Summary: Renji, who is forced to stay inside the cathedral of Paris, meets Ichigo, the gypsy of the streets. Grimmjow is the stubborn Captain of the guards, and falls for the orange-haired boy. Based The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Warnings: Language, violence, OOC, AU, character death, risqué-clothing and thoughts, unbeta'd.
Disclaimer: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is a Disney movie and novel that this fanfiction is based off of, does not belong to me. The original idea was caribou and cake's, and I asked her permission to write this story. She granted it to me, so ask her if you don't believe me.
A/N: I know it's been a while since my last update, and for that, I apologize. My laptop was fucked, and with the cost of all my files, I was able to fix it. I had to rewrite everything I had lost and my motivation to write again was lost. But it has returned, and if you're lucky, I may just update another chapter for you tonight of tomorrow!
A/N: Oh, and I also will be writing and hopefully updating the first chapter of my new story One Foot Out the Door either tonight or tomorrow. Keep an eye out for it!
"Do not be hasty, child. You made quite a fuss at the festival this morning. It would be unwise to stir Aizen's anger anymore." Kisuke spoke softly as he lit the candles around the church. It was getting late, the sun going farther down in the sky to prevent much light from entering the church windows.
"But you saw what happened out there, letting the people torture the poor boy. I thought that if one person could just stand up for him…." Ichigo sighed, standing up. "What do they have against people that are different, anyway?" He muttered to the archdeacon.
"You can't right all the wrongs of this world by yourself." The man chuckled, basking in the youth's innocence, believing he could change the world by a few words.
"Well no one out there is going to help." Ichigo said, gesturing to the large wooden doors that led outside.
"Perhaps there's someone in here, who can." Kisuke offered, patting Ichigo's shoulder as he walked past hi and into the darkness of the church's corridors.
Ichigo sighed and walked deeper into the church. He saw many people praying in the pews, but did not stop, because he knew none of them would be able to understand. He stopped when he came face to face with a statue of the Virgin Mary, carrying baby Jesus.
"I don't know if you can hear me, and if you can, if you would even listen to me. Yeah, I know I shouldn't speak to you, but I just want to ask one thing. Please, help my people, the poor and downtrod, anybody that is faltering. I thought we all were the children of God." He whispered softly.
Renji had heard the sounds of Aizen inside of the church, but it seems he was not here for him, at least not yet. So he climbed down the steps into the cathedral, seeing that the gypsy boy seemed to be praying quietly. He tiptoed closer, trying to get a look at the boy, but accidentally trips and knocks over another candlestaff. It clattered over loudly, and gained several people's attention. They turned to him with angry faces, demanding what the bell-ringer was doing there when he already caused so much trouble earlier that day.
Ichigo had noticed as well, and looked at Renji with wide eyes before turning towards him. Renji however, ran away, up the steps again and into his sanctuary.
"Wait!" Ichigo called as he ran after him. "I want to talk to you." Renji got to the top of the staircase, with Ichigo right on his tail. Renji runs into his room, ignoring the dozens of questions coming from the statues about the very pretty boy following after him. He tripped slightly over the curtain he had forgotten to tie up before he left that morning as Ichigo came in behind him. He was trapped.
"Here you are. I was afraid I had lost you. I wanted to apologize for this morning. I had no idea who you were. I would never in my life have pulled you up on that…stage…if …I…had…known…" Ichigo trailed off amazed at the sight of all of Notre Dame's bells.
Renji, who had untangled himself from the curtain, realized the Ichigo truly meant him no harm and he smiled slightly. "This is where I live. That's Little Sophia, and, Jean Marie, Ann Marie, and Louise Marie. Triplets. And-and this one…Big Marie." He pointed out each bell, walking closer to Ichigo slowly, so as not to scare him away.
"They're beautiful." Ichigo murmured. "But I would like to know you're name, if that's all right." He asked, turning to the other.
"Renji. And yours?" Renji asked as well, surprised that this boy would want to know his name.
"Ichigo."
"It's a very beautiful name." Renji said quickly. "Would you like to see something, Ichigo?" The gypsy's name sounded even more amazing rolling off his tongue than he expected.
"Of course." Ichigo replied, and he followed Renji out of the tower and onto the balcony of the church. There were just in time to see the last of the sun's rays and it began to set behind the Thames River. Ichigo gasped quietly and leaned on the railing, head in hands as he watched the sun set.
"Wow, I bet the king himself doesn't have a better view than this." He said in a dreamy manner.
"You're the only one to see it, besides me." Renji muttered, leaning his back against the railing as well, only a few feet away from where Ichigo leaned.
"Really?"
"Yeah, not too many people want to come visit you when your face is the ugliest in all of Paris." He grimaced as he remembered the events that took place earlier that day.
"You're not ugly." Ichigo shot back, standing up straight from his position and glaring at the Renji.
"Yes I am. Aizen told me so. He raised me, you know. Took me in when my mother was going to kill me because I was a monster."
"Give me your hand." Ichigo requested, and Renji, for whatever reason, did not hesitate to lay his open hand in the gypsy's.
"Hmm, that's odd." Ichigo said, running his fingers all over Renji's palm. "A long life line. Oh, and this one says you're super loyal."Renji vaguely noted that it tickled, but the bell-ringer was too focused on the fact that Ichigo was touching him.
"What?"
"No monster lines. Not one." And Renji grinned.
"You helped me, now I'll help you." Renji said, standing from this place that the two were sitting on the ground. "I'll help you escape.
"But there are guards at every door!" Ichigo protested.
"Who said we'd be using a door?" Renji smiled brightly. "You carry him, and I'll carry you. Hope you aren't afraid of heights." He said tying a rope around the railing and pointing to the goat that had followed Ichigo through the church and onto the tower.
Ichigo scoffed. "Of course not." He grabbed the animal and walked over to Renji. The other grinned again and grabbed onto Ichigo's waist, hoisting him over his broad shoulder and jumping off the side of the building, making sure to keep a good hold on the rope in his hand. Ichigo covered his mouth on the way down, so his scream could not be heard by the guards surrounding the church. When the group had reached the end of the rope and hung dangling next to the second floor, Ichigo said,
"Ok, now I'm scared." Renji chuckled. "The trick is not to look down." And he began swinging back and forth a few times before landing on a piece of siding. He swung Ichigo and his goat around until they were both in his arms.
"See? That wasn't so bad." Just then, the piece of siding slid away from the roof, along with the three people on top of it. The siding kept moving, until it went completely off the roof and clattered to the ground below them. Renji jumped off at the last second and landed on the roof again, so he would not fall off the roof as well and drop the gypsy boy and his pet.
The siding made a banging noise as it hit the road a few yards away. Ichigo heard the guards chatter turning the same direction, going to investigate the noise. The group laughed softly as the swung to the ground.
"I hope I didn't scare you." Renji apologized as the two humans and the goat hid behind a statue, away from the eyes of the roaming soldiers.
"Not for a minute." Ichigo laughed, before pausing for a minute. "Come with me!" He demanded Renji, grabbing his hands and holding them within his own.
"Go with you where?" He asked, very surprised. His face flushed from their hands touching again, and Renji was thankful for the darkness of the night so Ichigo could not see his blush.
"To the Court of Miracles!" he said. "Leave this place."
"Don't you remember what happened today? I'm never going out there again…'Renji trailed off.
"Ok, then I'll came and visit you!"
"No! Aizen would catch you." Renji quickly explained.
"Then I'll come after sunset."
"But at sunset I ring the evening mass and then I-." Renji lamely finished as Ichigo pressed a quickly kiss to his head, right over one of the dark marks on his forehead. Any thought he had left was gone after that kiss.
"Here," Ichigo said, reaching into the pocket of his pants and taking out a chord with a woven band on the end. "When you wear this woven band, you hold the city in your hands. Use this, whenever you need sanctuary." And then he was gone. The gypsy boy was sprinting down the cobbled streets with his goat quickly following behind him. Renji sighed and smiled, and then climbed back up the cathedral and back into his tower.
Just as he was about to descend the steps into the church, he was greeted with a fiery light and a body in gleaming armor.
"Hi there. Lookin' for the gypsy boy, you seen him?" The man asked, the torch next to his face reflecting off of his white teeth. Who was this man? A solider no doubt, but Renji had never seen a soldier with bright blue hair before. But that didn't mean he was supposed to be here.
"Get out!" Renji shouted before taking a swing at the man.
"Whoa, whoa, easy now!" The soldier said, stepping back down a few steps t avoid being decked in the face.
"This is sanctuary, no soldiers. Get out!" Renji said again, grabbing the front of the man's undershirt and lifting him up.
Boy, this guy sure had a hell of a grip.
"I meant her no harm." Grimmjow hissed, still slightly stunned that the bell ringer could pick p the Captain of the Guards. Renji said nothing, still glaring into the blue eyes.
"Tell him from me. I didn't mean to lock him up in here. But it was the only way I could save his life." He said.
"I'll tell him, if you go, now!"
"Alright, alright. I'll go. But could you put me down first?" He asked with a slight chuckle in his deep voice. Renji nodded shortly and set Grimmjow back down on the steps below. Grimm started to turn away, but turned back and said,
"Oh, and one more thing. Tell Ichigo that he's very lucky.
"Lucky?"
"Lucky to have a good friend like you." And the blue haired man was gone, hurrying back down the steps with his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
Renji turned back to his room and saw that his friends were no longer stone, and that they were as happy as little girls in a school yard.
"Hey, hay! Way to go there, lover-boy!" Ikkaku walked over and patted Renji on the back.
"L-lover-boy?" Renji asked.
"Don't act so modest. We saw the kiss that Ichigo gave you." Yumichika stated, folding his arms with an eyebrow raised to his forehead.
"Oh, we'll don't worry about that. I'll never see him again anyway."
"Don't say that!" Rukia begged. "You'll see him again. Maybe not soon, but you will. You just have to be patient."
Renji sighed and sat back down at his work table, groaning and slamming his head onto the wood and closing his eyes. How the hell could Rukia expect him to be patient when today was the only day of his life where he had had ten times as much human contact as he had ever had before?