sniffed the contents. It didn't seem so bad. Bringing it to his lips, he took a big gulp and used all of his will power to swallow it instead of spitting it back out as he so badly wanted to do.

He tried to hand it back to Karin but his student only offered him a knowing grin and said, "Sorry, Renji, you gotta drink all of it. Now."

He grimaced at her and looked at the liquid yet again. Sighing, he decided it was best to get it all over and done with and chugged it all down his throat, pulling a funny face when he was done and making Karin laugh at the sight.

He glared at her again. "What's the rest of this stuff?"

The teenager composed herself and said, "Well, Orihime was concerned about you and she thought you might be hungry when you woke up, so she made you this."

Renji gaped. Karin grinned again and gave him a pitying look. "Ichigo and Uryu tried to stop her, but she would have none of it. They couldn't push it any further without hurting her feelings, so . . ." she trailed off at that, knowing her mentor needed no further explanation.

"Oh . . . er . . . Oh! That reminds me," the Soul Reaper babbled, trying to put off the moment when he had to eat the meal, "Urahara said something about how Uryu and Kon were to blame for all the Hollows . . . So, what's the story?"

Karin snorted and shook her head. "Well, Kon somehow or another got his body ripped up, yet again, so Ichigo took him to Uryu to be sewn up. Uryu still had some Hollow bait left over from the last time he used it and Kon found it while Ichigo and Uryu had another fight over something stupid, he thought it was a cookie, started playing with it, broke it and you know the rest. "

Renji nodded along with everything she said, finding it rather odd that none of it surprised him in the slightest. Karin smirked at him and he knew it was time. "Alright then," she stated, standing up and walking to the door, "I'll leave you alone to enjoy your lunch."

The Soul Reaper scowled darkly at the door as it closed behind her. He decided to start with the drink; hopefully it would have a strong enough taste to cover up the food. He inspected the red liquid for a few minutes before swallowing a mouthful.

His brownish eyes slid in and out of focus for a few seconds before an insane grin spread across the redheaded man's face and he bolted out of bed. He must get to the Soul Society immediately!

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A/N: Yeah, I decided to cut it off there. This chapter was longer than usual, so don't complain.