Summary: Amidst death, betrayal, and leaving the fallen behind as the Winter War rages on, Renji finally gets the recognition he deserves. Lots of pairings, mainly Renji/Rukia

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is Bleach nor do I profit from my admiration.

Overall Warnings: Character death, torture, non-con, language, lemons, yaoi

Spoilers for FKT up through ch 388, AU

No OCs and some OOC for character expansion through backstory and maturity as the war continues.

Chapter 1: Fight and Flight

Grimmjow stood in front of Rukia. "You're so weak it's pathetic."

Struggling to breathe, Rukia felt the edges of her world starting to darken. Losing blood quickly, she tried to push down the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Focusing on her bearings, she tried to summon enough reiatsu around her to pull up a kido spell.

The blue haired Espada watched her struggle for a few seconds before he picked her up by her throat and slammed her down into the ground, cracking ribs and gods knew what else. Coughing up blood she rolled to her side and tried to get up. Grimmjow grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back ruthlessly until she stood in front of him. Wrapping a thick arm corded with muscle around her abdomen that brushed uncomfortably against her breasts he released her hair to caress her face with a surprisingly gentle touch that belied his earlier savagery.

"Runt, yer just a pawn in a much bigger game. I thought the girl Ulquiorra was hot for was the one Kurosaki wanted but I'm pretty sure he'll come after you too." Rukia shivered as his husky voice whispered in her ear. She struggled in his grip and kicked him in the groin, hoping she could catch him by surprise but she only succeeded in hurting her foot and making him grunt softly.

"Bitch!" His fingers that had been caressing her cheek moments before savagely gripped her face to the point of bruising. Fighting the urge to cry out, Rukia bit her lip as Grimmjow increased the pressure on her jaw in a battle of wills. Instinctively she knew that he would crush her bones in order to make her give in first but she always was too stubborn for her own good.

Crying out in pain from the pressure on her jaw, she struggled uselessly against the powerful Arrancar, her legs kicking as again her vision started to fade in and out. Suddenly, they both felt the flare of reiatsu and Grimmjow leaped back with Rukia in his arms as Zabimaru came flying towards them

"Oi, Rukia, get moving!" Renji yelled as he hurled his zanpakuto back at Grimmjow.

"Baka!" Rukia muttered as she attempted to break out of Grimmjow's steely grip. Barely noticing that the tiny shinigami was struggling against him, Grimmjow sent her crashing into the nearest wall and released into his true form. Licking his lips, Grimmjow smiled at the injured shinigami in front of him. Ichigo was stronger, but hell if this guy wasn't eye candy and spoiling with rage.

Renji struggled to stay up right. Fuck. I thought this bastard was dead. Where the hell was Ichigo? Didn't he always come running when Rukia was in trouble? Or Byakuya?

Pushing the irritating thoughts out of his head, Renji focused on his adversary. Instinctively he knew Grimmjow would not go down easily. Renji was a supremely arrogant shinigami but he wasn't as stupid as everyone always liked to think and he almost always knew before going into any fight whether he would win or lose.

He saw an injured Rukia slowly moving in the rubble into position behind Grimmjow. Scowling, he threw Zabimaru back towards the Espada, mentally cursing Rukia's miscalculation. In her severely injured state, she wouldn't be able to attack from behind but rather get trapped and used as collateral damage. Her error would hamper his fight because of his overriding need to protect her. Resigning himself to work with what was in front of him, he wielded Zabimaru with brute force and sheer will in an attempt to keep the intense teal eyes focused solely on him.

Grimmjow's smile turned feral and he relished the oncoming fight. From previous battles, he knew that Red relied heavily on his zanpakuto which needed distance. Rushing towards Renji as Zabimaru recoiled after its third strike, Grimmjow sank his claws into Renji's forearm, easily dodging the whip-like weapon as its rhythm and balance was thrown off. Snarling, Renji reigned Zabimaru in from shikai to fight Grimmjow in hand to hand combat, both warriors thrilling in the solid blows they landed. .

Renji was surprised at the straightforward attack the Espada launched and somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, the tactician in him recognized that the Espada would have fit in well with Zaraki and Madarame. The seemingly hidden tactician also assured him that if he fought the Espada in hand to hand combat, despite Zabimaru's howling protest, Grimmjow was less likely to go after Rukia.

Though he could have used cero or any other number of maneuvers, Grimmjow found himself unable to gain the upper hand on Renji who proved to be surprisingly proficient in fighting dirty. Viciously Grimmjow changed tactics and began slashing and clawing at Renji, landing more and more blows as fresh wounds opened. Blocks were no longer effective as Grimmjow's claws quickly mauled Renji's arms. Renji realized he wasn't dodging the Espada's claws fast enough and that if he didn't change it up soon his exhausted and damaged body was going to tap out.

Grimmjow was growing irritated that the shinigami wasn't dead yet and began to concentrate on dealing fatal blows, sacrificing speed as he tried to land bigger and more pronounced hits. Renji easily anticipated his moves and was landing more and more of his own as the Espada grew increasingly sloppy.

"Surprised that you're slowing down Grimmjow?" Renji sneered as he slashed an unreleased Zabimaru across Grimmjow's thigh. "Your moves are predictable, I'm actually thankful I got my ass handed to me so many times by Ikkaku, you fight just like him!" Renji grabbed Grimmjow's wrist and blocked his other fist with Zabimaru. Twisting hard to his left Renji shunpo'd off of Grimmjow's torso in order to get enough space between them to release Zabimaru.

Enraged that the shinigami had launched off of him and gotten away, Grimmjow decided against giving chase and suddenly honed his senses on Rukia. Launching into sonido, Grimmjow grinned as saw her brace herself for his attack. Seeing his change of direction, Renji desperately shunpo'd to put himself between the snarling Grimmjow and his childhood friend.

Cursing himself for not nagging Yoruichi to help him with shunpo, he focused solely on Rukia, pushing himself harder as, almost believing he'd be able to get there first. Right before he made it he suddenly felt Grimmjow's reiatsu appear behind him rather than in front and saw Rukia's eyes grow large as time seemed to slow to a stop. The last thing he remembered was a searing pain at his throat before the world went black.

"RENJI!"

Rukia had tried to position herself to attack from behind while Grimmjow and Renji were fighting but was more terrified than she would have liked to admit when she saw Grimmjow's blue eyes focus in on her. Everything seemed to move in slow motion and she felt that her feet were rooted to the ground when she saw Renji appear a few feet away, his face determined and grim. She screamed when she saw Grimmjow appear behind him and stab him through the back, his clawed hand materializing through Renji's chest, inches in front of her. She vaguely heard screaming when she saw Grimmjow's other hand tear Renji's throat and felt his blood spray across her face. The last thing she saw before blackness engulfed her was Renji's fiery eyes locking with hers and clouding over.

Grimmjow tossed the red headed shinigami's broken body to the side and roughly picked up Rukia's limp body. Just before he left with his prize, he tilted his head back to howl in victory and challenge.

"Kurosaki!"

Slowly Renji opened his eyes. His whole body was on fire, his chest throbbed, even swallowing hurt like hell. Then he remembered; he was lucky to still have a head. He looked around groggily, vaguely recognizing his room at Urahara's shop.

"Rukia!" Instinctively he sat up and howled in pain, his fast movements reopening bandaged wounds. The figure who had been sitting with him leaned over to push him back down on the bed.

"Renji, you must lay down!" Kira's voice was tired but firm. Renji struggled against his friend and started to gain the upper hand until a bandaged Shuuhei walked into the room looking pissed.

"ENOUGH" he bellowed and knocked Renji down with a swift right hook. Smirking, Shuuhei readjusted the sheets around a groaning Renji.

"Baka. Kira, Yoruichi-san is debriefing." Kira smiled sheepishly and patted Renji on the shoulder before following Shuuhei out of the room.

Rukia felt cold and wet. Cautiously she opened her eyes and looked around. She was alone in what appeared to be a holding cell. She tried to sit up but found herself tethered by her waist, neck and arms. Feeling slightly claustrophobic, she worked at setting a kido spell to get her waist free but gave up as she felt the chain belt repel her reiatsu.

Slowly she tested the slack on the chains to see if she could at least walk around. Shivering, she pulled her shihakusho closer around her, though she belatedly noticed that the majority of it was shredded in pieces around her. Though she was cold, nothing overly hurt and she couldn't see any visible bruises.

Her mind felt fuzzy and she tried to think of the last thing she remembered. Suddenly, the scene played out again, Renji impaled on Grimmjow's claws and then Grimmjow ripping Renji's throat open.

Rukia squeezed her eyes shut and desperately clutched her arms around her stomach to keep herself from heaving. Gasping, she tried to block out mental images of blood and cackling laughter. Another important person in her life ripped away right in front of her and despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop the image of Renji's ruby eyes fading as he fell. Just like Kaien.

But her mind fought against what seemed to be true…Renji couldn't be dead…it was Renji…loud, obnoxious, self-sufficient Renji. The leader of their small gang growing up in Rukongai, he had survived all the beatings and worse in order to keep lecherous eyes off of her and the others. At the Academy, he was in the top class and even faced down a Hollow on his first training exercisel. Renji always survived. Even when he fought Ichigo and got his ass kicked then fought Byakuya and got royally fucked, Renji always survived. If anything, he was that annoying fly that was always buzzing around until you finally gave up trying to get rid of it and resigned yourself to leave it in the background.

Unexpectedly, her eyes stung and blinking couldn't quite clear up her blurry vision. Renji wasn't exactly a fly she tolerated. He was her best friend, and she was just beginning to reconnect with him again after forty years of misunderstandings, hurt, and missed opportunities. She already knew he had been in love with her, but she counted on the fact that proud, arrogant Renji would never actually say or do anything. That much had been apparent when he all but pushed her into the Kuchiki family. Well, that and she had screwed him over a few times.

It's for the best.

Squeezing her eyes shut and desperately searching for the calm she could always summon around her like a cloak, Rukia felt for Ichigo's reiatsu and found…nothing. Opening her eyes, she searched for Sado, Uryu, Orihime, Kenpachi, Yachiru, and…Nii-sama? Fighting the urge to be sick, Rukia tried to control her breathing as the cold realization hit her harder than anything Yammy could have thrown.

They're all gone.

When Renji opened his eyes again, he jumped a little at seeing Ichigo sitting beside him, head hanging and arms folded tightly over his chest.

"Hey."

"I shouldn't have left Hueco Mundo with Unohana san." Ichigo's voice was tight with frustration, anger…and guilt.

Surprised at the guilt in Ichigo's voice, he wondered at the sudden confession. Unsure of what else to say he finally blurted out the first thing in his head.

"Did we win?" Stupid question, genius. He could tell they hadn't, Urahara's shop felt too somber and foreboding.

"Not even close. Urahara is recovering. Everyone is in shock. Rukia…" Ichigo paused, his voice trembled slightly and Renji felt his chest constrict.

"She's still in Hueco Mundo."

Renji was out of the bed before he even realized he started moving, reacting rather than thinking things out. Ichigo had anticipated Renji's reaction and twisted enough to land on top of Renji when they fell. Struggling for a few moments, Ichigo rather viciously elbowed Renji in his chest wound in order to sufficiently pin his arms down while he grimaced in pain.

"We have to get her back." Ichigo muttered. "No one seems to care about what happens. She's not like Orihime…they won't go easy on her." Ichigo's voice wavered on the last part.

"We will. She's stronger than you think, and a hell of a lot smarter than both of us combined." Renji assured the substitute shinigami with more confidence than he felt.

Ichigo felt his chest tighten painfully and he bit his lip to keep a sob from escaping. Renji would probably beat the shit out of him if he started crying now.

Renji heard the strangled sound from Ichigo but pretended he didn't. At first he only tolerated Ichigo because of Rukia, but somewhere between their various battles, Renji knew that he would do anything to protect this fiercely loyal and passionate man against any and all odds. Sighing, he pushed Ichigo off and stood up before bending over to help him off the floor. Suddenly the younger man pulled him into a bone crushing hug. Taken by surprise, Renji wrapped his arms around the slightly smaller man and held him tightly.

"We have to recover, and then we'll get her back."