Ichigo shuffled through the papers in his hands as he walked over to Renji's desk. The past 2 days, he and Rukia had been working in the 6th division instead of the 13th- which he had recently become captain of. Byakuya had gotten a very bad case of the flu, and so, he had to stay home.
Rukia, being the worry-wart she was, had refused to stay put. Not wanting her brother's division to go crazy in his absense, she'd come down to help out for the past two days. Ichigo had come with her, mostly because he didn't want her running around there when she was 8 months pregnant- running wasn't even really an option at this point.
Regardless, he found himself with an armful of Byakuya's paperwork- and worse, he had to figure out how to do it, considering it was work from another division.
"Renji," he stood at Renji's desk, placing a paper in front of him, "So, I looked at these two papers.. they're the same, but the numbers are different. Can you see which one's the original?"
"Yes." Renji nodded, taking the paper, "Me do."
"Alright." Ichigo nodded and walked away, only to stop suddenly in the middle of the room, his brows furrowing as Renji's response echoed in his mind.
'Me do.'
He walked away, concern etched on his face.
"Rukia!"
Rukia's gaze remained fixed on the papers scattered on her brother's desk as her husband hurriedly entered into the room "Hm?"
"I think something's wrong with Renji."
"What do you mean?" she replied, only half paying attention. Ichigo tapped his foot impatiently.
"I mean, I think he might have hit his head and have a concussion or something. I need you to come see this."
"I'm sure he's just being himself, Ichigo."
"No. This is different! This isn't like the time he was talking baby talk 24/7! Rukia, I can't explain it- you need to come look at this."
"I'm busy," she sorted through some papers, annoyed as she attempted to move her chair closer to the desk only to be stopped by her grown stomach, "Don't you think you might be overreacting just a little bit, babe?"
She glanced up when she noticed his shadow cast over her. He stood there, his face completely serious. "Rukia. I really want you to come with me."
She sighed quietly.
(5 minutes later)
Rukia stood next to Renji's desk, her hand holding the edge for support, the other rested on her rounded tummy. Ichigo stood on the other side of the desk. He glanced at her for a moment before looking down at Renji.
"Hey Renji, so what were you saying about the paperwork earlier?"
Rikichi, who was also in the room looking through a filing cabinet, looked up in interest as Renji looked up, a slightly confused look on his face, "Me do, now. Go. Stop worry."
"Renji, do you feel okay?" Rukia's eyebrow raised slightly as she leaned over, looking at his face in concern.
"Me feel great. Body strong. Sleep long last night." Renji replied, looking up at her plainly.
Rukia looked over at Ichigo, her expression now worried. "Ok, I think we should take him to the fourth."
"No, no it's not a big deal, really!" Rikichi spoke up, standing up with a bunch of files in his hands, "Abarai-fukutaicho has always been like that-"
"No he hasn't," Rukia replied, shaking her head in concern. Ichigo nodded vigorously behind her.
"I mean, he's gotten worse over the years, but it's nothing like that," Rikichi continued, "He has a theory that shortening his sentences will save him time."
The young couple turned back to Renji, who was nodding at them.
"Renji," Rukia sighed as Ichigo pulled the chair over so she could sit down, "Can you please explain what you're doing?"
"Well," Renji put his brush down, "Me think, why say lot word when few word do trick? Less word, save time. More success."
"Does it really save time though?" Ichigo spoke up from his place standing behind Rukia's chair, his arms folded across his chest in annoyance, "Because we've been here for 20 minutes thinking you've gone and cracked your skull."
"Really. At the most, you're saving a microscopic amount of time." Rukia added.
Renji stared at them with pursed lips before sighing, "Fine, I'll talk normally."