Bingo, Nila101 and Cptn. Suz! So, if you couldn't guess what was in the envelope, here's a hint: It has to do with my earlier RenIchi story, "Between a rock and a hard place". ;)
Rukia blinked.
There had to be some kind of mistake.
The photos were not of the highest quality, but she could easily identify the location—this was Urahara's underground training grounds. She recognized the barren wasteland-like space, the giant boulders that peppered the uneven dry ground, the occasional dried tree trunks here and there.
The dots of bright orange and red stood out starkly against the otherwise bleak landscape. The first photo was taken from afar, so all she could make out were two little dots of color.
The rest of the photos, though, were clear enough.
There was Ichigo with his eyes half-closed, his naked body partially hidden by Renji's equally-naked body. There was Renji, his back against a large boulder, shihakusho in tatters, Ichigo's head buried between his legs. The most memorable one of all was of Renji straddling Ichigo's hips, his head thrown back, eyes closed, and lips apart.
Rukia fell into her chair, stunned beyond words. For the past two weeks she had thought of many possible explanations for Ichigo's behavior and Renji's absence, but nothing like this ever crossed her mind. It was...absurd. She wouldn't have believed it if not for these pictures, and she figured this must be why Urahara had simply given these to her instead of telling her directly.
Rukia hastily stuffed the photos back into their envelope. Those were some images that she wished she could unsee. It wasn't that she had anything against love between two men, in fact, she thought it was beautiful—her own captain was in one such relationship. It was just...she had always seen Ichigo as a little brother, and Renji was her childhood friend! To see them "in action" like this was...hair-raising, to say the least.
Leaning back into her chair, she quickly pieced together the information that she now had. Well, the most obvious guess would be that they were having a fight, but it must be one hell of a fight to leave Ichigo in such a sorry state. The boy was young and may seem immature sometimes with his impatience and impulsive manner, but he was not weak.
Rukia frowned and rubbed her face with her hands. The last time she saw Renji, the man had been a little quieter than usual but he had also seemed really tired, which was why she didn't think much of it at the time. Now that she thought about it, Renji could've been in a similar state as Ichigo, except he was better at putting up a front compared to the boy.
That brought her to the next question...what was the cause of the fight? Who was upset at whom?
Thin rivulets of blood-laced sweat trickled down Renji's face, staining his white shitagi pink. His breath came fast and raspy, and his legs trembled slightly as he leaned back against a rocky wall and slowly slid down to the ground. Zabimaru lay next to his feet.
Damn it all. He had tried everything; pushing his body to its limit by training for days without stopping, getting drunk, even travelling to the next few towns to track down souls and hollows to keep himself busy. But every fucking time he stopped, unwanted memories rushed back into his mind with a vengeance.
How long has it been? Probably only two weeks, he figured, but it could've been two centuries as far as he was concerned.
It had taken all his courage to stand up and walk away from Ichigo the other day at the riverbank. He was so tempted to simply accept Ichigo's apology and pretend that everything was okay. But he couldn't. His heart wanted to but his pride forced him to stand up.
When he turned his back, he had actually hesitated for a few seconds before walking away, hoping that Ichigo would stop him. But Ichigo didn't. The boy had kept quiet the entire time as he walked. He hoped and hoped that Ichigo would call his name. He would've stopped immediately if Ichigo had, but Ichigo hadn't. So Renji kept walking.
He'd probably wiped out Urahara's stock of sake that night, judging by the number of bottles that surrounded him when he woke up the next day. He had actually gasped out loud in pain when he woke up; his headache was that bad.
Today would be the second day of his planned 3-day training, and it hadn't been all that productive so far. All he had managed to do was to injure himself with debris by blindly breaking rocks apart. Long lines of cracks decorated the ground where Zabimaru had landed. If he was honest to himself, he would know that this was not training—he was merely venting his emotions.
"Fuck," Renji muttered out loud, wiping his sweat on his shihakusho sleeves. The small cut on his forehead stung, but it was a welcomed distraction. Still, it wasn't enough.
He couldn't understand Ichigo. He liked to think that he knew the boy very well, but for the life of him he just could not understand why Ichigo was so frightened to let their relationship be known. Was the boy ashamed? Ashamed that he was with a man? Ashamed of Renji?
Renji was no narcissist—he knew his own faults well, but he didn't think that he was that bad. Physically, he was good looking enough, well-built, strong. He was a skilled warrior—sure, he had room to improve, but he was certain that, if anything, his skills would not be the cause for shame. He knew he was brash, impulsive, but so was Ichigo! They were very similar in some ways, and perfect together.
What would be the worst repercussion of taking their relationship public? Possible backlash from Ichigo's family, but Ichigo's dad seemed like a really cool guy, if not a little weird. Rukia would be aghast for certain, but Renji was sure that she would be happy for them. The Gotei 13 was a little more troublesome, but there were no clear rules around officers' personal lives—at least, not that Renji was aware of. He knew for a fact that some of his friends were together, and nobody had objected or made a fuss so far.
Even so, it wasn't like Ichigo was a stickler for rules. So, the most likely issue was Ichigo's family. Renji knew how important family was to the boy. Perhaps that's why. Of course Ichigo would choose his family over Renji.
Renji was so engrossed in his thoughts that the sudden soft cough in front of him caused him to accidentally hit his head against the wall he was leaning on. Looking up, he realized it was Rukia.
"What the hell..." he grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "You trying to give me a heart attack?"
Rukia simply glared at him in silence. Her hands were posed on her hips, and she leaned down towards Renji's face and scowled at him.
"What'd I do?" Renji asked, recognizing Rukia's you're-in-trouble look.
Without saying anything, Rukia thrust something into Renji's hands. The redhead stared at it in confusion—it was an envelope. He looked at Rukia inquiringly.
"Open it," Rukia said.
Shrugging, Renji flipped the tab open and poured out the contents into an open palm. His mouth immediately went dry.
"That bastard," he whispered, staring at the colorful images of Ichigo and himself in the throes of passion. He knew it was a bad idea to do it under Urahara's roof...he just knew it! But Ichigo had been so—Renji's eyes widened in horror when he suddenly realized that Rukia must have seen these too.
"Yes, I've seen them," Rukia said gruffly.
Renji swallowed audibly. "And you're..."
"I don't see anything wrong with it," Rukia said, glaring at him again. "The only thing that pisses me off is that you guys didn't tell me about it."
"Didn't think you'd like to hear about us having..." Renji began, in an attempt to hide his embarrassment behind humor, but the joke died in his throat when Rukia shot him another murderous look. With a sigh, his shoulders sagged.
Rukia sat down next to him and looked at him expectantly. She didn't prompt him when he just kept quiet for a long time. She could tell he was going to talk, it was just a matter of organizing his thoughts before he did. Still, she wasn't prepared for the surprise when he finally opened his mouth.
"It's over," Renji said flatly.
Rukia's eyes widened, and she continued to stare at him questioningly.
"He doesn't want anyone to know, which is why we didn't tell you," Renji went on. "In the end I couldn't take it anymore, hiding just isn't in my nature. So I..."
A look of understanding dawned on Rukia's features. "You left," she finished. Renji looked at her and nodded. Rukia took a deep breath, then after a bout of silence, she muttered, "This explains it."
Renji cocked an eyebrow. Inwardly, though, he thought he knew the answer. Obviously, Rukia had gotten the photos from none other than Urahara, and Urahara didn't seem like the type of person who would simply give it to her for no reason, so Rukia must've gone to him first. Knowing Rukia's "fondness" of the shopkeeper, she must've been pretty desperate, and the only thing that could make her that way was Ichigo.
Renji closed his eyes and sighed. If he had anything to be proud of at the moment, it was the willpower he'd had to stay away from Ichigo. It had been extremely difficult; the first few days he'd found himself wandering around Ichigo's house without even realizing that he had walked there. After that, he consciously forced himself to stay away from that area. He had already made his decision, there was no point turning back.
"He's wilting away," Rukia said softly.
"You make it sound like it's my fault," Renji said, feeling a bit insulted. "Do you think I wanted to leave?"
Rukia rested a palm on Renji's arm. "No," she said. "It's not your fault. But I think I know why he wanted to keep it a secret."
Can you guess why Ichigo wants to keep it a secret? :)