Chapter Please Just Listen to Me. (Back to Ichigo's PoV)

I'm pretty certain that when you wake up after a huge argument with someone, you're not meant to wake up laying in bed, next to that someone.

Especially with you sprawled all over that someone.

Nope... I definitely didn't expect to wake up like this.

Groaning, I turn over, off Renji, and study the clock. It's five. In the morning. Great.

"Ichi?" Renji murmurs from the bed. I scowl, and ignore him.

What the hell does he think he's playing at?

"Ichi," he grumbles again. "I'm cold." He attempts to yank me down, but I pull away.

"I'm not a fricking heater," I growl.

"Don't care," murmurs Renji, voice muffled by the pillow.

"I do."

"You're gonna marry me?" asks Renji, cocking an eyebrow up as he studies me in the dim moonlight.

"Shut up," I snarl at him, deliberately cruel.

It's like the last couple of nights never happened. Like it was all a bad nightmare. For a second, a flicker of hope declares that it was all really a nightmare, but then I remember the pain I felt yesterday.

Both emotional and physical.

"What's wrong?" asks Renji absently, sitting up as I storm out of the bed.

"Did the last day and a night never happen, or was it all a bad nightmare?"

"Oh...I was hoping we could forget about that."

I freeze, staring at him. "I'm not gonna forget, Renji. Not now, when I know just how damn heartless you can be."

All the pent up sorrow's turning into anger, I realise, when I speculate over what I've just said. Anger, because Renji can't just assume I'll happily forget everything, especially when it's caused me pain.

I never have, and never will. If it's caused me pain, then sure, I'll get over it. Eventually. It doesn't mean I'll forget it, though.

"I'm not heartless."

"Oh, no, really, you're not. You just enjoy breaking people's hearts, yelling at them, making ridiculous, screwed up assumptions and then throwing a glass cup at them."

I'm stooping to Renji's level now.

"Look," he says quietly. "I didn't mean half the shit I said last night -"

"So what did you mean, then? The bit about breaking the engagement?"

"No, I didn't. I'm still here, aren't I?"

I snort. "Well, let's gloss over the fact that you didn't want to hear what I wanted to say, which makes me wonder whether I should bother listening to you, and hear what you want to say."

He stares at me for a few seconds. "Look, can we talk about this calmly? Rationally?"

"Tell me why I should do that, when you obviously didn't want to do precisely that last night?"

He stares at me, before licking his lips. "Ichi, please. Give me a second chance, please?"

I snort, and storm into the bathroom, giving Renji a definite answer. 'No'.

I can feel his disappointment from here. Screw him.

Very thankful for the door to the bathroom, I head into the showers, and allow the warm water to pour over me, reflecting that I am just as bad as Renji. And it feels good. Even though I'm being as heartless as Aizen, as cruel as that bastard, but I don't care. Really. I just want... What do I want? Revenge? I'd lose Renji's friendship forever, definitely, which might mean that I'd also lose the friendship of others, but...Do I want some relationship with him? Like... As a lover? Yes. But ... Yesterday was just so painful...

And, then, somehow, I find myself in a forest.

Okay, it's more of a tropical rainforest, but that's beyond the point.

How did I get from a normal, if somewhat luxurious, bathroom to a fricking rainforest?! At least I'm wearing clothes... my Shinigami stuff to be exact... But still.

...

We are talking Shinigami/Soul Society/Gotei 13 here, so it's probably not entirely unreasonable, but still! If Urahara is doing some sort of nutcase experiment, I swear to Kami-sama, that man will know the meaning of pain when I'm through with him.

Extreme pain.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," growls a deep voice behind me. I turn slowly, and come face to face with an ape.

Zabimaru?

"Um, Zabimaru?" I ask quietly, backing away slowly, eyeing him.

It then clicks.

Okay, no, I'm not slow! Damn you all for thinking that.

"I'm in Renji's inner world, aren't I?"

"Congratulations Einstein. And if you're wondering, Renji's in yours."

My face pales.

"Why? Better, how?"

He sighs. "When two people love each other, even if they haven't admitted that to each other, they can usually enter the other's inner world, and in some cases, their Zanpakuto's can talk to each other." He smirks. "I can talk to Zangetsu and Shirosaki. Have to say, they're ... interesting."

My face pales further. Dear lord. Zangetsu and Shiro talking to other people ... THE WORLD SHALL BLOW UP!

"So, erm, what am I doing here?" I ask weakly after a few seconds of me imagining the world blowing up spectacularly.

Zabimaru studies me for a few seconds, and then says, "Follow me."

I follow. He leads me to a cave.

"Often, when people like others, they build a building of some sort in their mind, dedicated to that person. The size of the building can tell you how much they like them. For example, in Renji's case, a small cave means respect, but not friendship, while a huge, massive cave means love."

He takes me inside.

Huge. Massive. Gigantic. Ginormous. Cave.

Dedicated to me.

How can I tell? Well, the pictures/video/more pictures/statues of me kinda gives it away.

"Whoa," I mutter.

"I'll leave you to explore it, then. By the way, Renji will come over once he's finished exploring the skyscraper you have in honour of him."

"WHAT?" I exclaim. Then I pause. "Skyscraper?!"

"Yes. Skyscraper."

I swallow. "Um. Okay."

What else can I say? I mean... It's not every day you realise the guy you love has a shrine dedicated to you (in their mind) and that you have one to them.

Then, I decide to explore this cave.

Well, firstly... It's like a massive, never-ending cavern. The walls are filled with pictures, and in the middle of the space, there's statues, and floating (WTF?) pictures, and shelves, and sometimes, there's TVs, with videos going.

I wander over and study some of the pictures. Naturally, they're all of me, in various poses and places. There's a couple of me blushing, one or two of me smiling (these are in heavily gold/really expensive looking frames), but many are of me glaring at some unknown enemy/raising my Zanpakuto threateningly/firing ceros/basically fighting.

Well, that has been basically all I've been doing for the past couple of years. No wonder he knows me best like that.

That is quite sad for a seventeen year old.

I then examine the statues, which are basically of me, some in imagined poses (I don't think Renji's ever seen me laying on a couch, hands handcuffed above my head, face contorted into an expression of pleasure), and some in realistic, actual poses.

There's some of me in stunning, brave poses, like those typical hero ones. These are scattered around, and I think they come from either saving Rukia or Orihime.

Most are like those, actually, though there are worryingly accurate ones of me with my shirt half undone (Read: naked chest). Heck. There's even ones of me naked. Nude. With no clothes on. I'm not even going to ask how he came up with them.

Yeah. Scary.

Moving on.

I walk through the art to the other side, where the videos are being played.

Instantly, I can tell that they're not all memories.

There's a few dreams as well.

Let me say this much, a few, no, a lot would have resulted in wet dreams.

And what makes Renji think he'd top?!

Bastard.

Like the use of the obi slash as a blindfold.

And the closets.

So, apart from these ... kinky ... hot ... dreams, there's also memories of me, ranging from our first hate-filled meetings, to him defending me during the War, and when he decided to bank out at my place on a regular posting, and basically anything to do with me, like when I was made Taichou.

...

Right. So. Basically, Renji has a Shrine dedicated to lil' old me... My ego's gonna blow up like nothing you have ever seen... Which basically translates to he loves me...And I love him, so ... We might as well get together...After I get an explanation for why he blew up. Argh! What can I say, having him hating me was painful... And I don't want to lose him forever... Knowing that he actually loves me ... Well... It's not like I can exist for the rest of my life knowing that he loves me, but not be his lover, and it'd be painful watching him hook up with someone, and I am prepared to forgive him for what he did yesterday, as long as I know why, and I can get that out of him, so ...

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrap around my waist, and tug me into a warm body.

"I'm so sorry," says a voice I know. "I was such an ass last night."

"Renji," I mutter, turning around.

He smiles weakly, and I study his face, noticing his relatively miserable appearance.

Well, it looks like my decision has been made for me.

Then, surprising him, and me, I quite literally glomp him.

He staggers backwards, taking the full brunt of my weight, as he tightens his grip on me.

"I think I was the worse ass," I mutter. "Especially this morning."

"You wouldn't have been if I'd been at least nice last night."

"Which wouldn't have happened if I'd been awake the night before that."

"And that wouldn't have happened if I'd shown at least a degree of control before that."

I raise my head from his shoulder. "You didn't want to have sex with me? I'm injured, Renji."

"Oh shut up," he grumbles. Then, carrying me bridal style (not easy, given that I yell at him a bit, and struggle before deciding to enjoy being carried, because I can nuzzle into his chest), Renji takes me out of the cave, and into a rather beautiful clearing.

It's ....Wild, which makes it nice. And the grass is soft, and cushiony, so it's like a bed. And there's trees all around, with wild, wild undergrowth, but it still manages to look pretty damn awesome.

"One of my favourite places," Renji remarks, setting me down.

"Because it's so close to the Shrine to Kurosaki Ichigo?" I ask.

"No..." I put on an injured expression. "Shut up, Ichi, and you can't say much. That place you like, the park thingy, is close to your Shrine to Abarai Renji. Hang on... That's a Shrine to ME."

I groan.

"So, um, how was Shirosaki?" I ask.

"He enjoys bitching about you."

"No surprises there," I mutter.

He grins, and, laying next to me, pulls me onto him. I happily oblige, snuggling into him.

"This feels like a corny love scene out of some random romance book," he mutters. I chuckle.

"So, where are we?"

"In my Inner World?"

"I meant our relationship, idiot," I grumble.

"Oh, right, do we have to talk about that? We're guys. We don't discuss relationships."

I snort, agreeing. "Right. So. You aren't calling the wedding off?" I ask, suddenly worried.

"Course not."

"Good." I pause, and then, pull myself up, and study him. Then, with a sly smile, I lean down, and snog him. Senseless.

It's not that long until Renji replies, and soon, we're battling for domination. Hot. Heavy.

And there's no way I'm describing this to you lot. God knows what you'd make of it.

At last, panting for air, we break apart, and I lean back down, resting my head against his shoulder, one hand gripping that particular shoulder, the other resting on his chest.

"Hmn, so we're officially lovers?" he asks.

"I thought you said that we don't discuss relationships," I remark, grinning. He rolls his eyes. "And, yeah."

We're silent for a few minutes, before Renji speaks again.

"I suppose you wanna know why I blew up yesterday?" I nod. He falls silent for a few minutes. "Right, um...I suppose... Well...I'm kinda regarded as the most ... I dunno, slutty? Of all the captains, so...I thought, this is no good, I'm not, you know, sleeping around again, so I just vowed to myself that the next person I slept with would be my lover, or, well, you know, you get the idea."

I clamp my hand over his mouth, and tell him quietly, "I get the idea."

He smiles, and then licks my hand.

I scowl, and, removing my hand, glare at him.

He smiles again. And then, he frowns.

"How long have we been here?" he asks.

"Dunno."

"We should probably get back. Hisana... And, we have to go to Third, right?"

"Chojiro said we don't have to. Takes too long. She still has to meet the divisions, but we don't have to do full day tours and whatnot."

"Good," he mutters, sinking to the ground.

Rolling my eyes, I stand up, instantly missing his warmth. "Renji, imagine Hisana walking into the bedroom, and seeing our slumped over bodies."

He swears, and, accepting my hand up, stands.

Together, we head back into the real world.

"MUMMY! DADDY! YOU'RE DEAD - No. Oh good. You're not."

Oh. Bloody. Great.

I stand, turn the shower off, and, inspecting my officially wrinkled skin, dress and head back into the bedroom, where Hisana is jumping up and down on our bed, annoying a grumpy Renji.

"HISANA! STOP JUMPING UP AND DOWN! FOR GOD'S SAKE, ICHIGO, STOP HER!"

"MUMMY!" she yells, rushing to me, and, leaping onto me, hugging me tightly. "I thought you and Daddy were dead!"

"We weren't, Hisa," I say, and then pause. "Hisa?" I ask no one in particular.

"The sign of a dedicated parent, you make up nick names," Renji remarks drily.

I scowl at him, and, sitting down next to him on the bed, perch Hisana on my lap.

"Okay, Hisana, we weren't dead."

"Weally? You looked like it..."

"No Hisana. We were in our inner worlds."

"Inner what?"

"Inner Worlds, Hisana. When you get learn the name of your Zanpakuto, you go into your inner world, which is your mind."

"Oh," murmurs Hisana in realization.

I nod, and take her out of the room, to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Can I have pancakes?" she asks.

"No."

"WHY MUMMY?"

"Because the last time you had pancakes, we had a huge mess."

"A huge mess?" asks Renji, appearing behind me. I turn, and scowl at him.

"Yes... Check the bins outside if you don't believe me."

He goes outside, and checks the bins... Bastard. Hmph. Doesn't believe me. Grr.

He comes back in, looking pale.

"How did you use two garbage bags, all stretched to the limit?!"

"Um, four kilos of flour -"

"Look, I don't want to know," interrupts Renji.

"Why'd you ask, then?"

He glares at me.

"BUT I WANNA HAVE PANC-AKES!" Hisana screams at us, startling us both. We spin around, to find Hisana leaping up onto the table.

"Hisana, get off the table," I demand, using my best I-am-a-parent-listen-to-me-or-die voice.

As I have not used it much, it doesn't quite work.

"I like that voice," Renji mutters into my ear. "Use it more often. Just for me, though."

I scowl at him. "Now is not the time to making innuendo," I mutter back.

Hisana starts to jump up and down.

"I want pancakes! I wanna pancakes! I WANT PANCAKES!" she wails.

I sigh. "Hisana. Why. Do. You. Want. PANCAKES? What about cereal!?"

"BUT PANCAKES ARE YUMMY!"

"We have a captains' meeting," Renji interrupts.

"I WANT PANCAKES!"

I sigh. Again. Today's already been stressful...Why this?

What have I done against you, Kami-sama!?

"Okay, Renji, take Hisana and change her clothes. I'll make pancakes."

"YAY MUMMY!" she yells, leaping onto me and hugging me.

I sigh.

"Yes, yes, just go change."

"Make sure you don't get messy, or I'll have to clean you... In which case, get messy," Renji tells me.

Great. Innuendo-spouting Renji, tantrum-throwing Hisana, yippee.

Scowling at Renji, I turn to make the pancakes.

One batch of pancakes later, I am happy to report that I am not messy.

Is that a bad thing?

I'm not sure.

But anyway.

"PANCAKES!" screams Hisana, leaping onto the table, and diving for the pancakes.

"NO! I JUST CHANGED YOUR CLOTHES, DON'T YOU DARE GET MESSY!" yells Renji, diving for her. Luckily, he rescues her before the clothes get messy.

"BUT I WANT THE PANCAKES!"

Renji growls, and storms to the drawers. Having withdrawn a garbage bag, he pokes three holes in it, and slips the entire thing over Hisana.

"There!" he declares.

"But this looks stu-pid!"

"Doesn't matter."

"I'm not wearing it."

"No wearing it, no eating pancakes."

Hisana screams.

"NO!" she yells, drawing out the monosyllabic word into about twenty.

I snarl. "Hisana. You are wearing that and eating, or no pancakes at all." I thank the gods that she's wearing a sleeveless shirt.

She snarls back, but nods grumpily, and falls on the pancakes with relish.

"Great. Tantrums."

Smiling weakly at Renji's grumpy face, I take my own plate of pancakes and eat them slowly, watching Hisana for messes.

Thankfully, there's none.

After a tense thirty minutes, ended with Hisana's delighted yelling when we took the make shift fully body bib off her, we head to the captains' meeting room.

Guess who's there?

The Espada.

With two kids.

Oh, and the other captains. And vice captains. And Urahara.

But the Espada are the most important. And the kids.

A/N: YES! THEY'RE TOGETHER! FINALLY! Yeah. Um... Sorry for the late update. Don't worry... I didn't forget about you... The threats for me to update (coming from my own SISTER! And a friend) didn't let me. So.. um. Chapter dedicated to you two. (As much as it pains me to dedicate this chapter to you, sis, I am. Be Pleased. :P).

And.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED! YOU GOT ME OVER 100 REVIEWS!! WOOOOOT!! THIS CHAPTER IS ALSO DEDICATED TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU WHO REVIEWED!! I LOOOOVE YOU GUYS!

And Sis, I don't think you've reviewed. Grrr. DIE!

To those who didn't review: PLEASE REVIEW! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME TO OPEN MY INBOX AND SEE A PILE OF EMAILS WITH ALL THE REVIEWS! Seriously. I have this huge grin plastered over my face after reading them. I. Love. Reviews. Even if they're from my sister.

You can tell I've been spending too much time with my sis, ne? Horrible times.

So...Yes. Now I have to go over Espada Guide to Parenting. Not that it's a chore. :D I am borrowing Hel, and Stark's kid (whose name I've forgotten :P) They belong to Marr. Not me.

YAY!! ESPADA!!

:D Can't wait to work with insane Aizen. "'Yama-kun!' 'Aizen-chan!'" Holy Lord.

I have a plot bunny for another crack IchiRen fanfic running around my head. I blame HPDM (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy) fanfiction. Grr.

Do not fear. I am concentrating on this fanfic.

SO...

REVIEW! Or my hand will come through your computer/whatever you're reading this on screen and force you to review. :D