warnings: Ichigo might be jerk in your opinion in this fic, some form of cheating will be mentioned, smut in the future.

disclaimer: Bleach © Kubo tite, not me.

A/N: I had this idea for a long time, and I finally got the guts to write it.

Thank you for beta-ing this for me, Hymenated. And here you go:

...

Renji was sitting at The Bar on a Friday night, drinking alone. It was rare for him to be lonely, but his friends had been either becoming distant or disappearing. Everything has changed since high school.

"Hey is that you, Renji?"

Renji's half lidded eyes snapped open at the familiar voice and he spun around as fast as the bar stool would allow him.

The man looked around the age of twenty-one to twenty-five. He had a styled orange spiky hair and very, very thoughtful chocolate brown eyes. The man was about 180cm, lean and had a slightly tanned skin. What he was wearing looked seriously expensive; a white striped, black suit, navy dress shirt, white tie and matching white oxfords. He had a silver—or is that white gold?—Emperio Armani watch, and a bunch of rings—with diamonds?—on his fingers. All in all, he screamed rich and educated - the kind of intimidating kind.

Renji was surprised to see the man before him at the least.

"…Ichigo?" Of course, Renji recognized him with those orange locks and dark brown eyes.

Ichigo grinned. "Man, for a second there, I was afraid you wouldn't' remember me,"

Renji got up and punched Ichigo on the shoulder. "How can I not?"

Really, how could he not? That orange-head was one of the two people he admired the most. He was also the person who dragged him out of the pits of hell at that horrible time. But most of all, Renji remembered him so clearly even after so many years because Ichigo had disappeared so suddenly. Guess people who were suddenly gone left a bigger impression than people who faded away slowly.

Only then did the redhead notice Ichigo's company. Two young girls, who looked very familiar, were flanking his right and left sides. One had sand colored hair while the other had raven black hair. The fair haired one had droopy eyes that made her look cute while the other had slanted eyes that gave a more mature feel. Asides from those differences, they looked almost exactly the same: slender bodies with long legs, slim waists, full breasts and waist length hair, both with super short dresses. Renji just couldn't put a finger on where he had saw them before.

"So tell me, Renji, how have you been all these years? What about the others? Surely you guys are still as close as ever."

"Why don't you sit down," Renji asked, then looked around only to find all the bar stools had been occupied. He groaned; there went his chance to talk to someone wonderful.

Then, as if on cue, the three girls who were previously sitting on the three stools next to Renji silently slid off. Ichigo smiled at Renji and sat next to him while the two girls silently slid next to Ichigo.

Renji grinned at the coincidence. "Well, aren't you the lucky guy, being able to find a seat so quickly in the most popular place in the whole city!"

Ichigo just waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, get on with it. So what have you been doing these past six years?"

"I went to the states for uni and came back two years ago. I got myself a job as a columnist in the local newspaper as soon as I came back. And well, that's what I've been doing for the last two years," Renji answered nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah, I read your column once. I thought it was funny how that dog urinated on you." Ichigo picked up the Stinger he ordered and took a sip with a slight smirk.

"Oh, I found that hilarious!" the sand haired girl suddenly intervened, then covered her lips with her hand. "Oops! No offence, Abarai-san."

"Ah, no worries, I had originally mentioned it to make people laugh anyways." Renji straightened his back to look over Ichigo, to look at the girl, and then hunched back to whisper to Ichigo. "Please, do tell, who are these two hotties?"

Ichigo shot him a funny look before scowling. "Don't you remember my sisters, Yuzu and Karin?"

At that, Renji finally recognized the two, and realized Ichigo might be feeling a bit offended or protective. "Geez, I feel so retarded now that I know the chicks I was planning to hit on were your sisters."

"Nah, can't really blame you for it. They've changed a lot, lots of guys falling head over heals in love with them."

"No kidding." And Renji was serious when he said that, but he had more important things to ask about. "So where did you and your family disappear to these six years? We couldn't find you no matter how hard we searched!"

"Tell me, Renji, how often do you come here?"

"Huh?" Renji was confused at the sudden question, but answered anyway. "Twice a week or so. Why?"

"Because then you guys haven't searched too well." Ichigo chuckled into his fist. "I own this place."

"Seriously? You own The Bar? Isn't this place like the most popular, most crowded, and all-time 'it' place of the whole city, almost the whole nation?" Renji replied flatly.

"It is, and that is exactly why I say you guys didn't search well enough," Ichigo muttered before finishing his drink. "Anyway, how are the others?"

Renji shrugged and chose to stay quiet. He couldn't really say that the others and himself were not really friends anymore. They were now, what was the term—friendly strangers?

"No good? Should've guessed much, since-" Before Ichigo could finish, Karin whispered something into his ears. He sighed and turned back to Renji. "Sorry, man. I've got things to settle. If fate has it's way, we'll meet again soon."

Renji sat there, dumbfounded. If fate has it, they'll meet again soon? What was that supposed to mean? But before he could protest or ask anything, or even turn around, Ichigo had disappeared into the crowd with his sisters, following him like showcase china dolls.

Renji sighed and called for another White Russian. From experience, Renji knew all about how Ichigo liked to disappear as if he didn't give two shits about anyone who was left behind. Maybe not everything had changed since high school.

...

My wallet. A gym membership card, a towel—oh, water bottle, extra wife—beater and jeans to change into afterward and - what else do I need? Renji checked his Adidas duffel bag for any forgotten items as he tied his hair in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. I guess that's it…but something's missing…Oh well, it's probably not so important. With that thought, he put on his Harvard-maroon hoodie and headed out of his apartment suite, forgetting his iPod behind.

After about ten minutes of walking, he reached Urahara Jimmu, just your everyday gym. With a weird owner, Renji thought.

The automatic doors made a robotic noise and opened; once inside, the redhead went to the locker room. He dumped his stuff, grabbed his water bottle and towel and headed into the work out 'studio', as Urahara, the owner, had insisted on dubbing it.

The gym was actually a pretty big one. It was more like a fitness and sports center with its huge pool, three basketball courts, two soccer fields with tracks around each of them, tennis courts, ping pong areas, work out studio, the resting lounge and the many, many members. Renji just loved it.

But membership was expensive as hell. $400 for a month was actually a little bit over the top for Renji, even if he was a columnist for the Japan Times. Sure, it was a pretty profitable and fun job, but somehow, Renji always ended up pretty broke. He should have learned to spend money more efficiently.

As soon as he entered the work out studio, Renji saw a familiar guy; it was his 'gym friend', running on the treadmill. More like racing the treadmill, he thought as he watched the man run as fast as he could to match the speed he set up for himself.

Shaking his head, Renji yelled out. "Grimmjow, don't fall on your face and die, or else everyone will remember you as 'the guy who died trying to outrun a treadmill'!"

Grimmjow, or the person who almost became 'the guy who died trying to outrun a treadmill' because of Renji's sudden shout, growled out and slowed the machine down. "Shut the fuck up, fuckface."

"Chill, bro. I mean no harm," Renji said as he started the treadmill beside the one Grimmjow was using, "And if you keep being such an asshole, I'll be the only one who'll be crying at your funeral."

At that very moment, Renji saw a guy staring at Grimmjow in awe.

Or more like a pervert.

The redhead smirked. "Hey Grimmjow, someone's definitely checking you out," he whispered in a low and smug voice, batting his eyelashes at him.

Grimmjow also noticed the guy and shrugged. He didn't look surprised. And Renji knew he shouldn't be.

To say his friend was good looking would be an understatement. He was 20 years old and looked like a fucking supermodel with his electric blue hair and eyes that were a million shades of blue. He was toned with a lean body, with just enough muscle and handsome facial features like long-lashes, tall nose, and thin pink lips. The tattoo on his back could be seen through his white form-fitting t-shirt, and Renji thought that was just badass.

Even Renji labelled him as fucking hot, though he himself was straight as a stick.

"So what's up, Renji? Anything new this week?" Grimmjow asked as he jogged at a less crazy, but still a fast speed.

"Nah, just same old Renji," Renji replied while sighing wistfully, then perked up as he remembered, "Oh, wait! Actually, I met a really old friend of mine again after six years while I was at The Bar yesterday night!"

"Yeah?" Grimmjow sneered, not to be mean, that was just him.

"Yeah. We were good buddies in high school until he disappeared without a trace," Renji explained. "Now he's a big shot or something; he was wearing expensive shit man. Oh, and he owns The Bar, apparently."

"Hah, you're friends with the owner of The Bar? " Grimmjow barked out a laugh. "Fucking hell, he sounds like some stuck up cocky shit."

"Nah, he's not like you, " Renji shot back almost angrily, then calmed down and smiled, "It's good though. He's making his life man. I mean, shit, the owner of The fucking Bar! That's gotta be something."

"No shit, Sherlock," Grimmjow retorted. "I'd like to meet this guy someday, maybe he'll give me a voucher for The Bar or something,"

"If I feel like it, maybe I'll take you to meet him sometime," Renji drawled. If Ichigo doesn't disappear for another six years, that is.

"Cool," Grimmjow's eyes glinted for a second, and it made Renji kind of worried for some reason, but he shrugged it off.

Grimmjow and Renji hung out at the arcade after that, where they argued about who could beat who at Need for Speed games, and ended up going back to Renji's apartment to play some Xbox. They spent the whole day playing random videogames and just goofing off.

Honestly, they acted like teenage boys a lot of the time, but were dead serious and completely responsible when it came to important matters. This was obviously not a serious time, as it was Saturday.

They lost track of time and soon it was three a.m. Renji offered to let Grimmjow stay over and he took the offer. Then they both crashed on the living room floor after eating instant ramen in five minutes.

...

Sunlight shone on Renji's face, making him all hot and bothered in a bad way, and woke him up. He cursed, got up, and shut the blinds with lightning speed. Fucking sun.

He turned around and saw Grimmjow sleeping like a little kid, all curled up and innocent looking, without a top, and in the sweats Renji gave him to wear.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Renji, and with a loud whisper of "this is the only chance!", Renji sprinted into the room that was his office and came back holding a Nikon D9000. He proceeded to take at least ten images of Grimmjow sleeping from five different angles, then quickly rushed back to hide his camera and snickered like a naughty five year old boy.

Apparently, he rejoiced too loud and woke Grimmjow up, because suddenly a string of curses were heard from the floor.

Renji grinned and kicked Grimmjow's ass. "Wake up, sleeping beauty!" He kicked again. "Sleeping too much will make you a total dumbfuck!"

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking moron!" Grimmjow shouted in reply. "I'm trying to sleep here!"

Even though you say that, you still get up from the floor. Renji laughed at him for his grumpiness. Others might have been a bit frightened at how genuinely angry Grimmjow sounded, but during the time-span of their friendship, Renji had found out that Grimmjow was pretty harmless unless he looked super calm - that was when you needed to run for your life.

Suddenly he heard Grimmjow laughing his ass off. "What?" Puzzled and a bit self-conscious, he asked, "Are you finally going mental or something?"

"You look like a fucking retard, man!" Grimmjow replied, looking like he couldn't breathe. "Just like when we first met."

Then Renji remembered that his hair had kept getting all over his face when he was sleeping and he had somehow managed to do his old trademark pineapple ponytail. He quickly retied it to the low ponytail. "Shut up!" He almost bristled; Grimmjow had hit his touchy spot. "Just because you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the doorbell rang and he scrambled to it. He had a gut feeling it was someone important.

Renji sometimes got those kind of instinctive gut feelings, and it was almost as if he was psychic. He opened the door thinking about that, but his grin froze in surprise.

For the second time, the same person surprised him the most. "H-Hey, Ichigo…?" and caused him to end his sentence in a puzzled questioning manner. Shit.

Ichigo was still looking rich as fuck. He was wearing a baby pink dress-shirt with white sliq jeans with a matching brown belt and cap toe shoes.

Renji looked down at himself and frowned. He was wearing an a-shirt and navy blue gym shorts. His hair and face were probably a mess too. He wasn't presentable at all.

He then turned to look at Grimmjow and gaped. Somehow, the mass-frenzy teal hair of his still looked sexy, and—whatever! Renji was not going to think of this when he was a freaking guy.

"Renji," Ichigo said sounding impatient. "You gonna let me in? I have some donuts and sandwiches for breakfast for you."

Renji grinned and let him in, immediately introducing Grimmjow to Ichigo. Grimmjow looked sort of intimidated or something when he saw Ichigo. The redhead saved that look in his memory to analyze it later.

For now, it was time to feast on a rich man's treat!

...

A/N: I know it's Renji POV right now, but i needed him to do the introduction. It will rarely be from his point of view in the story.

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