Chapter 6 – River of Light

They both slept the rest of the flight, making for a fast flight. It was dark when they landed and Renji couldn't see the island at all. He had heard it was beautiful. The flight had been without incident and Renji was glad of that. He wasn't sure if Hollows could attack while they were on a plane, but he really didn't want to find out. Grabbing their bags, they went through customs quickly. Motomi was looking for her mother.

"Mom," she yelled, waving. She ran up to her and hugged her tight. She waved at Renji to come over. "Mom this is Abar-ugh, Renji, my boyfriend." She said, smiling. The mom had long blond hair and blue eyes, and looked nothing like Motomi, who must have inherited her father's looks. "Renji this is my mother, Mrs. Sasaki." She said in Japanese. Renji bowed. The mom was giving him the once over. He got the feeling she didn't like him.

She gave him a quick hug, surprising Renji. "Welcome to the United States, thanks for coming with Motomi." Motomi translated quickly. He smiled and bowed again.

"Well at least he is polite." She told Motomi. Motomi rolled her eyes, and linked her arm in her mothers. Renji fell in behind them, dragging the suitcases. When they got through the double doors Renji took a deep breath. Everything smelled like flowers. He was sad it was so dark; he wanted to see this Hawaii. He breathed in the scent again. Unlike Japan in the winter, it was warm. Even at night, people were wearing shorts and made him feel overdressed in jeans and a sweater. He peeled off his sweater as he struggled to keep up with the women, who had their heads together, talking. He noticed that Motomi was starting to shake, then take a deep breath and calm down.

Motomi ran back to him. "We are going to the house and have some dinner. Are you hungry?" She asked.

"I can always eat. Are you ok?" He asked concern in his voice.

"Yeah, seeing my mom so hurt is hard. After my dad died, Mitsuko was her world." She paused. "And I guess mine too. She was the light in our family. That's why she was named Mitsuko."

Light. The river of light. He took a quick intake of breath, and scratched the back of his head. Did it have to do something with Mitsuko? He didn't dream often, but when he did, it usually had some meaning. He pondered this while they drove to the house, the ladies were talking quickly in English, but he didn't mind. Was he sending her a message? He thought.

Arriving at the house, he could smell the ocean now and hear the surf pounding in the distance. He could have worse assignments than this one. He could be training recruits under the watchful eye of his captain or doing paperwork. Just then his denreishrinki beeped. Motomi looked at him. "Hollow?" She mouthed. He shook his head no. It was the Central 46 with a message.

He read quickly. No solution yet, still researching. Hollows increasing, causing much damage. Will keep informed. He clicked it off. She was still looking at him, waiting for an answer. He shook his head no. Her eyes darkened again. He came out of his thoughts when Motomi's mother served him an odd looking dish. It had rice that much he could figure out, some kind of funny mushy stuff and what looked like some odd flat meat. He looked at Motomi. "What is this?" He asked.

"It's a plate lunch," she answered. "Two scoop rice, macaroni and spam. It's good." She said, taking a bite of her rice. He took a small bite. It was an odd taste, rather salty. He didn't really get hungry ever anyway, so it didn't matter.

"My mom didn't have time today to make anything else; she had to plan the funeral. Here, have some POG." She said, pouring juice in his cup.

He smelled it and took a quick sip. It was fruity and tasted good on his dry throat. He nodded and held his cup out for more. She poured again smiling. "I knew you would like that. It's great with rum in it."

Renji smiled, he liked rum. Motomi's mother came up to him. "Can you ask, ugh…Renji about his tattoos?" She asked Motomi.

"Moooooommmmm," yelled Motomi. "I'm not going to ask him that. It's rude." Her mom's face was stoic. She didn't care if it was rude.

Renji smiled at their bantering back and forth. They were talking about him, he could tell. He also could tell that Motomi's reiatsu was ramping up. She was getting tired of concentrating on keeping her reiatsu shielded. If she hadn't had the cloak, Hollows would be all over the house.

"ugh Sasak..Motomi-chan," he said a note of authority in his voice, "You need to rest now, you're getting tired."

She looked at him, and nodded quickly. "Mom, I'm getting tired; I'm going to go lay down." Motomi's mother looked at her watch. It was late. Motomi went down the hall and Renji followed.

"I suppose you want to sleep in the same room? You can sleep in the guest room, it has a queen bed." She asked. Motomi's eyes widened. She didn't know what to say. They would have to figure this out.

"Uh, yeah, thanks mom." She said and grabbed Renji's hand and went into the room and shut the door.

"Ummm..." Renji started, "nice room." He said, smiling down at her. Her face was getting red.

"I didn't know what to do; we are supposed to be a couple." She said, swallowing hard. Renji looked around the room. It didn't concern him in the least where he slept.

"I can sleep on the floor. It doesn't matter to me. Besides, I need to have you close by just in case there is trouble." He started to unpack. He took the suit out of the bag and hung it on a rod. He looked at the ugly black suit. When he had tried it on at Urahara's house, it wasn't comfortable at all.

"But…. Ugh..." She really didn't want to have to share the room with him, but decided there was nothing to be done about it. She started to unpack too. "I'm going for a shower." She said, taking her Hello Kitty pajamas and toothbrush with her.

He laid back on the bed, deep in thought. What other powers other than being able to read each other's thoughts had the twins shared? What did the river of light mean? He could hear Motomi humming in the shower; her reiatsu was starting to flare a little, as she probably didn't have on the cloak on. He felt it flare again and then grow silent; she was probably using some of Urahara's techniques to calm it. He swallowed hard as he thought of Motomi in the shower. He shook his head of the thought.

He sighed and turned his thoughts back to the issue at hand. What was the Soul Society doing about the Hollows? He looked at his denreishrinki and read the message again. Hollows increasing. He decided to send a message back. He typed. Human known as "Motomi Sasaski" has powerful reiatsu. She has removed a Hollow with it. Techniques used to shield her Hollows. Things are quiet for now. Please keep me informed. He hit send.

Motomi came out of the shower wearing the Hello Kitty Pajamas and the cloak over them. He frowned, he hated those Hello Kitty pajamas for some reason, they were rather baggy. "I'm going to go patrol," he announced, feeling uncomfortable. He left behind his gigai. He went out the window and she sat staring at his lifeless gigai for a moment before turning off the light and going to sleep.