Renji woke up first, a cold drop of water striking his temple harshly. One eye cracked open, fuzzily confused about where he could be. Did he fall asleep in a tree again? His vision was met by a blinding ray of sunlight striking through the leaves of unfamiliar foliage. Unfamiliar, but maybe not that unfamiliar…
Last night came rushing back to him. The argument with Shuuhei, the hollow, that mysterious portal that brought them to the real world instantaneously, coming back to consciousness to the sight of Shuuhei's scared, wide-eyed face.
Over the course of the night, Renji and Shuuhei had slid further against the tree until they were lying down. Looking over confirmed that the bundle in Renji's arms was indeed his fellow vice-captain, who had his own arms now wrapped around Renji's midsection. They were lying side-by-side, chests pressed together, legs tangled on the grass. They must have had fallen asleep embracing, Renji realized with a flush growing across his face.
Fortunately Shuuhei still seemed to be asleep, eyes closed serenely. Renji smirked at the way his damp hair had dried into a messy, unkempt bedhead. Deep, sleep-heavy breathes drifted from his slightly parted lips.
He looked peaceful, and Renji thought that if they could both just stay like this he would be perfectly content with that. Lying here, listening to the rhythmic inhale and exhale of the other man like this was very relaxing.
Still, mortification crept into Renji's mind at the thought of Shuuhei waking up to find himself and Renji like this. A second blush worked its way up Renji's neck as he realized he had been staring at the other man. This had to stop.
Renji gently lifted his arm from where it had come to rest on Shuuhei's hip, then attempted to work the other one out from where it was pinned underneath Shuuhei without waking him. Nearly free, Renji slid it under the dark-haired man very carefully.
Shuuhei twitched in his sleep at the movement, the 69 tattoo on his face jumping as the muscles in his face jolted. He mumbled a low nonsense word in his sleep and nuzzled the scarred side of his face into the crook of Renji's neck.
Against his will, Renji's mouth lit into a grin and he had to slap his free hand over his face to stop a giggle from squeaking out because if that wasn't just the most adorable display he'd ever seen. Renji wouldn't have pegged Shuuhei for being a big cuddler. Except, Renji reminded himself blatantly, they hadn't been cuddling. They were just sharing body heat to keep from freezing- it was the natural thing to do. More importantly even if Shuuhei cuddled, Renji most certainly did not.
Renji found Shuuhei's hand draped over his side and lifted it, unwinding himself from the tangle of limbs that was him and Shuuhei. The rough, callous-covered hands of Renji met the surprisingly soft skin of Shuuhei's face, gently cupping his cheek to lift it from his shoulder and lay Shuuhei's head on the grass, his messy hair fanning like a short, spikey halo around his head.
Now separated, Renji had no qualms about jabbing Shuuhei in the ribs, "Hey, wake up."
Shuuhei whined something in his sleep again, earning another poke. "Whaaaat?"
Renji smirked at the annoyed look Shuuhei gave him, "Get up. We gotta go to Urahara's so we can get back to Soul Society."
"Can we get breakfast there?"
It was much easier to grasp their bearings now fully rested and with a clear sky. Both vice-captains sensed the closest city, and with some well-placed flash-steps were there within the hour.
Renji was unfamiliar with this town. He wandered around a crowd of oblivious humans, Shuuhei trailing behind him. Spotting a road map sticking out of one man's pocket, he swiped the map and opened it unceremoniously.
"You can't just take people's shit like that." Shuuhei hissed, to which Renji ignored.
The owner of the map had marked their current location, a small city only a few towns over from Karakura town. Getting there too had been easy, although Renji attributed that to the fact that he no longer had an entire river in his lungs. It was noon by the time they reached Urahara's shop, and Renji's stomach longed to be filled. It growled in protest of its emptiness.
Shuuhei smirked and punched him mockingly on the arm. Renji rolled his eyes before stepping up to the porch and through the open door of the store, walking to the back where he knew the living space to be.
To his surprise, it wasn't only Urahara and his usual pack there, but also Rukia and Ichigo and their gang.
Rukia started at his appearance, and looked at him with shock in her big indigo eyes, "Renji? We were just about to go looking for you! What the hell happened to you?"
Renji figured they would look a mess. Even if they had dried off in the sun, they would still look unkempt and partially covered in mud. Renji shrugged his massive shoulders tiredly, "It's a long story."
"You're telling me." Shuuhei added, ducking out from the doorway Renji was blocking.
"Lieutenant Hisagi?"
Shuuhei rubbed his arm anxiously. He must have also realized that they looked especially grimy, "Don't suppose anyone would take pity and feed us?"
While the Urahara bunch seemed to take a sadistic delight in being stingy with their food for Renji, they had no qualms when asked by Shuuhei. Tessai and Ururu laid out a warm brunch that the vice-captains fell upon eagerly.
Shuuhei was practically a novice when it came to getting himself ass-deep in trouble in the real world, but Renji had the practice down to an art. The redheaded vice-captain retold the story; his and Shuuhei's investigation, what they had discovered, the bizarre blue portal that opened up in District 80 and instantly dropped them in the real world, miles away from any senkaimon.
Shuuhei filled in for the part of Renji falling into the river, having to pull them out and make camp for the night until the following day. Shuuhei did not, Renji noticed, mention performing CPR. He felt a tiny sliver of guilt at making the scarred man self-conscious, but he also didn't mention the snuggling for warmth, which Renji could appreciate.
Their audience was captivated, Urahara being especially interested in their tale of the portal. He rubbed his chin considerately, his hat shadowing his face as usual. "The light you described sounds like a senkaimon, but I've never heard of hollows being able to open anything other garganta. Normally they can anticipate things like where hollows will appear in Soul Society, so any old hollow being able to stroll right in without anyone being able to sense it could be a serious problem."
"So the hollows are the ones making the portals?" Rukia asked, to which Urahara shrugged.
"Nothing untraceable should be able to punch a hole through two worlds like that so easily. Sounds more to me like someone else is tearing Soul Society and the Material World a new one and the hollows are crawling through the holes that are already being made."
Ichigo tensed up, his hand drifting to where his substitute shinigami badge was in his pocket, "Don't tell me we have to go and kill whatever is making the portals."
"Hmm." Urahara hummed, "Not quite yet. If the portals are using its source as an interfacing, I might be able to tell you what's making them and how to trace it."
He turned expectantly to Renji and Shuuhei, "Of course, I'll need samples of spiritual particles from you two gentlemen. It's very likely that that much uncontrolled energy from the portals brushed off on you when you fell through it."
"Wait a second." Shuuhei intervened, "Shouldn't we leave these things to the Court Guards? It's not-"
"-Not that you don't trust me," Urahara finished for him, "you just prefer an expert opinion."
Shuuhei faltered under Urahara's hard gaze, "Well, uh…"
Noting Shuuhei's discomfort, Renji cut in, "Honestly, I'd rather you do it than Captain Kurotsuchi." Renji admitted, settling Shuuhei's qualms, "Let's do this."
"Noble words, Mr. Abarai." Urahara said, "Tessai? If you wouldn't mind, please prepare the Rieshi pump?"
"Oh God."
Shuuhei had been moved into the guest room for privacy as Urahara conducted his tests, leaving Renji to wait in the hall. Both men were proscribed a hot shower and a long night's sleep afterwards. Renji, however, had rested enough. He felt the urge to punch something settling in his gut, but from what it stemmed from he wasn't sure.
His hand twitched at the place where Zabimaru should be, finding only air.
"Where's your zanpakuto?" A voice came from beside him. Renji started, whipping his head around to find a set of observant brown eyes belonging to Ichigo focused on him.
"Ah, well," Renji stammered, "I kinda lost it."
Ichigo's eyes widened, and his expression turned into that I-Can't-Quite-Believe-You're-Really-THAT-Stupid look that Renji was sadly getting used too. "What do you mean you 'lost' your zanpakuto?"
"I mean-" Renji tried to explain holding his hands up in a sign of helplessness, "It got washed away in the river. I couldn't do anything about it!"
"Uh-huh. The river you also almost died in."
"Yup."
"Huh. That's actually kind of a relief." Ichigo admitted, leaning against the wall like Renji was doing, "It would explain why you're so out of it."
Renji cocked an eyebrow, "'Out of it'?"
"Yeah. Dude, you've been spacey ever since you got here." Ichigo explained, his look flashing from cocky to concern in an instant, "Unless there's another reason…"
Against his will, Renji's mind flashed back to that morning in the forest. In stark contrast to the previous night, Shuuhei had been warm. Had it been from lying in front of the fire all night, or was he like that normally? Now that he had time to fully absorb the experience, Renji was hit by the impulse to reach out and touch Shuuhei- grasp his arm, stroke his skin, anything if only for a second. The curiosity was killing him!
"There isn't." He assured Ichigo.
"Whatever." Ichigo nodded inside the guest room, "What about him?"
For a moment, Renji grew extremely concerned that Ichigo had turned mind-reader overnight. But then Ichigo emphasized, "He doesn't have a zanpakuto either."
"Oh yeah!" Renji realized, "He lost his, too. Abandoned it to jump into the river and save me."
Ichigo smirked, "Well aren't you the damsel in distress?"
Renji's eye twitched in irritation. The portrayal was eerily accurate, especially since he had made the Prince Charming reference to Shuuhei himself last night. "Shut up."
Even as he denied it in his mind, Renji knew for certain that somewhere over the course of events, Shuuhei had turned from Renji's friend into his knight in shining armor. And that didn't sit well at all.
To Shuuhei, using someone else's bathroom was the weirdest experience in existence. The unfamiliarity and strangeness of the whole situation was just unsettling, particularly under the roof of Urahara, who was nothing if not unfamiliar and strange.
Regardless a hot shower had been bliss. A near-death experience's worth of mud, dirt, filth slid off Shuuhei's body onto the linoleum below. And yet several times, out of instinct and ingrained paranoia more than anything else, Shuuhei found himself checking the spot where his shinigami uniform was folded up for Kazeshini. The zanpakuto had a knack for being unpredictable, but the spot was just as empty as it has been the last time Shuuhei checked.
Shuuhei sighed, massaging shampoo into his scalp. It wasn't that Kazeshini had been especially companionable or even pleasant- far from it in fact. When considering the dark spirit's company, a little went a long way and often Shuuhei disliked needing to retreat to his inner world to have conversations with the brute, but knowing that if he didn't check on the zanpakuto once in a while Kazeshini would act out of his own accord, the high cackling laughter falling all on deaf ears but Shuuhei's as the twin scythes spun and twirled out of Shuuhei's control.
Putting his conflicted emotions aside, Shuuhei turned off the shower, the flow of water coming to a stop above him. A shiver ticked his spine, so he toweled off quickly and dressed himself in the plain white sleeping robe that was on loan from Urahara's shop.
He picked up the bundle of his uniform, still coated in grime and grit. Shuuhei sighed, and noted that he would have to do laundry first thing tomorrow.
The shop was warm and well ventilated, for which Shuuhei was very grateful when he trod down the hall from the bathroom to the guest room. He sniffled a little, refraining from wiping his nose on his robe. If he didn't catch the flu from this whole ordeal he would count it a miracle.
He held his clothes under one arm as he walked, stopping slightly only when he heard his name being whispered, muffled slightly by the thin wall. Shuuhei paused, and looked around to see if anyone had called him.
The hallways were empty, but he recognized the voice that had said his name of the human, Orihime. They had fought one of the Bount together, so Shuuhei could be pretty damn sure it was the same girl.
"… Think it's unusual for Mr. Hisagi and Mr. Abarai to work together?"
Shuuhei's eyebrows rose. Determining the source of the conversation to be the kitchen, he pressed the side of his head against the closed door.
"Not unusual, I think." That was surely the voice of Rukia Kuchiki this time, "Just out of the ordinary. They don't often work together, especially in secret. They're just really different people."
Shuuhei subdued the urge to snort. He and Renji weren't that dissimilar, at least no more than any of his other friends. Shuuhei had a brash, rebellious side just as much as Renji had a responsible, mature side deep down. Way deep down.
"But you said that they were old friends. That they hang out together all the time in Soul Society" Orihime protested and even though no one could see, Shuuhei found himself nodding in agreement with her from the other side or the wall.
"Yeah, but I don't know if they're old enough of friends to work an entire case of a hollow attack in secret!" Rukia argued. "Renji never lets anyone help him, even me! I think there's something they're not telling us."
Shuuhei winced in confusion. Not telling them? Neither he or Renji spared any gory detail in their recollection of events, except, of course the mouth-to-mouth, and that hardly seemed relevant.
Shuuhei gave credit to Rukia in that he and Renji didn't make likely work-partners. Renji was hardly his first choice in conducting a secret investigation that required snooping and- above all- stealth and secrecy. Renji was far too honest and straight-forward for Shuuhei's definition of an undisclosed operative working under the radar, and he sucked at lying. But even if they didn't get much accomplished in the way of investigation, Renji's company had been nice. It was refreshing relief from Kira's sulky attitude or Iba's overcompensating insecurity. Maybe Rukia only thought something was strange because the experience had brought them to be closer friends?
Shuuhei thought back to the previous night, when Renji noticed that they had called each other by given name without realizing it. Shuuhei didn't do that with just anyone else, and the fact that Renji detected such a detail and was even pleased by it was… touching. Shuuhei found he wasn't used to such attention.
"Vice-Captain Hisagi." Suddenly came the recognizable voice of Urahara almost directly behind him. Shuuhei stiffened up in an alarm and spun to face the mysterious man, shamed that he was caught looking like an eavesdropper. He could only hope that the girls in the other room hadn't become aware of his presence.
Urahara's smiling face remained unchanged, "You seem to be lost. My apologies, I didn't tell you where you would be staying for the night."
"I don't want to be trou-"
"No trouble at all!" Shuuhei wished Urahara would stop interrupting him, "We haven't enough room just now for two separate visitors, so you'll be sharing the guest room with Mr. Abarai."
"Oh, that's great!" Shuuhei said with a smile. Reminiscing about Renji's company had actually begun to make Shuuhei miss it.
Urahara seemed cheerfully puzzled by Shuuhei's enthusiasm, "Great, you say? At least one of you is ready to turn in and not go snooping around my house for scraps."
With that, a green-sleeved hand indicated that Shuuhei should go down the hall. "First door on your left, Vice-Captain Hisagi."
"Thank you." Shuuhei said, forcing himself to be a little more subdued this time, before padding down to the specified room.
Inside, Renji was already changed into his night robe, his slightly damp hair made into a loose braid. He sat on one of two futons in the otherwise Spartan room. "Hey," Renji said in greeting, "Urahara give you any trouble with that spiritual sampling?"
"None." Shuuhei answered truthfully. He dropped his bundle of dirty clothes flopped down onto the other futon. "Why? What happened to you?"
Renji chuckled, "I'm pretty sure that bunch jabbed me with a few extra pointy things while they had the chance. Jeez, I thought I really hated doctors but it turns out the home-version of the game is even worse. I like the brats, but they aren't making Nurses of the Year in my books."
"Well, I'm sure being able to track down whatever was making those portals will be abundant compensation." Shuuhei yawned, "Of course the famous Renji Abarai would be willing to sacrifice his delicate constitution for the good of Soul Society."
"Hmm. Well hasn't someone been practicing their Hado: Smart-assery."
"I'm a master at the technique."
"Well you're gonna need it." Renji said, smile suddenly faltering before sinking altogether to turn into a crooked half-scowl, "Seeing as how neither of us has a zanpakuto now. Thank you, mysterious reality-ripping force, for dumping us in possibly the most inconvenient location in the possible history of locations."
Shuuhei cocked his head at Renji, "You and your zanpakuto are pretty close, aren't you?"
Renji started at the question, as if he wasn't sure if he'd heard Shuuhei right. The dark-haired man winced, "Too personal. Sorry-"
"No, it's fine." Renji shrugged, shifting to sit cross-legged on the bed. As he considered Shuuhei's question, Renji reached a hand to the hair draped over his shoulder and absently tugged his braid, which the elder lieutenant decided was a surprisingly endearing nervous habit. "I guess we're close, Zabimaru and I. The again, you kind of have to be to get even close to bankai. Sometimes it's hard to be sure though- they're not really into all that dumb spiritual chit-chat that everyone says you're supposed to do with your sword."
"Not into that in what way? Like, they just don't talk to you?"
Renji pulled his hair again, chuckling fondly, "Nah, we talk just fine. Just that between the three of us we usually just end up spitting insults at each other. Figures that part of me reflected in my zanpakuto would always be on my case so much."
"It sounds like you don't really mind that much." Shuuhei pointed out, falling back onto his pillow. "That's good, it sounds nice."
"I guess." Renji turned a cautious look to Shuuhei. The night robe on Renji was a little too small for him, and his ankles and wrists stuck out of clothing awkwardly. He looked rather like a puppy during its awkward adolescent stages, still growing into its oversized paws. "What about you? You always said you didn't like Kazeshini very much."
"I don't." Shuuhei said plainly. He rested the back of his head on folded arms, "He was a brat and a pain. But he's still my sword so that makes him my responsibility."
"Harsh." Renji grimaced, but Shuuhei only made a non-committal clicking noise with his tongue, only half out of irritation.
"I know that the relationship with my zanpakuto is… unusual in its nature. I just can't imagine it any other way."
It was quite for a moment after that, neither really sure where to turn the conversation after that. Renji, being Renji, didn't let that last long.
"Dude, you and your issues are bumming me out." Renji announced with a grin then opened his arms out wide, "Does Shuuhei need a hug to make it all better without that mean ole' sword?"
Shuuhei snorted and batted Renji's outstretched arm away. "Shuuhei needs you to go to bed already so he can get some sleep and escape from this crazy misadventure you dragged him on."
"But I'm already in bed!" Renji whined,
"How old are you, honestly?" Shuuhei said with a roll of his eyes,
Renji pretended to think for a moment as he kicked himself under the covers, "Physically or emotionally?"
Much later that night, Shuuhei had failed to fall asleep. Perhaps it was the anxiety of knowing that the source of the mysterious portals might be revealed tomorrow, or maybe it was the sound of Renji tossing and turning in his sleep.
Shuuhei sat up and watched Renji shift in his state of blissful unconsciousness, raising an eyebrow at the sight. The sheets were now impossibly tangled around his legs, and somehow through the night Renji's pillow had become a makeshift teddybear, one of Renji's arms curled around it as he lay on his back while the other arm was splayed out at what looked like an uncomfortable angle.
Shuuhei chuckled, sliding himself out of the futon. His bare-feet were cold on the wood-floor, but Renji would be colder when he woke up to discover he had kicked his blanket off in his sleep. Shuuhei picked the cover up off the floor and snapped it in the air once, before pulling it over a still soundly-sleeping Renji, who seemed oblivious to his efforts. Shuuhei sighed and rubbed his eyes, although he no longer felt tired at all. He was rather restless, in fact.
Shuuhei decided he needed a walk, and he knew just where to go for it.