A/N: Chapter four already?! LE GASP!! Yeah, I told ya I was sorta done anyway so… here it is… :3 enjoy. And also, I was only asking for you guys to vote because I was already working on the smut for the future chapter. Thanks guys!

Chapter Dedication: To all my lovely readers and reviewers. Without you guys I would have lost all hope in writing this fic since I continue (and still do) to believe that I'm not worthy to write Bleach fics. And also to Slivershell. She has been so kind to me! We even have some one-on-one discussions on AIM about our fics and she's helped me so much!! Thank you for being so awesome:3

Warning: Hollow Ichigo x Ichigo smut? xD and some random humor put here and there… you know, Renji being silly. Oh and dialogue… lots of it.

-Chapter Four-

Here to Stay

---

Renji sighed as he watched Ichigo sleep, his usual frown adorning his features. Once Ichigo had fallen asleep he laid the boy on the bed and fell asleep next to him. It was early morning now and the red head was completely famished, but he had promised Ichigo he wouldn't leave. So there he was, just staring at the boy resting soundly in what Renji assumed finally in a long time, and waited for him to wake up. He had to admit, Ichigo looked adorable when he slept. Not that he would ever tell the substitute shinigami that anytime soon. That thought, along with many others, were pushed back into a corner of his mind where everything he wanted to tell Ichigo but couldn't was kept. Renji sighed again as he ran his fingers through the bright orange softness. Renji was utterly amazed at how soft it really was. He couldn't help but curl his fingers in it and comb through it. No really, Renji was flabbergasted.

He swore his heart nearly jumped out of his chest when Ichigo shifted a little and made a little sound as he leaned more into Renji's touch. The red head let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and continued to pet the boy when he realized Ichigo was still asleep.

Renji only stopped when something caught his eye. It was a discolored part of Ichigo's skin that was covered by his shirt on his left shoulder. Renji tugged at the sleeve of Ichigo's shirt to reveal the bruise but found that it was horrible bite mark. Not even a love bite but a deep and raw puncture that left a very dark bruise. He gently ran his thumb over it and saw Ichigo flinch and wince slightly.

The recent rapist left his mark on Ichigo and Renji felt a little enraged by that. Without realizing he had pressed a little too hard and Ichigo's eyes snapped open. Their eyes locked for a second before…

"AH!"

Ichigo had pushed Renji off the bed and he landed with a loud thud. "What the hell, Ichigo!?" Renji scolded as he sat up and rubbed his back.

"…Renji?"

Said man looked up at Ichigo and noticed the confused and surprised look on the teens face.

"…oh, I'm… sorry… I didn't know… I mean… I thought you were—"

"Ichigo."

Ichigo stopped his stammering and looked at Renji who nodded in understanding. "I know. It's okay."

Ichigo sighed and lay back on the bed and turned over, throwing his comforter over his face and curling up.

"Ichigo?" Renji called, slightly confused, as he stood up and sat on the bed, placing a hand on the boy.

"I'm sorry," came Ichigo's muffled reply. "I thought you were……"

Renji sighed. "I know… don't worry about it. It's not like you killed me or anything, right?" Renji joked.

Though the boy didn't laugh. He simply didn't answer. Renji sighed and decided to change the subject.

"You hungry?"

"….no…"

Renji frowned. "Will you be hungry later?"

"…….no…."

"Will you be hungry at all today?"
"…nope…"

Renji was not happy with those answers. "And why not?"

"…because I don't feel hungry," Ichigo said through the sheets.

"I don't want to hear that, you're going to eat, even if I have to shove it down your throat." Renji threatened.

Ichigo groaned a reply. "If someone's not hungry, why force them to eat?"

"There's a difference between not wanting to eat because you're not hungry and not wanting to eat because you refuse to."

"I wasn't refusing, I'm just not hungry."

"I bet. Especially since you're stomach is definitely not growling."

Ichigo frowned as he realized his belly was making noises and he silently cursed at it as he heard Renji chuckle triumphantly.

"As long as you eat something, lest be a few bites, I'll be happy. Alrighty?"

Ichigo sighed, "Whatever…"

"So…"

Ichigo pulled down some of his blanket to reveal only his eye so he could look at Renji in question. "What?"

"Are ya coming? I'm not gonna leave you here alone."

Ichigo nodded slowly and Renji smiled before standing up and pulling off Ichigo's comforters without warning. The teen let out a small yelp of surprise when the chilly air of the room hit his skin. Renji grabbed Ichigo's arm and hoisted him up to his feet then quickly dragging him downstairs before pushing him to sit at his table. The whole process left Ichigo slightly dazed.

Renji walked into the kitchen and searched around, "Okay, so I was thinking I'd make salted fish with some seaweed stripes… if you have of course."

Ichigo snapped back to reality and nodded, "Yeah, it's there…"

"Good!" Renji said before chuckling bashfully while scratching the back of his head. "'Cuz that's the only thing I know how to make anyway… heh."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile a little. "Idiot."

"AH-HA!"

Ichigo jumped at Renji's sudden outburst and stared wide-eyed at the man pointing at him as if accusing him of some wrong deed… like stealing from the cookie jar.

"I knew you still had some of that wise-ass in ya! I just gotta get it back out!"

Ichigo blinked several times before quirking his eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh really?"

"Ya really!"

Ichigo couldn't suppress the smile that made its way on to his face. He couldn't help the little chuckle he let out either. "Dumb ass…"

"See I knew it! I knew something was wrong!" Renji over exaggerated.

"Renji… stop being an ass," Ichigo said, his grin growing wider at his friend's silliness.

"Ho shit! Is that a smile?! What the fuck!" Renji threw his arms up in disbelief.

"Dude… something is wrong with you."

"No I think the wrongness is with you!"

"What?! That doesn't even make sense!"

"Exactly my point! Cuz you're dumb and I'm not but you are so therefore I'm right! Ha!"

"Renji!"

"What?!"

"Stop bitching and cook already?! I'm freakin starving!"

"Why yos, 'o course!" Renji grinned widely before turning around doing what he was initially supposed to do.

Ichigo shook his head. He refused to question his friends stupidity since he figured doing that would bring more of it so he just sat there and pondered to himself what had gotten into the Shinigami this morning.

"So…" Renji began, wanting to make some conversation as he cooked. "You slept alright?"

Ichigo couldn't stop the blush that colored his cheeks. He remembered falling asleep in Renji's arms last night, something he would never let happen on a normal basis. But oddly enough, at that moment in time, he felt like it was just right. The way Renji held him protectively and knowing that he was going to be safe put his mind at ease and he finally slept peacefully. Though this morning he had woken up quite startled, being all paranoid and what not, he didn't mean to push Renji away. He actually enjoyed the closeness but… it was awkward. Renji was his friend.

"Yeah, I feel much better," he finally answered a little uneasily. … just friends."

---

Ichigo gawked at the food set before him. He didn't even make a move. He just stared at it.

Renji frowned. "What, it doesn't look that bad…" he huffed as he sat appreciate of Ichigo at the table.

Ichigo blinked. "What did you say you were making again?"

"Salted fish with seaweed stripes…"

Ichigo blinked again. It looked nothing like it. If at all, it looked like the fish dived head first into a frying batter and stood in there just a little too long, and the rice looked like it was still hard… and was that really seaweed?

Renji huffed at the silence and Ichigo's dumbfounded starring. "Well damn, Ichigo. It's not going to kill you."

"And what if it does?" Ichigo suddenly asked, poking at the thing called fish with his chopsticks.

"What?"

"What if does kill me?"

"Tch! Fine! Don't eat it! Gawd…" Renji grew agitated and decided that forcing Ichigo to eat his own "food." "As if I'd care if you starve…" he mumbled, obviously quite offended.

Ichigo looked up and stared at the red head. He seemed unaffected by it and simply ate casually, his red eye concentrated on the bowl of rice he ate out of. Maybe Renji was used to his terrible cooking? Or maybe it really wasn't all that terrible. Well… it only looked bad. It probably doesn't even taste crappy either, Ichigo thought.

He sighed and finally picked a small piece off the fish and starred at it before putting it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, afraid of the flavor but it really wasn't terrible. Hell, it actually tasted good! It was a little rough and chewy but Ichigo actually enjoyed that small bite and went for more.

Renji noticed from the corner of his eye and looked up to see Ichigo eating nonchalantly. Renji didn't fight the cheeky smirk.

"So… you like it, eh?"

Ichigo glanced up at Renji. "It's not that bad."

Of course he wouldn't admit to it that easily… It was Ichigo. But Renji decided to accept that and smiled before continuing his meal. They remained in silence for sometime, eating quietly yet comfortably.

Neither of them had much to say, really. Renji's brain was simply blank and couldn't think of anything else but how cute Ichigo looked when he ate. Yeah, Ichigo was a cute one. He mentally slapped himself when he caught himself starring at the teen. He jumped and almost choked on his rice when he heard Ichigo call him, scaring the red head out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" Renji answered after clearing his throat.

"You're chopsticks…" Ichigo pointed out without looking up, "They're upside down…"

Renji looked at them. They really were. Now, he felt both awkward and stupid. "So? I like holding them this way. Problem?" Real smooth…

Ichigo still didn't look up. "No… I was just wondering. Though it is kind of odd…"

"You're face is odd."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Ichigo was looking at Renji with a frown while the other was glaring. A challenge…

"Your tattoos are odd."

"Well your name is odd."

"Well your hairline is dumb."

"Tch! Your hair is just stupid!"

"Ha. You're one to talk. Your hair is just as stupid if not stupider."

"Well… you're gay."

"Your dumb eyebrows are gay."

"Are not!"

"HA! I won!"

Renji grunted and Ichigo smirked triumphantly.

"Dumb ass…" he mumbled.

"Douche bag…"

Renji shot Ichigo a glare that said "I dare you to come over and say it again," while Ichigo's facial expression said "you wanna take this outside? 'Cuz I'll still whoop your ass." They remained like that for about a minute before bursting out into a fit of laughter. They laughed so hard that it began to hurt their sides. Renji had already fallen backwards and practically started rolling while Ichigo's head met hard with the table as he clutched his side. Only when their lungs desperately needed air and felt like crumpled paper bags did their laughter slowly subsided to chuckles.

Ichigo let out a loud sigh. "Damn… I didn't know it'd be that funny."

Renji sat up and sighed as well. "Dude… my face hurts…"

"That's because it's so freaking ugly…"

"Oh don't even start cuz then I'd really have to kick your ass," Renji countered as he stood up.

"Oh, you really think you can kick my ass?" Ichigo questioned, smirking nonetheless.

Renji retrieved some of the used dishes and walked to kitchen with a fake cackle, "Ill wipe the floor with your face."

"Is that a challenge, Abarai?"

Renji turned to say something but found Ichigo standing right there behind him, his challenging cocky like smirk plastered on his face. Renji waved it off and turned around to do the dishes. "Eh… you're not worth my time." Though he sounded bored, Renji had the biggest face splitting smirk. He heard Ichigo scoff and purposely push him so he could put his own dishes in the sink.

"You're just afraid that I'd kick your ass," Ichigo continued to press, hoping Renji would say something along the lines of "Oh yeah? Well let's take to Urahara's place!" Ichigo hadn't realized he was so battle hungry, considering he had been avoiding fighting all together for the past two weeks. He thought that ventilating some his problems through combat might do him some good. Now Renji was going to take up Ichigo's challenge and prove that he's the stronger man but then…

"WA-HA!" Renji jumped in surprise when something vibrated in his ass. Then he remembered that he had placed his cell phone in his back pocket and immediately took it out. He looked at the screen and sighed.

"I don't like the title of this text message…" Renji mumbled as he started pressing buttons on his phone. Ichigo just watched with a frown. He knew whatever it was had just foiled his plans to some sparring and he sighed with disappointment.

"Rukia is pissed 'cuz she didn't know where I was and her 'n Hitsugaya Taichou went off and fought some Hollows without me. And she also said that Kuchiki Taichou left to the Soul Society without me last night so… yeah," Renji explained before putting his phone away.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "You weren't supposed to be here… were you?"

"Eh…" the older male waved it off and proceeded to washing the dishware. "Doesn't matter. It's not like I could've left you… the way you were 'n all."

Ichigo sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing when you did nothing wrong… stupid."

Ichigo sighed deeply again, finding that arguing with Renji would be pointless, so he left to sit at the table again. He scratched his head again as he was left to think for a bit.

----

"Wait… you're leaving?"

Renji looked back at Ichigo and flashed him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon! I just have some things to straighten out in the Soul Society."

Ichigo opened his mouth to ask another question but stopped himself and shut his mouth, looking away from Renji uneasily. The red head tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "You were gonna say something?"

Ichigo didn't look back and instead kept his focus on anything but Renji. Why was it suddenly so hard to talk to him? Maybe he was embarrassed? Or maybe ashamed to be asking Renji such things? "Umm…. When are you coming back?"

Renji pondered for a minute before giving Ichigo an answer. "It depends… I'm hoping tomorrow night or something… but knowing Byakuya, probably a week."

"Oh…okay."

Renji frowned at the disappointment in Ichigo's voice, but there was nothing he could do about it unfortunately. He had to get himself back to the Soul Society first even tending to Ichigo was way more important. No… he couldn't do that. Renji wasn't even supposed to be there. He knew it was wrong… he knew that staying with Ichigo would only cause a mess in the end. A very big mess. And the thought of losing Ichigo… it's just not worth it. Maybe his captain could be an ass and not send him back for a month or two. He could think things over but… that'd mean leaving Ichigo alone.

"Ichigo… you'll be okay?"

Ichigo finally looked at him and nodded, "Yeah…"

"Alright then…" Renji said unsurely before turning around and opening the front door. "If anything… you know Rukia's around. She's been worried about you too but I won't say anything."

Ichigo nodded. They said their goodbyes and Renji was gone. Ichigo let out another depressed sigh before making his way to his living room and plopping on the couch, lying on his stomach and burying his face in the pillow. This week had been crazy…. Ichigo felt like he was riding an emotional rollercoaster. His mood seemed to have been getting better at first but within realizing that he and Renji were acting too close for friends, Ichigo began to push the shinigami away. He was beginning to think that he.. and… Renji… could be…

Ichigo let out a frustrated huff as he forced that thought out. He had realized he had somehow quickly fallen for Renji. He didn't exactly know how or even why, but that's just how things were. He started feeling uncomfortable around the shinigami and unintentionally began to close himself again. It was sad really… he finally let someone in besides Rukia… And now… he was back to being alone again.

Wait… that's right. He was left alone now. "What now?" he thought as he turned his body around so that he was now facing up and brought his hands to his eyes to rub them roughly. Ichigo's head was completely messed up and at the moment he couldn't think straight.

"Ichigo…"

"Zangetsu…" Ichigo acknowledged. Removing his hands from his eyes he saw he was in his inner world.

"It's raining." The man pointed out, looking up at the sideways clouds blanketed the whole sky in gloomy darkness.

Ichigo sighed depressingly. "Yeah… I know… sorry about that."

::I don't like getting soaked…::

Ichigo didn't answer to that particular voice. He only let out a deeper sigh as his eyes traveled around his stormy world.

"It has been raining for a while now, Ichigo."

::Hell! You say it like its some kind of drizzle! It's a fucking storm in here!"

Ichigo sighed and rested his head in his hands. "I know… I'm sorry."

Everything fell completely silent for a moment. The only sound heard was the hard pounding of the heavy rain against the buildings of Ichigo's Inner world. The soft humming of thunder echoed and Ichigo felt twice as more guilty. He let his hands fall to his sides and let out a sigh as he stared down.

"Ichigo… I promised I'd never let rain fall in this world. I hate it… when it rains. I hate it when you're sad."

Ichigo said nothing. There was nothing for him to say. He just kept his eyes on the wet ground. What was he supposed to say? They know of his situation and f course they knew what was going on… they were apart of him. But…there was no point in trying to say anything or ask of anything. They couldn't help him. Ichigo knew that Zangetsu would only "bother" if something was terribly wrong. But alas, as said before, there was nothing that could be done.

::Hey… king…:: Ichigo looked up at his inversed form who was sitting lazily on the ground with his head resting on his hand and completely drenched. ::You shouldn't be so fucking depressed… it gets annoying. It's been like this for two weeks now. I normally wouldn't care but this is just ridiculous.::

Ichigo grew slightly irritated at the comment and glared at his hollow. "You don't know anything so just mind your damn business."

::I would mind it if you weren't my business… idiot.::

"Ichigo…" Zangetsu interrupted. "We are worried about you…"

::He is,:: The hollow corrected quickly, ::Not me. I don't give a damn about you. I just want it to stop raining.::

Ichigo was growing tired of hearing his hollows mouth and finally snapped. "Would you shut up?! I know it's fuckin raining in here! I know that you guys don't appreciate the fact that I'm unhappy and I can't seem to get over it, and I know it's been like this for who knows how fucking long, but right now I'm really not in the fucking mood so just lay off!"

The hollow only blinked at him for a moment, a confused look written on his face at Ichigo's outburst, before scoffing and rolling his eyes. "Big fucking baby…" he mumbled.

Before Ichigo could say something, Zangetsu stepped in first. "Ichigo… don't… it's not worth your time."

Ichigo let out a stressed sigh and looked away. This was honestly a waste of time.

"I… need some time alone. Please… just hold a little while longer." Though Ichigo was directly talking to Zangetsu, his words were meant for both him and the hollow. "It won't be long…." He sounded open almost unsure of his answer.

Zangetsu made a hum of acknowledgement while his hollow simply snorted.

And then he was gone. The rain seemed to have started pouring harder. And the hollow sighed.

::I really don't give a damn what happens to him…:: the hollow said, a sadistic grin appearing on his face. ::I just might make things worse for him…::

--

Ichigo woke up with a start. He had fallen asleep after speaking with the two spiritual beings that lived inside him. Ichigo sighed deeply as he starred at his wall. For some reason… he felt like crying. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly empty inside. And then it hit him. Renji was what he was missing.

Ichigo mentally cursed himself over and over. What the hell was wrong with him? The man was only gone for a couple of hours and Ichigo was acting like a big baby. He didn't need Renji. He could take care of himself without the help of anyone anyway.

Or so he thought….

Ichigo let out a yelp when his hollow form suddenly appeared beside him with a "Boo!" Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "The hell do you want?"

The hollow smiled almost innocently (if that was possible) at Ichigo, causing the substitute shinigami to deepen his frown. "I wanted to have some fun!"

Ichigo's eyebrow quirked up in question. "Fun?"

"With you of course!" he smiled. "Ya know, since you're all types of easy and happen to let anyway cop a feel at ya."

"You bastard…" that angered Ichigo and he shot up to lunge himself at the annoying hollow. Ichigo's inversed form laughed and giggled as they wrestled in Ichigo's living room, rolling all over the place until the hollow gained the top position and pinned Ichigo's arms to the ground.

"Get off!" Ichigo roared.

"Pft… as if! If you're gonna be a whore at least let me have some fun with ya too!"

Endnotes: And no lemon for you guys yet! Mwhahahaha! X3 damn… it took longer than I expected…. It should've been done a while ago… I HATE how this chapter turned out! Its so pointless!! RAH!! Well tell me what you think… I suck… but there will be HichixIchi in the next chapter!! Yay!!