Clearly, Bleach is NOT mine. Neither is Renji... a girl can wish, though.
In hindsight, Renji had to admit he had not, as he originally thought, drawn the proverbial short stick.
Such a thought came to him while he was chatting with some of his friends after one vice-captains' meeting. There had not been much to discuss, really. Aizen had been arrested three months ago, and Sereitei was slowly going back to normal. It was because of this that the meeting ended earlier than expected, and so Renji, Kira, and Hisagi decided to go for lunch. For the first time since her recovery, Hinamori decided to accompany them, after a little nudge from Matsumoto, who thought it would be good for the girl to hang out with her academy friends, and their sempai.
It wasn't the first time the group of four had eaten together. In fact, it was something they would do quite frequently before the Aizen debacle went down. They would discuss work, girls, they would give advice on guys for Hinamori, and then they would complain some more about work.
It had been during some of these lunch meetings that Renji had once been jokingly proclaimed by his friends the most unlucky vice-captain in existence.
"I'm so lucky!" Momo sighed as she sat on the table, carrying her food tray with her, "Aizen-taicho decided to train the new recruits himself, so he gave me the day off!"
"Well," Hisagi said, "we all know Aizen-taicho is like that, he takes as much work as he can so as not to bother his subordinates. In that aspect, he is sort of like Tousen-taicho. I swear, I haven't touched paperwork in a week!"
"I wish I could say the same about Ichimaru-taicho," Kira complained, his hand going through his hair, "but I'm mostly in charge of the paperwork. When I'm lucky, he just decides to burn it down."
"He can't be too bad, though" Momo quipped, "I've seen he often brings you lunch when you're working too hard."
Renji looked around, disbelieving. He had been a vice-captain for only a month, but his own new captain sure as hell did not care about how miserable he was making his life.
"But what about you, Renji?" Hisagi asked "You haven't told us yet how working with Kuchiki-taicho is like!"
"Oh, let's see," Renji began, "I've been stuck with paperwork for a week because taicho says my writings are illegible and I need the practice, my body hurts all over for the crazy ass training he imposes on the division," at this, he cracked his neck for all to hear. He was sure he was hurting in places he didn't even now he had. "I've also developed a mortal fear of cherry blossoms, I cannot be 2 minutes late or else I don't get weekends off, and for fuck's sake I am sick and tired of hearing him complain about my coarse manners!" He finished, yelling before dropping his head on the table.
"Oh, poor Abarai-kun!" Momo patted his head sympathetically. "You should have stayed with us in the fifth."
"Or in the eleventh." Kira added, "I thought you got along pretty well with the rest there."
"I did, damn me and my stupid ideas!"
"Are you sure you don't want to look into transferring, Abarai?" Hisagi asked.
"No…" Renji said, finally lifting his head, resignedly. "I have to do this."
"You really do have the worst of lucks, Abarai-san" Kira shook his head.
It seemed surreal that conversation had been about half a year ago. And here they were, the same interlocutors, but with demeanours as different as could be. Hinamori didn't speak, only nodded with her head a little when Hisagi asked her if she was recovering well. Hisagi himself seemed out of sorts. He'd talk, but when there was silence, he'd stare into space, his mind far, far away from them, fixated on the first and last time he had fought against his former captain. Kira didn't need to say anything. The bags under his eyes spoke for themselves.
Renji looked at his friends, and then at himself. How had they turned out that way? He had been so angry, had felt himself to be so unlucky and yet, here he was, in one piece, strong, moderately happy. He was in top shape, both physically and mentally. And what about them, those whose leaders were always so kind, so funny, so approachable? Here they were, subdued, broken, with scars on their souls that would never fade with time.
He had loathed Byakuya Kuchiki at first. The captain had never attempted to become friends with him (the mere thought would have made Renji laugh out loud) had never wasted kind words on him. No. With his cold behaviour, he had pushed Renji to his own limits. The will of the vice-captain to surpass his captain had been incensed by the way Byakuya seemed to show off his own superiority. If the eleventh division had hardened his skin, the sixth had clearly hardened his spirit. Three months under Kuchiki's command, and Renji not only drew his own sword against his taicho, he did it with Bankai, and he had to wonder, he had to, if any of his friends would have been as willing as he had been to stand up for themselves against those men they had worshipped. Hisagi perhaps, he figured, the rest, not so much.
Renji only had to look at their miserable faces to know that, of all his Academy friends, he had, indeed, been the lucky one. His captain might not be kind, soft and caring, but as cold as he was, he was honest, straightforward, exigent and, yes, a bit of a slave-driver, but he had soldiers in his charge, not children. And if he ever betrayed Soul Society (which was as likely as Aizen was of begging for forgiveness for his actions) Renji would be first in line to kick his ass.
"Taicho..." Renji said suddenly. He was back at the office, working through a pile of paperwork that he had been putting off for days now. His superior did not look up or even acknowledged he had spoken. Renji smirked. Nothing out of place, it seemed. "Thank you", he finished. That got Byakuya to look up from his work. He stared at him with that impenetrable silver stare of his until he finally spoke.
"Renji, are you by any chance coming down with something?"
Renji scratched his head before replying.
"Nah, I just… wanted to say that." Then, as a sudden thought, he added with a hopeful note in his voice, "Why, would you send me home, with sickness leave, if I was?"
If Byakuya had been a lesser man, he would have snorted.
"No, I would simply quarantine you in the barracks, so you could continue your work without risking my subordinates." With that, the captain resumed his own paperwork.
Renji stared at the window for a second, before going back to work, with a slight smile on his face. Yes, he thought, things could definitely be worse.