Author: Mosh Note: You may not archive, re-post, or alter any of my stories without my permission. Please contact me first. Thanks! |
The main thing that stood out in Renji's head was that the concrete was awash with sickly red water. As the rain beat down its freezing cold symphony, the blood became even more diluted and spread, painting an ever-growing watermark in a circle around him and Ichigo, pale pink and desperate. Renji thought Ichigo was dead to begin with, honest to God, until Ichigo shuddered. "Jesus fuck, Ichigo! Hang on - just. Shit, hang on!" As he lifted Ichigo from the ground, the boy's zanpakuto slipped from his back and landed loudly, clanging like a dull bell in a puddle. A tinted puddle of rain water and Ichigo's blood. Renji turned away - sword be damned; he could come back and fetch it later - and strode as fast as he could toward the centre of town.
* * *
When Ichigo became too heavy to carry, Renji settled him briefly against a rubbish bin in the park. The weather was bad enough that nobody was around to get in the way, thank God. Renji shucked his robes, letting them fall to hang around his hakama. The rain hadn't eased a whit but he didn't give a damn that he was semi-naked - the sharp bite of the water droplets hammering his skin were a blessing, the smack of them against his bared back a thrill of sobriety. The limp, semi-conscious form slumped on the path mumbled unintelligibly and started to topple sideways. Just in time, Renji reached Ichigo and grabbed him before he struck the concrete. His sleeve ripped, revealing a deep gash across his bicep. The fabric was sodden, and not just with rain water. "Come on man, don't make this any harder than it already is." He groaned from the strain as he wrenched Ichigo's body up, then carefully manoeuvred the boy so that Ichigo's frame settled over his shoulder. With shaking legs, Renji got him up, got himself moving again. He just needed to find the rhythm... find the beat that would spur him onwards, make the pain and exhaustion easier to bear. "Say something." He gritted his teeth, sure not all the moisture that fell into his eyes was the rain; some of it was warm. "Say something, you irritating bastard!" Splash, splash. His socks were soaked through, and one of his sandal reeds was snapped, so that his left shoe dragged along the ground as he trekked on. "R... enji..." Renji swallowed thickly, then grinned. "Yes."
* * *
There was an audible scraping noise; Ichigo's feet dragged across the ground as Renji lost the ability to carry him. He grit his teeth, his bones aching, his head pounding, his steps unsteady, rounding corner after corner after corner until he wasn't sure if he was going in the right direction anymore. Yet he kept going, kept on pulling Ichigo's heavy frame with him, his fingers numb from the cold and where he was clutching Ichigo so tightly. Finally, finally, he rounded onto a familiar street. There at the end, the clinic came into view, in all its shining brilliance. The floodlights lining the shop's sign had been switched on, most likely due to the heavy black thunder clouds stubbornly hanging above. Renji could have kissed the ground in thanks. His knees buckled momentarily before he righted himself, and he hitched Ichigo up against him. There was no time to lose concentration now. He plodded on, at a much slower pace than when he'd left the park an hour earlier. It didn't matter. They were almost there. "Almost there, Ichigo," he said aloud; Ichigo probably didn't know what day it was, let alone where he was. "We're almost... just." He clenched his jaw to stop his teeth chattering. Somehow, though, they kept moving. Renji willed them that last few paces. "Ren... ji...?" The last few. Renji barged into the house, Ichigo hanging off him. "Kurosaki-san!"
* * *
Relentless rain hammered against the windows in the sitting room, sounding so loud it could have been rusty nails falling and Renji wouldn't have been surprised. He was perched on the sill, one foot up against the frame, the other hanging off the edge and swinging back and forth with frustration. He couldn't fathom it. The day's events made no freaking sense to him. Frowning as he looked out onto the street, he re-ran everything from the point where he'd sensed Ichigo's reiatsu fluctuate dangerously, then the pounding ebb of it as it diminished. It hadn't taken long to reach him, but what Renji found there had made him pause for a curse or two. Hell, even Hanatarou from 4th Division could probably beat a class 3 hollow and Renji knew Ichigo was much stronger than that. So why hadn't he? Why had the hollow still been alive, and Ichigo in such a damn sorry state? Renji snorted in the silence. Knowing Ichigo, he probably got lazy, sloppy, thinking he could just kick them around like puppies. The man could be so arrogant at times. A veil of dark red shrouded his face as he slipped the band out of his hair, swiftly re-gathering the strands and pulling it back into a neat ponytail. Everything was messed up, and not just his hair. Ichigo lay in the hospital, unconscious. His little sister had been through an hour ago and said he was going to be all right, but still Renji could not relax. The frustration he was feeling wasn't new by any means, but it was different from the kind of frustration he felt whenever fighting, or being yelled at by Rukia or Byakuya-taichou. This frustration was special and reserved only for that orange-haired idiot; a roiling tidal wave crashing in the pit of Renji's stomach, making his pulse race just thinking about Ichigo and the stupid things he did. Getting too big-headed as usual, getting himself hurt. Renji grumbled to himself and let his head rest against the cold windowpane. Rivulets of water streaked down before his eyes, and he let them distract him, hypnotise his annoyance away until all that was left was the splash of the rain and the movement and the beat of his own heart. He eventually closed his eyes, and waited.
* * *
Thank Christ Ichigo's sister had quick reflexes. If she hadn't jumped back the minute Renji woke, she might have lost her hand. Or even her whole head. "Damnit, sorry!" Renji quickly straightened up and released the hilt of his zanpakuto. "You should have made a noise or something. I didn't mean to... um." "It's okay," she said, but she still stared at him with very large, round eyes. She was kind of cute, actually - nothing like Ichigo to look at. This one must be Yuzu, the littlest sister. Renji attempted a smile at her, hoping it would make do as an apology for almost decapitating the poor girl. "Dad sent me to tell you onii-chan is awake now." "He is?" said Renji, scratching at the back of his neck. His joints felt stiff, achy. "How long have I been asleep?" The girl shrugged. "Um, about an hour, I think." "Oh." "I think onii-chan wants to see you. I told him you were here." "Oh, right." Renji waited for her to move, but she continued to stare up at him, now with a small, half-smile. He cleared his throat. "I guess you'd better lead the way, then." At that, she blushed and looked away. With a stuttered "Okay", she quickly scampered off. Renji, wondering if all the Kurosakis were odd, or if it was just Ichigo and his sister, followed her.
* * *
"You are the biggest freaking idiot in the universe!" Whoa. Renji didn't quite expect the gates to open that wide, but the minute he walked into the room and saw Ichigo propped up in bed, pale and bandaged and bruised all kinds of black and blue, anger flared up and Renji could not hold back. "Damnit to hell, Ichigo, what the fuuu-" He glanced to his left and managed to stop himself before cursing in front of Yuzu. The girl seemed to get the hint, and quickly bowed in Renji's direction before leaving, closing the door behind her. "-uck did you think you were playing at?!" Renji finished, now the coast was clear. "Ow, don't yell," complained Ichigo, reaching up to rub at his bandaged forehead. "It hurts. Why've you gotta be so loud all the time?" "You...!" Renji balled his fists at his side and clenched his teeth against the many and varied insults that flooded his throat and mouth. "You've got no right to moan," he grated out, after a few deep breaths. "You almost scared m- your family to death, don't you know. And you almost died yourself. What the heck happened today?" Ichigo looked down at the sheets covering his lap. He picked at the material, his brows lowered. "I can't remember." "Ichigo," Renji began. "No, I really can't remember what happened. First we were across town chasing those hollows, then the next thing it's raining really hard and I can't see much, and then I wake up here with Yuzu all worried and my head - oh man it's pounding!" He squinted his eyes shut tightly to emphasise his point. "Don't keep on, okay? I just need you to be quiet for a bit." "I won't," snapped Renji, nearing the bed. "Not until you explain to me why a class 3 hollow was able to floor you to the point of unconsciousness." Ichigo's face fell suddenly and he opened his eyes, looking up with confusion. "Huh?" "Are you deaf now, as well as stupid and foolhardy?" "Class 3... you've got to be joking." When Renji made no move to prove him right, Ichigo sat up a bit straighter, his expression now decidedly not one of pain. "No way! But that's ridiculous... I wouldn't get owned by a class 3 - they're crap!" "Well, the one you found obviously wasn't as crap as you first thought, eh?" The thing that bothered Renji most was that he himself had been well aware of both the hollows they had been following, and as far as he could tell, they had both been very weak. He folded his arms across his chest and glared down at Ichigo. "Unless it wasn't that. Maybe it's you who's getting weaker." "Oy, shut up," retorted Ichigo, scowling up at him. "I ain't weak." "Then it had to be your concentration. It's the only other answer. I mean, you're one of the cockiest, impulsive bastards I know, so of course you were probably thinking above your station - again - and underestimating your opponent." "Shut up, will you!" Ichigo's face was flushed and he was scowling so hard Renji wondered if his eyebrows would ever join his forehead again. "No need to go insulting me. I'm an invalid right now, in case you didn't-" He stopped short and looked down again. "Yeah, I did notice," Renji said quietly, angrily. "I was the one who dragged your sorry arse all the way across town in the pouring rain." He was determined to make Ichigo realise what he'd put himself through - what he'd put both of them through that afternoon. Renji sat down on the edge of the bed next to Ichigo, so that Ichigo couldn't hide his face from him. "I pulled you in here and scared the shit out of your family. Do you think that was fun?" Ichigo spoke very softly. "No. Of course not." He would not look up and meet Renji's gaze. His blush was not of embarrassment now, but of shame. "Glad we're agreed on that." Renji reached over and hooked his finger under Ichigo's chin, none too gently forcing him to look up. "You deserve to feel bad, but I don't. So I'm not going to any more." "Ouch, okay, there's no need to be so rough..." Ichigo trailed off, wincing, his mouth parting and tongue dashing out to wet his lips, like he knew, like he was preparing for it. How did he always know? Renji leaned in, just in time to see Ichigo's eyes rise and find his own. Then, they were too close and everything went blurry and all Renji could see was skin and an orange eyebrow and a white slip of bandage. All he could taste was a familiar, lingering flavour that was Ichigo - one he hadn't forgotten since the first time, earthy and energetic and really kind of wonderful. He pressed his mouth hard against Ichigo's, maybe a bit too hard - their teeth clacked uncomfortably and Ichigo made a breathy protest low in his throat. Renji didn't care; he slid his hand around the back of Ichigo's neck and held, threading his fingers through the soft hair at the back and pulling. He couldn't think of any other way of getting through to Ichigo right then, to let him know how freaking terrifying he'd looked lying in a pool of blood, half-dead on the road, crumpled like a fragile, broken thing. Renji found Ichigo's tongue with his own and thrust against it, taking what he wanted. Usually, he would have been getting pretty aroused about now, but this time he just felt a strange amalgamation of anger and relief. Pulling back, he let his front teeth scrape against Ichigo's lower lip gently, then paused for a moment, breathing in deeply. It was only when he sat up straight again and found himself a little breathless did he realise what he'd just done. Ichigo's family could have walked in at any moment. Embarrassment crept up over Renji's cheekbones - he could feel it, spreading like red rain. Ichigo was flushed and panting. "Were you trying to suffocate me or something?" he managed, lamely. "Shut it, you." Renji couldn't muster enough energy to put much irritation in it. His previous exhaustion hadn't been slept off enough and he wasn't thinking straight. He put his impulsive action down to that, ignoring the curl in his stomach and the sound of his own fast pulse in his ears. "Just go to sleep, idiot." "What about you?" Ichigo said. "What about me?" said Renji, rising from the bed. He walked towards the door and heard Ichigo make a spluttering noise from behind him. "Oh pipe down, will you." Renji took hold of a plastic chair from next to the doorway, and dragged it over to Ichigo's bed. There, he settled himself and propped one foot up on the nightstand. "I'll be here." Ichigo didn't have anything to say to that, thankfully. He talked too damn much anyway, and complained even more than that. Renji purposefully didn't look at him, instead letting his eyes wander around the room, taking in the few pictures that had been placed at various intervals on the walls. He supposed they made the place a bit less sterile, and could see one of the sisters putting them up - the youngest one, definitely. There was a colourful bowl of fruit in one, a seaside scene in another, a landscape of rolling green hills and pin-straight fir trees in a third. Finally, Renji let his gaze settle on the window across from him. It was still pouring; the storm hadn't eased a whit, only now it was darker out, so that the rain looked ghostly as it slanted toward earth. After a few minutes, Ichigo's breathing started to slow, even out. Renji reached over and flicked on a small lamp on the nightstand. The light wasn't too strong to wake Ichigo, but it was enough for Renji to see by. With that, he tried to relax, staring out into the dim light and falling rain. Strangely, it wasn't a foreboding sight any longer, and before he let his eyelids rest he wondered if perhaps it could wash away the image of a crumpled body on the ground, of puddles of red and the vicious thumping pain of his heartbeat. The storm rolled on outside, and inside Renji and Ichigo slept. ~Fin~ |
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