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Prologue

From the corner of her eyes, came a flash of red and black streak across the yard, followed by an orange headed teen with a broad sword brandishing as he stood on top of the rocks of the Koi pond in the backyard. They shouted, not even noting that the girl was staring at them with an annoyed look. Here she was, with her homework on her lap and these two were getting in the way of something important!

"Renji! Renji you bastard, get back here! Pay me!"The orange headed one shouted, the large sword coming over his shoulder. The red head just looked at him, his white-banded brow narrowing some as he smirked.

"For what? That bad tasting swill and the meager meal? No! Won't do it, carrot top!"The red-head, presumably Renji shouted in.

"I am sick and tired of your lazy ass bummin' meals off of me in that Gigai!" The carrot-top shouted. It seemed awkward to the by stander that just sat there a bit stunned to see two guys of the same shade of hair screaming at each other, brandishing swords and balancing on rocks in the pond. Soon enough, the orange-top started chasing the red-head, taking it into her house in which she had to duck.

'Just who are these guys...And their gonna end up destroying my house!' She thought loudly to herself. They hadn't even noticed that she was sitting right there, ducked under the table as their swords crashed, names being shouted until the red head was out cold, floating face down in the pond. The orange-top huffed, steaming out of the house before looking back to see her staring at him.

"Sorry lady...We...uh...Had no more room he said, almost." The orange-top joked before hopping off before the girl could even retaliate, though he didn't know she could see him clearly. She merely stared at the fence that he leapt over easily when he took off, her eyes trailing to the red-head in the pond just before a body was tossed over the fence, one that looked identical to the fiery one mixed with the koi.

"The hell just happened..."The girl said aloud to no one in particular, standing to go see about fishing in the pond out back.

Chapter 1: The Keeper, the Cleaner

Narrow eyes slowly craned open, the gaze moving across the room decorated in soft greens. Blinking, Renji sat up, his hands going to his sword which wasn't at his hip. Instead, it lay on the desk, his black and white uniform laying neatly folded beside it. Slowly, he realized his clothes had been changed into a pair of men's pajamas of an annoyingly bright flannel. His calloused and rough hand went to his hair, which had been let down and towel dried...then combed. It was never usually combed. He scrambled out of the bed before tripping on something. His Gigai lay on the floor, dead, breathing and cold as usual but in a pair of pajamas as well.

'Just who did this...And how the hell did they see us?!'Renji thought boisterously in his head before hearing the door of the room opening, climbing back into the bed and laying back the way he was. The girl from that afternoon when Ichigo and himself started to fight over a koi pond in someone's yard.

'Hmph...Must of been hers. Did she see us?' He wondered, his eyes opening as he pretended to stir from his sleep. The girl seemed to notice as she settled the white band that was about his head on the pile of his clothes on the desk.

"You're awake. You got knocked out into my Koi pond...Startled the poor dears to death, you did. Food's on the table, it's around dinner now. Clothes are dry too...but your twin on the floor had been out for some time now."The girl said, looking to the Gigai on the floor. Renji raised an eyebrow before following her gaze to it, smirking some as he sat up.

"He'll be fine. I gotta be going anyway..."Renji scoffed before moving out of bed, before being stopped with a pointed finger in his tattooed forehead. "What?"

"Your going to fix my house first. You and your friend completely destroyed it in your squabble and now you're going to pay the price."The girl said, poking him in the middle of the forehead, causing him to wince some.

"Gee okay!"Renji said, smacking her hand away before standing, his foot stepping on to the Gigai before he sat up inside of the substitute body, looking up at her. "I'll fix your damn house and then get the hell out, alright?!"

The girl looked a little appalled and shocked at the same time, for Rengi's head was far too close for comfort. She was already trying to get the itching, crawling feeling from her arms from having to lug him into her bedroom. Touching him was like having dozens of ticks crawl along her arms and then down her shirt...

"Fine...Just, get dressed and come look at the damage after dinner."She said with a slight huff. "By the way Renji, my name is Elizabeth..."

"Eeereezaabeethu? What kind of name is that?"Renji teased as he stood from the floor, moving to the desk to retrieve some clothing.

"American. Just hurry up."Elizabeth said, her eyes narrowing as she stomped off.

Renji's eyebrow, or what was left of them after bits of tattooing over the years, raised some. This, Izza, he dubbed her, was some piece of work. Nothing like Rukia but there was something about her that reminded him of Ichigo...Ichigo! That half-assed Carrot top left off at their fight! He scrambled up but reconsidered it...maybe he could benefit from staying away from him for a while.

'I mean...What do I got to lose? I get a place to stay, and free meals...I could live here for a while...and just take my time on the construction. He he...' Renji contemplated as he slipped his clothes on and soon was wandering about the rather large house to find the dining area. This place was huge! Just wandering around the place was like wandering around a palace or just the soul society compound in general. When he finally found the dining area, Izza already reading a strange book with many awkward characters he didn't recognize that his eyes started to swirl a bit in the Gigai.

"You're late."Elizabeth scoffed.

"Yeah, well this place is fuckin' huge."Renji said with a shrug, sitting down in front of the table at a meager meal. He didn't argue. It was lukewarm and he could still eat it.

"Foul mouthed and a hoodlum..."Elizabeth mumbled as she looked back to her book, reading intensively.

"Bookworm."Renji mumbled with a mouthful of rice.

He received a glare from across the table. After dinner, Elizabeth gave him a list of what was needed to fix the damage he had done to her home then showing him the true monstrosity of what he had done to her living room, the damage to the koi pond and part of a storage room.

"Damn...Guess we got carried away." He muttered under his breath, getting a glance from Elizabeth. "What?"

"Nothing. You can stay until you fix the house...but then get out."Izza said icily before turning and leaving the room, heading to her bedroom.

'Such and ice queen... He thought before going to start sweeping things up awkwardly. He hadn't held a broom in...ever. He never had to do such work back at the soul society, being 2nd in command at the 6th Division from Captain Kuchiki. 'She's nothing like Rukia, nothing like her...'

"Hey, where am I staying?"Renji said as he ran out into the hall, looking around for her. Izza was gone but he could pick up her presence pretty easily. He found her down a few rooms, squatting on the porch with her head resting on a pillar. Was she reading...again?! His feet treaded across the tatami before stopping behind her, looking down at her with his arms crossed firmly across. "Hey, did you hear me at all?!"

Elizabeth didn't move but more of fell backwards, the book hitting the ground. She had fallen asleep, studying but dozed off. Sleeping help the stress go away but she hadn't meant to doze off while sitting on the porch. Renji looked stunned, looking at her with a blank, clueless look. She was out like a rock, her breaths evenly going in and out...her violently red hair sprawling across the dark cherry wood.

'Man she fell asleep...'Renji thought. Despite his aggressive nature, he kneeled down, rolling her onto her back and picking her up under the back and knees to carry her bridal style across the living room and back to the bedroom he'd been laying in before, which he figured was her room with some of the girly furnishings that were in there. Not that he didn't mind being set in her room...though it was awkward enough. He settled her limp, tired body down, noticing that she had cuddled close to the warmth to his gigai body.

'Nothing...Nothing like her...'Renji's thoughts kept ringing through his head as he pulled the sheets back, laying her down and covering her up, putting the book on the nightstand. He stopped a moment in his three-quarter turn it took to head to the door to look back over his shoulder. She could have done anything, turned him into the police, kicked him out on the street...Hell, if she'd been cruel, she'd kill the gigai for trespassing. She didn't. And for that, somewhere inside his head, he was grateful. Turning, he started to head around the house to see about cleaning up some of the debris and fix what he could...though he may not be good at it.