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Disclaimer: I certainly DON'T own Bleach and it most certainly owns me.

Chapter 7 - Happy Valentine

"So you're saying there's a holiday when the girls give the guys presents and one when the guys return the favour? But what if I wanted to give you something? Considering how we both are males, and if you make a comment on that I'll kill you."
Renji stared at Ichigo, waiting for the biting comment that he knew Ichigo had on his tongue. But Ichigo just sighed and looked Renji straight in the eyes, not a bit intimidated by Renji's words.
"If you want to give me anything just do it any day you like. Valentines Day is just a nuisance anyway. Same goes for White Day. And most of the holidays."
Renji felt a little saddened about what Ichigo had just said. "What's wrong with giving the one you love something special on a special day?"
"Okay..."
It must have shown somehow on Renji that the words had saddened him, since Ichigo put his hand on Renji's cheek and kissed him gently.
"But if you were to give me anything on Valentines Day, I would gladly accept it."
He kissed Renji again, hungrily nibbling Renji's lower lip.
"Ichi..."
Ichigo forced his way through Renji's lips with his tongue. When Renji answered the kiss, Ichigo brought him closer and began pulling in Renji's t-shirt.
Then a soft knock was heard and they both sighed loudly. Rukia entered and found them both still embracing each other and Ichigo still with his hands under Renji's t-shirt.
"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?"
She smiled and both Renji and Ichigo knew there was no sincerity in those words. Unwillingly they parted from each other.
"Was there something you wanted? Besides being rude."
"Ichigo you can be so mean sometimes."
Rukia pouted and sat down on Ichigo's bed.
"Spell it out, Rukia!"
"Alright, alright. There really isn't any need to shout."
A dark cloud came over Ichigo's face. For a moment all that was heard, was the sound of Ichigo grinding his teeth. Rukia giggled.
"I just wanted to ask what you two were doing on Valentines Day."
Ichigo snapped, but Renji saw the change in him just in time to catch him, before he threw Rukia out through the window.
"And you couldn't have waited with that till dinner! You just HAD to storm in here and..."
"Maybe I could have waited, but I didn't really want to."
"RUKIA!"
Ichigo squirmed to get loose and Renji had to struggle quite hard to keep Ichigo in his arms.
"Let go, Renji! I'm going to ki..."
"You better not finish that sentence," Renji said and fastened his grip around Ichigo's waist.
"What! She deserves it. Impudent woman. Let go, Renji!"
Renji was amazed of the slightly smaller mans strength. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hold him back much longer. He looked at Rukia, pleadingly.
"I... think I'll come back later."
Rukia quickly got up from the bed and hurried out of the room. Renji let go of Ichigo as soon as she was out of the room.
"WHY? Why did you take her side? Why didn't you just let me...?"
"Do you want to kill her? Cause by the look of you now, I don't think that you'd be able to restrain yourself."
"But I'm getting tired of this. Tired of getting interrupted. Tired of her impudent comments. Just tired of all this."
"Tired of me?"
Ichigo looked at Renji, with a mix of surprise and dread in his eyes.
"I didn't say..."
"I'm just kidding. God you can be so gullible sometimes."
"Hey!"
Renji smirked and kissed Ichigo.
"I'm just saying that I'm tired of these constant interruptions."
"Yeah, me too. But I don't think violence is the solution."
"Well look who's talking! Wasn't it you who attacked me in soul society, threatening to kill me and blaming me for messing up Rukia's life?"
"Well maybe I've changed since then."
Ichigo crashed down on the bed and buried his face into his pillow.
"Whatever," came a half suffocated mumble. "I'm so moving out of here as soon as possible."
Renji sighed and sat down on the bed next to Ichigo.
"You know, we had quite the calm week up in the mountains, but we were alone there. By the way, that's my best Christmas ever. And believe me, I've been trough some Christmases. But we can't expect it to be like that here. There are too many people living under this roof for it to be like that."
Ichigo turned to lie on his side.
"All I'm asking for is a little more privacy. Is that really too much to ask for?"
"Maybe they just missed us?"
Renji grinned.
"It's been like six-seven weeks now since we came back. I don't think they miss us that much any longer."
"Well one thing's for sure. I will miss those days up in the mountains."
Renji leaned down and kissed Ichigo. Ichigo answered by pulling Renji closer. Then Ichigo pushed Renji, but just a few centimetres.
"Me too."
Their lips connected again. Renji pulled up Ichigo's t-shirt and put his hands on Ichigo's chest. Ichigo moaned and Renji saw that as a clear invite and moved his body to lie beside Ichigo, partly on top of him. With a few quick movements, he unbuttoned Ichigo's jeans. Then they heard a soft knock on the door. "What now!"
"Oni-san. Abarai-san. Dinner."
Ichigo cleared his throat.
"Okay, Yuzu."
Renji sighed heavily and got up. Then he helped Ichigo to his feet, who immediately fixed his clothes. When all their clothes were straightened out and all the buttons buttoned, they went downstairs to have dinner.


Renji looked through the shop-window. There were all kinds of chocolate laid up to display the shops variety. And everything looked really fake. It was neatly and prettily placed in stacks and all kinds of forms, but it seemed forced. There was really no love in it. Everything was perfect. "Nothing's that perfect."
He walked away. No way he'd ever set foot in a store like that. There had to be somewhere else he could buy some chocolate for Ichigo. And he didn't have that much time. Valentines Day was today. Though what he really wanted was to make it himself. But considering his skills in cooking, that was out of the question.
He continued down the street and between a quite large bookshop and a café, he found the kind of shop he was looking for. One of those little shops, where the shopkeeper was the one who made everything he or she sold. The kind of store that strived to keep in business, but in the end often got pushed away by those large and heartless malls. Renji walked in and a little bell declared that someone had opened the door. There was no one in sight, but a smell of newly baked came from a room behind the counter, which Renji guessed was the kitchen.
"Just a moment," someone called from the kitchen. "Just a moment."
Renji waited and took the time to look around in the shop. It was a relatively small shop, but you could see that it was literally packed with love. All the furniture seemed like second-hand bought and nothing matched. Though it still seemed like everything belonged to each other. This was a place were nothing got thrown away, but used with love and care. Renji sat down by a small table. The chair squeaked a little under his weight, but it was still stable. Once he'd settled down on the chair, a woman came out of the kitchen. She was about Rukia's height, but the resemblance ended there. She was a sturdy woman, with long blonde hair and a warm smile. In her hands she held a plate with newly baked cup cakes.
"Welcome. Did not expect to see a male costumer on Valentines Day. Usually there's only girls, buying gifts for there boyfriends."
She piled up the cup cakes in one of the display windows by the counter. But she left two on the plate and went into the kitchen again. She returned with milk and put the milk and the cup cakes in front of Renji on the table.
"Here. They taste the best when they're still warm."
A small blush spread on Renji's cheeks.
"Go on. Don't be shy."
Renji picked up one of the cup cakes and took a small bite. It had a mild taste of vanilla and there were small pieces of chocolate inside. Renji knew that Ichigo would love them.
"So... I guess you're looking for something for your girlfriend?"
Renji blushed violently.
"Well... uh... ehhh... it's for my... boyfriend."
She smiled.
"I see. What's his name?"
"Ichigo..."
"What a cute name!"
Renji laughed.
"He'd probably snap big time if he'd heard that."
"I see. He got a bit of a temper."
She smiled and got up from the chair. Renji watched as she went back to the kitchen again. He finished the cup cake and got up.
"Tell me a little more about him."
Renji thought for a while.
"Well the first thing you'll notice is his orange hair. It's short and smells quite nice."
A faint blush came over Renji's cheeks. "Did I just say that?"
"He sounds sweet."
The woman came back from the kitchen and smiled warmly at Renji. Renji laughed.
"Sweet wouldn't be a word I would use to describe him."
"Then how would you describe him?"
"He's arrogant, short tempered and headstrong. He often wears tight clothes and loves chocolate and spicy food."
A soft laugh escaped the woman's lips. She picked out some chocolate from one of the display windows.
"Then I think he would love these. It's quite a special sweet, with a small taste of chilli. Why don't you try one?"
"I don't know. I'm not really into spicy stuff."
"The how will you really know if he will like it? Just try one. You won't die. I promise."
Renji picked one up and hesitatingly put it in his mouth. At first he only tasted a rich chocolate flavour. Then a hint of chilli came and it grew stronger. Renji felt how his eyes started to tear up.
"Tasty. Apart from the chilli part."
The woman smiled. She went into the kitchen once more and came back with a little blue box. Carefully she filled the box up and closed it. Renji paid for the sweet and as he headed out of the store again, he noticed some familiar sweets in the shop-window. Chocolate strawberries. He turned to the woman again.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"A few days before Christmas, was there a girl here?"
He held out his hand.
"About this size. I think she bought some of those chocolate strawberries."
"Black hair and kind of a childish appearance?"
Renji nodded.
"Yes. I remember her. She was determined on buying those strawberries. She said they would be perfect for her two friends."
She laughed softly in remembrance.
"Might it be that those two friends were you and your boyfriend?"
Renji blushed and she smiled warmly.
"And was she right? Were they perfect?"
Renji nodded carefully and the blush on his cheeks deepened. She smiled back at him.
"Well, I hope you'll have a good day and that your lover will like those sweets."
Renji smiled and left the shop with his cheeks still faintly flushed.


When Renji got back to Ichigo's, he quickly threw his outdoor clothing of and practically ran up the stairs. He found Ichigo sitting by the desk, writing something.
"What are you writing?"
"Nah. Just working on my English paper."
"Man, you're serious about your schoolwork."
"You know, it wouldn't help if you were too."
"Well it doesn't really matter, does it? I'm not really in your class and no one except a few will remember me ever being apart of the class."
"You sure take lightly on all of this. I wish you could at least let me do my homework. You may not need to study, but I have to."
Renji sighed and until now Ichigo hadn't noticed that he'd been holding his hands behind his back the whole time.
"What are you up to now?"
Ichigo pointed at Renji's arms.
"Oh. Just a little gift."
Renji revealed the little box and handed it to Ichigo. Ichigo looked surprised.
"But... I... I got nothing for you."
"I don't care. Open it."
There wasn't really much to open, since it wasn't wrapped or anything. The only thing you had to do was open the lid, and that was what Ichigo did.
"Chocolate."
"They got quite the peculiar taste."
"You've tried them?"
"Yeah. They're really nothing for me. But I think you will like them."
"Right."
Ichigo tried one. First he smiled in liking of the chocolate flavour. Then he looked mighty surprised when the chilli made its taste noticed. He swallowed and opened his mouth, gasping for air.
"Hot."
Renji laughed at the scene of Ichigo waving his hand, trying to cool down his mouth. Ichigo picked up one more piece and put it in his mouth. Then he pulled Renji in for a kiss and shared the flavour experience with him. Renji pushed him away, but it was too late.
"You mean..."
Ichigo didn't let him finish. He pushed him down on the bed and covered Renji's lips with his own. When they parted again, he smiled.
"Thank you, Renji. I liked them."
"Well I thought you would. Guess what?"
"What?"
"I bought them at the same place where Rukia bought those chocolate strawberries."
"You don't say."
Ichigo smiled and Renji returned his smile with one of his own.


End of chapter 7