Strawberries and Chocolate

Renji took in a deep breathe before carefully releasing it, trying to keep his ragged breathe steady to at least appear as though the short brunette had given him no trouble in sparring. He glanced over toward the ice-wielding shinigami whom wasn't even trying to cloak her exhaustion. A broad smile stretched across his face with his apparent victory. With the differences in their divisions, he and Rukia barely got to spend any time together, so these sparring matches really lit him up.

Renji sat down on a stray boulder as Rukia's knees buckled and she fell to the ground. "Hey...Rukia, can I ask you something?"

Rukia looked up at him. "Sure, go ahead and shoot."

Renji's eyes darted down. This was it, his chance to find out about the strawberry blonde that had been invading his dreams and making him wake up in the middle of the night hot and sticky from the incredibly erotic dreams. He was tired of staining his tattoos with white cream, he'd rather stain the inside of a certain deputy shinigami.

"Rukia...we've been friends along time y'know that right?" Renji's strong demeanor was quickly shifting to that of a weak child, trying to confess to breaking a lamp. "You...know I'm gay right?"

Rukia's eyes widened. "What!? You mean I don't have a shot!?" Rukia's false surprise quickly turned to amused laughter. "I may have figured it out."

Deep crimson went from one of Renji's ear to the other, his eyes unable to make eye contact. "B-But, I thought I hid it so...so well."

Rukia stood up and approached Renji, ruffling his hair and sitting next to him. "Renji, I've know you since we were kids, I know things about you that no one else know." She planted a comforting peck on his cheek. "Plus, I caught you checking out my brother once."

Renji's face now matched his hair. "I...I need to ask you about...about..." Renji's hands clenched in his lap, his whole form trembling. Why was this so hard? He fought Kuchiki Byakuya! He was sliced to ribbons! This should be nothing! Fuck it! Renji took a deep breathe, and promptly blurted, "Is Ichigo gay?"

Rukia's amusement turned to genuine surprise. The initial shock of the question faded. "You know something....I don't know."

Renji seemed confused by the remark. "You lived in his closet for month's...and you don't know? Never found any gay pornography? Never...maybe heard him talking about a cute guy."

Rukia shook her head. "He's way too much of a prude to keep pornography..." Rukia looked up, reaching back into her thoughts, " ...but you know, I could've sword I saw him check out his friend Keigo one time..." Rukia scratched her head in confusion, "But that could have just been my imagination."

"Oh..." Renji was dissappointed.

Rukia saw the flash of hurt in Renji's beady eyes. "Tell you what...I'll set something up..." Renji turned to look at her. "I'll...probe him for information, and..."

"No."

Rukia faced Renji, "Why not?"

"Rukia, I appreciate you offering to do that but..." Renji stood up and cracked his neck, making a muscle and flashing a cocky grin to strike a pose of a washed up action hero, "I'm gonna seduce him, and make him mine on my own terms."

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His blade cut through the hollow's mask, Ichigo flipping in mid-air and falling too the ground, the hollow's body having dissolved before Ichigo's feet touched the ground.

"Too easy..." Ichigo yawned and shunpo'ed back to his house, leaping back into his human body and stretching it out, the body always feeling stiff whenever he returned to it.

Ichigo lay down on his bed, his small shirt riling up and showing a bit of belly button.

"Trying to look sexy, strawberry?" A strong voice called outside of his window. Ichigo grabbed his badge, expecting a showdown, but quickly calmed whenever he saw the red pony-tail.

"Renji..." The lieutenant lept from his tree branch and into Ichigo's room via the open window. "...Yeah, just come on in." Ichigo sighed. He had to start keeping that window closed.

Ichigo's words were absent to Renji, Renji had his mind set on other things, like that piece of tanned flesh the riled up shirt was revealing. Renji mentally kicked himself. He didn't wear his kimono whenever he was in his gigai, an erection would be very clearly visible in jeans.

"Renji!?" Ichigo called out, snapping the soul reaper out of his thoughts.

"S-sorry..." Renji recollected his thought pattern. "Listen...let me take you out tonight..."

"Take me out...like a date?" Ichigo's eye brow lifted.

"Do you want it too be?"

Ichigo's face flushed at the return. Did he want it to be a date? Ichigo had found himself attracted to his fellow shinigami on more than one occassion, his hard body and tattoos that accentuated the ridges of his body. Ichigo shook his head, barring the thoughts.

"N-no...stupid gay..." Ichigo joked. Renji laughed softly, though he was almost hurt by the remark.

"Then it's just dinner, I never completely thanked you for saving Rukia." Renji picked Ichigo up by the shoulder. "So c'mon let's get going!"

"W-wait, you don't have too..."

"Yes I do...I always pay off my debt." In the back of his mind, Renji knew this was just an excuse. He'd really like to pay Ichigo off with the best lay that strawberry blonde ever had, but that was neither here nor there.

Ichigo opened his mouth to object, but only a smile formed. He hadn't ever gone out on a date, and whether this was one or not, he wouldn't mind spending more time with the tribal shingami.

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"R-Renji...this is so...fancy..." Ichigo's eyes darted to all sides of the dimly lit italian restaraunt. "W-we're not dressed appropriately."

"What's wrong with the way we're dressed? We have clothes on, don't we?"

Ichigo hung his head. He knew that Renji spent all of his time in the Seireitei, he got why he would be unaware of how the world worked on certain issues, but he couldn't be this dense, could he? "Because dobe, people usually dress up to come to places like..."

"Excuse me...hostess, is there a dress code here?" Renji asked rather rudely to the young girl at the podium.

"Well, no but..."

"See strawberry, nothing to worry about." Renji hooked his arm around Ichigo's, pulling him close. Ichigo's face flushed as he was pulled against Renji's strong back, the faint outline of his muscles just visible under neathe the tight t-shirt he was wearing. Ichigo's breathe raked against Renji's skin, his breathe suddenly becoming heavy.

Renji shuddered as Ichigo's breathe came in contact with his skin. His only thought was that it was a mistake to hold Ichigo like this, his breathe on him, his muscular arm around his. He was liable to rape the deputy.

"T-table for two..." Renji squeaked, his voice heavy and husky from the building lust.

Ichigo and Renji followed the hostess to their table and took their seats, looking over their menus. Their was an awkward silence that settled between the two as they ordered there respective meals.

Renji broke the silence. Time to probe for information. "So, Ichigo, you got a girlfriend?"

"N-no..." Ichigo said, folding his napkin to hide his awkwardness.

"How about the pretty red head who fights with the fairy's?"

"You mean Inoue? She's too much like a sister I guess..." Renji's heart fluttered. He wasn't attracted to a ditzy girl with big breasts and the ability to cheat death? If there was ever a gay qualification test, that was the 50 point answer. Wasn't out of the woods yet though.

"How about Rukia?"

Ichigo's eyes darted up to Renji, anger flaring within their depth's. "So that's what this is all about?" Ichigo felt his heart beat faster. Why was he suddenly so angry? "You just want to see if I'm competition for Rukia!?"

"Settle down strawberry, that's not what I meant." Renji took Ichigo's eyes into his own, "I just want to know if you're a normal teen boy, just wanna find out who you're attracted too..." Renji layed on a pair of innocent eyes, darting them away from Ichigo's gaze, "...I...thought friends did this kind of thing together."

Renji's face wiped clean any anger that welled within Ichigo, the genuine hurt on his face. The beauty that he held whenever he wasn't scowling. Wait, beauty? He thought Renji was beautiful? Maybe damn sexy, but beautiful wasn't the word....wait, damn sexy? He thought Renji was sexy! Ichigo's thought spiraled before finally forming a coherent sentence from his mouth.

"Sorry, to answer your question, I don't guess I really like...like girls." Ichigo's face flushed. He never admitted that to anyone, including himself. Why now? Why with Renji.

Fucking a! Renji was all set to pounce the orange haired shinigami, but just as he was getting set in position the damn waitress brought their food. Damn their fast service!

The meal was eaten for the most part in silence, Ichigo pondering his sexuality, and Renji pondering how to make the shinigami his.

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"Thank you for taking me out, Renji." Ichigo beamed. They were standing outside of Urahara's shop, where Renji took up residence in the human world.

"You, uh, you wanna come in?" Renji asked, opening the door and stepping aside.

"Renji...I dunno if that's a good idea." Ichigo really wanted to go home, and figure out somethings about himself.

Alright. Don't come in. Renji's thoughts cluttered again. Time to play his hand, time to give Ichigo one of two options. He stepped forward, taking Ichigo's face into his hands, surprising the other. Ichigo's eyes met Renji's, his scowling face now that of a confused uke. Renji was addicted to the look. Renji brought his face down, he was taking his time to give Ichigo a chance to fight back, every cenimeter closer he thanked the gods of soul society that he hadn't yet pushed back.

Their lips met.

Renji attacked Ichigo's mouth with all the ferocity of a tiger devouring it's prey, his tongue pushing forcefully into Ichigo's mouth, exploring the cavern of Ichigo's mouth, and much to his delight, the strawberry blonde kissed back, grasping Renji's rock-hard hips and pulling him close.

Ichigo felt incredible, this all consuming kiss that threatened to overwhelm him, the hardening in his jeans causing him discomfort. Lights exploded in the back of his head.

Their kiss broke, lack of oxygen likely to kill them both. Renji ran his hand down Ichigo's firm body, taking in the muscles that lay just underneathe the fabric. He ghosted his hot breathe over Ichigo's neck, descending and biting the slender piece of flesh, sucking and biting Ichigo's solid neck, while his hand dipped into Ichigo's jeans, grabbing Ichigo's now engorged sex, rubbing the tip with his thumb.

Ichigo's tiny moans of pleasure were all of the encouragement Renji needed. He unlatched his teeth from Ichigo's neck and raked his tongue over the bruised flesh to soothe it. He began to unzip Ichigo's jeans when...

"No!"

Ichigo broke himself away from Renji. "We can't...we can't do this Renji!" Ichigo turned and ran away away from the Urahara Soten, ran away from Renji.

"Ichigo, wait!" Renji called out. It was too late, he was gone. Renji's teeth knashed. "Shit!"


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First chapter of many more to come, I'm practicing going slower with my stories and just taking it a little bit at a time. I proofread this myself, any mistakes at all feel free to tell me. Anyways, look for an update soon.