Good Trouble
By Spunky0ne
XXXXXXXXXX
A very sudden and violent plot bunny grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go until I wrote this! If you love Renji like I do, and you enjoy the chemistry between the redhead and the lovely Tetsuya, this one will have you in giggle fits as Tetsuya 'discovers' a certain thing he has in common with Renji, and tries his level best to help him deal with it. Don't worry, it will all make sense. And if you read the very end of the Bya/Ren story, Diablo's Hourglass, you will enjoy the return of a certain...ahem...spirit steed that made a cameo there. Oh, you guys are going to love this. Byakuya, though, might just have to shoot them both...)
XXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 1: Awakening
Renji stood at his taichou's side, still scenting blood with every pained breath he took, and aching fiercely all over, but more proud and feeling stronger than he had ever felt in all of his life. The two looked up to the sky as the dark weight of the shielding around Juha Bach's palace faded, and the palace itself crumbled and disappeared. And, as though called back out of nothingness, the damaged buildings that had been the Seireitei, slowly reappeared. Renji felt a smile crawl across his face, that was at least as big as the one he had worn as he, Uryu and Ichigo had worked together with Aizen Sousuke to destroy the quincy king, then, along with the returning taichous, defeated a whole host of quincy foot soldiers.
"Look at that, Taichou!" he panted, "Amazing! Really amazing!"
He couldn't hear Byakuya's answer through the odd buzzing that had filled his ears. He started to sway dangerously, and heard Byakuya's sword slide back into its sheath. Then, he felt his taichou's arm wrap around him, and Byakuya's soothing voice sounding in his ear.
"Come now, you have returned victorious from battle. You are going to mar our victory by lying down before we have even arrived home?"
"Heh," Renji managed, blinking and only making the air around him go darker, "What home? Place is shot to hell..."
"Very well," Byakuya said, lifting him off his feet as he began to lose consciousness, "As we have lost our homes and the fourth division is likely overwhelmed, I will offer you respite elsewhere."
There was a long pause, and he felt Byakuya's eyes looking down at his face, even though he couldn't see a thing.
"I thank you, Renji. Today, you were the difference between life and death, not only for me, but for so many others. And somehow...I will find the way to repay you for that."
He wanted badly to speak, wanted so much to tell the noble not to think that way.
You don't have to repay me. What you just did...fighting alongside me to the very end, was more than enough, taichou.!
He struggled to speak, but felt Byakuya's suddenly gentle fingers touch his lips.
"Be quiet, Renji. Rest."
They were moving then, at flash step speed, down the broken streets and out into the open country. They crossed a rugged plain, then entered the cooler, shadier forest. Renji faded in and out, so didn't know how long he was carried down the twisted pathway through the forest. But he registered, at some point, that they had stopped, and heard Byakuya's soft breaths as he waited for something.
Renji felt the drawing back of some kind of shield, and the approach of a strangely familiar reiatsu, one he had felt many times before, even asked Byakuya about, but the noble had never wanted to talk about. But this time, it wasn't just reiatsu, but a voice and the mingled scents of leather and sakura.
"Byakuya-sama!" the voice said, playing over Renji's senses like the smoothest and most enchanting of love songs, "You have come back to us!"
Byakuya said the man's name in calm acknowledgement, but Renji had started to fade out, and everything started to disappear again. He felt himself being lifted, then heard the fast, smooth cadence of hoofbeats.
"You have been injured, Byakuya-sama. I should have healed you first," the younger man's voice said.
"No," Byakuya assured him, "I want to move quickly to the encampment. Even though the enemy has been slain, there are likely to be scattered attacks...pockets of resistance. We lost more than a few family members in the initial attack, though, thanks to your efforts, they were fighters and not the innocent ones we protected. You have done well, watashi no itoko."
"Let us save our congratulations for when we are safe," the other said softly, nudging the horse that carried them into a gallop.
Everything went quiet and still for a time, then slowly, Renji's body began to register sensation again...unfortunately, a goodly amount of pain as well as the warmth and soft comfort of thick blankets that had been wrapped around him. He gave a low groan and sensed the approach of someone whose scent and slower movements suggested someone aged.
"Will he be all right?" Byakuya's voice asked.
"He will be fine with healing and rest, Byakuya-sama," the old healer assured the clan leader, "He was hurt badly, but it was well within the scope of my abilities to heal."
Byakuya started to answer, but paused as a light footstep sounded in the doorway.
"Byakuya-sama," the younger man's voice from before said stridently, "A group of quincies has sensed and attacked the barrier. They have a Sternritter with them."
"Come," Byakuya said quickly, "We must get there quickly."
"W-wait!" Renji gasped, shocked at the ragged sound of his voice, "Taichou!"
"Ah now," said the old healer, "In a rush to return to fighting, ne? Not patient enough to heal properly? Truly, you are as reckless as he says, Abarai-san."
"B-bya...!" Renji panted, "D-don't go! I wanna...g-go too!"
"Oh, so fiery for a half dead man," the old healer chuckled, infusing him with a warm swell of reiatsu that send him falling away again, "There now, Abarai-san. Sleep. Byakuya-sama will take care of the invaders. All will be well."
Renji tumbled into the darkness and silence of unconsciousness for a time, then flinched as a mixture of memories and dreams or nightmares began to plague his mind.
"Taichou!" he moaned, watching as Byakuya disappeared into a sea of spinning, pink petal blades, "Taichou!"
He was running as fast as he could, then, trying desperately to reach Byakuya's curled, bloodied form. But as fast and as far as he ran, he could never find it in among the shattered remains of the buildings of the Seireitei.
"Taichou!" he cried, tears rising in his eyes, "Taichou!"
"I am here," Byakuya's voice said...too close and too real to be a dream.
And Renji felt a cool hand take hold of his, and the touch of dark, worried eyes that watched him for long hours after.
"T-taichou," Renji whispered deliriously.
"Tetsuya, he will need another infusion. The poison in his system is strong, and Torio and Koji have not returned with the counteracting elixir."
"Of course, Byakuya-sama."
Odd blue light flared and intense power hummed around Renji's body. Something cool and soothing seemed to flood his veins, and he sighed in relief at the feel of it. He felt something else as well...something deeper and more profound that the young man's touch awakened.
"Wh-what's goin' on?" he managed.
"Please try not to move... and do not speak," the young noble's voice warned him, "You were poisoned by one of the quincies you battled."
"Byakuya!" Renji cried, grabbing the young man's arm and trying to sit up.
Instantly, the young man's hands pushed him down firmly.
"Do not try to get up. You are too weak, Abarai-san. You will only use what strength you have left!"
"Byakuya!"
"He is fine," the young man assured him, "And you will be too. Please try to stay calm. I have staved off the poison for now. An antidote will arrive from the twelfth division soon."
"But...!"
"Byakuya-sama was not poisoned as you were," the young man said, seeming to read Renji's thoughts, "Please, rest quietly."
"Hah...'kay..." Renji mumbled, drifting off again.
He remained on the edges of sleep as time passed, and the young man returned several times to infuse him again with that cool, soothing power. Each time, it made the pain in his body fade, and the heavy buzzing in his head recede for a while. Finally, the old healer returned, and Renji felt the bite of a needle in his arm.
"Get th'fuck off!" he moaned, trying to pull away, then groaning at the pain that moving treated him too.
"Really, Abarai," Byakuya sighed reprovingly, making a smile touch the redhead's lips.
He slept more deeply this time. And when he emerged, he found himself alone and tucked into a comfortable bed in a softly kido-lit room. A chair sat by the bed, and it was still warm to the touch. He sensed Byakuya's reiatsu and caught the faint scent of sakura.
"Taichou..." he whispered, sitting up slowly and looking around.
He found himself lying in what amounted to a small cave that seemed to open into a larger chamber, that housed numerous such rooms as his.
"This must be that compound that Taichou was talkin' about," the redhead mused.
He slipped out of the bed and encountered a rush of dizziness as he gained his feet. He leaned against the bed for a moment, orienting himself again as the light-headedness left him. Looking down, he caught sight of his opened yukata and fumbled with the tie to fasten it. He ran his fingers through his tumbled red hair and slipped out of the cave room and into the larger chamber. Extending his senses, he felt Byakuya's presence somewhere outside the cave. He moved towards the entrance, nodding as a few of the guards noticed him and blinked in surprise at seeing him on his feet, but quietly allowed him to pass.
He exited the cave and found a trail that seemed to go in the direction that he wanted. It wound through some of the forest that he remembered that they had passed through on their way in.
It's real pretty out here. And it looks like they managed to avoid being found, for the most part.
He paused, his mind flickering with memory about an enemy attack. But, the concern quickly faded as he felt Byakuya's presence, and could feel that his taichou's reiatsu was calm and unruffled.
Renji moved forward, enjoying the mingled coolness of the shady trail with the warm flashes of sunlight where there were open bits of sky, and the sun shined down. The sound of birdsong warmed him inside, and the feeling of returning to something resembling normality after everything they had endured, was a deep comfort. Renji smiled as he began to close in on Byakuya's position, then paused and looked around as he felt the presence of the young man from before.
Who is this guy? the redhead wondered, He seems close to Byakuya. And since we got here, it seems like they're together a lot.
He stood silently on the trail, looking first in Byakuya's direction, then in the direction he sensed the younger man.
He saved my life...keeping the poison from killing me while they went for the cure. I owe him, at very least, a 'Thank you.'
He took in a deep breath, shrugging off the lingering feeling of half-wakedness that came from being ill so recently. On quiet feet, he moved off the trail, following the path that the young man had taken and emerging into a small, hidden cove, where a series of tall rocks rose out of a deep, lovely blue pool.
And above the pool...
Renji froze as he realized that someone stood on one of the rocks above the pool, water from a waterfall spilling down onto his lithe, naked body and the flat-surfaced rock he stood on, then raining down into the pool. He was half-turned and had his head back to rinse his long, black hair. He had the same beautiful, pale skin as Byakuya, though he stood somewhat less tall, and had a more delicate look about him. And even from somewhat of a distance, Renji could see that his large, wide eyes were not gray, like Byakuya's, but a deep, sapphire blue.
What are you doing here? a soft, wispy voice hissed in Renji's mind suddenly.
"What the hell!" he whispered, turning.
He found himself face-to-face with a tall, black, Arabian stallion, with the same delicate look as the naked young man, and the same powerful, lovely sapphire eyes.
The stallion snorted and stamped a foot commandingly, making Renji step back. And as he did, he realized that his foot stepped out onto empty air, and he yelped in dismay as he started to fall. He tried to flash step, then found, to his dismay, that a slender band on his wrist still held back his powers, which would have been a proper precaution during his healing, but threatened to be the end of him now.
Sh-iiiiiiiiiit!" he cried as he tumbled down, luckily missing any concealed rocks as he crashed down into the icy water.
He surfaced quickly, coughing and sputtering as a splash sounded nearby. He tried to look through the mess of hair that had fallen into his eyes, brushing the errant strands away and looking for the nearest place to go ashore. He yelped again as someone took hold of him and hauled him towards the shore, not wasting breath on speaking, but just pulling him along in silence. Renji turned in the water and pulled free, catching a glimpse of those pretty, sapphire eyes again as they swam to shore. The young man reached the edge of the pool first and climbed out, then reached down, and with surprising strength, lifted Renji out of the water.
Renji sat on the edge of the pool for a moment, still coughing and trying to get the hair out of his face. The person who had pulled him out of the water remained silent, but Renji could feel the weight of those curious, blue eyes assessing him.
He steadied himself and turned, losing his balance as the sudden sight of the beautiful, naked noble struck his senses again. He stepped back and splashed down into the icy pool again, emerging, red-faced, a few moments later to find the lovely, pale body being covered with a light yukata. The young man watched him as he climbed out of the water again, panting and loosing a soft curse at his misfortune.
"Ah...hi," he managed sheepishly, "Thanks for, uh...dragging me out...although I can swim."
"I was concerned that you might have struck a rock on the way into the water," said the soft, pretty voice he remembered from before, "Are you sure you are all right? That was quite a fall, so soon after your injury, Abarai-san."
"And you are...?"
"Tetsuya," said the young man, remaining at a short distance and not extending a hand in greeting, "I am Kuchiki Tetsuya."
"Abarai Renji," Renji said, closing the distance and extending a hand in Tetsuya's direction, "Sorry, I startled you. That horse surprised me when he talked to me."
Tetsuya's large, eyes widened, then looked from Renji to the tall black stallion who had appeared near where they stood.
"Gomen nasai," Tetsuya said softly, "You say that he...spoke to you?"
"Uh...well...I uh...I thought I heard a voice," Renji stammered, worried that in addition to looking creepy for stalking the young man and clumsy in front of him, he now looked crazy for claiming that an animal talked to him, "I guess I could have been hearing things. But he...ah...he appeared there behind me and surprised me."
Tetsuya's lips curved upward slightly and his eyes met Renji's knowingly.
"I won't ask why you were lurking about this place," Tetsuya went on, "But I am curious why you are out of bed when so recently you were so badly injured and ill."
"I was looking for Taichou. I sensed he was out here."
"You are a little off course," Tetsuya said, smirking, "I can take you to him, if you wish."
"Uh...oh, that's okay," Renji said, kicking himself as the words came out, "I...I can find him."
"Very well," Tetsuya said, vaulting onto his mount's back, "I shall see you later, Abarai Renji."
"R-right. See you, Tetsuya-san."
He watched as Tetsuya and the stallion disappeared into the trees, then let out a disgusted sigh.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?"
He started to follow in the direction that Tetsuya had gone, but went still again as a large, equine head poked out of the brush and a pair of quizzical, cinnamon colored eyes found his.
"What the hell?" Renji mused, staring at the tall, oddly striped horse, "Who th'fuck are you?"
Master, a different wispy voice spoke into his mind, I am your spirit steed.