Sometimes he'll bring her to the top floor of the Sixth Division barracks, which it's hardly in use. Most of the members are training downstairs in the hall, or even outside when the weather's not so hot. This place is their own little sanctuary, where they seek refuge from the outside world. The heat of the afternoon doesn't seep in much, but it does get stuffy since there isn't a means of cooling oneself.

But they don't take into account all those matters that seem to be nonsense when they're together. The heat, the cold, everything that insist on ripping them apart - they just don't care. It's enough that they're with each other - that's what counts.

There's an old, used mattress on the floor by the window that stinks of sweat and dust and age. He doesn't allow her to use it, afraid that she'll contract some illness from it - highly unlikely - and he doesn't want her to get dirty. Instead, he settles for the wall, where the cement is hard and cold against their bare backs, where he finds it easy to support her when her legs are wrapped around his waist.

He'll peel her clothes back one by one - obi, shihakusho, tabi - with her hands gently guiding him, that nervous little smile mirroring what he feels on the inside. He tries to smile back, but his hands, trembling in anticipation, are quite the distraction. To avoid her gaze for the time being, he'll press his nose against the side of her neck, breathe in her scent of freshly cut grass, the soft lavender colon that seem to engulf the halls of the Kuchiki House.

And when he moves, she moves with him, her little cries suppressed of their true volume, eyes squeezed shut, lips slightly parted. Sometimes, he'll kiss her to swallow the noises when she gets too loud, for fear of being discovered, but otherwise he'll just let her do whatever she wants. "Renji," she says often, his name, over and over again, her voice a sweet melody to his ears, prompting him to further his exploits.

Finally, when it's all over, he'll rest his forehead against hers, listening to her slightly panicked whispers, urging them to leave this place "or else Brother will be suspicious." He only chuckles and kisses her nose. "Stay with me for just a little while longer," he'll say, wrapping his arms around her, bringing her close.

It's just the two of them now, and that's all that matters.