TZC: Renji and Zabimaru
Renji kept furiously carving into the enemies around him, but part of his senses were always trained on one particular reiatsu signature. So far, he hadn’t sensed any spikes that might indicate distress or severe injury. And it was worth specifying “severe injury” because the brat couldn’t seem to draw his zanpakutou before he was bleeding all over the damn place. Anyway, he’d probably be able to hear about any change in Ichigo’s condition before he sensed it. That kid was loud. Renji snorted. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Make sure you concentrate on how young Ichigo is whenever you think about him. And remember that next time you think of--
Ya done with yer pretty boy obsession in the middle of the damn fight? Can we get back to them that’s tryin’ to kill us now?
Sometimes Renji thought about Ichigo and Zangetsu and himself and Zabimaru and wondered what it would be like to have a zanpakutou that didn’t think, talk, act and curse exactly like him. But Renji figured he was going to be driven mad by his zanpakutou one of these days anyway, it might as well be by someone he could understand.
Zabimaru.
Who else, dumbass?
Shaddup, we ain’t got time. You keepin’ track of them?
‘Course I am. Pretty boy’s bleedin’ all over the place again, but his opponents are bleedin’ out and Zangetsu’s still more pissed at their enemies than worried ‘bout his shinigami.
Renji ignored both the jab at his fighting abilities and the bizarre mental image of a pissed off Zangetsu and swung Zabimaru at the guy on his left with the funky not-kidou spells. Didn’t kill him, but he wasn’t casting anything without hands. Renji reversed direction and beheaded him properly this time. No sense in leaving things half done. He looked around toward Ichigo’s last position as soon as the press of enemies cleared enough for him to do so. He knew the kid was fine, he just needed to see it. He caught sight of Ichigo just as the other shinigami cut down an opponent. Renji breathed a sigh of relief.
Ichigo.
The relief was short-lived however, as the newly made corpse’s weapon clipped Ichigo in the shoulder. Renji saw it coming, almost in slow motion. Ichigo stumbled back, his zanpakutou’s point lowering as his grip loosened. Then there was another enemy right there too close move, dammit!
Then time was suddenly moving too fast as the new enemy yanked Zangetsu out of Ichigo’s hand and swung him in a lethal arc back towards the shinigami’s neck.
I WILL NOT BE USED TO KILL MY SHINIGAMI!!
ICHIGO!
Zangetsu’s furious shout deafened everyone within range for an instant. It drowned out the desperate scream that tore from Renji’s throat as he tried vainly to fight his way closer. The blade froze before it could cut Ichigo, but Renji could sense that it was only a temporary reprieve. Dammit, he had to do something! He couldn’t just stand there and let that bastard take his-take Ichigo away from him! As he drew breath to call out his bankai, Ichigo vanished. In less than a heartbeat, he dropped out of shunpo at the enemy’s side. He ripped Zangetsu out of the enemy’s hand, practically cutting off the man’s arm as he did so. Just then, Zabimaru yelled a warning.
Pay attention to yer damn opponent, moron! Pretty boy ain’t dead yet. You ain’t dead yet. Ya wanna maybe keep it that way?
Renji snarled and turned on his enemies with visions of bloody murder dancing before his eyes and pulsing in his veins. Suddenly, he caught a very familiar spike in Ichigo’s reiatsu and had to leap aside to avoid being disintegrated by a particularly vicious Getsuga Tenshou.
Hey! Watch where yer firin’ those things, asshole! Ya almost hit me!
Fuck you, Renji!
Promises, promises. And maybe one day he’d actually say that out loud. Or maybe not. Give a guy credit for some self-preservation instincts, ya know? Either way, the kid was okay enough for mid-battle vulgarity, so Renji figured anything else could wait till they’d killed everything moving that wasn’t a shinigami. Now, where was he? Oh yeah…
BANKAI!
And the next one...
Title: The View From Inside
Rating: PG-13 for Zabimaru's mouth
Obligatory Disclaimer: I am not Tite Kubo and therefore do not own Bleach.
Summary: What Zabimaru thinks about all this.
Zabimaru woke to the increasingly familiar sound of Renji bitching about Ichigo. And not even about fighting Ichigo, this was bitching about wanting to kiss Ichigo, like Zabimaru really wanted to hear that shit. Or, for that matter, any of the other things Renji wanted to do to Ichigo after the kissing. Wasn’t that he hated the kid, far from it. He just didn’t see the appeal of all the kissing and licking and other stuff Renji kept thinking about that Zabimaru didn’t listen to very closely. Zangetsu hadn’t commented on his attitude lately, even though he knew it was worse than usual. But, fuck, all Zangetsu had to deal with was the Amazingly Oblivious Wonder Boy, now with Realistic Freak Out Action. Renji wanted to talk about this shit, and Zabimaru Did Not Want To Hear It. He weighed the few moments of peace he’d get by ignoring this against Renji pouting because Zabimaru’d ignored him and decided to see what the pretty boy had done to get him riled up this time.
Renji was still in the damn gigai, so the only way Zabimaru had to assess brood factor of the current situation was to connect to Renji’s senses. And he was suddenly torn between turning the air blue with curses and whooping in congratulation. Ichigo was kissing (or being kissed by and Zabimaru did not care which) some girl that Renji’d either never seen or never noticed. Wasn’t Inoue or Rukia and that was all Zabimaru felt was worth noticing. Aside from the fact that Ichigo was kiss-aw, fuck. Ichigo was kissing some girl. God, Zabimaru was never going to hear the end of this from Renji.
Fuck this. Wake me up when ya want to kill somethin’.