Ch. 4 (Alrighty! This one is longer, perhaps the longest yet… Anyways, I'm discovering that between two part time jobs and sharing a single computer with four siblings is making it harder and harder to squeeze this in… Oh well. By the way, don't stop reading this chapter just because something may happen. It really won't be what you expect. Please review or I might decide to drop this cause I don't know if ya like it! Neko.)

A brush of lips, a dance of tongues, two minds emptying of thought. This was by far, the best kiss Renji had ever experienced, not that he often got the chance. He and Byakuya pulled away from each other to breathe, a pale hand pulling at his hair tie as they moved apart. But it wasn't enough. Byakuya twisted one hand into the freed bloodlike strands, pulling the other towards him again. Renji was in a position he never imagined would be real, held in the arms of the captain he once despised. It was perfect and beautiful and there was a cold touch under his shirt…

He shoved the other back by the shoulders, his face flush and his lips bruised. "T-Taicho! Wh-what do you think you're doing?"

"Moving forward." The ease with which he said those words made the redhead shiver.

"Why?"

"Well, Abarai, usually when two people are attracted to each other and-"

"Damnit! Don't treat me like a kid, I know why, but what I want to know is...why…?" The noble's mouth hung open slightly as the redhead stumbled over his thoughts. "Uh… What I mean is… Why would you, like someone like me enough to want to do something like…"

"Sex." The redhead blushed at the frankness of his captain's words. "Well I imagine that some loving emotion as well as the adorable look on your face might have to do with it."

"I'm being serious here, Tai-"

His words cut off as the older pressed their lips together. "Say my name, Renji" he whispered hotly in Renji's ear.

"Byakuya." The name came out as a sigh and sounding much more lusty then the redhead would have liked. Renji suddenly found himself against the floor, Byakuya on top of him, and something that definitely wasn't his captain's knee was pressed against his thigh. 'Shit,' he thought. The noble kissed and sucked at his neck, removing both shirts in a move that could have rivaled his senka. He kissed and licked his way down the younger's jaw, all the way down to dip his tongue in the hollow of Renji's throat.

"W-wait a minute, B-Byakuya. This isn't… We shouldn't do this. What about your family?"

"I'll figure it out." Black hair drug slowly and torturously down the tanned skin making Renji shudder. Cool grey eyes locked with his before the lips continued.

"What… about Rukia?" This made the noble pause, but not for long. He kept moving until a hand covered what he was hoping to find. With an exasperated sigh, he sat up pulling his lieutenant with him.

"Yes?"He almost gasped when he realized the other was near tears. "Renji, what's wrong?" He put every bit of concern he could feel into the words and the hand that wiped the brown eyes.

"I'm…scared. I don't want this to be some one-night-stand that you throw away in the morning. I want to know what you want."

"Renji, I-"

"What do you want? From me, from this, from us?"

Byakuya pulled the shaking man into his arms and laid his head on the other. "I want you. I want to make you smile. I want to comfort you when you cry. I want to be there for you so that you don't ever have to feel alone. I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up in them. I want to kiss your troubles away. I want to make you feel so good that you forget how to breathe. I want to be the focus of your thoughts just as you'll be the focus of mine. I want you." He completed each sentence with a feathery kiss to the tight lips. "I won't throw you away, Renji. Never."

The redhead sniffled and brought his eyes up to meet the grey ones and he could honestly see that the man meant what he said. A single tear escaped as he brought his lips against Byakuya's once again. "Sorry."

"Don't be. We all want to feel as though someone loves us. We may be shinigami, but we are very human in nature." He waited as the other seemed to visibly calm down, and then spoke again. "Renji, I don't want to push you but if you'd like to continue…"

"Yeah." He grabbed the noble's hand and added, "But please, let me do something for you." They met for a kiss as Byakuya fell to the floor, pulling Renji on top. The redhead broke the kiss and immediately went for the belt at the other's waist. Once his pants were gone, Renji kissed and sucked on the milky skin from the navel down, the man beneath him growing more restless as he did. Renji took all of Byakuya into his mouth at once causing him to cry out.

Renji pulled away. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No! Do it again!"

"Hai, Taicho." He licked slowly from the base to tip and took his captain's arousal in inch by inch until the head was pressed against the back of his throat. His hands stroked what his tongue couldn't reach and soon the other was tensing beneath him, hands clenched in his hair. They pulled him away and he looked in confusion. Before he could say anything, Renji was flipped onto his back and Byakuya was trying to shove his fingers into the redhead's mouth.

"Suck" he panted and Renji did as he was told. In a moment, Byakuya pulled them out and shoved one into his entrance. Renji winced but thought it wasn't so bad. That is until his lover tried to add more.

"FUCK! Watch those things!"

"I have to do this or it'll… Wait. Renji… are you a virgin?" The blush confirmed his question. "Well surely you should know this. It is the same as with a woman..." Still no answer. "…Renji. You've never done this at all have you." The redhead shook his still blushing head and Byakuya almost felt like stopping. Almost.

He moved his fingers more slowly, stretching the younger man until he relaxed. Then, very slowly, he pushed in. The body beneath him immediately tensed, the tattooed face screwed in pain. Byakuya whispered soft, sweet encouragements into his lover's ear until he relaxed again. He began moving, taking a hold of Renji's arousal between them. His angle changed and a loud curse told him that was what he was looking for. He hit that spot repeatedly as Renji cried out, spilling into a pale hand. Byakuya too climaxed and fell onto the other's chest leaving soft kisses on the redhead's throat. He fell asleep.

!#$%^&*

Renji feigned sleep until he was sure that his captain was asleep and then he shifted the smaller man off him and got up quickly and dressed. He didn't know why he was panicking, maybe because of all the noise they made, maybe guilt that he just slept with his best friend's brother. He slipped out of the room and outside, pausing to breath in the cool night air before heading home.

!#$%^&*

Byakuya woke before dawn to find his room empty. 'Surely it couldn't have been a dream, couldn't it?' He flipped on the lights and scanned the room for any trace of his lieutenant. The redhead's hair tie caught his attention and he picked up the string, holding it close. 'So he was here. But if so, why did you run away again, Renji.' Deciding not to dwell on it, he prepared for work (ignoring Unohana) and walked into the office at the normal time for the brash, tardy fool to arrive.

He was surprised to find his third seat, Rikichi, at Renji's desk. The young boy adored the redhead in an idyllic kind of way that confused the man before he got to know his lieutenant. "Rikichi."

The boy jumped at his name, apparently missing the fact he was no longer alone. "H-hai?"

"Where is Abarai-fukutaicho?"

"Well, you see, sir. I managed to catch a hell butterfly this morning and it just so happened to be a message from him, sir. He said he had a stomach bug and asked me to replace him for the day."

'A lie. He was fine yesterday. So now he's ignoring me? That is something I'll not stand for.' "I see. Thank you, Rikichi." He sat at his desk, the office much quieter without the constant hushed curses about paperwork. Time passed quickly and Byakuya looked up to see that it was dark out and his third seat had already left for the day. 'Well, no use going now. He's probably out with friends or asleep.' He switched off his desk lamp and made his way home.

!#$%^&*

Byakuya hid his surprise as Renji entered their office the next day and immediately got to work. This was one of those days where there was more paperwork coming in then the two could finish. Silence hung in the cramped room; the only sounds were the scratching of pens and the frustrated sighs. As the day came to an end, Renji made up his mind that he would be the first to speak. 'Just bring it up.' "Taicho I-"

"I have a meeting to attend to with my clan. I am sure you are capable enough to finish." He picked up the small stack of papers he had left and dropped them on the redhead's desk. Without another word, he left a dumbfounded Renji staring after him. 'Did he just ignore me? Well fine! He can't have clan meetings forever. I'll get him tomorrow.'

Unfortunately for him, Renji was sent running errands all the next day and when he returned, his captain had left. The next day when he tried again, he was cut off, again.

"You should probably be betting ready now, right, Abarai-fukutaicho?"

"Huh? For what?"

"It seems you can get even more stupid then I imagined. You have a living world assignment for the next three days.

'Shit, I did forget.' "Oh… Hai." He left the office quickly, dwelling on the insult. As he left, Byakuya stared after him with a smirk.

!#$%^&*

"MAN! I'm telling you, Ichigo. Don't ever fall in love."

"Why?" The orange-haired youth asked in annoyance to the drunken shinigami leaning too close to him.

"Cuz, love sucks man. One minute ya think everything is perfect an' all, and ya sleep wit' him an' then he stabs ya in the back by ignoring ya."

"Dude, you are soo wasted. Wait, did you say 'he'? Ugh! Get away! Go be gay on that side of the table."

"Whas'a matter, Ichigo? Homophobic?" He leaned in and whispered the last word into the teen's ear.

"No but you are too close!" He shoved the redhead onto the floor and put his feet up on Renji's 'former' chair.

"OW, Damnit! The fuck was that for?"

"So who screwed you?"

"How do you know I was the one who-?"

"Stop! It's obvious by the way you're acting. If it hadn't have been done to you, you wouldn't care so much. So, who was it?"

"Aw, forget about it."

"Don't give me that! You can't just bring it up and end the conversation. What, it's not like it was your captain or something." The redhead didn't say anything and Ichigo's eyes bugged out. "NO WAY! You and Byakuya? HAHAHA-"

"Shut up!" He placed his hand over the boy's mouth, a glare in his eyes. "I swear if you tell anyone, especially Rukia, you're dead. Like hollow food, dead. Got it?"

"Yeah, man, chill out. Whoa, you look pretty pale. Better sit down."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Ichigo shook his head as the shinigami lieutenant ran to the bathrooms.

!#$%^&*

Byakuya walked into his office a few days later to find the redhead was late, again. He looked at the messy desk across from him and noticed and upturned book lay open. He picked it up, reading the cover. 'Medical Anomalies? Why would Renji have this?' He flipped the book over to where it was left open and gasped at the chapter title. 'Male Pregnancy? Is that possible?' He read the chapter and panicked at all of the scientific data. Suddenly, he felt Renji's reiatsu near the door so he put the book down and sat at his desk.

Renji walked in looking fairly tired and pale. He sat in his chair, leaning back and letting out a groan.

"Renji, are you… okay?"

"No…" He noticed that his book had been moved so he decided to get it over with. "Taicho, I'm pregnant."

Byakuya was at his side in an instant, a hand on his forehead. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? Water? Tea? A healer?"

Renji smirked. "No I'm fine."

"But you're pregnant!"

"Naw, I'm just hung-over. I just made that up so you'd say something to me. You know that this is the most you've spoken to me in the last week?"

The captain's shoulders shook and he clenched his hands, trying to take calming breaths. "Do you think this is some kind of joke, Abarai?"

"You wouldn't speak to me!"

"You ran out!" His words came out louder than he intended and they visibly stung the redhead. "Why did you leave that morning, Renji? What part of 'I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up in them' don't you get?"

"I'm sorry. I was just…scared. Rukia is my best friend and when I asked about it, you changed the subject. I felt guilty, like I was betraying her trust. Does that make sense?"

Byakuya sighed. "It does. And I understand your concerns regarding my sister, but will you let that stop you from being with me?"

"I-I guess not. I mean, we could always tell her… Or not."

That got both of them laughing rather nervously. They sat staring at each other for a while before Byakuya broke the silence. "So I have to ask, the next day, were you really sick?"

"No but I really couldn't come in that day."

"Why?"

"Cuz I'd had to have limped around all day. My back hurt like a mother-"

"I get it."