Author's notes: First of all, thank you so much to the people that reviewed! I was like, WOW! Talk about a review boom. I wonder what caused it? –thinking mysteriously- XD Well, basically, it's 10:54PM (yes that isn't that late) but I feel dead. But, since you guys decided to review, I shall now write the author note now. Story will have to wait till tomorrow. School sucks. Oh, and to the person who told me that they shouted in class when they were reading my fanfic, that is so cool! I feel so honoured…

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

A Summer Job: Missing in Action

Silence. That was the word used to describe the combined captain and vice-captain's meeting. You could almost hear everyone breathing, it was so quiet. Finally, Yamamoto stood up.

"Lets begin." He looked around at the faces, noting that, yet again, Kurosaki Ichigo was not present. He made a mental note to talk to the new captain about disregarding his duties. But for now, more important things lay ahead. Especially when Hitsugaya and Hisagi had returned. Without Renji. It was the morning after their return, and the two had been well rested. However, more important things lay on both their minds. The usual bickering and squabbling that was usually heard was gone. Secretly the old captain was happy. This gave him a good chance to speak. "Hitsugaya-taichou, please give your report."

The young white haired genius stepped forward, unusually serious. "At around 9PM human time, we arrived in the real world." He paused, looking around. All the captain's and vice-captain's were paying attention. "For some reason, the arrancar's had split up, so Renji went after the weaker one, and Hisagi went after the stronger one. I stayed with Hisagi to note down his abilities." Another pause. "We felt the arrancar fighting Renji die, then shortly after that, we…didn't feel Renji's…spirit force."

Silence continued. Then, Kenpachi spoke up. "I thought that they were vice-captain level."

Hitsugaya smirked. "Yes, we thought that too. Apparently, Aizen has now made it so that those arrancar can mask their spirit force. A while ago this was a rumour, but Aizen has obviously perfected the ability into his arrancar."

Zaraki looked displeased, not because Renji hadn't come back, but because he wanted a good fight, and since these arrancar turned out to be stronger than they actually were…

"So, what you're saying is…"

"Yes, they were about as strong as captain level," Hitsugaya finished the sentence off for the big captain.

The short captain looked around, before continuing. "Even with the…absence of Renji, we can now say that the world does not have any arrancar's in it…" He walked back to his position. "…For now…" he added softly, but everyone heard it.

Yamamoto stood up. "Renji is now declared as MIA." He looked around at the faces. Some were shocked, but others remained calm. "However, since his status isn't confirmed, I would like someone to go to the real world and investigate – until the matter is fully settled. Someone who knows the place very well."

The captains smirked quietly amongst themselves. Like they didn't know who that was. Yamamoto looked at their expressions. They were all looking at the 6th division captain expectantly, Kuchiki Byakuya.

"As it seems, you all know who I am referring to." He looked at the 6th division captain expectantly.

Kuchiki Byakuya was silent for a moment before answering. "She may go, however, she isn't here at the moment."

"What do you mean she isn't here?" the old man asked, hiding his surprise.

"I have not seen her for quite some time," came the cool response.

"Hmm…and Kurosaki-taichou isn't here as well," mused the old man, oblivious to the embarrassment he was putting on the younger captain. The rest of the meeting had shut up, but they all nudged and winked like they were high-school kids. The old man sighed. Would these people ever grow up?

"Well, since that rules out the person who knows the world the most…any ideas?" he asked, searching the floor. A feminine voice spoke up, belonging to Matsumoto. "How about Ikkaku and Yumichika?"

There were murmurs of agreement, and the old captain nodded to himself. Those two had been in the world for about the same time as Renji. He supposed they could get around fairly well, but he was a bit…uncertain that they wouldn't get sidetracked. Not that he had any choice. Out of the group that had gone to the real world, none of them really had any big commitments to Renji, other than those two.

"Good idea, Matsumoto. Any one against this?" No one said anything, so his crinkled eyes shifted to the large spikey haired captain, who was still seething about how the arrancars were actually captain level. The old man raised an eyebrow. "Ahem. Zaraki, I presume you will tell the members of your division of this decision?"

The man named Zaraki merely grunted, still lost in his own thoughts.

The old man sighed. "Ok, the morning meeting is over." The captains and vice-captains turned to leave. "By the way, Hitsugaya. Congratulations on finishing the mission."

The prodigy just grunted, and walked out, obviously disturbed by the fact that Renji was now MIA. He was, of course, the one responsible. He had, after all, made the choice that they were to split up. If Renji turned out to be dead…he shook his head, not wanting to think on what would happen if Renji was dead. He isn't dead, he told himself. But then how come even he couldn't find Renji's spirit force. He was yanked out of his thoughts by Hisagi, who stood directly in front of him. "What?" Hitsugaya looked up, annoyed.

"Don't worry yourself, Hitsugaya-taichou. He's alive."

"Hn." The prodigy let out another non-commital grunt, before sliding back into his brooding state.

Hisagi watched him go, worried. By the looks of it, he would be brooding all day about his supposed mistake.

Hitsugaya walked off, lost in his thoughts. No doubt he wanted to go back to the real world if he could, but he knew that being a captain required responsibility, and his division needed him.

Renji moved. Well, squirmed. After squirming for a bit, he cracked open an eyelid. White ceiling. Wow. He closed his eyes again. Hold on. White ceiling? Since when did he wake up to white ceilings? His vice-captain quarters had wooden ceilings, and they weren't white. And speaking of his vice-captain quarters, he didn't exactly have the most comfortable bed, but yet, the mattress underneath him felt so…unexplainably soft. Where was he?

He opened his eyes again to meet the white ceiling. Resisting the impulse to jump up and survey his surroundings, he quietly twisted his head to the side. On the left side of him there were two paintings; of what he did not know. He twisted his head to look to his right, noting that he had trouble moving. On the right side of him was a long rectangular table, reddish brown in colour. It looked like something out of a painting, with the bowl of fruit in the middle. Behind the table was a small bookcase, bordered with small plants. Strange room.

His eyes drifted down the length of his body. Past his feet he could see dark brown double doors. Letting his gaze travel up he saw that he was covered in a light white sheet, but he could still see, and feel, the feelings of bandages wound around various parts of his body. He had bandages over his chest and he traced the white lines, frowning. A sharp pang of pain at his left shoulder jerked his memory back for him.

The arrancar…

After he had defeated the arrancar, all he remembered was looking for Hitsugaya-taichou and Hisagi. He remembered lying face down on a bench, but he forgot where. After that…his mind went blank. So where the hell was he then? The enemy?

The double doors past his feet opened dramatically. Still stuck in the thoughts of whether this residence was safe, he jerked himself upright. And immediately regretted it. A renewed burst of pain shot through his left shoulder as he leant on it. He clenched his teeth and lay back down slowly again, unaware of the figure that approached him.

"You idiot."

A feminine voice entered into his burst of pain.

"Huh?" was all that he could say at the moment. Remembering the reason why he had jerked up so suddenly, he looked to the side, and sure enough a young girl sat on a stool, next to the bed he had been lying on.

"Idiot. Don't try to move."

"Well, if you didn't freakin barge in like…" he trailed off, realising who he was talking to. "Tatsuki…"

The girl sitting next to him smirked. "Abarai Renji," she acknowledged. This guy had been an exchange student in her class for about 6 months, before he left. He wasn't anything new, save for the fact that he had a temper that could rival her childhood friend, Ichigo, and that he was loud, and arrogant. They didn't really know each other, just recognising that the other existed because of their connection with Ichigo.

Renji didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell her that he thought he was at some enemy residence, could he? She would surely take offence. Not that he cared. After all, Arisawa Tatsuki was just someone who was Kurosaki Ichigo's friend. When Ichigo's name entered his thoughts he immediately frowned.

Tatsuki noticed this. "Oi. Aren't you even going to say thank you?"

"What?"

The girl with black spiky hair rolled her eyes. "Well, I did save you from bleeding to death on a park bench."

Renji opened his mouth, about to speak but he was cut off by her voice again. "And speaking of bleeding, your wound on your shoulder is opening up again."

She moved her chair slightly, so that she was closer to him. He jerked away. "It's fine."

"Like hell its fine." She grabbed his wounded shoulder, squeezing hard. Renji winced. It hurt. A lot.

She noticed his expression and smirked. Without further ado, she unwound the bandage, noticing his muscular body, though not for the first time. He turned his head to the side to see what she was doing. She pushed his head back with her free hand. "Don't. It's annoying."

"What?"

She sighed. His stupid male ego. "Look, if you want to look at your glorious wound, fine." She stood up, walked around the bed, and grabbed a small mirror resting on the expensive looking table. "Here."

Placing the mirror on his chest, he saw the wound that had been made by the arrancar. It was gruesome, to say the least, but he had seen worse. She noticed his expression, but she didn't say anything.

"I have to go get more bandages." She stood up. "You have a lot of explaining to do," she told him sternly. As she walked away, she said over her shoulder, "Especially since you decide to sleep for one whole day, and one whole night."

Crap. One whole day, and one whole night? That means…he had to get out of here. Hitsugaya and Hisagi were probably searching their butt's off trying to find him. Yet, here he was, being nursed by this girl he hardly knew. He tried to get up, but failed miserably again. He silently cursed. Why the hell was he feeling so weak? He couldn't even get up out of the bed. And his spirit power. If it wasn't his own, he wasn't sure if he could have felt it. It was so faint, like someone shouting into the wind. He hadn't felt like this since he had fought Kuchiki-taichou. Well, that time with Kuchiki-taichou…that was different to this, he decided. That time he was feeling pain, but he knew he couldn't die. This time however, it was like he hadn't eaten anything for a whole year, but he had passed the stage of hungriness. It was just…weakness. He wondered absentmindedly if Hitsugaya could sense his spirit force.

He heard her footsteps coming back from wherever she had gone. Damn this. He couldn't even turn over.

Tatsuki walked in, and noticed the converging emotions displayed on the guy's face. What compelled her to help him, she did not know, but she did know that this guy was the guy that saved her the night before…from…she shuddered, not wanting to know what that other 'thing' had wanted to do with her. She looked at the figure on the bed. He looked helpless, but his eyes were burning.

She came to the side of his bed, and sat down the bandages on another stool. He glared at her, not angry with her, but angry at something. Tatsuki could guess.

"What? Pissed that you can't get up?"

He let out a grunt. "Hn."

Surprised that he didn't say anything, since he usually had a lot to say in class, from what she remembered, she softened her voice a little. "Well, you did get pretty badly beaten up…" she trailed off, bandaging his newly opened wound. She finished bandaging his wound, and then stood up.

"Don't you want to know what its all about?" he asked, as she turned around. He had been thinking as she bandaged him up; since she was a human, wouldn't she want to know about…what had been happening.

Tatsuki shrugged. "You mean like, the reason why you're carrying a sword around, and looking like some old time samurai? Oh, and the reason why you're fighting with these crazy people, which I'm not sure are people?"

Renji blinked. "Er…not exactly that, but yeah, if you put it that way."

She paused in her step, obviously debating in her mind whether she wanted to listen to him. She knew there was something different about him, and different about her friend, Ichigo. She had noticed when he fought this horrible looking mask-guy, that Ichigo was different. Ichigo was…powerful. He felt powerful. He had been fighting, wearing a black suit type thing, and a black sword. Tatsuki never showed herself, but she knew that something was different. Along with that, all these random people had suddenly came to their school. Just out of coincidence. Just out of coincidence that one of them was bald, another one of them looked like a girl but wasn't, another one with a breast to match Inoue's, and a kid that looked like a primary schooler with white hair, but was sure that he belonged in high-school. She admitted that these things would seem a lot clearer after hearing his explanation.

"Later." She bit her lip. "You need to rest now."

She could see him now, closing his eyes. She turned and walked out the huge double doors.

"Tatsuki?"

"…"

"Thanks."

She walked down the cold hallway ignoring the corners of her mouth that had decided to go up. Just a bit. Idiot. She should be the one saying thanks to him.

AN: Ok, there's my present XD. Sorry that I left Hitsugaya feeling angsty. Don't worry, I'll cheer him up…-evil grin- I guess you know who, huh:P Thanks so much to the reviewers! I read them all, and I was pretty happy. Anyway, I should have updated yesterday (as usual) but blame it on school. It sucks. And sleep. It sucks too. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter – even though nothing really big happened. Well, at least Ikkaku and Yumichika have now entered the seen XD. Those guys are so funny. And about the IchiRukiness – it'll come soon. I still have to make them reach the damn lake, and get back as well, so don't worry :) Lots of fluff ensured. MIA, in case anyone didn't know, is Missing In Action. Basically the person is labelled as dead, but no one can really prove it.