A Debate of Greatness
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Disclaimer: My claim to owning Bleach characters is as true as my claim that Renji has purple hair and Byakuya has manicures. My claim, however, on owning the storyline (or lack thereof) is as true as my claim that… well, that the world is round. (Dodges flying tomatoes) No plot stealing!
A/N: This fic takes place straight after Ichigo and Orihime leave Byakuya's ward in the anime. Bya-chan and Renji might be a little OOC here, my apologises. Pardon any errors in the fic. Please R&R!
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"Kuchiki-taichou, I…"
The words were about to leave Abarai Renji's lips but the wind swept them away. The mentioned noble calmly followed the breeze playing outside the window with his eyes; watching it pick up some abandoned leaves, twirled them around mid-air, before settling them down again.
"Taichou, I… I think… I think that you're a really great person," Renji swallowed hard, seeing as the wind decided to return him back his voice, "-and I'm sorry."
Kuchiki Byakuya did his best to mask his shock at his fukutaichou's words. His red-haired subordinate was well-known to have an ego as big as his own (which, was bigger than the entire Soul Society itself). Apologising should be the last thing in his hollow mind.
"That's the 'cool' thing you wanted to say before Kurosaki barged in?" Byakuya raised an elegant eyebrow. "It seems you have contracted my sense of humour, or lack thereof."
"Define 'great', Renji," he continued, before Renji had a chance to rebuke. Byakuya decided to continue spying on the dried leaves outside his ward window. The atmosphere was tensing up with awkwardness, and he didn't know how long it would be before either one of them cracked. And he certainly didn't want to be the one.
Renji swallowed again, almost choking himself. "Great…" he paused, searching for the right words. "Great… Greatness will be for someone to be strong both physically and mentally; to stay true to his promises and feelings till the very end, even if it tears him apart."
Crap.
Those words sounded less cliché in his mind. He hoped he didn't sound too much like some teenage girl who had an overdose of sappy love dramas. He could feel himself turning red. Renji inhaled deeply before continuing. "Greatness would be the ability to show mercy to someone disrespectful and unworthy… and to protect those important to him with his life. Greatness is-"
"Enough," Byakuya cut in, feeling that any more of those words would have tore down the defences he built around himself. When did Renji learn to talk like that?
"Abarai Renji, you can't be proposing to me, can you?"
"Of course not!" Renji practically shrieked in reply. He could feel his jaw hit the floor. His taichou could not be thinking of him being interested in guys. That was so wrong. He loved girls, and shows no hesitation to publicly display his affection for them.
"A very shallow definition you have there, Renji." Byakuya cleared his throat, speedy to redeem himself. "It's no surprise you come from District 78."
Those words stung. Renji made sure he did not let his eyes meet his taichou's. After all he had done, after mastering bankai, after swallowing his pride to praise him, taichou still looked down on him. He took long deep breaths, a method Kira taught him to control his temper before he decided to massacre the entire Soul Society.
"Greatness, Renji," Byakuya spoke, his cool voice washing over the fukutaichou's temper like spring water. A timely distraction for Renji, whose hand was already on Zabimaru. "Greatness is to be able to fight for what you believe in, even if you know you'll die. Greatness is to stand up against whom you deem as enemy, no matter how small the odds of winning are. Greatness, Renji, is to not give up, trying time and again, no matter how many times you've failed. That is greatness, Renji."
Renji's head snapped up, only to meet Byakuya's purple orbs. Kuchiki-taichou was praising him? Now that's weird.
"Your fangs have reached me, Renji," Byakuya smiled.
Renji blinked dumbly for a few seconds. Those words weren't registering in his brain. He felt both of them begin to colour, then quickly looked away. Now what the hell did Unohana-taichou add to his medicine? He swore this would have made it into the Shinigamis' Book of Records Ise has for the 'Most Awkward Moment in Soul Society History'.
After what seemed like eternity, Byakuya cleared his throat and Renji returned to his seat by the door, shaving the block of wood.
"Will you quit doing that, Renji? The noise is hurting my ears. I'd rather you peel me an apple. And please sweep up the mess of wood shavings on the floor before you leave."
"You know, taichou, when you smile…" Renji smirked, completely ignoring Byakuya's previous statement.
The Kuchiki-heir turned to face the rebellious Shinigami whose body was shaking so hard.
"-when you smile, you look…
Like you have stomach cramps."
Renji finally burst out snorting, unable to control himself any longer. He took the opportunity of Byakuya's dumbfounded-ness to make a hasty escape, not wanting to meet his taichou's wrath.
"Abarai Renji! BANKAI!"
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A/N: My shortest fic to date. And probably the crappiest one too. (Hides from flying daggers) And I'm definitely sure that kind Unohana-taichou won't drug Byakushi. :D However, I have absolutely no idea what Nanao-chan's book is, so just assume that it's like a book of records for this fic.
Review or Byakushi and Renji will bankai you. :D (evil laughter)