A/N: Hello. I am officially forcing myself out of my temporary writing hiatus with this. Maybe now I can actually have the drive to finish what I've had planned for so long. I originally did not mean for this little one-shot to have such a high rating, all of my stories so far have been rated "T", but sometimes, my stories have a tendency to write themselves and I can't bring myself to change it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it very much. Reviews make me very, very happy, and I love being happy.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I just toy with the characters a bit.

"What's so funny 'bout it?" Renji scowled, regretting ever telling his so-called friends anything at all.

"It's just," Rangiku managed between stifled giggles, "We thought you said it was your Taichou!"

"Imagine!" Yumichika added, holding his side and leaning heavily on Ikkaku's shoulder. "You, impulsive, dirty dog of the Rukongai, Renji Abarai, with the stiff, stick-up-his-ass noble, Byakuya Kuchiki!"

"What's so bad about that?" the fiery lieutenant mumbled, crossing his arms and turning his burning face away from the laughing trio.

"Wait, you can't be serious about this?" Ikkaku questioned, ignoring the feathered man clinging to his arm and earning an exasperated sigh. "What the hell would Kuchiki Taichou see in you?"

"Well, he. . . I mean he must. . ." Renji stopped, his scowl turning to a deep frown. "Ya know, now that I think about it, I don' really know."

"I'm sure there must be some reason," the voluptuous woman said quickly, sensing the mood change and jabbing the bald shinigami in the ribs. "I mean, look at you! You're hot! What noble could resist?"

The redhead's frown just deepened as he processed Rangiku's words. Does that mean he only wants me for the physical stuff? Thinking back, Renji realized that they never really talked about much more than the work required of their division. Sure, Byakuya invited Renji over for dinner regularly and the lieutenant often slept in the same bed as his noble captain, but what exactly did they really know about each other? Then again, they had never shared more than a few deep kisses, so that couldn't be right. But, if that wasn't it, then. . . what was it?

"Hello? Earth to Renji," Ikkaku glowered, poking the other man in the head. "You're spacing out, man."

"Huh? Oh, right," Renji grumbled. "I gotta be somewhere right now. . . don' wanna be late."

The three shinigami watched curiously as the normally volatile lieutenant slowly picked himself out of his seat and dragged his feet around the corner, eyes glued to the ground the whole way.

"Great job you two!" Rangiku scoffed, pointing an accusing finger at the others. "Finally, something good happens in Renji's life and you go ahead and ruin it by being jerks! Now he's gonna think that something's wrong with him!"

"We're bein' jerks?" Ikkaku retorted. "You were laughing, too!"

"Only when I thought he was joking!"

"You were the one who made him out to be a piece of meat!"

"I was actually trying to help! What you said was deliberately making it worse!"

"How ugly," Yumichika rolled his eyes at the arguing pair, resting his chin in his hand. "It looks like we're going to be here for a while."

Renji wasn't entirely sure where his feet were taking him, but he honestly wasn't surprised when he looked up and found himself on the steps of the Kuchiki Manor.

Maybe if I see him, I'll feel better about this whole thing, he thought, jumping from where he stood onto the roof of the large building. He didn't need to actually go inside. After all, he had declined Byakuya's invitation to stay for the night in lieu of spending some time with the guys. Stopping by now would just be intruding. All he needed was to feel the soft thrum of Byakuya's presence to calm his worries.

"I feel kind of like a stalker," Renji sighed as he silently made his way across the roof, reining in his reiatsu as tightly as he could.

"Sir? There is an intruder on the roof."

"I know," Byakuya answered the petite servant that had brought him his evening tea.

"Should I notify the guard?"

"There is no need, Fuu," the calm noble replied, sipping his tea. "I already told them to leave him be."

"Of course, Sir," the woman smiled, bowing slightly before exiting the room.

Byakuya gently set his cup down and stood, opening the doors into the Kuchiki garden and quickly flash stepping to the place where he felt the redhead's dim but still recognizable pressure. The pale captain smiled warmly at the sight of Renji stretched out beneath the stars, eyes closed and head resting in his hands. The younger man was never able to properly sense reiatsu, let alone hide his own from his captain.

"I was not expecting you tonight, Abarai," Byakuya spoke up, startling the lieutenant out of his meditation and causing him to sit upright, eyes wide.

"S-sorry, Taichou," Renji said, searching his mind for a proper explanation. "I was. . . uh. . . I mean. . . I didn't. . ."

"Enough," the Kuchiki noble interrupted the other shinigami's fumbling, a discrete smile pulling at his lips. "I did not mean to imply that you were not welcome. I was about to turn in for the night. You may join me if you like."

Renji did not trust his words to come out in full sentences, so he, instead, nodded vigorously and scrambled to his feet. As he followed Byakuya back to his room, Renji wondered whether or not he should ask about what was on his mind. Would Byakuya get mad? Would he be blunt and claim that their relationship was just a game? Would he ignore the question completely?

Sighing and settling down into the pillows, the fiery shinigami decided it wasn't worth destroying whatever it was that they had. Somewhere along the road, Renji had begun to feel more for his captain than he should. He recognized it for what it was right away, though it took him months to work up the courage to ask his superior to join him for dinner as more than just colleagues. His jaw hit the floor when Byakuya had said yes.

And here we are, Renji frowned. Two months later and nothin' real to show for it. He couldn't say that what he felt for the man had died down. On the contrary, he only wanted to melt deeper into the few kisses they shared and devour every inch of Byakuya's skin. He wanted more but was afraid of overstepping his boundaries and ruining everything.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" Renji jumped slightly at the sound of Byakuya's voice, realizing that he had nearly forgotten where he was. "N-nothin's wrong. Why do you ask?"

"For starters, I have been talking to you for the last ten minutes and you have yet to say a word in response," Byakuya replied, raising a brow. "What is on your mind?"

The volatile lieutenant frowned, chewing over words and questions in his head. What harm could it do? It was Byakuya who asked in the first place so he can't get mad. . . right?

"What do you want with me?"

Byakuya flinched, opening his mouth to speak, but then closed it again, settling a blank stare at the crimson-haired man.

Okay, so maybe that didn't come out the way Renji had intended it to, but he never claimed to be the most linguistically eloquent man in the Seireitei.

"What I meant was," Renji paused, leaning against the headboard and reconsidering his words. "I know what you mean to me. I feel strange on the mornin's I don' wake up with you next to me. As if there's somethin' vital missin' and my entire day is off because of it. I can never get you outta my head. I care about you more than anythin', and I was just wonderin'. . ." Another pause as the redhead swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck and turning his gaze away from the man that now looked at him with a slight curiosity. "How can any of this be real? We hardly ever talk. I can't touch you. How can I really mean the same to you? Am I just foolin' myself thinkin' that we could be. . . something?"

Renji did not know what reply to expect, but he certainly was not expecting Byakuya to suddenly push him back into the pillows, settling on top of him with a leg on each side of the startled lieutenant's hips. The raven-haired noble fixed the man beneath him with a soft stare as he slowly removed the top half of his yukata, letting it fall over the tie at his waist.

"W-what are you doin'?" Renji stammered, heat rising from his skin from the contact and a deep blush turning his face as red as his hair.

"I want you to understand what it is that you do to me, Renji," Byakuya answered, taking one of the tattooed man's hands and pushing it against his lithe torso. Confused, Renji tried his hardest to focus on the hand pressed tightly against that soft skin. The thin noble closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, "Do you feel it?"

"Yeah," Renji said, staring in wonder at the beautiful hands that held his own in place. "Your heart, it's beating like mad. Is that 'cause of me?"

"Yes, it is," Byakuya smiled, pressing the calloused skin tighter against his chest. "Every time I am close to you, my heart tries to escape from my ribs. My words get caught in my throat, and feel that if I got too close, I would lose control. I cannot stand sleeping so close to you only because I cannot bear to keep my hands off of you. My heart has always guided me, and I only keep my distance because I do not want to risk breaking it."

"I won't," Renji whispered, tearing himself out of his daze to meet soft pools of grey with smoldering hazel.

"What?"

"I won't break your heart."

"That is a difficult promise to make, Abarai," the cold shinigami murmured, dropping his gaze and letting go of the appendage that he held against his skin. "I am not sure when or how it happened, but at some point during the time we spent together, I think I may have fallen in love with you."

The impulsive lieutenant felt his heart flutter in his chest upon hearing those words. All doubts flew out the window as he roughly wound his arms around Byakuya's neck and shoulders, pulling him in for a deep kiss that was gladly accepted, only pulling away long enough to whisper a few words affectionately in the smaller man's ear. "Aishiteru yo, Byakuya. And I always will."

Byakuya shuddered, suddenly feeling the heat radiating off of Renji's bare skin as both yukatas were tossed aside, revealing miles and miles of marked flesh and milky skin. The fiery shinigami pushed Byakuya onto his back, switching their positions to straddle the steel-eyed captain's bare hips. Calloused fingers were everywhere. Rubbing circles into the soft skin of Byakuya's stomach, hips, and parting his thighs. All the while the kisses never stopped, Renji's devilish tongue twisting and curling around his captains as Byakuya met each with an equal amount of passion.

Every movement, every touch sent jolts of pleasure down Renji's spine, eliciting soft moans to escape from his throat. His body begged for more of the man below him, wanting to hear him make those same sounds that began to spill from his own mouth. Renji murmured soft apologies and affectionate words into Byakuya's ear as he finally sank inside, the lithe noble's fingernails biting into his tanned shoulders.

Their rhythm was erratic, Renji trying to ease the pain with open-mouthed kisses on the others neck and chest, and Byakuya suddenly finding purchase in the scarlet tresses of Renji's hair, back arching as the redhead brushed against that wonderful spot inside of him. The dark-haired captain bit down on his bottom lip, trying to hold back the sounds that were so unbecoming of a Kuchiki noble, but nothing could stop the deep moan that started in the back of his throat and escaped forcefully causing several soft pants to follow.

By the time they both had collapsed, exhausted, in each other's arms, Renji had forgotten why he was so worried in the first place. The volatile lieutenant ran his fingers through the black locks of Byakuya's tousled hair as the other man lazily traced jagged tattoo's with feather light touches as if they had been doing this for years.

"Hey, Byakuya?" Renji said tenderly, planting a light kiss Byakuya's head.

"Hm?"

"Aishiteru yo."

Chuckling slightly, the noble tilted his head up to catch Renji's lips in a slow, lingering kiss before pulling away and resting his head against his lovers chest, listening to the fluttering sound of Renji's heartbeat.

"Aishiteru yo, Renji. And I always will."