Alright guys! got this one out a little early so here you go! Don't get used to the everyday thing again, tho.
Chapter 14
Renji lay in the bed, curled around Mara as she traced her favorite pattern on his hand and arm that was draped over her.
"I like waking up to you," she mumbled sleepily, turning her head so he could place a kiss on her cheek. "You don't seem to be as busy lately, it's nice."
"Your rietsu box seems to be working exceedingly well, which helped at first. Now we have Hat and Clogs' protection barrier, too. Barely anything has managed to make it in the past few days and what has has been… out of my area. There's another Shinigami in town, remember? Everything over near the residential area is being looked over by her. God forbid something comes close to her precious-"
"Kurasaki-kun!"
They both lifted their heads and stiffened at Orihime's loud greeting ringing down the hall.
"Oh, uh- Inoue. Nice to see you," came the deep, mumbled reply.
"Kurosaki-kun, we all need to get together again! Maybe I could call Sado and we could go for coffee or-" Orihime rambled before being cut off.
"Look, Inoue, I'm just here to take my dad home," the voice continued gruffly, "can you just tell me where he is?"
"Oh… yes," the disappointment in Orihime's voice was palpable.
Mara shifted closer to Renji, whispering out, "He's a bit of a dick." Renji only grunted in reply before the door to her room flew the rest of the way open.
"OI! Old man! Let's- Who the hell are you?" Ichigo asked loudly, looking around in confusion.
Mara could feel Renji's rietsu rise in the presence of the orange haired visitor, his arm around her tightening. His grip on her seemed to strengthen with every yelled word.
"Clearly, I'm not your 'old man'" Mara deadpanned back at him without blinking an eye as she rubbed Renji's hand soothingly.
Again, Ichigo looked around the room and her stuff strewn about it. "Why are you here?" he bit off at her.
Mara raised her arm, weakly gesturing at the medical equipment around her. "I'm sick," she answered mirroring his cool tone, "I think you have the wrong room, buddy."
"Wait," Ichigo said, studying Mara through narrowed eyes and eliciting another tight squeeze from the aggravated Shinigami behind her, "I know you. You were at the park…. with Abarai."
Renji was amazed at her fortitude as Mara's face didn't twitch a millimeter at his accusatory tone. He tensed his hand into a fist under her fingers, hoping she would get the message to not talk about him to Ichigo. He didn't know why he didn't want him to know that he was there. In his heart, he knew that Rukia's betrayal was not Ichigo's fault at all. Still, he wanted even thoughts of himself removed from the head of the man in front of them.
Mara simply regarded the intruder in her room with a mask to rival Byakuya before finally raising an eye brow to admit recognition. "Oh yeah, I recognize you; the gawking pervert that ruined what had promised to be a wonderful make-out session."
"Oi! I am NOT-"
"AND," Mara added loudly, cutting off the now-steaming Ichigo, "My boyfriend's name is Ace."
Renji couldn't help but snort as he tried to hold back the laughter welling in him at how well the little hell-cat in his arms had shut the man down, leaving his mouth so open he could catch flies. He almost felt bad, having been on the end of Mara's tongue-lashing before, but never like this.
Ichigo's face fell into frustrated confusion again. "But I saw…" he trailed off.
"I know it's hard to believe that a dying girl could snag the hottest man in town, but here we are. And I sure think you saw plenty back in the park, pervert," Mara said, acid in her tongue. "Unless you are planning on scrubbing down to help me out of bed. Now, don't you have an old man to find?"
Ichigo's face could have matched Renji's hair, but any response he was about to make was cut off by Orihime popping her head in the door.
"Mara-chan it's time to- what is going on in here? Kurosaki-kun, what are you doing in Mara-chan's room?" She asked, quickly taking in the scene of Mara and Renji laying in the bed, him fighting laughter and her glaring at Ichigo. Ichigo looked like the flames of hell were leaping in his eyes as he prepared to light into the girl on the bed. Movement from Renji caught her eye as he put his finger to his lips, hoping that she would get the message to not mention him.
"Let's go, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said, laying her hand on his arm, prompting him to turn toward the door and head away. "I'll take you to Isshin-san."
"Bye, Ichigo!" Mara called out in a saccharine voice, unable to resist having the last word.
The man froze and Mara realized her mistake a split second to late. She had used his name, which she shouldn't know. Ichigo spun to face her. "You bitch! I know you know something! I swear I will come over there and you will regret-"
Before Ichigo could finish his sentence, Renji had flash stepped in from of the bed. His thumb had already popped Zabimaru from it's sheath, his sword hand was at the ready. Tendrils of red power wound up around his body like a venomous snake slowly positioning itself before the strike. Orihime jumped in between the now very human Ichigo and the red-haired man whose eyes spoke death.
"Kurisaki Ichigo!" she roared with a force very few knew that she possessed, "You will not threaten one of my patients in my hospital. Have you no shame to hassle a dying girl! Get out of this room and go to your father!" With that she pulled the tall man with an unknown strength towards the door, slamming it behind her.
Renji finally relaxed, turning back around to see Mara staring at the now closed door with a shaken expression. "You weren't in any danger, Love. He could have never reached you," he told her surely, sitting on the edge of the bed and running his fingers through her wild blue locks.
"I know, " Mara answered him distractedly, wide eyes still not leaving the door. "Sorry about that," she continued, "He just pissed me off. Did you see how mean he was to Orihime?"
"Yeah, he's changed since the end of the war. Thanks for covering me there. You played it like a champ, Ippin, and I can always back you up when that mouth of yours digs holes," Renji quipped, smiling down at her.
"I'll always have your back, Ace. Besides, I know he's no problem, " she said, finally turning her gaze to Renji and giving him a wan smile to placate him. But as Renji rose again, pulling out her wheelchair and disconnecting her IV in preparation for Orihime's return, Mara couldn't help but feel her eyes dragged back to the entrance of her room.
Everyone else had been so caught up in Ichigo going crazy that they hadn't looked at the open door at the time, only she had. Only she had seen that Renji's steel wasn't the only blade whose base was exposed. Only she had noticed the faint curls of white power edge just around the base of the door frame, looking like the front edge of a sinister snow cloud. Only she had seen the petite woman robed in black take up sentry when Renji had arisen to her defense. And it was only Mara's eyes that were locked onto by lavender ones, glaring daggers at her alone.
.
.
.
Renji landed on silent feet back in Maras open window. A hollow had finally landed in what he had dubbed 'his' territory of Karakura Town and he ran off quickly. Another adjuchas, this time spitting distance from becoming a Vasto Lorde. That was the one downside of the protection around them: If anything was strong enough to make it through then it was going to be strong enough to put up a fight.
He flopped down in the chair to relax his muscles before kicking off his sandals, preparing to climb into bed with Mara. He was happy to see that she was still asleep soundly. Sleeping was nearly all she did now, but he relished the wakeful moments in between. With enough rest, they could generally manage a decent chunk of time together before she was back out.
Sighing, Renji stood and popped his neck, but he froze, right as he was about to reach for the covers. He didn't have to see her or hear her entry; he knew the feel of her entering a room nearly as well as he knew his own.
Rukia.
Turning back to the window he had come through, he saw her petite frame alit on tip-toes in the sill. Her hair was longer than he remembered and shaggy from quick, rough cuts with her sword. Her uniform was frayed at the edges, yet her proud carriage had not wavered. Her chin still tilted up in the same haughty way towards him that had developed during their time working together six years prior. Her eyes were cold, calculating, and fierce.
"I was surprised to see you still remembered your duties, seeing as how preoccupied you seem to be with your pet," she said with a sneer in her low voice. Renji had never thought of her gravelly tone as grating before but to hear her voice insulting his love made it just seem ugly.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think, Rukia?" Renji replied, crossing his arms across his broad chest and adopting the most bored expression he could muster. "You are, after all, the one who abandoned your post, your friends, and your family to go gallivanting in search of a cure for a human. Last I checked, I actually have a job to do, unlike you."
Rukia's eyes narrowed at the man in front of her. Besides more tattoos and longer hair, he certainly seemed to be the same man, but that nonchalant expression and painfully bored tone didn't belong to the Renji she had left behind. He had been weak, dominated by his feelings. This Renji spoke boldly. It also didn't escape her notice that he, either consciously or unconsciously, had placed the wall of himself between her and the girl in the bed.
Rukia's eyes shifted to the small form there. She didn't know this girl 'Mara' but she already hated her. Not only had she made Ichigo upset, but she seemed to have claimed her place amongst Rukia's friends, what was left of them anyways. It made her angry, for a reason that she couldn't quite pinpoint, that she had been replaced in the circle that was once so tight. Even Renji had abandoned her in favor of this frail human. That also meant that she had something that Rukia had been searching for a long time: the power to see Shinigami.
"At least it looks like you may have finally fulfilled your duty as a friend. Tell me Renji, where did you find her? She can see us right?" Rukia asked, slathering on an innocent tone as if that would soothe the cut of her remark.
"She can," Renji stated shortly, maneuvering to further angle himself between Rukia and Mara. "Is this really all you're here for, Rukia?" Renji fought the discouragement in his tone and the sadness in his heart. The Rukia he had grown up with was so far gone and it made him so sad. He didn't love her anymore, he realized as he looked at her, eyeing Mara like a prize full of secrets, waiting to be ripped open. But damn he had wondered, for a split second there when she had landed in that window, if maybe he could have his friend back.
Rukia turned wild, nearly desperate, eyes on him. "Just tell me what I have to do, Renji. What would Ichigo have to do to be able to see like her?"
Renji sighed as she stared intently at him. "He would have to die. And then keep on dying," he replied seriously.
"You… aren't joking," Rukia said in shock, before recovering herself and latching into anger again. "You pathetic excuse for a friend. You are no more help and no more caring than the last time I saw you. How dare you raise my hopes just to dash them. I will break you for this, Renji, and maybe- if I'm lucky- I will use her to do it!"
Renji whipped his zanpakuto out in reaction to the threat, but it was for nothing. Rukia alit into the night, disappearing in a second.
Renji shut the window firmly before finally climbing into the bed. He sat in silence for a moment, staring at the blue haired girl as he played with a curling tendril that had escaped her messy bun. He couldn't help but wonder what Rukia was thinking, what she could possibly try to do. Couldn't she see that Ippin had been through enough? He picked up Maras hand, kissing the back of it gently with trembling lips.
She rolled slightly and opened her eyes to look up at him. "Renji? Are you ok?"
"Yeah," he said softly, "just a longer battle than I expected."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, "All the more reason to come to bed then."
Smiling gently despite his inner turmoil, Renji followed her pull and laid down next to her, gathering her close and holding her tightly to him.
"Are you sure you're ok, Ace?" she asked again, snuggling her head into her favorite spot on his chest.
"I am now, Ippin," he whispered against her hair, "I love you."
"I love you too, Aisare Shi-sha," she replied groggily.
Renji held her close, guarding her even in his sleep until morning.
However, when morning broke and the sky released its darkness to reveal the endless expanse of blue, Mara didn't wake up.
