AN: Ok, I know everyone doesn't want Tatsuki and Renji, and we all want Ichigo and Rukia, but just wait, wait, wait…this is the last chapter anyway. Honestly, I didn't mean to make this fight so long, but couldn't help it. Sorry! Alright, now that that's out of the way, onto the story! Oh yeah, and sorry about not updating for ages. Yeah...more than half a year...oh well. Um…This chapter is going to be a bit short because it is the finale of the whole fighting scene thing. Sorry about that guys. But yeah, the next chapter will be Ichigo and Rukia so stay tuned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

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A Summer Job: Battlecalm (Finale)

- - -

Her eyelids felt heavy. Much like one of those days when she just didn't want to go to school. Except worse. Way, way worse. She had a feeling that if she woke up properly, she would be hurting quite a lot. Already there were soft spots of pain in various parts of her body. But before that, where was she? She couldn't be in heaven, since Renji had explained to her that there was no such thing as heaven. So, where then? Soul Society? Had she died?

"OI! FREELOADER!"

The sharp voice cut through her thoughts like a knife, and she reluctantly opened her eyes. And was met with a pair of upside-down eyes quite close to her face. Too tired to do anything about the eyes in front of her, she just stared right back.

"HEY! FREELOADER! I THINK SHE'S AWAKE!"

"Coming, coming," was the response.

Renji.

She heard footsteps, and an older face joined the much younger face.

"Hey. You're finally awake," he said quietly. The other boy disappeared, mumbling about making that cockroach girl sweep the front of the house.

"Mm…" she managed to reply. "I want to get up."

Renji gave her a worried look. She tried not to laugh as it would hurt a lot. Even if a worried looking Renji upside down was quite amusing.

"Are you sure you can?" he asked. "I mean, I guess I would too if I had been sleeping for the past five days…"

It took her a moment before she registered what he was saying. "Five DAYS?" She shot up instinctively, and immediately regretted it. Every wound in her body felt like it was on fire. "Ow…" She wanted to flop right back down on the futon, but knew better. It would probably hurt more. She lowered herself gently, expecting to feel the soft mattress, but instead fell against a body. Strong arms encircled around her and she settled back into their embrace. She felt protected…just like a long time ago, when she was a child and her father held her in his arms.

Renji…

"You idiot." This time the voice came from behind her. "Why did you do something stupid like fight against that guy?" There was a pause. She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to reply. "Jeez…and I was so worried about you." Another pause. She wanted to tell him that he shouldn't be worrying about her. She wanted to tell him that he should be worrying about himself, since she was the one who was protecting him. But the effort was just too much. Instead, she leaned back against him, and slept, the pain of her wounds forgotten.

Renji looked down into the sleeping face of the girl that had fought an espada. And won. He hadn't believed his ears when he heard it. Even if the person who had told him was the former 12th division captain. When he had woken up, he was in the familiar store of that same captain. He had immediately relaxed. If he was in this store, that meant that Urahara had come and kicked that bastard good-bye. That's when he heard the full story from Urahara. Apparently, his friend Tatsuki had jumped in without a second thought and had started to fight furiously against the espada. Renji had waited for the time in the story where Urahara jumped in and saved the day, but it was over before he heard anything about the former captain jumping in.

"You…mean…she won? By herself?" he had said, disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Yes…quite hard to believe isn't it?" the former captain had replied almost jokingly.

Now, four days later, he had finally come to terms with the fact that Tatsuki, his Tatsuki, he thought fondly, had beaten up an arrancar, and a top notch one at that. But he had no idea how.

"Tatsuki's power is quite unique." Renji stopped himself from spinning around to see where the voice came from. It was Yoruichi, in her cat form.

"Where most shinigami use spirit power to create an outward destructive force, Tatsuki's is the opposite. For some reason, she uses her spirit power to create an inward force. The result is constriction and eventually implosion." The cat's yellow eyes narrowed. "Implosion is much more dangerous than explosion." The cat looked up at him. "Do you want to know more? Or do you want me to leave, since you're in such a comfortable position?"

Renji reddened. "Sh-she fell on me," he protested weakly. The cat just looked at him.

"Ok, so maybe I moved forward a bit."

The golden eyes didn't lower their gaze.

"Please continue," he said, defeated by a mere stare.

Yoruichi chuckled to herself. "She channels her spirit power through her arms and legs, just like normal shinigami do. However, what's different about her, is that she inserts her spirit power into the enemy rather than making it explode on the surface . The spirit power is then controlled to surround a certain target, and then it starts constricting, just like a snake. That process continues for a few seconds and then…"

"That's how she defeated Yammy?" Renji asked. He knew that she would have had to have used her spirit power in some way to beat the espada, but he would have never imagined that her power would be this…unique. Though he should have known, considering all her other friends had extremely weird powers. He had simply thought that she could just perform something like an above-average build-and-release technique.

"Yeah. She got lucky. Well, I guess I'll leave you two –"

"What?"

"Don't you want to be alone?"

A familiar striped hat peeked into the doorway. "Don't forget to use protection!" Urahara dodged the sandal that was flung at him.

"Shut up!"

Renji looked at the now-closed door. They had gone, and he had better go too. To train.

"Thanks," he said to no one in particular. He bent down and kissed her lips softly. With that, he gently extracted himself from her, and lay her down on the futon.

Tatsuki waited a full ten minutes before she opened her eyes, bringing up her hands to her burning face.

What the hell was that?

- - -

"What? Training again?" Tatsuki hated whining, but she needed to get out of this somehow.

Renji folded his arms. "Don't be stubborn. Yoruichi is going to teach you, since your technique is most similar to hers out of all of us here."

"Hm," was her only reply. It had already been two days since Renji had…done that. It had taken her a while before she could look at him in the face again. What the hell did he do that for anyway? Over the past two days she had been arguing in her mind with the reasons of why he did it. It was a thank-you, she told herself continually. Of course, there was that annoying voice inside of her telling her that no, it wasn't a thank-you at all – who the hell says thank-you with a kiss on the lips? She felt herself blushing again. Perhaps going to train with Yoruichi was actually a good idea. She would be away from this hot-headed idiot.

"You'll be going somewhere fun," she heard the hot-headed idiot say.

"Yeah, without you," she replied. She had meant that it was a good thing to be away from him, but he took it a different way.

"What, you want me to come?" he asked, meaning to be serious.

She stared at him for a long time, and then abruptly left him, leaving Renji scratching his head. The day he understood women, was the day that Byakuya and Kenpachi were gay lovers. He shook his head. That was gross.

- - -

"Ok. We're here."

Tatsuki looked around. It was such a cliché training ground. They had gone down a very long ladder beneath the store, and she had found it hard to keep her mouth from gaping.

They had been walking for a few hours before they stopped at a huge cliff. Without warning, she felt herself being thrown forward. Before she knew it she was holding on for dear life to a thin horizontal bar that was hanging randomly in the air.

"The bottom is about…one hundred metres down," yelled Yoruichi. "If you let go, you'll die."

Tatsuki's eyes widened for a moment. "What the hell is this?" she yelled back.

"It's training," came the reply.

"How long am I supposed to stay here?"

"Until that calm of yours breaks."

Tatsuki looked over to the edge of the cliff, and watched helplessly as the black cat sat down. The distance between her and the cliff was too large, and she could barely see the other side.

Yoruichi watched her intently. It would probably be more accurate to say 'until that calm of yours expands'. Battlecalm trained from childhood was impossible to break. It could merely adapt to certain circumstances, and in this case it needed to adapt to spirit power. All shinigami usually learnt how to control spirit power before trying to attain a perfect battlecalm. Those who had mastered both were extremely powerful, such as Yamamoto, Kuchiki Byakuya, and most top ranking shinigami. However, this girl was the complete opposite. She had attained a perfect battlecalm before gaining control of her spirit power. During the fight with Yammy, Yoruichi had seen Tatsuki's battlecalm expand and let her use her spirit power. Though, right now, Tatsuki couldn't use a shred of spirit power, as her battlecalm had contracted around her once again. But if Tatsuki cleared this hurdle she would be able to control, no, adapt her battlecalm to work with her spirit power. And then, she would be a valuable asset to the inevitable war that was going to take place.

"That rod you're hanging on to turns into a flying device as soon as spirit power is injected into it. However, the string that's attaching it to the ceiling is going to break at midnight tonight. You have…seven hours."

- - -

"Urahara."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what type of training they're doing down there?" Renji asked, gesturing beneath them.

The former captain lifted his fan to hide his mouth, while laughing a little 'ho-ho-ho'. "I don't think I'll tell you. But you should know what two women do when they're alone –"

"Shutup."

Urahara cracked a small smile. There was a small chance that the girl wouldn't make it. And if she didn't, they would have a very, very angry shinigami on their hands.

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AN: My apologies on the short chapter. But yeah, as I said before, it's just the finishing of this little saga-thing, so there's not really much to put in, but to sum it up. Anyway, I wish you guys luck in whatever you're doing…um…yeah, sorry for updating slowly, please review…erm…what else…oh yeah, if you're a new reader, please read my other stories if you like Ichigo and Rukia!

Later!