Author: Uchiha Yumi
Title: Backlash
Genre: Angst, Romance
Summary: Backlash – insurgence. People striking and demonstrating against something or someone they don't like. RenBya, Shonen Ai, Request
Rating: T
Parings: Renji x Byakuya
Main Characters: Kuchiki Byakuya, Abarai Renji
Special thanks: A special thank to Lilya-chan and FunnyNeko, for reading and correcting all of my nasty stuff.
Disclaimer: Ieeeh! Kuchiki-taichou is so lucky! He owns both me and Renji! winks Too bad I don't have enough money to bribe him into having a threesome with me and his lover…
Notes: English is not my native tongue. Please tell me about my mistakes!
AND FINALLY IT'S DONE!!!
I was starting to think I wouldn't make it!
But here it is! Aaaaaaall done!
This is a request story - requested by jwg676. Thank you for waiting, darling! I hope you like it!
The titles of the different parts are just synonyms of "Backlash" I've found on the dictionary.
Oh, I didn't know what Backlash meant, so I looked for it on the dictionary, before writing this. I hope I got everything right.
It's divided into 4 short parts – I was thinking about being a bitch and updating only if I received at least, I don't know, 5 reviews for each part, but…Hopefully I won't. XD Neeh, in the end, I'm a good girl!
BACKLASH
PART
ONE - Reaction
Backlash – insurgence. People striking and demonstrating against something or someone they don't like.
Mutiny, to some extent. Refusing to carry out a Captain's orders.
Looking at the recent events taking part in the Sixth division from the point of view of a simple and neutral officer as Rikichi was required a certain degree of cautiousness and wisdom – like handling a flaming item without burning your skin.
Among the Squads of the Gotei 13, the Sixth one had never been particularly illustrious – it didn't have special tasks, it wasn't much belligerent or pious and it wasn't a bunch of useless shinigami either. No heroes and no cowards – honourably standing in the middle.
The only lustrous trait of such an average Division was probably its highest commander, Kuchiki Byakuya – his nobility, his stainlessness, both morally and physically. He seemed to be the excellence walking five inches above the filthy ground not to soil such a high perfection – but, evidently, even unblemished beings had defects. "That's what makes everybody unique", they say. But Kuchiki Byakuya's flaw was like a footprint in a perfectly untouched snow field. It stood out. It claimed attention and attracted malignity.
As a thunder in the blue, it was unexpected. It was hail in July and sun in December. Something no one was prepared to face.
"I can understand Abarai-fukutaichou. He's a backstreet rat, but…him…"
This recurrent sentence resounded more and more often within the walls of the agitated Division – Rikichi could hear it from the smirking and indignant mouths of his mates. It was the chorus of the bitter song that everyone and everything even just slightly touched by the affair seemed to hum and sing and scream – it was the social weight of the "public opinion" and Rikichi had a feeling it was worse than the Martial Court itself.
So, they had jumped out of the shadows of mediocrity and into the lights of dishonour and reproach – everyone watched them, judged them, blamed them.
It was the affair of the century – of the millennium maybe. The greatest scandal Soul Society had ever faced – betrayals, fights, blood: everything seemed to be forgotten in front of what had been going on inside of the Sixth Division.
It was wrong – they sentenced. Wrong in many different senses: shameful, disgusting, unacceptable, an act of insubordination. Wrong, wrong and once again wrong. Something that should have never be done and, if done, should have been kept secret. It was the same mentality of the Victorian Age – "morally becoming" is the fundamental concept. Everything steering away from it should have been either avoided or carefully hidden, like a gash on a beautiful dress.
What shocked the young boy the most, however, was that everyone had literally freaked out when a random – but indeed chatty – shinigami had surprised them doing the affair. And yet the signals were pretty clear – glances, little touches, mutual understandings. Everything had always been there – maybe not in broad daylight, but covered with just the lightest layer of fog.
It was there for who desired to see it – and evidently nobody had ever really wanted to. It felt to Rikichi as if everyone was just waiting for this bomb to blow up and did everything in their power to make this process quicker and more painful.
Why did they care so much? Why did they consider someone's love life and choices more important than his talent and prestige? Why did they blame someone for loving another someone just because of his lower social status? Why did they say he was just a slave, a useful toy for a quick and transitory pleasure?
Too many questions troubled the shinigami's mind and made him clench his fists in rage. His idol was being mocked and pointed at just for being in love. His own Captain – which was, indeed, detached and a little intimidating, but also one of the few in the whole Seireitei to mind one's merits instead of one's recommendations when it came to assign a vacant seat – being disobeyed, judged, laughed at. The whole Sixth Division was protesting because its Captain and Vice Captain were lovers and all he could do was sit back and watch while everything fell apart.
Outside his quarter's window he could see his mates hanging another sign right under the Taichou's and Fukutaichou's chambers.
"Dignity first of all", it read.
He punched the wall with a low groan.