Snow's Coming
Rukia 21, Byakuya 36, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika 24, Toushiro 18
Cars, Bars and the Destined
The sky looks like snow tonight she thought to herself as she sped down the highway, passing cars in a glowing blur. It had been a long day at school and she was one rude comment away from tears or explosive anger. Kuchiki Rukia was one of the smartest kids in class but because of her background people treated her like garbage. Her adopted Nii-sama never brought that up.
She dodged a slow moving car that cut her off ."You stupid son of a bitch", she shouted to a car that was long gone and couldn't hear her. Nii-sama would never drive like this she thought to herself as she saw how fast she was going. Byakuya, the perfect student and child never did anything against the rules. Rukia used to tease him about it until she finally noticed the look in his eyes. Something must have happened to make him this way, she thought that day, but she never pushed him to find out what. She had been adopted into the Kuchiki family when she was young. She had been born poor and people never let her forget it. Byakuya was so many years older than she was that she missed out on certain family dynamics that seemed to be off limits now. There were many things about the Kuchiki's that she didn't understand. But she loved them for what they had done for her.
Byakuya was 15 years old when her adoptive parents brought her home. She was 4 at the time. Even as a small child though, she could sense the sadness emanating from her older brother. She always looked up to him to try to please him and while he was always perfectly polite to her, there was never any heart to heart bonding. She always wondered why the Kuchikis decided to bring her home with perfect Byakuya already there. She compared herself to him too much, Nii-sama always does everything perfectly, she thought with a hint of bitterness.
Because of these self-inflicted comparisons to her perfect brother, she moved out when she turned 18. That wasn't the only reason, she needed to prove to herself that she could be someone by being Rukia, not by being Kuchiki Rukia. Her family was wonderful to her, and she missed them but it was better this way. It had been three years since she moved out and while she was lonely, her little apartment suited her well. Despite her constant insistence against the matter, the Kuchiki family paid for her apartment and needs in full, saying that she shouldn't have to worry about these things because she was a part of the family. It made her smile sadly to think about that. Family huh?
Getting off the highway on exit 44 she noticed her car was responding oddly. Kuso! She thought to herself, not again! She was trying to secretly do things without the Kuchiki fortune backing her up and her car was a constant source of stress. She was only a few miles into the city when it started to smoke and by the time she made it to the side of the street, the noises it was making were haunting.
After a few choice cuss words she decided to head inside before she froze to death. When she got out of the car she realized she had died in the bar district on a Friday night. Fantastic! She thought, the sarcasm dripping from the word even internally. Just the perfect people to ask for help from, god DAMMIT!
She didn't bother to lock her car, it wasn't going to move anywhere if someone tried to steal it. In fact, it would have been a blessing if someone stole it from her. She left the keys in the ignition, hoping that would be the case. The first bar she came to, the one she had died in front of, was blaring music so loud the concrete walkway would splinter if the bass kept this up. But, after her day of being ragged on for being the dirt princess of a rich family, she didn't care. She had no money for a tow-truck but her pockets had enough for a few beers, which would be just what she needed now.
She looked at herself in the glass of the door quickly before she entered and sighed mentally. If she had known she was going out to a bar she would have dressed for the occasion. It was the stupid ring ceremony for the junior girls at school so she was dressed in a nice but simple black dress. It was too cold for a sleeveless dress but she hadn't intended on getting stranded. Nii-sama would have been prepared she angrily noted. She felt over dressed for a small local bar and she thought she was just begging to begin the days taunting all over again going in like that. Not everyone knows I am a Kuchiki she reasoned. There was no choice but to head inside. She picked herself up and gave her midnight hair a quick toss over her shoulder, not that it went much past it, and opened the door.
He had been watching since the smoking car pulled up in front of the bar. He wasn't a mechanic, but he had always loved cars. Going fast was an excellent thing to do according to Renji. He came to these bars with his friends to babe watch and maybe to bring a few home now and again. He never had trouble getting girls but he never really felt connected to them. Just stupid superficial sluts he thought.
Renji wore a black sleeveless shirt that was tight enough to boldy show off each of his toned muscles rippling underneath. He had an oversized black zip-up hoodie in a heap on one of the empty tables. His long red hair and tattooed body caught the attention of most girls easily. His muscles and attitude both got him into and out of fights. The three idiots with him were just as toned and capable of getting women. Two of them just never cared to try.
Two of his three buddies were well into their oats by now. Ikkaku, a womanizing hot tempered man who shaved his head, was laying it pretty hard on a voluptuous blonde who was playing hard to get. Yumichika, an appearance obsessed, seemingly self absorbed idiot, looked bored, none of these women were up to his standards, Renji supposed, they never were. Toushiro, the youngest of the four of them by far, who was there largely against his will, was winning at poker a few tables over and winning over the ladies despite his ignorance of the matter. Toushiro was weird from day one, Renji thought laughing quietly to himself. He was in the bar to play cards and not to drink. They knew the owner and he never said anything about Toushiro tagging along, even unwillingly, despite his age.
He was slowly drinking his third beer of the night, not really feeling the whole bar scene. Snow's coming, he noted when he looked at the sky, his long red hair falling out of place when he moved, exposing a tattooed arm. It was when he noticed the sky that he noticed the girl checking herself out critically in the glass of the door. From his far seat at the bar, he had a pretty good view of the outside because of the shape of the building and all of the unnecessary reflective glass the owner had decided on. The girl was, in his opinion, pretty damned cute. She was dressed awfully nice though, probably a rich snob, I wouldn't have a chance... Plus, she'd probably piss me the fuck off with that attitude… But she looks familiar…He grew up poor, supported himself fully from a young age and hated rich snobs with a passion. He was going to make something of himself if it killed him, It probably will, he noted.
When the door swung open, it brought with it a gush of stingingly cold air. As the girl came into his sight, a shiver ran down Renji's spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. Pretty damned cute? Fuck that she's gorgeous! He decided to watch her and see about this fancy dress. It didn't match up with the junker car outside so there might be a chance for me he decided. The petite raven haired angel stomped angrily over to the bar, flung herself into the bar stool that was miles too high for her feet to touch the ground and ended up sitting only a few feet from Renji.
The words that came out of her mouth then made Renji barely able to suppress a laugh.
"Stupid wealthy assholes! This is what I get for trying to make my own way. God DAMMNIT this pisses me off. Barkeep!!! Beer, NOW!" and as the song changed to the popular "Womanizer" by an artist Renji couldn't stand the girl said more to herself than to anyone in particular, "This fucking song again? I swear to god it will push me over the edge. Every single place I go." She shook her head in disgust as the bar tender started turning around to give her the drink.
She's perfect he said with laughter in his eyes.
As soon as the Bar tender pushed a beer in her direction, Renji's hand slapped a few bills on the table before she could.
"I know plenty of stupid wealthy assholes. What did they do now?" He said smiling down at her.
"I can pay for it myself." Rukia said, ignoring him for a few seconds, but as soon as she looked up at him she decided against it. She nodded to the bar tender and sighed. Hello handsome! she drooled mentally.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it…?"
"Rukia, and you are?" She said turning her big violet eyes on him.
"Uh, Renji… You look so damned familiar to me…"
"I'm pretty sure I've never seen you before."
"And why is that?"
"Because, who could forget long bright red hair, baka?" And those tattoos and those toned muscles…Jesus he's cute!
"Hey!" He chuckled. "Who's the baka here, ms. I get stranded in a skimpy dress in the dead of winter?"
"God dammnit… I know right? I was trying to forget." She groaned.
"Ok, I can help you forget, should I get the Bar tender?"
"Guess I'll need some more beers to make this all go away". She said smiling at him mischeviously. His heart skipped a beat.
"I'll challenge ya to a drinking contest." Renji started, throwing her his most seductive and mischievous smile all at once. Rukia laughed into her beer.
"Uh huh, and what do I win?"
"I'll bet you one taxi ride home if you win and your phone number if I win?" He said with a slight question in his voice.
"Deal. First to chug a beer and three shots?"
"Deal, lightweight."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, prick." She said with such smiling eyes he could never take that as an insult. So much for snobby bitch huh? He thought happily.
The barkeep hadn't strayed far and overheard this decision. He immediately moved towards them to fulfill the coming request. Each soon had a single glass of beer in front of them with three shot glasses lined up behind.
"One", "Two", "Three!" They said in unison as they raced each other. Rukia was the first to slam down the last glass and hollered triumphantly at the win. Renji, undaunted by the lost guarantee of a phone number, suggested they try again, but this time instead of a drinking contest, a game of pool. Rukia laughed and said that was fine, he would lose at that too. As the night went on, Rukia had won every single contest Renji could come up with, despite his honest attempts at winning.
After his fourth loss, this time at a game of poker, he said "You have got to be cheating! No one beats me this much, no one!"
Rukia howled with laughter as he pulled her around the circular booth and brushed a strand of midnight hair out of her face. She looked at him intensely, and even though a giggle burst through, her words oozed seduction when she said,
" You know something, baka? I'll still give you my number".
Renji smirked at her and pulled her closer than ever before. Their faces inches apart, Renji caressed her cheek making her blush ever so slightly. Rukia's small hands hand found their way to Renji's neck. With their foreheads together and noses touching they could feel each other breathing hard. Rukia's fingers gripped Renji by the hair and pulled him close for the most passionate and sensual kiss he had ever been a part of. It was nothing like the other girls he was used to, the ones who he just did what he had to with and left behind moments later. This kiss, was the kiss of a woman who he respected for her humor, drinking ability and her views on mostly everything they talked about during their contests.
They broke away from the kiss just far enough away to still feel each other's breathing. They both smiled the same mischievous smile, not noticing the time, the goings on outside or anyone else. They sat in their corner sipping at their beers, talking the night away and alternatively kissing the night away. Eventually Ikkaku left with his blonde, winking at an unnoticing Renji. Yumichika and Toushiro left at 1am, both bored and sleepy. It wasn't even that Renji was ignoring them when they shouted they would see him later, he was just lost in Rukia's eyes, hanging on her every word.
Rukia had never met a guy like this. A guy who didn't give a shit about her past, who actually had a similar story. They talked about things she didn't tell most of her friends because for some reason they connected. It didn't help that he was gorgeous and funny. It was about 2am, not all that late on a Friday night, or Saturday morning depending on who was talking, to still be out. People still came and went, the bar wasn't emptying yet. Not in this town. Neither Rukia nor Renji wanted the night to end, Renji was just getting the nerve to ask to drive her home, or to ask her to his place he couldn't decide, when the door opened.
The door swung open admitting a tall, muscular blonde guy with a cute, stacked, strawberry blonde girl on his arm, giggling.
Rukia turned to look at the newcomers and immediately spat out her beer and half choking on it said, "Ichigo!"
"Rukia!?" he said in astonishment, eyes searching the bar until he found her.
Kuso! Renji spat mentally, An ex of hers?
"Kuchiki-san?" Squealed the cute girl as she ran full speed into and hugged a speechless Rukia.
Ku-chi-ki…Renji's mind raced. She can't be.
"What the hell are you doing here Rukia!" Ichigo said with anger laced into his voice. The tone immediately set Renji on edge. Just who is this bastard?
"Didn't you see my car out there, baka?" Rukia said with an equally angry tone.
"What car? There's no car!"…a pause and then laughter. "You got stranded at a bar because your too proud to let Byakuya pay for your car and it got towed! Wait till he hears this, he'll kill you!" Tears of laughter formed in the corners of his eyes. Rukia's fists tightened and without a moments hesitation she popped Ichigo in the jaw. Renji's pulse was up and his muscles were set to spring at just the slightest hint Rukia was unhappy about this interaction.
"Ouch midget! I'll get you for that. And I was just joking, baka, I won't tell your precious Nii-sama, jeesh."
Fuck, no wonder she looks familiar. She's the girl Byakuya has a picture of on his desk. Renji cussed his luck at having found the girl he had always dreamed of being the sister of his haughty boss. This is going to get me fired.
"Ichigo…" Rukia stumbled for something to say for a minute, changing from angry to sad in an instant, "I'll…I'll need to get home somehow…" Rukia began searching for the words. She didn't want to bother Ichigo while he was on a date with Inoue. It was great those two finally admitted they had a thing for each other.
"I'll take you" Renji said without realizing he had opened his mouth. Ichigo rounded on him.
"And who the hell is this bastard, Rukia!"
"Bastard!? I'd watch my mouth if I was as weak as you, strawberry!" Renji spat without thinking.
"Strawberry!..." Ichigo was ready to kick this punk's ass.
"Stop it Ichigo. Renji." Rukia's eyes spoke of fire and more punches.
"Ichigo, Inoue, this is Renji..." Rukia's eyes warned Ichigo to back down and a hand on his arm from Inoue stopped all advances. Ichigo turned to Rukia and put a hand on her shoulder, bending slightly to whisper in her ear.
"Rukia, are you OK with this bastard taking you home?" Ichigo asked, ever her protector, and with a quick nod from Rukia said,
"Renji huh", Ichigo said grabbing Renji by the collar, "Listen here you bastard, hurt her, in any way, and I'll break your neck." His eyes glowed blue for an instant, Renji was sure of it.
"Come on Inoue", Ichigo said, giving Renji one last glare, nodding at Rukia and taking Inoue by the hand. Inoue gave a knowing smile that said loudly, we will talk about this later. They found a table farthest from Rukia and Renji and started their night. Ichigo kept an eye on Rukia from a distance, despite her insistence that she was ok.
"Um, Rukia, who were they?" Renji asked, concern printed plainly on his face. Rukia drained her last mug for the night and said, "I'll tell you all about them on one condition."
"And what might that be?" Renji said chuckling at her conditions and contests.
"We have the conversation in your car, on the way to your place." Rukia said with a questioning look in her eyes. Yes! Renji did a silent victory dance in his mind. Which immediately reminded him of Ikkaku and his damned lucky dance, Renji had to surpress a chuckle. That asshole is rubbing off on me finally.
"My place huh?"
"Just so I can give you my number properly, you might lose it on the way there." Rukia said teasingly.
"Suuure. C'mon." Renji grabbed his sweatshirt and handed it to Rukia. She took it without arguing, which surprised the both of them.
They walked out of the bar, past where Rukia's car was supposed to be parked and around the back to where Renji's was. He opened the passenger door for Rukia and as she astonishingly thanked him for the gesture he slapped her gently on the ass. She shot him a dangerous look and plopped into the seat. She shivered, even wrapped in Renji's large sweatshirt she was cold. As Renji fired up the engine and yanked the stubborn gear box into reverse he cranked the heat.
"Thanks, I'm freezing"
"It's your fault, baka, for not wearing anything"
"Hey now…"
"So, Kuchiki huh?
"Here it comes, what about it?"
"Your brother is Byakuya Kuchiki?"
"You know Nii-sama?"
"I'm pretty sure I do… he's my boss!"
"Do you see that as a problem?"
"Uhhh, not if you don't?"
"Good."
"Uh…So, tell me about Ichi-whatever."
"Why do you want to know? Jealous?"
"No, I just want to know if I'm going to have to kick his ass later or not."
Rukia laughed.
"Well, you know how I said I never got along with kids growing up?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, the Kuchiki's decided I needed to go to a private school and the kids there were relentless. So I begged and got transferred to a public school my senior year. Despite desperate attempts to dissuade me from my decision."
"I'll bet Byakuya didn't like that at all."
"At first he was on Mom and Dad's side but then he finally looked at me with those big sad ass eyes and told me if it would make me happy he would be ok with it. He's so weird."
Renji laughed.
"Well anyway, my first day at public school I got there really early so as to not draw attention to myself. The second kid in class after me was Ichigo. He sat down next to me" she gestured to her left, "and said in that mocking tone of his, 'what's up midget?'. I would have been pissed but when I looked at him smiling at me he laughed and welcomed me to the school. I didn't really know what to make of him but later that day at lunch some kids were starting to bug me and he came to my rescue, like he still does. We have been friends ever since."
"Oh…"
"What 'Oh'?"
"Only friends?"
"Yeah, nosey."
"That's good."
"That so? You sound interested Mr. tattoo man."
"What ever are you talking about?" Renji said glancing over at the tiny form in his passenger seat. What have you gotten yourself into Renji. He thought to himself. They drove for about 2 minutes in absolute silence until Rukia started to feel uncomfortable and broke it.
"So…how far is home?"
"Not far really, like 15 minutes."
"Oh."
"Well how far is home for you pretty lady?"
"Pretty lady?" She eyed him sideways.
"Shut up and answer the question!" he said with a chuckle.
"Uh, home is on the other side of town, like a half hour from the bar."
"What about that Ichi whatever?"
"It's Ichigo and it's not that hard to remember. Plus, why do you care?"
"Hey, I was only wondering…"
"We are neighbors in the Sunset Valley apartment complex just on top of the hill. We have been since we both moved out of his parents a few years back."
"Both moved out… of his parents!?"
"Opps, no that sounds worse than it is. I had to get away from the Kuchiki wealth and there was a month before the apartments were finished, so I stayed with Ichigo. No big deal."
No big deal huh. Renji instinctively knew that wasn't the whole story.
"Oh. He sounds like a good guy?"
"Yeah."
A pause.
"So him and Inoue huh?"
"Oh, so you can remember the girls name but not Ichigo's?" Rukia said in mock disgust. "But yeah, ever since…" Rukia's tone slipped to reveal some sadness and Renji sneaked a look out of the corner of his eyes to find her laughter had disappeared for the moment.
"Ever since?"
"Um, it's a long story about lots of people you don't know. It would bore you."
"Nothing you say would bore me. If that was the case you would already be in a taxi home wondering what the hell just happened." Renji said trying to lighten the mood. "Plus, here we are, you can tell me over a drink or something."
Rukia looked up to see that they had arrived at a very nice old house. The outside was kept immaculate and there were four cars neatly arranged in the driveway, so that each could get out on their own if they were willing to be careful about it.
"Wow a house. Who else lives here?"
"Ikkaku, Yumichika and Toushiro."
"Who?"
"Oh, the other guys at the bar tonight? Uh, the baldy, the white-haired little kid and the bored looking dude who looks like he's full of himself?"
"Oh, you guys all rent this?"
"No, actually we restored it together."
Rukia raised a questioning eyebrow as he got out of the car to open her door for her. Renji offered his hand and felt a small but strong bony hand grip his. He noticed that it was icy cold. He made a mental note to wrap her in a blanket while she told this story. He was going to hear this story before things went any further. He needed to know if he had to kick this Ichigo's ass.
Rukia stood up from the car and shivered as she looked up at the large house silhouetted in the glowing moonlight. Renji leaned down and put his arms around her, pulling her back onto his rippling abs and slipping his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt.
"Thanks, it got cold."
"It was cold to begin with, baka."
"Shut up!" She said but all traces of menace were missing and she snuggled against him. "So are you going to tell me about the house or am I going to freeze to death?" Renji chuckled.
"All of us grew up on the streets. There was a whole pack of us at times but some got arrested, some moved on to better things and pretty soon it was just us four." Rukia noticed the gleam in his eyes, a sad gleam of remembering a time long past that still hurt to think about. She was amazed at the things they had been talking about, they just met but it felt like they had always known each other. Like he had always protected her and like he had always bickered with and about Ichigo.
"When we were 18, well not Toushiro, but the rest of us, we found this house pretty much clinging to life by a single nail and a whole lotta luck. We started slowly scoping out the area and realized no one cared what happened to it. So we slowly started fixing it up. It took us about 3 years of searching for materials and using almost all of our paychecks to fix it up before they local township let us move in. We guess we did them a favor by fixing it up and they overlooked our staying there illegally beforehand."
"Wow, you guys must be really close."
"I guess so." Renji looked at her and took in her angelic beauty. He smiled internally at how he was falling for her so fast. That he hadn't tried to get her into bed immediately because he wasn't only interested in that this time was a first for him. This girl, could really be someone to me. She twisted in his arms until she was face to face with him and with a forceful yank on the collar of his shirt, she pulled him into a heated kiss. They separated after a moment, their breath leaving silver mist in the air between them.
"Let's get you inside pretty lady."
"It's Rukia you ass." She said smiling and immediately falling comfortably into a playful banter with him. I could stay with this guy a long time Rukia thought in the back of her mind without being fully conscious of it. All she was aware of was Renji sweeping her off her feet and carrying her up the steps and through the door, which he only briefly had to stop to unlock. As he set her down inside the doorway and shut the door behind him without a backwards glance, the first snowflake fell from the sky.