AN: Hello. I have about 13 minutes of free time. I'm going to bed, but I'll write a few lines first. As the chapter names states, and as some of you may remember, we are now going back to Renji and Tatsuki. Yes, yes I am aware of some of the opinions on this couple, but I like them, and I'm going to write about them. I find it extremely probable that they would like each other. Oh yeah, I won't be able to update in a really long time (perhaps about a month) because in two weeks I have my trials, and they go on for two weeks, so that's about four weeks (I know, I rock at math), and yeah. Sorry about that. But keep an eye open. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

A Summer Job: Rehabilitation (Part IV)

Failing miserably to keep the bad thoughts out of his head, he stood up, intent to go outside to get some fresh air. That, and he was hungry again. But there was no way, no way, in the world that he was going to ask Tatsuki for food. It would be too embarrassing. As he wandered down the hallways, trying to find the exit, he heard some noises coming from behind a double door. Still thinking that Tatsuki was in her room, he didn't hesitate to open them.

Unfortunately for him, Tatsuki was not in her room, of course, she was in the room he had just opened, and she had just finished executing a perfect roundhouse kick, just in front of the doorway. This was also unfortunate, for Renji, because the perfect kick hit him squarely in the chest.

He didn't actually know what hit him. It was just like he had been looking at her face, confused, for a few seconds, then her leg, then her face again. Her face turned from an angry expression, to an expression of surprise. He opened his mouth to speak, but as he was about to say something, he felt a tremendous force of some kind on his chest where her foot was. Before he knew what was happening, he was thrown back making an audible 'smack' as his broad back smashed into the wall behind him.

Rather than an expression of pain on his face, it was an expression of astonishment.

What the hell was that, he thought, before the world before him, including a worried-looking Tatsuki, faded into darkness.

When he next opened his eyes, he was on a rather soft surface – the couch perhaps – and his head was on the most comfortable pillow. When the world came back into focus, he saw Tatsuki's face above him, looking worried.

"Renji?" she said softly, biting her lower lip.

"Uh…"

Then the pain hit. He started coughing, and he clutched his chest. Shit. It was a similar pain to when Ichigo had unleashed that thing he had called his 'resolve'. That move, he recalled, was Ichigo concentrating a massive amount of spirit power on the tip of his soul slayer, and then releasing it in a killer blast. But there was no way, no way in the world that Tatsuki's kick had replicated the same effect that Ichigo's terrifying getsuga tensho had. No way, he told himself, as he looked up into Tatsuki's worried brown eyes. Even if she did have spirit power…releasing it like that was just…insanity. When shinigami fought, they usually just summoned their spirit power when they needed it. It took a fair amount of skill to concentrate spirit power in any area of the body. The more spirit power, the greater the difficulty. The longer one held it in, the greater the difficulty. It was one of the skills that distinguished normal shinigami from stronger shinigami. The reason why Ichigo's attack was so devastating, was because he was able to concentrate such a high amount of spirit power.

Amidst his thinking, he had failed to notice that he was lying in a very comfortable position – namely Tatsuki's lap.

"Renji, are you ok?"

He looked at her, managing a small smile. "Yeah."

"You're ok?" she said softly. Suddenly her voice rose. "How can you be ok?" she said angrily. "You made a damn crack in my wall! Jeez, I didn't know you shinigami could be so weak," she added as an afterthought.

Renji blinked up at her, realising in her outburst that he was lying on her lap. Due to his discovery his harsh reply wasn't so harsh. "It wasn't my fault," was all he could say. "Your damn kick was saturated with reiatsu," he mumbled, finally coming to terms with the powerful force that had knocked him back at such a high velocity.

"R-reiatsu?"

"Yeah. What the hell were you doing?" he asked, looking away, though not moving from his position on her lap.

It took her a few seconds to respond. "I…I don't actually know," she confessed. "It was your fault, anyway," she said, her voice becoming slightly angry again.

"What?" he spluttered, making his chest ache again. "I just walked into the bloody room."

"Yeah, but you hadn't run into me before, I wouldn't be angry, and then I wouldn't have resorted to training and then…" she trailed off, looking away, slightly embarrassed at her outburst.

"Oh, so now its my fault that I was walking around?"

"Yes," she said stubbornly, even though she realised the stupidity in her logic.

Renji smirked.

"What?" she asked him crossly. "Can you get off now?"

His response to that was to start coughing violently, and to clutch his chest, resulting in her angry expression turning into a –somewhat cute – worried face. Inwardly, Renji grinned.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tatsuki asked the red-haired shinigami opposite her. "That man at the shop said that your recovery would take a while…"

"I'm sure," Renji replied, a bit too self-confident.

"I'll kick your ass, you know," she said, assuming a fighting stance.

"We'll see," he replied with a smirk.

"Well, I beat Ichigo," was the last thing she said, before she rushed at him.

She beat… He was barely able to duck two successive punches. He shook his head, and then jumped back.

"You beat Ichigo?" he asked, as he threw a straight punch towards her face. She easily deflected it, and then counter-attacked with a kick to his side, before replying.

"Yeah. He used to do karate."

Renji opted for blocking her kick, instead of dodging. It was easier for him to attack back that way. He advanced forward, intent on tripping her, but she jumped back, assuming a defensive position. He smirked, and said, "So, you beat him in karate?" he asked as he started circling her.

She started to do the same, but not before replying, "What's it to you anyway? I bet you lost to Ichigo," she said, grinning, as he jumped forward. His blows seemed to have a bit more ferocity to them this time, but she was easily able to block all of them.

"I take that as a yes," she said, while ducking under a kick.

He threw another punch, before answering. "We weren't playing games."

This time it was her turn to attack. "What are you saying about karate?" she said, successfully executing a leg sweep which connected with Renji's legs. She grinned as she saw his body start to fall. Her grin turned to a frown, as when she spun around she saw him plant his hands on the ground behind his back, and flipping backwards.

As he straightened, he smirked, and said haughtily, "Karate, as you humans call it, is like a kid's game to shinigami."

That arrogant bastard!

"So," she said, her anger dissipating as she breathed in and out. It wouldn't do to get angry in a fight. As she was taught in karate, fighting with anger was not a good thing at all.

They rushed towards each other again. As he returned her kick with a kick, she continued to speak. "So, if you got beaten by someone who does karate" – she stopped speaking as she jumped his leg sweep – "Wouldn't that be –" As he straightened up from spinning around, he was met with a perfect kick, in the stomach. "Embarrassing?" she finished with a smirk.

But Renji just grinned. "Yeah. It probably would be embarrassing," he said, not moving.

Tatsuki frowned. She was sure that kick connected quite firmly.

Unhesitatingly, he grabbed her ankle. "That was a pretty strong kick," he said. His voice suddenly took on a more serious tone. "If I was a normal human, you would have knocked the wind out of me. But that kick," he said, as she felt his grip tighten around her ankle. "Was worthless."

She looked at him, slightly annoyed. "Your point is?" she said, trying to wriggle her leg out of his iron grasp.

"My point is this."

As he said 'this', she felt the familiar feel that reiatsu gave, gather around her ankle. She saw his hands let go, and she felt herself flying across the room. If it hadn't been for her fast reflexes she would smashed against the wall. Fortunately, she pulled her legs behind her so that she hit the wall with her feet, minimising the damage done by rebounding off, and landing on the floor. She felt herself breathing heavily.

"Bastard," she snarled, though she couldn't help marvel at the difference in strength when he used his reiatsu.

"Keep in mind," he said, not moving from his position, "That I can't use as much reiatsu in this damned gigai."

"I know. No need to rub it in, you idiot." There was a short silence, before she spoke again. "But how come, my earlier kick affected you, yet this one didn't?"

Renji was about to answer her, but before he could he dropped to his knees.

Shit. I'm still not fully recovered.

The world blacked out, for the second time that day.

The feeling of déjà vu hit him as he opened his eyes to look into Tatsuki's worried brown ones. Without the usual fire in them, he thought to himself, they were actually pretty.

"You idiot," she said, when she saw he had opened his eyes. "I bet you used to much spirit power, when you weren't supposed to, right?"

Renji rolled his eyes. "Shutup."

She grinned. "Serves you right for being mean."

"I wasn't being mean. I was…helping you," he said with a smirk, when he remembered the shocked expression that she wore when he had propelled her across the room with that small amount of reiatsu.

She snorted. "Helping me, my ass."

When Renji didn't reply, there was a short silence between the two.

"Anyway," Tatsuki said, shifting her legs slightly, "Answer my question."

He raised an eyebrow, trying to hide a smile. It really was comfortable on her lap. "What was that again?"

"How come…"

"Your other kick hurt me, but this one didn't?" Renji finished for her.

She nodded.

"You didn't use any spiritual force at all on that kick. It sucked," he said bluntly, though he knew that if he was a normal human being, that kick would have hurt. A lot. "The other one…" he trailed off, thinking. How come she used reiatsu in that earlier kick, while this one contained nothing at all. He knew she couldn't summon it at her own will, at the current time, at least, but he had thought there would have been at least some reiatsu when they fought. But, it was almost as if something was blocking it.

He glanced up at Tatsuki, about to say something. She was looking straight ahead, as if it was quite normal for Renji to be lying on her lap. Well, he had been lying there earlier on. He stopped a grin from forming on his face. He had only been with the human girl for a short while, but yet, he already felt as if he had known her for a long time.

"What were you feeling, this morning, when you kicked me?"

"Angry," she immediately replied. "Because you saw me in a towel," she said without thinking.

Renji reddened, and looked away. He coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Uh…yeah," he said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable about where he was. "And what were you thinking just then. When we fought?"

It took her a bit longer to reply to this question. "Nothing, really," she replied. "It's best not to think about anything when fighting," she confessed.

Renji closed his eyes. Even though he wasn't the expert on release of spiritual power, it would be safe to say that when she was angry, or feeling strongly emotional, she would just instinctively summon spiritual power. But, when she was feeling calm, or suppressing those feelings, it would inevitably lead to her blocking her release of spiritual power. Sure, suppressing emotions while fighting was helped one's skill level greatly, however, if suppressing emotions blocked her spiritual power as well…

"You want me to what?"

Renji rolled his eyes. It was like the fifth time she had asked. "Listen, all you have to do, is forget all that stuff you got taught in your karate thing."

"I can't just forget it!" she snapped back. "It isn't something you can just unlearn."

"Just do it," he said coolly. "Whenever you feel angry, or emotional, don't clear your mind like you usually do."

She assumed a fighting stance. "It's not that easy," she growled.

"Just think of the most annoying thing in the world," he said. "Not me," he said, putting his hands in front of him.

Tatsuki grinned. "You come pretty close," she said. "You arrogant bastard."

Renji didn't say anything, but prepared himself. If this exercise worked out well, he would probably end up being knocked out again. Though, as he thought of lying on Tatsuki's lap again, wasn't so bad. He didn't even know why he was helping the damn girl anyway. Sure, she was nice, but she could be as annoying as hell sometimes. Another thing he liked about the girl was that she didn't wear the annoying stuff that human girls her age usually wore. Come to think of it, Rukia wasn't into wearing things like that. His chest started aching when his mind started thinking about Rukia. And it wasn't because of the blow he had received that morning.

He dodged the first few hits, which he noted, with some approval, that they seemed faster, and angrier. That was a good sign – for her anyway. If he got caught on the end of one of those fists, and she released some reiatsu, it would not be good for his gigai. This time around, he noticed, that she wasn't saying much, just concentrating on fighting. Perhaps that was a good sign as well.

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes. Need to be angry. She found that wanting to be angry had the exact opposite effect. But, she found that she was fighting a lot faster and her hits were more accurate – even though he was dodging all of them. It couldn't be that hard to release some measly reiatsu when she hit him, she thought. He was probably wrong about all that crap he had been going on about suppressing emotions. Everyone knew, that to fight well, people needed to clear their minds. And, she was obviously right, now that her fighting speed had increased considerably.

She grinned as she feinted left, then as he moved his head to the right, she hit him squarely in the side of the face.

Her expression of elation changed after a few seconds of looking at Renji.

He was clearly disappointed. She stepped back. That punch felt so powerful.

Renji looked away – the punch hadn't affected him at all. There was no trace of spiritual force behind it.

"It's a start," he lied.

Tatsuki bit her bottom lip. She would have preferred him to get angry. She didn't know why, but the shinigami being disappointed in her affected her in some weird way that she hadn't felt before. It was like she wanted to live up to his expectations. But why the hell did she want to? It wasn't as if she owed him something – well he did save her – but he had been freeloading in her house ever since.

She heard him sigh, and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Let's try again."

She gritted her teeth, and assumed the fighting position again. She could – no, she would do this, even if it took her years.

AN: Ah, sorry for the short, and rather uninteresting chapter (well, in the way of romance), but yeah, Bleach is Bleach, and it needs some fighting development. Haha, the past few chapters have been fluffy, so, to preserve everyone's health, I decided to get back to Renji and Tatsuki. Anyway, I hope Tatsuki's power is getting a bit more understandable…You'll find out more next chapter – just review!