Well guys, I can no longer drag my feet on this- the story is now officially M rated. There's no way around it this time, but if you must skip that bit of fun, then you get like 6 paragraphs and then to pick it back up in the last third. Go big or go home right? Anywho...

First part of this chapter with Renji song is Sam Tinnesz feat Yacht Money- Play with Fire. Second part with Hisagi is Tool- Sober.

Chapter 47

"Ippin?" Renji asked worriedly, a familiar crease in his brow.

Mara blinked her eyes open to the brightness around her. Wait, not bright. Blue. Blue skies surrounded Renji's tousled hair like a halo, painting him in vivid color. Highlighting the strong planes of his face, his sharply cut jaw, and his stark tattoos. "The sky…" she whispered, tracing his tattooed brow to his high cheekbones as if in a daze, "It's- it's…"

"It's you," he whispered right back, leaning his forehead against hers. Cradling her small body to him, Renji lifted Mara and flash stepped to a now green and soft area of the park. He grinned in delight as he felt her legs and arms lift to wrap around him in a hold that felt like the forever they once dreamt of. "If this is my dream- a world of my creation," he said softly, laying her in the grass, only to follow her down and gently press the length of his body against her, "Then you can finally see how much I need you in it."

Her large expressive eyes turned to his as if to assess the truth of his words. But there it was, shining back at her. Sure, the heat of lust was there but it was more. A sheen of honesty, a bearing of heartbreak, a tinge of fear of what she would do with the knowledge. Mara couldn't help the practiced movement of her hand that swept the stray hair from where it fell over his face, basking in the familiarity of him so close to her.

Ace.

Blinking furiously, she tried to clear her mind.

"What?" Renji asked, a hairsbreadth away from her tingling lips, "What are you remembering?"

"I…" Did she even know?

"You…" Mara began again before stopping and nibbling her lip in thought of what to say and how to say it.

"Don't think," Renji said, lowering his mouth to trace the fluttering pulse in her neck with a lightness that contrasted with his heavy hand sliding over the curve of her waist. His distraction worked.

"You and- and me," Mara managed to gasp out as his warm breath tickled the sensitive skin behind her earlobe.

"And?" he probed more forcefully, tracing the curve of her breast and nipping her neck with his teeth. He had to bite back a gasp of his own as she squirmed underneath him.

"Ah!" She keened as his fingers quickly tweaked her hard nipple before going back to kneading her breast in his large hand. "And cards!" she bit out quickly.

Renji's low chuckle surprised her even as it seemed to echo through her body like electricity. How did he manage to sound like chocolate-covered sin? He slid his knee roughly between her legs, in delicious contrast to his gentle mouth and teasing fingers.

"What about this reminds you of us playing cards, Ippin?"

Her hips seemed to raise to grind against him of their own volition and he moved his hand down to the waistband of her pants, teasing again over the hollows of her hips. He knew exactly how to make her squirm. Mara's nails bit into his bicep as she tried to guide his hand lower to give her the touch, the relief, that she really wanted. But he didn't give in yet. He wanted her to need it- to need him.

"Not card games," she growled out as he lowered his hips to press against hers as she gyrated against him. She could feel how hard he was and was past caring about looking wanton or feeling conflicted. She wanted him. This felt right. And the sweet fucking friction may have felt even better.

"Not a card game," she repeated, "just a card."

Renji stilled as he lifted his head to meet her clouded gaze. Mara whimpered at the loss of sensation and squirmed against him again. Slowly, Renji, trailed his fingers up between her breasts before cupping the back of her neck and her jaw.

"Which card?" he asked breathlessly as he dragged a thumb over her swollen lips.

Mara could feel this answer was important to him. Why was it important? It was just something about a card game?... but what if he didn't like the answer? Would he withdraw again? She… she didn't want him to.

She didn't know what the actual fuck she was going to do about this convoluted love triangle where every member hated at least one of the others. No, four corners were not a triangle. Love square? And if they hated each other they would leave. She wasn't worth the hassle anyway. What the hell was wrong with her that her mind couldn't even stay on a path?

She felt winded and anxious and overwhelmed and she still had to answer him this important fucking question that she had no goddamn clue why it was important.

So, she didn't answer. She bit his thumb instead.

Heat rose in his eyes even more. Distraction accomplished.

Or not, she realized, eyes widening as Renji's tender hold turned hard.

He was still so careful not to hurt her, she was so small to him, so fragile, but he wouldn't be deterred. "You will NOT go back behind that wall," he told her forcefully, "I have worked too damn hard to get you out."

Mara's eye widened and her lip trembled at his intensity and Renji wanted to cleave off his own hand that held her, but he couldn't back down from this shit. Not this time. New tricks, dog, he repeated to himself. He would not run from her fear and pile it with his own.

"Which card, Ippin?"

"Ace," she whispered, "The ace."

Renji lifted her head to meet her in a fierce kiss. He could help it. Just the sound of her name for him leaving her lips was like the removal of a block on the dam that had already been bowing under the pressure and unrestrained passion and need filled him as it never had before. He had passed the top tier of his self-control and was swan diving into insanity.

Mara let out a whimper as his teeth clashed with hers, but she opened willingly to the swipe of his tongue. His reaction bewildered her as much as it excited her, and she found herself kissing him back. The warm taste of cinnamon coated her tongue, and she ran her hands through the blood-red hair that spilled over his shoulder to tickle her. She could help but picture that sight when she first stumbled into his dream café and how he had rejected her calling to him. Finally, her hazed mind connected the dots.

"I used to call you Ace, didn't I?" She gasped out as his probing mouth traced her jaw.

Turning her chin back to face him, Renji kissed her again, grinding his hips against hers and drinking in the high moan she released. "Yes."

"You-" Mara tried to collect her rampant thoughts as the feeling of his hard length through the thin fabrics separating them drove her to distraction, "You call me a rare gem and I named you after a card?"

"No," he answered with another hypnotizingly low chuckle that travelled through her body like a current, "It took you weeks to tell me what it meant. You'll reveal it to yourself, too."

"But what if-"

"You'll know," he told her shortly before capturing her lips again. He couldn't get enough of her taste. He couldn't get enough. Running his hand down to where their bodies met, he looped his thumb inside her waistband and slowly, torturously inched them down her hips and legs. Revealing her to himself was unwrapping the greatest gift.

Her breathing quickened as his fingers traced her exposed flesh, not dipping in. He may be going insane, but he wanted her to need him and needed her to tell him. He raised his eyes to hers, a questioning gleam that did nothing to hide his desperation.

"Ace," she breathed out in gentle confirmation. His heart leapt.

Slowly- god, it felt like fucking forever- she grazed her fingers over his back, tracing the stripes of his tattoos down his sides to rest her hand between them. His abs clenched instinctually, clearing room for her small hand and tentative touch. His breath stuttered as he held himself on the brink of bursting like a wild animal. She traced the ties of his pants.

They had been like this before. He had warned her off. He kept his mouth fucking shut.

"Goddamn, Ippin," he muttered as she played with the tie. Little fucking minx.

"I want you… Ace," she told him softly, "Please."

He shook his head and waited.

"I… I may just-," Mara's voice was unsure and trembled, "I need you."

"I'm yours," he reassured her, "I always have been."

Pure love shone out of his eyes at her and Mara didn't know whether to leap for joy or hide away in a dark corner where he couldn't hurt her again. She was ecstatic, he was addictive, and- holy hell- could he fuck her world up. She knew he could. But she needed him in this moment the way someone dying in the desert needed water. The rest of life could wait.

In sync, she yanked the tie of his pants as he pushed one large finger into her. She cried out at the sudden invasion, but he had met no resistance. She had been soaked the moment he had trapped her in his eyes. She moaned as he curled his finger up, hitting that spot inside of her that made her ready to come undone.

Mara's hands seemed to work on their own as she pushed the waist of his pants down and grazed his cock with her fingers. At his low growl she reached her hand under him to wrap around his hard length where it pressed against her hip. Well, she tried to wrap her fingers around him.

Oh shit. Just like the rest of the man, it was large and hard and hot. Holding as much of him as she could in her small hand, she stroked gently over the velvety skin to the swollen tip. She couldn't even fit her fingers all the way around his girth, but she would be damned if that was stopping her now. Her legs seemed to spread without her telling them, as if in anticipation.

With another growl, Renji pushed another finger inside of her. He kissed her cheek as he heard her whimper. "Relax," he crooned, noticing that her hips bucked to meet his hand even as she clamped down, "You're so tight."

Renji heard her chuckle turn into a moan as he pistoned his fingers back and forth. Her walls fluttered around his fingers and He knew she was getting close. Good. He wanted her in a haze before he entered her and he didn't know that he could hold off much longer.

"Of course, I'm tight," she gasped out, "Pretty sure I'm a virgin."

Renji blinked in confusion for a moment, still not ceasing his movements. She slept with two men who were crazy about her every night, how the hell did that happen?

"Sleeping, not fucking," she again gasped, euphoria loosening her tongue.

Shit, I said that out loud.

"Yes, you did," Mara said with a tongue in cheek smile, before she gripped his length again, distracting him from any form of rational thought.

He was going to fucking explode. He could feel how tight she was, knew her inexperience, and had always hoped to take her with care. He wanted to unlock the mysteries of each other with her, ensure that nothing would hurt. He wanted her to never regret it.

But then she looked at him with her eyes clouded with lust and need. Then she stroked her hand along the length of his cock and ground her pussy into his hand. Shit, he was so past self-control that he was barely above the beast that he had modelled his body after.

"Ippin," he ground out in a growl that bordered on utterly feral, "I wanted to be gentle, I did…"

"I think you've treated me gently enough." Mara groaned as he slid his thumb over her clit, writhing in passion for a moment before she could continue. "I'm not weak like I was before… I like you wild and REAL, Ace," she told him, voice edging on a desperate growl before she pulled him back down to her.

She didn't know where the urge came from. Her body seemed to know Renji and know what it wanted far better than her mind ever could and she knew- instinctively KNEW- how to get him to quit holding back on her. If he would just be him… Wild, hard, glorious, and hers. With no hesitation, Mara moved her head to the side before his kiss could fall on her lips and she bit his shoulder in the spot that it seemed the beast in him craved.

Renji practically roared as he felt the pain of her bite. He didn't even know what it was in him that craved it but hell if he could stop it. With preternatural speed, he lifted his hips and his slicked fingers and thrust into her heat in one strong push. He could feel the resistance inside of her but pushed through like it was nothing, bottoming out inside her. Until she screamed.

He froze above her, watching a silent tear track down her cheek and he could feel his heart withering. "Shit," he gasped hollowly, "Ippin, I-"

He had hurt her, but the wait and the way she knew what to do to had set him off, had conspired to push him over the edge and he had hurt her. Even now, he didn't want to stop. She was so hot and wet that even his raising up to check on her caused a glorious friction that tried to order him on.

Mara had, somewhere in the back of her mind, known that it would hurt but this was sharp and instantaneous and only made her long for delicious movement, and more. More of him and of this and of the heat building in her stomach that threatened to explode. "Please," she whimpered, locking eyes with his worried gaze, "Please, don't stop."

"I don't want to hurt you," he told her in a strained whisper. Every muscle was on edge.

"You won't hurt me, Ace," she told him softly, tracing the line of his tattoos over his brow and down his strong jaw, "I trust you."

If he hadn't been inside of her, if every instinct wasn't to plunge into her, fill her, claim her- Renji could have wept at the beauty in those words. She looked at him like she had before in rapture and warmth. Slowly, he began to move again. In and out of gloriously tight heat that was going to make him explode but he would be damned if he was letting this end before he had to.

Lowering his head, he captured her lips again without so much as stuttering his pace. He slipped a hand between them to strum over her clit as he pushed in and out of her, swallowing her moan as it came. He poured his feelings into her in the hopes that his touch could convey what his words had seemed to fall so short of.

Mara was floating in bliss. There was something damn near spiritual in this connection with Renji. The brooding red head was filled with as much longing and life and joy as she was. She could feel it. He was so well tuned to her that just combining a warm kiss and a simple flick of his fingers sent her spiraling over the edge into an unknown wonder of oblivious ecstasy. God!- but he was doing so much more than that. He was giving her so much more of him than she ever thought he could or would. The wall in her he had set fire to earlier seemed to have only been the kindling for a bonfire he was stoking inside her. For him.

No, she couldn't think about that now. All she knew as she road waves of mind-numbing pleasure was that something irrevocable had happened now and she couldn't sum up a single bit of regret.

"Ace," she whispered, earning another hungry growl from him above her as he slowed. Pulling back her dark gaze met his and more feeling passed between them where, countless times, words had failed. The words would come, she had a feeling, as this was only the beginning.

"Ippin?" Renji questioned. Was she okay? Was she already regretting this? He skimmed his hand down her side before looking at her and reassuring himself that the same emotion still filled her eyes. Something he could swear was damn close to love.

"Don't stop, Ace," she told him softly, "please, god, don't stop."

Renji lifted her leg up to his shoulder, angling her to plunge deeper into her and was rewarded with his name being screamed to the heavens. And he didn't fucking stop.

.

.

.

Hisagi gritted his teeth against the coming impact. At least, he did mentally. The body in this dream didn't seem to listen to a goddamn thing he thought or told it to do. How many times had he hit the ground and felt the snap of bones and the acute pain in his stomach?

Hell, it could be 10 or it could be 10,000. He knew inside that it would never be enough to atone for the signs he had missed of his own captain's betrayal. It would never be enough pain to make up for the suffering his oversight had caused. It would never make up for the liar he had turned into. Maybe he was just like Tousen.

It was that thought, Hisagi knew, that kept him locked in this spiral. Appear in the air, fight, see the horror his mentor had been willing to become, and then fall into painful oblivion. Over and over, again and again. As if to emphasize his epiphany, Hisagi hit the ground to the sound of crunching bone and internal berating.

God it hurt. It was nothing worse than he deserved, but fucking hell it hurt. It was made all the worse by his raw and torn back and his shoulder that wouldn't stop throbbing.

The injuries from defending Mara had followed him, even if freedom to stop the dream hadn't.

He deserved those, too.

Hisagi's mind reeled as to what he could have done to stop the insanity that ruled his life currently. If he was honest about what he knew about her. If he was honest about knowing about how powerful she was in the real world. If he had given HER justice, then maybe-

But his mind stopped moments later. He had hit the ground, body breaking like rubble, and his eyes closed in a blissful void.

SNAP!

Hisagi opened his eyes to blue sky and the scenes of battle all around him. His zanpakuto was released and at the ready. His body was whole again… except for the steady run of blood down his back. Without his even ordering them to cooperate, his arms threw Kazeshini, wrapping it around Tousen's blade to stop a killing strike.

God, what the hell had he been thinking, wanting to join that battle as if it would make a difference? As if it could have offered him redemption? It didn't even fulfill a vague generality of vengeance, let alone bring salvation. He had meant it when he thanked him. He had been a moron. What had he learned but self-loathing and fear? What had he been taught that didn't hold him back?

He watched as Tousen became the Hollow inside of him. This wasn't just a vizard transformation. No, this was a revealing of self. A true self that Tousen had managed to hide from all of them. How often, Hisagi knew, he did the same. Hisagi was sure that the horror was etched on this face that he couldn't control, but after reliving this moment so many times, he was numb to it.

In moments, his old captain would succumb to the pride of power. He would lose his fear. He would make mistakes that he and Komamura would use to their advantage. But then- THEN- he would prove that even the worst of Tousen was better than the best of Hisagi and he would stab him and let him fall to die without a hint of remorse. As if Hisagi were trash stuck on his blade.

It didn't matter that he got back up to finish the fight after. It didn't matter what he had put to rest by nearly killing Tousen. It didn't matter that Tousen had wanted to see him or say something at the end. It didn't even matter that Aizen had robbed him of a final moment, stealing away that which would likely be as unfulfilling as all the other moments before.

Hisagi felt the sword slide through him again. Same spot. Same pain. Same Hell. This was the moment that broke him. Aizen's elimination of Tousen had made sure that there was no coming back from it.

Pain.

Hell.

Falling.

Breaking.

Starting it all over again.

But this time… his eyes moved. As if drawn by some invisible force to the east, his eyes managed to skate that way for a brief second before something interfered. He couldn't tell if it was a flash or a shockwave… but something had changed. He willed his eyes back over, but already the building fast approached and Hisagi sunk into a painfilled nothing.

SNAP.

The sky was blue. The battle raged. Kazeshini wrapped around Tousen's sword. He was speaking to his old captain but… There! He could feel it like the briefest breath on the back of his neck. In the east towards the river was something disturbing his nightmare penance. It called to him to turn.

But he couldn't. He could barely angle his eyes…

The pain came back as the sword plunged into him again, but Hisagi's mind wasn't there. This was his chance, maybe, at spying the call in the east, the tug on his soul. If he could just turn… his… head.

Red.

He did it! His eyes had turned and his head had followed. He had seen a flash of red. An unmistakable mane of red above the green grass. It was so far away but he would know that red anywhere. He had worked too closely to it, drank right next to it, trained too long against it, to not recognize it. Abarai.

But Abarai was in Hueco Mundo during this fight. Abarai was never here, never saw…

Black.

SNAP.

Red.

Black.

SNAP!

Red.

Black.

SNAP!

FUCK! Blue skies, fighting, talking… But the power at his back only grew. It had gone from a bare presence to an insistent hum, calling him as if screaming for attention. Instead of breath on his neck it was a gentle wave, pulling him in.

He new that power. Gritting his teeth, Hisagi willed the inescapable horror of his ever-present nightmare to go faster. Hurry up and stab him so he could see…

And then he was flying and falling. A growl managed to escape his throat as he forced his eyes over, his head and his body to follow. There was the Red. Kneeling in the grass. And there… splayed on the grass like tendrils of a winding stream was blue. Mara.

What was she doing here? How was she here? Why was he imagining her in this fucked up world? Why was she on the ground? Was she hurt, was she…

SNAP.

GOD DAMMIT! Mara was down there for some unholy, god-forsaken fucking reason. He didn't care if it was just a figment of his cursed imagination. His conscience was probably just trying to punish him more, the bastard. It's not like he couldn't conjure her rietsu in his dreams, he had been so exposed to it. He knew how it fluctuated in fear or joy. He knew how it lapped at his ankles when training and took over like a tsunami. Hell, he could probably tell which time period of her life was triggering the surge at this point. What he didn't know, what he desperately needed to know, was WHY!

Pain.

Fall.

The red was there… and the blue was lifting off the ground… and there was her face. Eyes narrowed as she stared at the sky over Renji's shoulder. Her sharp gaze squinted over the distance directly at him he tried calling her name, tried to make any sound at all. Whatever hell his mind was conjuring would be acceptable if he kept seeing her face during it.

His unwilling mouth opened as he hit but maybe he could still call her. Maybe he could still see if…

Black.

SNAP!

.

.

.

Bliss.

Renji… Ace… He had unleashed waves of pleasure that her body seemed to have been nearly unable to contain. His hot mouth, strong grip, hard length- Holy Shit. Mara blinked the stars from her eyes, only to have them come right back as she nestled her cheek on his hard shoulder.

Renji had collapsed next her after having what he would swear was the best orgasm of his life. Licking his lips, he could still feel the way she had clenched around him when his thrusts had grown frantic, when his cock had swollen and he had spilled into her. Yup, he could feel himself getting hard again already at the thought.

Renji sat up to lean over Mara as he felt her shift. God, what a sight!- her splayed naked under him, smiling up at him, eyes shining. He pushed a stray bright teal lock off her face before dragging his finger down her cheek, over the hollow of her throat, between those perfect palm sized breasts.

"Round two?" he asked with a smirk.

Mara let out a low, throaty groan as she felt his finger drawing swirls on her still flushed skin. "You will have to physically move me," she grinned back, "because all of me feels like floppy butter."

"Like I didn't do that at the end of this round?" he quipped back.

Raising a weak arm, Mara shoved his broad chest gently, eliciting one of his deep chuckles that filled her core with brand new sparks. As she smiled up at him however, something caught her gaze, a flicker of movement in her peripheral.

"What's in the sky?" she asked, surprised at the sharp flash in his eye, however brief, of fear. Yeah, that was fear.

"It's nothing," he replied without looking, "we are in my dream, remember? The only thing that would be in the sky is what I want there."

"Ass," she purred, with no vehemence in her voice as she sat up to lean into him, her hair tumbling raucously in front of her face again.

"it's pronounced 'Ace', Ippin," he chided before capturing her lips again for a brief kiss.

Biting her lip like a vixen, Mara's eyes sparkles. "My bad, sir," she said coquettishly, watching the lingering heat rise to flames in his eyes, "I meant to say 'smart ass'."

"Oh, you did, huh? I kind of liked 'sir', personally," he teased her back, tweaking her already oversensitive nipple and making her throw her head back in a gasp.

There it is again! Mara realized as she flung her head back and movement caught her eye again. Placing her hand on Renji's chest to stop his toying for a moment, Mara squinted her eyes at the sky across the city.

"Ace, seriously, there are… people in the sky?"

Tugging up and retying his waistband, Renji plopped on the ground in front of her. "Uh-huh," he said warily, dreading turning around. He remembered all too vividly what had happened the last time that she said something was wrong with the sky. Finally, with a beleaguered sigh, he turned to look. Sure enough, people were flitting around in the distance.

He narrowed his eyes at the sight, tuning his senses and barely making out the sounds of battle. "What the hell is in my dream?" he muttered to himself.

"Um… Ace…" Mara whispered tentatively, now dressed, shirt messily tied, and at his back, "Are they… are those shinigami?"

Squinting against the brightness, Renji stood and lead her back to the open spaces of the café where trees wouldn't obscure their view. Damn, she was right. Those were shinigami, but not just any shinigami. That was the captains and lieutenents and- no.

"This is the Winter War," Renji told Mara in a horrified whisper, his eyes locked on Aizen in the center, "But I wasn't even here for this, how could I be dreaming about it?"

His question was met with only silence, a distinctly un-Mara trait, causing him to turn and look at the petite woman. Her eyes were tuned with laser focus on one part of the sky, but he couldn't pinpoint the subject in the vastness of the fight. Her grip on his hand grew loose as she took a few steps away.

"I don't think this is your dream anymore," she finally answered distractedly.

"Well, we didn't just up and Back to the Future this bitch, right?" he tried to pry but his reference barely earned a flicker of a smile as mara continued to step away with singular focus.

"No," she replied again, drawing out the word in thought, "No, I- I think we are in someone else's."

"How?" he found himself demanding, for some unknown reason his anger was rising. Something was wrong. With more than a little wariness, Renji took a deep breath before asking the important question. "Whose?"

But Mara had already stepped further away, following the walking path towards a closer and more clear line of sight. Why did it feel like every step she took became so much more than physical distance? She shaded her eyes with her hand against the glare in the sky as she squinted.

He heard her gasp as he watched a single dark figure fall from the sky, one that appeared to be looking directly at them. "Shuuhei…" She gasped out as the figure of Hisagi started his descent after being kicked off a sword.

But it was Renji who felt like he had been stabbed. It was him who was going to descend into madness as he heard only Mara's echoing scream as Hisagi's limp body landed so hard on a building that it partially collapsed.

"Otto!" Mara screamed, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She had to get to him! She had to-

Renji.

He stood looking at her like the sky was crashing down on those strong shoulders with a weight that even he couldn't bear. The hurt in his gaze was so palpable that it made her tears run stronger. Mara realized the real world she had chosen to take vacation from was catching up with them already. So quickly. Far too quickly.

"Ace, I-"

"Otto," Renji responded in monotone, "All this and he is still Otto."

"I need to get to him," Mara said tearfully. Though her resolve strengthened, her shame flared on her cheeks. She couldn't even pretend to know what she was doing at this point. She didn't even know what to feel.

"Yeah," Renji muttered, dutifully holding his hand out to her even though he staunchly kept his gaze away from her, "It'll be faster if we flash step."

"Renji- Ace- please-"

"Don't"

Mara felt like her heart was going to explode. Didn't he see that she wasn't just talking out of her ass earlier. She may actually need him, too. Scratch that, she KNEW she needed him. He was hers! He was woven into the fiber of her being. "But I-"

"I said don't, Ippin," Renji bit back in a thick voice that betrayed how much feeling he was trying to hold back. "I get it, he is still fucking Otto."

Renji took off into the air, headed to the landing spot of the man that still seemed to hold her future. The one that still seemed to hold her heart.

"That doesn't mean that you aren't Ace."

The wind rushed by, swallowing Mara's whispered words but he knew he heard them. But was he? Did he want to be? Could he be both what she wanted AND what she needed.

Landing next to Hisagi's bleeding and broken body, Renji watched as Mara scrambled across the rubble of the roof. She picked her way with such haste that she stumbled and scraped her hands climbing over the last shards of rock.

Hisagi's gray eyes widened as he watched her trying to approach. He clearly couldn't speak, only watch as she drew closer.

But something changed in his demeanor and he locked eyes with Renji over the rubble. There was curiosity, question, but mostly those eyes held a brewing storm. Anger, worry, fear… It was look Renji knew well. It was mirrored by his own in this moment. But before he could think of the implications, Hisagi's eyes fell closed.

No sooner could Mara cry out than the ground seemed to tilt on its axis beneath them.

SNAP.