Title: "Different Degrees"
Fandom: Bleach
Characters: Orihime/Renji
Rating: PG
Word Count: 118
Time: 1 hour
Disclaimer: Bleach not mine.

"I'm going to protect you by becoming evil."

"Uh huh. How's that workin' out for ya?"

"Good."

Renji shrugged. There was no arguing with that.

"You're not going to argue with that?"

"I'm trying to think of it like you became a dentist or a physicist or something."

"You're comparing being an Arrancar to being a physicist?!"

"Well, maybe the degree of them are diff'rent, but I figure both are things some people gotta do, or think they've gotta do, that are evil, but people do for the general good. And to indulge their sadistic tendencies and such. I saw that plant movie."

Orihime hugged Renji, tears running down the broken edge of her mask onto his neck.