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XIX: BLUE MOON

Two weeks and three days ago

It all started with a fight.

Things always tended to start with a fight between them.

They had gotten a detention together – not for fighting together, but for fighting together against a couple of boys from the Judo Club. And beating them to a pulp in the process.

Now, as they cleaned the school lab up after a particularly messy experiment, they had set off to rectify the situation by starting yet another quarrel.

This time, the cause of their dispute was the last football match played by their school's team.

"It was Sagara's fault, I tell you!"

"No way! Come on, did you see Imahori and Minato? They looked like statues!"

Renji scoffed. "You're a girl! You don't know anything about football!"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Said the boy who learned of its existence two weeks ago!"

"Not true! It's at least two months!"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes again. "I beg your pardon – obviously, this casts a new light on the whole thing…"

"So what!" he shouted. "It's not as if you're such an expert!"

The windowpanes softly tinkled against their frames.

"I still know more than you do!"

The lamps started swaying, as if stirred by a sudden breeze.

Abruptly, various pieces of the lab's equipment chinked and rattled in the shelves. A pile of books collapsed and a test-tube freshly washed rolled down the table and fell on the floor, shattering in a thousand tiny pieces.

"What the…" Renji said, instinctively searching for any sign of abnormal spiritual pressure – before the floor slipped away from beneath his feet.

"It's an earthquake!" Tatsuki shouted, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him toward the door. She pushed him under the doorway – as the whole building shook around them, somehow, she found herself in his arms.

Renji's head was spinning – everything was happening much too fast. This terrible, uncontrolled force unsettled him – and slightly scared him, too, for he had never been caught in the middle of something like that.

Their schoolbags fell down from the desks, scattering their contents on the still-shaking floor. Glass vessels smashed on the floor.

Instinctively, Renji pulled Tatsuki tightly against him, shielding her head with his arm.

Little by little, the tremor subsided, until everything became perfectly still again – save for the mad rising and falling of the scales.

The sound of shattering glass echoed in the room one time or two, then absolute silence followed.

Suddenly, their breathing seemed too loud.

Renji and Tatsuki still stood in the doorway, wrapped in a crushing embrace.

The red-headed Shinigami eased his grip a little, but didn't let go of the short-haired girl completely. Renji lowered his head and looked straight at her. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Tatsuki lifted her head from against his chest and looked up, her eyes meeting his own. "Yes."

A brief nod. "Good."

"What about you?" she whispered back. – belatedly realizing that they had gone from a shouting match to a murmured conversation. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." he breathed.

Tatsuki nodded, still not breaking their eye-contact. "Good."

Their arms were still loosely wrapped around each other, but neither moved away.

Finally, Renji realized the position they were in – and suddenly found it a bit harder to breathe. Then, without a reason, without a thought, he closed the space between them and kissed her.

Soon that simple pressure of mouth against mouth turned into something more, as he ran his tongue along her lower lip, tasting more of her – and still desiring more of her.

Instead of recoiling and hitting him, she parted her lips, granting him her permission. Renji immediately deepened the kiss, greedily taking everything in.

However, Tatsuki wouldn't let him gain the upper hand so easily and met his tongue with her own, starting a heated and sensuous battle – in which, probably, both would win.

Renji's hands were practically itching to bring her closer again – but he didn't dare, lest this moment, this bliss was irreparably shattered.

Tatsuki's head was spinning. She had never been kissed like that, with such passion, such energy, such warmth and – dared she hope? Desire.

Lack of oxygen started making itself acknowledged and eventually forced them to part, breathing deeply and still lost in each other's eyes.

The same thought raced through their mind.

'What now?'

The same combination of dread and longing rushed in their veins

But, in the end, the cold, harsh fear prevailed.

'She's human…'

'He's a Shinigami…'

I can't, we can't, we mustn't!

So, Tatsuki stepped back – albeit a bit too slowly, almost unwillingly – and pretended to dust her uniform off not to look at him in the eyes. "Looks like we still have a bit of work to do." she glanced around. "Luckily, all the vessels that fell down were empty." she remarked offhandedly, hoping that her voice wasn't as shrill as it sounded to her own ears.

"Yeah," Renji lowered his gaze. "Really lucky." he muttered – pretending not to notice the way her shoulders tensed for a second. But he did.

He closed his eyes and smothered his desire to kiss her again, then pushed himself away from the doorframe.

No words were exchanged as they tidied the lab up again – sweeping up the shards of glass, readjusting the books and gathering their things back into their schoolbags. All the while pretending their lips hadn't darkened by two or three shades and that their breathing wasn't still a bit labored.

Eventually, their task was finished. Renji and Tatsuki took their schoolbags, climbed down the stairs and walked through the schoolyard and out into the street.

Never once did they glance at each other.

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