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Renji moved into Ichigo's closet the day after he found out that Rukia had been given a bed in Yuzu and Karin's room. Ichigo tried to protest the move, but he gave up after a few hours. After all, he could understand why Renji hadn't lasted too long at Urahara's place. So, he figured he could let Renji cram himself into the too small closet, and just wait until he moved on to somewhere better. He figured the redhead wouldn't last more than a week.
Renji didn't leave. The closet was cramped, but he found he liked being near Rukia. And Ichigo too. Sometimes at least.
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Rukia would never admit it, even though everyone else in the house knew already, but she had nightmares. They weren't of her dying, but instead of her being locked away from the world forever, as everyone she cared about died because of her. After she woke both Yuzu and Karin up twice in one night, she escaped the room, looking for somewhere where she could sit and and try to calm herself.
She ended up in Ichigo's room.
He woke up when she entered, even though she was trying to stay quiet. He watched her, then rolled his eyes, and motioned for her to slid into bed with him. She figured he was trying to treat her like one of his sisters, and welcomed the offer of comfort. He didn't say anything, and turned over and fell back asleep once she was huddled under the cover. It was enough though, being close to him, knowing he was alive.
The last thing she saw before she fell into a dreamless sleep was the light reflecting from Renji's eyes as he watched her from the half-open closet. She smiled as she closed her eyes for she hadn't felt so safe, so without worries in far too long.
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Renji brought fond memories of her childhood, of the world being wearisome, but childhood laughter and games making everything okay.
Ichigo gave her a now, a sense of belonging that she hadn't felt since before she went to the Academy.
Whenever she was in a room with the two of them together, watching them laugh and glare at each other, she knew that whatever the future brought, there would be just as many good memories as bad. And no matter what happened, there would always be a happy ending.
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One night, she woke up gasping for breath, even though she was already in Ichigo (and Renji's) room. Ichigo sat up a second later, startled, and unsure exactly what to do for her, because she was Rukia and not one of his little sisters. Renji solved the problem by extricating himself from the cramped closet, stomping across the floor, and demanding that they both move over so he could fit into the bed as well. Rukia lay between the boys, and no one said anything. They were just there for her.
At some point they became all tangled together during the night, and the next day none of the three would admit that it had been a surprisingly refreshing night of sleep.
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Renji moved out of the closet, but only across the room to Ichigo's bed. Ichigo said that didn't count though.
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Karin caught them first, though they never realized. She had woken up and noticed that Rukia wasn't in her bed, and decided to look for her. She couldn't resist checking her brother's room, figuring that maybe Rukia had inspired him to act like a normal teenage boy.
She really wasn't expecting to find Rukia in his room though, so she stared in disbelief at the sight of Ichigo tangled up with both Rukia and the red head who sometimes stopped over with some of Ichigo's other classmates.
Eventually she was able to think again, and she quietly closed the door back and hurried back to her own bed, vowing never to speak of what she just saw. After all, if no one else knew, then Yuzu would never realize that she had won the bet on Ichigo's love life.
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No one knew how to act when Rukia and Renji were ordered to return to Soul Society with the others. Ichigo suddenly wished he hadn't joked around so much about finding Renji somewhere else to live. He could stay in the closet (his bed) forever.
No one slept well that first night apart. Ichigo's room, which had previously been impossibly cramped was suddenly far too empty. He avoided it when he could.
Rukia and Renji were together, but it wasn't right because they couldn't feel whole without Ichigo there. It was too weird trying to share a bed, so they didn't after a disastrous first night.
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A few months later, Ichigo woke in the middle of the night to find both Renji and Rukia grinning from the edge of his bed, both dressed as Shinigami. A tradition of visits was born that night, though all three knew that one day Ichigo would go back with them.
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Isshin was the next person to find them, when he burst into Ichigo's room on the first day of spring. He stopped and stared when he realized his son wasn't alone, and started to loudly congratulate him on being a man among men when Renji cracked open one eye and told him that he wasn't supposed to be able to see them. Isshin stopped mid-sentence and finally noticed the swords and black clothing in piles on the floor. He promptly turned and marched out of the room, exclaiming that Daddy was having a dream and Daddy was sleepwalking.
A truce was formed. Ichigo didn't question his father's apparent new found ability to see shinigami, and Isshin didn't mention his son's choice of bed mates.
Urahara managed to find out both sides of the story anyways, and burst out laughing when he saw either of the Kurosaki men for the next two months.