Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ An Evening at the Mall ❯ Shopping Daze ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, it was created by Tite Kubo and is owned/licensed through Shonen Jump. I make no money for the writing of this fan fiction.

Keigo quickly returned to the table, and meekly sat down once more when he noticed Renji was more focused on glancing towards the latest topic of conversation. Thankfully, Tatsuki had diverted it to the latest boy band from bean jam, much to the relief of everyone's stomachs. A quick glance at the clock told Renji it was fast getting late. Indeed, he noticed that some of the hands had returned. A few of the girls were actually resting their hands near their drinks or shyly brushing their fingers demurely against those of the young men. He then saw Orihime's hand had slowly crept over Ichigo's, and he did not push it away.

Such rules of public displays of affection made him chuckle. There were similar rules in the Soul society, but the enforced separation of male and female was very dramatic to a society where magazines depicting every sex act were sold in many common bookstores. His hand crept towards Rukia's and gently slid overtop of hers, as if staking his own claim. To his delight, she laced their fingers together and he relaxed visibly. The other male members of the group were pairing off with the girls that remained. Even Chad did not object to the hand of one girl holding his. Uryuu stoically glued his face in a housecraft magazine until Tatsuki sidled closer. He was amused to see the Quincy flinch a bit and turn his gaze towards Tatsuki instead of glaring towards Orihime and Ichigo. Shock filled his features, and then a slight blush when he saw Tatsuki's right hand had vanished. Then he could guess where it was now occupied.

Tatsuki of all people. Judging from Keigo's nervousness he guessed it was out of self-preservation or fear that this had occurred. Now Keigo was working his own charm on the remaining female members of their group. More time was occupied in the consumption of milkshakes before the pairs began to nod off. Other glanced at their watches and whispered.

“Oh it's almost ten minutes to the film! We don't' want to be late, Ichigo!” Orihime urged, grasping his hand and leaping up from the table.

“Hey, now wait a minute,” Ichigo protested before he was jerked strongly to his feet.

“That's right, Mr. Handycrafts, you don't want to be left out do you?” Tatsuki urged Ishida.

“If you insist,” he mumbled with mock disdain.

“I'm getting a seat down in front, Yuki,” Keigo said to his female companion. “Where the sound's the best.”

“Before the little kids beat us to it,” Mizuiro added, his arm stealing around the shoulders of Haruka.

“What about you, Rukia?” Keigo called back to her.

“Better get up and come along if you don't want to be left behind!” Rukia said as she rose. Reaching out she grasped Renji's hand lightly. He looked down at her hand encircling his much larger one.

“Not tonight,” he murmured, tugging back. Rukia looked apologetically to the others glancing back to them.

“Hold on, I'll catch up,” she said.

“I'll save you a seat, pretty,” Keigo said.

“No you won't,” Renji suddenly snapped as he glared up at Keigo.

“Renji…” Rukia said warningly.

“Ohh… okay…” Keigo blinked, realizing that he was treading on thin ice. Taking his dates hand, he rushed off after the others.

“You don't wish to join us?” Chad softly inquired, rising from his chair.

“Renji, that was very rude!”

“What? I would rather sit here anyway. Bunch of teenagers screaming and yelling and throwing popcorn? No thank you. I'm staying right here,” Renji insisted, still clutching Rukia's hand.

Helplessly Rukia huffed, seeing how stubborn he was. She jerked her hand of of his. Then she sniffed, “Fine, be a party pooper. I'll just leave you here.”

““Go if you like. Do what you want,” said Renji, leaning back in his chair. He dropped his feet up on the table to Rukia's consternation. All the others had departed save Chad who still lingered a few feet from the table. Rukia spun away, her face tight with frustration. She mumbled, “Stubborn ass.”

“There is a showing at eleven,” Chad said thoughtfully, pointing to his watch. He stepped in front of Rukia, temporarily blocking her way.

Glancing up at his hulking figure Rukia blinked. From beneath a fringe of dark curly hair, one dark eye regarded her. She stamped her foot and exhaled, puffing the long tendril of hair across her face to one side momentarily. “That's not the point!”

“I'm going now. I can tell the others not to wait for you,” Chad nodded back towards the table. Renji had by now closed his eyes, folding his arm across his chest as he rested his head against the back of the chair. The headband with the peace signs slipped up a bit, showing more of his tattooed brow. Oddly, it seemed the spiky ponytail wilted a bit, like some plant deprived of water. He looked tired, fed up and just plain bored.

Rukia stole one glance towards him and then sighed. Chad turned and nodded, waving before he strode off after the others. Leaving Rukia standing there with her back to Renji and her arms crossing her chest tightly with the same frustrated look on her face that her friend wore. Still she tapped her foot impatiently, frustrated at his reluctance to tag along. Why should so worry so much when it mattered little?

“You're so damn stubborn. Just as bad as when we were kids you know,” Rukia said, spinning around on him.

“Stop talking to me like I was Ichigo. I'm not some stupid kid you know,” Renji shot back, opening his eyes and glaring at her.

“Then stop acting as immature as our friends, dumbass!” Rukia snapped, marching up to him and kicking his chair. Renji glared up at her, unimpressed.

“Now who's acting like a kid? What, am I `cramping your style', Rukia?” Renji taunted. “Angry cause I won't play your little game?”

“You're making me look like an idiot,” Rukia said, lowering her voice.

“What the hell does it matter? We're adults for crying out loud. I'm fucking tired of playing chaperone all the time. When do we stop playing babysitter?”

“You didn't HAVE to come, Mister Abari. So sorry we're too immature for the likes of you? Should we let you go take in a XXX porno flick and chug beer with the rest of the adults then between our job?” Rukia said sarcastically. She grabbed a chair and plunked down, glaring at him with those deep blue eyes.

Unimpressed Renji gave her a bored glance from those amber eyes. He lowered his feet from the table and sat up straight, tugging his shirt down a bit. Then he said, “What if I did? There's nothing keeping me here anyhow.”

“You didn't seem to mind hanging out with the rest of us earlier. What suddenly crawled up your ass?” Rukia wondered.

“Nothing. Forget it,” Renji waved his hand dismissively. “Just go watch your movie with your friends. I'll just sit here.”

“It's not like I'm asking you to scrub Uruhara's floor, whichi you promised you'd do by the way instead of being a freeloader,” Rukia said reaching out to touch his arm.

“No thanks. I'd rather just sit here and re experience my teen age years of hell,” Renji shot back.

“If we bored you so much, why didn't you say so?” asked Rukia, her blue eyes softening.

“You fit in so easily, Rukia,” Renji answered.

“Well you were doing fine. Look, what's going on. Talk to me,” Rukia asked, dragging her chair closer and sitting near him.

“You really do belong here, don't you,” Renji answered, looking at her levelly. “I can see why you never wanted to leave. Everyone notices you here.”

“Like they never noticed me there? Please Renji. You were the one that said I was `Rukia freaking Kuchiki', remember? Here I'm just another one of the girls. Doesn't it feel nice to be just… someone else sometime?” Rukia asked.

“It's too easy to pretend we're' something we're not. We're not human, Rukia. It's not so bad here as I thought. But sooner or later, we'll have to go back to Soul Society. And if there's one thing I learned, it's that you can get TOO comfortable in one place,” Renji said thoughtfully. He rested his hands in front on him, and then seized the paper cup he had emptied.

“C'mon, walk with me,” Rukia said, nudging his arm.

“What?”

“Get your ass up off that chair and walk with me, damn it,” Rukia said, grabbing his hand.

“Fine,” Renji mumbled, letting her drag him to his feet. He clasped his hand more firmly around hers as she shifted about trying to consolidate the trash. Reluctantly he helped her and they soon compiled the stacks of cups and papers plates onto one tray. Then they carried the soiled paper products and tipped them into the `thank you' bins. Rukia retrieved the tray before Renji snapped the bin shut, stacking it on top.

“Ow hey,” he yelped, tugging his hand out from the bin.

“Big baby. I know you're not really hurt,” Rukia teased. “Now let's go for that walk…”

She reached for his hand and then strode in the opposite direction of the theater. Renji caught up to her, his long legs taking one stride for every two of hers. She seemed so small and delicate next to him, gracefully gliding along, with the blue dress swirling around her knees. Along the mall they strolled, catching sight of their reflections in the polished mirrors and windows of the shops as they passed them by.

“Wait a sec,” Renji said as they passed a stand.

“What?”

“Hold on, I want to look,” Renji said, and tugged her hand. Rukia noticed he gaped at the small stand that said `sunglasses hut' and shook her head.

“Don't go crazy now,” she warned him as he moved in for a closer look. Slowly and reverently, he spun the carousels of shades around. He drew in his breath sharply, looking at the multitude of sunglasses on their small racks. Already he had picked up several pairs, slipping them on over his eyes to peer at himself in the mirror on the glass counter.

Rukia giggled, realizing he would have to admit there was something about this world he liked other than just stuffing his face with food and complaining about `babysitting'. She turned to the rack that said Ray bans, then to the ones that said Hello Kitty. Picking up one of the sets of cat glasses, she tried them on. Renji continued to remove one pair of sunglasses after another, pushing them up on his brow to see how they would look pushed up, or pulling them down again and grinning in rather fierce ways.

“Damn. Now I should have fucking done Uruhara's floor,” Renji mumbled, staring at the price tags.

Rukia reached for the small purse dangling from her shoulder. It was soft cloth, covered with small cute bunny rabbits with fluffy tails. She chuckled, and saw him helplessly holding two pairs of likely candidates. One was a pair of wrap around mirror shades, with small flames painted on the temples. The other resembled welder's glasses, but was yellow in tint, and had a long athletic strap dangling from them.

“How much are they?” Rukia asked the amused vendor.

“100 yen for that pair. And 250 for those,” she said, seeing Renji's forlorn look.

“I'll buy you the darn things,” said Rukia. “If you promise to be less of a grouch.”

“You shouldn't,” Renji muttered, blushing as Rukia pulled out her change purse.

“Shut up and give them back to the vendor. I'm buying you a pair,” said Rukia glaring at him.

“Humph,” Renji snorted, turning away. He did not want her to see the smile on his face or the blush tingeing his cheeks.

“Here, now don't break them, okay?” Rukia said, pushing something into his hand. Renji glanced down at the pair she had chosen, gold in color like his eyes, with a blue and white athletic elastic band.

“Damn,” Renji murmured, taking them from her carefully.

“Well aren't you going to put them on?” Rukia asked.

“Don't rush me,” Renji slapped her hand away. He turned to a mirror, and then threaded the strap of the glasses around his ponytail. Then he pulled the shades so they wrapped around his head just atop his headband with the strap showing. Giving himself a once over and a grunt of pride he turned his head from one side to another.

“Just as dumb as the ones you waste your money on in Soul Society,” Rukia said with a smirk.

“Uh huh,” Renji nodded. He gave her a similar smirk and then reached down and took her hand. She nodded, and then strode off with him at a more leisurely pace. Soon they had reached the halfway point in the upper floor of the mall, and stood in front of the mirrored shaft of the elevator. Renji stood close to the railing, glancing down at the eight floors visible below them. It was a long way down, for in Japan they build up, not out.

Rukia rested her chin on her folded arms, glancing at the small people milling about, and the size of ants on the lowest floor. She watched the translucent shaft of the elevator, seeing the cars rising and falling with their various passengers disembarking and boarding. Across her back, she felt Renji drape his strong arm, and lean next to her. His pointed chin rested on top of one hand and Rukia smiled to herself.

“Let's sit. I'm beat,” Rukia finally announced.

“Mmn,” Renji nodded, feeling weary in his own gigai. Hand in hand, they searched for a bench or suitable place to sit. Other shoppers clutching handfuls of bags occupied most of the places. Fortunately, there was one likely place near a set of potted plants, not far from the toy store. Children tugged at their mom's hands, whining or pleading to be allowed in as their parents tugged them towards other shops. Teenagers warmed near the video game arcade entrance, a few shops down.

Just then, a woman pushing a stroller sat in the bench. Next to her, she plunked her stack of bags. Rukia groaned and tugged Renji's hand insistently. They wandered on, in search of another empty bench.

In front of the bookstore, Rukia saw someone get up from the bench directly across from it. On the far end sat a man shuffling his newspaper. Renji stood up while Rukia moved to sit down, and then stopped her.

“Excuse me,” he said, pushing her aside and plopping down. Rukia opened her mouth to snap at him. Yet she stopped when he grasped her wrist and tugged her towards him.

“What are you doing?”

“Sit down and shut up,” Renji muttered, patting his knee. Anxiously Rukia glanced around, worried about who may be watching.

“Renji… we can't…”

“Oh give me a break,” Renji cursed. Snaking out one long arm, he snared her waist and dragged her onto his lap. Rukia yelped in surprise that he would be so bold, but shut her mouth when he shifted her so she sat crosswise. She hooked her knees over his, feeling his arms wrap around her and hold her in place. He leaned his head back over the rear of the bench, slowly letting it bump against a pillar behind them. Rukia shifted nervously, tugging her skirt over her knees. She flushed bright red like a strawberry and continued to squirm, but Renji's grip only tightened.

“Let me go, people are starting to stare at us,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth.

“Let them stare. I'm too tired to get up,” Renji mumbled, closing his eyes and relaxing. Not wanting to make a worse scene Rukia sighed and rested her head against his shoulder. She really was quite tired and his lap was quite comfortable. Occasionally passersby would stare at them both oddly, shaking their heads, or others would give her a knowing smile and thumbs up.

“Delinquent,” one woman muttered as she strode past, her hand clutched on a set of shopping bags.

“They ARE staring,” Rukia whispered.

“You don't have to look back you know,” Renji opened his eyes to look up at her. Now at eye level with one another she turned to regard him with a confused look. However, she saw a hungry gleam in Renji's eyes that made her stomach flutter and her heartbeat faster.

“You're awful,” she muttered.

“I don't mind you wiggling around that much, but people WILL stare if you get up,” Renji whispered. His face was contorted into a slightly pained expression, but Rukia soon realized just why when she shifted again and he moaned.

“Damn it,” she cursed. Something tingled low in her belly, and she felt that hunger returning that usually would come in the times she had seen Ichigo happening to change in the room when she…

No. Now was NOT the time to think about that. Especially since, she felt Renji let go of her waist and raise that hand to tilt her chin towards his face. Even more firmly, his arm tightened, so she lifted her own arms and wrapped them around his neck. She may as well look the part, and enjoy the view. From where she sat, it was very enticing. Those shades looked quite like the pair that Ichigo had broken with his sword the night Renji and her brother had come to take her back, and it made her shiver.

“Rukia,” he murmured, closing his eyes as he angled his head to one side.

Licking her lips, she realized how much she had wanted this for so long. Not carrying who was watching Rukia turned her head to the side as well, closing her eyes to let her lips collide with his. Very tentatively, she brushed her lips before she felt Renji's mouth cover her own. A soft sigh escaped her mouth and she allowed him access. Groaning he thrust his tongue past hers, and she eagerly allowed hers to caress it. Insistently his mouth glided over hers, inhaling her breath and drinking her in. Her own tongue slid along the arch of his palate and she shivered at the intensity of heat building between them. Then he broke the kiss, panting up at her. Rukia gave him a slight smile, and then moved forward to attack his mouth eagerly. She did not force his mouth open, instead caressing his lips with small touches and licks that drove him wild. In deliberate half circles, he moved his face, taking his time to break the kiss before renewing it.

“I think… it won't be safe to move thanks to you,” Renji mumbled, caressing her cheek. She reached up to play with his spiky ponytail and snap the strap on his shades.

“Fine blame me,” Rukia lightly teased, surprised how comfortable she felt in his arms. It felt so natural and so right that she did not wish to question it. Granted he had seized her by the neck the time they had met all those months ago. Yet she had shivered when he had caught her after Ichigo threw her from the execution platform. And carried her and defended her with Zabimaru until he was almost beaten down.

Now it felt delicious to sit quietly and renew the kisses, enjoying the strength of his arms. They needed no movie as they continued to sit there and wait for Ichigo and the others to exit the film. The only question Rukia had as she plunged her fingers into his red hair was just where she could continue to explore this new upgrade in their relationship.

Renji wondered the same thing too.