Chapter Eleven-Waiting

Yoruichi was on a mission. Usually, that would have been an extremely frightening thing, but this time, her mission was relatively simple and innocent. Today, she was going to introduce two of her most favorite people in the world to each other: she was going to introduce Ren to Kisuke. She'd been trying to introduce them to each other for a while now, but something always came up; sometimes Kisuke was too busy, sometimes Ren was too busy, sometimes a sudden meeting got called, and sometimes Shinji snatched Ren out of the office too quickly for Yoruichi to ask her to accompany her somewhere after work. But today was going to be different.

Yoruichi had checked with the Captain-Commander, and no meetings were scheduled to be called that day; now of course, an emergency meeting still had the chance to be called, but they were just going to have to take that chance. Yoruichi had also made sure to tell Kisuke to free up his schedule for that afternoon, and she had made sure that Ren did all of her work the day before, leaving them both with nothing to do. Now all Yoruichi had to do was pry Ren away from Shinji, which was definitely going to be the hardest part of her plan.

"Oh, Ren-chan! ~" Yoruichi sang as she opened the door to the Fifth Division captain's office. She was mildly afraid of what she would see when she opened the door, but to her surprise, both individuals were fully clothed and sitting in separate chairs, with Shinji behind his desk and Ren sitting across from him. They seemed to have been playing some sort of card game.

"Yes, Yoruichi?" Ren asked her, not looking away from her hand of cards.

"Watch 'ya doin'?" Yoruichi cooed.

"Whooping Shinji's ass," Ren stated, taunting the man that was across from her.

"You only beat me once!" Shinji argued.

"And we've only played once so far," Ren pointed out. "Plus, I believe that I win again, Captain Hirako."

"You have got to be kidding me," Shinji grumbled, looking at her newly revealed hand and realizing that she had in fact one this round as well. At that point, Yoruichi noticed that Shinji wasn't wearing his captain's haori.

"Off with it, Shinji," Ren demanded.

"But, Yoruichi's here," he pointed out.

"I don't care," Ren told him. "And since you argued, you have to pay a penalty now."

"A penalty?" Shinji repeated.

"Yes, a penalty. Now you have to take your kosode and shitagi off," Ren explained.

"Are you serious?" Shinji whined.

"Do ya want another penalty?" Ren challenged.

"No," he grumbled. With a very sour look on his face, Shinji begrudgingly slipped his black kosode and the white robe that was underneath it off of his arms and they fell to his waist. He couldn't take them completely off because he still had his obi (sash) and hakama (pants) on, but he had a very distinct feeling that that wouldn't last very long. A sudden look of realization came over Yoruichi as she realized just what kind of card game they were playing.

"Oh, my," Yoruichi muttered. "Aren't you afraid that your lieutenant might walk in on this, Shinji?"

"No, I sent him out on a mission to Rukongai earlier," Shinji remarked.

"You sent him on an errand to Rukongai earlier," Ren corrected.

"It wasn't an errand! It was an important mission," Shinji restated, trying to defend himself.

"You sent him shopping for food that I can cook later," Ren pointed out.

"Me eating is important," Shinji told her.

"You sent your lieutenant grocery shopping?" Yoruichi mused.

"Don't even try it," Ren scoffed. "I would never fall for it with you."

"Shinji, your wife is accusing me of things!" Yoruichi whined, pointing at Ren in the process.

"Like you weren't actually going to try," Shinji muttered.

"I wasn't!" Yoruichi whined again.

"No matter how much you whine, you're still not believable," Ren told her, causing the said woman to huff.

"You two are so mean to me," Yoruichi murmured.

"We're just teaching you to be a better person," Ren assured her. "You'll thank us one day."

"No, I won't," Yoruichi grumbled.

"Do you need to be put in time out?" Shinji asked her.

"No," Yoruichi conceded.

"Good," Ren commented. "Now, why are you here?"

"Uh, good question," Yoruichi muttered. She had to think about it for a moment, but she finally remembered why she had journeyed to the Fifth Division in the first place.

"Oh, yeah! I need to borrow you, Ren, for about an hour," Yoruichi told her.

"No," Shinji quickly told her. "I just got her to myself and we have…business to take care of."

"Just because you married her doesn't mean that you get her all to yourself!" Yoruichi whined. "You have to share her every once in a while!"

"Yes, let's just talk about me like I'm not here," Ren muttered.

"You see her every day!" Shinji continued, ignoring his wife's comment.

"But we're working! I never get to see her afterwards anymore!" Yoruichi argued.

"That is not my problem," Shinji told her.

"You always come and get her the very second that I let her off! How am I supposed to do anything with her if you never give me the time?" Yoruichi objected.

"Again, not my problem," Shinji repeated.

"I swear, I'm going to-!" Yoruichi started, but Ren finally stood up and cut her off.

"Alright, you two, that's enough," Ren started. "Shinji, she says it will only take an hour, and I'm sure you can survive without me for that short amount of time."

"But we just got started," Shinji whined.

"We were only two games in," Ren pointed out. "And we can finish when I get back, anyways."

"Fine," Shinji huffed. "But if you're not back in an hour, I'm coming after you."

"I'll hold you to that," Ren replied. "Now, let's go, Yoruichi."

"You've got it," Yoruichi agreed, but before she walked out the door, she quickly turned around and stuck her tongue out at Shinji.

"That's enough, Yoruichi," Ren muttered. "Remember, you are a grown woman."

"One hour!" Shinji called out, right as Ren shut the door.

"You two will be the death of me," Ren breathed.

"Talking to your zanpakutō again?" Yoruichi mused.

"No, I'm talking about my captain and the man I married," Ren told her.

"Aw, we aren't that bad, Ren" Yoruichi whined.

"Yes, yes you are," Ren disagreed. "Just lead the way to wherever it is you want to go, Yoruichi."

"Okay!" Yoruichi cheered. "Actually, we're just heading to our secret lair."

"Let's not be so grim, Yoruichi. It's just a hidden cave, not some sinister secret lair of doom. Although, with you there, it comes pretty close to being that."

"Does not…"

"Does, too."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"You're mean."

"You give me a headache."

"Do not."

"Do, too."

"Nuh-uh."

"We're not doing this again, Yoruichi."

"Why not?"

"Because you're actually starting to give me a headache."

"Heh, that'll really burst Shinji's bubble when you go back."

"Well, aren't you just so coy and clever?"

"I do my best! Hey, there's someone that'll really burst his bubble!"

As Ren looked ahead of them, she saw that person that Yoruichi was referring to. It was Hiyori, and Ren could only guess what Yoruichi had planned for the girl.

"Oh, Hiyori-chan!" Yoruichi called.

"What?" Hiyori demanded, swinging around to find whoever had called her name.

"Well, what do you know?" Hiyori muttered. "If it isn't the new Mrs. Hirako. Was someone finally able to pry you away from your husband's side? I figured he wouldn't let you go for a while."

"Well, if you must know, Hiyori," Ren started. "We do actually stop having sex long enough to go to work, but once we're off the clock, it's back to the good ole act of bumping uglies."

"You are sick!" Hiyori screamed.

"Ah, newlyweds," Yoruichi chuckled. "They're like rabbits."

"Stop it!" Hiyori yelled.

"I mean, we just can't stop," Ren continued. "I don't think I slept at all last night. I just can't get him off of my mind, either! I mean, he's glorious, and he's just so damn b-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Hiyori screamed. "Shut up! The last thing that I need to hear about is that dick face's-!" The poor girl couldn't even finish her sentence, but Yoruichi sure as hell could.

"Dick?" Yoruichi threw in.

"Stop it!" Hiyori begged, clasping her hands tightly over her ears.

"Oh, my, what a man I married!" Ren moaned, continuing her torture on the small girl.

"I swear, I hate you!" Hiyori cried.

"I'm surprised I still have my voice," Ren continued. "Because I was sure screaming all night."

"Okay, okay," Yoruichi conceded. "That's enough."

"What, is it getting too much for you to handle?" Ren teased. "Heh, I thought that a couple of times recently myself…"

"Fucking stop it," Hiyori begged.

"Fine," Ren agreed.

"Anyways, Hiyori," Yoruichi began. "Shinji is all by his lonesome in his office right now, so just in case you wanted to go torment him for me…"

"Really, Yoruichi? Sending Hiyori to do your dirty work?" Ren asked her.

"Why not?" Yoruichi replied.

"I don't think that I can look at him after that," Hiyori grumbled.

"Just try," Yoruichi encouraged her. "Maybe you can beat him enough to get the images out of your head."

"You know what? I'll try that," Hiyori stated, and she started to march her way to the Fifth Division, where the unsuspecting Shinji was about to receive yet another beating.

"You are so mean," Ren commented, referring to her captain, who looked ever so content with herself.

"He started it," Yoruichi snickered, the triumphant grin never leaving her face.

"Let's just go," Ren breathed, starting to walk away again. It was quiet for a moment as Yoruichi reveled in her newly acquired triumph, but then she started thinking about some of the things that Ren had said earlier.

"So, Ren," Yoruichi cooed.

"What now?" Ren breathed.

"Is he, uh…really that good?" Yoruichi wondered.

"I wasn't lying earlier, no," Ren told her.

"Wow," Yoruichi commented. "I bet you two had a lovely wedding night, then."

"He certainly didn't disappoint," Ren agreed. "It's not like I didn't make the poor boy wait long enough for it."

"Aw!" Yoruichi squealed. "You mean my dirty little Ren-chan was a virgin until her wedding night?"

"This conversation has gone too far," Ren muttered, picking up her pace and leaving Yoruichi behind her.

"But wait," Yoruichi called, speeding up her own pace so she could catch up to her lieutenant. "I thought you guys dated for twenty years before he even proposed…Ren, how could you make that poor man wait for so long?"

"Too far," Ren repeated. To her relief, the hidden cave was finally coming in to view, and before Yoruichi could continue with her assault of overly personal questions, Ren quickly jumped up to the entrance.

"And why are we here?" Ren asked her captain.

"I want you to meet somebody," Yoruichi answered.

"Meet somebody?"

"Yes, meet somebody. Now get your cruel ass inside." Yoruichi gave her lieutenant a brisk shove forward, but Ren wasn't going to let her have the last word.

"It's not like it wasn't worth it!" she pointed out.

"You shouldn't tease a man like that," Yoruichi reprimanded her.

"Well, it's not like I'm holding back on him now," Ren commented.

"I suppose not, but still," Yoruichi replied.

"He never argued with it," Ren continued.

"Of course he didn't. I'm sure he was afraid you'd leave him if he did."

"Well…he didn't have to wait so long to ask me to marry him. I would have said yes even after only a year of us 'dating'."

"Wow, you made that poor man wait nineteen years for nothing?"

"It wasn't for nothing! If he had just asked me sooner, he wouldn't have had to wait!"

"A convenient story…"

"Yoruichi, you are such a troll."

"And you're a tease."

"Who the hell do you want me to meet, anyways?"

"Just go in and you'll find out."

"Fine."

And without any further delay, Ren and Yoruichi both entered the cave. Right off the bat, Ren could sense another reiatsu in the area, but she couldn't quite recognize who it belonged to. She had felt it a long time ago, though, and she knew that for sure.

"Oh, Kisuke!" Yoruichi called.

"Kisuke?" Ren muttered. The name also sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on where she had heard it before, either.

"You're late." Both of the women looked up to see a man walking towards them. Ren took a moment to get a good look at him; he was relatively pale, with pale blond hair, and green eyes. She thought for a moment, but then it finally hit her.

"Hey! You're that peeper!" Ren shouted, causing the man to stop dead in his tracks; Yoruichi bellowed with laughter because she knew exactly what Ren was talking about. About five years ago, Ren and Yoruichi had been sparring in the hidden cave, and when they had finished for the day, they decided to take a dip in the spring that was also inside the cave. And of course, they had to get naked to do that. As the women had been stripping down to their naturally given glory, a reiatsu that shouldn't have been there suddenly popped up in the cave, and the two women went ballistic. Even though they had only been in their underclothing at the time, Ren and Yoruichi both raced through the cave to find whoever had been spying on them, but the lucky bastard had been able to escape them, until now.

"I-uh, I," the man stuttered.

"Kisuke, you never told me that!" Yoruichi laughed.

"How did you not recognize his reiatsu?" Ren berated her. "You've obviously known him for a while, and you want me to believe that you somehow didn't notice that it was him that was peeping in on us?!"

"I was more focused on getting you naked at the time, Ren-chan," Yoruichi teased her, causing Kisuke's face to turn a light shade of red.

"Why does it not surprise me that you would know a pervert like this?" Ren scoffed.

"Oh, hush," Yoruichi laughed, smacking Ren on the shoulder.

"Ren, this is Kisuke Urahara, we grew up together. Kisuke, this is Ren Hirako, my lovely lieutenant that I've been telling you about," Yoruichi announced.

"Hirako? Are you related to the captain of Fifth Division?" Kisuke asked her.

"I suppose you could say that," Ren mumbled.

"Are you his sister?" he wondered, which made Yoruichi chuckled.

"No, I-" Ren started, but Yoruichi cut her off before she even had a chance to finish her statement.

"Nope! Shinji was the one to deflower my innocent little Ren-chan!" Yoruichi declared, causing Kisuke's face to turn an even brighter red.

"First I'm a tease and now I'm innocent?" Ren mused. "You have a messed up system there, Yoruichi."

"Uh, s-so, you're his…wife?" Kisuke stuttered.

"Mhm," Ren hummed.

"I see," Kisuke muttered.

"So you grew up with her, huh?" Ren asked him, pointing at Yoruichi with her head.

"Yeah," Kisuke answered.

"My condolences. You must have had a rough childhood," Ren commented.

"Hey!" Yoruichi shouted.

"Well, I doubt that it was all sunshine and rainbows," Ren added. "It's a miracle he's still alive."

"I'm charming and you know it!" Yoruichi argued.

"Was she always this loud?" Ren wondered, completely ignoring her captain.

"Uh, yes," Kisuke told her.

"I see," Ren muttered. "I really don't see how you're still alive."

"It…wasn't easy," Kisuke finally laughed, and Ren snorted once she saw the disgruntled look that came over Yoruichi's face.

"See? Me and Shinji really are just trying to make you a better person," Ren pointed out, but Yoruichi merely huffed in response. The two women kept their banter up for a little longer, and as Kisuke watched them interact with one another, he noticed how oddly similar they were in some aspects and completely opposite in others. It was like they were playing opposite roles with another: whenever Yoruichi acted childish, Ren acted like a more serious adult; when Yoruichi acted 'crude', Ren was more mannerly; and whenever Yoruichi was serious, Ren started to goof off and the roles acted in vice versa as well. It was almost like they were playing a game, like they were trying be one another's opposite, but Kisuke doubted that they actually knew that they were doing it; it seemed to be subconscious to them at this point.

Once Ren and Yoruichi finally stopped arguing, Ren tried to get to know Kisuke better. He was quiet, shy, and unsure of himself at points, so Ren had a hard time getting him to talk at first, but when he actually did converse with her, she saw just how intelligent and perceptive he actually was. And after a while, they decided to spar in order to kill time. And even though Kisuke ended up using his shikai, Ren didn't use hers, much to Yoruichi's dismay. She mainly didn't use it because she was way too focused on Kisuke's zanpakutō to even think to use her own; something about it just intrigued her to no end. Even the name of blade fascinated her, and she so badly wanted him to tell her everything about the blade, but with a little prodding from Yoruichi, he didn't tell her a single thing; it was probably Yoruichi's way of getting revenge on Ren for not showing her her mysterious shikai, but Ren still refused to tell the woman anything about her blades out of sheer spite for her now.

Their sparring took a few hours, but eventually, Ren decided to call it a day and return to her dear husband. Considering that he hadn't tracked her down after an hour had passed, she had a feeling that Hiyori had to give him quite the walloping before she got the images that Ren had given her out of her head…


(This is still the same night as last chapter)

Now Ren couldn't sleep. She had woken up shortly after she had fallen asleep earlier, only to see that Shinji had finally rolled over to his side of the bed. She had just laid there for a while, trying to go back to her slumber, but her mind was working too fervently to let her rest. So, she quietly got out of bed, slid one of Shinji's button-up shirts on, and made her way to the outside of the warehouse. It was still storming when she went out there, and she was pelted by rain as she jumped to the warehouse's roof. She had sat there for a while, just watching the lightning nearby and listening to the thunder roar as the rain soaked her skin.

It was probably around midnight by now, maybe even a little after. Except for the storm, everything else around Ren was quiet. It was hard for her to imagine, that after such tranquil nights like this, that in just a few hours the world around her would be bustling again and the Visored would start yet another day of just waiting. They seemed to be waiting for a lot of things these days, like for Aizen to make his move, for Ichigo to finally come to them, for Soul Society to finally come after them; they were stuck in a waiting game and they were beginning to grow impatient with it.

"What are you doing out here in the rain, Ren?"

"I'm sorry," Ren apologized, looking up into the worried face of her husband. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"I told you I couldn't sleep without ya," he reminded her. As he sat down beside her, Ren noticed that he had thrown his pants back on, but not his shirt, probably because she was wearing it herself.

"Sorry, dear. I just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep," she told him.

"I know the feeling," he breathed. A small silence passed between them as thunder cracked in the sky above them, and Ren scooted closer to Shinji. She was starting to get chilled by all of the rain at this point, and Shinji wrapped his arm around her when he noticed that she was shaking.

"It won't be long now," Ren commented, finally breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked her.

"All of this, it won't last too much longer. Those Arrancar were way more developed than we thought they would be at this point. Aizen is going to make his move soon," she explained.

"And so will we," Shinji assured her.

"I know. That's why I said it wouldn't last much longer," Ren told him, laying her head against his shoulder.

"Is that why you can't go back to sleep? 'Cuz you're thinking about those Arrancar from earlier?"

"That and everything else, like if we're ready for this, what's gonna happen afterwards, or if that hot-headed kid is even going to come to us. Those Arrancar were enough to make me actually start worrying about all of this."

"You weren't worried before?"

"I wasn't so focused on it before. Now, it's right in my face and I can't ignore it."

"Are you scared?"

"No, I'm just…apprehensive about everything."

"There isn't much that I can do for that, Ren."

"You can make it go away, at least for tonight."

And she looked at him with such innocent and pleading eyes, that Shinji didn't have the heart to deny his wife's request, not that he would have anyways. Shinji quickly jumped up from his spot on the roof and picked his wife up in the process as well. He couldn't remember a time that he had ever Shunpo'd as fast as he did to get back inside the warehouse, but at least he took the time to quietly shut their bedroom door and lock it shut behind them…

Author's Note: And a special thank you to Chick1996, DarkTill-Indigo, bloodyhell99, Dame LeeLee, weaver yk, kitsunlover, ana, TheDivines, solarangelsuki, and ellerinae for the favorites, follows, and reviews!

Love you guys!