9. Tomato and Raspberry

A slight drizzle had started earlier in the afternoon and continued on into dusk, making the Karakura streets shine with the damp. The shinigami from Twelfth Division had had his hands full with the Hollow that had
( More Renji & Orihime ... )

10. In a Name

The sun had barely risen when Grimmjow found Loly and Menoly on the fringe of town that morning, both hovering over a white-robed shinigami who was slumped against a wall as Menoly stood triumphant.

His eyes narrowed at them, crouching unseen at the edge of the four story building two streets from the alley they were in. The morning was ( Read more... )

11. Unpromise

Orihime awoke shortly later as Renji settled her on the futon of his apartment living room. He rested her back against the upright cushion of the futon, watching her open her eyes slowly, her hand going to her face, rubbing at the few wild strands of hair that had become windblown on her fall down to street level.

( More Renji & Orihime ... )

12. Bluffing

Yuki’s broken nose was the talk of the classroom the next morning before school started. He stood in the midst of the other students gathered around his desk, nose blue and slightly swollen with a dark red line crossing the bridge of it, enjoying his newfound attention as he relayed the incident in a nasally voice.

Orihime watched him ( Read more... )

13. Quid Pro Quo

Renji and Rukia had planned to return back to Soul Society the next day, but both found reasons to stay on a while longer among the Living, Rukia for reasons Renji didn’t have to guess at, and he for reasons he never made clear.

Not that she’d asked, he reminded himself as he made his way back from overseeing Orihime to the high ( Read more... )

14. Unlikely Savior

Soul Society was much the same as Renji had left it a month ago. In that time he’d assisted Shuuhei Hisagi in a field training exercise in the Living World including both Sixth and Ninth Division probationaries, and then, after a brief visit to Sixth Division, Renji had returned to Urahara’s shop for intermittent gigai testing.

( More Renji & Orihime ... )

15. Mortal

It was just after dusk when Grimmjow found the pair of Arrancar he’d been trailing for half an hour. He didn’t spend much of his time trying to find them, usually spotting them by chance several times a week over the last month, but making contact only once.

He’d wanted to get more information out of them when he’d left them dead in the ( Read more... )

16. Holding Out

Orihime was unaware of Renji appearing at her window that night, nor of him catching a glimpse of her as she, Ichigo, and Tatsuki arrived at Karakura Civil High School the next morning. He didn’t try to get their attention, as he had the corpse of the Twelfth Division member with him, simply watching as she disappeared into the brick ( Read more... )

17. Halves

Orihime tried to focus on the teacher’s handwriting on the white board at the front of the classroom, knowing they were important notes she should be taking for her exams the following week.

But her mind was far away from the room, from her exams, and from pretty much everything else school-connected. She begrudgingly dragged her thoughts ( Read more... )

18. Death God

Renji found Urahara squatting in the storage room where he’d last seen the dismembered female Arrancars a few hours ago. It hadn’t been his choice to meet with the shopkeeper so soon again, but when he’d returned from walking Orihime home in the increasingly cold rain he’d been flagged down across the fence by Tessai.

The dark hoodie ( Read more... )