A Star and A Stray Dog

The Duel and The Promise

Swords clashed together over and over, one's wielder fighting to gain the other fighting to protect. Nearly an hour into the battle and not a single drop of blood has been shed, not one cut made. Another clash of swords, this time the red haired combatant coming closer to cutting his adversary.

Today is the day…I finally beat you! Renji thought as he dodged a slice from his captain's blade. More determined than ever, Renji had decided playtime was long over.

"Roar! Zabimaru!" Renji shouted, waving his hand over the length of his Zanpaku-to, changing it to its released Shikai form. Keeping his eye on Byakuya he slashed out with his sword, coming closer and closer to connecting with each attempted slice. Suddenly, as Renji took his stance for another attempt, his eyes locked on to his captain, Byakuya disappeared in a flash. Kuso! Flash step! This'll be a lot harder now… Renji realized. Turning around to once again search for his target, blood splattered on the ground as Byakuya appeared in an instant before Renji and sliced him through the mid-section.

Cough… blood sprayed from Renji's mouth onto the one pearly white ground of the Seireitei out side of the Squad 6 HQ. Keeping his feet planted firmly on the ground Renji whipped around and was able to see Byakuya even through his slightly clouded vision. Whipping Zabimaru at him three more consecutive times, the third one barely connected with his white Captains robe leaving a tear in its wake as the sword retracted again. Byakuya stood firmly in his spot, confident in his abilities as if to mock his Lieutenant.

"Your blade cannot touch me…ever" Byakuya reminded in his over-used, arrogant tone.

"Heh…Wanna bet!?" Renji retorted, cocky as ever. He knew he had no choice but to win this fight…for him…and for Rukia. Losing was not an option this time.

"Scatter. Senbon Zakura." The stoic Captain chanted, rotating his sword to a vertical position. The sword began to glow a pinkish color…another clash and the attack was stopped as Renji's Zabimaru struck the smaller Zanpaku-to, mid-attack. Byakuya, distracted with his failed attack, was now susceptible to attack. The second slice with Zabimaru connected with Byakuya's shoulder, the third sliced through his side, causing him to falter slightly. He looked stunned as his own blood splattered to the pearly white ground and his pure white captains cloak was torn and stained.

"Hah! You were saying?" Renji boasted indignantly. Zabimaru retracted and he stood in front of his baffled captain with a confident look on his face.

"Surprising. You actually managed to cut me. However, you'll be dead before you get another chance to do it again." Byakuya informed him. Both combatants took their stances and were both carefully planning their next attack.

Fwish! In less than a second, Byakuya was behind Renji and before he could react, Renji's side was sliced open and blood gushed out of the wound. Renji stumbled a bit as he made a move to escape Byakuya. Finally with and idea, Renji's eyes sparkled and he smirked, confident his idea would work, though it was risky as he'd never used it before. Renji swung Zabimaru at the raven-haired captain and it connected with his left arm, no more than a second later, with a flash-step Renji was on Byakuya's opposite side and slashed at him again, connecting with his right arm, knocking Senbon Zakura out of his hand, on to the ground at least 15ft away. As his 3rd and final move before Zabimaru retracted again, Renji used another flash step to get behind his dumbfounded captain and slashed at him again, tearing his right shoulder, no doubt damaging a ligament or tendon. Zabimaru retracted again and Byakuya turned to face Renji. If he had no sword, he had to think of something else, fast.

Extending his hand out in front of him, Byakuya muttered "Hado 33: Pale Fire Crash!" and instantly a column of blue flame shot at Renji, hitting him in the chest and knocking him backwards. In the time it took for Renji to pick himself up, Byakuya regained custody of his zanpaku-to, though with his right shoulder in the condition it was, it was somewhat difficult for him to wield it. Not giving Renji an opening to attack, Byakuya once again rotated his sword to a straight vertical position and confidently said "Scatter! Senbon Zakura!" In no time at all the seemingly endless blades shredded through Renji's body, causing blood to spray every which way and the top half of Renji's kimono was almost non-existent it was so torn.

"Ahhhhhhh!!" Renji's booming cry of pain could've been heard throughout the Soul Society as he fell to the ground, covered in his own blood. No! It will not end like this! Losing this fight is not an option! I have to defeat Captain Kuchiki f-for Rukia! He swore, thinking of the love of his life, most of the reason he was fighting Byakuya here was for his permission to marry Rukia, as well as to take his position as Squad 6 captain, thus forcing Byakuya to retire as a Soul Reaper. Slowly getting back up, Renji waved his hand over his zanpaku-to again. "Hihio Zabimaru!" he roared. His Zanpaku-to thus changing form again, this time from a sword, to an enormous snake and a fur garment appearing on Renji's shoulders. Renji smirked and without further anticipation, Renji lashed his Zanpaku-to out at Byakuya who just barely avoided it.

He's slowing down. A little more, and I can get him! Renji thought as he swung the massive weapon again at his opponent, this time the nose of the large, serpentine, whip-like sword just grazed his arm.

I need to end this battle. It's been raging for too long now. Byakuya decided. "Scatter! Senbon Zakura Kageyoshi!" Byakuya chanted, dropping his sword, which passed through the blood-stained ground as if it were water. Two rows of large blades formed parallel to eachother on either side of their owner. The blades started to glow a bright pinkish color and dispersed into the air, though nearly five seconds later, the expected cries of pain and agony were lacking, which puzzled Byakuya a great deal. Looking in Renji's direction he saw that Renji had used his bankai as a shield, the giant serpent-sword was coiled around him thus making him impervious to any damage.

As soon as all the minute blades of Senbon Zakura had gone back to their solidified, single sword form with Byakuya, a command was heard from Renji's direction.

"Zabimaru! Higazekko!" he shouted, thereby disconnecting the spiritual pressure linking the segments together and causing the segments to fly around in a group, shredding anything they touched. Their target was of corse Byakuya and once they found their way to him, they all but mutilated his body, causing him to fall to the ground, barely conscious and Zabimaru to revert back to its unreleased form.

Renji walked towards Byakuya and simply said "Looks like I finally surpassed you, Captain Kuchiki." Not to say Renji was in fine condition, his Kimono was torn in most areas, he had blood running down his arms and the side of his face, there was a large gash in his side, and various slices throughout his upper body.

"Y-you have my…p-permission to cough cough marry…Rukia." Byakuya told him "A-and, as of Sunday evening…I w-will retire as a cough! Soul…Reaper and a-appoint you Renji, cough cough captain of Squad 6. As was the terms for our fight…" He finished.

Overjoyed at the last 2 things being said, Renji bowed in thanks to his Captain and ran off (with a few flash steps in the mix) to the Squad 4 HQ to be healed and tell them of Byakuya's physical status and whereabouts as well. Ecstatic, he made a mental list of everything he had to get done Get my wounds taken care of…Change my uniform out of this bloody and torn one, yeah that's a must…Buy a ring…Think of a romantic night out with Rukia…Go on said date and propose…yeah that sounds about right. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt such a sense of pride, accomplishment and happiness all in one day…though he was a tad nervous about the events to come.

Alright, that's a niceplace to stop. This is my second attempt at a RenjixRukia pairing, though last time was a oneshot that sucked, this has some story to it as you can probably see. Yes there will be RenjixRukia lemons in later chapters, maybe chapter 3, I'll see how everything goes. The More reviews I get, the faster I update, so DO NOT forget to review!!

Special Thanks: To one of my best friends, Sano-chan! (Bianca) for nagging me to finish this chapter and giving me a deadline to finish it by…eventhough I was about a day late. Arigato Sano-chan!

Disclaimers: I own NOTHING except the specific plot of this fic. All credit goes to Tite Kubo, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, ect. And for future disclaimers, I don't warn about lemons, they're easy enough to find and pick out.