Treason

Thank you again for reviewing and Hyou-kun; you must make a sequel of your story, Liaison! Cause your story is the reason I wanted to make my own story. I totally LOVE your story! Uhum… sorry. That was quite random. Let's go on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: unfortunately, I do not own Bleach, nor any of the characters.

Warning: Character-death, Renji/Ichigo in later chapters, bad grammar and probably yaoi in future chapters.

Chapter 4

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Ichigo slowly awoke, still feeling tired. He snuggled his face in the warmth and grasped the soft fabric that was near his hands.

Renji awoke too, feeling the soft vibrations under him. He opened his eyes, being greeted with the bright orange hair, where he still rested his chin on. He buried his face deeper in the orange locks and sighed. He hoped these moments would never end, but he didn't know what Ichigo thought about all this. But if the other didn't like it, he would have probably killed him by now. That; or Ichigo is still sleeping. Renji sweatdropped at the latter.

He remembered last night, how Ichigo had finally broken down in tears and how he had allowed him to comfort him. How they had ended up in the position they were in now.

He was leaned against a wall, while Ichigo lay comfortably in his lap. His face snuggled in Renji's neck, who still rested his chin on the other's head.

Ichigo, now fully awake, realised his position. He knew he was still lying in the other's arms, but he felt too embarrassed to move. How he had cried in the other's arms, he just wanted to forget everything that happened yesterday. But one problem: he had to go to school and had only ten minutes to do so. He decided to just stay still and hope Renji would probably wake up soon and throw him of his lap.

But it never came, after 5 minutes he still lay on Renji's lap. He didn't know what to do, he didn't dare to move, and he actually felt quite desperate.

He suddenly felt soft gentle stroking over his hair and immediately paralysed. Was Renji awake!? Why didn't the other throw him off!? Or was Renji doing this subconsciously? He didn't know and actually didn't want to know.

Twenty minutes had already past by now and Ichigo felt quite drowsy in the soothing touch of the other. He had never realised this could be so relaxing. His eyes shot open in realisation; he was enjoying another man's touches! He immediately reacted and pushed himself away from the other, who was now watching him with surprise filled eyes. Ichigo hurriedly crawled away from the other shinigami and seated himself on the other side of the room.

"What's with you?" Renji said as he raised one eyebrow.

"What's with me!? You were the one, stroking my hair!" Ichigo said, anger building up inside of him. He didn't understand how Renji could be so calm in this embarrassing situation

"Ugh… always making such a fuss." Renji said, shaking his head in a mocking way. Ichigo clenched his teeth; the other shinigami had a real talent to crawl under his skin. He balled his fists, ready to take a sprint and show Renji a piece of his mind if he hadn't suddenly realised he was way too late for school. He quickly stood up, totally forgetting their argument.

Renji blinked at Ichigo's sudden mood-change. "Huh? What the fuck are you doi…" But he could never finish his question since Ichigo suddenly fell down on his knees.

"Ichigo!" Renji worriedly yelled and rushed to his friend's side. He watched the other, not knowing what to do.

"…I'm fine… just felt dizzy, that's all." Ichigo mumbled as he rubbed his head with one hand. He felt far from fine but he didn't want to worry Renji any more then he already did.

"What were you actually doing, you should go to bed in your state…boke." Renji grumbled as he helped Ichigo stand up again, holding the other carefully so he wouldn't drop again. The last word was said in a more gentle way than the other words.

"I have to go to school, I already missed too much of it!" Ichigo scowled, hitting Renji's hands off his shoulders. He still felt uncomfortable being close to Renji after last night.

"You don't have to act so tough, Ichigo. Cause I've seen a totally different side of you last night!" Renji said, irritated by the other's behaviour.

Ichigo, now totally fuming in anger pushed the other hard against his bed. Renji lost his balance and fell back on the bed, dragging Ichigo with him. "What the hell would you know!?" Ichigo yelled in Renji's face, his eyes clenched shut with tears. His hands that held Renji's shirt were trembling badly.

Renji realised his mistake and carefully held Ichigo's trembling hands in his own, untangling the fingers that were clenched in his shirt. He closed his eyes, reopened them and looked at Ichigo's eyes.

"Look at me, Ichigo." He said calmly.

Ichigo kept them stubbornly closed and shook his head, his grip loosening on the other shinigami. Renji took his chance and turned himself and Ichigo, so that he was now on top and Ichigo under him. Ichigo startled, looked surprised up at him and started to struggle, remembering such a position all too well.

"Look at me." Renji repeated, this time a hint of annoyance was in his voice. He kept a secure lock on the other's wrists again but it looked like Ichigo had gained more of his health since it was harder to control him.

"Dammit, let me go!" Ichigo yelled as he shook his head to the left and to the right, trying to hit Renji in a last attempt. But he soon stopped as he felt a warm and aching feeling on his cheek. He looked surprised up at the other's crimson eyes and gulped.

"Sorry… That I had to hit you like that, but you were annoying me." Renji said a bit uncomfortable as he averted his eyes.

"That was the only reason!?" Ichigo fumed, eyes widening.

"Yup" Renji said simply as a big grin spread across his face.

Ichigo huffed and stomped the other away with his now free hands. Renji fell next to Ichigo on the bed and stayed there, his hands resting under his head. The grin was still plastered on his face as he silently watched the ceiling.

They were silent for a while, lying next to each other, enjoying each other's company.

"So, you're gonna stay home then?" Renji asked, breaking the silence. He didn't look at Ichigo; he just kept gazing at the ceiling.

Ichigo glanced at the other, startled by the sudden question.

"Yeah… I'll stay." Ichigo said, as he watched the other shift. "But only for today!" He quickly added.

Renji glanced amused at Ichigo, who now quickly averted his eyes, fumbling with the buttons of his pyjama.

"You're weird; I would grab every chance to get away from those never-ending piles of work in Soul Society, and here you are; in dire need of school." Renji said grinning broadly.

He got the reaction he expected.

Ichigo shot up, "I do not! And why are you actually here?" Ichigo continued. "Don't you have to be in Soul Society?"

"Oh wait, I know. They kicked you out." This time Ichigo was the one grinning.

"Shut up, they didn't. I just took the week off and am now annoying, or rather comforting you." Renji snorted.

Ichigo glared at Renji in response, warning the other.

"Yeah yeah, calm down. It's okay, I won't tell anyone how you were cradled, like a little baby, in my arms and how you wailed like one." Renji said, his grin widening into a smirk.

Ichigo, now totally fuming, lunged at Renji. But the other had already expected it and easily dodged it, so Ichigo hit the wall full-face.

Renji burst out in laughing while Ichigo rubbed his now aching nose and forehead.

"Auw… that hurts." Ichigo moaned. He lay back down on the bed, facing the ceiling, his hand still rubbing the sore spots on his face.

"Your own fault!" Renji teased in a singsong voice, smirking down on the other.

"Shut up…" Ichigo muttered, glaring between his fingers up at Renji.

It was silent for a while again and Renji sat himself down next to Ichigo. He looked at the other and slightly frowned.

"Ow?" Renji replaced Ichigo's hand with his own and checked his temperature. "Your fever has lowered but it's still there, so hop in your bed and go to sleep! Then I'll make some tea." While saying that, he looked at the untouched tea that was still on the tray.

Ichigo didn't feel like arguing again and shifted in his bed. Ignoring Renji, who got the tray and went out of his room to make some new.

How many days has it been? Not even a week. He felt guilty, he should feel worse then he now did. He should have died with them.

But somehow the other shinigami had made him feel better. He had kept everything inside him and last night… well, he felt relieved. Like a huge burden was lifted off his shoulder, all by Renji's doing. He had never really let someone in like he had done with Renji last night.

But he realised, the moment he relaxed, he immediately had to think about his family. He couldn't forget their pained faces, nor their smiling faces. Images were flashing in front of his vision.

Ichigo clenched his head between his hands and curled up, how he longed for the comforting, protective arms of Renji right now.

He shifted his face in his pillow, moving his body along, his body now bent for over with his head in his pillow. He pulled the sheets closer around his body, searching some comfort in it.

He imagined it was Renji holding him, whispering comforting things in his ear that calmed him down. It was working; his body reacted to it and lost some of the tenseness.

His body still felt hysterical, but better than it was before. The images blurred but he could here voices, painfully familiar voices. Karin's voice was rising above the others. He could hear the last words she had said before she died. Shinigami…

Ichigo's eyes shot open, what did this mean? Did the shinigami kill his family?

It couldn't be, could it? He and the shinigami were partners; they helped each other out, right? But still… some shinigami might have held some grudges after him, after he invaded Soul Society and all. But would anybody be so low to kill innocent people?

Ichigo clenched his head harder, feeling again a migraine coming up. He noticed how this thinking always led him to a worse condition, but he wanted to know.

His sister wouldn't just say things that weren't right. She was an honest person, but that meant…

Ichigo clenched his eyes shut again.

Shinigami had done this, they had done this. It couldn't be someone else. His sister would never lie to him, but it just was all so damn hard to believe. He himself was a shinigami, Renji was a shinigami and Rukia, almost half the people he knew were shinigami.

He felt betrayed, the people he believed in were now his enemies. He felt like he could never trust a shinigami again. He suddenly realised how Ishida must have felt, but he had the feeling that he must be feeling worse. It sounded selfish to him; but he was a shinigami he was one of them and he had lost more than he could ever imagine. With that, his sisters just didn't deserve to die. They were too young, so full of live and that had been taken away from them in one slash.

Ichigo felt the tears coming up again, but bravely kept them inside. He had shown enough emotions already.

He didn't hear the door open, he only realised someone was in the room when he heard the all to familiar voice.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Renji said as he lifted up the sheets. Not succeeding, since Ichigo had a good grip on them.

"Go away!" Ichigo yelled in the sheets.

"Ugh… we're gonna repeat this again?" Renji grunted, pulling harder.

Ichigo suddenly let go of the sheets, making Renji loose his balance, landing full on his butt. He wanted to yell at the other but when he met the other's eyes, his breath stocked.

Ichigo's eyes held so much sadness; he felt his heart twinge in pity. But he didn't show it though; it would only anger the other.

He went back to the tray he had set again on Ichigo's desk, now with fresh tea in it. He filled two cups with the steamy hot liquid and handed one to the other boy.

Ichigo sat up and accepted the cup gratefully, noticing how very thirsty he actually was. Renji went to sit next to him, his own cup in his hands.

"So… wanna tell me now what's wrong?" Renji carefully questioned, since Ichigo always got hot-headed when asked such a question.

It was silent for a while, both drinking silently their tea.

"…Thank you…" Ichigo said breaking the silence, fully ignoring the last question.

Renji looked surprised at the other. "For what?" He questioned, he had already forgotten his last question, which Ichigo was grateful for.

"For helping me… you know…" Ichigo said, a bit uncertain.

Renji suddenly felt so attracted to the other boy. He looked so vulnerable and downright sexy right now. He didn't know where these feelings came from, but what he did know was that they were hard to ignore and they wouldn't be ignored this time.

He raised his hand to Ichigo's cheek and gently stroked it. Ichigo's eyes widened and looked surprised up at him.

Renji saw the same glint of need in the other's eyes, it was faint but it was there. And he would put it to good use.

He moved his head closer to Ichigo's; feeling the other's erratic breath on his own lips and started to caress Ichigo's cheek in a soothing way, calming the other down. Never breaking eye contact.

This was it, and he wouldn't turn back now.

He moved closer to Ichigo, locking their lips in a gentle kiss. It was a soft and sweet kiss and Ichigo had to admit; he really liked it.

Renji slowly started to massage Ichigo's lips with his own, making the other moan in response. His hand that rested on Ichigo's cheek slowly slipped down and was now making soothing forms over the younger boy's chest.

He felt soft fingers in his neck, fumbling with the few stray hairs. He smirked in the kiss, noticing how Ichigo loosened up more.

Ichigo noticed too and quickly broke the kiss, staring at Renji's deep crimson eyes.

"Maybe… we shouldn't have done that…"

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OMG! They finally made some progress, thank god. Uhum… sorry.

I don't know what I think about this chapter, the end was a bit rushed. But tell me what you think, that's more important! And maybe you think it's a bit weird Ichigo blames the shinigami, but he's not thinking straight and it's important for my story, so we'll see.

Oh, and thank you for all the reviewers who reviewed so far, you guys are great!

R&R