A/N: Sorry I was so long in updating! Writer's block!

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Contest

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"Move!" Renji yelled, shoving Tatsuki out of the hollow's reach as it lunged for her. In his desperation to get her out of the way he overexerted his strength and sent Tatsuki flying against the wall where she promptly struck her head and became unconscious.

Renji took his eyes off the hollow for a moment to glance at his mistake.

"Aw, crap . . ."

The hollow, fortunately, was of the low-grade class, attracted to Tatsuki's location by the smell of her strong spiritual energy. Renji dispatched of it quickly enough. Hurray for minimal damage.

Renji brushed the dust caused by some cracks in the sheet-rock walls off his robes. "Nothing like a job well done," he murmured with a smirk. With an air of self-satisfaction, Renji stepped on the windowsill, preparing to jump into the night, when he noticed Tatsuki's prone figure out of the corner of his eye. He had forgotten about her.

She can take care of herself.

But, the thought of leaving her there unconscious gave him a niggling sense of guilt. It would be dishonorable to leave an injured victim without at least checking their condition. And more than that, he began to think, with Tatsuki's growing reiatsu, more hollows might attack. He should make sure she was conscious before leaving. With a groan, Renji marched over to Tatsuki and bent over her. A knot was forming at the top of her forehead.

"Damn it!"

This was not good. The words coma, penalty, and demotion rang through his head.

Suddenly, his Soul Society phone went off. Renji, startled, fumbled with it for a moment before managing to flip it open.

". . . Hai . . . Taichou?"

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Tatsuki woke to the feeling of water sprinkling on her face.

Did I leave the window open?

Upon opening her eyes she saw Renji sitting Indian-style beside her. He was in his gigai. A glass of water was in his hands and he was dipping his fingers into it and flicking it onto her face. He wore a bored expression as if he had been doing this for hours—which he had.

"Did you sleep well, brat?" Renji sneered.

"You jerk! You shoved me into the—" Tatsuki leapt to her feet to attack Renji, then realized how bad that idea was when her head began to swim and pound painfully. She swayed forward and lost her footing, falling flat on her face. She lay there very still for a minute, causing Renji to sweat, thinking that she might have received a second concussion and perhaps really lapsed into a coma this time. He squatted down beside her and leaned over for an anxious inspection.

Suddenly Tatsuki's hand shot out and shoved him over, which was easy to do, given his present position. The moment Renji's back touched the floor, Tatsuki leapt up and pinned him there.

I need to talk to Urahara-san about these stupid gigais!

Tatsuki's anger brought Renji's thoughts back to the present.

"You knocked me out!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, freak! What was that thing? This is the second time this has happened to me!"

Renji sighed and went through the entire hollow spiel—sans Rukia doodles.

Tatsuki stared at him for a long time, trying to process the information.

"While you're wrapping the concept around that sea urchin on your head, would you get off me? You're heavy."

Tatsuki let go of one of Renji's wrists to land a punch into the ground inches away from his face. He looked up at her with wide eyes. That move had been faster than the others he had witnessed before, so much so that it had startled him.

"Are you are saying that I am fat?" Tatsuki growled.

"No, just heavy." With the advantage of his free wrist, Renji threw Tatsuki off of him, but made sure she went in the direction of her futon, where she landed safely.

"You got a spare pallet?" Renji asked, looking around.

"Why?"

Renji glared and made a face like he had just gulped down an entire bottle of cod liver oil. "Until I'm ordered otherwise, I'll be staying here."

"Like heck you are!"

"I've been commanded to guard you, whether you like it or not."

"Not!"

"Here's the shocker: Neither do I! But, orders are orders, brat."

"How about don't and say you did?"

Renji gave her a sharp glare. The fierce intensity of it stunned Tatsuki into silence and caused her face to heat up with a shame she was unsure of.

"And disobey my captain and bring shame to my colleagues? You disgust me." Renji silently cursed the Soul Society phone. Why him? Renji stomped over to her closet and found a spare futon. He laid it out against the wall, parallel to her futon.

"You are not sleeping here."

Renji glared at her again, but this time Tatsuki stood her ground, albeit a little shaky.

"How else am I supposed to keep an eye on you? Or get to you as quick as possible."

"That's what I don't like."

"And that's what I don't care about. Go to sleep."

Tatsuki slowly sank down onto her futon. As she went to lay her head on the pillow, she checked to make sure her bottle of mace was still underneath it. Satisfied, she forced herself to relax. But that did not last long. Tatsuki's eyes wandered over to Renji, who was still preparing to bed down. She was determined not to take her eyes off of him. She did not trust him as far as she could throw him, which was not very far as of yet, but she was working on— Tatsuki's thought process was suddenly broken. Renji had stripped off his shirt. He had an eight pack! Every inch of him could have been chiseled out of marble. The smooth line of his arms . . . Tatsuki realized her mouth was open and she quickly snapped it shut, only to have it drop again when he untied his hair.

Tatsuki's covers suddenly felt stiflingly hot. But she did not remove the bedclothes. Tatsuki turned over so her back was to him and squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to sleep. She heard Renji slipping under his covers. A fleeting thought crept into her mind. I wonder if he kept his pants on. That was enough! Tatsuki bolted up in bed then turned over and began doing push-ups. I'll make myself so tired, I won't have the energy to think!

"What are you doing, amazon?"

"Push-up's, moron. What do you think?"

Renji was silent for a moment. Females were strange, so he was not even going to ask. Instead . . .

"You know, I can do that with one hand." Renji got up and began to demonstrate.

"Oh, yeah? Well so can I!" And Tatsuki proceeded to do the same.

"I can do it on one finger."

Tatsuki could not do that, so instead she said, "I can five hundred push-ups!"

"I can do that many and more."

"Prove it."

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The next morning, Tatsuki and Renji both showed up to class looking haggard.

The room began to buzz with the perception of their appearance and their arrival together. But, both Renji and Tatsuki were too exhausted to make the slightest counter comment. Needless to say, they slept through all their classes.

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A/N: Review!