Author's Note: And yet another Renji x Yourichi fic. This idea is really growing on me.
Abarai Renji, Vice-captain of the 6th squad to the noble Kuchiki Byakuya. Abarai Renji, one of the few shinigami who stood up to Aizen in the wake of his betrayal. A man to be respected, right?
He would've thought that too, had a certain somebody not ruined his reputation completely. The older captains sniggered and laughed when they saw him as they knew the truth. Younger, less experienced shinigami gave him odd looks as they had been subjected to the rumour.
It had all started one morning after a raucous night with Yourichi. Any night with Yourichi was wild come to think of it. He was now lying on the bed, with Yourichi draped over him, sound asleep, unaware that he was two hours late for a meeting of the 6th squad. Captain Kuchiki was understandably not pleased. As a result, he sent a party of two junior members of the squad to awake him; one of them being his self-proclaimed fan boy, Rikichi.
They knocked on the door quietly, and gradually louder and louder. However, Renji was a heavy sleeper and Yourichi was outright ignoring the noise.
"Do you think we should go in?" The other shinigami, known as Ryoko, whispered.
"I don't know…you think something happened?" Rikichi replied.
"If it did, it's our duty to find out!" And through such reasoning, Ryoko pulled out a hairclip, a bad habit he had picked up from the Captain's influence, and proceeded to pick the lock. After some time, they managed to get the door opened. Clutching their zanpaktous, they cautiously made their way in. Searching the rooms, they found that the place must've been broken into, as it was a mess. The more rooms they went through, and the more times they were disappointed with no sight of the Vice-captain, the more mess there was, and the more they became anxious. Finally, they reached the bedroom.
Yourichi decided now was a good time to take flight. She didn't exactly want to be found in such a compromising situation in front of two junior shinigami. She poked Renji a few times, in attempt to wake him. However, before he would comply, the door opened. Without so much as blink, she transformed into a cat.
"Vice-captain Abarai?" Rikichi nervously called out. He could see a form in the bed, but there was a lump of mass moving about.
"Vice-captain?" They called out again, but got no response. The two shinigami looked at each other. Could he be…?
He shot up, howling in pain.
"Why the hell did you have to do that, you psychotic bitch?" He yelled out, hand at where she'd so graciously bitten him, before sensing two other people in the room. The cover had slid down to his waist, just about covering his privates.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked unceremoniously. However, their eyes seemed to be focused on something else. Renji followed their sight to see a cat jump out of his window. That damned Yourichi was running out again, leaving him to deal with the mess! He looked back at the two shinigami who were now staring at him disbelievingly.
"What!" He yelled at them.
"N-nothing, Vice-captain."
"Why are you here, anyway?"
"Um…today was the weekly meeting of 6th squad seated officers. You missed it, sir."
"Oh shit! Captain Kuchiki'll murder me!" The boys were still standing there, dazed. "You can leave now, I gotta change." They promptly obeyed. Once out of his earshot, they whispered to one another again.
"That was a cat, wasn't it?" Ryoko asked.
"Yeah…he was naked in bed, wasn't he?" Rikichi continued.
"With the cat…." And that was how Renji came to lose respect of all of Soul Society who knew who he was. And he was very popular. He still is, but for all the wrong reasons.
Currently, he was sitting on a dining table whilst two female shinigami were giggling behind him, on another table. He overheard a part of their conversation.
"He's the cat guy, isn't he?"
"Yeah, but he looks weird anyways. I guess it explains a lot." He was positively steaming now, fists clenched and all.
"What's the matter?" He turned to see Yourichi, who mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. He was used to it now.
"This is all your fault."
"What is?" She played innocent.
"I'm the freak show of Soul Society." She sniggered at that remark.
"You think it's funny?" He leered. She giggled.
"No, it's just that, you're my freak show."
"That's not helping." He muttered.
"I know."
Author's Note: And that's how Renji lost his groove.