Renji ended up waking up around six; apparently he'd stayed up pretty late packing the night before and was running on less sleep than usual. Even though I felt tired as well, I wasn't used to sleeping so early—or at least that was the reason I told myself—and had tried drifting off without much success. I eventually gave up, throwing on a hoodie and some old soccer pants and opting to catch up on some emails for work instead (I know, I know). It was a good distraction at least, as I tried not to think too much about Rukia flipping through a book while lying on her tummy a tent away.

"Shit, sorry man, I totally knocked out." It was Renji outside. "Did you get some sleep too?"

I shut my laptop and got up, making my way over to unzip the door of my tent before ducking out to join him. "Nah, it's all good. Glad you were able to take a break." I glanced at Rukia's tent, noting it was dark inside despite the fact that the light was starting to disappear outside.

"Rukia went to take a shower," he said, noticing my line of sight, adding apologetically after a second, "Hope it's not too weird having her with us. Sorry about that."

It was more than a little weird, to be completely honest...but probably not in the way he was imagining. I just shrugged, "It's no big deal. We caught up a bit while you were sleeping."

"Yeah?" he said, looking relieved, as we started walking toward his tent where we'd left the cooking supplies and food in a small cooler. "What'd you guys talk about?" he asked, pulling out the portable stove and butane canisters.

"I asked her about college, mostly," I said, taking them from him as he moved to the cooler and started taking out ingredients for the curry ramen we were making for dinner. "She told me about her sorority and apartment situation, and some guy she'd been seeing."

Renji growled a little at that. "Did she tell you what a piece of shit he was? Some frat kid she's way too good for. Pretty sure all he cared about was getting into her pants."

"Oh yeah, she mentioned it didn't work out. Good for her for breaking it off." Although it was a bit amusing seeing Renji's protective older brother side, I'd be lying if I said I couldn't totally relate to how he was feeling. I'd be pissed if one of my little sisters started dating some asshole too.

"Yeah," he let out a conflicted sigh. "I used to be worried about guys taking advantage of her at college, since she's such a good kid and all. But I think she's been able to hold her own pretty well. I was actually really impressed when she told me about all the guys she's turned down," he said, beaming a bit with pride.

I let out a chuckle. "She's got a good head on her shoulders," I agreed, only slightly surprised to hear that Rukia had a ton of guys falling over for her at school. If he had told me a week ago I might've laughed and assumed he was joking, but knowing how she looked and acted now...

We shot the breeze some more while getting to work on dinner, catching up on work, family, and relationships. His job had been insane as of late with plenty of late nights and weekends, but he was keeping his fingers crossed to hear back about a possible promotion soon. Like me, he also wasn't seeing anyone at the moment, but had recently been talking to a girl he'd met at the gym.

"So what's her problem?"

Renji grunted, taking the onions I'd finished chopping to toss them into the pot. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong with her."

"I mean, there's gotta be something if she's into your lame ass."

Rukia got back from the showers just as he growled and took a swipe at me, carrying her clothes in one arm with a towel draped around her shoulders. "Smells good," she chirped as she passed by our makeshift kitchen on the way to her tent, letting us know she'd be right back after dropping off her stuff. When she came back out, she had changed into some black leggings and thrown on a casual oversized sweater, her hair loose and wet as it lay over her shoulders, free from her earlier braids. "Anything I can help with?"

"Yeah, can you grab the noodles and help Ichigo with the ramen? I forgot the chopsticks and stuff in the car," Renji said. "Be right back, gonna go grab 'em real quick."

"Sure," she replied, walking over to where we'd put the rest of the ingredients on the other side of the table, before coming back around to where I was stirring the pot. "Did you get some sleep?"

Not a wink. Mostly thanks to you... "Nah, I couldn't fall asleep so I ended up doing some work. How was your book?"

She frowned at me, ignoring my question as she began adding water to the pot. "You know, you're not supposed to be working on this trip." I could feel my pulse quicken as she moved slightly closer to get a better angle while pouring. "You should be relaxing."

She was much closer to me now, standing slightly to the side behind me as the space in front of the stove wasn't very wide. I felt a shiver run down my spine when she told me to relax, her voice close to my ear and the flowery scent of her shampoo reaching my senses. I could see her damp hair glistening in the corner of my eye, and was instantly reminded of our shower conversation from before.

God, she looks so good wet.

"Uh, yeah," was all I managed to say as I kept my gaze firmly fixated on the roux. I was vaguely aware of what she was saying as she continued to sympathize with how difficult it must be to mentally disconnect from work, as I tried unsuccessfully to convince myself the steam rising from the pot was causing my face to heat up.

"Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help, okay?" she pressed sincerely, completely unaware of what her close proximity was doing to me.

At that moment, the curry no longer smelled nearly as good as the girl standing right next to me. Every so often, her delicate hand would reach over to add more ingredients to the pot and brush against mine...I felt like some fucking teenage boy as I felt my heartbeat speed up wildly whenever it did, and I felt myself stir in my pants. Holy shit. I was not getting hard with her next to me while we were cooking dinner on a fucking trip with her brother.

But her skin was so soft…

Renji arrived back then, his loud voice a welcome distraction from my conflicted thoughts. "All right! Who's ready to grub?"

Rukia cheered at that, and I was silently thankful as she left to go help him set the table. I did my best to tame my earlier arousal and forced myself to focus instead on finishing up the curry, testing to make the noodles had softened and the veggies were fully cooked.

After we finished serving, we grabbed our bowls and sat down to eat with Renji sitting across from me. Rukia was perched next to him on the other side of the table, where she had somehow magically produced a small shaker of chili powder, which she was generously adding to her curry.

"God, why'd you bring that—" Renji's nose was wrinkled.

"I always keep some in my bag," Rukia said, pausing to wiggle it at him threateningly, laughing as he flinched and held his bowl far away from the offending spice. "You know, just for a little extra kick."

"Fuck that!"

She simply snickered and withdrew her arm, adding more to her curry before passing it to me. "Whatever. At least Ichigo can appreciate my love for spice, right?"

I smirked at my friend's disgusted expression as I took it from her. "Can't handle a little heat, Abarai?"

Renji rolled his eyes at us, blowing on his untainted curry to cool it down. "You both suck."

Shrugging, she dipped her chopsticks into her own bowl to mix in the chili. "Your loss, dummy. Especially since it's so cold out right now." She kicked her legs out as she spoke, absently stretching them out under the table as she continued to stir her noodles. "Are you sure you don't want any? It'll help you warm up from the inside."

For a fraction of a second, I felt her calf brush against mine—how long were her damn legs, anyway?—and for a brief moment I swore I could feel the heat from her skin radiating through the thin, flimsy fabric of her leggings. Though her legs had already retreated back to her side of the bench by then, I imagined catching her ankle and running my hands up those slender calves higher and higher, as my mind envisioned a couple other...practical ways we could keep ourselves warm.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I was picturing groping my best friend's little sister, with both of them sitting just a foot away. Get a grip, Kurosaki.

They were bickering about something else now, which I was grateful for as neither had seemed to notice my more than slightly indecent thoughts.

"I already broke up with him, didn't I?" Rukia was saying irritably. "God, you never give me any credit."

"You shouldn't have dated him in the first place!" Renji growled in disbelief. "Seriously, what the hell were you thinking? Isane told me her little sister said he had the worst reputation at—"

"I told you I didn't know anything about that!" she retorted in frustration. "Would you just let it go?"

He threw his hands up in mock acceptance. "Oh yeah? Then tell me why you even decided to go out with him!"

Just then, I noticed Rukia's eyes dart at me so briefly I thought I might have imagined it, almost looking guilty...but when I blinked, she was back to glaring at her brother.

"I don't need your permission," she ground out, causing Renji to slightly flinch, "on who I choose to date, or why. If I'd known you were just going to interrogate me on this trip, I wouldn't have come." Snatching her empty dishes angrily, she stood up and left, stalking off in the direction of the water station.

Renji exhaled in annoyance after she'd left, jabbing his chopsticks violently into his leftover ramen. "I seriously don't get it."

I looked at him empathetically. "Little sis struggles, huh?"

He scoffed. "At least Yuzu and Karin would never date an asshole like that." He continued stabbing at his food humorlessly. "She's got plenty of common sense; she's rejected tons of other guys—so why him?" His tone was incredulous.

"Maybe she wanted to experience a real college fling before she graduates?" I suggested.

"A fling doesn't last a year and a half," he scowled. "She didn't even tell me about it until he'd already convinced her to move into her own place."

I shrugged, hoping to offer some reassurance, though I was surprised to hear the relationship had lasted so long. "Hey, Rukia's gotten a lot more mature since the last time I saw her, I'm sure she knows what she's doing." I stood up with my dishes, offering to take his as well. He polished off the remainder of his curry and handed his bowl to me with a sigh. "Why don't you turn in early? I know you're probably still tired and we gotta wake up early for the hike tomorrow."

"Thanks, man. Appreciate it." He let out a timely yawn and clapped me on the shoulder. "Don't worry about Rukia though, we argue all the time now that she's an adult." He gave an ironic chuckle. "She never stays mad very long."

I smirked, bringing our dishes over to the stove to stack them with the used pots and cooking supplies. "Pretty impressive, really, considering she's dealing with you."

"Oi," he deadpanned back at me, but the corners of his mouth ticked upward. "All right, I'm gonna turn in early. Let Rukia know I went to bed but I'll see ya both in the morning."

"Will do."

"Thanks again for taking care of the dishes."

"Yeah, no problem."

He turned around to head back toward his tent, lifting a hand in the air as he went. After he'd gone inside, I briefly stopped by my own tent to grab my toothbrush before heading over to the water station to help Rukia with the rest of the dishes.

She was still there when I arrived, facing away from me as she brushed her teeth.

"Yo," I said, walking up behind her quietly, causing her to jump.

"Mmmph!" She made a muffled noise, turning around in surprise before ducking down to rinse out her mouth. "You scared me!"

"Tch, not my fault you were zoning out," I pointed out. "Though you should be more careful. You never know what might happen while you're out here all alone in the dark."

"You sound like Renji," she huffed accusingly. "I can take care of myself."

"I believe you," I said as I got started soaping up the dishes, though she didn't look convinced. "You know he's just being protective. It's a big brother thing."

She sighed as she started to pack up her toiletries.. "I know. But I already told him I broke up with him, so can't he just let it go?"

I shrugged. "Well, a year and a half is pretty long for a college relationship." I looked at her questioningly as her large eyes met mine.

"What?"

"Why did you date him if he was such a jerk?"

Even in the dim light of a nearby light post, I could make out a cute flush on her face as it appeared across her cheeks for some reason.

"Um, he was funny."

I raised an eyebrow. "You dated a guy who treated you like crap for a year and a half because he was funny?"

"No!" She waved her hands dismissively, and I noted she seemed a bit nervous. "Anyway, it doesn't even matter anymore."

"All right, if you say so." I kept scrubbing and chose to drop the subject, much to her relief. "So you ready to go hiking tomorrow?"

Her face brightened at the welcome change of topic. "Yeah, I'm excited. Most of my friends aren't big hikers, so I usually go solo." She bent down to pick up a soapy bowl and started rinsing it. "It'll be fun to go with company for once."

"Are you sure it's not just that you don't have any friends?" I teased, earning a soft whack from her with the dish towel.

"I have plenty of friends, they just prefer going to the beach," she scowled, taking the last dish from me as I handed it to her. "Who owns a full weekly rotation of swimsuits, anyway?"

Bet you'd look amazing in one though. "Well, your school's right next to the beach, right? Must be a lot easier going there than driving all the way out to the mountains. What don't you like about it?" Having finished washing the dishes, I picked up my toothbrush and started brushing my teeth, having borrowed some of her toothpaste.

"There isn't anything wrong with the beach, I'd just rather play volleyball or do something fun while we're there. But whenever we go all they want to do is tan, so basically we go, lie there for a couple hours, and I come back burnt all over since I don't tan anyway," she explained as she dried the last dish. "Plus putting sunscreen on my back is such a pain, it takes forever to reach all the spots."

Oh, shit. I pictured her on the beach, wearing a sexy little bikini as she looked back at me, her hair gathered up to expose the soft, smooth skin of her back, her other hand holding out a bottle of sunscreen innocently as she asked me to help her put it on...

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, must be tough with such short arms," I paused my brushing briefly to joke, as she flicked the damp towel at me.

After I finished up, we walked back to the tents together, carrying our toiletries and the cleaned and dried dishes. It had gotten considerably chillier since the time we'd started making dinner, and the sky was mostly dark except for some faint illumination from the stars.

We dropped the dishes off by our luggage next to Renji's tent quietly, trying our best not to wake him up, before heading back toward our own. By the time we reached her tent, Rukia had wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly from the cold night air.

"Well thanks for helping clean up, unlike a certain lazy bum," she said, smiling.

I smirked. "Anytime. You should hurry up and get some sleep, tomorrow'll be a pretty busy day."

The corner of her mouth quirked upward and she rolled her eyes in pretend annoyance. "Okay Dad, see you bright and early." She turned around and ducked through the partially unzipped door, pausing halfway to look back at me, her expression hard to make out in the low light. "Maybe you can help me put on my sunscreen tomorrow, since my arms are so short."

As I watched her disappear into the tent, zipping the door closed behind her, my mouth felt very dry all of a sudden.

I stood there dumbly for a moment, continuing to stare at the bright door of her tent as it lit up from the inside. I could still smell the sweet scent of her shampoo as it lingered in the air where she'd been standing.

The light was casting shadows on her tent, and I could see her slender silhouette projected against the fabric as she began to undress, getting ready for bed. My heart continued to pound wildly—when had it started?—as I watched, and I could feel the blood in my cheeks spreading lower to other parts of my body.

Shit shit shit. I broke my gaze away from the illuminated outline of her body, and forced my feet to start moving back toward my own tent. Even as I did, I couldn't stop wondering if she'd really meant what she'd said. God, I'd already been jittery enough today feeling her so close to me, or whenever her warm skin had accidentally brushed against mine.

I shook my head, trying to clear it from these stupid thoughts. Even if it was just wishful thinking on my part, there was no way Rukia was interested in her brother's best friend, whom she'd practically grown up with. And although she might have gotten more confident and come out of her shell since the last time I saw her, she hadn't done anything to act remotely flirty towards me so far this trip. My raging hormones were definitely causing me to read too much into things.

As I entered my tent, quickly stripping down into my shorts to get into my sleeping bag, I was nearly positive I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. After all, whenever I closed my eyes, all I could picture was a girl—a gorgeous, petite girl who was dangerously more attractive than she seemed to realize and who turned me on way more than I wanted to admit.

If only she wasn't also my best friend's sister, and definitely off limits.

A/N: Not much about this story might be canon, but Renji disliking spicy things is :)

-itspillowtime