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started on pg -- ended on pg 1034

-- Yawning, bored, Renji blinked tired eyes at the room around him. "Man....can this day get any more dull?"

-- Rukia grins mischievously haveing just sensed renji's reiatsu nearby, she decided to go pay him a visit she sneaks her way into the building and sees a slichtly cracked door and looks through spotting renji and her grin widens

-- Stretching and groaning Renji grumbled, "This day is dragging by so slowly. Maybe I should go visit ol' strawberry and see what he's doing...."

-- rukia steps into the room silently and creeps up behind him and yells out "BOO!"

-- Falling complete over the hair on Renji's tail stood on end, "Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" After a long moment he blinked and startled red eyes changed to ones of excitement. "Rukia! It's you!" Lunging forward he wrapped his front legs around her, "I am so happy to see you. Been a long time since we last spoke." Stepping back so she was at arms length, "How have you been?"

-- rukia laughs " your slipping renji, you didn't even notice me come in! " she says then to her surprise is hugged by him but smiles " too long if you ask me, ive been pretty good, what about you? working hard? you better be taking good care of yourself too"

-- "Hey cut me some slack. This place has been so dull. The only thing there is to do here to pass the time is to talk with Ichigo. and that usually ends up in an argument....." With a soft chuckle, "Yeah. I've been fine. And don't worry. I've been managing fairly well."

-- rukia punches him playfully " you better be, i dont want to loose my good friend because he didn't take good care of himself"

-- "You don't have to worry about a thing Rukia. I'll take care of myself. I don't want to leave you alone." he looked at her with something in his eyes a bit more than friendship.

-- rukia smiles " good, cause if you did id have to go through all the trouble of bringing you back just to kill you again myself" she said jokeingly and trying to play off the blush that had appeared on her face

-- Rubbing his paw on top of her head and laughed, "You kill me? That's something I'd like to see." Seeing her pink cheeks Renji softly smiled to her.

-- rukia grins " is that a Challenge?" she asks hitting him playfully again

-- "Challenge?" He nudged her, "You'd want to fight a lieutenant?"

-- rukia grins " when that lieutenant is you, then of course!" she says nudgeing him back

-- Chuckling a bit, "Thanks Rukia. I needed that." Sighing he looked around the room, "I guess I've been a little down and lonely around here. Just having you here to pick on me, somehow, makes me feel better."

-- rukia laughs " glad to be of service" she says messing up his hair

-- "Hey!? Come on now Rukia! Not my hair!" he grumbled and tried to push her hands away. "You know how hard it is to get it all up in a ponytail?"

-- rukia laughs "aww your no fun, besides, i like your hair when its down"

-- It came as a shock, "Y...y...you do?" Running a paw over his now messy hair, "I. Never knew that."

-- rukia nods "mhmm, it looks good on you" she smiles teasingly " it makes you look preeeeety" she says playfully poking him in the ribs

-- His lips forming a pout, "Not that just hurt Rukia. I am anything but pretty...." Slowly walking away, "That's what you're here for...." he muttered to himself.

-- rukia walks beside him "awww renji, dont be sad, i didnt mean it, i was only kidding im sorry" she says missing what he said to himself completely

-- Quickly shrugging off his emotions, "It's alright. Don't worry about it. I know you're only teasing." Trying to change the subject before he said something foolish, "So..um... how long will you be staying in the world of the living? Were you stationed here or are you just visiting?

-- rukia smiles at him " i was stationed here, someone has to be here to look after captain ukitake and i wanted to come since i knew you were here so i talked them into letting me come" she says nodding

-- "Ah I see. So you came to check on Ukitake." Renji, "Poor guy stays pretty sick."

-- rukia nods " yhea, hes been doing a bit better lately but no one is going to take any chances with him, it dosent take that much for him to collapse or get sick again" she says a bit sadly " i cant imagine having to live like that..."

-- "Yeah I know what you mean." After a moment he turned to her, "Hey. How about I help keep a eye on him? Two pairs of eyes are better than one. Right?"

-- rukia nods " sure! it would be a good excuse for us to spend more time together, and im sure he would enjoy the company when hes stuck in bed" she says with a bright smile

-- Heart fluttering at the mentioning of spending more time Renji smiled and nearly missed the rest of what she said, "Y.y.yeah. I'm sure it gets lonely being stuck in bed sick."

-- rukia nods " it has to" she says then looks up and notices his hair is still down " hey renji, sit down real quick, your too tall" she says with a small laugh

-- Renjy blinked, "Huh? What for?" A stray strand of red hair fell in his face. "Oh...." he sighed then sat down, "This better?"

-- rukia nods " yep" she pulls his hair tie, which she had stolen, out of her pocket and brushes her fingers through his hair a few times to make sure there were no knots and pulls his hair into its usual ponytail " there, all fixed" she says happily feeling slightly accomplished

-- Shaking his head to feel the hair move then patted the top of his head with his paw, "Thanks." He then glanced at her, "Decided it would be better up?"

-- " well i just didn't want you to get any bad knots in it or anything, its getting kinda windy and that can wreak havoc on long hair, just ask my brother" she says with a giggle

-- "Ick. That would be bad if it got all knotty. I'd hate to have to cut it due to knots." Renji shuttered at the thought.

-- rukia makes a face " ewww, a short haired renji, that just dosent seem right, i cant even imagine it"

-- Renji snorted, "I take it that is a bad thing then."

-- rukia nods " yes yes it would be, the entire time ive known you your hair has never once been short, it would be weird to see it that way all of a sudden"

-- "Well you don't have to worry. I don't intend to ever cut it short." he chuckled.

-- "good" she says with a nod poking him in the ribs again

-- "Ow." he jokingly said, "You keep that up and I won't have a rib to poke."

-- "oh? then what would happen if i diiiid this" she says grinning and starts tickling him on the sides

-- "He..hey!" was all he managed to get out before he fell over and began to laugh.

-- rukia laughs too out of amusement and tickles him for a few moments then stops to let him catch his breath

-- Rolling over on to his side he panted, "N..n...no...f..fair...."

-- "all is fair in love and war renji" she says with a wink and laughs

-- After a bit of panting he looked up at her, Love. his mind echoed. A soft smile crossed his lips. Sitting up Renji moved closer to her, "Alls fair huh?" then gently kissed her on the cheek.

-- rukia looks shocked but also happy and is blushing at least 10 shades of red she looks at him "w-waht was that for?" she asks trying her hardest not to stutter or stumble over her words

-- With a chuckle and a smile, "For just being your cute, sweet self. That's all."

-- "o-oh ok" she says still blushing then her eyes widen in shock again when what he said registered in her mind " y-you think im cute?" she asks biting her lip

-- Face turning soft and tender he nodded, "Of course you are. To me, you always have been."

-- she smiles slightly, regaining her composure but still blushing alot "really? you mean that? no ones ever said that to me before..." she says thoughfully

-- This worried him, "Really? No one?" Getting a bit of a sly grin as he lowered his head, "You know what. I take that back. You're not cute." Looking back up at her with love in his eyes, "You're beautiful."

-- rukia looks into his eyes and blushes even deeper and has to look away " w-why are you saying these things all of a sudden?"

-- Turning away from her Renji sat down, "If I didn't say them eventually I'd risk having someone else steal you with out you knowing how I felt." Letting out a worried sigh, "Though now I see this could just screw up our friendship." Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! his mind repeatedly scolded him.

-- ruki turns back to face him again and says in a quiet voice "....what if i said i feel the same? would it still ruin our friendship?" she asks tentatively feeling very nervous

-- He sighed deeply, "No. It wouldn't. But it would be my heart's wishful thinking to hope you would return the feelings...." Taking a deep breath, "I...I just want you to know......I...I've always loved you. Even when we were in soul reaper academy. I thought a part of me died when I heard that the order was giver for you to be executed. I wanted so badly to be strong enough to save you. I trained and learned my bankai. And even still. It wasn't enough. I had to rely on Ichigo to rescue you. Though. I am thankful. Because of him. You are still here." His eyes grew misty as tears swelled.

-- rukia looks at him shocked once again " oh renji... i..." she stops and moves around so shes in front of him " i- i...i love you too, i always have... i never knew you felt that way"

-- The breath in his chest refused to move. Shocked he stared at her for a long moment. "Y.you...." In a deep sigh the air in his lungs released with a relieved heave. "Rukia." leaning closer to her, "You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say those words. The words I never dreamed I would actually hear." Resting his forehead to her's, "I love you." his lips softly whispered before kissing her.

-- rukia blushes deeper and tenses up at first having not expected that but quickly relaxing into the kiss

-- Releasing her lips he gazed into her eyes, "If I'm dreaming. I never want to wake up."

-- rukia laughs and wipes her eyes were some stray tears had escaped from all the emotion " this is one hell of a dream then" she says laughing a little more

-- "Yes it is." brushing away the tears from her face, "Care to stay in this dream world with me? Will you be my girl?"