Hey! Decided it's about time I put an actual disclaimer on here about how I do not own any Bleach character just my own. And I realize I keep using the same name for just about all my bleach fics, regardless of them being connected or not and that's just because I'm WAY too lazy and humourously enough uncreative when it comes to names. So for reference the only stories of mine that are connected so far are Fragile and its sequel Truth under My Strings. This has no relation to those stories. Though I will be doing a Grimmjow oneshot and that will be connected to Fragile and T.U.M.S (haha still makes me giggle). So enjoy and please review if you like it!
Oh! And I also do not take credit for the title of this fic; I just thought Red vs Blue would be an appropriate title for this. =D
8.17.09
It was morning. The sun was just reaching its height, high up in the early sky. The birds had yet to begin their morning ritual, and all was still. Everything was perfect…
"What the FUCK is your problem?! HAH?!"
Or at least it would have been if not for one house in particular.
"I figured that was obvious." He glared.
"Oh?"
"'Yeah…"
"You're both idiots." enters third party, sluggishly rubbing her eyes.
"Jeez! Why do you both have to be SO loud in the morning?"
In this house resided one human girl, a Shinigami and an Arrancar at the espada level. Proving that in Karakura town anything could happen.
And in most cases, did.
Walking into the living area where they stood facing off, she shook her head. "Seriously. You two are like bratty kids."
Both men turned to stare at her, as she opened the refrigerator and rummaged around. Having found the milk, she stood then "Wait…now that I think about it you guys are like decades older than I am. Huh." Shrugging she set a glass down and poured the carton only to find it empty, a few drops sprinkling out.
"GAH!" frustrated, she went to the door, and slipped on her shoes.
"Hey! Where are you going?" called the red haired one.
Already half way out the door she shot back "Well someone drank all the milk!"
Slamming the door behind her, the two men stared at one another.
Running outside, both men caught up to her already down the road. Hearing them rather than seeing "Took you long enough." Smile in place and eyes shut.
"Che" came from the blue haired espada.
A couple moments of silence passed.
"Wait. Where exactly are we going?"
"To get more milk, duh."
"Yah, but this isn't the way to the supermarket…" The Shinigami replied, confused.
"Of course not; I'm going to Orihime's." a puzzled look came about his face.
"What? I'm not about to go buy milk when I wasn't even the one who finished it." She said, quite obviously.
"Besides, Orihime will give me some. She's nice like that."
"Isn't that a little ru-""Here we are!" she said cutting short his lecture and banging quite hard on the front door to her home.
The door opened producing a slim yet busty girl with long orange locks. "Ah, hello Suzu-chan." Seeing the boys she greeted them likewise, though a little more hesitant with the arrancar.
"What brings you here?" she asked soft spoken, as was her nature.
"Ah, the idiots drank my milk again." She said, pointing to the idiots in question. "So I was thinking I could borrow some of yours. And by borrow I mean drink. Hehe."
"Ah, sorry, I just used up the last of mine."
"Aheah" Suzu grumbled, face souring.
"Well that's alright. I know one more place I can go."
"Sorry." She apologized again, bowing her head.
"It's fine. Come on, let's go."
"Ah, wait! I do have something." She said hurriedly running inside to get it. Coming back she had what looked like a once edible dish, only horribly mangled and oddly colored. No doubt something Orihime had made herself.
She handed it to Renji who appeared both surprised and embarrassed.
"It's just Inari-zushi with some onigiri and umeboshi." She said blushing a bit, though it wasn't entirely clear why.
"T-thanks." He replied a bit uncertain.
''Bye." She waved.
"Bye."
They walked on and no one said anything. Suzu was still preoccupied with getting her daily dose of calcium and didn't seemed too fazed with what just happened, while Renji stared down at the plates contents.
"You're not going to eat that are you?" queried the espada.
"I don't even know where to begin." He said, transfixed on the jumbled mess.
Coming to their hopefully last stop in the search for the dairy product in question, Suzu went to the door of the Kurosaki Clinic and knocked; meanwhile a near sadistic smile crept onto the panther's face.
There was an apparent commotion that could be heard through the door, smashing and crashes, then a ruffed up looking Kurosaki, striking orange hair and star t-shirt as compliments, emerged yelling over his shoulder "lousy father."
"What is it?" he questioned, scratching his head, then seeing who it was "oh Suzu, what's up? Why so early?"
"Hey, I wondered if I-""Ichigo!" Suddenly the teal haired panther was right in the boy's face, shoving Suzu to the side, wide set grin in place.
"AH! Grimmjow! What do you want!?"
Laughing viciously "You know what I want. Ain't it obvious? Let's fi-"
Suzu having regained footing returned the favor and pushed the unabashed Grimmjow out of the way.
"As I was Saying!" she quipped "I wanted to –ACK! No! Don't finish it!!"
Throwing herself passed Ichigo; she made it to the kitchen just as Ichigo's father was consuming what looked to be the remaining swig of milk in the container. Lowering it from his stubbly face he exclaimed "OH! Suzu-San! My other daughter has returned!!"
"Dad you say that about every one of Ni-san's friends who happen to be girls." Replied Karin, clearly not impressed by her father at the moment.
"That-that's not true!"
While they bickered, Suzu scrunched her face up, peeved beyond comprehending.
"Oh Suzu-san, what are you doing here?" Yuzu his other sister came into the kitchen, probably because of all the noise.
Grumpily "I just wanted some milk…and now it's gone."
"Oh! We have some." She said.
"Really!?"
"Yup! We always go through so much in our house that I have just started getting a couple so I don't have to go to the store every day."
So said she produced another jug to the delight of Suzu who happily downed her glass in five seconds flat.
"Ahhh, finally!"
After wiping her mouth and bowing to the goddess of dairy, she skipped off not noticing that the boys had been out for the whole milk debacle. Passing by them Renji was saying "Oh, so she went back today huh?"
"Yah, Rukia said she had something come up in the Soul Society but she would try to make it back before it got too late."
Renji looked a bit down but then Ichigo leaned in and patting his back said "I bet it's a surprise."
Smiling genuinely Renji laughed and said "Yah. She'll be back."
"Okay lovebirds" she jibed "I've accomplished my mission so I'm leaving with or without you."
Noting that Grimmjow was off sulking from not getting to fight she reassured him, patting him "Aww, its okay. Maybe next time."
"Che. Whatever" he said scowling.
Ichigo waved haphazardly and went back inside and Renji returned to their group as they headed back home.
Finally fulfilled her brain was no longer preoccupied with cow bi-products and suddenly a light switched on in Suzu's head.
"Oh my GOD! Renji it's your BIRTHDAY?!" she screamed.
It all came together; why Orihime gave him that concoction and he blushed and looked nervous. The thing about Rukia being gone today and why he was sad and then Ichigo cheering him up with 'I bet it's a surprise.' Maybe even why the milk was gone; It all made sense!
"Crap! It's already almost ten o'clock! We have to do something!"
"Quick! What's something you like to do?"
"Uh" clearly put on the spot.
"Hurry we don't have a lot of time."
Furrowing his brows "Well there is a new sunglass shop that opened …"
"That's perfect!"
"But I was waiting for Rukia to-""Come on!" she shouted, grabbing his hand and dragging him off, the espada following behind, though clearly not too thrilled.
With a little directing and a bit of walking, they reached their destined place; a shop known as Tinted Eyes.
"Ah, here we go!" she said. Really she had known about the place but had had no interest in checking it out. That and the name sounded a bit off to her.
Releasing the flushed and flustered Shinigami they went in and looked around. Really it was rather impressive. There were so many different styles and kinds of sunglasses, it was a little overwhelming.
While Renji seemed at home, walking each and every inch of the store, Suzu and Grimmjow hung back and goofed around; she would find a pair of what she found to be ill fashionable glasses and would try them on, laughing at how ridiculous they were. If she was lucky enough, she would manage to get a particularly hideous pair and put them on the espada, who would immediately rip them off, cursing and fussing. Soon enough a couple hours passed and Renji had managed to find a couple candidates.
After checking out they stood outside the shop and decided where to go next.
"Anywhere else you have in mind?"
"No, not particularly." He said rubbing his neck sheepishly, clearly not used to this kind of attention. Meanwhile Grimmjow stood hands shoved deeply in his pockets liking the situation even less.
"Well, I'm sure something will-"it was at that moment that Suzu's stomach gave a lurch and howled a sound thought to have come only from animals. "Come up" she finished blushing embarrassedly. Both boys snickering didn't help either.
"I guess we haven't eaten yet…"she said looking to the clock across the street, it read two fifteen; definitely past lunch time. Deciding they needed to eat the trio went to a favored restaurant. After learning Renji's favorite food, Suzu ordered three Taiyaki's, each with a different flavor. Renji preferred the one with red bean paste and helped himself, taking an enormous bite and relishing the taste, eyes closed in a world of bliss.
Smiling at the sight he made Suzu bit into hers, which happened to be chocolate filled. Her face lit up in mindless joy as she savored the sweetness.
Grimmjow last but certainly not to be outdone bit into his and unlike his companions a sour look became his features. Disgusted he spit it out, uncaring of their proximity to other life forms or the fact that they could only see his partially chewed taiyaki which seemed to appear out of thin air, he not being in a Gigai. Blatantly he cursed "What the hell is this shit?"
Grossed out by his display, but curious she took note of the pieces and figured it out. "Ah, you got custard!" she declared, receiving weird glances and whispering, as she apparently talked to herself; pointing at some gnawed on taiyaki on the ground, though if they knew her better they wouldn't think twice about her mental state of fairs.
After finishing their meals (Suzu offered to share hers with Grimmjow but the espada outright refused; he didn't trust it) they made their way through the rest of town.
Heading back home they took a more rural route as they passed streams and hillsides of green, when abruptly there was some arguing overheard and a stray ball headed back to earth though directly towards Suzu's group, narrowly missing them as it whizzed past.
Soon a pair of voices caught up to them. "You idiot!" one yelled, "What was that?! What were you thinking aiming way over there!?" The boy, looking around twelve or so, ran up to their little group. Saying a mere "hey" in passing, he headed off in search of the fly-away ball.
Shortly after two more boys, roughly his age came up to Suzu and the others. They didn't say anything and just stood, uncomfortably staring. It was like they were eyeing Suzu and the others up, though it was uncertain if they could see Grimmjow or not.
Finally the yelling one came back; he seemed to be the lead boy or at least the only one capable of speech. "Well?" he scolded "What are you guys doing just standing there?! Come on, we have a…game to –finish." The tail end of his speech faltered a bit as he too looked where their eyes were glued. They were staring at someone, Suzu just couldn't tell who…and it was starting to weird her out a bit.
Before long she had to say something if only to get rid of the creepy feeling.
"Uh, hey…" she said uncertain, "Look; we're not mad about the whole ball thing, really. It just got away from you…So it's okay, you can stop stare-"
"Whoa, just look at him!" the talky boy burst.
"'Yah, he's BIG!" one replied.
"No doubt!" another said.
"Hey, do you think he'd be interested?"
Now though they had all stopped staring to gossip amongst one another, Suzu was more apprehensive than before. Who were they referring to? Could they see Grimmjow? She glanced up to the espada worried. How would she explain him to the boys? Did she even want to?
She was so stuck in her own mind she didn't notice the group of boys had come to a decision.
"Hey!" the lead said, "Do you want to play? We could sure use another guy and you look like you'd be strong."
"Wait, who are you talking to?" asked the soul reaper.
"You!" they all shouted in enthusiasm.
"Huh?"
Suzu came back to her senses just in time to see the gang of youngsters drag the hapless Shinigami off. He looked back, silently asking for help, but Suzu just laughed. He looked so adorable when confused.
As they explained to Renji what his job was, Suzu watched with a smile on her face. It was cute to see his interactions with the kids. Really Suzu didn't know much about the red headed Shinigami, it wasn't until about a month ago that they all started living together so there was still so much to be learned, not just with him either. Each day seemed to be a new and exciting day.
Once the rules were sorted out, they began to play. Renji appeared to know what he was doing, but then again-
"Hey, you can't touch it unless you're the goalie!"
"Uh, right…sorry."
As they played, Suzu sat on the grassy hill; Grimmjow cursed, irritated by the whole thing, but later he too came and sat down.
They played well into sunset, the sky darkening rapidly.
"Pass it, Pass it!" the chatty one yelled.
Renji kicked it but just as before it flew way passed its intended mark and straight into Suzu hitting her dead on; a perfect face ball.
"OWW!!" she yelled. The ball fell, revealing a huge red mark over her face.
"HAH!" Grimmjow laughed. Now he was enjoying himself.
"Ah, sorry, sorry." Renji apologized, running to see the extent of the damage.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Jus' fin'" she responded a little wonky, the ball having smashed her nose inhibiting speech a bit.
"Sorry" he said again, though this time he couldn't hide a snicker.
"Ah, it's getting really dark" one of the boys said.
Yeah, it is. I guess we should stop."
"Oh! That's right!" the talkative one picked up his ball but continued "There was supposed to be a big meteor shower tonight!"
The others agree, nodding but excited.
"We better go, before it starts!"
They gathered their stuff and rushed off, but not before spouting how much fun they had and how great and cool Renji was.
A little embarrassed but obviously flattered, he waved as they became specks in the distance.
"Cum on, we gotta go" she said, still messed up.
Laughing he agreed and they headed back home. By the time they got back it was nightfall.
"We have to find a good spot to watch. I'm thinking maybe the roof-"
"Renji!" someone called out.
Turning to see, it was "Rukia!"
Sure enough it was the female soul reaper, the one in Suzu's opinion that Renji was enamored with.
"You made it back." He said, undoubtedly pleased.
"Yeah. Here" she said, handing him a piece of paper.
"Huh? What's this?"
"Just…open it." She replied. Standing under a streetlight he flipped it open, there were signatures of various people from Soul Society. Also a big Happy Birthday, Lieutenant Abarai was written in the center.
"How did you-"he began but stopped short.
"That's why I went back" she said. Smiling she watched him as he read the names.
Ikkaku, Hisagi, Yumichika, Ukitake, Rikichi, Yachiru and Kenpachi. But one name in particular stood out and made Renji's heart beat a bit irregular…
"Bya-Byakuya-dono?" he said.
"He heard what I was doing and added his name." she said, smiling even more. "I knew you'd like it."
"Rukia…thank you." Hugging her he looked so happy.
Suzu, who had been watching, turned away at that and looking up to the stars she couldn't help but feel a little jilted.
"She beat me" she whispered, just as a meteor streaked across the sky. Grimmjow meanwhile watched Suzu, an odd expression evident.