Chapter 17: If you only knew

Flying through my third boulder, I was beginning to think that telling Shinji not to go easy on me was a bad idea, but I suppose it wasn't completely his fault. I had told him that I wanted him to train me. He'd been a captain; he couldn't have any weak asses under him. That point didn't stop me from panting and staying on my side.

"Get up, Rei! We're not done yet!" Shinji said from fifty feet away.

"Shut the hell up! I'll get up when I'm good and ready!"

Kasai was already in his released form, so I whipped him through the dust toward his ankle. He knew what I was trying to do, so he shunpoed away. He may've been out of zanpaktou range, but the telekinesis was another story. He stood ten feet in front of me, smirking. The smirk disappeared when he was lifted off the ground and hurled into a boulder. I love him to death, but sometimes all I want to do is bitch slap that smile of his face.

"That wasn't very nice," he called through the dust.

"I'm not supposed to be nice. I'm supposed to be training so when the unholy trinity emerges from Hueco Mundo, I have a chance of coming out with minimal damage."

"Don't you mean undamaged?"

"No. I have no illusions that I'll come out unscathed. I'm about to go up against three old-as-dirt shinigami and whatever the hell else they bring."

"Hey! I'm older than all three of them. What does that say about me?"

"That you're old-as-dirt, too."

"Shut up. Then that means you're into the elderly," he said, sticking his tongue out.

"Yeah, I get so hot when I see you use your walker. And oh your teeth! Just looking at your dentures with the smell poly grip makes me want to rip my clothes off!"

He glared at me. I blew him a kiss. "I love you!"

"Yeah, yeah, I love you, too. I'm going to cut out for a few hours," he said, helping me stand.

I dusted myself off. "Where are we going?"

"I'm going to Kisuke's. You're staying here like the good girlfriend you are."

"Do you even know me?"

"Yes, which is why I'm telling you I'm not in the mood for your 'I-can-do-what-I-want' attitude. In fact…" he turned "Hey, Kensei! Get over here!" He'd better not be doing what I thought he was doing.

Kensei came over, pissed off as usual. "What?"

"I'm going to Kisuke's for a strategic discussion. Watch Rei while I'm gone," Shinji said before disappearing. Kensei looked like his head was going to explode.

"Come on," he said before grabbing my arm and dragging me over to the rock where he'd been sitting and brooding.

"Why do you put up with him?" he asked.

"He amuses me."

"Is that really all?"

"No. Speaking of cracked out behavior, why do you put up with Mashiro?"

He clenched his jaw and turned away; that's what I thought. I heard a buzzing noise and ducked. I saw a green, white and orange blur fly overhead. Mashiro must've heard her name. I saw her crash into Kensei. I heard him give an undignified yelp as he fell over. They disappeared over the side of the rock, then Mashiro's head popped up. She pouted.

"Ahhh, why'd you do that, Rei-chan? Don't you like me?"

"Oh, I do like you, but Kensei was going on about how much he adored you and I didn't want to be selfish and keep you all to myself," I said, smiling.

Mashiro squealed and dove back behind the boulder. Mission accomplished. As I ran up the stairs, I heard Kensei scream, "You're dead, Takahashi! I don't care what Shinji does to me!" I giggled as I left the warehouse. Now on to Kisuke's.

I got to the shop and started climbing onto the roof. I saw a cat staring at me from the sidewalk. Hmmm… I didn't know Kisuke had a cat. I got onto the roof and started to creep across to the back where I knew the window was. I hung over the side and looked in the window. Kisuke and Shinji were sitting around the table talking. I could see the back of Shinji's head. Then, the cat came in and settled into Shinji's lap. All of a sudden, Kisuke started laughing while Shinji's back stiffened. He set the cat to the side and got up. The back of his neck was red. Maybe he wasn't feeling well. Then, I felt something pull me up by the back of my pants. I yelped and looked up. I wished I hadn't. Shinji looked more furious than I'd ever seen him.

"You've got two seconds to tell me why you're here before I kick your ass for being out here alone."

"I want to know what's going on."

He threw me over his shoulder and went back into the shop. He dumped me onto the floor in front of the table.

"Ah, Reiko-chan, lovely to see you again; what are you doing here?" Kisuke said. He knew why. I could tell from the unsuppressed amusement beaming out of his eyes that he knew.

I got to my knees and smiled. "Spying."

He sweat dropped. "Shinji said Kensei was watching you."

I frowned. "You make it sound like he was babysitting me."

"He was," Shinji muttered beside me. I slapped the back of his head.

"Anyway, Kensei got blitzed by Mashiro, so I snuck out."

Shinji buried his face in his hands. "Next time I go somewhere, I'm tying you down."

"For all the good it'll do you."

"I'll do it with Kido."

"Not. Funny."

"Who's. Joking."

"Okay everyone, let's calm down," Kisuke said.

"I'm just tired of finding out things the hard way because he won't tell me anything!"

"Maybe I'm keeping things from you for a reason!"

"Yeah because that's worked out so well, hasn't it?"

I didn't bother to look at Shinji as I got up and left the shop. Thankfully, when I got back to the warehouse everyone was still down stairs. It was night now. I went up to mine and Shinji's room and changed for bed. I slipped under the covers and just lay there staring at the ceiling.

I hadn't meant what I'd said at Kisuke's. I was just so tired of being left out. Maybe he was doing what he thought was best for me, but it was my life and I should have some say in the decisions that effect me. I guess he'd been de facto leader of our band of masked men for so long that he assumed that any decision he made would be accepted. Even Hiyori followed his leadership when it mattered. But I wasn't like the others. They'd been shinigami for centuries. They were used to taking and giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed. Me on the other hand, I was still thinking like a human. But I wasn't human anymore. I'd apologize to Shinji later. I fell asleep. Thankfully, there were no dreams this time.

I woke up a little bit later to someone stroking my head. I opened my eyes and saw Shinji sitting beside me. He looked sad. I sat up and threw my arms around his neck. He tightened his arm around my waist and buried his hand in my hair.

"I'm sorry I'm such a pain in the ass," I said.

"I've always known you were a pain in the ass, but I still love you."

"I love you, too."

He let go of me and I laid back down. He got up and stripped before getting in next to me. I rolled to my right and he spooned me.

"I'm so used to being by myself that I don't know how to follow someone else."

"I know. I don't even want you to change, but I'm even more on edge than normal. Aizen has Orihime. Not for the reason Ichimaru wants you, but he still wants to use her. Now the urge to keep you out of sight has even more appeal."

"But you can't."

"No, I can't. And it pisses me off."

"Do you think we'll ever have a happy life together?"

"That's one of the few things that keeps me going."

As I drifted back to sleep, I started to think about our future. I wanted to marry him. I wanted have his little blonde babies and live happily ever after. Not now, maybe in a few years, but when I thought about the future I saw him in it. It was beautiful.