Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. All characters associated with the series are the property of Tite Kubo; I am simply borrowing them for my own amusement.
Damage Control
Ichigo woke with the dawn as the first shafts of light spilled in through his open curtains. He frowned, eyes still clenched tightly, wondering how he could have forgotten to shut them. He was just starting to contemplate how to close them with his foot when the fog began to lift from his brain and he remembered exactly why he hadn't shut the curtains when he went to bed. His eyes shot open. It was because he hadn't gone to bed. He'd gone out to patrol and then, for reasons that completely escaped him presently, decided to curl up and fall asleep in the lap of none other than Abarai Renji. He bolted upright and half-rolled, half-fell out of bed to crouch in the middle of the floor, his eyes darting around as though expecting Renji to be waiting somewhere to offer up his lap again.
He sat down with a thud, scrubbing his face with his hands and trying to think in terms of damage control. He'd fallen asleep in the lap of one of his greatest rivals. Granted it was a friendly rivalry, but the fact still remained. Not only that, but he'd done so while said rival was playing with his hair. His hands stilled. Honestly, he wasn't sure whose reputation was more damaged by that last fact so he decided just not to think about it anymore. If that had been the end of it there might have still been a chance for redemption, but it was worse. He'd woken up back in his body and in his own bed which meant that someone had put him in both. A strangled whimper snuck out from under the hands still pressed to his face as he was swarmed with visions of Renji carrying his sleeping body through the streets. As he lamented this latest development, a newer and more horrific thought occurred to him. He managed to pry two fingers from his right eye to confirm what the breeze had already told him; he was stripped down to his boxers. He was most certain that the last time he'd seen this body it had been wearing pants. Ah yes, there they were, folded over the back of his chair along with his shirt. The fingers slipped back into place. It was official, he, Kurosaki Ichigo, was never going to live this down.
(*)
An hour later he was showered, dressed, and sitting alone at the kitchen table thinking. Sometime during his shower the horror had faded to simmering embarrassment as the rest of his life issues resurfaced and demanded his full attention. In the long run, even if Renji never let him live this down it was a good thing, because it would mean he was still alive. Ever since he'd gotten his inner hollow under control, he'd started to entertain the hope that he might just make it out of the impending war. It was sort of a slim hope, but it was better than what he'd had before. When Rukia wandered downstairs half an hour later he was still sitting in the same place, forehead resting against the hard wood of the table.
"You're up early," she commented, walking past him to dig in the cupboards. "I thought I was going to have to drag you out of bed."
"Sorry to disappoint you." he muttered, head still glued to the table.
"Urahara sent a message last night; he wants us to stop by this morning." She ignored his tone completely.
"Hm."
"You were out late again last night; you woke me up with all that banging around," she admonished, sitting down across from him. "You should be more considerate of your family's sleep."
"Yeah, I'll work on that," he bit out, trying to keep his temper in check.
She ate in silence for a few minutes, studying the top of his head. Unable to bear the scrutiny any longer he finally pushed up off the table and slouched back in his chair, meeting her gaze with an unspoken challenge.
"You're not the only one here, you know," she informed him impatiently. "You don't have to be out there every night."
"I know that, but it's not like I have anything better to do." He crossed his arms over his chest and dropped her gaze, looking out the window.
"Nonsense. You could be resting, that's important, too. Honestly, it's like you think we're all going to disappear if you're not there for one second. I'll have you know that I've been doing this for longer than you've been alive! If Nii-sama hadn't stepped in I'd be a seated officer right now."
She continued to rant, but he'd managed to tune her out. He couldn't bear to listen to her because when he did he thought of her fighting, and when he thought of her fighting all he could see was her standing there with a hand through her gut. He could hear her sword clatter as it hit the street, see the shock etched into her face, the blood streaking her clothes. His face went white and then a little green as he pushed back from the table suddenly, startling his companion.
"What's wrong, Ichigo?"
"Nothing." He was already halfway out of the room, keeping his voice low so as to not wake his family. "I just forgot something in my room."
The trip to Urahara's shop was made in silence, with Rukia throwing questioning and worried glances at him from time to time. For the most part he just ignored her; the one time he asked her to stop it had led to an argument that lasted for five minutes. Better to just think about something else. He'd almost fully immersed himself in his own little world when they rounded the last corner and found Renji sitting against the wall in his gigai, waiting for them. Suddenly walking was far too complicated a task and only his shinigami reflexes saved him from face planting into the sidewalk.
"How've ya managed to win so many fights when ya can't even walk right?" Renji smirked, unfolding himself from the ground.
"Shut up, dumbass, there was a rock!" Ichigo shouted, trying to fight down a blush.
"I don't see a rock," Rukia remarked helpfully, peering down at his feet.
"Well it was there!" he yelled, storming past them and into the store, his ears ringing with Renji's soft chuckle and Rukia's continued observations about the absent rock.
Luckily, Renji had something to do in the basement and quickly disappeared, leaving he and Rukia alone with an unusually subdued Urahara. The looming threat of war was weighing heavily on everyone it seemed and the former captain dispensed with his usual flamboyant mannerisms in favor of cutting straight to the point. He was working on something, which he didn't feel like divulging the details of, and he needed to collect a few samples from Ichigo. Unsurprisingly, this was not entirely well received, but after repeatedly reassuring the younger man that the device was definitely intended to help and was in no way a repeat of the Rukia episode, he finally relented. He answered a few rather bizarre questions about his inner hollow, glad that Urahara had asked Rukia to wait in the other room, and allowed himself to be hooked to a couple of strange looking machines. After about an hour, the older man tapped his lips thoughtfully, stared off into space for several minutes and then told Ichigo he could leave.
"Hey," Ichigo called after him, "Are you going to tell me what you're doing?"
Urahara paused, looking at him over his shoulder, "Hopefully soon, I wouldn't want to get any hopes up before I'm a little more certain."
(*)
The hollow shrieked at him, angry and stupid. He'd really been hoping for a low level Arrancar, something that would put up a bit of a fight, but sometimes you took what you could get. A quick dodge, two slashes and it was over. Ichigo sighed, it was hardly worth bringing Zangetsu out for fights like that one. Maybe he'd just try hand to hand next time. The brief jolt of adrenaline had left him more awake than ever.
Settling Zangetsu securely on his back he turned a slow circle, weighing his options. If it wasn't already so late he'd have considered heading to Urahara's basement to let off a little steam, but the older man had looked so tired that afternoon that he quickly dismissed the idea. Despite having managed a few hours of sleep the night before, his body was still screaming at him for rest. He thought about home and bed, but he just couldn't face it. Frustrated and out of options he settled for the one thing he'd promised himself he wouldn't do. Standing there in the middle of the empty sidewalk he closed his eyes and began to search for traces of Renji's reiatsu.
Almost immediately his eyes popped open and he frowned, glancing in the direction he'd come from. It was only a block and a half back to his house, but he took it slow. When the structure finally came into view he was unsurprised to see a figure sitting on the roof, staring down at him. To his relief, Renji looked like Renji tonight, no loose hair or haunted eyes. Ichigo landed easily next to him.
"What are you doing here?" His tone was relaxed even though he felt the tease of embarrassment stirring in his stomach.
"The alarm for your neighborhood went off." Renji tipped his head to look up at him. "By the time I got here you were already fightin'. Didn't think you'd appreciate help."
"Yeah, probably not." He smirked, removing Zangetsu and dropping down next to the other man. "Did you have to come far?"
Renji shook his head, "No, not really. I was already out."
The silence stretched between them, not really uncomfortable, just thoughtful. Ichigo fidgeted a bit, picking at a thread on his sleeve, and cast a surreptitious glance at his companion. He opened his mouth, then frowned and closed it again, going back to the seemingly fascinating stray thread. He repeated the entire process two more times before Renji's dry chuckle brought his full attention around.
"Whatever's on your mind just say it, you're acting like a damn woman."
Ichigo bristled, "Bastard. I was gonna apologize about last night but now you can forget about it."
"Ya ain't got nothin' to apologize for," Renji huffed in annoyance, looking back out at the city.
"Yeah, well maybe I feel weird about falling asleep on another guy!" Ichigo hissed in a stage whisper, conscious that Rukia was asleep somewhere below them with his sisters.
"That's stupid," Renji snapped, his attention back on the younger man. "If you're gonna be sorry for somethin' then how 'bout makin' me carry your heavy ass half way across the city. You sleep like a damn rock."
"Ha! Probably good for you to get some exercise with as slow as you've been lately." Ichigo taunted.
"I'm slow?" Renji's eyes were blazing in outrage. "Aizen himself coulda jumped us last night and you'd of just snored right through it. Good thing I was there to keep an eye on ya."
"No one asked you to keep an eye on anything." Ichigo was fuming, trying to burn a hole in Renji with his glare.
"Someone had to," Renji scoffed. "Hell, you didn't even wake up when I dropped you in your room."
"Oh yeah. Was that before or after you decided to take off my pants?" As soon as the words rolled out of his mouth he was cursing himself, the heat rising into his cheeks. He'd promised himself he wasn't going to bring that up, but Renji always managed to push him to a state where he forgot how to use the filter between his brain and mouth.
Renji seemed to have lost his train of thought and was instead opting to stare at him like he'd grown a second head. "What the hell do your pants have to do with anythin'?"
Ichigo, for his part, just sat there with his mouth slightly open but no words coming out.
"You wanted to sleep in your pants?" The confusion was evident.
"No, I just…I mean…" Ichigo raked an agitated hand through his hair as he tried to remember where this argument had been going before he'd crashed it into a mountain.
Beside him, Renji's confusion had settled into a smirk. "You're being all girly again, aren't ya?"
Ichigo glared at him, but Renji paid no attention. "I'm pretty sure you ain't got nothin' down there that I'm unfamiliar with."
Ichigo felt his left eye twitch and was about to launch into a full scale assault when Renji's communicator went off. They both jumped and there was a clatter as something came loose and slid over the edge of the roof. Renji flipped open the tiny screen and began thumbing through buttons, Ichigo hovering over his shoulder. After a few seconds, the tension slipped from the older man and he flipped the little device closed.
"Delayed message from Soul Society, just routine stuff." He rubbed a hand across his face.
Up close, now that they had stopped arguing, Ichigo could see just how warn out Renji really was. His eyes were drooping and there were lines of tension etched around his mouth, eyes and brow. He looked as bad as Ichigo felt and, not for the first time, Ichigo wondered if Renji was sleeping any more than he was. He knew for a fact that the other man had stayed up all last night, and from a couple of his comments it was a fair bet that their habits were probably similar.
"Let's go inside, it's cold out here."
"You're voluntarily lettin' me in your house?" Even Renji's smirk was tired.
"You got somewhere better to be?" Ichigo leveled him with a glare, though he couldn't really find much energy to put behind it.
When he received no answer, he took it as consent and felt a brief flash of triumph, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he'd won. Sighing, he reached behind him, encountering only roof tiles. Twisting he looked around briefly before paling.
"Shit!" he scrambled on hands and knees to the edge of the roof, looking over into the darkness.
"What's wrong?" Renji slid into place next to him.
"I think I dropped Zangetsu off the roof." Ichigo winced at the thought, "He's gonna be pissed."
(*)
"So if you can keep an eye on everyone with your communicator, then what were you doing wandering around town?" Ichigo, having retrieved his zanpakutou and returned to his body was currently sitting at the foot of his bed flipping past the various streets.
"Eh?" Renji cracked an eye open to look at him over folded arms. He had drug Ichigo's desk chair around and was straddling it backwards. "Better to be out movin' than staring at a wall thinkin' about being out movin'."
"Can't argue with that." Ichigo flipped the screen closed and leaned back against the wall, arms resting on splayed knees.
"Wanna go back out? I know you didn't make it very far tonight." This time Renji didn't bother to open his eyes.
Ichigo slouched a little lower. "Eh, maybe later, I can keep an eye on things with your phone for now."
"Communicator," mumbled Renji.
Ichigo just rolled his eyes. "I was thinking about how we met today. When you and Byakuya came to get Rukia and tried to kill me."
"What about it?" Renji spoke into his arms.
"Nothing really, just thinking how far we've all come. You tried to kill me, Byakuya almost did kill me, and then I busted into Soul Society and tried to kill both of you. I fought a bunch of people, blew a lot of shit up and yet here we all are, sitting around waiting to fight a war together. Weird shit."
"If you'd wanted to kill me, you would have. I mean in the second fight, not the first one, Kuchiki- taichou totally kicked your ass in the first one," Renji chuckled, turning his head slightly to look at Ichigo. "Hell, you let me stagger all the way back over to ya; one shot's all it would have taken."
"Yeah, well you were already pretty messed up, not like you were much of a threat." Ichigo dropped his gaze to the bed between his feet.
"See, you just wanted to beat me, not kill me. Nothing's changed," Renji smirked, slipping his face back into the crook of his arm.
"I could kick your ass anytime," Ichigo grumbled, shooting a glare at the top of the other man's head.
"Hm."
Ichigo just shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees so that he could thread his fingers through his hair.
"Why didn't you try to kill me?" Renji's voice was soft, roughened a bit by fatigue.
"I don't really know," Ichigo kept his eyes fixed on the bed, brow furrowed in thought. "I know that I didn't want to, but I'm not sure why. Hell, I was even a bit worried about you after the fight; I asked Hanataro if he thought you'd be okay."
Ichigo fell into silence, thinking back over his time in Soul Society, of all of the people he'd been forced to fight. He'd gone out of his way to avoid killing anyone, he realized. His life had been so different at that time; he'd been softer, more forgiving. His only goal had been to rescue Rukia. Compared to now, those were good times in his life. He'd gotten stronger, he'd accomplished his mission, and he'd even managed to make some friends. If you could call them that. Now it seemed like every time he went into a fight his only goal was to kill something. Life had gotten both simpler and more complex all at the same time. He looked up, intent on sharing his observations only to find his companion asleep, head cushioned against one arm while the other hung limp over the back of the chair.
He watched Renji sleep for awhile, lost in thought, pausing occasionally to check the communicator for activity. The older man shifted slightly, brows drawing together in a frown and Ichigo wondered what he was dreaming about. He was probably uncomfortable sleeping hunched over a chair. Ichigo sighed, dragging himself off of his bed.
He paced a half circle around the sleeping man, wondering if he should wake him but decided against it. If Renji could take care of him while he was sleeping then he could damn well do the same for Renji. Opting to go with the most obvious first, he moved forward and took hold of Zabimaru, pulling him gently from the sash at Renji's waist. He had expected Renji to stir at the intrusion, but the other shinigami slept on.
"Some protector he is…" he muttered to the sword, placing it on his desk.
Returning to the sleeping figure he hesitated only slightly before reaching out for the tie that held Renji's hair back. He struggled with it gently for a moment before it came free, sending a cascade of red down Renji's back and around his face. Stepping close behind the other man, Ichigo reached forward and slid his arms around his chest, eying him warily for any sign that he might be stirring. Gently and slowly Ichigo drew Renji towards him until his weight was resting against his chest, his head lolling to one side. Bracing him with one arm, the younger man reached down and tired to loosen the sash at his waist.
"Damn shinigami clothes," he muttered, wondering why this was so much harder on another person.
Conceding defeat momentarily, he slipped into a half crouch, sliding Renji higher up his chest so that he could wrap both arms around to work the knot. Renji's head slipped onto the younger mans shoulder and he stirred in his sleep, his nose brushing gently against Ichigo's jaw. Fingers stilled briefly, but Renji slept on. Returning to the task, Ichigo made short work of the sash, letting it fall silently to the floor. Slipping his fingers under the cloth he peeled away both the outer kimono and the white undershirt, shifting Renji's weight so that he could pull them down over his shoulders. Careful not to jar him, he pressed the limp body forward just enough to slip his arms over the top of the cloth and back around his chest, slowly tugging the layers free from the confines of the slightly loosened hakama. Renji's breath hitched softly as the last of the cloth pulled lose and Ichigo felt the heat creep into his cheeks as the kimono joined the sash on the floor.
He stayed there for a minute, cradling a half naked Renji against his chest, considering how he was going to get him out of the chair without waking him. He wondered briefly how Renji had carried him across the city last night but pushed the thought from his mind.
His aching legs told him it was time to move so he decided to wing it. Tightening his grip on the other man he straightened awkwardly, dragging the larger body with him. Letting all of Renji's weight rest in one arm he bent down and hooked his legs with his other. He staggered once but managed to right himself, bringing Renji fully off the ground.
"Fucking heavy bastard." He gritted his teeth and stepped around the chair towards the bed.
He laid Renji on top of the sheets and stood back, panting slightly, eyeing the other man critically. His gaze settled on the hakama and he considered reaching out to remove them, too. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure what Renji had on under them and was somewhat reluctant to go exploring. He reached for the blanket, drawing it part way over the motionless body, the backs of his fingers brushing gently against the tattooed abdomen.
His eyes traced the path of the markings across the expanse of pale flesh. He'd seen them before, of course, but it was usually accompanied with either blood or bandages. On their own, they looked impossibly dark against the skin, like charcoal etched across the surface rather than something that lay beneath. Unconsciously, Ichigo reached out to trace a line that ran across the lower ribs, drawing his fingers further over the unmarred skin, half expecting the crisp edges to smear. He dipped lower to rejoin the marks where they trailed over his stomach and the muscles flinched slightly under his touch. Startled, he shot a glance at Renji's face and found the other man watching him through half lidded eyes.
"That tickles," he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.
Ichigo jumped, snatching his had away as though he'd been burned.
"S-sorry," he stammered, taking a step back.
"Still ain't got nothin' to be sorry about," Renji mumbled, dragging himself onto his side and tucking an arm under his head. "Except maybe callin' me heavy."
Ichigo wondered if someone had cast a binding spell on him, because his body didn't seem to want to move. Renji had been awake. How long had Renji been awake? Suddenly the idea of repaying a favor didn't seem like such a good one. This was certainly not a practical way to live down his embarrassment from the previous night.
"You really are a fuckin' girl." Renji's eyes slipped closed as his sleep rough chuckle reached Ichigo's ears.
The younger man scowled, "You could have said something if you were awake."
Renji settled more deeply into the mattress. "Wasn't awake till you picked me up, and I didn't feel like walkin' myself."
Ichigo huffed in annoyance, his cheeks still burning. Muttering a string of curses, he retrieved the communicator from where it had fallen and threw himself into the now unoccupied chair.
"You gonna keep an eye on things?" Renji's voice was barely audible as he slipped back into the darkness.
"Well someone's got to do it while your lazy ass is sleeping," he grumbled, a smirk finally making its way to his lips.
Renji didn't respond, he was already gone. Ichigo settled more comfortably into the chair and flipped the screen open, watching the streets flash by. He spared Renji a glance from time to time, wondering what went on in his brain sometimes. Every time he thought he had the other man figured out he'd do something that just crushed the whole image. Sighing, Ichigo resigned himself to the fact that he'd probably have plenty of time study the problem, if the last two nights were any indication. He turned his attention back to the screen. No time to worry about it tonight, there were people relying on him and he couldn't afford to let them down.