Author's note: I am so sorry it has taken so long to update. 2010 was definitely not my year. 2011 isn't looking any better. Between illness, dismissal from school, my brother being sent overseas and my boyfriend dumping me about a month ago I just haven't had to time to do anything. Thank you everyone who stuck by… it really does mean the world to me! :D So without further ado here's chapter 16! Enjoy!

Chapter 16: Better than revenge

Later, after we'd made up, Shinji and I lay on the bed pointing in opposite directions. I took the opportunity to run my finger tips along the bottom of his foot. He tried to pull away but I grabbed his ankle and held fast. He was so cute when he giggled. I continued tickling his foot for a few minutes before venturing back under the sheet. I nipped at the inside of his thigh and kissed my way up to the hollow of his hip. From there I ran my tongue up to his chest and lightly bit down on his nipple. He hissed and squirmed. I smirked and straddled his hips, then kissed his collar bone and made my way up his neck. I pressed my lips to his, slightly parting mine to let my tongue touch his bottom lip. They parted and I slipped inside, running the tip along his tongue and flicking the ring I found there. He sat up and ground our hips, making me moan. His hands flexed and lifted me slightly before bringing me down and sliding inside.

We moved together, setting a rhythm that was hard and slow. Shinji set his face into the crook of my neck. I couldn't have that. I snaked my hand up into his hair and jerked his head back, making him look at me. What I saw made my breath hitch. Or it could've been what he was doing to the lower half of my body. Both were equally intense. The sclera of his eyes had started to bleed black. That was a first. And he looked as though he wanted to eat me alive. I raked my left hand down his chest, grinning. He sank his teeth into the side of my neck, then brought his right arm around my waist, tightening me against him as his pace became faster, sending that hard rhythm deeper inside. I was right on the edge when he tilted my hips forward and found that spot that made me scream, long and loud. As I tightened around him, Shinji pushed through three more times before emptying himself inside me with a growl. We collapsed and laid there for a moment unable to move. The moment was perfect.

Then Ichigo screwed it up by screaming and banging on the door. "Come on, Hirako! You're supposed to be training me! Get your lazy ass out of bed!"

"Shut the fuck up, Ichigo! I'll come out when I'm good and ready!"

Then, Ichigo burst in.

He saw Shinji. He saw me. He saw what we'd clearly been doing. I'd never seen a red that bright before. Though, no doubt it matched the one on my face. I let out a shriek.

"What the hell? Get the fuck out, douche!" Shinji yelled.

Ichigo bolted, door slamming. Mortification didn't even begin to cover my state of mind. I crawled off Shinji and hid under the sheet. I was never coming out. Shinji got out of bed and started to get dressed. I peeked out from under the sheet and enjoyed the view. When he'd finished, he came back over to the bed and kissed my forehead.

"You stay here while I go beat the crap out of him, okay?"

I nodded and he placed a kiss on my lips. He stood and walked to the door. He opened the door and I heard Ichigo down the hall screaming, "Oh god, my eyes! My eyes!"

"Oh, stop whining! Serves you right! You pull shit like that again and I'll beat you to death!"

I caught a few more hours of sleep then headed downstairs. I sat back, watching Hiyori spar with Ichigo. I was eating an apple when I felt a reiatsu so immense that it sent me crashing onto my back. Shinji was beside me hauling me to my feet. He pressed my face into the crook of his shoulder.

"Just breathe. Concentrate on my voice, okay?" I nodded.

After a few minutes, I felt better and pulled back a little. I smiled up at him. He leaned down to kiss me, when we heard screaming coming from twenty feet away. I turned and saw Ichigo throwing a fit because Kensei wouldn't let him go charging off towards certain doom. Shinji sighed.

"God, he's such a pain in my ass. Kisuke owes me big time for this."

I gave him a peck on the cheek. "Maybe, but you bear your orange haired burden wonderfully."

"At least one of us thinks so."

He walked over to where the crowd was assembling and grabbed Kensei's shirt, indicating he should let Ichigo leave. Kensei did so while shooting Shinji a 'WTF?' look. That was my thought process as well. I walked over to Shinji and made a back and forth motion between himself and the way Ichigo had gone.

"Pardon me, darling, but what was the fuck was that?"

"Exactly what it looked like."

"Oh, so you're purposely letting Ichigo run off to get himself killed?"

"Pretty much."

"Oh, okay. Just to make sure we're clear."

"I'm leaving in a minute, too. I'm gonna watch him get his ass kicked then swoop in and save him."

"Okay, but in case, things don't turn out the way you've planned you've left me in your will, right?" Shinji shot me a dark look. "I'll take that as a no."

"Oh ye of little faith. I'll be back before you have a chance to miss me."

"Don't be so sure about that."

"About what, coming back or missing me?"

"Both. More of the missing you, though."

"I love you, too." And with that, he was off.

An hour later, Shinji trudged back into the warehouse with Ichigo looking beat to hell. Shinji called Hachi over and he set about getting Ichigo back into a working condition.

"So, what was the problem?"

"Arrancars. The hollow versions of vizards."

"Damn. Aizen isn't messing around, is he?"

"No. He has every intention of laying waste to this world."

I looked around at everyone in the basement. They had become my family. And now some guy with a God complex was going to ruin it all. Well, I couldn't let that happen. I knew of everyone down I was the weakest. I didn't like it but it was a fact, so I'd would just have to double my efforts in training.

"Rei, what are you thinking? " I looked up at Shinji. He was my life. I knew he could handle himself, but that didn't lessen the worry.

"I want you to train me harder." He got a lascivious look. "Not that training, you perv!"

He sobered. "Alright. We'll start tomorrow morning."

"Just like that? No whining or complaining? No bitching about how you don't want me fighting? Did you take a blow to the head?"

He gave me a nasty look. "Don't start with me! Training you is already cutting into my sleeping time!"

I rolled my eyes. "Poor you. Having to roll out of bed before the ass crack of noon."

"Oh, bite me."

I smirked. "Just say when and where.*"

*Someone actually said this to me when I told them to bite me. It got him a lot of brownie points for creativity! :D