Renji awoke the next morning to an unfamiliar sound. He opened his eyes, seeing the ceiling above him in the tan-walled bedroom, taking a few seconds to remember where he was, and who was a few rooms down from him. Already he could smell attempts at breakfast.
The sliding sound continued, and he rose on one elbow on the mattress to look to the doorway. The sun was up, shedding bright patches into his new room, and beyond those he could see the door half open.
A pile of clothing – his clothing – was neatly folded, t-shirt atop his only surviving pair of jeans, and edging closer into the room across the floor as Orihime's hands pushed them. The rest of the girl was unseen around the open door.
"Are you stealing or giving?" he asked sleepily, sitting up, and then realizing he was wearing his only other piece of surviving clothing. He pulled the sheet over his legs better as the door opened a few inches more.
"Good morning," Orihime's voice called in. "Uh, are you decent?"
"Yup."
He was still making sure as she tentatively peeked around the door.
"You can come in, Orihime," he said, running a hand through his hair that had tangled overnight.
She didn't, but stepped back into the hall out of sight. "I was just dropping off your clothes. Uh, the washing machine doesn't empty water completely, so they had to dry for a long time."
He eyed the stack of clothes she'd pushed into the room a few feet by the ladder-back chair near the wall. "You washed them already?" Damn, she was in a hurry about something, he thought. He sighed. "You didn't have to do that."
"I don't mind." There was a pause. "I have water heating for tea. Do you want oatmeal?"
He threw back the sheets, which coincided with her looking around the door at him. There was an awkward second of met stares, and then Orihime popped back out into the hall, her cheeks blushing pink instantly as he reached for the sheet again.
"Sorry," she said timidly.
He groaned. "My fault."
"...I'll be downstairs."
"Oatmeal is fine," he called, hearing her footsteps on the creaking stairs.
Renji got out of bed. It wasn't the best start to the day, he knew, mumbling as he straightened the bed into passable tidiness. He closed the door the last few inches and glanced to his folded clothes.
But having clean clothes to wear was a plus.
He pulled on his jeans and looked out the window at the front yard. Somewhere beyond it he could hear roosters crowing, some in unison.
Of course the grass needs mowing, he thought sourly. He wondered where the mower was if there was no garage. Past the overgrowth of shrubs near the road he could see the angle of another house roof, and far beyond that a few acres was a collection of small homes built against the next mountain slope. It looked close, but was actually divided by a ravine that cut through, parallel to the road.
He pulled on his t-shirt, nose wrinkling at the strange smells coming up from the main floor. The small homes across the ravine were very small, in fact, he realized as he squinted at them, appearing as mere white squares in the assorted greens of the slope. He heard the water kettle begin to whistle from below.
He gathered his hair up behind his head, looking around for his remaining hair-tie. It was on the chair by his black headband and the watch Isane had left, reminding him he was powerless as a shinigami.
In the small kitchen below, Orihime looked to him as he came down the staircase. She smiled, holding up a large spoon in triumph.
"Isane's favorite oatmeal was maple, so we have lots of it," she said. "We have things to add to it, if you want them."
He sat at the table where she had already decked it with small bowls and a few condiment jars. He tried not to frown at the assortment, but it came naturally.
She set a large bowl of steaming oatmeal before him before placing one on her own placemat. She pushed two jars nearer to him. "Do you like cinnamon? Try the barbeque sauce, too. It has lots of kick."
"Uh, yeah," he said, nodding but without intention of using the spicy sauce. He looked at the mustards, raisins, olives, and other oddities she'd arranged at the center of the table. He chose the cinnamon. "Thanks for washing my clothes, Orihime, but it really wasn't necessary."
She nodded. "That's all right." She stirred her oatmeal, which was dotted with various toppings. "Grundy is the next town over. I looked it up in the phone directory, and it's a little bigger than Chesney."
"I guess that's where we'll go."
When she was focused on the bowl before her, he gave a closer scrutiny of the lavender tank top she wore. She was a healthy teen girl with more than her fair share of shapes and curves, but nothing seemed amiss.
At least, he didn't think so. He was sitting at the wrong corner side of her to see any concave part that had been marked on the Isane's report. He looked down at his oatmeal. In his opinion, there wasn't a blemish on the girl at the table that would make anyone think she'd been tinkered with in any manner.
She looked to him hesitantly. "Did I upset Isane, Renji?"
"No, of course not." He swallowed quickly. "She's kind of frighty about ..." He was going to say a lot of things – and it would have been true – but that wasn't his secret to tell. He knew of Isane's nightmares about strange foods, but that was only because Hisagi had gotten too drunk one night and spilt a few secrets that weren't his, either. "She's not been to the Living world much."
"Oh." Her eyes lowered to her bowl as she stirred in a dollop of orange marmalade.
He knew it was his opening, and for once, maybe he was on top of the whole tact thing. He leaned a forearm on the table to see her face better "Would you rather her be here, Orihime?"
Her large eyes snapped to him quickly. "No. I thought that maybe I said something wrong to her. She seemed so nice. I thought maybe ..." She shrugged, biting her lower lip a little. She was about to speak again when a clattering of footfalls sounded from the porch.
Renji was immediately on his feet and at the front door. He wished he'd brought the sword from upstairs, but one look through the door window between the faded, knotty ecru curtain made him forget the weapon.
He opened the door for a better look, one hand braced on the door frame, uncertain what the newcomer had in mind. A large horned goat stood looking back at him on the porch, head lowered, tawny tan and brown body braced on stocky legs. Its rectangle pupils gave it an evil look as it stared Renji down.
"A goat!" Orihime chirped from behind him.
He turned to see her, but she slipped beneath his arm and stepped out onto the porch.
"Oh, look at you," she said, crouching and extending a hand. "Where do you live?"
The goat bleated a response, sniffing her fingers with a quivering nose.
Renji looked from the goat to the yard. There was no one to see, no other animals.
"Maybe it's lost, Renji," Orihime said, petting the goat's nose with her other hand.
"Watch out for those horns," he said, eyes moving over the yard.
"There you are," a raspy voice charged from the side of the house.
Both Renji and Orihime looked to the side of the porch as an old woman walked slowly over to them. She wore a thin cotton dress that was oversized and outdated by decades, most of the skirt hidden by a faded yellow apron. She squinted at them, her face a combination of wrinkles and age spots. Her hair was sparse, with a wide balding part in its bland brown center. The goat looked to her and mutedly bleated without opening its mouth.
Orihime stood up. "Hello. Is this your goat?"
The old woman looked to her, then Renji for a long moment, frowning intensely at him, an expression he wanted to return, but didn't. After all, this was most likely their neighbor.
"Yeah, it's mine." She nodded, wrinkling a smile at Orihime. "You're the new folks? Hmm, thought it was two women, Samson," she said to the goat. "Don't think it is." She looked back to Renji.
"Hi," he said, realizing they hadn't worked up a story for who they were or why they were there yet.
"Hi. I'm Orihime," Orihime was introducing, turning to gesture at Renji, her face falling a little. "And this ... is Renji."
"Howdy," the woman said. "I'm Mayes. Widow Mayes. That's Samson."
"Hi," Renji said again, scrambling for explanations. "You live across the road?" he ventured.
She nodded. "Sorry about Samson. He's a vagabond." She whistled sharply and the goat clamored off the porch with the agility of a tricycle falling down a staircase. It landed on its worn knees and got up quickly. Mayes shook her head. "He's blind in one eye; the knees don't work so good, too."
The goat trotted over to her, nibbling on her apron as she absently pulled the material away. "So you're new around here?"
Renji nodded. "Yes, uh, we're ..." He looked to Orihime, who was looking back with something that was a combination of desperation and anxiety. He wished he'd planned more on the plane for staying rather than for talking Isane out of leaving. He looked back to the old woman. "Where's the best place to eat in town?"
She grinned a little, her face belying that she saw through his discomfort to the fallacy beneath his inquiry. "Yeah, that'd be Grubby's."
"Grubby's?" Orihime said. It didn't sound like a good place to eat, even to her.
"Well, it's Pubby's Grub, but townsfolk call it Grubby's. Down from the bait shop." Mayes gave them each a look, and then started off across the grass. "Don't let them give you no guff about your decorations, son."
Renji scowled at her as she left down the driveway with the goat toddling beside her. Orihime looked to him, and then up at his tattoos, and hair.
When she looked to face, he was looking at her.
"She seems nice," she said, nodding hopefully.
He nodded.
It was another hour before Orihime and Renji set out for town. He was in no mood to meet their new hometown, a term that nearly made him shudder almost as thoughts of his Living skin did, but they took the car down the twisting road that veered around the mountainside to the hub that was Chesney.
There was little to like about the car, and after the first two hairpins turns, Renji liked it even less. Orihime sat in the passenger bucket seat clutching the safety belt crossing her chest. He was trying to drive carefully, but the car was no truck and he was both out of practice and in a hurry to get back to the house. It was a bad blend.
Orihime sat stiffly in the seat, eyes on the shrubby slope that dropped to her right off the shoulder of the road. "It is pretty here, Renji," she said, holding her breath in the humid warmth as they took a turn, "but I get a little motion sick."
His hands were gripped tightly around the steering wheel, scowl on his face as he glared at the narrow, twisting road ahead of them that was now half-blinding as the sun moved higher into the sky, cutting through the trees to make flickering plays of light on the windshield. "Shouldn't be too far ahead."
"No, just another few turns," she said, nodding as the car took a curve and headed at an incline. She pointed to a soft shoulder that was missing a guardrail. "That's where we skidded a few days ago. Look, the marks are still there."
Renji looked at the double trek of black marks on the pavement just as they took the turn. It put the car into a sudden opening between the mountains, and with that came an abrupt draft that pushed the car to the far side, adding fresh skid marks as Renji mashed the brakes and fought the steering wheel. The outside passenger tires caught the shoulder, but the car stayed mostly on the road.
Orihime sucked in a gasp, feet bracing on the floor.
"Sorry," Renji grumbled as the car obediently drifted fully into the lane.
It was only another quarter mile to town. They saw it as the car topped a curve. Below Chesney branched out to the left side of the mountain, the right side of the tiny town taken up by the abutment of a neighboring slope, putting the village into a gulley. Renji didn't comment on the quaintness of the few shops, gas stations, or bowling alley.
"This place is nothing," he finally said as they got into the center of town, which was nearly out of town as well. He looked to the spare two dozen stores and residences around them. Most of the people – what few there were – looked back at him, a couple pointing. "Shit, Orihime, there's nothing here."
She nodded, eyes on a small shop beside a sign over a larger shop reading Shad's Bait and Pool. Two stores down from it on the sidewalk was Pubby's Grub with a carved wooden Indian figurine at one side of the door. She closed her eyes for a moment as a wave of dizziness passed over her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Renji asked, veering toward the sidewalk as he looked to her. He merged the car back into the lane as an old woman walking shook her cane at him. "You all right?"
Orihime nodded, eyes wide open now. "I think going around that last curve got to me."
"It'll take some getting used to." He looked up and down the sidewalks, spying a store called Donna's Dime Den. Inside he could see racks of clothes. "What do you say we go into Grundy another time? They've got clothes there. I'll get enough to get by."
She looked past him to the store he nodded to, her complexion slightly greenish pale. "Are you sure?"
"Yup. We'll do that."
Parking took a few minutes, and then another few minutes as the car began to roll out from the painted parking lines on the incline until Renji pulled the emergency break.
Orihime was already on the sidewalk that ran between the buildings from the small parking lot. "The brake might not work," she said, unconsciously smoothing her lavender collar with a hand. "Isane left it on a few days ago and we drove home with it like that. There was smoke and a really bad smell."
Renji joined her, looking back to the car. It was docilely immobile. He looked to where the parking lot gently sloped to a drain in the middle before curving back up to another set of slotted lines. The rest of the parking space choices were just as steep; he decided to leave it.
Orihime knew Renji was ignoring the stares following them into the store. There weren't many people about in the small town, but the ones that were within eyesight seemed to have already spotted them. Once inside, they got a better look at the merchandise.
Racks of clothing lined one wall, with smaller circular racks dotting the aisle and assorted household goods and a few toys further back. Orihime figured it was a close as they'd get to a general store in the town. She looked up at Renji.
"They should have what you need," she said, glancing to the racks and shelves to his left. "Men's clothing. Uh, I'll be over there, if that's okay."
He nodded to where she indicated a short aisle of toiletries and bathroom accessories. He looked back to the coral band on her wrist. "Don't go too far."
She smiled through the pallor that dimmed from her cheeks. "I won't."
He watched her ease her way through he crowded racks of clothing, then looked to the lone clerk that watched from the lone counter. Overhead music was piped in, a tinny sound that played the local station of country music that broke for the news. He turned to the rows of folded jeans and shirts, one hand on the watch Isane had left him in his pocket.
Orihime busied herself among the shelves of toiletries and other household oddities, fingering the clothespins and lines, the bird feeders and packets of flower bulbs that made up the aisle. She could wee Renji's red ponytail over the eyelevel top shelf. She spent a few minutes selecting a toothbrush and comb for him, and then a deodorant and packet of razors and shaving cream, blushing a little as she considered the impropriety of it, and then snagged a package of hair-ties. She wandered down the aisle, sniffing a tester of perfume, squirting a brief gust onto her wrist, avoiding the hand with the bracelet. She looked up at the ceiling where the speaker was telling the news from the radio station.
" ... at large and considered dangerous," the broadcaster was saying. "Four were last seen moving east from Hazard. The public is advised to treat all escapees with caution and not to engage. Any prisoners sighted should be immediately reported to the Perry County Corrections officials. Roadblocks are in place along highways in a thirty mile radius of Hazard."
The radio newscast went on to other news, and Orihime stopped investigating the perfume testers, standing on tiptoe to see Renji looking back at her two aisles away. He already had an armful of jeans and shirts and wasted no time navigating the clothes racks to her.
"Did you hear what the radio said?" she asked hushedly when he reached her.
He nodded. "I'm sure they'll be rounded up. Don't worry about it."
She watched him pick out a bottle of shampoo. "Uh, I got a few others already."
He looked to her armload of items, and just for a fleeting moment he could have sworn there was a dark cast to the angle of her chest just above her collar. On impulse he leaned closer. She moved half a step back, arms tightening around the toiletries as he glanced to her guiltily.
"You didn't have to pick all that out," he said, trying to cover his wandering attention for more than one reason. "Hair-ties?" he asked, hoping to distract her from his real interest.
Her smile brightened back onto her face. "Oh, yes. Black. Or did you want another color?"
She managed to pull the package of ties out, unaware of his attention back on her chest.
The skin was smooth again, no shadow, no minute darkness. Renji chided himself; just his imagination, he assured himself. His eyes went back to hers when she looked at him, nodding at the black hair-ties.
"That's fine."
"I wasn't sure about the rest of it ..."
They finished shopping for Renji's necessities quickly, both eager to move on after the unsettling news of the prison break. Neither mentioned it as they left the store, their thoughts shifting for a moment when they realized the car had inched back a bit from the curb when they got to the parking lot.
"Dammit," he muttered, stowing their bags in the back seat before opening Orihime's door on the passenger side. "We've got to park flat? How the hell are we going to do that anywhere here?"
He closed the door after she settled into her seat.
"Maybe we could back up and park downhill," she suggested as he got behind the steering wheel a moment later.
He nodded, starting the ignition. "I guess so." He glanced to her, making a concerted effort not to notice the scoop of her lavender shirt. No shadow of anything in his un-glimpse.
He finished backing out of the parking space and then pulled the car back onto the main street. It was barely that, but the scenic mountainside beyond the stores lining it made up for the lack of buildings. They passed the bait shop and restaurant near it. He saw Orihime watch the wooden Indian as they passed it.
"We'll go there soon," he said. "Maybe tomorrow?"
She glanced to him.
He shrugged, taking the car around the corner to climb their way back home after as the mountain rose before them. "We've got to get groceries anyway, right? We'll come back tomorrow, when you feel better."
She sighed, one hand on the door's armrest. "I'm okay now, Renji. I'm not dizzy anymore. We need to make a grocery list, too. More than oatmeal."
He saw her fingers go to her collar as she stifled a cough.
He didn't comment on it, partly because of the train of police cars that headed their way from the opposite direction, all lights flashing but without sirens. The sheriff cars zipped past them at a speed too fast for the small town as Renji and Orihime's cream-colored coupe passed by.
She turned in her seat as far as the safety strap allowed, watching the half dozen cars speed into town.
Renji looked first at the turn her torso made, seeing no sign of dark shadow at neckline, and then at the angle of her hip nearest him, eyes following the curve in her navy shorts.
A faint whiff of perfume followed her movement, and he looked back to the road in time to overcorrect back into the lane as an outside tire grabbed at the shoulder. Orihime turned and plopped back into her seat.
Renji cleared his throat, eyes on the road before him, shaking his mind from the wrong curves he'd been following.
"Do you think they found one of the prisoners in town?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Probably just a precaution. Hazard is far from here, especially by mountain."
She nodded, thoughts already moving on. "We can have salmon and asparagus for dinner. Is that okay?"
Frozen pizza sounded safer to Renji, but he nodded. "Sure."
The day had warmed to uncomfortable temperatures by the time Orihime and Renji got back to the small two-story house eclipsed by trees and out of control shrubs. Insects buzzed amongst the foliage, and rooster crowing and an occasional goat bleat could be heard from the house across the road.
Renji spent a few minutes unloading his clothes and other items in the upstairs bedroom and switching on the box fan that was staring at him from near the small bureau before he joined Orihime in the sunny kitchen below. She was already thawing out a large chunk of salmon at the sink. She gave him a second look as he headed to the back door.
"Just going to look around," he said before she could speak. "Get a feel for the place."
She nodded. "Okay."
She unwrapped the white paper from the fish, leaving the plastic bag inside still frozen around the pink flesh. Outside she saw Renji emerge from the back porch side, his wary attention taking in the small yard that dissolved into a line of nearly dead cedar trees where she knew a garden shed hid.
Her fingers were halfway to her chest as a cough surfaced, and she stopped herself, remembering the fishy smell coming from the sink. She suppressed the cough and rinsed her hands at the faucet. Every little hint of cough made her pause, and she knew Renji had noticed it.
Like some sort of freak, she thought, frowning at the fish in the sink. When Ichigo had sought out Urahara for hollowfication, he'd wanted it; she didn't. She'd finally come to terms with the limits of her fighting capacities and abilities as a healer.
She gave the fish – half a fish, actually – a frown, and sighed. The odd spot on her chest that had sunken and darkened over a week ago was no different from the rest of her skin; she'd checked. Since Szayel Aporro had no access to her, she'd begun to think about a few points Urahara had made after his initial examination of her.
Something in her food, he'd suggested, or in what she drank in Las Noches, or even the clothes she'd worn.
The last suggestion made her feel ill.
She knew that Szayel was capable of corrupting anything, and Uryuu had told her the scientist had even used his brother's death to harvest information about Renji's bankai.
She looked back outside to see the red-haired shinigami disappear around the cedars. That Renji wasn't able to transform into a Soul Reaper didn't alarm her, not very much, anyway; he was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, even with a regular sword, and he was assigned to observe her this time, not protect.
He'll be bored out of his mind, she thought, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. She knew he didn't want the job of observing her. He hadn't wanted the last assignment of accompanying her, either. She sighed, and then looked to the door as he stepped in.
He looked to the oscillating fan she had on medium speed at the stool by the refrigerator. "It's getting so muggy out it could rain this afternoon."
She nodded. "Do you want lunch?"
He shrugged. "If you're hungry."
"Good."
It wasn't oatmeal, but it was grainy. Orihime made Renji the biggest sandwich he'd ever had, with some of the thickest bread he thought could be made. He didn't count the layers, nor try to identify some of them, and it took him a full half hour to eat it. The weather had set in thicker, the humidity pushing the heat on them in the small kitchen, the radio beside the sink tuned to the station that gave hourly updates on the prison break.
Renji didn't comment on the news, nor did Orihime, but each listened intently to the added tidbit to their new surroundings, so it was with a start that they both looked to the front door as a sputter of motorcycle engine grew louder and stalled out in the driveway.
"Stay here," he said, pushing away the last of his lemonade.
"Are we expecting anyone?" she asked, standing when he did.
"No." He glanced to the back door, which was merely screen and framed wood. He changed his mind. "Come on."
She nodded.
Renji had the front door open, again berating himself for not having the sword handy, by the time Shuuhei Hisagi had climbed off the motorcycle and removed his helmet.
"Ooh, a motorcycle," Orihime said from beside him, looking around his shoulder when Renji was slow to open the door wider.
Hisagi grinned when he saw them, waving as he hung the helmet over a handlebar and walked up to the porch. "Hey! I got the right place!"
Renji shot a look from the Ninth Division's acting captain to the bike, and then to Orihime's wide-eyed stare at the now-quiet vehicle. He looked back to Shuuhei, who looked as any other rider in jeans and thick black t-shirt. "What are you doing here?"
"Replacing you," Shuuhei said, grinning wider, swinging a small leather case by its strap as he ran the other hand through his somewhat flattened hair. "Just kidding, Abarai. Hi, Orihime."
"Hi," she said, bowing slightly as he reached the porch.
Renji opened the door wider to allow him in, eyes lingering on the motorcycle for a second longer. "Why replace me?"
"Just kidding, Renji," Shuuhei repeated, giving him a punch to the shoulder when he didn't move. He looked to Orihime, jerking a thumb at Renji. "Not much fun, is he?"
She smiled, shaking her head. "... He is."
Shuuhei handed the case to Renji. "Your new items. Ring, watch, and bracelet." He looked to the one Orihime wore. "Want to swap that one out for one that goes with the new watch?"
She nodded. "Come in. Would you like lemonade? Ice tea? Oh, are you hungry?"
Renji glanced between them as he unzipped the case. Inside were a leather-banded watch, a green bangle, and a gold ring set with a small black stone.
"No, I want to get back to the airport before it rains." He looked to Renji. "I'm supposed to take back your first impressions report."
Renji shook his head. "It's not quite finished yet."
Shuuhei grinned, nudging Orihime with an elbow. "You keeping him busy?"
A touch of flush lent her cheeks. "Oh, uh ... no."
Renji zipped the pack shut. "I'll fill it out. Can you wait?"
Shuuhei nodded. "Got to talk to you about a few things anyway."
Orihime took it as her cue. "The forms are still in Isane's room. I'll get them."
She was off to the staircase before either shinigami could say a word.
Shuuhei watched her go, appreciating what he could see of her figure climb a few of the stair steps before she was out of sight.
"What are you ogling?" Renji growled.
Shuuhei chuckled. "How'd you get picked for this cushy job?"
"Lucky."
"Nah, that would be Ikkaku. Why don't I get these assignments?"
Renji gave him half a glower. "You want this assignment? Don't you have a Division to run?"
Shuuhei shrugged, looking to the ceiling as footsteps sounded. "I remember watching her train with Rukia at Thirteenth's back fields. Talented girl, but no fighter."
"She's not supposed to be a fighter." Renji glanced out at the motorcycle. "Why that?"
"Wanted to." Shuuhei looked around the room, then to the kitchen beyond. "Always wanted to try riding one of them. Kind of tricky at first, but the guy at the lot said it was just liking riding a horse. Whatever that means," he added. He nodded to the staircase. "Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's okay." Thoughts of the cream-colored car curdled in his mind. "You're not staying?"
"No. Why? Trying to get out of it?" Shuuhei asked. "You already slipping in your paperwork, Lieutenant?"
Renji shook his head and looked to the staircase as Orihime appeared there. She held up a stack of papers. He groaned. "All of them?"
"I think it's only supposed to be a single page report." Shuuhei intercepted the papers as Orihime handed them to Renji. He thumbed through them, selecting two. "Just these."
Renji took them, frowning over the forms, looking up as Orihime presented him a pen. "Thanks," he told her. "Have a seat, Hisagi."
"Actually," Shuuhei said, looking to Orihime with a grin, and then back to Renji, "I was thinking of taking her for a ride on the bike. While you fill out your paperwork."
Renji's hand tightened around the papers as a low squeal broke from Orihime. Her smile was immediate, matching his frown.
"Do you want to?" Shuuhei was asking Orihime as Renji began to speak.
She looked to Renji. "Can I?"
"You don't have to ask his permission," Shuuhei said.
"The hell she doesn't," Renji decided.
"Well –"
"I outrank him," Shuuhei said with a smile.
"No, you don't," Renji said. "We're even, if that."
Shuuhei shrugged, glancing to Orihime's bare feet. "Grab some shoes, princess."
She looked to Renji, who nodded.
"Thanks!" She darted past them to the porch where her sandals were parked beside his sneakers.
"Princess?" Renji muttered to Shuuhei as they followed her out.
Shuuhei waved him off, watching Orihime slip on her sandals.
"She wears the helmet," Renji said, resisting the impulse to wad the papers into a ball.
"Of course." Shuuhei looked to Orihime as she stood up. "Ready?"
She nodded enthusiastically.
Two minutes later Renji was watching Orihime climb onto the back of the motorcycle seat behind Shuuhei, her arms hesitantly going around the Ninth Division lieutenant's waist, the large helmet buckled over her head. She waved to him as Shuuhei backed the bike across the grass a few feet and angled it down the driveway.
Renji waved back, a growl in his throat the rivaled the bike's motor. A few seconds later they were gone, the girl's tentative hold on the man in front of her disappearing into a tighter embrace as the bike lurched into movement.
Renji watched what he could see of them through the few peeks of low shrubs on the roadway until the motor faded with distance. He sat down on the porch steps, looking down at the papers.
He wanted a truck.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading!